NYU’s renowned Strawberry Festival made its return to campus on Friday after it was canceled last year following the arrest of around 14 student protesters at a pro-Palestinian encampment outside the Paulson Center earlier that day.

Known for its 160-square-foot strawberry shortcake, the event drew thousands of students and community members to West Third Street, where dozens of vendors, from Raising Cane’s and trü frü to student organizations like NYU Fraternity and Sorority Life, handed out freebies and merchandise. Members of WNYU, the university’s student radio, DJ’ed as Program Board strawberry mascots danced for attendees as they wandered from booth to booth. Students also played carnival games and could enter a raffle to win Strawberry Fest merchandise by getting stamps from the different stalls.

Steinhardt junior Mya Ford and senior Ava Weyland, who met at a previous Strawberry Fest, now serve as the Program Board’s co-chairs of Strawberry Fest. Motivated by the event’s cancellation last year, they wanted to make sure this year’s festival was worth the two-year wait.

“We worked tirelessly to put this on,” Weyland said. “NYU is kind of lacking that community in a sense, like without a campus and without a strong school spirit or sports or anything, we really feel that this is a great way to do that and have students meet.”

Under a few tents and spread across dozens of tables lied the star of the show: the larger-than-life strawberry shortcake. The cake — prepared by NYU Eats staff with multiple dietary variations, including dairy-free and vegan — was a two-layer vanilla spongecake, filled with strawberry jam and topped with purple sprinkles, orchid petals and fresh strawberries.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say that they haven’t seen this many NYU students together ever,” Steinhardt sophomore Paige Tyler said with a cup of strawberries in hand. “I think it is a really good NYU culture moment. I’ve seen so many people that I know from all different schools.”

Unlike many of NYU’s most popular university-wide events — including Flurry, held at the Central Park ice rink by the Inter-Residence Hall Council, and Violet 100, NYU’s spirit week of marquee events — Strawberry Fest is free and doesn’t require advanced registration. This makes it the Program Board’s most well-attended event of the school year, with an estimate of more than 6,000 attendees.

“I know people who put this — wanting to eat the cake — as the only reason they wanted to come to NYU,” said LS first-year Samantha Hong, a face paint artist at the festival. “It’s a really big part of our culture and brings together our community.”

Contact Aimee Wan and Caia Cupolo at [email protected].