Strawberry Festival — ‘part festival, part community reunion’ – set for June 3-4

by Judith Hruz

Editor

Sandy Spring Museum will hold its beloved two-day summer celebration — the 41st Annual Strawberry Festival — June 3 and 4 on the grounds of the museum.

Activities will include live performances on two stages (included in the admission cost); over 15 food trucks from French crepes to Middle Eastern cuisine; all-day activities for children and families, including pony rides, petting zoo, carnival games, giant slides and more; local craft beer, wine and bourbon; raffles; 40-plus artisans, and the star of the show, strawberries.

What started as a volunteer-run small gathering in 1982 has expanded into a vibrant, two-day festival, attended by 15,000 people and embraced by the Olney-Sandy Spring community and beyond.

New this year is a set of collaborations with two of county’s craft beverage makers: True Respite Brewing Company and Twin Valley Distillers.

Twin Valley Distillers has created The Spring, a private-label, single-cask straight bourbon whiskey, aged three-years in American white oak and hand-selected by the museum. The new bourbon pays homage to the natural spring discovered over 320 years ago less than three-quarters of a mile from where the museum sits today.

Sandy Spring Museum Front Porch is a strawberry wheat beer created by the brew masters at True Respite Brewing Company. Front Porch will only be available at the Strawberry Festival, as carry out or on tap.

“The Strawberry Festival is part festival, part community reunion. It’s amazing that an event this large still feels like an old-fashioned small-town party,” says Allison Weiss, the museum’s executive director. “This year’s festival is gearing up to be better than ever, with some new activities, craft vendors and performers.”

General admission to the festival is $5. Family tickets for up to six people are available for $20, as well as unlimited play wristbands for $15 and Family Fun Packs for $50. All tickets are valid for one day.

The festival will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 3 and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 4.

For more, visit https://www.sandyspringmuseum.org/programs-and-events/strawberry-festival/.