WILMINGTON -- The strawberries didn't need any sugar.

Paring knife in hand, Christina Freeman stood before an industrial-sized mixing bowl of plump, bright berries at the Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse on Sunday afternoon.

"We had a debate," said Freeman, slicing berries to serve with homemade ice cream and sponge cake.

Folk music and children's laughter drifted into the breezy kitchen, headquarters for the second Harmony on the Hill Berry Festival. It smelled like summer.

"Some people think the sugar makes a little syrup," said Christina's mother, Rosalind Freeman, a Wilmington Friends member for 30 years.

"We think they're sweet enough without the sugar," Christina said.

"Have you ever seen more beautiful berries?" Rosalind Freeman asked.

About 200 people gathered on the sprawling lawn at Fourth and West streets for the festival, designed to nurture relations with neighbors and build a sense of peace in Wilmington's Quaker Hill neighborhood, a community troubled by violence.

Founded in 1738, the meeting and its grounds span a city block.

" 'Harmony' plays on the music, but we're also trying to bring a sense of harmony to the community," said Dee Durham, one of the festival's organizers. "It's a pretty rough neighborhood. There's a lot of shootings."

Congregation members organized a Harmony on the Hill concert series two years ago, and the festival is the climactic event.

On Sunday, area folk band Peanut Butter Jellyfish played under a shade tree while children got their faces painted or bounced on a "slingshot" trampoline.

"I got butterflies in my stomach," said Isaac Peak, 10, who lives nearby. Isaac saw a giant inflated slide towering above the meetinghouse's fence and came over to explore. The "slingshot" was his favorite activity.

"I was doing flips and stuff," Isaac said.

But for most, the main attraction on such a warm, sunny day was strawberries -- the "first fruit of the land" at Highland Orchards in Brandywine Hundred, where berries begin to ripen in late May. A family-run farm since 1832, Highland grows its crops organically.

C.J. Carter, 9, and Luke Gatlin, 9, didn't stop by the festival just to eat. The boys, who live in nearby neighborhoods, helped serve strawberries and ice cream at a table outside.

"You guys are great," said festival worker Dana Powell, who wore a red "Berry Festival" apron. "You showed up and made our lives easier."

Luke spooned another mound of juicy fruit into a paper bowl for a waiting guest.

"The strawberries are good," he said. "The cake's good. The lemonade's good. ... Everything here is good."

Contact Kristin Harty at 324-2792 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .