St. Patrick’s Day at Crooked Can

This past Sunday was St. Patrick’s Day and like many we decided to go out and enjoy a festival nearby to celebrate.  The festival we attended was held at Crooked Can Brewery in Winter Garden, FL.  Just down the road from where we live.

The brewery is located inside the Plant Street Market a wonderful place filled with all sorts of food vendors, a butcher, a coffee shop, and some merchandise vendors.

Being a festival there was music, children performing Irish dancing, and even a bagpipe marching band.  (See YouTube video at the end of the post.)

Of course there were a lot of people in green and we especially enjoyed some of the special attire some individuals worn.

We have made a video for you to enjoy some of the music and the bagpipe marching band.

Leu Gardens Annual Plant Sale

Being avid gardeners we look forward to this annual plant sale.  There are vendors from all over the state selling their wares.  There are tropical plants, flowers, and all the things that a gardener could need to tend their garden available.  In addition, there are groups that are at the plant sale to give gardeners information.  Such as this little guy who is a native species and the group was asking gardeners to plant native specie plants.

Every year there is a private hour for members of the botanical gardens to get in an hour before the general public.  Luckly, we are members of the botanical garden.  Even getting there early for the private hour, the crowd starts to get big.  The below picture is just one entrance to the garden and you can see it was starting to get busy.

All who are knowledgeable of this plant sale always bring a wagon of some sort.  Because those who buy do buy a lot.  The following slideshow is just a small portion of the plants we saw for sale.

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It is a great time for all who attend.  We came away with our wagon full of plants as you can see.

Plant City Strawberry Festival

A tradition in Florida is the long-held Plant City Strawberry Festival.  The festival started in 1930 when the members of the Plant City Lions Club came up with the idea for an event to celebrate the harvest of strawberries which is the major crop for the area.

The festival was a way to bring the community together, a piece of ol’ time Americana.  The festival today still upholds the traditions of a typical farming community festival with exhibits of agriculture, commerce, industry, livestock, fine arts, horticulture, and crafts.  The following set of pictures are examples of these exhibits.

Baking

Crafting

Horticulture

Canning

Agriculture

Of course we cannot forget the reason for the festival.  STRAWBERRIES!!

Over the years the festival has also become a place to eat, and play, and be happy.

So we will see you at the fair as you are sure to have a great time!