Strawberry Festival returns to the Circle

• The church uses every dollar made from the festival, after the cost of producing the treats, to provide grants to central Indiana nonprofits.

By the numbers: Hundreds of volunteers spend a week baking more than 15,000 shortcakes in the church basement using a closely guarded recipe.

• The festival will go through four to six tons of strawberries and hundreds of buckets of ice cream and whipped toppings.

State of play: Ongoing construction means you can't eat your snack on the monument steps, but the church is partnering with SPARK to let festival-goers enjoy their treats in the temporary park set up on the circle's northwest quadrant.

• They'll also have use of SPARK's sound system for entertainment.

How it works: Two lines per tent will move folks through as quickly as possible, but you can beat the line by ordering in advance.

• Bulk orders of 10 or more placed by noon today can be picked up inside the church, skipping the outside lines entirely.

If you go: The festival runs from 9am to 4pm, or until they sell out.

• Sellouts are common, so don't wait.
• It's $10 for "the works," which is a shortcake with ice cream, strawberries in syrup and whipped topping. Each piece can also be purchased a la carte for $2 or $3.