By GARRETT NEESE

gneese@mininggazette.com

CHASSELL – As Chassell Lions Club member Steve Palosaari says, “You can’t go wrong when you celebrate around a dessert.”

Thousands did just that this weekend, heading to the 68th annual Copper Country Strawberry Festival in Chassell.

The Lions Club prepares 1,200 quarts of strawberries – coming from the Crane, Niemela and Ohtonen farms – for its shortcake. The actual number of strawberry shortcakes vary, “depending on how generous some of the servers are,” said Gary Worrall, president of the Chassell Lions Club.

“This was an excellent year for berries,” he said. “The right amount of rain at the right time, and the right amount of sun.”

Lions Club members and people from the community clean the berries at the Centennial Park pavilion Thursday night. Friday and Saturday, they make them as needed, Worrall said, although they do build up a surplus for Saturday morning.

“We always get a huge rush right after the parade,” he said.

Many people were sitting under the pavilion roof, listening to live music, or finding shade under trees. One such person was Michele Donahue of Chassell, who has been coming to the festival for 28 years.