DIXFIELD — The Dixfield Congregational Church will host its annual strawberry festival from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 29.

Resident Dexter Barry said the festival is heading into its “10th or 12th year,” and it remains a big hit in the community.

“Me and my wife, Darlene, started this thing about 10 or 12 years ago,” Barry said. “I can’t exactly remember, but it’s been a little while. We realized that there was nothing really going on in the month of June, and we saw the strawberry festival as a good way to get people together and have a good time.”

Barry said he and his wife go to Stevenson’s Strawberry Farm in Wayne each year and pick “seven to eight flats of strawberries,” which he said translates to “75 or 80 pounds.”

The strawberries are cut up and put into a variety of foods, including waffles, which Barry said is the biggest draw each year at the festival.

“I’ve tried to cook pancakes with strawberries in them, but I think we’re a waffle community,” Barry said, laughing. “I also bake strawberry shortcakes for the festival, but it all comes back to the waffles. I’ve run through seven or eight batches of waffles before, which amounts to around 50 in all.”

Barry said other volunteers will be cooking bacon and sausage to go with the waffles. There will also be many foods for sale, cooked by the men and women of the church.

The breakfast will be from 8 to 11 a.m. and will cost $6.

There will also be a raffle, where a queen-size quilt will be available. It was crafted by the wife of the Rev. John Gensel and her mother-in-law.

Barry said that all money raised will go toward helping the church.

“We have a lot of things we’d like to get to, but haven’t gotten around to yet,” he said. “We’d like to repave the handicapped parking lot we put in a while back.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com