Our 32nd Billings Strawberry Festival takes place on the downtown streets below Skypoint at N. Broadway and 2nd Ave. N. from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm this Saturday (July 8, 2023). The Strawberry Festival is a free community event coordinated and presented by our Downtown Billings team and our co-host sponsor, TDS Fiber.
This year the festival includes over 130 different vendors, the festival’s largest vendor list to date. The vendors range from local retailers, non-profit organizations, and Arts & Crafts merchants from around the region. The offerings showcase crafted creations including fine art paintings, jewelry, textiles, woodwork, sculptures, glass, ceramics, candles, henna art, and garden art to name a few. The public can expect plenty of ‘Made in Montana’ goods, balloon twisters, laser tag, kids crafts and activities, and live entertainment at Skypoint. The variety of cuisine and beverages hosted by a large list of local and regional food trucks is mouthwatering. The new Downtown Billings 360 Video Booth powered by 406 Memories will be located inside the festival at booth #38 (on 2nd Ave. N just East of Skypoint). All festival attendees are invited to jump onto the platform to make a free 360 degree digital video keepsake. Wise Wonders Science and Discovery museum will once again host the Kids Zone on 2nd Ave N. near The Yarn Bar (2909 2nd Ave. N,). The Kids Zone includes a free strawberry themed craft activity (while supplies last) for young kids. Wild Rose Laser Tag is back again this year near the Kids Zone with a low cost laser tag and mini golf set-up that is fun for all ages.
The Festival Footprint has Expanded
Not only has the vendor list grown but the festival closure expanded this year to include N. Broadway between 3rd & 4th Ave. N (in front of Spitz and Alberta Bair Theatre). The festival expansion will host a City of Billings department showcase. The following city departments will be on-site for all festival goers to engage with: MET, Fire Department, Police Department, Crime Prevention Center, Library, Parks and Rec, Mobilize the MAGIC City, Public Works, and Administration/Council.
Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser
The Billings Lions Club’s pancake breakfast returns to its N. 29th Street Alley location across the street from Barjon’s Books at 223 N. 29th St. The group will start serving breakfast to the vendors and early downtowners as early as 7:00am. Funds raised by the pancake breakfast at the Strawberry Festival help the Lion’s Club to continue to provide vision screenings, eyeglasses, and hearing aid assistance to those in need throughout the Billings area.
Skypoint Entertainment
Live entertainment will happen under Skypoint at N. Broadway and 2nd Ave N all day long with the help of longtime Master of Ceremony (MC), Steve Gillis:
- 10:00 am – Montana Fiddle Club
- 11:00 am – Dancers from Greater Heights School of Dance
- 1:00 pm – Dancers from Studio 38
Where are the Strawberries?
A map of all festival vendors noting which vendors have strawberry items can be found online at the event webpage on downtownbillings.com or at the purple information booth under skypoint during the July 8th festival.
and Why aren’t there pallets of strawberries?
Billings’ Strawberry Festival began as an early June event that kicked off the downtown Summer event season. Despite its name, the Strawberry Festival is and has always been a vendor street fair bursting with commercial merchants, arts and craft vendors, and food vendors and not a farmers market. Over the decades our team have tried various ways to incorporate the festival’s namesake into the event: For nearly twenty years the late Ziggy Ziegler, a founder of the Downtown Billings Association, wandered the festival in a large rubber strawberry costume and a group of chefs and cooks worked with Albertsons to craft a sixty-foot strawberry shortcake on-site to later sell by the slice as a fundraiser. The Strawberry man costume was retired from the festival when Ziegler himself retired in 2019 and the giant shortcake became an item of the past when the festival returned in July post COVID in 2021.
“Having strawberries at the Strawberry Festival has proven itself a challenge for years. Unlike huckleberry or sugar beets, strawberries are not a common Montana crop and our organization has struggled to find consistent and ripe berries to sell at the festival.”
Katy Easton, CEO of the Downtown Billings Alliance.
So, after 28 years of coordinating the early June festival, our hard working team grew tired of the inconsistent June weather literally raining or even snowing on our efforts and the day’s fun. When the festival returned in July 2021, after a one year COVID hiatus, we sought their board approval to permanently relocate the festival to July.
“The new early July date has offered more consistent weather, larger crowds, more vendors, and allowed the Strawberry Festival and HarvestFest to bookend the Yellowstone Valley Farmers Market Season. With the one downside of the new date being that by early July, we’ve sort of missed the prime ‘Strawberry Season’ and haven’t had much luck in our efforts to bring in fresh pallets of strawberries to the Strawberry festival.”
Lindsay Richardson, Community Engagement & Events Director with Downtown Billings Alliance.
Becky Stahl, owner of Becky’s Berries has been a vendor in this festival for fourteen years. “I’ve had my best two years of sales since the festival was moved to July.” Stahl shared. Even with the strawberry season being nearly finished, over fifty percent of the festival’s vendors, including Stahl, have incorporated some sort of strawberry item into their menu or products offered at the festival. Additionally, many of the downtown brick and mortar restaurants, sweet shops, bakeries, bars, and breweries have strawberry themed menus for the downtown visitors to enjoy.
Who makes the Strawberry Festival happen?
The Strawberry Festival is coordinated by downtown’s Business Improvement District (B.I.D.), a non-profit whose work plan focuses on a clean and safe downtown. The B.I.D. is a one of the four non-profit’s housed within our organization. Supporting sponsors include: Valley Credit Union, Visit Billings, B-Town Vapes & Glass, media sponsors The Zone 96.3, My Classic Hits 105.9, Planet 106.7, and KSky Country 95.1.