Beacon - It’s been called the best strawberry shortcake in the Hudson Valley. Sunday, visitors had five hours to sample the culinary treat at the Sloop Club’s Annual Strawberry Festival, held at Beacon’s Riverfront Park.
Despite the dessert’s popularity at the Festival, very few know the specifics behind the exact recipe. What they do have privy to is that the fruit concoction consists of 1200 pounds of local strawberries (from Marlboro’s Borch and Sons Orchard), real whipped cream (using touches of honey and vanilla) and homemade, all natural ingredients wheat biscuits (a longtime secret recipe originating from Pete Seeger’s wife, Toshi.) Enough ingredients abound to construct 2000 shortcakes, all of which have disappeared by the Festival’s end.
"The preparation is mostly done the night before the Festival, when we spend hours and hours at TomLaBarr’s house hulling strawberries and getting the other ingredients together," explained Sloop Club member Vince Farina, as he grabbed hot biscuits out of the oven Sunday. "The real speciality about it is it’s fresh and made on site, allowing the hot and the cold to really come together and offering something you can’t normally get at home."
Testimony to its elusiveness could be spotted Sunday as long lines continued to form all day long. Ticketholders eagerly awaited their sweet delight.
"Fresh, homemade, tasty and absolutely delicious," raved MaryEllen Winfield about her strawberry shortcake portion.
"I like the whipped cream on top the best," commented Beacon resident, Nina Rivers, whose father assisted her with its disposal.
Sunday marked the 36th annual Strawberry Festival, whose origins can be traced as far back as 1974. It was then that folk singing legend and activist Seeger converted the smoke and polluted-laden Beacon Waterfront locale into a park. It would soon evolve into a place where people could come down and enjoy the water, along with the three annual festivals held by the Sloop Club. Each event offers food, education on the environment, singing (almost always including a Seeger performance), and of course, free sails on the Woody Guthrie, a wooden replica of a gaff-rigged Hudson River ferry sloop. All funds raised from the Sloop Clubs’ efforts, whose culinary offerings included strawberry smoothies as well as chocolate covered strawberries, are applied to the ongoing maintenance of the Woody Guthrie as well as its sailing and educational programs.
"We really enjoy providing these event for the community," said Farina. "All the work we put into them is a labor of love."
With a couple of thousand in attendance Sunday, despite the occassional downpour, that love continues to be felt, year after year.
"This is my third year attending the Strawberry Festival; we really enjoy attending all of the festivals here," said Beacon’s Christopher Rivers. "It is so nice to see how diverse Beacon has become, a great way to kick off the summer, and of course, the strawberry shortcake is incredible."
Winfield, who has attended the Strawberry Festival for twenty years, added. "The local talent, food and educational things provided on the environment are great; it’s just so nice to see an event that brings so many people together in a positive way."
Don’t miss the Sloop Clubs’ next Waterfront event, the Corn Festival, held on August 15th, 2010.
