Scenes from Strawberry Festival 2018

An afternoon thunderstorm briefly interrupted what likely was record attendance for the Strawberry Festival, but once the weather cleared the large crowd returned for the headline performance of Eve 6.

While the final estimate is not in for Saturday’s attendance, Cullman Parks and Recreation Director Nathan Anderson said many factors point to several thousand more people in attendance over 2017’s 12,000.

“We could not be any happier with the crowd, the vendors, just everything that came together, including the job of the event staff through the day,” Anderson said. “We added many more strawberry farmers and everyone of them sold out. That was 2,800 gallons of strawberries sold by 1:30. We also know the other food vendors like Johnny’s Bar-B-Q had a tremendous day.”

Anderson said vendors, including the arts and crafts artisans, had to re-stock before the day was over.

Severe weather rolled through around 2 p.m. clearing the crowd, but within a few hours the streets were filling again in anticipation of the night’s concert by Eve 6. The band has enjoyed success worldwide including a number one hit.

“Once you lose a crowd because of weather, it’s hard to get it back,” Anderson said. “But with Eve 6 we saw a new crowd arrive along with many of those who were here earlier. That was rewarding to see people coming back and a crowd coming to Cullman from other areas for the music and to spend time enjoying our community.”

In an effort to grow the festival, more focus has been directed in the last few years at building the arts and entertainment offerings alongside the heritage of farming.

“We’re really excited about the future of the Strawberry Festival,” Anderson said. “It has a great history and showcases local farming and talent. It’s always pleasing to see people coming from out of town to join with our local community. We hope to keep building on the success of the last few years.”