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PONCHATOULA, La. (WGNO) — Concerts, and contests, rides, and royalty. All reasons to head to Ponchatoula, for the golden anniversary of the strawberry festival.

This year’s timing is ideal for the local economy, which counts on this annual event.

“The first festival we had, we had a grand total of maybe 15, less than 20 thousand people, but today the crowd gets as big as 300- plus thousand people,” said the Strawberry King, Carl Wells.

Trey Harris, from Harris Farms, said it’s a big deal.

“And we don’t have to compete with the French Quarter Fest, so that’s a big deal for us, we’ve always been competing with that every year. So we keep our New Orleans people down there, this time, all the new Orleans people will be able to come up here with us and enjoy a beautiful, fun, free festival.”

It’s fun, fit for a king, and good for anyone looking for a “berry” good time.