VISTA — Downtown Vista was jam-packed on Sunday as the city celebrated the 2024 Strawberry Festival with strawberry-themed contests, races, treats, vendors, games and more.
The 13th annual festival, organized by the Vista Chamber of Commerce, shut down Broadway and Indiana avenues between South Santa Fe and Citrus avenues to accommodate thousands of pedestrians who came to enjoy the fun.
“Overall, we had close to 100,000 attendees enjoying a jam-packed day of fun in the sun in downtown Vista for the fest,” said Rachel Beld, CEO of Vista’s Chamber of Commerce. “It turned out to be one of our ‘berry’ best fests ever.”
Festivities kicked off at 7:30 a.m. with a sea of runners dressed in red for the Strawberry Run 5K and kids’ half-mile and mile runs at Vista Magnet Middle School. Beld said the run set an attendance record with 2,600 participants.
As music played on the main stage, costume contests, including the Little Miss Strawberry Shortcake contest, also took place throughout the day to give awards to those dressed in their strawberry best. The Strawberry Court, including this year’s Strawberry Queen, Yvon Nguyen, oversaw the festivities.
North County natural grocer Frazier Farms also returned this year as the official supplier of strawberries for the festival, selling over 11,500 pounds of strawberries along with tons of berry-based baked goods and lemonade.
Frazier Farms also provided berries for the 5K runners and the pie-eating contest and donated 70 flats of berries to local nonprofits, including Vista Pop Warner, the North County African American Women’s Association, Feeding Freedom, and Solutions for Change.
“The Vista Strawberry Fest represents a key opportunity for us to engage with and support the Vista community, a place we hold dear. We’ve been proud participants in the festival for many years, seeing it as a cornerstone of our community outreach efforts,” said Frazier Farms spokesperson Jazmin Zapata. “Our involvement in the Vista Strawberry Festival underscores our commitment to community engagement and support, and we look forward to continuing this tradition in the years to come.”
Beld thanked the community and event sponsors for supporting this year’s festival.
“The only way to bring a festival of this size to fruition is to collaborate with amazing partners. We greatly appreciate the support of the City of Vista, the Vista School District, as well as our partnership with In Motion Events and City Gates Events. We’re already looking forward to 2025,” Beld said.
