Strawberry Festival comes by annually and definitely brings in the crowd. You can tell everyone was happily strolling around taking it in. So many amazing foods and drinks to choose from, y first strawberry tamale!! Vendors selling crafts and advertising products! If you've never been, you've gotta go! read more

Strawberry Festival - Festivals Near Me - Watsonville, California

See all

What an insult to the farmers and community calling this a Strawberry Festival. Was a rip off carnival. Brought friends and we couldn't leave fast enough. Shame on you. read more

I was so excited to go to the Strawberry Festival for the first time but was unfortunately very underwhelmed. There's not enough strawberry if that makes sense. There's really only the main street that has food with strawberries in it like the strawberry tacos, strawberry tamales, strawberry pizza, etc. The rest of the streets are just full of assorted vendors and other food trucks. I was expecting stands with strawberry jams, jellies, candy, I mean the possibilities are limitless. I tried the big 3, strawberry tacos, strawberry tamales, and strawberry pizza. The taco line was the longest one at the entire festival and they were mediocre. The tortilla is just colored pink and I could barely taste the strawberry in the salsa and the strawberry bits on top also didnt add any strawberry flavor so it was basically just a sub par street taco. You get 4 per order but really not worth the $20. The strawberry tamale was the star and the only thing I would ever consider going back for. It was piping hot with whipped cream and fresh strawberry on top. There's no filling but it's still packed with strawberry flavor and I went back to get another before leaving. The strawberry pizza was good, fresh made so there may be a bit of a wait. I just wish there was more strawberry pieces and jam on top because it looked pretty much like a slice of cheese pizza with a sprinkle of strawberry. Parking was $10 in the city plaza structure, I recommend going early to get a spot as it was pretty full when we left. Overall I wouldn't go back again but good to experience the one time. read more

See all

The strawberry festival moved to a new location: 250 Main Street Watsonville, CA 95076 I love strawberries so I was super excited for it and it was awesome seeing many people dressed up in strawberry attire. There is so much entertainment with live music in several areas. Food: We got the strawberry tamales from Casa del Alfarero which was interesting because it didn't have filling but it was a nice dessert flavor with whip cream and a strawberry. Our favorite was the strawberry tacos fromTacos Authenticos! The strawberry salsa paired so well with the meat and it was on pink tortillas! Drink: We wish there were more strawberry drink options. There are a lot more food options than drink options here. We only saw two stands that had strawberry Agua fresca or strawberry limemade . Ambiance: A cool spot to check out but parking can be a bit tricky but there are street parking spots if you don't mind walking a bit. Driscoll's had a free photobooth you can take pictures while sampling strawberries. I would come back for the strawberry pizza next time! read more

See all

First time attending the Strawberry festival with friends and we all left a bit underwhelmed. Parking was a bit hard but we managed to snag a street spot by the high school. For a strawberry festival, there was not enough strawberry booths as we were anticipating. There was only one stall selling fresh strawberries. The were a few food stalls selling strawberry flavored items like strawberry pizza, strawberry taco, strawberry popcorn, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry shortcake, and strawberry dipping dots, but the majority of stalls were just the typical festival food stalls. However the strawberry pizza was quite good, like a sweet danish in a way. Friends were not impressed by the strawberry taco. The strawberry dipping dots were yum. Overall, I wouldn't probably come back to this event but worth a first time visit. read more

Strawberry Festival - Festivals Near Me - Watsonville, California

See all

I was looking forward to going to this festival because I LOVE strawberries! My friend lives in Watsonville and he told me that I was going to love it, and I did! It was my first time having Strawberry Tacos, Strawberry Pizza and Horchata de Fresa (fresa is strawberry in Spanish). Horchata de Fresa was absolutely tasteful. Strawberry Pizza was pretty good but my favorite was Strawberry Tacos. The tortillas are also made with strawberries. Super super delicious! The festival also has a lot of fun options to do for kids. They have a great variety of food, specially Mexican Food. You are also supporting local business visiting this festival. I bought beautiful earrings there as well. You can find clothes, accessories, art, a lot of cool things. Watsonville is known for strawberries, right? And, I learned a little bit about how they grow this delicious fruit. I also tried another type of strawberry. It has a green color. They also have music but they hadn't started yet until I left. Parking was easy to find. I parked my car in the parking garage close to the event. The parking fee was $10. I highly recommend this festival! It's pretty cool! read more

See all

All the games are scams. The rides are okay but you never win actual and decent prizes. No thank you.

I always enjoyed this festival so much So many wonderful food booths with such delicious treats. Plus the huge variety of booths selling art and lots of other unique items. Never a dull moment here with all the delightful sounds and smells. Great entertainment as well. read more

Glad to have found a small strawberry festival in the Bay Area! I read the reviews and Facebook for this event so I didn't set my hopes too high for this festival. Like people said, it's not that big of a festival and there aren't that many strawberry theme food options. However, we all had a fun time and it was fairly decent. Plus, we got to stop by the beach nearby so that was an added bonus. Food options we saw: lots of BBQ, tacos, chocolate covered strawberries, ice cream, smoothies, Krispy Kreme strawberry doughnuts, strawberry flavored kettle corn, strawberry shortcake, etc. They also have a small stall where they sold strawberries for $8/box. There are lots of table throughout the area, so you can sit and eat. If you want alcoholic beverages, there is a beer and wine garden where they have batches of hay and tables for you to sit and drink. However, you can't bring any of the drinks out of the garden. You can buy tickets to go on the carnival rides or play some of the carnival games to win prizes. Or to save money, just play the promotional games or spin the raffle wheel to win some small prizes! Overall, we had a pretty fun time down in Watsonville. Bring a light jacket because it was a little chilly when we got there. Bring cash so transactions are easier. There's parking on the street, however, we parked in a garage right next to the festival. The parking fee was $10 which went to the donation of the festival. read more

See all

Music is still too loud. It keeps taking away from my fun. I would love it if they would stop the extremely loud and go to just loud. Vendors are good. I wish there was a tiny bit more variety of non strawberry food. Seems to be more Hispanic foods which is fine but I would like Chinese food. It may not be possible but it's my request to whomever is the event coordinator. read more

Strawberry Festival - Omg. Crazy prices. That's what carnivals cost. - Festivals Near Me - Watsonville, California

See all

Another year, another Strawberry Festival. Just as I wrote last year: huge lack of quality arts & crafts and the same ol, same ol mediocre food trucks selling the same subpar food. On "Strawberry Lane" the Red Cross took my vote again for the best strawberry shortcake and Cassidy's strawberry pizza shouldn't be missed. And BTW it's shave ice, not "shaved" ice. The "Beer & Wine garden" showcased Coors & Bud again. With all the microbreweries and wineries in our immediate vicinity, you'd think someone would get the hint. Again, the music venue was pretty much split with mostly Banda & Mariachi music on Sunday--who hires these out of the area groups anyway? At least the carnival area is still a big hit with the kids and it's still $5 to park in the city garage and proceeds go to PAL and the Police Cadet Program. Logistically, it was a nightmare trying to navigate through downtown Friday afternoon. Besides the Farmer's Market, festival setup had begun. I could barely get to the Post Office! Nearby and downtown residents have been asking the city for years to move the festival to the SC Fairgrounds. If you've been to the County Fair (September) you'd have to agree that it suits a festival this large much better. There is plenty of parking, lots of space for non-profits, food booths/trucks, a stage for music, and lots of comfy places for people to sit. Those hay bales in the middle of Main Street just aren't comfortable and there is nowhere else to sit. 2.0 stars and falling. Apparently, city leaders still don't listen to residents. read more

A larger than what I expected Festival. Basically a Street Fair around Main Street and Beach. Lots of vendors and food booths. Several carnival rides for children. All kinds of strawberry related food including Pizza, tamales, shortcakes, and smoothies. One booth for buying strawberries. Driscoll has a strawberry tasting booth. Even though the event opens at 10 a.m. most booths do not open until 7 a.m. Live music on the stage begins at noon. read more

Strawberry Festival - Enjoying the annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival with Josh. - Festivals Near Me - Watsonville, California

If you live in the area, it's probably worth it, making the drive from San Jose...I felt like I wasted my time here. We found free 3-hour parking and walked right in (no entrance fee). There was a small food section, the biggest frustration I had was a lot of the vendors did not have prices on their menu. I ended up buying two $10 (ouch) 'super' burritos, looking back I think the cashier made a mistake to the cooks, she told them a 'burrito' and didn't say 'super' since all my burrito had was meat, rice, and beans. Another vendor I paid $6 for a quesadilla and $6 for a strawberry water/juice drink. Most games were $5 for ONE play :( The rides were 3-5 tickets each The retail stands were cheap items even my kids didn't want. We saw a man urinate freely on the street. There was a noticeable police presence read more

If this is the highlight of the year for Watsonville it makes me glad I don't live here. It's a festival yes, but besides being crowded there's nothing that's special about it. Strawberry Lane? Not quite. About 12 booths of strawberry options then your typical carnival games, rides, sponsor booths and cheap crap people don't want to buy. I would rate it lower, but I feel bad for the city. It looked liked the locals were really enjoying themselves. It was an unfortunate stop on the way to Monterey. Won't be making that mistake again. read more

This is a nice little festival. If you go knowing in advance there will NOT be a surplus of strawberries or strawberry theming, you won't be disappointed and you can enjoy it! The strawberry theme isn't well done, and there is a lot of potential for them to improve it, but as a festival, it's entertaining. It is a medium size. There are carnival rides for children, the large food section, a retail section, and a concert/stage area too. Good news: it's free! There is a parking garage that charges $5, but if you drive around, there is ample street parking for free, especially if you drive on Rodriguez Street. They have some booths with strawberry flavors such as strawberry kettle corn, strawberry shortcake, strawberry "nachos," strawberry sundaes, funnel cake with strawberries on top, and freshly dipped chocolate covered strawberries, and I'm sure I left out a few too. The fruit slushes/smoothies looks delicious, but I didn't get one. They also have typical food booths such as tacos, corn on the cob, garlic fries, etc. I strongly recommend the strawberry short cake! They seem to be the most popular/busiest, and their proceeds also go to a good cause. My friend who grew up in Watsonville says she dreams of those strawberry shortcakes for the remainder of the year. They also have hand dipped chocolate strawberries on a skewer that they dip when you order it! If you go at the wrong time, you will be waiting in a slow moving line for a while! As a result, I saw the beautiful confections but wasn't able to taste them. They look amazing though! We had a group of 10 people, and we were there for about 1.5 or 2 hours. It was entertaining and tasty. read more

I went to the Watsonville Strawberry Festival this past Saturday and had a nice time. We spent a little more than three hours at the festival and it was actually better than I had expected. There were 14 booths offering strawberry themed items, which I thought was a really good number. The booths were located in the area designated as "Strawberry Lane" and the strawberry items were being offered by various non-profit organizations who I was very happy to support. I tried the following strawberry items: strawberry dessert pizza ($2.50 a slice), chocolate dipped strawberries ($1.00 each, but got 2 for $1.00 because the strawberries were smaller), strawberry agua fresca ($2.00), supreme strawberry nachos ($6.00), and a strawberry parfait ($5.00). I thought that the prices were very reasonable and the portions were generous. Almost all of the booths had sweet, dessert type items so I think that it would have been better if there was more diversity in the type of strawberry themed items offered. A lot of items were very similar such as strawberry shortcake vs. strawberry parfaits vs. strawberry cookies vs. strawberry crepes vs. strawberry waffles. Although they're all good options, it's hard to crave something sugary if you just finished eating something sugary. The entertainment on Saturday was quite good. I really enjoyed Rap 'n Blues who performed in the afternoon. Besides the strawberry booths, there were carnival rides and games, vendors selling typical foods found at festivals (i.e. Mexican food, teriyaki, baked potatoes, kettle corn), and vendors selling random items (most were not original arts and crafts, but items that were bought elsewhere and were then being resold). Parking was easy to find and was $5.00 at the Civic Plaza parking garage. After walking out of the garage, the festival was literally steps away. All in all, good festival. I will come again in the future. read more

See all

Went here anticipating to purchase strawberries. But I couldn't find a stand with strawberries. Went to strawberry lane and got the tri tip sandwich with a hint of strawberry bbq sauce, a strawberry drink (very watery), and the strawberry dessert pizza. There was also other food vendors that we ate at after strawberry lane. The hawaiian pork was very good and flavored really nice. Also got a smoothie of bananas, strawberry and peaches. They also had the best filled churros ever. Other than food stuff, they had a few booths to sell things but no arts and crafts for the kids or anything. Make sure you park at the parking garage, it is $5. Must try? one time thing unless it grows. Try again? when it gets bigger. read more

There were rides for kids, Musical band performances, stalls with games, stalls selling clothes & accessories, BBQ stalls. But where's Strawberry !! Isn't that was the name of festival ? Except very *few* stalls serving strawberry related items (pizza, chocolate, Ice cream, cake & smoothie), nothing exceptional for strawberry lovers. It was more of a general county fair. Parking : 5 $ event parking, But if you don't mind walking a little, there will be plenty of street parking available. Food : We tried chocolate covered strawberry & strawberry Ice cream, former was okay & later was yummy ! But I just don't want to drive 90 miles to have strawberry ice cream, which I can buy virtually from any store. Ambiance : Nice, energetic & decently crowded. Stalls : As happens in any event, prices were on higher side. Even strawberries were expensive than you would find in grocery stores. It was nicely managed small scale county fair. If you are in vicinity, go check out. But don't travel all the way for strawberry. You will be disappointed, like we were :( read more

Loved the fruit slushies! The prices are definitely a huge bummer, though. I noticed stands that are usually at the farmer's market that hiked up their prices by a $1 or 2 which is ridiculous but I understand they can get away with it when a festival is involved. Plus, these are tiny family business so let them make their money! My family came to visit just for the festival and my little brothers and sister had a blast riding all the rides! I'd probably return every year just for those slushies, though. That was my favorite part. Ps: Of course, barely anyone speaks english at the festival, it's in Watsonville. The population is 70% latino(a). JUST AN FYI. read more

EEK!! I can't believe we drove 2 hours to stay for 16 minutes and drove back home. I seriously was not impressed with the Strawberry Festival. I wished I went to the Aloha Festival in SF. So we drove 2 hours from Mill Valley to seriously pay for $5 parking, walked through a crowd full of people that barely spoke English, ate 2 chocolate covered strawberries, a strawberry slushie, BBQ tri-tip, chicken kabobs, mango that wasn't even riped, and a strawberry fruit bar. I looked at the bf and said, "I'm over it. Are you?" He laughed and said, "Serious?" Me: "Yup. Let's try to make it to the Aloha Festival." LOL We ended up staying for over an hour at a local Target store in Watsonville. Everything strawberry we had we could've made it better or bought it at Safeway. I would not go back next year. Sorry. read more

I wished I had looked up the Strawberry Festival on Yelp before deciding to make the drive to Watsonville. Even though there's only one review, it definitely would've saved me the time and disappointment because everything Johannah wrote below was 100% accurate. We were actually pretty psyched on going because we LOVE strawberries and we were hoping to find the ones that were extremely huge and juicy! You know the ones that you'd find at the farmer's market...so sweet and LARGE that they look like they were on steroids? Yes, those. So did we find them at the Strawberry Festival? Nope. Did we even find any juicy looking strawberries period? Sadly, no. We paid $5 to park and we stayed for 10 minutes. Their was only one booth that even sold strawberries but you could find some 10x better at your local Safeway or Luckys. We walked around for a bit, had a PUNY chocolate covered strawberry each, looked at each other, and called it a day. No one spoke English there so it was even hard to ask someone to take a picture for us. I am all about festivals, but this one was a complete waste of time. Never again. read more

A friend from out of town was visiting during this time, so we went to the Strawberry Festival. If it wasn't for our friend, I would have skipped this, but there isn't a lot of things that Watsonville is known for, so I figured we'd show him the festival. We went on a Saturday this time, and I was pleasantly surprised that it had improved. Someone must have read my suggestions in my review, or maybe someone has some mad mind-reading skills, but other than the alcoholic suggestions that I made (strawberry beer and wine), I saw strawberry empanadas, strawberrie pies, strawberry tamales, and strawberry-mango salsa. I tried the empanada with chocolate drizzled over it, and it was pretty good. The strawberry tamal was OK, too. There was a guy selling sandwiches with a strawberry-mango salsa, but I asked if I could just try the salsa instead of the sandwich. So he sold me the salsa and some pieces of pita bread to scoop up the salsa. I recommended that he sell chips and the salsa next time. It could be a big hit, provided that he put more strawberries in. It was a sweet salsa, but it was very good. There were several Safeway-sponsored game booths where you could throw basketballs and spin wheels in order to win a prize. Some of the freebies given out were bars of Caress soap, sample boxes of raisins, and anti-persirant sticks. They also gave out lots of food samples. The strangest incident was when I wanted to spin the wheel at one booth, the woman insisted that I consume the sample of chocolate milk in order to spin. Since I am lactose intolerant, I refused. She denied me my chance at the wheel. Really? Does she know how many Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans are lactose intolerant? The woman right before me in line was allergic to dairy products, so she was turned away, too. I guess there won't be many people trying that wheel if the ability to drink milk is the entry requirement! There was the usual strawberry pizza, agua de fresa, chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry smoothies, strawberry-topped funnel cakes, strawberry popcorn, strawberry ice cream, etc. I'm glad they added more strawberry items. After all, why would you come to a strawberry-themed festival if there were hardly any strawberry food items to eat? In addition to the food booths and the crafts booths, they expanded the kiddie rides and added a bicycle race. I didn't bother to watch since I'm not a fan of that sort of thing, but a decent crowd gathered to watch the bike race. They included cover bands this year. We watched Santana and Tower of Power cover bands before I left because I was getting cold. My husband stayed to watch the Beatles cover band, so I picked him up an hour later. The following day, the music was all in Spanish. Given that the town is full of farm workers, and the only day off for them is Sunday, the festival is geared towards the farm worker community on Sundays. Expect it to be almost completely in Spanish. If you want to check it out in English, it looks like Saturday is the day for you. read more

Hello people! seriously you are complaining because people at the festival only spoke spanish? its like me complaining of going to a CHINESE Festival and no one spoke English. Come on the festival is GREAT! read more

The strawberry festival was fun but it has a lot of room for growth. I'm not sure that the people running it will grow the festival though. I'd like to see the festival return to the fairgrounds where it's better suited. I'd like to see cookoffs and competitions where desert professionals compete in front of the crowds. I'd also like to see more hands on booths for the children. Overall, I had a good time. The food was good, and the beer garden was pretty nice too. Just just need to offer more beers. I'd attend again. read more

We came to the Strawberry Festival on Saturday morning. There was ample parking at CVS for $5.00 all day. There were hardly any people at this festival. This festival is seriously lacking. It needs more artsy crafty vendors. They have enough sub par food vendors. We tried some Asian bbqd chicken on a skewer and something they called called fire rice. It was pretty bad, both had no flavor. My friend had their big sausage with grilled onions, it was ok but the bun fell apart right away. For desert I had the funnel cake, it was good but needed alot more toppings for 7 bucks. My friend had the strawberry trifle which was alot better and a bargain at only 4 bucks! Their music was way too loud. It was hard to hear anybody talking to you if you were sitting in the beer garden or anywhere else for that matter, just way too loud. Plus they need to mix up the music some. We don't all speak Spanish. I agree with Cathy P. They need a better beer and wine garden and support our local breweries. I didn't see any wine at all, crazy I know. I think they could use some better food vendors as well. read more

Strawberry Festival - Strawberry Funnel Cake $7.00 - Festivals Near Me - Watsonville, California

Worst Festival I've ever been to. No parking and way too many people. Very and organized.

I'm from southern California and in our town we have an avocado festival. When I moved to Santa Cruz and heard Watsonville had a strawberry festival I was so excited. I LOVE strawberries and I love the Watsonville community. I am sadden however about the reviews it has received. I am more sadden that the reviews have been about people complaining that there are too many Mexican immigrants and Spanish speakers. I highly doubt these people know the history about Watsonville. Picking strawberries in the fields is no easy task and if these people want to speak their native language we shouldn't care. Thanks to them you can find those "juicy" berries at your Safeway only here you get a behind the scene and see the community that works so hard in the fields. Because of people with ideas like the ones below the festival has not received the support it deserves. Last year they even try making another one at the fairgrounds that wasn't so "mexican" that focused on the consumers and not the farmers and workers. I have enjoyed the recipes they offer and the entertainment. Saturday they have rock music and country. Sunday is when they have the Spanish entertainment. I plan to go again this year and it is expected that there will be more entertainment including a soccer tournament. I also hope there are more strawberry recipes because the possibilities are endless with such an amazing fruit. We need to keep an open mind and see that California is a rich agricultural state because of communities like this one. The strawberry festival is a celebration after a harvest! I'm excited it will be held on my birthday and this year our son will be going for the first time! read more

Too crowded, disorganized, couldn't see where lines ended, ridiculous prices. I had to have a death grip on my son, so he wouldn't get pushed away from me. Hard to get anywhere, shoulder to shoulder people. I couldn't even get close to a strawberry. One good thing is that I know better than to go to the strawberry festival again. read more