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The city of Troy, Ohio, holds a festival every year to celebrate its status as the biggest strawberry patch east of the Mississippi River. It is held on the first weekend in June. It started small in 1977 and this year almost 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the festival.
Festival Hours & Events
- Saturday, June 3, 2023 – 10 am to 9 pm
- Sunday, June 4, 2023 – 10 am to 6 pm
And, while the Strawberry Festival doesn’t begin until Saturday morning, the hometown celebration of everything strawberry begins on Friday night, from 5 pm to 9 pm. The locals call this celebration the Strawberry Jam.
A ribbon cutting kicks off the festivities followed by the dying of the city fountain. Next will be a concert on Prouty Plaza with Shay Hayden and The Growlers Band. Activities for kids include a Big Wheel Race and the Children’s Berry Shuttle Run & Dash.
The festival will take place in Troy’s historic downtown district along the Great Miami River. Have fun in the sun and enjoy strawberries.
The ever popular pie eating contest will be held at 12:30 pm on Saturday on the Lower Levee. Guess what kind of pie will be eaten.
Royalty will be there in the form of 2023 Strawberry Festival Queen Caroline Kaibas and her attendants Landry Niles and Kristin Sedam. The Little Miss and Mister Strawberry pageant will be held on Saturday. It’s open to children, ages 4 to 6, and they’re judged on personality and their original strawberry costume.
There will be more than 100 Arts & Crafts Vendors at the Strawberry Festival. All items for sale must be made by hand. This makes for a wonderful shopping experience. Great Food and Beverage Vendors will also be present.
Other festival events include
- Tennis Shoot Out
- 5k & 10k races
- Cruise-In
- Plenty of Strawberries
Live Entertainment
There will be live entertainment on 3 stages. Performers include
- Mike Hemmelgren – Ventriloquist
- Ryan Mundy Band – Country
- Step Latter – Rock
- Belly Dancing Body Fitness
- Honey & Blues – R&B, Soul
- Five Points Cloggers
- Driving Force – Classic Rock
- DVS – Classic Rock
- Pilates with Cathy
- Jerry Mullins – Classic Rock
- TOUCH – Motown
- Chad Cremeans – Country
- Pat Buzzard – Classic Rock, Country
- Cardio Drumming
- Kung Fu/F/tai/chi
- McGovern Irish Dancers
Strawberry Recipes
If you enjoyed the strawberry creations at the festival and would like to learn more recipes with strawberries, try these cookbooks. And use our links to see how you can save money on them.
- Strawberries: 50 Tried & True Recipes
- Scrumptious Strawberry Recipes: The Cookbook That Take Strawberries to Another Level by Heston Brown
- Hello! 350 Strawberry Dessert Recipes by Mr. Dessert
Troy Hotels
Troy, Ohio, is within 24 miles of Beavercreek, Dayton, Springfield, Piqua, Tipp City and Kettering. It is 64 miles from Columbus, 67 miles from Cincinnati and 87 miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
If you’d like to visit Troy for the Strawberry Festival, you should consider the following hotels. They are offering discounted rates that can save you money on your stay.
- Comfort Inn Dayton – Huber Heights 18% Discount
- Quality Inn Main Street 15% Discount
- Comfort Inn & Suites Main Street 15% Discount
- Comfort Suites Troy 15% Discount
- Clarion Inn Dayton Airport 14% Discount
- Comfort Inn & Suites Weller 6% Discount
- Comfort Inn & Suites Piqua – Troy 6% Discount
