For the 50th Annual Burtner House Strawberry Festival, somebody has to slice 85 pounds of strawberries. This year, that somebody is Pam Seguin.

Solve That Summer Sweet-Tooth at the Annual Burtner House Strawberry Festival

In the weeks leading up to the festival on June 20, Seguin has been washing, hulling, slicing, bagging, and freezing berries by the pound. On Saturday morning, bakers layer the fruit with pound cake, ice cream, and whipped topping, transforming it into 384 servings of strawberry shortcake, the signature dessert that’s been headlining this Natrona Heights summer festival for the last half century. 

“The shortcake is our claim to fame,” says Seguin of the dessert, priced at $5. “We sell out every year.”

Seguin is vice president of the Burtner House Restoration Society, a group of 10 volunteers—mostly women in their 60s, 70s, and 80s—dedicated to preserving the historic house built by farmer Philip Burtner and his wife Margaret in 1821. The society also organizes the annual festival, which is its primary fundraiser for maintaining the landmarked, three-story fieldstone home.

A Festival for Families to Gather

While the signature shortcake gets top billing, the festival’s family-friendly activities also draw hundreds of visitors. This year’s lineup includes a blacksmith demonstration, face painting, a craft market spread across two meadows, Civil War re-enactors, a bluegrass band, and archaeology exhibits, along with food trucks serving up everything from strawberry mead to waffle cones filled with fresh berries.

Festival-goers who come for the shortcake often stay for the house. Built over three years beginning in 1818, the Burtner House was once one of the largest homes in Allegheny County, boasting eight rooms, four fireplaces, and 20 windows. Philip and Margaret were prominent civic leaders—Margaret hailed from early Pittsburgh’s dynastic Negley family—and their home served as a community gathering place, meeting hall, and voting site for early settlers. The last election held there was in 1864, when Abraham Lincoln won a second term. “That’s why the festival includes a President Lincoln re-enactor,” says Seguin.  

Volunteers will lead house tours throughout the day, sharing stories behind the furnishings and artifacts connected to the four generations of Burtners who lived on the property. Highlights include the restored summer kitchen, where meals were once cooked over an open hearth, and the attic where voters arriving by horse and buggy sometimes spent the night before heading home after election day.

How the Strawberry Festival Came to Be

Despite the festival’s longstanding fruit focus, the Burtner family never grew strawberries. Their 250-acre working farm instead housed dairy cows and apple orchards. But in the 1970s, society volunteers looking for a way to raise funds—and lean into the summer season’s peak produce—landed on the idea of a strawberry celebration.

The shortcakes have changed over the decades to reflect the realities of a Restoration Society with a shrinking, aging membership. Volunteers once baked the cakes from scratch, the strawberries came from local farms whenever weather and harvest conditions cooperated, and the ice cream was often sourced from Isaly’s. These days, practicality wins out over nostalgia: the cakes are purchased, the berries bought in bulk at whatever supermarket has the best prices, and the work divided among a dwindling group of helpers.

Not that the festival-goers will notice. On Saturday, they’ll enjoy the shortcake, meander through the festivities, and tour the historic house. At 4 p.m., when the festival ends, volunteers will start packing everything away and take a well-deserved break.

“The week after the festival, I don’t do anything Burtner,” Seguin says. “But then we’re right back at it. A 200-year-old house is always falling apart.”

The Burtner House 50th Annual Strawberry Festival takes place at 1650 Burtner Road, Natrona Heights. Admission is $5 and children under five years are free. Note that there is no parking on-site: A shuttle bus will run from the former Big Lots store parking lot on Freeport Road to the Burtner House.

While you’re here, explore more strawberry fun with pick-your-own berries around Pittsburgh and fresh strawberry recipes for summer.

Story by Kathleen Renda
Photos Courtesy of Burtner House

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