Thousands gather every year for this Oklahoma Festival!

Today we are discussing the Strawberry Festival in Stilwell, Oklahoma. The Stilwell Strawberry Festival is the longest continuous running event in Oklahoma. It's an event held the second Saturday in May, which celebrates the fruit that put us on the map - strawberries. Stilwell Foods once was the place that froze the delicious berries, grown over many acres across the county, and for sale at grocery stores. Stilwell Kiwanis Club started the event, which began in 1947 and was a competition with each of the farms entering one of their berry pickers for the title of Strawberry Festival queen. Today the queen must be from the county and that contest is held in the spring. Friday evenings of the Festival weekend now offers Stilwell's Got Talent. Following the competition a band performed last year. Saturday is a full day of fun for families and everyone. The morning begins early with a 5-K run, and includes a parade with marching bands, crowning of the Strawberry Queen, strawberry judging and a huge strawberry auction fund-raiser, live music, pony rides for kids, and tons of arts and crafts vendors. A carnival sets up on Wednesday and runs through Saturday night, and the rodeo is a highlight of the weekend. The City of Stilwell, Oklahoma is home to global manufacturing, the longest consecutively running event in the state - the Strawberry Festival, parks, walking trails, biking trails, recreation, rivers, lakes and a 4,300 acre reserve, Hunt Mill Hollow Ranch. Also discussed Heavenlee BBQ, Heavy D's Pizza, Luther Pecan Festival, Kiwanis, Lt Governor Matt Pinnell, Norman Medieval Fair, Catoosa Blue Whale, Catoosa, Fox 23, Route 66 Alliance, and Butcher BBQ. Special thanks to our partner, Think Ability Inc. Subscribe to the Only in OK Show. #Stilwell #StrawberryCapital #Festival #Strawberry #rodeo #carnival #BlueWhale #Catoosa #BBQ #Route66 #onlyinokshow #Oklahoma #podcast #traveloklahoma #travel #tourism