Strawberries

Strawberry Point, Iowa; Poteet, Texas

It's little surprise that the tasty and lovable strawberry is claimed as food mascot of many towns. Strawberry crops are produced from coast to coast. But we're chiefly interested in communities that have committed their most scenic vistas to the relationship -- the more embarrassing the better.

Poteet, Texas, wins this one. Even before pulling into this flat, dry little town, visitors on highway 16 will notice the badly faded World's Tallest Strawberry. It's the bulbous top of a 130 ft. tall water tower. A lone horse grazes at its base.

In town, you can see the a number of strawberry statues and tributes to "Poteet - Strawberry Capital Of Texas."

Strawberry Point, Iowa is the better known of the big berry locales, and its statue is probably the technical champion of the World's Largest Strawberry title. The 15-ft. tall sculpture is on a post in front of City Hall. It's fiberglass, and was dedicated in the late 1960s, designed by a local ad agency, and fabricated by an unidentified California company (we have our theories...)

Other towns claim strawberry superiority, though they haven't bothered to throw up statues: Watsonville, California, is " Strawberry Capital of the World;" Ponchatoula, Lousiana, is also "Strawberry Capital of the World;" and Plant City, Florida, qualifies its supremacy with the title " Winter Strawberry Capital of the World."

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