Kimberly Sahlfeld-Bunger jumped hurriedly out of her car. Her eyes were on the fresh hand-picked strawberries for sale in the Plaza Galleria parking lot on Independence Street.

She purchased two quarts of strawberries because of their reputation.

"I was going to buy one quart, and they looked so good I had to buy two," the Cape Girardeau woman said.

This was Sahlfeld-Bunger's first trip to Teen Challenge International Mid-America's well-known strawberry stand. Each year, the popular strawberry sales precede the Strawberry Festival at Teen Challenge, a faith-based rehabilitation program in rural Cape Girardeau County.

"We showed up at 8:10 and there was already one car waiting here," said Phil Breithaupt, regional director and choir director for Teen Challenge. "As soon as we started unloading boxes, people started coming right and left."

Breithaupt has high expectations for the season's strawberry sales.

"This potentially could be a record crop," he said. "They're coming out fast this year."

This year's festival will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Teen Challenge Center, 303 MATC Lane off Cape Girardeau County Road 621. The festival drew a crowd of just under 900 last year.

"I think of it as a nice, relaxed day in the country," Teen Challenge's the Rev. Jack Smart said.

The festival will include several events, including music performed by the Teen Challenge choir and a Christian bluegrass band. Attendees also are invited to see the strawberry fields while riding a tractor-trailer and to enjoy a free serving of strawberry shortcake. Also attracting people will be a giveaway -- two quarts of berries will be given away every 15 minutes.

"Weather permitting, we're expecting about the same amount of people," Smart said.

Several of Teen Challenge's 121 participants -- or students, as the organization calls them -- began picking berries May 15. Breithaupt said a setting where they are expected to work hard prepares them for later training.

"We teach students practices of industry. We teach what's important -- things like commitment and endurance," Breithaupt said. "Before vocational training can be effective, you have to have a good work ethic."

Sahlfeld-Bunger said she approves of Teen Challenge's ideals and that the group represents the community well.

"The Teen Challenge is such a good organization," Sahlfeld-Bunger said. "We all need a little help sometimes."

sludwig@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 211

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Want to go?

What: Teen Challenge's annual strawberry festival

When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (May 27)

Where: Teen Challenge, 303 MATC Lane off County Road 621 in Cape Girardeau County