Annual Strawberry Festival Returns to Downtown Kokomo
Enjoy your Strawberry Festival favorites, or experience something new this year
By HEIDI PRUITT
The Kokomo Post Staff
Back and bigger than ever before, The Strawberry Festival is returning to downtown Kokomo for its 24th year.
From 11 a.m.to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 3, festival-goers are invited to the heart of downtown to kick off summer with this beloved annual event. Tickets are $6 per person and are available for pre-sale purchase at any First Farmers Bank and Trust location, or on the day of the event. Each ticket includes a crowd-favorite, locally made strawberry shortcake.
This includes nearly 4,000 pounds of strawberries from Moore’s Pie Shop, 6,000 shortcakes from The Radish Market & Cafe, nearly 400 gallons of vanilla ice cream from Glover’s Pizza and Ice Cream, and 400 bottles of whipped cream from Meijer of Kokomo.
This is the second year Adrienne Akers-Partlow, owner of The Radish Market & Cafe, has made the shortcakes for this festival. She estimates the team at the Radish has been baking the shortcakes every weekend for two solid months.
“It’s just fun to be behind-the-scenes part of the festival, something that means a lot to a lot of the people in Kokomo, something that does bring a lot of traffic to downtown for that day, and to be kind of an instrumental part of making that all work well,” Akers-Partlow said. “It’s important to us to be part of the community and to work to make these things happen.”
This annual event attracts thousands of people to downtown Kokomo, said Susan Alexander, the manager of Downtown Initiatives and Creative Placemaking for the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance.
“The strawberry shortcake dessert is a reason to get here, but then take advantage of everything else – all the food trucks, and learn about all the different vendors, said Alexander. “It gives businesses of all types an opportunity to sell directly to a community that comes out and supports the festival. We love being able to put all these organizations and businesses front and center.”
Joining this year’s festival, she said, is the Artsapalooza Art Market. Artsapalooza was initially started last September as a stand-alone event but was rained out.
“We invited many of those same vendors back to participate in Strawberry Festival,” Alexander said. Artsapalooza will feature local art available for purchase, engaging art activities, and demonstrations of various art techniques.
Gregory Steel, an Indiana University Kokomo professor of New Media, Art, and Technology, worked with senior sculpture student Cybil Johnson to design and weld an art car made out of 200 feet of metal rebar.
Members of the community are invited to join local artist Sheila Haworth for an instructional macrame lesson, to add their own touch to this engaging artwork.
Steel, a member of Kokomo Public Arts Action Coalition, said the idea came from a brainstorming meeting.
“We were talking about the Strawberry Festival and the art fair component, and we were talking about how we can draw people's interest down to that area. I kind of joked, ‘why don’t we macrame a car? To kind of try to tie the automotive history of Kokomo in with this crafty idea of making macrame,’ and it stuck,” Steel said.
“We want to build a kind of robust, interesting, fulfilling, kind of life for people in Kokomo. The visual art, the music, the festivals, all of those things make it nice to live in the community and that's important,” Steel said.
Another new activity you’ll find is the Whipped Cream Challenge. You may have seen the viral challenge online, where people squirt a dollop of whipped cream on their wrist, with the intention of hitting it up in the air and catching it in their mouth. For $1, you can try your chance at this challenge. Those who succeed get bragging rights, and all donations benefit the public art efforts of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance.
Despite all the expansions, you’ll still find your Strawberry Festival favorites at this year's event. Returning this year is live music from local artists on the Rhum Academy Stage, food trucks, vendors, a petting zoo, and so much more.
The Kokomo-Howard County Public Library will kick off its summer reading program during Strawberry Festival. The first 1,000 people to sign up receive a free autographed copy of the award-winning children’s book “Starfish,” by local author Lisa Fipps.
ABATE of Howard County will be returning to this year's festival with kid-sized motorcycles. Members of ABATE will help guide children through the course promoting the importance of motorcycle safety. Helmets and training wheels will be provided for this activity. Attendees will also be able to get up close and personal with their favorite farm animals from Crown Haven Center.
For more information on this year’s Strawberry Festival, visit https://greaterkokomo.com/kokomo-strawberry-festival/. Check out a list of things to do with your kids at the Strawberry Festival here.
IF YOU GO:
When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 3
Where: Downtown Kokomo
Cost: $6 per person for Strawberry Shortcake dessert (First come, first served)
Where to buy tickets: At the festival or pre-sale at any First Farmers Bank & Trust location
All Day Events and Activities:
Dunk Tank
The Kokomo Howard County Public Library will be there with the Bookmobile
Crown Haven petting zoo
US Army football toss and corn hole
Sandra Villafana will have a face-painting booth and a strawberry photobooth
Teddy Mountain build a bear experience
Torsten & Harvester offer 3D printed and resin creations for gaming and cosplay.
Artsapalooza interactive art
A whipped cream challenge in support of the Greater Kokomo Downtown Association’s public art efforts.
ABATE of Howard County’s Tiny Tot Motorcycle Adventure
Health education and demonstrations from the Community CareMobile from Community Howard Regional Health
Special Thanks To:
The Strawberry Festival is facilitated by Susan Alexander, manager of Downtown Initiatives and Creative Placemaking for the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance.
Festival committee members who work and plan the festival months in advance include Heather Hill, Laura Hileman, Dana Osburn, Julie Keb, Tawnya Harrison, Jonathan Rogers and Skye Wilson.
Special thanks go to the United States Army for help moving the strawberries
Kings Cleaning Solutions for help storing the strawberries
Moore’s Pie Shop for ordering and storing the strawberries
Kokomo Meijer for contributing to the purchase of whipped cream
The Radish Market & Café for cooking all those delicious shortcakes
Jonathan Rogers for transporting the shortcakes
Advanced Medical Imaging for printing all the Festival tickets
Rhum Academy of Music for bringing the music
Emergency Management of Howard County for public safety and to the City of Kokomo for the securing of festival grounds and trash removal.
