Jennifer Johnson and her family and farm staff at Johnson’s Produce Farm in Hobart agree, they are always ready for their new berry picking season, with “weather or not” never being an option for the 300-acre destination.
“We sometimes describe our strawberry seasons as ‘short and sweet,’ but we’d rather not,” Jennifer said.
“After putting so much time and planning in caring for our strawberry plants, we want to be able to have guests enjoy their visit and the picking opportunity for as long as possible.”
What was once just a one weekend celebration of all things strawberry themed at Johnson’s Farm Produce has become three weekends billed as their annual Johnson’s Strawberry Festival, which draws as many as several thousand guests from as far as Indiana’s surrounding states.
“Back in 2017, we decided to extend our event, which we used to call Strawberry Madness Weekends, to include more activities and a bigger draw for families to want to spend an entire day with us, and still take home plenty of delicious red berries at the end of their visit,” Jennifer said.
This year’s Johnson’s Strawberry Festival continues throughout weekends in June, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays and wraps up on Sunday June 25. Weekday produce stand and picking business hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We’ve had berries at our farm for more than 50 years, and the season is always dependent on our weather,” Jennifer said.
“This year, the cool 40-degree nights in May were not helpful for our berries to ripen as quickly as usually, but the string of 90 degrees at the start of June helped us to soon see our red in the fields.”
This year, the Johnson’s produce-picking property has 40 acres planted in strawberries, including various strawberry varieties. They also have more acreage dedicated to blueberry bushes, which will be ready in July, along with blackberries, black raspberries and red raspberries.
Johnson said the idea to launch the Strawberry Festival event began 20 years ago, and every year, more events and activities have been added to help it grow, while embracing the concept she describes as “agritourism” to attract families to learn about both farming and spread awareness and education about how food is grown.
Besides folksy fun like pie eating contests and “strawberry on a spoon” races, the annual festival has traditionally included a petting zoo as well as cooking and baking demonstrations, and even retro cartoon favorite of the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake has also been in attendance and posed for photos.
This year’s festival includes the unveiling of a new and expansive activities landscape for children branded as “The Fun Farm,” which is a vast ring of small scale buildings creating an old-fashioned town inviting young guests to dash in and out of buildings with surprises waiting inside each structure.
“Inside the little schoolhouse, for example, there’s a little desk to sit at and even a working piano to play too,” Jennifer said.
Peddling cars on a rail track for children to cruise the berry patch terrain, as well as a “Strawberry Express” train pulling full-size transportation cars to allow families a complete a tour of the expansive produce fields, are among other highlights.
Also assisting in planning the annual festival event is Barbara Tracy, who, like Jennifer, is among the third generation of Johnsons all in the same field.
She, along with her mother Marilyn Tracy, launched the adjoining family bakery business called Marilyn’s Bakery 25 years ago. Marilyn and her brother Rod Johnson Sr., have carried on the same traditions as their mother and family matriarch Ethel Johnson, who was a familiar sight at the family produce stand sorting berries and helping with flowers in the greenhouse.
Johnson’s Produce Strawberry Festival 2023
When: June 10-25
Where: Johnson’s Farm Produce, 8960 E. Ridge Road, Hobart
Cost: $12 for weekend admission for the festival area.
Information: 219-962-1383 or johnsonsfarmproduce.com/
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for The Post-Tribune.