PLANT CITY, Fla. — Here is a fun little parking tip when you go to the Florida Strawberry Festival this year: If you park and enter on the south side of the festival grounds, try not to exit on north side.
Plant City Police say that is how hundreds of people each year get lost at the festival and cannot find their cars.
Florida Strawberry Festival 2018: Everything you need to know
The main gate and parking lots are on the north side. But it is often quicker and easier to park and enter on the south side.
Officers spend hours driving fairgoers who lost their cars, which ends up taxing the local police force.
“We get 15 to 20 calls a day trying to reunite people with their vehicles,” says Plant City Police Sgt. Al Van Duyne. “Once you get inside and see the tents and the rides, it’s easy to get turned around. Maybe it’s the sugar rush!”
Police are urging people to remember where they parked, no matter where on the festival grounds.
The best method to remember where your car is located is to take a picture of the closest intersection or a close landmark. More and more private lot owners are handing out address cards to help people remember.
And if you park and enter on the south side of the festival grounds by Reynolds Street, remember to leave on the south side.
