PONCHATOULA, La. (WGNO) — The Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival is a time to celebrate one of the prized crops and the culture of the people who grow it.
Unfortunately, farming in the region, like most of the country has decreased and that’s especially true for Black farmers.
2023 Strawberry Fest King Arthur Thompson stated, “The number are dwindling as far as the farmers. We go from here to Independence with the big farms and it’s sad because we’re going to lose this.”
Local historian and genealogist Antoinette Harrell says that growing up, she had no appreciation for the richness of her family’s legacy.
“I am a descendant of farmers and I remember growing up people would be so ashamed to be the daughter, grandson, or don of a dirt poor farmer, but I soon learned that they were the richest people to me because they put food on the table,” said Harrell.
And while the annual Strawberry Fest is a celebration of that famed crop, that richness of farming, especially for African American farmers and strawberry pickers has all been lost in the Florida Parishes.
Eddie Ponds of The Drum Newspaper explained,, “In Ponchatoula now you have some strawberry farms but they’re not as large farms as they were and we don’t have any black farmers anymore in Ponchatoula.”
Many credit practices like crop leans for families losing farms, but the changes are also generations where family members decide to cease farming the land.
One Black farmer who continues just outside of Ponchatoula is Warner Hall, raises vegetables for market, but has planted strawberries under a special order this year.
According to Hall, “I planted them because my granddaughter wanted some strawberries, and she’s in the city and I’m out here.”
Hall spoke to the need for farming to continue in the region, “I think it’s important for them to keep this local in order to have fresh vegetables for the local people.”
The legacy of Black farmers and pickers is rarely spoken of but, going forward, Harrell hopes to get the message out, “We haven’t done enough to tell our story. One of my things is I hope that next year we can have an exhibit of the strawberry pickers at the museum so when visitors come to town they can go to the museum and see who were these people.”
You can catch the Ponchatoula Strawberry Fest, sponsored by WGNO on Friday, April 14 beginning at 12 p.m. The event runs through Sunday.
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