The 61st annual St. Philip’s Strawberry Festival in Wiscasset will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 29 and, like every year since it began, plenty of volunteers will be needed to make it a success.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the kitchen where the crew will work for days ahead of time to make sure that everything is just right.

Joni Leigh and Gail Grundy have worked on the kitchen crew for several years. Leigh said everything goes as well as it does because there are several “old hands” working in the kitchen who know just what is needed to make the food at the Strawberry Festival fresh and delicious.

Working side by side with them will be some newer hands learning the ropes. “While we plan for a couple of weeks ahead of time, the real work begins on the Wednesday before the festival when we go shopping for everything we need,” Leigh said.

That “need” includes ham, chicken and eggs for the sandwiches that are sold at the festival, along with hot dogs, rolls, breads and everything else that goes along with feeding hundreds of people in four hours.

Hulling of the strawberries for the popular strawberry shortcake is done on Friday. That’s when Leigh and her crew check the strawberries for sweetness to determine how much sugar will be needed to make the strawberries perfect.

Getting everything right about the strawberries is important, she said, because strawberry shortcake is the star of the event.

And that’s where people such as Sara George, Robin Ford and Susan Gallagher come in. All will have a hand in ensuring the strawberry shortcake sold at the festival lives up to the reputation it has earned during the past 60 years.

A total of 12-14 dozen shortcakes are needed each year; each one is handmade by George in her home. And when it comes to the whipped cream, various people whip it all on the day of the event in the kitchen at the church.  “You know it’s done when it stops slapping you in the face,” said Grundy with a chuckle. “We learned that trick from one of our whippers who worked in a professional kitchen.”

“The festival is important as a fund-raiser for the church,” said Beth Cowing-Young, Festival chairman. “But it’s also a social activity for all of us, and we wouldn’t do it if it weren’t fun.”

It has to be because the day begins at 8 a.m. for the kitchen help and doesn’t conclude until everything is cleaned up and put away, usually late in the afternoon.

“Everyone on the crew is happy to put in the long day because we know the Strawberry Festival is an outreach into the community, and we want to project that St. Philip’s is here, is made up of happy people and we want you to come again,” Cowing-Young said.

Besides, the festival gives all the volunteers the opportunity to meet visitors and enjoy the event themselves. “Oh, we don’t just stay in the back,” Grundy said. “We take our breaks, get out front to check things out, and meet and greet the hundreds of people who attend each year.

“And of course it’s always fun to see everyone enjoying the food we made.”