The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Strawberry Fest draws good crowds
Organizer says favorable weather, revisions to event played key roles
John Bodmer didn’t have to think long or hard in giving his critique of how the four-day Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival went this year.
“Fantastic,” said Bodmer, who serves as publicity chairman of the festival and secretary of Kirtland Kiwanis, which sponsors the annual event. He gave his assessment of the festival as it wrapped up on June 17 on the Kirtland Schools campus.
If anyone should be able to speak credibly about how a particular Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival has done in comparison to those in previous years, it would be Bodmer. He has been involved in carrying out the event for 42 years.
In 2018, the Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival marked its 59th year. Bodmer said this year’s event, which took place June 14-17, was blessed by nearly perfect weather, although it was “a little warm” on the festival’s final day.
“We had good crowds,” Bodmer said. “The festival did well on Friday and Saturday and set a record on Thursday.”
The all-time best performance on Thursday, which Bodmer said is based on record income, is noteworthy because that day typically
draws the lightest activity of the four-day festival.
This year, Kirtland Kiwanis made a significant change in the opening night schedule, holding a trivia contest instead of the traditional strawberry shortcake eating contest. Festival organizers wanted to do something different to entertain the audience, and the Kirtland High School Key Club conducted the trivia contest featuring four teams involving some wellknown people in the community.
Bodmer said the trivia contest got a good reception from those in attendance on June 14.
“It was especially well-received by the Kirtland Fire Department, which won the contest,” he said, noting that the champions defeated a team of Kirtland Schools teachers.
In the preliminary rounds of the contest, Kirtland firefighters triumphed over the Kirtland Police Department. The other opening round matchup saw Kirtland Schools teachers
top a rival squad of district administrators. All of the teams were made up of four members.
On June 16, Saturday night, the festival held two traditional and popular events: The Miss Kirtland Contest and the strawberry shortcake eating contest.
Jenna Sayle was crowned as Miss Kirtland, reigning supreme in a field of six hopefuls, all from Kirtland High School. In the strawberry shortcake eating contest, eight competitors squared off and Bob Carlson of Cleveland Heights emerged as the champion. It marked the first win for Carlson in the contest, which was held just on the third night on the festival in 2018 unlike on two separate nights in previous years.
One other major change made for this year’s festival was an entirely different layout for the eating area, Bodmer said.
“We’ve actually got some tents this year, so people can sit under cover and enjoy their food,” he said. “Plus, we’ve got more umbrellas, tables and chairs, too. What we’ve also done is made the area around all the food attractions more open, and made kind of a horseshoe-shaped walkway. We’re trying to make it easier for people to get around.”
Bodmer said he received plenty of positive feedback on the 2018 event.
“Everybody’s having a ball,” he said on the afternoon of June 17. “People we talk to are very satisfied and want to come back. Our entertainment we had on Friday and Saturday night also want to come back.”
Although Kirtland Kiwanis Strawberry Festival organizers certainly deserve some time to relax after the four-day festival, Bodmer said they won’t be taking a very long break.
“We’ll probably have a rehash next (June 21), and in July or August probably start planning for next year,” he said.