Plant City, FL and Parksdale Strawberry Shortcake

Plant City, Florida is just south of Interstate 4 and not very far east of Tampa. The city is called the Winter Strawberry Capitol of the US. Even the water tower looks like a giant strawberry.

When we arrived in FL in mid Feb. 2009 harvest was in full swing. They are huge, juicy. full-flavored strawberries, that you could get ill from eating so many.

It is very interesting how they are grown. The beds are raised so the fruit never touches the ground.

http://www.flstrawberryfestival.com/

In March the city hosts the Strawberry Festival – much like a large county fair or small state fair. There were lots of booths, entertainment and food. Most all of them featured strawberries in one form or another.

On the western outskirts of the city is Parksdale Nursery. It is a regular nursery & farm stand selling all sorts of local plants, flowers, trees plus fruits & veggies.

But what makes them unique is during the season they serve humongous strawberry shortcakes. The wait on a Sunday afternoon was about 30 minutes, but the line moved pretty fast! There is a large patio type area with tables where those who want to indulge can sit and enjoy. Under all the whip cream is a little cake, ice cream and tons of strawberries.

The large map of the US has pins in it where visitors have come from. Gene marked Belen, NM and I pinned Los Lunas, NM. Other parts of the map were packed with pins so we tagged where we lived the longest.

And of course there is a large gift shop with all sorts of Florida gifts and souvenirs including these giant strawberry pinatas.

Since the citrus is in season at the same time there are bins and bins of freshly picked oranges, lemons and grapefruits that they will gladly ship.

Anyone visiting anyplace nearby in Feb. and March need to visit and have a shortcake and take home some of the wonderful fruit. You will see us there again, for sure.