Bring on the berries -- and the family fun. Strawberries often ripen south of Pittsburgh first, so two of my favorite farms -- Triple "B" and Trax -- take on the task of opening Western Pennsylvania's strawberry season. Both will have strawberry festivals this weekend.
And visitors will have a chance to pick their own berries or let others do the work.
Trax Farms, Finleyville, opens its Strawberry Festival Friday, continuing through Saturday and Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
You can learn to make chocolate-covered strawberries, and the festival also features a strawberry dessert contest. (Rules are available at the store, 412-835-3246, or online at www.traxfarms.com.)
The festival foods center around the delectable berry with strawberry waffles, shortcake, sundaes, milkshakes and slush.
To temper the all-strawberries-all-the-time mentality is a homemade ham barbecue, as well as grilled hot dogs and beverages.
Children's activities include a coloring contest, balloons, strawberry game, a chance to meet Betty Berry, pony rides from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., an animal petting zoo, and Going Home Greyhounds and Foster Cat opportunities Friday and Saturday.
Over in Forward, Triple "B" Farms has a bevy of activities and food on Saturday and Sunday with free hayrides to the strawberry patches both days. Pony rides for the kids will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Carolyn "Mrs. B" Beinlich, the farm's co-owner and a former elementary schoolteacher, will give presentations for children. They begin at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Each child will have a strawberry plant to take home.
A playhouse on stilts is new this year, and the children are encouraged to feed the farm animals, including pygmy goats, chickens, peacocks and miniature horses.
Others activities include the "Farm Train," an inflatable, farm-themed tunnel for children to crawl through, and the "Liberty Tube Slide," a giant, sloped pipe that visitors slide through on gunny sacks. The Electrifyers, a blues band, will perform starting at noon Sunday.
Barbecue sandwiches, strawberry desserts and other refreshments are available in the Feed Bag stand.
For directions call 1-724-258-3557 or check the farm's Web site, www.triplebfarms.com.
Suzanne Martinson can be reached at smartinson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1760.
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