BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The president of the North Florida Regional Chamber of Commerce told Bradford County’s Tourist Development Council that the 2025 Strawberry Festival earned a net
profit of around $25,000.
Pam Whittle said that despite the event’s first-ever rain and lightning interruption on Sunday, March 30, vendors were happy with the event.
“Saturday was a bumper crop day,” she told the council during its April 17 meeting. “All of our vendors told us, ‘We made our money Saturday.’”
Whittle said she had never witnessed a Strawberry Festival crowd like the one she saw on March 29.
“We had so many people pouring in,” she said. “I’ve never seen them coming in the gates like that.”
The chamber president, who provides staff support to the tourist development council, said the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office Explorers program typically raises $3,500 from parking donations for the two-day festival at the fairgrounds. Whittle said the youth program made that amount on Saturday alone.
The festival’s revenue came from sponsorships and vendor fees. Primary expenses included advertising.
Tourist Development Council Chair John Miller told Whittle he had received several inquiries about returning the festival to downtown.
Whittle responded that her board had already discussed bringing the event back to Call Street and that she would meet with City of Starke officials and the Sheriff’s Office to discuss moving it.
She added that when the Strawberry Festival was downtown, Call Street merchants and festival vendors had complaints.
She also said that for the last two years the festival was held downtown, CSX charged the chamber $800 a day for a railroad employee to be posted at the railroad crossing, telling pedestrians when it was safe to cross the tracks.
“Okay, let’s figure this out,” replied Miller. “We have to have an event downtown.”
Bed tax revenues up 59%
The chamber president gave the TDC a summary of the county’s participation in Rural County Day in Tallahassee.
The event is designed to raise the profile of smaller Florida communities with state lawmakers.
Whittle showed TDC members photographs of the event and told them temperatures dropped dramatically during the Capitol courtyard function.
Whittle also reported that tourist development tax revenues had increased from $17,263 in January 2024 to $27,449 in January 2025, a 59% increase.
The state collects a four percent levy on hotel and other transient housing charges within the county. The county then uses that money to promote tourism.
Whittle credited Starke’s new Holiday Inn Express and the continuing expansion of the Keystone Heights RV Park for the increase.
As of March 25, the county’s tourism bank account had a balance of $810,866.53.
