BOLSA GRANDE High School band (Orange County Tribune photos).

The 63rd Annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival continued the tradition of bringing big crowds to the Village Green park to have fun, celebrate the community’s rural past and raise money for many civic and non-profit groups.

COOL WEATHER was comfortable.

The four-day event stretching across the long Memorial Day weekend brought in near-record attendance and revenue and went on without a hitch under skies that were cool enough to be comfortable and warm enough to herald the “unofficial” start of summer.

This year’s theme was “Celebrating Kindness.” The celebrity grand marshal of the Festival parade was Vera Jimenez of KTLA and the theme grand marshal was Tony Adkins, the “dancing doctor” from Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Andrea Perez served as president of the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association. Mark Mahoney is president-elect and will head up the festival in 2024.

THE MIDWAY was full of life.