Thursday, nearly 3,000 bowls of sweet and sticky strawberry shortcake were prepared on the lawn of the Bloomington City ?Courthouse.
It was the day of the annual Bloomington Strawberry Festival and the warm and sunny atmosphere was ideal for socializing, lounging on the grass and, of course, ?eating.
The event, which has been a staple of Bloomington summers for more than 20 years, is organized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington Auxiliary. The auxiliary is an organization made up of local women dedicated to raising funds for the three clubs located in the city.
The Boys & Girls Club is a national nonprofit dedicated to providing children and teens with a safe place to learn and have fun. In Bloomington, the clubs host as many as 400 kids each day. They provide after-school tutoring, cooking camps, chess programs, summer camps and more.
“Our youth in our community are the most important asset that we have,” said Jeff Baldwin, the Bloomington club’s executive director. “This is the community’s club, so it makes sense for the community to come together to support it.”
The nonprofit charges each child only $20 for a year of enrollment, but the costs of providing all of the care and resources for those children is $600 per child. Baldwin noted that it costs $15,000 for the public school system to provide a year of school per child.
“So for just $600, we’re ?killing it,” he said.
Each serving of shortcake piled with strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream cost $5. Last year the event raised more than $30,000 for the kids and organizers expect similar results this time around.
“People in Bloomington are so good about coming out to support events for nonprofits,” said Krista Johns, who co-chaired the event with fellow auxiliary member Stacey Hawkins. “It’s a beautiful day, we’ve got great workers and the lines are moving fast so it’s been great so far.”
The festivities on the lawn were the second part of the two-day fundraiser. On Wednesday, the group raised money by delivering more than 550 build-your-own shortcake kits to local ?businesses.
“We’ve definitely kept busy,” Johns said.
Families and friends gathered in clusters on the lawn, sitting on blankets and listening to the live band performances. Volunteers dressed in strawberry aprons hurriedly worked to keep up with the consistently long line of hungry customers. Children ran around with faces stained pink.
“It really feels like the start of summer,” said Debora Fisher, who has attended the festival each of the three years she’s lived in Bloomington. “It makes you feel like you belong. It’s such a nice sense of community. You get to see all the people you know out and about for the first time since winter.”
