troy strawberry festival this weekend

‘Love for the community’ keeps volunteers returning

Roberta Jacobs has been involved with the Strawberry Festival since 1984.

Contributed photo Roberta Jacobs has been working for the festival since 1984. Contributed photo

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By Nancy Bowman, Staff Writer 11:23 AM Wednesday, June 3, 2009

TROY — After a quarter century of involvement, Roberta Jacobs still cannot tear herself away from the Troy Strawberry Festival.

“She is a very low profile person and never cares about getting credit for her good work, only supporting the festival and doing her part to ensure its success,” said Diana Thompson, a former festival chair and executive director of the Miami County Visitors and Convention Bureau.

A Troy native, Jacobs called the Chamber of Commerce about becoming involved in the festival in 1984 when she returned after living a couple of years in Centerville.

Committee member Larry Wolbers gave her a job coordinating the outdoor entertainment on the Great Miami River levee. “I had no idea what that involved,” she said.

She chaired that committee until 1999, and then moved into the pipeline to become festival chairman in 2003.

During the years, she worked on numerous committees, as needed, helping with the Friday night opening ceremonies, judging the Little Miss and Mr. Strawberry contest and heading out late at night to paint berries that magically appear on city streets days before the festival begins.

“If somebody needs help and you have time, you just jump in and do it. It is not just me, it is everybody,” Jacobs said. “We are like family, and there to help each other.”

This year, she’s helped revamp Friday and Saturday night entertainment, which moves from the Public Square to Hobart Arena on Friday, June 5 — alternative rock — and the stadium on Saturday, June 6 — a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Indoor concerts cut down on worries about the weather, and showcases another part of Troy — the arena — for visitors, Jacobs said.

In addition to her job in sales of patient handling equipment, Jacobs has a 17-year-old daughter, Taylor, and volunteers for several other organizations.

Taylor Jacobs attended her first Strawberry Festival committee meeting when she was two weeks old. By age 11, Taylor was a committee member, coordinating the youth essay contest, a festival event she proposed.

Jacobs said the festival never gets old for her because she sees the benefits it brings to many clubs and organizations as their main fundraiser each year. Those clubs and organizations and festival sponsors are what make the festival a successful draw for visitors, she said.

“The staying power for me is a love for the community. It has become part of my life,” Jacobs said. “It would be hard to walk away.”

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