This weekend marks the 100th Anniversary of the Strawberry Festival at the Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Jewett and Summit in Parkside.
On Saturday June 24 from 4 - 7pm, on the shady church grounds, enjoy an old fashioned summer afternoon of strawberries and socializing. The Strawberry Festival offers quality strawberry desserts, hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, chips, and beverages. There will also be music, entertainment and activities for children of all ages.
In honor of the festival's 100th anniversary, guests are invited to dress in period costume or in e21st century casuali and join the community Parade at 4pm. Bring your friends and neighbors and stop in for a quick supper, or enjoy a leisurely afternoon of food, games, music, and surprises.
A Century in the Strawberry Fields This celebration has been a Good Shepherd tradition since 1906, a time when the Parkside area was emerging from a gentle green landscape of farmsteads, orchards, fields of grain and grapevines, into the beginnings of a community, with scattered homes and churches, prim gardens, picket fences, stately willow trees, and the beginnings of a suburban village. It was a time of handlebar mustaches and straw boaters for the gentlemen (picture Mark Twain.) Ladies wore layers of petticoats that swished and swayed under their frocks; children rolled hoops and played marbles, and everyone enjoyed a game of croquet. Summer afternoons might have included a visit with neighbors, an afternoon emusicale,i a strawberry and ice cream esocial,i a carriage ride, maybe a church supper. Whatever brought people together was a cause for convivial conversation, music, laughter, and the sharing of good food. This yearis 100th Strawberry Festival at the 119 year-old Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd will, as it has since 1906, be held on the grounds of the Church, located at 96 Jewett Parkway, in the Parkside neighborhood of Buffalo. The church is kitty-corner from the home of Darwin Martin, who was Good Shepherdis Clerk of the Vestry when the first Strawberry Festival took place.
(above photo by Rev. David Selzer)