Most Kentuckians associate the first weekend of May with the Kentucky Derby. Those who live in the Woodburn area, however, associate this date with another event, the observance of the Strawberry Festival right in the heart of Woodburn.

Rod and Marsha McCurry started the festival in 1998 to commemorate the opening of their business, Marsha T’s Antiques and Restoration.

The McCurrys operated the festival completely on their own for three years before the city of Woodburn took it over. This festival has been going strong since its inception in honor of the community that was once among the largest shipping locations of strawberries in the United States.

Woodburn is very typical of small communities that continue to survive after the main source of revenue diminishes.

Rod McCurry first saw the historical building that houses their antique business when he visited a previous owner to have a sign made. As he left the building he asked the owner if the property was for sale.

It must have been Rod’s lucky day because the owner wanted to sell the structure so he could retire to Tennessee.

A price was negotiated and the McCurrys were the owners of a delightful building that at one time housed a 12-room hotel on the second floor.

But these two didn’t begin their married life with a love of antiques; that love was one that came later.

Rod is originally from North Carolina and Marsha is a native of Glasgow.

He was teaching at Western Kentucky University. Marsha’s brother-in-law was a student of his. One night, while both were working in a lab at Western, Rod asked the young man if he knew any single, good-looking girls he could date. “I was really just making conversation,” Rod remembers/ “I really wasn’t looking for a date.”

Even though the student did give him Marsha’s phone number, it was year later before Rod called her.

That first phone conversation lasted about an hour, which led to a first date, which led to marriage in 1975.

Rod already had a home in Bowling Green but after the two married they started looking for another home.

The two attended an open house on Scottsville Road. The lady selling the house also had some very nice antique pieces.

After the McCurrys complimented her on the beautiful furniture, she mentioned that all of the antiques were for sale as well as the home.

“I knew nothing about antiques but I had a student who lived and breathed them,” Rod said. So, he asked his student if he would go by and look at the pieces.

He reported back to Rod that they were museum pieces and if Rod and Marsha weren’t going to buy the bedroom pieces they were interested in, he was.

They bought the pieces but ran into a problem when they took them home. The furniture required a nine foot ceiling. Some modifications had to be done to the furniture in order for Rod and Marsha to be able to use them.

This set the McCurrys on a quest to find a home that their new furniture would fit into.

One day Rod went to Plano on some business and mistakenly took HWY 240 on his way home.

When he got near 68-80 not farm from the Logan County line, he noticed a huge house off the road. It was not only vacant; it was for sale, too.

The two made arrangements to view the home. They were in complete awe as they toured the house, which had seven fireplaces with all mantles still in place, as well as a spiral staircase. “It was the spiral staircase I fell in love with,” Marsha said.

The McCurrys were able to purchase the home, moved in, stood back and admired how well their antique pieces looked. The rest of their furniture, however, looked painfully out of place.

This was the beginning of their quest and love for antiques that led them to not only furnishing their home with beautiful furniture but also opening the doors for their antique shop and restoration. Rod is now retired from his teaching career at WKU, giving him more time to devote to Marsha and to Marsha T's..

It is a love that continues today.