Here’s the story behind Parkesdale Market’s famous Plant City strawberry shortcakes

PLANT CITY — Perched on a strawberry-shaped throne in the shaded greenhouse of Parkesdale Farm Market, Helen Parke smiled for a photo. She’d worn her finest berry bling during her visit to the family business: red strawberry earrings and a shiny strawberry pendant. Berry stickers danced up and down her cane.

Ruby fringe hung from the rafters, dangling over picnic tables filled with customers chowing off plastic lunch trays. Most chose strawberry shortcakes, spooning the plume of whipped cream before it melted. Many of them knew Helen.

At 97, Helen is the matriarch of her family’s strawberry kingdom. Or, as some locals call her simply, “Mrs. Parkesdale.”

Thousands make the pilgrimage to Plant City during strawberry season to eat her family’s legacy: strawberry shortcake piled high. From January to the end of March (and if the weather cooperates, April) they line up to taste it at Parkesdale Farm Market at 3702 W Baker St. — part garden center, part produce market and part ice cream shop.

Helen has long passed the reins over. But she’s still always down for a bowl of berries and a bit of reminiscing.

Here’s where the tasty tradition came from.

A sweet start

Today, Parkesdale Farms is a bustling operation, with workers picking thousands of flats of strawberries each day during the season’s peak. Most are shipped out to stores like Walmart, HEB, Costco or Kroger. But a few hundred flats head to Parkesdale Farm Market daily.

The breezy, open-air building slings milkshakes year-round, plus fresh produce, jams and hot sauces. Fruity offerings, like banana shakes, pineapple Dole Whips and strawberry shortcake, rotate on the menu to match the growing season. The mulched greenhouse is stocked with hanging plants, orchids and garden decor — plus plenty of tables where folks sit and enjoy a treat.

Six decades ago, it all started with Helen and her husband, Robert “Roy” Parke.

Roy’s father, a dairy farmer from Northern Ireland, moved his family to the United States in the early 1920s. After serving in World War II, Roy followed in his family’s farming footsteps in Pennsylvania. By the ′50s, he and his wife, Helen, moved part of their farm operation to Plant City. They started with 10 acres of strawberries.

Most of the berries they grew were sent away from Plant City to be sold. Whatever didn’t fit in the shipments out was loaded onto the back of Roy’s truck. He peddled the leftovers on the side of the road, hand-painting signs that advertised the day’s offerings.

The Parke family grew onions, squash, cherry tomatoes, citrus and, of course, strawberries. In the ′60s, Parkesdale Farm Market was born, a humble farm stand that was a quarter of the size it is today.

As the farm grew, Roy continued to work in the fields. According to his 2008 obituary in the Lakeland Ledger, he was a pioneer who advocated both for Florida growers and for research on local farming. He was also a longtime director of the Florida Strawberry Festival, serving for numerous years as president and traveling to Las Vegas and Nashville to scout for entertainers.

Their Florida home had red carpet, a red truck and a strawberry-patterned couch, Helen remembered. Friends frequently gifted berry-themed housewares, from sugar bowls and cookie jars to cake pans and cutlery. Even their swimming pool was strawberry shaped.

“My husband said buy anything you want, as long as it’s strawberry,” Helen said.

She only said no when Roy asked for red drapes.

“You have to draw the line somewhere,” Helen said. “It was a little much, but he was happy.”

The second generation grows the business

Each of Helen and Roy’s five kids played a role in expanding the Parkesdale empire.

Bobby and Gary oversaw the Parkesdale Farm growing operation.

Colleen ran several greenhouses, nurturing vegetable seedlings, plus plants and flowers to sell at the market and wholesale.

Sandee oversaw the Parkesdale Motel (now closed) and served as director and president of the Florida Strawberry Festival.

Cheryl and her husband, Jim, took over the Parkesdale Farm Market in 1978. Under their tenure, the simple stand blossomed into the sweet sensation it is today.

Back then, the market was seasonal, their son, Jimmy Meeks, said.

“Dad would get up at 4 a.m., drive to Vero Beach in a little pickup truck, load it up full of oranges and drive back to unload it,” he remembered. “Then he’d drive into the Tampa wholesale market to pick up stuff we didn’t grow — lettuce, apples — and bring those back to unload and be ready to open by 9 a.m.”

Jim and Cheryl were the ones who turned the seasonal market into a year-round business. They’re also the ones you can thank for buying an ice cream machine to start churning out milkshakes and sundaes.

Jim did all the jobs they couldn’t afford to hire out, working as a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician. Cheryl puttered around constantly, stopping to clean things that already looked clean. She greeted customers, remembering even the names of people who only came once a year. And she prettied the place up, creating a lush and photogenic market with colorful hanging plants.

“She was all about making it a place where people want to come, and even if they didn’t buy anything, they’d still have a good time,” Jimmy said.

Parkesdale Farm Market wasn’t the only roadside produce stand then. But the family’s strawberry milkshakes — and later, strawberry shortcakes — helped the business stand out.

Eventually, even Food Network would take notice of the strawberry milkshake, naming Parkesdale’s the best drinkable dessert, and second overall dessert in the country.

As for the strawberry shortcakes?

A local woman used to buy berries from the market and sell shortcakes across the street. When she retired, the Parke family put strawberry shortcake on the menu.

“That’s when people started coming from farther and farther away,” Jimmy said. “Word of mouth spread. We’ve only ever advertised in local magazines and newspapers.”

The key, Helen said, is the base: a dense brick of cake, slathered in a cup of sweetened, sliced berries and topped with a mountain of whipped cream.

“When you think of shortcake you think angel food cake,” said Xiomara Meeks, Jimmy’s wife. “Some people think of biscuits. Our cake is the best of both worlds. It has to be a little bit dry, so when you put the strawberry [in], it takes up the juice from the berries.”

To achieve the signature whipped cream swirl, workers rip through a 7-quart tank of whipped cream every 10 minutes.

Some years during the festival, the market would have guests arrive by the busload. Folks have been known to line up in the sun, 250 or more people deep.

“We were running the ovens 24 hours a day and we still couldn’t keep up with the demand,” Jimmy said.

Parkesdale Farm Market also became known as a popular place for politicians to stop.

“Anyone that came here won. That’s just the way it was,” Jimmy said. “The only time that didn’t work out is the one year that both sides came...John McCain and Obama in the same cycle.”

The third and fourth generations preserve the legacy

Jimmy Meeks grew up in a house next door, earning a quarter a day as a kid picking weeds and raking the sawdust that once lined the floor of the market.

“It had to be a zen garden when I was done,” said Jimmy, now 50. “Until the first person walked through.”

As he grew, he learned how to do every job they had: being a cashier, stocking the shelves, bagging citrus, washing dishes and spinning milkshakes. After sampling thousands of berries, he learned how to pick out the sweetest ones just by examining the color and markings on the fruit.

“Every single day was here at the market,” he said.

After graduating from college, he moved to South Florida for a job and ended up meeting his wife, Xiomara. He was far from the family business until 2008, when his parents asked if he wanted to help run the market.

The plan was for Jim and Cheryl to work one final year. They’d coach Jimmy and Xiomara, then retire.

“After we came back and did most of the heavy lifting, they didn’t have to get up too early to work so hard. They didn’t have to stay too late,” Jimmy said. “It wound up being 12 years before they actually were really ready to retire after that.”

Cheryl passed in 2015, with Jim following in 2018. Jimmy and Xiomara have carried on their legacy. Xiomara is often behind the counter, but she also handles bills, market purchasing and buying. Jimmy is in charge of produce, plus IT and “anything that breaks.” Their two daughters, now 14 and 16, have started stocking shelves and answering phones.

“Mom and Dad were really the ones you want to credit for making the market what it is today,” Jimmy said. “We haven’t changed much. We’ve built off their ideas.”

Helen, long retired, still visits the Parkesdale Farm Market once a week or so. She misses it.

That morning, she gazed out at the shoppers, watching the hustle and bustle proudly.

“It’s not work,” Helen said. “It’s a pleasure.”

If you go

Parkesdale Farm Market is located at 3702 W Baker St. in Plant City. From November to April, it is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. From April through October, the market is open Wednesday to Sunday from 9 to 6 p.m.

The dessert menu changes seasonally, with strawberry shortcakes available January through the end of March, with occasional offerings through April. Check parkesdale.com or facebook.com/Parkesdale for more information.