St. Jacob Strawberry Festival is Sunday | Belleville News-Democrat

The sweet smell of fresh strawberries is in the air as the St. Jacob United Church of Christ prepares for the 31^st annual Strawberry Festival, which will take place on Sunday, May 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the St. Jacob Township Park, 239 W. Main St.

Returning to the festival lineup will be a variety of crafters, raffle prizes, such as a child’s bicycle and a handmade quilt, entertainment, a corvette display, four kids bounce houses and, of course, food. There will be brats, hotdogs, chicken kabobs, strawberry desserts and a new addition of yogurt with fresh strawberries.

New this year will be a farmers market, complete with locally grown produce and goods for sale.

All proceeds from the festival will go to the St. Jacob UCC.

Entertainment

Paul Jarvis will play from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sappington Creek will perform from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., and there will be medieval re-enactors on the grounds all day.

Berry Bicycle Ride

Trailnet will host the Berry Bicycle Ride during the Strawberry Festival in St. Jacob on Sunday, May 17.

Before the heat starts to take its toll, squeeze in a final spring ride and top it off with some rich, sweet comfort food.

Pedal through the easy, quiet rolling hills of St. Jacob and Madison County. Riders will take in the smell of spring crops that fill the air, then wind down and stuff themselves with fresh, rich strawberry shortcake and strawberry yogurt parfaits — both at a $3 discount to participants.

The Berry Bicycle Ride is Trailnet’s most popular ride of the year and will be a blast for leisurely rollers, weekend warriors, and century roadsters. This is also an awesome ride for anyone who’s part of Trailnet’s Century Club.

Anyone who recruits 10 riders will be gifted a free shirt at the event. Just make sure your friends enter your email in the “referred by” field when they register. The goal is to get 900-plus people to commit to this ride on Facebook. So, tell your friends and send them to the event’s Facebook page.

If you get the chance, register online on Trailnet’s website, trailnet.org. Not only will it save you money, it will save you time on the day of the ride.

Online price is for $11 members and $16 non-members. Registration price the day of the ride is $15 members and $20 non-members. Kids are $6 either way.

Registration on day of ride runs from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.

The terrain is flat to gently rolling. There are no big hills. Choose from routes of 100, 52, 36, 17 or 7 miles.