Photo by Gage Vota Project Forward volunteers Lisa Tolbert on left Susan Tolbert prepare strawberry shortcakes at the fifth annual Strawberry Festival.

MARTINS FERRY – Attendees flocked to Project Forward’s fifth annual Strawberry Festival early to beat the rain on Saturday.

“I think with the weather, people wanted to show up earlier, but this is also always a family favorite festival,” Project Forward Vice President Katie Kendall said. “I think people get really excited for this festival every year, and it really shows with our attendance.”

Saturday’s event saw live music throughout the day from Jamie Kropka and his banjo, The Chris Casalinuovo Band and Tongue N’ Cheek. Inflatables, face painting, 60 craft vendors, 13 food trucks, and a beer tent with the festival’s popular strawberry wine slushies and strawberry beer.

Kendall said that Project Forward hosted a strawberry tent that sold strawberry shortcake, strawberry nachos, chocolate strawberries, strawberry pies, strawberry sundaes, fresh strawberries and strawberry plants.

The event also saw a car show hosted by the Martins Ferry Civics with an entry cost of $5, with proceeds benefiting Martins Ferry youth sports.

“The Strawberry Festival this year came out with a bang. People were lining up an hour before the festival started,” Kendall said. “People love to come out for strawberry anything. We have strawberry-themed everything, vendors have a lot of different things. I saw aprons, hand mittens, jewelry, T-shirts, and squishies for the kids that are all strawberry themed.”

She added that some of the food trucks also had strawberry items on their menu.

Now in its fifth year, the festival was revived in 2018 after previously being discontinued. Kendall said that although it was revived in 2018, it was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She added that Project Forward revived the festival because it wanted to find a way to revitalize Martins Ferry and to let people know that the city is a great place to open a business or raise a family.

“Project Forward is excited to have this festival annually, not only to bring in a lot of people who are not from the Ohio Valley, but also to show what great potential the Martins Ferry Business District has,” Kendall said. “They can reach out to Project Forward if interested in setting up a new business in Martins Ferry. We can help with that transition.”

Project Forward is a revitalization group in Martins Ferry working to encourage downtown improvements and attract new businesses.

Sponsors for the festival included State Farm, Unified Bank, The Times Leader, Hot Rod Tattooing, Kendall Behavioral Solutions, Wilson Funeral Home-Heslop Chapel, Belmont County Tourism, Belmont Savings Bank, Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration, Deluxe Toy and Hobby, Stecker Law Group and Linda Brown.