Strawberries Take Center Stage At 40th Annual California Strawberry Festival

For strawberry lovers, the 40th Annual California Strawberry Festival, May 16 and 17 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, was the place to be and was overflowing with families having fun tasting strawberry delights and enjoying the many exciting rides available at the very popular community event. Kudos to the army of wonderful volunteers who kept everything running smoothly.

This has been a long-time favorite event of mine and the 2026 California Strawberry Festival was one of the best I’ve experienced yet. The Ventura County Sheriff’s made getting to a parking place a pleasure, and I so enjoyed watching families getting face-painted ready for the annual strawberry festival parade, and dancing along behind the Oxnard High School Band, who were fantastic at setting the up-beat vibe on Saturday and Sunday. Last but not least, the weather God’s kindly smiled on the delicious strawberry tasting activities from beginning to end.

This year’s festival goers indulged in amazing treats like chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry-topped funnel cakes, strawberry pizza, strawberry nachos, deep-fried strawberries, strawberry tacos and strawberry beer, margaritas and smoothies.

Among the unique strawberry-themed desserts at Mama Carol’s Kitchen booth were sweet strawberry nachos, sweet strawberry tamales (featured in Woman’s Day magazine), Dubia chocolate and strawberry cups, and strawberry beignets. Carol Maldonado, owner of Mama Carol’s Kitchen, has been selling her creations at the festival for over 25 years.

“Our beignets were our biggest sellers last year,” says Maldonado, who has her family help out in her booth at the festival. “It’s always been a family event. We have regulars who stop by every year. We love to see so many happy people and reconnect.”

The Kabob Shack offered a combination of strawberry, banana and brownie kabobs, drizzled with milk and white chocolate. Over the course of the festival weekend, Kabob Shack goes through more than 100 pounds of chocolate and about 140 flats of fresh strawberries.

“My favorite part of the California Strawberry Festival is seeing the smiles and excitement when I hand someone one of our treats,” says Kabob Shack owner Stacia Mizukawa. “It means everything.”

Another festival favorite was the chocolate-dipped strawberries from the Oxnard Buddhist Temple. Two shifts of 30 volunteers dipped giant strawberries into melted Merkins chocolate. They then put the strawberries in cupcake holders and set them on racks to cool. The strawberries were sold individually and in three- and six-packs. The booth sold about 20,000 chocolate-dipped strawberries over the two-day festival. Oh, they were so huge, sweet and delicious!

Festival hours were 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. both days. I so enjoyed getting there early, finding a good parking space, and having time to enjoy all the delightful venues included on the helpful event map, as well as collecting give-a-ways like fresh kiwi fruits to snack on. I also found a new sun bonnet at the hat booth to enjoy while perusing the fairgrounds, and was impressed with the colorful local artist work of Yana Mikhaylova on display. Goddesscent, who creates individual perfume collections offered a real kick for the senses, and the personal journals made by Beca Piascik from hand made papers caught my writer’s eye. From everything strawberry to Mob Leather gorgeous designer handbags it was the perfect menu for a sensational day!

The VIP buffet luncheon was prepared and presented by Cabo Mexican Seafood Restaurant in Oxnard and it was spectacular looking and delicious down to the last bite, which included huge chocolate covered strawberries hand served by fun loving volunteers. I was pleased to learn from one of the volunteers that the event board are once again considering bringing back the strawberry recipe competition (a chef’s recipe cook-off on stage), which has been a huge draw in past years for area chefs and foodies, and several times I was lucky as an old food writer to be a judge to help select a winner.

General admission was $15, active military with ID and family and seniors 62 and over, $10, youth ages 5 to 12, $8, and children 4 and under were free.

A limited amount of parking was available onsite for $30 per vehicle, but festival-goers could use free shuttles which ran every 15 minutes to the festival from nearby locations in Oxnard and Ventura; with Metrolink and Amtrak’s Surf liner making regular stops throughout the festival weekend offering discounted fares. The train station is located steps from the fairgrounds which made it easy peasy for whole families to attend the festival.

For more news about the 40th festival, visit www.castrawberryfestival.org or follow the festival on Facebook and Instagram.