Strawberry Fest Vendors Unveil Foods Made With Festival's Fruity Star

PLANT CITY, FL — As the Florida Strawberry Festival heads into its final weekend, don't miss the opportunity to try the festival's newest wacky and tasty food concoctions.

One of the festival's hits is the Plant City High School Raider Regiment's Strawberry Cheesecake Waffle Taco. A made-from-scratch waffle taco shell is loaded with cheesecake, strawberries, whipped cream, graham crackers and finished with a fresh strawberry. You can find the Raider Regiment booth in the Stadium Exhibit Hall by the GT Grandstands.

Anything that has fresh strawberries in the recipe is bound to be a hit at the Strawberry fest.

This includes Sandy Ann's Old-Fashioned Fried Pies. These light and flaky hand pies come with a variety of filling choices but, no surprise, strawberries and cream is the most popular. Sandy Ann’s is located by the Stingray Chevrolet.

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Fain's Concessions has created the Very Berry Sugar Waffle, a strawberry-flavored sugar waffle dusted with powdered sugar and topped with a heaping mound of fresh strawberry filling, whipped cream and a fresh, sweet strawberry. Fain's Concessions is located on the south side of the festival grounds.

Moose Joose has a winner with its Strawberry Cheesecake Slush, a frozen strawberry slush topped with a slice of cheesecake, whipped cream and sweet strawberry drizzle. Moose Juice is located on the east side of the Tampa Electric Expo Hall.

A&M Concessions is offering up its new Mrs. E's Strawberry Freeze, a strawberry-flavored snowball with condensed milk, whipped cream and a chocolate-dipped strawberry. A&M Concessions can be found on Edwards Street.

Also getting a thumbs up from foodies is The Piggy Palace's Mac Stack featuring a hunk of sweet cornbread piled high with slow-roasted pulled pork, mac-n-cheese with barbecue beans, tangy coleslaw and drizzled with barbecue sauce. You can find Piggy Palace on the south side of the festival grounds outside the Parke Exhibit Building.

Best Around Concessions has brought a bit of Hungary to the festival with its Langos Ear, made with a garlic butter elephant ear batter and topped with a homemade cream cheese and sour cream blend, and sprinkled with bacon crumbles. Best Around Concessions is located on the north side of the Entenmann's Strawberry Tent.

Seasoned Green, offering vegan foods, has introduced its take on the oyster po' boy. The Fried Oyster-Mushroom Po' Boy stars a variety of mushrooms topped with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and remoulade sauce sandwiched inside a toasted bun. You can find Seasoned Green on the west side of the GT Grandstands.

And Portillo's is on-site this year with the Portillo's Beef Bus, serving up Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef. You can find the Portillo's Beef Bus on Southern Ford Dealers Lane.

The Florida Strawberry Festival at the festival fairgrounds in Plant City continues through Sunday, March 12.

Headline entertainment still to come includes

• Sawyer Brown on Saturday, March 11, at 3:30 p.m.
• The Isley Brothers on Saturday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m.
• The Leroy Van Dyke Country Gold Tour, featuring Leroy Van Dyke, T.G. Sheppard, Mandy Barnett and T. Graham Brown on Sunday, March 12, at 3:30 p.m.
• Lynyrd Skynyrd on Sunday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m.

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Festival goers can also take advantage of special discount days that are coming up:

• Saturday, March 11 is Farm Worker Appreciation Day — Farmworkers receive free admission with a voucher from Astin Farms. Present a Circle K register receipt and receive $5 off the $35 wristband and ride most mechanical rides for $30 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Sunday, March 12 is Family Day from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. — Present any empty Coca-Cola brand can or plastic bottle product at the entry gate to receive a voucher for $5 off the $30 wristband and ride most mechanical rides from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. for $25.