POTEET, Texas — One of the biggest strawberry bashes in the world is back on this weekend.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected for the Poteet Strawberry Festival to enjoy the berries and some fun in the sun.
It’s a love for the strawberry that draws crowds to this small Texas town each year. But for Ruth Ann Schulze, the berries are in her blood.
“I want to make sure that they know that, if they come here on the grounds, we are going to have good strawberries for you, unique Poteet strawberries,” Schulze said. “They're not from California. They are grown right here on our Poteet soil.”
Schulze said her father started raising strawberries in Poteet in the early 1950s.
“When my dad passed away, I was able to inherit some of the land. I actually inherited the heart of the farm, and so I felt like it was important to keep the tradition going as much as I could,” she said.
That tradition lives on today with Schultze’s business, K.H. Farms. Each year they sell homegrown strawberries to the masses.
“It's a passion I can't get past, and I really just I love doing strawberries – anything to do with strawberries – anything from selling them to representing the town to anything."
Last year, along with various other local and national events, the COVID-19 pandemic buried the annual strawberry festival.
“We have churches and schools and other nonprofit organizations that they rely on us, so it goes throughout the whole community,” said Robert Martinez, who said he started volunteering for the Poteet Strawberry Festival more than 40 years ago.
Martinez said the festival took a hard hit when it was shut down last year, and many nonprofits were affected.
“The Strawberry Festival is a an umbrella from many, many non-profits,” Martinez said.
He said other funds raised from the three-day event go to scholarships for area teens.
“We were in dire need of having an event because we were having money going out and not coming back,” Martinez said.
The 75th anniversary of the Poteet Strawberry Festival is on for next year. For Schultze, it’s another opportunity to keep her father’s legacy alive.
“I hope he's saying good things. I'm hoping he's very proud that I am showing off my berries,” Schultze said. “I think Daddy’s going to be happy.”
The festival goes on through Sunday in Poteet.