June 3, 2026 | Abbi Duhart | News Editor
June 4 through 7, the 117th annual Lebanon Strawberry Festival will take place. For those interested in attending, day tickets are $10, with children under 12 getting in free.
Thursday is All Heroes Day at the festival, and visitors can also expect the annual strawberry queen coronation at 6 p.m. sharp. All Heroes Day was put in place to celebrate veterans, active military and first responders. With military ID or a badge, those who fit into one of these categories get free admission on Thursday, as well as their spouses and children. Additionally, the first 100 heroes who check in at the All Heroes Day booth will receive a free appreciation gift. There will be an awards ceremony in the evening to honor the veterans in the community as well as first responders from the Lebanon fire department and police department, Linn County Sheriff’s Office and Pacific Power and Consumers Power linemen. The Strawberry Festival website added, “The Strawberry Festival would like to thank you for your hard work and dedication to protecting our community and nation. We hope that you will join us in celebrating these men & women that are making a difference in our community.”
Each year, five young women are selected to represent the Strawberry Festival as princesses, with one being nominated during the festival as strawberry queen. The selection process for queen includes a dinner with community leaders and judges, a final round of interviews and the coronation event at the festival where each princess is judged on their formal presentation, a speech and their answer to a predetermined question. The previous year’s winner will crown the next strawberry queen, and the new queen will make her formal debut during the grand parade.
On Friday, the junior parade will occur and bands will play on the main stage in the evening. The junior parade showcases younger children walking with decorated bikes, wagons or small floats. “Being in the Strawberry Festival Junior Parade is a great way to get kids of all ages involved in a community event, build confidence in themselves, and start them at a young age to have pride in their community and be a part of something special!” the website says. After the parade, the strawberry princesses will be passing out popsicles.
On Saturday, the day will start with a 5K run, or a shorter walk, and later events include the grand parade, the community hand jive, various bands and fireworks at dusk. The grand parade will start at West Rose Street. Each year it has more than 100 entries that include local organizations and groups such as dance groups, bands, large floats, motorcycles and more.
On Sunday, there will be various presenters, including the Sunday Hollywood Studio dancers, Verdant A Cappella, Cherry City Cloggers and Lebanon High School jazz band.
Bands and artists that are playing throughout the festival include Actual Size, Ben Rice and the PDX Hustle, Bryan Martin, Lucas Cole, Brady Goss and Roll On the Tribute to Alabama. There will also be a carnival that partnered with Rainier Amusement, with many rides on each day of the festival. Wristbands can be purchased for unlimited rides.
One of the biggest Strawberry Festival traditions that started in 1941 is their world’s largest strawberry shortcake, which will be served on Saturday after the grand parade. The shortcake goes through the parade, and once it reaches the festival grounds, the newly crowned strawberry queen and her court will ceremonially cut the cake using a giant historic knife. Notably, in 1975, there was a battle for the largest shortcake between Lebanon and Garden Grove, California. Lebanon won by a large margin with a cake weighing over 5,700 pounds that fed around 16,000 people. The cake used extremely high quantities of ingredients, including 514 cups of sugar, 992 cups of flour, 2048 teaspoons of baking powder and 18 cups of vanilla.
Each year, volunteers take shortcake to those in the community unable to attend the festival, such as those in senior living homes, hospitals and on-duty first responders.
Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu
