The First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown will host its 64th annual strawberry festival on Friday, June 2.
The summer event will feature more than 300 different flavors of cakes, ice cream, live music and face painting along with fresh strawberries.
The festival’s return from COVID last year drew 5,000 people.
“Last year, I remember as the chairs there were three of us, and we walked around just for a couple of minutes and took in the sights,” said Laurie LaMonica, co-chair of the festival.
“ … It was just this wonderful affair that came back to our town, and to see about 5,000 people just enjoying themselves in one space again was unbelievable and amazing.”
When LaMonica and co-chairs Jen Allen and Kristen Perkowski took over planning the festival, they were given the necessary tools to keep it going, something for which LaMonica is thankful.
“When I took this over, we were handed a binder that said, ‘Okay this is how we do it,’ and it came with so many historical notes,” she explained. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this if we didn’t have this binder … It’s been run the same way for so long and so well.”
For planners, the event is also about connecting with friends, family and neighbors.
“That’s the goal of the strawberry festival,” she LaMonica noted. “It has never been about any profit or proceeds; it’s strictly and solely about community outreach. To see the community come out and to see the numbers that we had last year was just something.”
The day before the event, First Presbyterian will host “hulling” and “washing berry” parties so volunteers of all ages can wash and hull – meaning remove parts of the fruit – the strawberry bounty.
“It could be anywhere at one time, from 15 to 30 people just sitting there hulling the berries,” LaMonica said. “It’s a great way for everybody just to sit and be together and laugh and talk. And anybody can do it.”
Besides cakes – among them sugar-free and gluten-free offerings – residents can bring desserts such as cupcakes and brownies.
“It’s an event for everybody of all ages to come to,” LaMonica said. “There’s something for everybody to do … You can grab strawberries, cake or ice cream. There’s every single kind of cake that you can possibly think of.”
The festival will begin at 6 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.fpcmioorestown.org/community/community-wide-events/strawberry-festival/.
