March 14, 1998
The 1998 Strawberry Festival is now history and attendance records were broken
this year! Almost one million people came through the gates during this
11-day festival and it was amazing how many were Gone With the Wind fans! The
festival (for 63 years now) takes place in Plant City, Florida, the Winter
Strawberry Capital of the World.
I have participated in the festival for the past three years with my GWTW booth. The booth, open for 13 hours each day, was a very popular place and was extremely crowded most of time. It is amazing how many people you can cram into a 12' x 12' booth, all talking 90 miles an hour on how much they love this wonderful book/movie!! Of course, there were also many people who bought items for their friends and relatives who collect GWTW.
The most popular item for this year's GWTW fans was the Rhett and Scarlett
afghan (cotton throw). I had ordered 27 afghans, thinking they would last the
11 days. Not. The festival opened on Thursday and by Saturday afternoon, I
none to sell. I had to reorder (f-a-s-t) and the second order of 28 afghans
only lasted 2 days! So, from Sunday through Thursday noon, I had none to
sell. I told you it was beautiful!
| The most popular item for the men, of course, were the bumper stickers and
hats saying "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a ____" and the ladies loved the
"I'll think about that tomorrow" bumper stickers. It is funny how such a
small item can bring so many comments.
A friend came by with his digital camera to take some photos, so I am sharing some with you. Don't look at me, just the booth. By the way, I was lucky enough to win the Manger's Award for the best overall-booth presentation (don't mean to brag but I was quite flattered). |
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For more information about the Florida Strawberry Festival, visit its homepage
at www.flstrawberryfestival.com.
