This weekend the Tater Team made a stop in Buckhannon, WV for the West Virginia Strawberry Festival! The Strawberry Festival first started in 1936 to honor strawberry growers and promote West Virginia strawberries! They have continued this festival and celebrate strawberries and the town every year! Buckhannon is a quaint town with a close community! Everyone was so welcoming and they were so excited to have the Big Idaho Potato join the 78th Annual Strawberry Festivial! The festivities lasted for a whole week and they have strawberry treats, a carnival, multiple parades, Party Gras and so much more!
We were so excited to be invited to the Strawberry Festival this year and we had a frytastiic time! We participated in two parades and two party gras events this weekend! The first parade was the fireman’s parade where fire departments from Buckhannon and neighboring towns were in attendance! During the parade they had their sirens and lights running! We brought our hot potato down the route with all of the firetrucks! During the parade the Tater Twins passed out postcards, potato pins and Idahoan mashed potatoes! The spec-taters were so excited to see our supersized spud and get Idahoan mashed potatoes!
After the fireman’s parade, we brought our spud to Main Street for Party Gras! The streets were filled with vendors locals and festival visitors from out of town! They had live music, carnival games, and there was a Strawberry Idol competition! During Party Gras we passed out Big Idaho potato swag and had a produce party! Everyone was so excited to see the truck from the “commercial” and locals asked us where Farmer Mark and his dog were! It is always so much fun to talk to Big Idaho Potato fans that have seen the commercial! They joked about calling Farmer Mark so that he could catch us! We also met potato enthusiast that said they only buy Idaho® Potatoes because of the great quality! It’s so nice to get such a positive reaction to the truck and Idaho® Potatoes!
The next day was the Grand Strawberry Festival Parade! There was a huge turnout of about 75,000 plus fans lined the streets to see attractions from all over the world! There was a variety of floats and bands in attendance! They had a drum corps from Paris and different participants from various states! The parade and festival was a BIG draw for visitors from all over! The Tater Twins rode on top of the potato during the parade and people were so excited to see our spud and the team coming down the parade route! After the parade, we joined Party Gras! The Tater Team had an amazing time at Strawberry Festival and we felt so welcomed by everyone!
The Team is in Virginia now and will be going to DAP’s Family Restaurant! Then we will be going to our friend Jacob Walker’s school in Richmond, VA! Then for Memorial Day weekend, we will be in Washinton, DC for the Memorial Day Parade! We can’t wait for our upcoming events! Make sure to follow our journey at bigidahopotato.com!
Thanks for reading!
-Tater Twin, Jessica
