Plant City Strawberries

Florida has always filled salad bowl

Floridians have been cultivating the land for thousands of years.

Early American Indians in northern Florida grew squash, corn and beans. The people living on South Florida's less-fertile land based their diet on what could be provided by the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. In an ironic twist, the land that was most hostile to cultivation in the past is now the site of most of the state's orange groves and sugarcane fields.

Today, Florida is the source of a wide variety of produce. It is the only state with commercial lime and mango crops, and it is the national leader in the production of sugarcane, bell peppers, fresh market sweet corn, snap beans, squash, radishes and eggplant. Hillsborough County ranks fourth out of Florida's 67 counties in agricultural production, with ornamental plants, aquaculture and vegetable production near the top of the list.

Still, all of those pale in comparison to the big three: citrus, strawberries and tomatoes.

Citrus, as an industry, pre-dates all other Florida enterprises, including tourism, cigars and phosphate. One of Florida's most iconic symbols, citrus is not native to the Sunshine State. Spanish explorers and settlers brought oranges to Florida in the early- to mid-1500s. Historical documentation relates that mature orange trees were growing in northeast Florida when St. Augustine was founded in 1565.

The cultivation of citrus by Americans began in 1821, the year Florida became a U.S. territory. The first fruit was taken from established trees that grew wild in northern Florida. It is because of these undomesticated beginnings that people still say citrus is grown in a "grove" rather than the technically correct "orchard."

The citrus industry flourished as the state grew, and by 1894 the industry dominated the landscape across northern Florida and into the center of the state, including Hillsborough County. Hillsborough held 18,683 bearing citrus trees as early as 1880. That same year, Myron Gillett, a future mayor of Tampa, opened Buckeye Nursery, the state's first citrus nursery.

A devastating freeze in the winter of 1894-1895 crippled Florida's citrus industry. Some farmers simply gave up, while others moved south past the "freeze line." While the trees in Hillsborough County were badly damaged, they did recover and the industry began to thrive again. By the turn of the 21st century, Florida led the nation in the number of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, temples and tangelos grown. Hillsborough County was 10th in the state in the number of boxes of citrus grown. More oranges were grown in Hillsborough County than in Arizona, the nation's third-leading orange state (9,023,000 vs. 1,650,000).

Plant City Strawberry Festival - Concerts, Strawberries and Fun in ...

Every spring around March, the Plant City Strawberry Festival in Florida is an absolute hive of entertainment for the whole family.  It is one of the three annual large festivals held in the Tampa Bay area near the beginning of the year, including the Tampa FL State Fair and the Gasparilla Pirate Fest .

Touted as the number one festival attended by visitors in the West Central Florida area by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Plant City Strawberry Fest is a veritable amusement park with plenty of rides to churn your tummy and turn your head. 

Numerous attractions that thrill and spill await visitors of all ages in a huge fairground. From Ferris wheels to candy fountains, you’re never likely to stop finding something to keep you happy!

For a small admission ticket price, you can enjoy a wide variety of fun rides. In fact, you can even pit yourself on a ride-a-thon, where you can go on as many rides as you possibly can for the price of one ticket only. 

There’s even a Kid’s Day whereby all kids up to high school age can enter the amusement park for free. You can even enjoy a free concert for kids at the Wish Farm Soundstage.

And for those of you who want to stay up late, you can ride as much as you want from 11.00pm to 3.00am during the Moonlight Magic Night for a special ticket price of only $20.

At the Plant City Strawberry Fest, the gate admission allows you to sample free entertainment throughout the day. Show times are fixed for some of the performances and you’ll be thrilled to see The Gothard Sisters amaze you with their Irish dances.

Rock to flamenco, Irish and country music with this band of three talented sisters! You can also sample Dennis Lee and his band dishing out old time favorites in Rhythm and Blues, Country and Elvis hits. And Brady Gross will provide the keyboard and vocals for some soulful songs.

You can participate in shows that feature lumberjacks who saw through some very thick logs at the Festival. You’ll be amazed at what champion lumberjacks can do with their sawing and chopping, literally whittling away a log in minutes!

Plant City

Plant City in vintage postcards

Remembering Plant City, Tales from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World

You Know You're in Florida When..., 101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, and Eats of the Sunshine State

Production cost for selected vegetables in Florida