Need A Family Day Trip This Weekend? How About The Strawberry Festival in Watsonville?

WATSONVILLE, CA — Downtown Watsonville will be transformed this weekend by strawberry and festival loving tourists as the city hosts the 22nd Annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival. Admission is free.

Drop by the information booth when you arrive to sign up for a strawberry pie-eating contest. They're held four times each day: noon, 1:30, 3:00 and 4:30. When not hosting pie eaters, the main stage will have a variety of bands giving free concerts.

There are kiddie rides and other entertainment for children. And, of course, food galore!

California grows close to 90 percent of the nation's fresh and frozen strawberries, with Watsonville and Salinas accounting for almost half of the state's strawberry acreage, according to the California Strawberry Commission.

Need some more inspiration? How about a yummy dessert made with strawberries? Tender Greens Pastry Chef Annette Picha provided Patch with this Strawberry Almond Cupcake at the start of summer. -- California Pastry Chef Shares Coveted Strawberry Almond Cupcake Recipe.

WANT TO STAY CLOSER TO HOME? Here are a few suggestions:

• "Beyond the Pew" Presentation: Thinking Beyond Borders Gap Year Experience
• Music in the Park
• Galilee Harbor's Maritime Day
• DIY Jewelry Workshop with designer Chelsee Robinson
• Mt Tam Trail Crew: Hidden Meadow Trail
• Off the Grid Food Trucks: Marin Country Mart, Larkspur
• 2016 Sonoma County Fair
• 9th Annual Petaluma Music Festival 2016
• Learn How to Skimboard: Upton Beach
• Workshop Making Tea with Leaves and Flowers: SHED, Healdsburg

By Bea Karnes (Patch Staff) /Photo of festival poster courtesy City of Watsonville