Florida Strawberry Festival makes its berry sweet return

PLANT CITY --The Florida Strawberry Festival is back.

Take a stroll outta your Florida luxury villas

The 11-day festival rolls into Plant City on Thursday, complete with rides, shows and entertainment, and of course, some "berry" sweet food.

The 76th edition of the Strawberry Festival gets under way at 10 a.m., when the gates open at the festival grounds on North Lemon Street.

The festival features agricultural and livestock exhibits, a midway and concerts.

But the berry on top is the thousands of bowls of strawberry shortcake that will be dished out to guests.

Some big names in entertainment are headlining this year's Strawberry Festival, including:

• Lady Antebellum
• Billy Ray Cyrus
• The Doobie Brothers
• Rick Springfield
• Chubby Checker
• Kenny Rogers

Great weather is expected on opening day, and organizers said they expect about 40,000 visitors to show up on Thursday alone.