“The World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake” is found in… Lebanon, Oregon?
At some point in the 1950s, it could have been, but nowadays it is just one of the beloved traditions of Lebanon’s annual Strawberry Festival, an homage and celebration of its roots as a strawberry town.
The first weekend of June, the festival draws people from across the Mid-Valley for strawberries, live entertainment, vendors, food carts, carnival attractions and the famous giant strawberry shortcake. Last weekend’s event was the 116th running of the festival, one of Oregon’s longest running festivals, alongside the Portland Rose Festival that began in 1907.
This year, the cake served 10,000 people and required 1,125 pounds of strawberries, said Ashley McDowell, Strawberry Festival Shortcake chair. She has been a volunteer on and off the festival board for the shortcake for more than six years. Instead of one giant slab of cake, the shortcake is actually made up of many small sheet cakes and in total weighed 910 pounds. Because of the sheer volume needed, the cake has been purchased from Safeway.
“The cake size has varied over time, it started as a flat cake,” said Victoria Dobrkovsky, Strawberry Festival historian. “At one point, it was probably the ‘world’s largest,’ which at its biggest in the records served 17,000 pieces, but I couldn’t find any paperwork that officially declared ours was the world’s largest.”
Chuck McDowell (right) cuts out pieces of shortcake for Jack Bilyew to plate for strawberry shortcake. McDowell has volunteered with the shortcake for over six years, while Bilyew has for three.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
Trays of strawberry shortcakes await whipped cream topping, before getting passed out to festival goers at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival on June 7, 2025.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
Volunteer Micah Knox hands out a strawberry shortcake to a festival goer; volunteers Morgan Volbeda sprays whipped cream onto more shortcake slices at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
According to the
Guinness World Record entry for “largest fruit shortcake,”
that title goes to a strawberry shortcake made in Benguet, Philippines, at the La Trinidad Strawberry Festival. The record weight was over 21,213 pounds and has not been beaten since it was made on March 20, 2004.
Lebanon’s famous strawberry shortcake tradition began in 1931. Years prior, it was served as individual pieces at the festival. In 1931, resident Leslie Munyun of Munyun Bakery decided to make the shortcake as a giant cake and place it on the back of a truck for the Grand Parade.
As the size of the cake grew through the years, a special float was made for the strawberry shortcake: a giant white box with “World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake” in large letters on the side. Once it arrives on-site, a team of volunteers unloads the cake to the serving area. Then, those volunteers and the Strawberry Royal Court (five seniors from local schools) spend up to five hours distributing the cake to festival patrons and community members in and outside of the festival. They include festival vendors, residents in assisted living communities and on-duty first responders.
The self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake” on its float going down South Santiam Highway in Lebanon on June 7, 2025, at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
After getting slices of shortcake, a family poses with festival mascots A.J. and Ida Berry on June 7, 2025, at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
One of many flats of strawberries available for purchase at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival on June 6, 2025.
Em Chan/For The Oregonian
At the entrance to the shortcake line, the bright red jacket-clad Lebanon Strawberrians hold plastic containers to accept donations. The Strawberrians are ambassadors of the festival and the official escorts of the festival’s Royal Court. This community ambassadorship started in 1969, originally going by the Royal Order of the Golden Strawberry, or the shorter “Golden Strawberrians.” The donations they collect go toward a scholarship fund that is distributed among the Royal Court.
“It’s just fun to volunteer, it’s a lot of excitement and a whole lot of fun,” said Jack Bilyew, a shortcake serving volunteer. This was his third year of helping with the shortcake along with his wife, Brenda Bilyew.
“We’ve only done this every year, it’s our gig,” he joked. Most of this year’s volunteers also had several years’ experience with the shortcake team and said they enjoyed bringing a smile to people’s faces with the free shortcake.
Lebanon is no longer surrounded by strawberry fields, but it still maintains a love of strawberries. Across the festival’s 120 vendors, visitors could find fresh strawberries, various strawberry food and drinks, themed jewelry, clothing and even a carnival ride: the “Berry-Go-Round.”
The 117th annual Lebanon Strawberry Festival will be June 4-7, 2026, at Cheadle Lake Park, 37919 Weirich Drive, Lebanon. Watch for details at
lebanonstrawberryfest.com
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The sweet tradition behind the Oregon strawberry shortcake that feeds thousands each year
The sweet tradition behind the Oregon strawberry shortcake that feeds thousands each year
The sweet tradition behind the Oregon strawberry shortcake that feeds thousands each year