Strawberry Festival Comes to Fruition With Parade : Celebration: Spectators line the streets of Garden Grove for the highlight of the 35th annual Memorial Day weekend event.

Angie Lepe and Susana Fernandez have been bringing their families to the Strawberry Festival for the past 15 years. This year is no exception.

Sitting on beach chairs along Chapman Avenue on Saturday, the two Anaheim families waved to the clowns and clapped to the music of the marching bands.

“This parade has become a family tradition,” said Lepe, 26. “It’s fun for our kids, and it brings us all together.”

While the city’s strawberry industry has shrunk dramatically over the years, the festival has grown in popularity. More than 250,000 residents of Garden Grove and neighboring cities are expected to attend the 35th annual Memorial Day weekend event.

Organizers hope to raise about $200,000 to donate to charities serving Garden Grove residents. Some of the proceeds will benefit the Police Department and provide scholarships for high school students.

More than $1 million has been raised and donated since the festival’s debut in 1958, when Garden Grove was among the nation’s leading strawberry producers.

Thousands of fair-goers converged Friday night on the Village Green for opening ceremonies, at which “the world’s largest strawberry shortcake” was sliced into 3,264 pieces.

The highlight of the four-day event, however, was Saturday morning’s 2.5-mile parade that featured Olympic gold-medalist gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner as grand marshals.

Two Los Angeles families--the Fords and the Robersons--haven’t missed the Strawberry Festival Parade in 14 years. This year was extra special, as they eagerly waited for 14-year-old Shervonne Roberson and 17-year-old Leshun Ford to pass by.

When Shervonne performed her dance moves and Leshun played his drum with the Westside Dominettes Drill Team as the parade moved down Euclid Street, their families went wild. “Leshun! Leshun! Leshun!” screamed his mother, Patricia. “Oh, I just love this” festival.

It was the Ninja Turtle that got 3-year-old Dustin Scott of Garden Grove cheering. “Cowabunga!” he yelled.

Like Dustin, 3-year-old Tawnie Duarte of Santa Ana jumped up and down with excitement when she saw Ronald McDonald. “Mommy, look at Ronald McDonald!” she said, pointing at the restaurant mascot.

“This is going to be a new family tradition,” said Tawnie’s mother, Patricia.

The festival also has hundreds of exhibit booths, food stands, carnival rides and games awaiting visitors to the fairgrounds, off Euclid and Main streets.

Three brothers, 5-year-old twins Tommy and Matthew and 8-year-old Chris Patton, enjoyed a fast-spinning ride on the Berry-Go-Round.

“I want more,” Tommy said. “That was fun.”

The Yorba Linda brothers each won two stuffed animals in Ping-Pong ball toss contests, then asked their mother, Betty, for some strawberries and cream. “They just love strawberries,” Patton said.

And strawberries were hardly in short supply. The red berries were being sold for about $3 a bowl.

The free festival continues today from noon to 11:30 p.m. and Monday from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

A strawberry-look-alike baby pageant and dance troupe performances will be held today. At noon Monday, the annual redhead contest will take place, in which trophies are awarded to contestants with the best strawberry-blond hair, most freckles and other strawberry images.

Closing the festival will be a memorial service.