By Melody Vallieu
TROY — A modified version of the annual Troy Strawberry Festival will include a scaled-down footprint of the festival, but will still offer many of its attractions.
According to Troy Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kathi Roetter, the Strawberry Festival Board of Directors are able to move forward with hosting the Strawberry Jam on June 4-5 with the support of the city of Troy and Miami County Public Health.
“The longstanding partnership with the city allowed us to pivot quickly and begin planning this new event as soon as the governor simplified the health orders,” board chairwoman Linda Roth said.
The Strawberry Jam’s hours will be 5 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5, in downtown Troy and will include strawberry beer brewed at Moeller Brew Barn’s Troy location, live music throughout the two-day event and 28 non-profits serving up well-known festival food items, Roetter said.
“The new event will feature some of the foods that people know and love from the festival. Each food booth will be a group of local volunteers from non-profits selling food or a commercial vendor sponsored by a non-profit,” Roetter said. “With limited time, we felt it was best to focus on the reason why the festival was started in the first place and that was for the local non-profits to fund raise.
“This abridged event will have a different feel and format but will honor the mission of the festival and provide a fundraising venue for local non-profits,” Roetter said. “The event will be focused on celebrating our resiliency as a community and allow us to come together to enjoy music, food and support local businesses and organizations.”
The Strawberry Jam will include 28 non-profits serving up festival delights, as well as non-stop music on stage at Prouty Plaza.
“The board encourages people to bring a chair and plan to stay for the entire event. Not only will this give the public an opportunity to get out and support local non-profits, it will allow attendees to support their favorite downtown businesses; both of which were affected by the pandemic,” Roetter said.
Troy Mayor Robin Oda said city leaders were happy to step in to help with bringing the event.
“We are excited and looking forward to the Strawberry Jam event that the festival board has put together in lieu of a full Troy Strawberry Festival,” Troy Mayor Robin Oda said. “City staff continues to work with them on the details and logistics. I hope everyone has this on their calendar and that you will come out to support the non-profits who will be participating. Beyond that, it’s just going to be a fun weekend!”
Roetter said not having a shuttle service will be a big factor in reducing the number of volunteers needed for the scaled-down event, however, volunteers are still needed in many other areas of the Strawberry Jam.
Roetter said volunteers for the weekend-long event are still needed and anyone interested can sign up on the festival website at TroyStrawberryFest.com/strawberry-jam.
