Jack Smart has learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to the annual Teen Challenge Strawberry Festival.

In 2007, frost severely damaged about 70 percent of the group's strawberry crop, leading to a much smaller festival than usual.

On Saturday, festivalgoers were supposed to enjoy an abundance of strawberry treats, music and tours of the property. But the unusual weather patterns have forced a change in the schedule.

In order to ensure an adequate supply of the fruit, festival organizers have postponed this year's event to this Saturday, according to Smart, director of Teen Challenge International of Mid-America, located off County Road 621 near Cape Girardeau.

While the strawberry sale generates about 5 percent of the group's income, Smart said any delay in the sale of the crop can hurt the ministry financially. Teen Challenge is a residential program for recovering drug users.

"The income from the strawberries helps us to get caught up on our bills," Smart said. "It would take a miracle harvest for that to happen."

In addition to the 18th annual Strawberry Festival, Teen Challenge also sells strawberries at a stand in the Plaza Galleria parking lot on Independence Street. Smart said the fruit is sold for $2.25 per quart from 9 a.m. until they are sold out.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Teen Challenge students and staff picked strawberries Thursday north of Cape Girardeau. A late harvest has pushed back the annual Strawberry Festival one week.

Normally, a good harvest yields 30,000 quarts of strawberries, Smart said. Last year, Teen Challenge harvested 15,000 quarts, down from 44,000 quarts produced in 2006.

This year, Smart is predicting a harvest of at least 25,000 quarts.

Gerald Bryan, director of the University of Missouri Extension in Cape Girardeau County, said most crops bloom and mature based on growing degree days, which allow horticulturists and gardeners to predict the approximate date a crop will reach maturity or a flower will bloom. Gardeners predict or control the plants' pace toward maturity based on the local weather and temperature.

This year, the abnormally low temperatures have resulted in cooler soil, which in turn has delayed some crops by two to three weeks. Last year, Bryan said conditions were optimal for planting on time, but the early April frost severely damaged most of the crops in the area.

Teen Challenge International of Mid-America student Wesley Allgood made his way up a row picking strawberries Thursday at the organization's fields north of Cape Girardeau.

However, Teen Challenge is not the only area business whose harvest of fruit crops has been late this year.

Fruit growers across Missouri attribute the cooler weather and above-average rainfall for the delay in planting fruit and other crops.

David Diebold, co-owner of Diebold Orchard in Benton, Mo., said most fruits depend on optimal conditions for growing. He said last year's April freeze destroyed most of the peaches, apples and pears his orchard grows, resulting in about a loss of $450,000.

He said because of the above-average rainfall this year, the peaches will be larger than normal.

Even with the delay in planting strawberries, Smart hopes this year's festival will be a success.

In addition to a choir, strawberry sales and tours of the campus, festivities will include a free strawberry shortcake for each attendee, skits by Teen Challenge students, a chance to view a DVD celebrating Teen Challenge's 50th year of ministry nationally and a barbecue lunch. Smart said every 15 minutes two free quarts of strawberries will be given away. The festival kicks off at 9 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m.

Both Shawn Creech, 24, and Gavin Eller, 25, are three weeks away from graduating from the ministry's 14-month program. They said planting strawberries has given them an opportunity to develop life skills in a Christ-centered environment, which is a goal of the ministry.

"Christ saved me through this ministry but I needed like skills I could apply to my life for my time after Teen Challenge," Creech said. "Planting strawberries is something I never thought I'd be doing, but I'm thankful to have the opportunity to contribute in this manner."

Eller echoed the thought.

"I see this festival as an opportunity to apply these skills in a real-life setting," Eller said. "Though there are times when I've dreaded it, I will look back on this when it's all over and say I was proud to help give back to a place that has given so much to me."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

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