OWEGO, N.Y. -- Strawberry Fest is in full bloom in Tioga County, but the fruit is slightly behind.

It's a fruit synonymous with warm weather and sunshine. But, due to this year's cold and wet weather, strawberry farmers are seeing challenges.

"With the strawberry festival and father's day, there's a real high prime time for New York strawberries and there's some around, but they're very scarce," said Frank Wiles, Our Green Acres Owner.

Our Green Acres in Owego grows thousands of strawberries each year. The business has been a staple in Tioga County for more than 50 years.

Owner Frank Wiles says recently, it’s been difficult to compete with other states.

"These days, with the great job that they're doing in California and Florida, there's beautiful strawberries all year long, so even though locally, there could be a pretty good crop of June berries, a lot of people don't understand that it's strawberry season," said Wiles.

But it's not all bad news for fans of the fruit. While they may take longer to grow this season, the strawberries themselves will be much bigger than they've been in previous years.

"Even though there have been some crops that have suffered, I think the potential for a strawberry crop is pretty good. We're going to see a lot of New York strawberries and the week after that. They're just going to be slow this year," said Wiles.

Owego Strawberry Festival begins Friday at 5 p.m. with fireworks at 10 p.m. The event continues Saturday.