Strawberry fields forever

Strawberries were sold faster than growers could pack them yesterday as the parvis of the Mgarr church turned "red" during the first strawberry feast in this quaint agricultural village.

The festival was organised by the local council, in conjunction with the Kummissjoni Lejla Mgarrija, which holds an agricultural produce show in August that vies for attention with the traditional one held at Buskett on the feast of Mnarja on June 29.

Mgarr mayor Paul Vella said the response was so good it was "very likely" the strawberry festival would become an annual event on the second Sunday of April.

"The date will be determined annually depending on the harvest because you have to have a day to coincide with a peak in the availability of the fruit.

"You cannot hold it during Lent, so the second Sunday of April looks just fine," he said. Though the festival was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., people had already packed the parvis by 10.30 a.m. and started snapping up freshly-picked strawberries faster than the farmers could supply them. Because of the heavy demand, several truckloads of the delicious fruit were brought over throughout the duration of the feast which went on till late afternoon.

Cakes and pastries using strawberries as well as fresh strawberry milkshake were also available. Folk dancers swayed to the rhythm of traditional Maltese music.

A few charts aimed at resting weight watchers' minds about binging on strawberries: Eating eight medium-sized strawberries mean downing only 50 calories. They retain most of their vitamin C if washed only immediately before they are consumed.

Mgarr growers are producing eight strawberry varieties that are grown from plant stock imported from Italy.

A grower told The Times the small Maltese strawberry was no longer grown because its yield was small compared to the varieties being cultivated.