PLANT CITY, Fla. — Officials at the Florida Strawberry Festival announced their theme for the event's 88th year Tuesday.


What You Need To Know

  • "We Have a Winner!" will be the new theme for next year's Florida Strawberry Festival

  • Florida Strawberry Festival President Paul Davis said the theme points to a recent win in naming strawberry shortcake as Florida's official dessert

  • The Florida Strawberry Festival takes place March 2-12, 2023

"We Have a Winner!" will be the tagline for the annual festival going into 2023.

"Yes, it points to the recent win we achieved in naming strawberry shortcake as Florida's official dessert as we're a little partial to the berry," said Florida Strawberry Festival President Paul Davis in a press release. "We're excited about this year's event and look forward to sharing in the celebration of the shortcake dessert that has come to make us so successful."

A new theme is created for each year's festival to offer attendees a glimpse of the experience they will have at the 11-day event. It also unifies vendors, FFA chapters, organizations, corporate partners and exhibitors who create parade floats and displays throughout the event.

The festival's strawberry character featured in each year's theme artwork, in which it wears a sweatband, waves a "#BerryFest23" baton and holds a plate of strawberry shortcake as it crosses the finish line.

"Plant City is home to roughly 12,000 acres of strawberries and the Festival serves just about 200,000 shortcakes each year. We're proud of our city and the Florida strawberry. It's kind of a big deal around here," said Davis.

The Florida Strawberry Festival takes place March 2-12, 2023.