PLANT CITY, Fla. (WFLA) — Country music icons Willie Nelson and Lynyrd Skynyrd are among the 18 acts announced for the 2023 Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.
Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra and The Oak Ridge Boys Front Porch Singin’ Tour will kick off the 11-day festival when they take the Wish Farms Soundstage on March 2.
Here is a list of the festival headliners, with more to be announced:
- March 2 – Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra, The Oak Ridge Boys Front Porch Singin’ Tour
- March 3 – Willie Nelson, Halestorm
- March 4 – Sara Evans
- March 5 – The Gatlin Brothers
- March 6 – Neal McCoy, Josh Turner
- March 7 – Roots & Boots feat. Aaron Tippin, Collin Raye and Sammy Kershaw, CeCe Winans
- March 8 – Tanya Tucker
- March 9 – Bill Haley Jr. & The Comets, Tommy James & The Shondells, For King & Country
- March 10 – Wayne Newton, Train
- March 11 – Sawyer Brown, Keith Sweat
- March 12 – Country Gold Tour feat. Leroy Van Dule, T.G. Sheppard, Mandy Barnett and T. Graham Brown, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Tickets for the festival go on sale Dec. 8. Concertgoers will need to purchase gate admission in addition to their concert ticket in order to attend.
The theme for this year’s Strawberry Festival is “We Have a Winner!”, in honor of strawberry shortcake becoming the official dessert of Florida. Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the Festival grounds to officially sign the bill into law, which took effect July 1, 2022.
“The strawberry industry has an economic impact of more than a billion dollars in the state of Florida,” Festival President Paul Davis said last month. “Plant City is home to roughly 12,000 acres of strawberries and the Festival serves just about 200,000 shortcakes each year. We’re proud of our city and the Florida strawberry. It’s kind of a big deal around here!”