Message: The Florida Strawberry Festival is an annual event that takes place in Plant City, Florida. It was started in 1929 by the local Lions Club, after several attempts by locals in the previous 20 years to promote the local strawberry crop. The festival lasts 11 days, and generates an attendance of about half a million patrons from all over Central Florida and other global nations. The festival is a venue for flea market-style craft and item sales, various free entertainment acts/events, a very large midway, plus twice-daily "big name" musical concert performances. Tickets are required for these concerts, but there is free stadium seating provided at most on a first come basis. The festival is also known for its famous St. Clement Catholic Church's "Make Your Own" Strawberry Shortcake. Every year a parade is held in the festivals honor and features Plant City's Person Of the Year award. The festival has livestock activities in conjunction with the local 4-H club. The festival also has a beauty pageant, with the coronation of a Strawberry Queen. The beauty pageant is well described in "The Strawberry Girls" by Anne Hull, which appeared in the New Yorker magazine, August 11 & 18, 2008.