2018 Strawberry Festival announces entertainment headliners

The 2018 Florida Strawberry Festival’s list of headlining artists has been announced — and it’s a blast from the past.

The lineup features a “I Love the 90s Tour” starring Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc and Salt-N-Pepa. Other headliners include Brad Paisley, Earth, Wind & Fire, Babyface and The Band Perry.

“The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Building New Memories!’ with a strong emphasis on the construction of our new GT Grandstands seating area,” said Florida Strawberry Festival President Paul Davis.

However, the brand new bleacher-style seating area means the festival will now charge for seating at headline performances.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for us. But we absolutely had to construct new seating,” said Davis. “And when you start crunching the numbers, there was just no way economically for us to offer free seats any longer.”

The GT Grandstands will seat more than 9,000 people and be more comfortable for guests, according to the festival’s director. The project began in March and is expected to be completed by the end of November.

The 83rd Annual Florida Strawberry Festival is set to begin March 1 and runs until March 11. Tickets for admission and headline events go on sale at 8 a.m. Dec. 7. They can be purchased online at www.flstrawberryfestival.com, at the Amscot Main Ticket Office, 2209 W. Oak Ave., Plant City or over the phone by calling (813) 754-1996.

Full lineup:

• Thursday, March 1
• 10:30 a.m. Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra
• 3:30 p.m. Oak Ridge Boys
• 7:30 p.m. DNCE

• Friday, March 2
• 3:30 p.m. Jerry Lee Lewis
• 7:30 p.m. Justin Moore and Dylan Scott

• Saturday, March 3
• 3:30 p.m. Cam
• 7:30 p.m. The Band Perry

• Sunday, March 4
• 3:30 p.m. Lee Greenwood
• 7:30 p.m. REBA McENTIRE

• Monday, March 5
• 3:30 p.m. Jimmy Fortune
• 7:30 p.m. Josh Turner

• Tuesday, March 6
• 3:30 p.m. Gaither Vocal Band
• 7:30 p.m. Casting Crowns

• Wednesday, March 7
• 3:30 p.m. Engelbert Humperdinck
• 7:30 p.m. Trace Adkins

• Thursday, March 8
• 10:30 a.m. The Lettermen
• 3:30 p.m. Drifters, Platters and Cornell Gunter's Coasters
• 7:30 p.m. I Love the 90s Tour featuring Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc and Salt-N-Pepa

• Friday, March 9
• 3:30 p.m. Charley Pride
• 7:30 p.m. Earth, Wind & Fire

• Saturday, March 10
• 3:30 p.m. Sawyer Brown
• 7:30 p.m. Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and Anthony Hamilton

• Sunday, March 11
• 3:30 p.m. Chase Bryant
• 7:30 p.m. Brad Paisley

This story was originally published November 13, 2017 at 9:43 AM with the headline "2018 Strawberry Festival announces entertainment headliners."