Strawberry Festival

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Patrick Malone, 7, of Jackson, looks for the jumping mules from the hay ride on the way back from the strawberry patch.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Derrick Wade, right, and Eddie Smith, students at Teen Challenge, serve the complimentary strawberry shortcake.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Hay riders meet Nathaniel Dement and Babe the mule from near Centerville.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Skyler Sykes, 6, of Scott City keeps an eye on his blue balloon he got at the festival.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Tony Watson, student at Teen Challenge, rides the train with the kids at the Strawberry Festival Saturday.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Glen Sinclair, left, teaches new berry pickers how to pick strawberries.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian William Yuede of Cape Girardeau, from right, Sam Malone of Jackson, Patrick Malone of Jackson, Skyler Sykes of Scott City and Glen Sinclair pick strawberries during the Mid-America Teen Challenge Strawberry Festival Saturday north of Cape Girardeau. The festival has been around for about 30 years and about 18,000 quarts of strawberries have been picked this year.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Hay riders meet Nathaniel Dement and Babe the mule from near Centerville.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Jerry Hanshaw of Cape Girardeau hands out balloons to festival arrivals. Hanshaw graduated the Teen Challenge program at age 66. The Teen Challenge program is a Christian program that ministers to men with drug, alcohol and other addictions.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Ashlyn, 2, shares the strawberries she picked with her mom, Shannon.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Ashlyn, 2, learns to find the ripe strawberries at the Strawberry Festival.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Faith Parr, 7, of Cape Girardeau, waves to friends from the train ride Saturday at the Mid-America Teen Challenge Strawberry Festival.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian Clyde the mule performs a mule jumping demonstation at the Strawberry Festival.