It starts, says site chairman Ben Suglia, a couple of weeks after the last event with a post-mortem meeting on what went right, what went wrong and how to move forward. "We look at things like parking, manpower, who was shorthanded and so on," he said.

The festival, presented by the Mattituck Lions Club and Capital One Bank, is organized by a series of committees, most of which retain the same members over time, says Mr. Suglia. The committees are devoted to such tasks as berry acquisition, strawberry shortcake preparation, parking, entertainment, permit acquisition and, of course, the ever-popular Strawberry Queen contest.

Suffolk Times photo by Judy Ahrens Straw Eat Crowd JA 06-21-07T--Ready, Set Go Contestants line up for the World's First International Strawberry Eating Championship at last years Strawberry Festival.

"All the permit applications go in by Jan. 1," says Mr. Suglia. "And then we start thinking about what we want to do. For example, we came up with the chocolate-covered strawberry idea about five years ago and that meant a bit of planning."

The Strawberry Queen committee has a lot to do to ensure the fair and equitable selection of the monarch of berries. "The committee sends out applications to all of the East End schools and this year we had approximately 25 students apply," Mr. Suglia said. "We have preliminary judging by judges from outside our area and by the beginning of May we're down to five. The club held its queen dinner last week, where the contestants are introduced to the members and their spouses, who do the voting."

Entertainment is another component of the festival that requires a lot of advance planning, says Mr. Suglia. "Booking bands and securing the services of the radio stations needs to be done well in advance," he said.

The shortcake-eating contest is organized in tandem with the World Federation of Competitive Eating and that committee has to ensure they don't run out of shortcake -- no mean task when you consider last year's winner ate 14 pounds of the stuff in about eight minutes.

Berry acquisition is obviously one of the most critical considerations. "We source 800 flats locally and 800 flats from out of state," said Mr. Suglia. "One of the Lions Club members is a produce broker, which was helpful when we purchased a strawberry futures contract." Mr. Suglia says gauging how much fruit will be needed always is a balancing act, since great beach weather often means fewer people will attend the festival.

"The whole event takes the better part of six months," says Mr. Suglia. "Then it really gets going in the week or so before the festival itself. On June 5 and 6, the equipment is delivered to the site and on Sunday we lay out the field. Then the town comes in and installs the fences on Monday and Tuesday. The next couple of days we set up all the equipment and we're usually 90 percent done by hulling night, which is Thursday, June 12."

This year's festival chairman, Bob Klipstein, is the first to admit that taking responsibility for the event can be a little nerve-racking. "I have to keep reassuring myself that we're all going to be there to make the effort," he says. "I am cognizant, though, that the volunteers have their families and their commitments."

Mr. Klipstein says that the monthly planning meetings do provide a road map and he's happy he has the experience and support of past festival chairmen and Lions Club presidents. "I never thought of myself as a planner," he says. "I always saw myself as more of a doer. But I'm able to plan because of all the experience of past organizers that I can rely on. I know the event is going to be wonderful because of that."

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