Competitive eater Geoff Esper consumed 21 pounds of strawberry shortcake during the Mattituck Lions Club Strawberry Festival last year. His feat — a 2 3/4-pound increase from his 2022 victory — crowned him the winner. “I love that strawberry shortcake.
It’s delicious and you don’t get flavor fatigue,” says Esper, 48, of Oxford, Massachusetts, who has been a competitive eater since 2015. When the annual festival returns June 12-16, not only does Esper have his sights on winning again, but he’s gunning to beat the overall record of 22 pounds set by Carmen Cincotti, of Newark, New Jersey, in 2018. “Strawberry Shortcake is a capacity contest.
It’s a test to see who has the biggest tank,” says Esper, who prepares by drinking lots of water and electrolytes the week before. “It’s like sprinting hard. You have to go a full 100% during that eight minutes.
” The contest is just one part of this old-fashioned event that has become a summer staple on the North Fork for 69 years. “The Strawberry Festival has a small town country fair atmosphere,” says sponsorship chair Jason Wahl. Here's what to look out for.
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Local volunteers help prepare the strawberries on Hulling Night, which takes place on the opening day of the Strawberry Festival in Mattituck. Strawberry fans will be in heaven as six different strawberry tr.
