THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605220269
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 202 lines
WITH A CARNIVAL IN PUNGO AND A JAZZ CONCERT AT THE OCEANFRONT.
FOLKS FROM Courthouse United Methodist Church expect to be out picking berries early this morning at Henley Farm,
Their mission: to gather enough pretty ones to make chocolate-covered strawberries for the 13th annual Pungo Strawberry Festival this weekend.
And they'll go back to the fields early Saturday and maybe even again Sunday morning to make sure they have enough strawberries for their popular chocolate morsels and for the strawberry lemonade they also sell at the festival.
There's no rest for the weary strawberry pickers.
When they come in from the fields, they'll step right into the church's festival booth where they will dip the fruits of their labor in chocolate and serve up tasty ``red lemonade'' to hungry strawberry lovers. The group also will be spreading bread with peanut butter and strawberry jelly for the kids, an addition to their repertoire of strawberry goodies this year.
The sweet confections sold by Courthouse United Methodist volunteers will be among a potpourri of delicious strawberry dishes and drinks - from pies to shortcake, from non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris to strawberry ice cream - for sale at the festival.
Close to 150,000 people are expected to attend the event, which opens tonight with carnival rides in Pungo from 5 to 10 p.m. and a jazz concert at 7 p.m. at the 24th Street Park at the Oceanfront. The rest of the fun takes place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the heart of downtown Pungo along Princess Anne Road.
When all's said and done, Courthouse United Methodist workers will pick around 200 pounds of berries to come up with about 500 cups of lemonade, made with strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar, and about 500 chocolate-dipped berries, said Nina Eaton, who lives in Pungo and is chairman of the church effort.
Since the church began a booth at the festival seven to eight years ago, it's been a point of pride that local strawberries go into their homemade sweets. ``We felt like we needed to support the growers down here,'' Eaton said.
Eaton and her friends have always managed to come up with enough local berries for their booth. Yet there have been many years when the strawberry season was virtually over by the time the festival arrived.
The strawberry festival celebrates the sweet, juicy Pungo berry, despite the general lack of berries by Memorial Day weekend, the event's traditional date. Many years festival goers have found themselves toasting the beloved local berry with a daiquiri made with California strawberries or going home with a quart of strawberries from foreign parts.
Not this year. You should find plenty of local berries not only at the festival but also in the pick-your-own fields in the surrounding Pungo area.
``This is one year we should have pick-your-own berries for the strawberry festival,'' said Melvin Atkinson, agriculture extension agent.
According to Atkinson, the cool late spring slowed the strawberry season down so the berries made their entrance about a week later than usual. That should carry the season into early June although this week's hot weather had the potential for ending the season a little early too, he cautioned.
So if you want to make a day of it by picking and partying, you can feast and have fun at the festival and then pick a basket of berries to carry home with you. That way, the delicious aroma of warm berries can be a lingering reminder of an eventful day.
As long as the berries hold out, Henley Farm at 3513 Charity Neck Road, Munden Farm at 1377 Princess Anne Road and Baybreeze Farms at the corner of Sandbridge and New Bridge roads will be open for pick-your-own.
Douglas Munden, who will be open only on the Saturday of the festival, said it was the late, cool spring that caused the berry season to run late. ``Last weekend was the peak but we should have plenty of berries this weekend too,'' Munden said.
``We should have berries right through for another two weeks,'' said Todd Barnes at Baybreeze Farms where they also will be selling quarts of already-picked strawberries. ``There are still blossoms on the plants out there.''
Davis Farm Produce at 1813 Gum Bridge Road will sell strawberries by the quart at its festival booth and will be open for pick-your-own this weekend. Dean Davis also is running a Memorial Day weekend special at his pick-your-own farm. In a back field where the strawberries are smaller, he'll be selling them for 39 cents a pound Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The front fields with bigger berries will continue to be 65 cents, Davis said.
Pungo Produce at the corner of Princess Anne and Indian River roads, the northern outpost of the Strawberry Festival, will be offering up strawberries in a variety of ways Saturday and Sunday.
You can stop and pick a pail of the ripe red beauties in the adjacent field or you can buy a quart of already-picked berries. Better yet, you can sate your appetite and get a dish of strawberry shortcake to eat on the spot, said Bert Dail of Pungo Produce.
Dail also plans to pick his commercial field on Muddy Creek Road clean for the festival. He's hoping that many of the food venders will choose to buy the local berries for their stands and spread the word about the tasty Pungo berry this year.
In addition to Pungo Produce, Davis Farm and Courthouse United Methodist Church, there will be about 40 other food venders at the Strawberry Festival. More than 100 arts and crafts booths will have items for sale, many of them with strawberry themes.
Music, entertainment for kids, a pie eating contest and the Johnson & Wales Strawberry Cook Off will among the activities taking place on three stages along Princess Anne Road. The 4-H Country Fair will feature a petting zoo, pony rides, a llama and a bat display.
A display of more than 20 racing cars and hot rods is part of the festival for the first time this year. An exhibit of military equipment and a Civil War encampment also is part of the fun.
Parking is available in three lots, two near Indian River and Princess Anne roads and one at Muddy Creek and Princess Anne roads.
To find out more, call 721-6001 or use the festival's Internet address: http://www.pinn.net/pungo strawberryfestival. ILLUSTRATION: Designed by JENNIFER LLOYD, Advertising Design,
Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Amanda Adams, 3, watches her mother, Sherry, pick the fields clean
at Munden Farm in Pungo. Sherry Adams said she wants to teach her
kids, Amanda and Abby, to make jam.
Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Leroy Smith of Norfolk joins in the harvest at Pungo Produce Farms.
Its fields will be open during the festival.
Bert Dail of Pungo Produce weighs a box of strawberries picked by
Leroy Smith. Dail plans to pick clean his commercial field on Muddy
Creek Road for the festival.
Leander Corprew of Virginia Beach is caught ``red-handed'' with
pickin's from Pungo Produce Farm.
GRAPHIC
Schedules of events
[Box]
The 13th annual celebration of strawberries, the Pungo Strawberry
Festival, gets under way tonight with carnival rides in Pungo from 5
to 10 p.m. and a jazz concert with the Jae Sinnett Trio at 7 p.m. at
the 24th Street Park at the Oceanfront.
Saturday and Sunday the fun takes place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in
the heart of downtown Pungo along Princess Anne Road. The carnival
offers unlimited rides for $8 Friday evening. On Saturday and Sunday
ride tickets will be $1 to $2 apiece.
The parade will be at 11 a.m. Saturday. ``Kiddie Letter'' for
kids 6 to 10 is a contest for children to find as many American
English words as possible in the word strawberry. Entries must be in
by 3 p.m Sunday. A $100 savings bond will be awarded.
A 1 mile run will begin at 8 a.m. Sunday. A 5K run begins at 9.
Throughout the weekend there will also be music, more than 100
arts and crafts displays, clowns, a petting zoo, Civil War
encampment, military displays, country fair and more.
A variety of activities are scheduled for the festival's three
stages.
SATURDAY:
Strawberry Stage
10:15 a.m., opening ceremony.
1 p.m., Johnson and Wales Strawberry Cook Off.
1:45 p.m., awards presentations.
2 p.m., pie eating contest.
3 p.m., River's Crossing (all women's barber shop singing group).
4:30 p.m., Bobby the Clown.
5:30 p.m., Magic By Dan.
Pungo Stage
9:30 a.m., Two Can Jam (variety).
noon, Rawhide and Roses (line dancing).
12:15 p.m., Flatland Cloggers.
1:45 p.m., Hotcakes (top 40/oldies).
3:30 p.m., Undercover (top 40/oldies).
5:30 p.m., The Tina Sinnen Band (top 40's/oldies).
Virginia Beach Stage
9:30 a.m., Tangent (bluegrass).
12:15 p.m., Greater Metro Pungo String Band (bluegrass).
1:30 p.m., Crossroads (country and western).
2:45 p.m., Rawhide and Roses (line dancing).
3 p.m., Chesapeake Bay Cloggers.
4 p.m., Last Call Band (country and western).
5:15 p.m., Slick Nickel (country and western).
SUNDAY:
Strawberry Stage
noon, Hunkey Dorey & Okie Dokey (clowns).
1 p.m., Geddy the Gecko (children's character).
2 p.m., Bobby the Clown.
3 p.m., Dragon Force Karate.
4 p.m., Magic By Dan.
5 p.m., Tim Noland (juggler).
Pungo Stage
9 a.m., The Joys (gospel).
10 a.m., Old Time Gospel Singers.
11 a.m., London Aires (gospel).
12:30 p.m., Danny and The Del Notes (oldies).
2 p.m., Shades of Country from Dunk's Theater (country).
2:45 p.m., Troy Hedspeth (country and western).
4 p.m., Wildfire (country and western).
5:45 p.m., Lennon and McCartney. (The 60s beat).
Virginia Beach Stage
9:45 a.m., Dixie Coast Bluegrass (bluegrass).
11 a.m., Solid Rock (gospel).
12:15 p.m., Bob Glass Review (variety).
3 p.m., Boot Leg Band (country and western).
4:45 p.m., Dazzlin Image Cloggers.
6 p.m., Driver (country and western). by CNB