Cullman County Alabama Strawberry Festival
Every spring, downtown Cullman turns its attention to a single fruit. The celebration at the centre of that weekend is the event covered here under its county title, the Cullman County Alabama Strawberry Festival, and the name needs one clarification, because the festival itself no longer answers to the older wording. Its current official name is the Alabama Strawberry Festival, a title conferred by the Alabama legislature in 2023 and used from the 2024 edition onward. Before that change, the same celebration was known as the Cullman Strawberry Festival. The two name forms belong to different eras of one event, kept here in their separate layers.
What has not changed is the setting. The festival unfolds in Cullman, the county seat of Cullman County, around Depot Park and the Festhalle Farmers Market, organised by Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism, usually shortened to CPRST. Strawberries anchor the weekend, but the programme has grown beyond a produce market: concerts, artisan vendors, themed food, a children’s area, a dog pageant and a baking contest all share the grounds. A tourism release for the 2026 edition billed it as now in its 87th year and Alabama’s longest-running strawberry festival, wording recorded here exactly as billed.
About the Festival
The Alabama Strawberry Festival is Cullman’s signature spring gathering, a weekend-long celebration built around the strawberry harvest and the town’s long association with the crop. It is staged in downtown Cullman, using Depot Park and the neighbouring Festhalle Farmers Market, also styled in some organiser material as the Festhalle Marketplatz. Both venue name forms describe the same festival site at 309 1st Avenue NE, Cullman, AL 35055.
The event’s modern identity owes much to its state designation. When the legislature acted in 2023, the recognition did more than rename the celebration: according to newspaper coverage from that year, it made the festival eligible for state tourism funding and supported its expansion from a single-day event into a weekend-long celebration. The 2026 edition, held on April 24 and 25, reflected that larger shape, with a main stage in operation on both days.
CPRST runs the festival, and a 2023 newspaper layer names the department’s director, Nathan Anderson, as the event’s planner. Artisan vendors are jury-selected, and vendor registration runs through CPRST’s festival portal, keeping the market rows focused on makers rather than resellers.
For a useful comparison, see the Crenshaw County Alabama World’s Largest Peanut Boil Festival for another county festival.
General admission to the festival grounds is free, as the tourism association’s February 2026 release states plainly. The qualification is that the main-stage concerts are ticketed separately: a visitor can browse the vendors and enjoy the daytime programme without paying, while an evening concert seat is a paid extra.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Current official name | Alabama Strawberry Festival |
| Earlier name | Cullman Strawberry Festival |
| Host town | Cullman, the county seat of Cullman County |
| Venue | Depot Park and the Festhalle Farmers Market |
| Address | 309 1st Avenue NE, Cullman, AL 35055 |
| 2026 dates | Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, 2026 |
| Organiser | Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism (CPRST) |
| General admission | Free; main-stage concerts are ticketed separately |
| Billing | Billed in a 2026 tourism release as in its 87th year |
History
The festival’s past arrives in layers that do not line up into one tidy founding date, and honest reporting leaves them unmerged. The tourism association’s 2026 release claims that as far back as 1898, the strawberry has been an agricultural calling card for Cullman. That is the association’s own claim about the crop, fenced to that release, not a founding date for any festival.
A second layer concerns the event’s earlier names. Newspaper history published in 2023 records that the festival shed the “Jubilee” moniker in favour of its then-current name in 1939, and that the seventh festival was held on May 1, 1947, attended by Alabama Governor “Big Jim” Folsom. That “seventh festival” line is a fixed point in the record, but it does not convert into a founding year, and no such arithmetic is performed here. The 1939 renaming, the 1947 edition and the “87th year” billing attached to 2026 sit side by side, and no single founding date can be drawn from them.
The twenty-first century added a harder chapter. The 2023 newspaper history describes the festival as born anew after the 2011 tornado outbreak that devastated parts of downtown Cullman — a celebration rebuilt in a downtown that had itself been rebuilt. CPRST estimated recent attendance at about 25,000 people in a 2023 layer, recorded here as an estimate for that period, not a count for any later edition.
The most recent layer is the renaming itself. Alabama Senator Garlan Gudger introduced the bill, the legislature passed it, and Governor Kay Ivey signed it on June 6, 2023. The new name took effect with the 2024 edition, so today’s event carries a state title barely a few editions old, wrapped around a celebration whose milestones reach back through 1947 and 1939 to a strawberry claim dated 1898.
What to Expect
The 2026 tourism layer sketches a festival with several distinct zones. Artisan vendors, chosen by jury, form the market backbone, selling handmade work alongside strawberry-themed treats. The strawberry is not merely decoration: it flavours the weekend’s eating, from fresh fruit to baked goods entered in the baking contest, where bakers put their own versions of strawberry cooking in front of judges.
Families get a dedicated kids’ area, and one of the programme’s most distinctive fixtures is the doggie pawgeant, a pageant-style showcase for dogs quite different from a standard dog show. Together, the market rows, contest tables and children’s activities give the daytime festival the texture of a street fair built around a single harvest.
Music carries the evenings. The main stage hosted concerts on both days of the 2026 edition, with concert gates opening at 4 p.m. alike according to the organiser’s event-day page. Those concerts are the ticketed element: the organiser’s site sells concert tickets, including a “VIP Regular One Day” ticket listed at seventy-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. That figure buys a premium concert experience for one day; it is not the price of walking into the festival, which remains free at the gate. Expect crowds in proportion — a two-day, state-named event estimated in the tens of thousands fills its compact downtown blocks.
Planning Your Visit
The practical detail needing the most care is the schedule, because the published hours for 2026 conflict across three sources. The tourism press release dated February 24, 2026 gives 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 24 and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. The association’s April Festivals blog for 2026 gives 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. The organiser’s own event-day page says gates and vendors open at 10 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, with concert gates at 4 p.m. both days. Treat the organiser’s page as the operational guide and check again close to the weekend.
Budgeting is simpler than the timetable. Walking the grounds costs nothing; money enters the picture at the vendor stalls, the food stands and, most significantly, the main-stage concerts, where a one-day VIP option was listed at seventy-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. Decide before you arrive whether the concert is the point of your evening or an optional extra, because that choice determines whether your day is a free outing or a ticketed one.
The site itself is compact: the whole festival fits into a few downtown blocks and rewards arriving early, when the market rows are fresh and the morning cooler. Saturday carries the fullest programme, while Friday offers the same grounds at a slightly gentler rhythm; either day pairs the market with an evening concert.
A Sample Festival Day
A workable Saturday begins at the gates as they open, with a first circuit of the jury-selected vendor rows before the crowds thicken. Mid-morning suits the baking contest tables and the food stands, while the produce is fresh and the queues short. Late morning can go to the kids’ area, or to a slower second pass through the artisan stalls.
Lunch belongs to the food vendors, ideally something strawberry-led. Early afternoon is the natural slot for the doggie pawgeant, the festival’s most cheerful spectator event. As the afternoon cools, drift back through the market for anything you marked earlier, then position yourself for the main stage: concert gates open at 4 p.m., and a ticketed evening set is the day’s natural finale.
Friday and Saturday Compared
The two days of the 2026 edition share a venue, a market and a main stage, but their published shapes differ. Friday’s opening hour is the disputed one: the press release says 10 a.m., the blog says 11 a.m., and the organiser’s page says 10 a.m. Saturday’s start is more consistent at 9 a.m. in the press release and the organiser’s page, though the blog lists 10 a.m. Closing is uniform at 9 p.m. across the layers.
In character, Friday is the connoisseur’s day: first pick of the stalls, the first evening concert, and a crowd still building. Saturday is the festival at full stretch, with the complete programme and the heaviest attendance. Neither day is a lesser version of the other, so a visitor with only one day should choose by temperament rather than by fear of missing the real thing.
Planning Checklist
- Confirm the day’s opening time against the organiser’s own event page, since published hours conflict.
- Carry a small budget for vendor food and strawberry treats even though admission is free.
- Decide in advance whether to buy main-stage concert tickets, and for which day.
- Treat the VIP ticket price as a concert upgrade only, never as the cost of entry.
- Arrive early on Saturday to browse the jury-selected stalls before peak crowds.
- Build the doggie pawgeant and the baking contest into your route.
- Bring sun protection and water for a full day outdoors in late April.
- Leave time for a final market pass before the 9 p.m. close.
Beyond the Festival Grounds
The weekend rewards a little wandering beyond the market rows. The Festhalle Farmers Market serves Cullman as a market space beyond festival weekend, so the grounds feel lived-in rather than purpose-built for tourists, and the county seat’s downtown blocks — much of them reshaped by the 2011 recovery — repay an early arrival or a late stroll.
The festival is a Cullman event through and through, held in no other town, but its draw is countywide, and the strawberry story it celebrates belongs to the farms of the surrounding countryside as much as to the downtown blocks. Eating something strawberry-based from a local vendor is the most direct souvenir the weekend offers.
Why the Strawberry Festival Matters to Cullman
Few small-city festivals carry a state name, and fewer still earned it by legislation. The 2023 act took a local celebration and declared it, formally, Alabama’s strawberry festival, tying Cullman’s identity to a crop in state law. Combined with the funding eligibility it brought, the act turned a hometown weekend into part of the state’s official festival landscape.
The festival also measures the town’s recovery: a celebration born anew after the 2011 tornado outbreak, now running two full days with ticketed evening concerts, is a visible sign of a downtown that rebuilt itself around gatherings like this one. Beneath the modern packaging sits the older thread behind the 1898 claim — strawberries have long been part of how Cullman presents itself, and the festival is when the town makes that presentation in person.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did the festival come to carry the Alabama name?
Through an act of the Alabama legislature in 2023. Senator Garlan Gudger introduced the bill, the legislature passed it, and Governor Kay Ivey signed it on June 6, 2023, officially recognising Cullman’s annual strawberry celebration as the Alabama Strawberry Festival. The name took effect with the 2024 edition; before that, the event was the Cullman Strawberry Festival. The designation also brought eligibility for state tourism funding and supported its growth from one day into a weekend.
Are the main-stage concerts included with general admission?
No. General admission is free, but the main-stage concerts are ticketed separately through the organiser’s site. A “VIP Regular One Day” concert ticket was listed at seventy-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. That price covers a premium concert experience for one day only; it is not an entry fee for the festival itself, which costs nothing to walk into.
Why do the published opening hours disagree with each other?
Because three published layers give three versions for 2026. The February press release lists 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; the April Festivals blog lists 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; the organiser’s event-day page says gates open at 10 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, with concert gates at 4 p.m. both days. The sources were never reconciled in print, so the organiser’s page is the safest guide.
What happened to the festival after the 2011 tornado outbreak?
Newspaper history published in 2023 describes the festival as born anew after the outbreak devastated parts of downtown Cullman. The modern event — weekend-long, state-named, and estimated by CPRST at about 25,000 attendees in a 2023 layer — belongs to that rebuilding era. The older layers, the 1939 renaming and the seventh festival of 1947, remain part of its recorded past but do not merge with the modern story into a single founding date.
What to Expect From the Next Cullman County Alabama Strawberry Festival
How often is Cullman County Alabama Strawberry Festival held?
The celebration returns each spring as Cullman’s annual strawberry festival, most recently across two days, Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, in 2026. Under its current name, the Alabama Strawberry Festival, it has settled into the weekend-long shape the 2023 designation helped support, with market days downtown and ticketed concerts on both evenings.
When is the next Cullman County Alabama Strawberry Festival?
Following the 2026 pattern, the next celebration would be expected in spring, in the same late-April territory. Specific dates belong to the organiser’s announcements, and the safest course is to watch for CPRST’s published schedule rather than assume a particular weekend, since even the 2026 hours appeared in three unreconciled versions.
Will the dates change?
They could. The festival’s recent history shows real movement: the designation expanded it from a single day to a weekend, and its published times shifted between sources within a single edition. A spring weekend in Cullman is the stable expectation, but exact dates and hours should be treated as provisional until the organiser confirms them.
The strawberry festival is, in the end, Cullman’s argument about itself: that a crop can carry a town’s name across a state, that a celebration can be rebuilt after disaster, and that a spring weekend of markets and music is reason enough to gather.
