New history center highlights Queens through the years at 89th Florida Strawberry Festival

PLANT CITY, Fla. - The 89th Florida Strawberry Festival begins Thursday and there will be all of the traditional food and entertainment to enjoy, but there's a new feature this year that highlights the festival's great history.

"Last year, we had a record-breaking year," said Stephanie Shuff, the festival's Chairman of Parking. "We had over 600,000 people in attendance."

Agriculture is the backbone, but so are the many volunteers who work tirelessly to bring the festival to life.

"This festival - it wouldn't run as smooth as it does without thousands of volunteers that we have," explained Shuff.

Shuff is one of those volunteers. The day before the event can be hectic and exhausting.

READ: Inside Plant City’s Wish Farms warehouse during strawberry season

"You're almost on a high the whole time because you are walking around on so much adrenaline, and it's joyful because it's a family reunion every year," said Shuff. "Getting together with these people and seeing familiar faces."

New this year is the history center which is in the old National Guard armory building and showcases past performers like Taylor Swift, and the Queens through the decades.

READ: Celebrating the Strawberry: Plant City church celebrates 50 years with Florida Strawberry Festival

"The fair has been here since the 1930s, so we have just an abundance of artifacts and history items," said Danny Coton, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "People like to come and see their family members and look, there's my teacher from 1990 or whatever. I'm happy this turned out very well."

Once the festival is over, then planning for next year begins all over again.

"People in our offices work year round to try and make this better year after year," said Shuff.

The festival is an 11-day event. It starts Thursday, Feb. 29 and lasts until March 10.

There's also a new app called the Florida Strawberry Festival which you can download to help you navigate the grounds.

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