Garden Grove Strawberry Festival

I had to go for myslef even against all the negative reviews but people were not joking around when they posted that this is not a strawberry festival. It’s more of local fair that you see pop up here and there in various city’s from time to time. I didn’t see a whole lot of commotion over strawberries. Maybe at one point this was more dedicated to its name because I did see an older woman walking to the event in her strawberry influenced dress. She appeared to be following an old tradition because she walked a ways to get to the event. I had seen her earlier walking when I was looking for parking and then later dancing away to the band’s playing at the event. Don’t make a big deal of it but the parking is an issue (I parked at home depot by the side where the garden area and walked over). Plus if you have little ones make sure you cover them because as your walking around there’s a lot of dust with debris flying around since it’s mostly a dirt field.

Cute, energetic fair. Rides & carnival games & strawberries with whipped cream. Very crowded since it’s packed into a small park. But a fun, brief time.

Back when my sister was 10, she told my dad she wanted to be parade-​leading Sprinkles the Strawberry Clown so that she assumably would only have to work one day a year. My dad, a fishing, east coast ex-​Marine, died a little.
If I am not busy on Memorial Day weekend I might come by every four years or so, but currently it’s more of a STOP BY than an EVENT A former Garden Grove resident, I went maybe every other year for the parade as an adolescent, and into my 20’s I would go mainly for the Zipper ride… until I no longer fit. Now I need to be unzipped.

Great family outing, and outstanding strawberry shortcakes. If you have kids it is well worth the $ 25 wrist band for unlimited rides.

Nothing here. This seemed more like a carnival/​fair than a strawberry festival. There were rides, booths that sold random goods. And no more than 4 booths sold strawberry-​related things. Got a strawberry shortcake… wasn’t great. One star for the strawberries I bought for $ 7 (3 small boxes)…they were the sweetest strawberries I have ever eaten. I would probably just come here to buy strawberries… but you can do that elsewhere too…

Don’t.
Just don’t.
I heard about this festival a few times over the years. I somewhat wanted to check it out, but I usually forgot about it. I really thought it was a REAL festival like those ones you see on the food shows where bbq festivals have bbq food, berry festivals have berry foods and creations, and so on.
Not so much here…
My friend mentioned that she wanted to go check it out. She had not gone in about six years. I figured why not, until I started seeing reviews, and some from friends. All one or two stars, some went from five stars to one star in a year’s time. Parking sucks, no berries to be found. Just questionable carnival rides. I mentioned this to her the day of and she said I did not have to go if I did not want to. Well, being a good friend, I was not going to flake on her the day of even with these warning signs from these reviews. She mentioned just going and if the parking is too bad we could get lunch earlier. Okay.
Parking was not as bad as expected if you went down Acacia past the credit union. There were actually quite a few spots. Don’t bother with residential areas. They even have «guards» out to check on you and confirm your identity to proceed through. Just observing the mass crowds of people walking down the street made me groan. Then they had to have the religious preachers out with their black and yellow signs telling you what Jesus did for us and yelling out their megaphones and one with a speaker saying it for him as he held his sign. That one is even creepier with the monotonous voice that yells out that thing. I will believe in and do what I feel. Even if you agree and are the same religion as me, it irks me to no end to have It preached to me.
Once walking down the street and through the speakers and church lot and onto the festival we were in. Yes, it’s free to go in. Most of it was walking down TINY aisles of booths that reminded me of a ghetto swap meet. People bugging you constantly with the exception of a few who just said «hello». Once through that mess, it was rides upon rides. Questionable rides, and mostly kid rides. Where were the strawberries? Oh, at the very front. Cash only, with a few options such as shortcake, plain, whipped cream on top, and whatever other two or three options they had.
My friend finally got a hold of the strawberry shortcake that she was craving, and ended up disappointed. She swore it was better years ago, and based off old opinions, it seems like it was. Too bad it got really cheap and thoughtless years later!
I would like to see a REAL festival near us. The only one I know off offhand that I would like to check out is the garlic festival, but that is way in Gilroy!

I only come here for the strawberry shortcakes and this year the quality of it went down hill!
The strawberries didnt even taste fresh
The shortcake bread was hard
The ice cream wasnt even real ice cream and was some ice-​y yogurt fake ice cream.
So I paid $ 5 for parking and then $ 6 for the Supreme. Totally not worth it. Sad to say but this will be my last year coming to the Strawberry Festival. :(
They do have games and rides for the kids. Also booths that sale nuts, bracelets and random things.

Hardly any Strawberries at the Strawberry Festival. A bunch of local vendors selling random nicknacks. Typical overpriced carnival rides for 5 tickets ($ 1/​ticket). Several other food vendors supporting local schools and organizations, and a couple other junk food vendors selling corn dogs and burgers. It’s located in a Church’s parking lot and small park.
There may have been strawberries in Garden Grove years and years ago, but don’t expect to find any here. They do sell strawberry shortcakes, funnel cakes, and lemondade, but that’s about it. The good thing about it is that entrance is free and it’s a good way to spend the day walking around and looking at the different vendors. Also good for the kids if you don’t mind spending some cash.
There are a good number of police officers walking around, so it seems safe. There’s parking across the street at the city hall and police station, but majority of parking is on the street. We parked about 3 blocks away…

I’ve been going to the Strawberry Festival for 2 decades now ever since I was 5. Growing up in Garden Grove this is the festival to go to and as a kid it was quite fun. As I got older this festival became less fun and more crowded. Parking is really bad and the amount of strawberries featured at the festival have become minimal but of course that is due to weather conditions and droughts. There is a flea market that sells various things and that seems to be the main feature here now. As a kid I remember the aroma of strawberries filling the air, but now its almost absent. The few rides don’t intrigue me but the games are decent enough. I try to come early when they first open to avoid the large crowds.
The festival itself is a representation of community. I love how it brings Garden Grove as a community together. Despite how the festival has decline in recent years this is still an event I try to go to annually. The one thing you must get when you are here is The Supreme. Its absolutely delicious and remains one of the few strawberry treats left. As a matter of fact it probably is the ONLY strawberry treat here.
Overall, the festival is something that needs to be experience once. I go every year but try not to stay too long. The routine is to just pick up The Supreme, walk around and finish it, then leave. I just come through for the nostalgia.

We just got kicked out because our dog was too big and she might bite. She’s a cane corso Italian mastiff who was attached to my hip and ten minutes into walking around we get the boot. We called and looked all over the website and there were no rules regarding certain dog sizes being allowed. Horrible place

Horrible! All it is, is a mini fare great for kids. The strawberry anything we found was the funnel cake. And the line was LONG. We walked away from the festival found a café that sold funnel cakes. Also there wasn’t many choices on food we also ate away from the festival walking distance. The strawberry festival admission and parky is free for a reason.

Have you ever wanted to go to an event jam-​packed with strawberries?
Wonder what it would be like if you attended one?
Fear NOT! Because I shall save you some time and tell you that THIS IS NOT an event that you would expect, given the name of the event. In the midst of the rigged carnival games and expensive high-​caloric desserts, there are numerous vendors selling anything but strawberry-​related items. As I walked around the festival, I probably saw only 2 – 3 vendors, out of the bajillion vendors out there, that sold products that matched the festival’s theme. For instance, I saw home depot tucked away in a corner of the festival… hmmmmmm…
Nevertheless, the festival itself isn’t bad. It ain’t the greatest thing in the world either. Think of it this way — essentially, the strawberry festival is a smaller version of the OC Fair. Instead, it is more local and accessible to citizens around the Garden Grove and Anaheim area.
Ultimately, I’d say to check the event it and see how it is for you. Your experiences may vary, but personally it just was not for me. The food was full of bull crap, the rides costing half an arm, and the limitless array of light stimuli that can over stimulate the average person.

We’ve been to many food festivals (Garlic, avocados, salsa, chili, corn, etc.).
Some are great about being mainly about the food, others are more of a community event with more of a carnival atmosphere.
This falls in with the latter.
This was a spur of the moment decision so it’s on us. We wouldn’t have made the trip down if we read the reviews. We usually do our homework beforehand and know what to expect.
Only 2 booths selling strawberries. Bought some of those beautiful berries.
No community-​run food booths or food trucks, but they had several trailers like those you’d find at county fairs. The kind selling $ 12 foot long corn dogs that have been sitting under lamps for who knows how long. Um, no.
There’s rides and games covering most of the festival area.
And a stage on the other end for musical entertainment later in the day.
The tented area was all crafted items, home improvement, gadgets and a few medical/​misc. info booths. We were in and out of that section quickly.
Just to find other ways to get some more walking and time in, we strolled around their Main Street and civic center areas.
Parking wasn’t a problem for us because we were there early and found a free spot in the civic center lot.
Other options are nearby paid lots or street parking.
Note: Dogs not allowed.
Expectations were not met. We thought it’d be more food-​focused.
But like I said, it’s our fault for not doing our due diligence beforehand.
If we had little kiddies, then it’d probably be a different review.
At least it got us out of the house for a bit and we also did some shopping out that way.

I attended the GG Strawberry Festival today and let’s just say there wasn’t really that mant strawberry foods to eat. I saw one funnel cake stand with a super long line and that was about it. There was more food like hot dogs, corn, etc than strawberries. They had the mcdonalds stand giving out free mini samples of strawberry lemonade which was nice. Other than that, my feet got super dirty from walking around in the dirt, parking wasn’t that great. It just was not what i was expecting. Lots of vendors it looked like a swap meet.

False Advertisement! It’s definitely not a strawberry festival. Do not bother going. Parking is ridiculous and there was only one strawberry stand which basically sold a bowl of strawberries w/​whipped cream. I could make that at home for less than the $ 6.25 they were charging. What a disappointment!

Where the heck were the strawberries? Biggest joke. This was a flea market in disguise. Two places out of about 100 vendors had strawberries. With addition of the carnival rides, fair food vendors and midway games. Be forewarned this was not at all a strawberry Festival.

Just awful! Spend this money at Disney! I didn’t even see a strawberry, lol! After 20 minutes, we left. Rough crowd…

That’s it!!!
Took me 30mins to find parking and 20 mins to do a full lap. Afterwards, mom and I headed to Little Saigon to get some Vietnamese food to take home.
Where are the strawberry vendors??? I pictured in my mind Strawberry vendors selling all assorted items relating to strawberries. I saw maybe one food vendor selling a Strawberry dessert and that’s about it.
Pitiful and disappointing. Just your basic fair with vendors selling stuff other than strawberries with rides and games. Thank goodness this event is free.
Next time, I’ll just head to my local farmers market or supermarket for strawberries.

2014 Unilocal 365 CHALLENGE — ²¹⁶⁄₃₆₅
This Strawberry Festival is pitiful. I was excited because I thought it would be like one of the food festivals I’ve attended/​heard about that goes all out and has EVERYTHING and EVERY type of dish you could ever imagine with the featured ingredient, ie: Gilroy Garlic Festival, Stockton Asparagus Festival, etc. However, this Garden Grove Strawberry Festival was the COMPLETE OPPOSITE!
First of all, the parking here SUCKED. The location of the festival is not ideal and takes place in what THINK may be a church lot. It’s in a residential area and all of the immediate surrounding parking is blocked off for residents only. There’s a library across the street that had its own parking lot, but that was easily filled. I came here with my boyfriend and his family, and we parked pretty far away in some random parking lot of a senior citizen center down the street.
Like I said earlier, the festival takes place in a church lot, so it’s not really THAT big. It’s like a block festival. I was expecting it to be MUCH larger, with many more attractions, food booths, vendors, etc., but it wasn’t big at all! This festival could have easily passed for a typical cheap parking lot carnival that you see with those portable rides that always seem so sketchy to me… The festival was literally like 90% amusement park rides, and then like 5% food vendors and 5% clothing/​shopping vendors. It was SO strange. If you had passed by not knowing what it was, you would have NO indication that it was a STRAWBERRY festival. Literally the only thing I saw there that was related to strawberries was a booth that was selling strawberries covered with whipped cream, or strawberry shortcake. It was absolutely pitiful. I really like strawberries and was expecting on trying lots of different strawberry-​inspired dishes, but NO. Absolutely nothing!
This festival was a huge disappointment to me and my boyfriend’s family, and we ended up just walking straight through the festival and turned around and headed back to our car. I am SO glad that admission was free, because this festival totally sucked.
I’m sure there’s a legit strawberry festival somewhere else, but do NOT waste your time going to this one! It was absolutely terrible with just a large assortment of cheap, sketchy carnival rides!

Meh. Good for kids (games and rides) and to get your fix of fattening carnival foods.
Great that it’s free (unlike the oxnard one $ 12)
No fresh strawberries to buy???
Lackluster vendor stalls selling weird sometimes crappy stuff
The saving grace was the Supreme from Jobs Daughters truck. Soooooo GOOD. I wanted another one as soon as I inhaled the first one.
Nice to visit once but doubt I’ll be back