Overview The Carolina Strawberry Festival is a two-day spring festival in downtown Wallace, North Carolina, a town of about 3,400 that grew on strawberries and once called itself the World's Largest Strawberry Exchange. It runs a Friday and Saturday around the old depot, with a main stage, carnival midways, a car show and a wing cook-off, and the festival also runs a Garden Gala, a pageant, a 5K run and walk and a recipe contest. The Wallace Depot Commission and town leaders revived the festival in 2011. It is a nonprofit, and the Town of Wallace is its primary sponsor. On site The main stage carries bands both nights: in 2026 Band of Oz played Friday evening, and Saturday ran Andrew Beam, Spare Change and Chocolate Chip and Company. VIP tables for eight sit at the Train Depot, with reserved seating for the evening shows and a catered dinner each night. Fun Fest Midways brings rides, games, mini golf and a basketball truck, the car show fills Boney Street on Saturday, and Friday night's wing cook-off settles who has the best wings in town. In 2026 the Garden Gala opened the season two weeks ahead at the Gardens of Southeastern North Carolina, with music from Mark Daffer, an open beer and wine bar and a shuttle from the Mad Boar. Track record The festival puts its proceeds back into Wallace. The money has paid for school projects, rolling stock for the Wallace Depot and the sound system for Music on Main, and in 2023 the board began an annual grant awards dinner to hand out the year's grants. Brand presence Sponsorship is sold in named levels. The top level hangs a custom banner on the main stage and puts a company representative on a local radio station for an hour. The levels below it trade printed banners, radio mentions, Garden Gala tickets, VIP seats with dinner at the depot, logos on the festival website and sponsor board, and thanks from the MC between acts. Volunteers who give three hours get a festival t-shirt.