53rd annual Strawberry Festival

From 53rd annual Strawberry Festival Website:

The First Annual Strawberry Festival was held on Thursday, June 10th 1965. The festival was the idea of parishioner Pat Harding and Nate Gore, who suggested the church host a strawberry festival, such as they had back in her hometown of Lymington, England. With Nate Gore, Church Sexton, the Cathedral Women thought they could both raise funds and have some fun.

The Cathedral Women baked and sold 100 homemade shortcakes on the church lawn on that first festival in 1965. They decided to host it on Thursday night to capitalize on the evening hours of the J.C. Penny Co. Department Store on monument circle. Within two hours they had sold out of shortcakes.

Christ Church Cathedral has a long-standing tradition of raising money with sweet, summery berries. In Eli Lilly's book, The Little Church on the Circle, he documents how CCC has been raising funds with strawberries since 1864. "The young ladies of the Christ Church Bible Class took advantage of the early summer season to give a successful strawberry festival at Masonic Hall (admission 25 cents). Over $250 was realized, which was applied toward the liquidation of a small debt still pending against the church." As noted in the Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 13, 1864 pg. 3 col. 1.

Join us on Thursday, June 14th 2018 for our 53rd Annual Strawberry Festival!