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Fort Mill pushes back start of strawberry festival due to stormy forecast

Organizers with the South Carolina Strawberry Festival pushed back the start of this year's event due to a forecast of gusty winds and storms.

FORT MILL, S.C. — The South Carolina Strawberry Festival will get off to a later start this year due to a stormy forecast Friday

The town of Fort Mill announced the festival, in its 13th year, will now start on Saturday, May 7. The decision was made to delay the start due to a forecast with strong storms, gusty winds and lightning for the Carolinas on Friday. 

Friday is a Weather Aware day for the Charlotte region due to the elevated threat of severe weather. Forecaster Larry Sprinkle said these storms are capable of producing damaging winds ranging from 50-100 mph with the threat of isolated spin-up tornadoes. 

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Town Manager David Broom said they were taking every precaution to protect all festival guests and vendors. 

"Our first consideration is to protect the participants and visitors," Broom said in a statement. "Weather projections have been steadily indicating gusty winds that could be an issue for some vendors with their merchandise and tents, and of course cloud to ground lightning is dangerous for all."

🌩ī¸ If you like weather, watch Brad Panovich and the WCNC Charlotte First Warn Weather Team on their YouTube channel, Weather IQ. đŸŽĨ

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