A 'berry' good time
Jun. 13—GROVE CITY — People of all ages celebrated Grove City's kickoff to summer with Grove City Strawberry Days.
The 32nd annual festival opened Friday morning at Grove City Memorial Park, where crowds gathered to hear music, check out vendors, play games, and enjoy food synonymous with summer — hot dogs, burgers, ice cream, fries, kettle corn, shaved ice and more.
"I usually do really well here," Connie Morrison said as she crocheted a bright yellow Woodstock from the Peanuts comic strip.
The Franklin woman, who owns Connie's Creations, also sold sweaters, hats and diaper covers.
Other offerings include jewelry, pet treats, home decor, honey, plants, toys, candles and artwork.
Heidi Wirtner, The Fishing Artist, was selling colorful pieces of artwork that are inspired by her love of fishing and efforts to protect the waterways.
"I really love to show my passion for fishing," the Emlenton woman said.
Lisa Blom was running a game where visitors tried to toss coins into a variety of drinking glasses.
The glasses are the prize for sinking a coin; organizers went thrift-store shopping for the glasses and had support from other nonprofits.
"All Good Things helped us and Twice Blessed," Blom said of the two charity thrift shops.
Proceeds benefit Aldon's Army, named for Blom's grandson Aldon, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 3 from DIPG — diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, an aggressive malignant brain tumor-related illness that primarily affects children and is almost always fatal.
Aldon's Army recently secured nonprofit status, and they've already been able to send money to other DIPG families, she said.
Nearby in the Shortcake Patch for kids, lines formed for face painting, rock painting and sand art, but the longest queue was the one in front of Sarah's Amish donuts.
The food booths also saw steady business; those vendors are nonprofits, and each one offers something different.
And the festival wouldn't be complete without its namesake strawberries. There are strawberry floats, shortcake, flavored kettle corn, strawberry pretzel salad and quarts of the fruit.
Members of Grove City Midget Football were selling strawberries plus raffle tickets for two kayaks, and proceeds from the festival help pay for football equipment and related expenses, said Teresa McLaughlin, who was working alongside her son Conar.
Midget football officials expected to run out of berries quickly since the weather has been too dry for good crops, Heather Blanchard said as she unloaded containers of the fruit.
The group had 117 quarts on Friday and were hoping to get 60 more quarts Saturday.
But regardless, the fun and activities carried on all weekend, berries or not.
