Willie Nelson, Patti LaBelle top Strawberry Festival lineup

This time of year, if you live in the Bradenton area, you’re never more than a few days and an easy drive away from a great, old-fashioned fair.

Now that the Manatee County Fair and the Florida State Fair are behind us, it’s time for the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.

This year’s festival, the 82nd annual installment, gets going Thursday and runs through March 12. It’s grown a lot, of course, but it still has the feel of a rural fair, with down-home crafts, a midway and of course lots of great food centered around the strawberry harvest in the Plant City area.

What sets the Florida Strawberry Festival apart from other area fairs and festivals is its yearly lineup of big-name country, rock and pop acts. Every day of the festival brings at least two headline concerts to the Wish Farms Soundstage. Among the big names this year are Willie Nelson (3:30 p.m. Friday), the Blues Brothers (7:30 p.m. March 9) and Patti LaBelle (7:30 p.m. March 11).

Here’s the full lineup. The headline concerts are not included in the price of admission to the festival.

Thursday: 10:30 a.m. Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra; 3:30 p.m. Drifters, Platters & Cornell Gunter’s Coasters; 7:30 p.m. For King & Country.

Friday: 3:30 p.m. Willie Nelson and Family; 7:30 p.m. Kip Moore.

Saturday: 3:30 p.m. Kane Brown, 7:30 p.m. 3 Doors Down.

Sunday: 3:30 p.m. Clare Bowen/Charles Esten; 7:30 p.m. Little Big Town.

Monday: 3:30 p.m. The Bellamy Brothers; 7:30 p.m. Jennifer Nettles.

Tuesday: 3:30 p.m. Brenda Lee; 7:30 p.m. NEEDTOBREATHE.

Wednesday: 3:30 p.m. Tracy Byrd; 7:30 p.m. Scotty McCreery.

March 9: 10:30 a.m. Cab Calloway Orchestra; 3:30 p.m. The Oak Ridge Boys; 7:30 p.m. The Blues Brothers.

March 10: 3:30 p.m. Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers; 7:30 p.m. Elle King.

March 11: 3:30 p.m. Maddie & Tae, 7:30 p.m. Patti LaBelle.

March 12: 3:30 p.m. Joe Nichols, 7:30 p.m. Rascal Flatts.

Details: March 2-12, Florida Strawberry Festival grounds, 303 N. Lemon St., Plant City. $8 adults, $4 children 6-12. (Headline concerts ticketed separately.) 813-752-9194, flstrawberryfestival.com.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Willie Nelson, Patti LaBelle top Strawberry Festival lineup."