Buckhannon is the home of the West Virginia Strawberry Festival. I corralled a few friends to join me for the opening day and check out all the strawberry goodies.



The festival, held annually in the third week of May, began in 1936 as a way to honor strawberry growers, as per their website. The festival gave strawberry growers a place to sell their berries and the first one was one-day long and eventually grew into a full week. The festival continues to honor the strawberry growers from across West Virginia with a strawberry auction on Friday afternoon of the festival week.



Walking through the main streets, all the storefronts were covered in painted strawberries and strawberry artwork. Restaurants also had strawberry specials. I quickly learned that the very first day is not the most eventual, and other events begin throughout the week. They later opened a carnival, arts and crafts exhibits, quilt shows, photography shows and more.



There were a few vendors along the Main Street dishing out some strawberry goodies (though no fresh strawberries) and some street side entertainers.


A very cool festival - though I'll definitely go later in the week next time - and I was able to try a few new restaurants. Look for those soon :)