"Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did." William Butler

The square in front of the Mġarr Parish Church was not big enough yesterday for the hundreds of people who, encouraged by the bright sunshine, paid a visit to the village for the Strawberry Festival, held for the second year running.

The event, organised by the Mġarr council and the Kummissjoni Lejla Mġarrija, was scheduled to open at 11.30 a.m. but the square was jam packed by 9.30 a.m. - and the selling started as soon as people started buying, while the Qala Folk Group played on. The families with children, couples, elderly people and tourists who crowded the square were offered food and drink from several stalls and non-stop entertainment.

Beside the expected fresh strawberries, the delicacies on sale included strawberry treats such as tarts, ravioli, millefolie, cannoli, ice cream, sorbet, pancakes, waffles, soup, as well as strawberries in balsamic vinegar. All this could be washed down with some refreshing strawberry wine.

The festival was blessed by parish priest Joseph Fsadni and opened by Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino who said he hoped the festival would go on to become part of the island's annual culinary festivals.

This hope was shared by Mayor Pawlu Vella, who said the council had been encouraged to organise this year's festival following last year's success. Unfortunately, no records of how many strawberries were sold and consumed during last year's festival were kept but the council will be making an effort to keep such records this year.

What was sure, though, was that attendance was even better than last year. The people involved in the festival, he said, had been busy with the preparations since Friday and the profit will go towards the maintenance of the parish church.Strawberries are members of the Fragraria, a branch of the Rose family. They are the only fruits with seeds on the outside rather than the inside. On average there are about 200 seeds in every strawberry.

Ancient Romans believed that strawberries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, inflammation, fever, throat infection, kidney stones, halitosis, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen.