by David Mendez

A Richmond Beach tradition returns this weekend, as the Richmond Beach Strawberry Festival will once again open the door to summer in Shoreline.

The festival, a fundraiser put on annually by the Richmond Beach Community Association, is one of the most popular events in the city — and they can prove it.

“The average person stays for 110 minutes!” said Renee Smith, one of the lead coordinators for this year’s festival. That figure, she said, comes from the City of Shoreline, which can analyze how many people are in a given area, and for how long they’re there. Smith has volunteered with the event in some capacity for nearly all of the 20-some-odd years of her family’s time in Shoreline.

“For 10 years, strawberries were cut at my kitchen by volunteers of all ages who would come over,” Smith said. But now the festival has grown too large, and the pile of strawberries has grown to around 400 pounds each event, leading RBCA to get the job done in a commercial kitchen ahead of the festival. As is tradition, the store at the corner of 196th Street and 20th Avenue will keep the processed strawberries cool before Saturday’s event. But this time, the newly-opened Richmond Beach Foods will carry the torch. (Fittingly, the store bears a pair of strawberries in its logo.)

The 400 pounds of strawberries will go into the event’s signature strawberry shortcake, the cornerstone of the fundraiser — and a link to the neighborhood’s history.

Once upon a time, Richmond Beach was synonymous with strawberries. Historical photos within the Shoreline Historical Museum’s collection show strawberry fields strewn about the community dating back around 1905. One local farmer’s variety, called the ”Richmond Beauty,” won a top prize at a Seattle expo celebrating the best of the Pacific Northwest. The local baseball team was nicknamed the “Strawberry Huskers,” complete with strawberry sleeve patches.

The latest incarnation of the festival dates back to the late 1990s. It started, Sheri Ashleman said, as a sort of music festival set up in the corner of Richmond Beach Community Park. “There was a handful of people. I mean, it was very small, turnout was very small,” Ashleman told The Osprey. “We rented a popcorn machine from Syre Elementary, made popcorn, and that’s it.”

As the years passed and people kept coming, the festival grew. Different community organizations — bands, drumlines, a taekwondo demonstration, children’s groups — signed on to perform. Restaurants, like the dearly-departed Pizza Mia and Dale’s Deli, provided food.

These days, the food is covered by food trucks. This year, La Casa De Amigos — providing Honduran cuisine — and Vulpine Espresso are among the providers. Music this year will be provided by Elere, which is bringing salsa music to Richmond Beach, and Souled Out, a ‘70s funk and soul band. 

This year’s children’s parade is themed as an “animal adventure,” inviting kids to dress as whatever critter strikes their fancy, whether they be from the jungle, the forests, or the waters of Puget Sound. The only limit, as they say, is a kid’s imagination. Otherwise, kids will be invited to play carnival games, make crafts, play on the playground or jump around on inflatable slides — weather permitting, of course..

The Richmond Beach Strawberry Festival is the only major fundraising event for the Richmond Beach Community Association. Proceeds from the festival are used to fund the neighborhood association’s other events, like the movie in the park, the Thanksgiving turkey trot, the Christmas ship concert at Saltwater Park, the neighborhood garden tour and the Halloween carnival. All of which serve a community that’s grown and changed with the times.

“I think the great thing about the festival is, it’s still always somewhat similar,” Smith said. “I know there’s going to be live bands playing, I know I’m going to see some people that I know, I know that kids are going to run around everywhere and that it’s a safe place to gather. The beauty is in the expectation, the tradition.”

The Richmond Beach Strawberry Festival is the only major fundraising event for the Richmond Beach Community Association. Proceeds from the festival are used to fund the neighborhood association’s other events, like the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, the Christmas Ship concert at Saltwater Park, the garden tour and the Halloween Carnival.

Though strawberries are the foundation of the festival, the heart is the community and its volunteers.

“When I moved into the neighborhood over 30 years ago, a tradition of volunteering was already in place,” Ashleman said. “I know that people who move in here love how connected this community is, and how many opportunities there are to meet other people. It’s a legacy that has been there forever, and we continue to make it happen.”

The Richmond Beach Strawberry Festival takes place Saturday, June 6, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. At Richmond Beach Community Park, 2201 NW 197th St, Shoreline. The festival’s “Animal Adventure” children’s parade will line up at 10:45, though kids don’t need to be in costume to walk, it’s certainly recommended. Food will be sold on site, and music will be played throughout the day. Free to attend.