Baldwin County Alabama Strawberry Festival
Every April, the town of Loxley gives its name to one of the best-loved spring weekends in Baldwin County. The Baldwin County Alabama Strawberry Festival takes over Loxley Municipal Park on the second weekend of April, filling the grounds with more than 180 arts and craft exhibitors, a dozen food vendors, a carnival, an antique auto show and live music. It is famous, above all, for strawberry shortcake, and crowds come from across the county and beyond to taste it.
What lifts this festival above a pleasant spring fair is where its money goes. The festival was created in 1987 by two local partners, Loxley Elementary School and ARC Baldwin County, and it still raises money for those same two beneficiaries today. It is run by a local Board and Committee rather than a commercial promoter, and its survival across nearly four decades, interrupted only by the pandemic years, makes it a genuine piece of Loxley identity. This article explains what the festival is, how it grew, what visitors can expect, and what is actually known about admission, shuttles and future dates.
About the Festival
The festival belongs to Loxley, a small town in the heart of Baldwin County. Loxley is not the county seat — that honour belongs to Bay Minette — but for one weekend each spring this is the town that draws the county to it. The event is an old-fashioned community festival in the best sense: craft rows, fairground food, children’s games, exhibits and music, all built around the strawberry theme that gave it its name.
For its first years the festival was held in downtown Loxley. In 1999 it moved to Loxley Municipal Park, at 4198 Municipal Park Drive, Loxley Al 36551, and the park has been its home ever since. The extra room allowed the festival to grow well beyond its original handful of vendors while keeping the same local character. The festival’s mailing address, for anyone writing to the organisers, is Baldwin County Strawberry Festival, PO Box 552, Loxley, Alabama 36551.
The festival is organised by its own Board and Committee. Its best-known offshoot, the antique auto show, is hosted by the Pharaohs Alabama Chapter and sponsored exclusively by the Baldwin County Strawberry Festival Committee. Everything about the event, from the shuttle buses to the shortcake stand, is arranged for the benefit of Loxley Elementary School and ARC Baldwin County, the two partners who founded it together.
For a useful comparison, see the Mendocino County California World’s Largest Salmon BBQ Festival for another county festival.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Festival | Baldwin County Strawberry Festival |
| Host town | Loxley, Alabama |
| County seat | Bay Minette (Loxley is not the county seat) |
| Venue | Loxley Municipal Park, 4198 Municipal Park Drive, Loxley Al 36551 |
| Usual timing | Second weekend in April |
| 2026 dates | April 11-12, 2026 |
| First held | 1987 |
| Beneficiaries | Loxley Elementary School and ARC Baldwin County |
| Signature food | Strawberry shortcake |
| Shuttle service | Free shuttles, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday |
History
The festival’s own About page tells its origin plainly: “The Baldwin County Strawberry Festival began in 1987 as a result of a united effort between the ARC Baldwin County and the Loxley Elementary School.” A school and an organisation supporting people with developmental disabilities joined forces to create a fundraiser, and the strawberry gave them their theme. The first festivals were modest affairs, with only a few craft and food vendors gathered in downtown Loxley.
The first big change came in 1996, when the date moved from the first Saturday in May to the second weekend in April, the slot the festival still occupies. The second came in 1999, when the festival left downtown for Loxley Municipal Park. From those few early vendors it grew steadily, reaching the scale the festival describes today: over 180 arts and craft exhibitors, a dozen different food vendors, a carnival, children’s games, an antique auto show, exhibits and live music.
For many years a Little Miss Strawberry Beauty Pageant formed part of festival life. That pageant was discontinued in 2021 and is no longer held. An older reference, the Encyclopedia of Alabama, still describes a Little Miss Strawberry pageant in its account of the festival, but that is an outdated layer; the festival’s own current pages govern, and visitors should not expect a pageant on the modern programme.
The festival’s only true interruption came with Covid-19. The 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled because of pandemic restrictions, a break the festival itself says “interrupted our continual yearly occurrence”. Since then the festival has returned to its April rhythm in the park, with the same two beneficiaries it started with in 1987. A Gulf Coast media report billed the April 2025 event as the 36th Annual, but that numbering appears only in that outside billing; the festival’s own pages offer the 1987 start and the two lost years without attaching an official edition number, so none is claimed here.
What to Expect
The craft rows are the festival’s backbone. More than 180 arts and craft exhibitors spread through the park, selling handmade goods of every description, and browsing them properly can fill a morning on its own. Around a dozen food vendors handle the catering, and the dish everyone hunts down is the strawberry shortcake the festival is famous for. If you eat only one thing at the festival, that is the one locals will point you towards.
Families are well served. There is a full carnival with rides, children’s games, and exhibits to wander between the craft rows and the food stands. Live music runs as part of the programme, and the antique auto show gives car enthusiasts their own corner of the park, with the Pharaohs Alabama Chapter hosting and the Baldwin County Strawberry Festival Committee sponsoring. The show draws polished classics and the crowds that follow them, and it is billed as a festival fixture in its own right rather than a sideshow.
One caution for planners: a fun run appears in some secondary listings connected with the festival weekend. It does not feature in the festival’s own description of its programme, so treat it as unconfirmed and check the festival’s current announcements if a race matters to your trip. Everything else described in this section, from the carnival to the shortcake, comes from the festival’s own account of what it offers.
Planning Your Visit
Timing is the first thing to settle. The festival occupies the second weekend of April, and the festival’s own closing post after the 2025 event told readers to mark their calendars for April 11-12, 2026. Spring weather in south Alabama is usually kind, but an April weekend outdoors still rewards a layer for the morning and sun protection by midday.
Parking pressure is eased by the festival’s shuttle system. Free shuttle service runs from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, picking up from the Baldwin County Board of Education Building at 1901 B Avenue and from Loxley Elementary School at 4999 S Magnolia Street. Riding the shuttle is the simplest way to arrive, especially once the park’s own parking fills with the late-morning crowd.
On admission and gate hours, honesty is required. The festival’s own pages, as reviewed for this article, do not state an admission price or official opening hours, and no current price is claimed here. An older magazine account of an April 8-9 edition, which it billed as the festival’s 34th year, mentioned gate tickets and hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but that is an old layer from a past edition, not a promise about the next one. The sensible approach is to check the festival’s own announcements in the weeks before you travel, carry some cash alongside cards for food and craft purchases, and assume the busiest period will be Saturday late morning, when the shuttle queues and shortcake line are at their longest.
A Sample Festival Day in Loxley
Start with the shuttle. Arrive at one of the two pickup points in the morning, ride into the park, and give the first hour to the craft rows while the aisles are still easy to walk. With more than 180 exhibitors, an unhurried first pass lets you mark the stalls you want to return to before buying.
Make the strawberry shortcake a late-morning appointment rather than an afterthought, since it is the festival’s signature and the line builds as lunchtime approaches. Follow it with the exhibits and children’s games if you have younger visitors in the group, or drift towards the live music while the carnival warms up.
Give the afternoon to the antique auto show, where the rows of classics reward slow walking, and then circle back to your shortlisted craft stalls for purchases. Food vendors, about a dozen of them, cover an early supper in the park. When you have had your fill, the shuttle runs until 5:00 p.m., so time your last purchases to leave a comfortable margin before the final buses.
From Downtown Streets to the Park: How the Festival Has Changed
The festival’s history falls naturally into two eras. The downtown era, from 1987 to 1998, was a small-town street festival: a few craft and food vendors, a May date at first and then an April one after 1996, and a programme small enough to know by heart. It was a fundraiser with a strawberry theme, run by neighbours for neighbours.
The park era, from 1999 onwards, is the same festival at a different scale. Loxley Municipal Park gave it room for a carnival, a major auto show and over 180 exhibitors, and the shortcake became famous across the county rather than just in town. What did not change in the move is the point of it all. The organisers are still a local Board and Committee, the hosts are still Loxley, and the money still flows to Loxley Elementary School and ARC Baldwin County, exactly as the founders intended.
Planning Checklist
- Confirm the year’s dates against the second weekend in April before booking travel
- Plan to ride the free shuttle from the Board of Education Building or Loxley Elementary School
- Arrive early in the day to walk the craft rows before the crowds peak
- Put strawberry shortcake at the top of the food list
- Leave a full hour for the antique auto show
- Bring sun protection and a light layer for a changeable April day
- Carry a mix of cash and cards for food vendors and craft stalls
- Build in time for the carnival and children’s games if visiting with family
- Check the festival’s own announcements close to the weekend for final details
Beyond the Festival
A festival trip can anchor a wider Baldwin County weekend. Loxley sits in the middle of the county, within easy reach of its other small towns, and April is one of the pleasantest months to explore rural south Alabama before the summer heat arrives. Bay Minette, the county seat, lies to the north, and the county’s back roads in spring are lined with the farms and fields that made a strawberry festival a natural idea here in the first place.
Within Loxley itself, the festival weekend is when the town is at its most sociable. Local churches, school families and civic groups all have some hand in the weekend, whether as volunteers, vendors or shuttle riders, and visitors are folded into that atmosphere quickly. Even a simple drive through town before or after the festival gives a sense of the close-knit community that has kept the event alive since 1987.
Why the Festival Matters to Loxley
The clearest measure of the festival’s importance is financial. After the 2025 festival, Loxley Elementary School and the ARC of Baldwin County each received a check for fifty thousand dollars, a serious sum for a school and a county charity, raised by a weekend of crafts, cars and shortcake. That pattern of giving is why the festival exists; the entertainment is the means, not the end.
The second measure is continuity. Many small-town festivals fade when their founding organisers retire, but this one has kept its founding partnership intact from 1987 to the present, survived two cancelled years, and rebuilt its crowd each time. For Loxley, the second weekend in April is when the town shows what it can do, and the strawberry has become the emblem it does it under.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were there no festivals in 2020 or 2021?
Both editions were cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions. The festival describes those lost years as an interruption to its continual yearly occurrence, and it resumed in the park once restrictions lifted, returning to its second-weekend-in-April slot.
Is the Little Miss Strawberry pageant still held?
No. The Little Miss Strawberry Beauty Pageant was discontinued in 2021 and is no longer part of the festival. Older references, including the Encyclopedia of Alabama, still describe a pageant, but the festival’s own current pages make clear that it has ended.
Where can visitors catch the free shuttle buses?
Shuttles run free of charge from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The pickup points are the Baldwin County Board of Education Building at 1901 B Avenue and Loxley Elementary School at 4999 S Magnolia Street. Using them avoids the pressure on parking at Loxley Municipal Park itself.
Who received fifty thousand dollars after the 2025 festival?
Both founding beneficiaries did. Loxley Elementary School and the ARC of Baldwin County each received a check for fifty thousand dollars from the proceeds of the 2025 festival, continuing the pattern set when the two partners created the event together in 1987.
What to Expect From the Next Baldwin County Alabama Strawberry Festival
How often is Baldwin County Alabama Strawberry Festival held?
April brings Loxley’s strawberry weekend back to the park every year, anchored to the second weekend of the month. That slot has held since 1996, and the only breaks in the run were the two pandemic cancellations of 2020 and 2021.
When is the next Baldwin County Alabama Strawberry Festival?
The most recent edition documented on the festival’s own pages is April 11-12, 2026, the dates its 2025 closing post announced. Looking further ahead, the festival’s car-show page bills the 2027 car show for Saturday April 10 and Sunday April 11, 2027, which points to the next festival weekend falling then, although the festival has not separately published its 2027 dates in the material reviewed here.
Will the dates change?
The pattern is stable but not carved in stone. The festival moved its date once before, from the first Saturday in May to the second weekend in April in 1996, and weather or other circumstances can always force adjustments. Expect the second weekend in April, but confirm against the festival’s own announcements before making firm travel plans.
Loxley’s strawberry festival has outlasted bigger and glossier events because it never forgot what it is for. Come for the shortcake, stay for the crafts and the cars, and know that the money you spend in the park ends up in a local classroom and a county charity. That is a good bargain for a spring weekend, and it is why the second weekend in April belongs to Loxley.
