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One of Falmouth’s most popular events, Saint Barnabas’s Strawberry Festival, will be held June 18 from 10 a.m.—2 p.m. on the church’s Great Lawn across from the Falmouth Village Green. A tradition since 1951, the festival celebrates summer with sumptuous handmade strawberry shortcake and strawberry jam. Other specially made foods festival visitors can enjoy include lobster rolls, pulled pork sandwiches, shredded chicken sandwiches, garden burgers and hot dogs. The festival also features baked goods, jewelry, books and attic treasures displayed on tables on the Great Lawn and under the tent. Children are invited to participate in special games. “People come back year after year to this special summer event to enjoy the food and festive atmosphere,” said Bette Hecox-Lea, Strawberry Festival chairperson. “It is a great place to connect with neighbors, friends and visitors to Falmouth.” Funds raised from the festival help support local nonprofit organizations through Saint Barnabas’s Community Engagement Ministry. A town famous for strawberries For a brief period in the 1930s, Falmouth was the largest producer of strawberries in Massachusetts—and the nation. The local strawberry industry had its start in 1892 when Portuguese immigrant Manuel Viera Martins retired from whaling and began farming strawberries on land he purchased in the Waquoit section of Falmouth. Over the next four decades, hundreds of farmers from the Portuguese islands moved to Falmouth and grew millions of strawberries. Although most of these farms are gone, the Tony Andrews Farm in East Falmouth, established in 1935, is among those still growing strawberries. Saint Barnabas’s Episcopal Church is located at 91 Main Street, Falmouth. For more information on the Strawberry Festival, call the church office at 508-548-3863 or email office@stbfalmouth.org.