At the Albion Strawberry Festival, live music echoes as crowd members watch and sing along.
The shiny foil of strawberry-shaped balloons sparkle in the sunlight. Food trucks and vendors line the street, many selling strawberry-themed items, as festival-goers gather near the Erie Canal.
The 2026 Albion Strawberry Festival took place on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 in the Albion Courthouse Square Historic District.
The 38th year of the annual celebration featured local businesses, family-friendly activities and lots of strawberries.
The festival’s theme this year was “Gather & Celebrate A Berry Big 250th,” in honor of the United States’ semiquincentennial.
Festival-goers came from throughout the area to attend the Strawberry Festival. This included Marnique Alexander, Aaliyah Blanks and Rani Hayes, who traveled from Buffalo to go to the festival on Saturday.
They coordinated their outfits to match the strawberry theme of the festival while incorporating their own unique styles, down to the most intricate accessories. Hayes’ favorite part of her outfit were the strawberry bows she wore in her hair.
“I’m so happy today. I’m excited,” Hayes said. “I was excited to get dressed, step out with my friends. I’m just happy.”
There were lots of local food options at the festival, including many food trucks and stations throughout the festival grounds. Restaurants along Albion’s Main Street also participated in the Strawberry Festival, including Rise & Grind Cafe.
The casual coffee shop curated a special menu of strawberry themed drinks, from fresh lemonade buckets with strawberries to strawberry pineapple margaritas. Their most popular drink was the strawberry shortcake frappe, which included fresh strawberry puree and pieces of strawberry shortcake.
Rise & Grind used locally-sourced strawberries from Panek Farms for their Strawberry Festival menu items. Rise & Grind owner Haley Black said she likes to participate in events like Strawberry Festival because she grew up in Albion and her mom owned a local business. She created the cafe’s Strawberry Festival menu based on what drinks were popular at previous Strawberry Festivals, as well as other menu standouts.
“I took favorites from throughout the year, and put them together and made them strawberry-correlated,” Black said.
At Stormsong Hollow Minerals, festival-goers could purchase strawberry quartz products, which is clear quartz with small flakes of either purple-red or green mica.
The crystal shop was also the place to go to get a four-dimensional strawberry balloon. Stormsong Hollow Minerals owner Trish Marciszewski decided to sell balloons alongside the shop’s crystals after people kept asking to buy the strawberry balloons she used to decorate her store window last year.
Marciszewski said she likes participating in events like the Strawberry Festival because she likes to get involved and help the community grow.
“Especially being a small nichey business, it helps broaden people’s horizons a little bit who might not have really even understood or cared to understand what exactly we do here,” Marciszewski said.
The festival also included a parade, car show, and turtle race. The festival’s Family Fun Center had bounce houses and family games, as well as a live music and a station for caricature drawings and face painting.
To get updates about next year’s festival, follow the Albion Strawberry Festival on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Albion Strawberry Festival brings sweet treats back
Reporting by Erin Jones, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Erin Jones, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
