Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990 TAG: 9005040107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I'd sense a monster market for my tart and succulent berries. I'd be flattered by a festival to honor my crop. Such events are usually reserved for larger fruits.
Boones Mill's Apple Festival is in September, when the McIntosh are branch-bending ripe. Roanoke's Peach Festival is in August, high harvest. In April, Vinton celebrates dogwood blossoms that survive fungus attacks and acid rain.
The Chili Festival is scheduled for the ripening of the elusive chili bean and Olde Salem Days coincides with aging in Salem. The list is endless.
Yup, if I were a strawberry farmer I'd be hedging my raspberry futures, investing in cantaloupe options and buying some Smucker's stock.
And if I were a tourist, which I am; and I heard there was a Strawberry Festival, which I did; I would assume that there would be oodles of strawberries warmed by our local sun and perforated by our local army worms - or whichever creepy-crawly eats strawberries.
To honor this marvel of nature, the red fruit with whiskers, the Strawberry Festival begins today and continues tomorrow, all in Crestar Plaza. The event is a big fund-raiser for The Community School, a private school in Roanoke County, says Cheryl Caputo, one of this year's organizers.
For days, 60 families have pitched in, washing and slicing 350 flats of strawberries.
Hey - I'm no tourist. I live here. Where'd they get those strawberries? Kind of early, no? Local berries are abundant the latter half of May.
If I were a strawberry rancher, I'd be scratching my chin, wondering: Hmmmm.
"Oh, we don't use local strawberries," says Caputo. "That would be wonderful, though. These are all from California."
If I were a strawberry farmer, I'd be on the phone real quick trying to sell off some of my gooseberry holdings.
Caputo says it wouldn't be practical to wait two weeks for local strawberries to ripen. School closes June 9, and besides, tomorrow is the Chili Festival in Roanoke, and that draws visitors inexorably toward a cool slab of shortcake.
This kind of thinking opens broad, bold, new festival horizons here in Festivetown U.S.A. If festivals needn't be linked to local foods, schedules or history, why not a Roanoke Lambada Festival? MangoFest '90, BananaBall, The Western Virginia Festival of Koalas? OceanaFest, celebrating 4,000 years of Indian Ocean exploration? First Fridays at Five for Figs? (Canceled this week because there's too much activity downtown, Roanoke could catch fire with two events the same day).
If I were a strawberry farmer, which I'm not, I wouldn't miss the Tomato Festival. It's in December.
\ REMINDER: We'll walk today across the Hunter Viaduct one last time, beginning at 5:45 p.m. (that's 5:43 p.m., Eagle Rock Standard Time).
by CNB