MARYSVILLE – Many people braved intermittent rain, and sometimes thunder, lightening and high winds, to attend the Marysville Strawberry Festival over the weekend.
Activities started Saturday morning when Rosarians from Portland, Ore., honored Maryfest President Paul Brown. A rose was planted at the April Friesner Memorial Garden at Totem Middle School. Rosarians from the Rose City have been giving out roses to worthy recipients since 1912.
“This is truly an honor, thank you,” Brown said. “But this really does go to the entire Strawberry Festival.”
Brown was knighted by the same organization just the week before. “I was choking up” at both events, he said.
The Market at Asbery Field had its challenges. But Neil and Robin Neyman of Marysville said they did well even during the biggest storm.”We were selling like crazy even during the thunderstorm,” Neil said.
His wife added of the customers, “They are true Washingtonians.”
One of the hot sellers for Robin’s Stuff Woodcrafts was a Seahawks outdoor display. They sold 15 of them on the rainiest day. Neil said they might have been underpriced at $30. Only a few of the fancier $50 ones remained. He said they will need to make more as they are going to Seahawks Fanfest at Ocean Shores in August.”We’re going to have to get busy.”
Brown said he talked to vendors at The Market who told him they realized numbers were down because of the weather. “It’s a big determining factor.”
Car show director Veronica Love was a little disappointed that the weather kept about half of the 65 cars registered from showing up. But the crowd enjoyed the cars that were there, and a number of plaques were presented to winners.
A number of Strawberry Shortcake Eating Contests took place, but one of the highly attended ones was between presidents of the various festivals. Debbie Wood of the Daffodil Festival won, but Brown was a close second.”My strategy was to dive in and keep going at it,” Brown said.
What he didn’t anticipate was he had to eat between breaths as he had trouble breathing. “It gets up in your nose so you have to inhale through your mouth,” he said.
