Blueberry Festival Fun Facts

Highest attendance: 2007 (we don't have actual figures--it's thousands, and the green was packed!)

Highest profit: 2008, about $60,000
Blueberry roll: In 2006, Hilary Caws-Elwitt rolled a blueberry down the front walk of the library with her nose to pay off a bet. She had predicted that more than 20 Festival cookbooks would sell from the website between the 26th & 27th Festivals, but only about 18 were sold.
Best nationwide publicity: Willard Scott wore a T-shirt & gave a shout-out around 1990; Home and Garden cable network mention; feature article in Pennsylvania Magazine, 2008

We were featured in a book: Pennsylvania Fairs and Country Festivals, by Craig Kennedy (available at the library)

Funny stories:
--In the mid 90s, a lady in New Jersey telephoned the Saturday of the Festival, asking to have 20 quarts of blueberries DELIVERED to a wedding that same day! We were out of fresh berries by then and running around like crazy trying to keep up with everything…
--Around 2000, we go a prank phone call from a radio station in the Midwest. They said they had the 20,000 pounds of berries we'd ordered & where should they deliver them--C.O.D!

Year of Newberry's birth: 1994

Year Newberry was named: 1995, by Dylan Reed

Most profitable booth: Used Books (raised over $13,000 in 2006, the all-time record)

Fresh blueberries sold: around  700,000 in 2004 (1388 pounds, estimating 500 berries/pound) More than half of our berries are picked by volunteers!

Pancakes sold in 2004: about 2,000

Pies sold in 2004: 523 pies = 4,184 slices of pie

Worst weather: Fridays have sometimes been rainy (2003 was), but nothing like the one year (mid-90s) when it POURED buckets and everyone got drenched! 2006 had the *usual* beautiful weather both days!

Least successful products tried over the years: blueberry soda, blue corn chips (tasted good but looked like hunks of pavement)

Scoops of ice cream in 2004: over 5 thousand (56 tubs, 3 gals each, 30 scoops/gal)

Surprising hit: blueberry pizza

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 14 July 2009 )