Strawberry Festival

Today, 27 June, the Latvian Fruit Growers' Association at the Spice shopping centre is holding - for the second year running - the Strawberry Festival, bringing together local strawberry growers from across Latvia. The event programme, with trading, musical performances, and various competitions, is scheduled from 10:00 until 22:00. So if anyone didn't know or hasn't made it yet - there's still time!

The large white tent literally smells of strawberries. Here you can purchase various strawberry varieties brought from Latvian farms, from Ls 1.80 to 2.50 per kilogram. Some also sell strawberry plants in pots, which seem suitable not only for a house but also for growing on an apartment balcony.

I bought strawberries - "Zefīrs" and "Induka" from Pūre. The first are pink, round, and sweet; the second - firm, dark red, well-suited to longer storage and transport. Both varieties, eaten at home with milk, tasted wonderfully good.

Nearby were also "sounding strawberries" - cheerful little whistles in strawberry shape and colour.

At the festival you could buy not only strawberries but also other country produce - cranberries, milk, kefir, home-baked bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, and various smoked meats and fish.

We also watched a competition organised by Cukuriņš, where participants had to sort various sugar crystals against the clock. Prizes were not lacking.