Let's say good morning now too. Strawberry farmer Glenn Hasegawa, Good.
Morning, Glenn, good morning.
We are thrilled to talk to you because there's something very sweet coming to the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
Yeah, definitely. We have the twenty twenty five California Strawberry Festival. Tell us a little bit fairgrounds, and it's basically right on the beach.
Oh it's on the beach or next to the beach.
Yeah, on the beach. A great location.
I love this. So for somebody who has not been to the California Strawberry Festival, I know we drove out there last year and visited and got to do a little tasting, which was delicious. But if somebody hasn't been to the Strawberry Festival before, what can they expect?
Pretty much everything strawberries, Yeah, all kinds of strawberry related foods, lots of attractions for the kids, and lots of strawberry related displays. Just pretty much everything to do with strawberries.
Okay, but it's not just strawberries. You have like arts and crafts vendors and stuff too.
Yeah, there are some mars and crafts vendors also, and a lot of different types of foods, okay.
And there's carnival rides and it's that's a whole festival. So it's fun for the whole family exactly.
Yeah, it's a great family related festival.
Okay. And then Glenn tell us because we have this strawberry festival, and that's because strawberries are a big deal in California. Like, how many strawberries are grown in California year? Like, what's the crop worth?
Wow, as far as Ventura County goes, it's the Actually, it's the biggest crop grown in Ventura County. I think there's almost seven hundred million dollars worth of strawberries and just in Dentuer County alone. And yeah, so I like to think that Venture County is not the largest growing strawberry grown area, but I think we have the best strawberries here.
Okay. So Glenn, you're you're an actual grower of strawberries.
Yes, yeah, I actually I'm a third generation strawberry grower. My grandfather was a grower, my father and now I'm also doing it.
I love that. And what makes Ventura County so great for growing strawberries.
We just have a combination of great weather really good soil. Strawberries really like moderate temperatures. They don't like it too cold, and they don't like it too hot. And with ventur County being so close to the ocean, the ocean really moderates the temperature. So strawberries love it.
Love it. Okay. So when is the Strawberry Festival, because it's coming up this weekend?
Right exactly, it's this weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
Okay, And it's at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. I know that when we talked last year, there was limited parking on site. So where do people go to find out information on where's best to park and how to get to the festival.
Yeah, there's there's many. They have shuttle setters shuttle service setup and they can go to www. Kyleca Strawberry Festival dot org. Okay.
And you can also get the tickets there or at the gate.
Yeah, you can purchase tickets there both at the gate and also it's online okay.
And most importantly, can I buy strawberries and take them home with me? Oh?
Yeah, we'll be there. There's there's three of us growers and we're gonna have plenty of strawberries. For everybody. The heat that we had last week really kicked up the crop for us, and it really tastes good right now. So there definitely be plenty of strawberries to buy there.
I love that. Okay, it's a thirty ninth annual California Strawberry Festival happening this Saturday and Sunday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Glenn Hasagawa, thank you so much. I hope you have a super successful strawberry festival.
Great. We hope to see everybody there all right.
Thanks