SAUGUS — The Saugus Historical Society hosted their annual Strawberry Festival.
It’s peak strawberry season as the high summer months approach, and the Saugus Historical Society and Saugus residents celebrated with strawberries galore.
Inside the American Legion on Taylor Street, many residents gathered with the cool air conditioning flowing to enjoy lovely summertime treats — strawberries, strawberry shortcake, the festival had it all — even hot dogs and soda.
Legion Hall, Saugus Historical Society President Laura Eisener said, has been a gracious host of the festival for several decades, and that the space is wonderful.
Outside of Legion Hall, the Saugus Garden Club and other small vendors around town were selling crafts and plants on the lawn of the Roby School as well.
The festival, which has been going on in Saugus and put together by the Historical Society since 1986, has ensured that there has been no shortage of smiles and strawberries for residents in the warm weather.
“It is kind of an homage to the colonial strawberry festivals that people had to celebrate the first ripe fruits of the season,” Eisener said.
Eisener said that she was pleased with the turnout for the festival, and that the weather was wonderful, saying that it was much better than the rain which had occurred on last year’s festival.
Randy-Sue Abber, who was helping to serve residents food, said that a lot of the accouterments for the hot dogs had been donated by various local businesses like Kelly’s Roast Beef, Market Basket, Stop & Shop and Trader Joe’s. Eisener said that Abber’s reaching out to businesses was a big help, as the festival is the only fundraising festival of the year for the Historical Society.
Eisener said that there is a lot of work involved with organizing the festival, but that when she took over the Historical Society from Shirley Bogdan, she was instrumental in helping to show her the ropes — where the society sourced items, etc.
This year, Eisener said that there was a strawberry shortage “crisis,” but you wouldn’t have known that looking at the bountiful amount of strawberries strewn about the room.
For the first time this year, there was also an option of mixed fruit as a topping for residents’ shortcakes; a mixture of blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
Eisener feels that the festival has been a nice tradition in town, adding that seeing how many people come and enjoy the festival is what drives her to keep holding it, for which she hopes to do for many years to come.
Eisener thanked all of the people who had come out to enjoy the festival and those who lended a helping hand, because sometimes, things change year to year, but that the end goal remains the same — “we want to keep it as old-fashioned as possible,” Eisner said.
Familiar faces are a common sight at the festival, but sometimes, Eisener said, there are new faces, filled with delight. She spoke of an instance where a child had come to the festival, and had never had strawberry shortcake until that day — “it was yummy,” — “can I have another one?,” they asked.
