In honor of the upcoming Strawberry Festival (June 25-26 at Crossroads Park), learn more about the festival’s history from the Eastside Heritage Center.

This strawberry carrier full of berry baskets would have been a familiar sight to Bellevue’s farmers in the early days of the Strawberry Festival. These wooden baskets are the forerunners of the green plastic strawberry containers many are familiar with today.

The early baskets were made out of five strips of very thin wood or bark. Two strips (side by side) were laid on top of two others in the shape of a plus sign. The sides of the strips of wood could then be folded upward to make the four sides of the basket, with the fifth strip being wrapped around the outside f the basket’s four sides, binding them together.

These baskets would then be filled up with plump red strawberries and put into a wooden carrier like this one to make it easier to carry multiple baskets to market or to the festival.

This information and image were provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. To learn more about Bellevue and Eastside history, contact the Eastside Heritage Center at 425-450-1049 or visit www.EastsideHeritageCenter.org.