Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Amanda Griffeth unloads strawberry shortcakes from the back of her vehicle Friday. Griffeth was one of many delivery volunteers.

Many flocked to downtown Roanoke on Friday to pick up and devour strawberry shortcakes -- but some enjoyed the treats without leaving their offices.

Shortcakes, some delivered and some picked up, kicked off Community School's 28th Annual Strawberry Festival at Elmwood Park.

It runs concurrent with this weekend's Virginia State Championship Chili Cookoff, also downtown, and is the school's largest fundraiser and what organizers call a highlight of Roanoke.

After selling more than 7,000 shortcakes at $6 each on the first day, school officials said they are on their way to generating a gross of $100,000 with the event. In 2007, the school raised more than $60,000, which was used for scholarships and to maintain affordable rates for tuition-paying students.

Community School students and volunteers had planned to make 1,700 shortcakes Friday morning at St. John's Episcopal Church for delivery within six hours.

The group of 30 volunteers began preparing the treats at 8:30 a.m. The volunteers completed an average of a little more than 300 shortcakes every 30 minutes until the last delivery at 2:30 p.m.

Susan Albert, a paralegal at Krasnow Law Firm, arrived about 11 a.m. to pick up a short office order of six shortcakes. The firm purchases shortcakes every year, she said, and they are quickly devoured.

"I love strawberries and these are delicious," Albert said as she looked down at the box of shortcakes with her tongue to the side of her mouth. "These may not make it to the office."

The sweet aroma of strawberries filled the assembly room as the desserts' ingredients were exposed. Everything was made from scratch except the ice cream, and people noticed.

"Wait," said Vickie Adkins as she looked in one box of 20 shortcakes of the 75 ordered for Physicians to Women. "No scooped ice cream? There are bars now? What happened to the scooped ice cream?"

Amanda Griffeth, who delivered the shortcakes, chuckled with Adkins.

When Griffeth, mother of two Community School students, arrived at the Carilion facility, nurses who were busy assisting patients and answering phones stopped and looked at her.

"Wow!" one nurse called out at Griffeth. The nurse blew kisses at her.

"Someone will come and help you," the nurse told Griffeth. "Preferably me."

As Griffeth walked away, she heard the nurse telling more people the shortcakes had arrived. Griffeth told her she had four boxes.

"Oh, she's got four boxes," the nurse excitedly said in the phone.

While Steve Wade, father of three Community School students, tried to figure out what to do with 75 shortcakes before they melted in the car, the assembly line continued to churn out treats.

Metal cookie sheets were cleaned, where volunteers placed plastic containers with the biscuits at the start of the line. The sheets were passed along where some of the 12,000 biscuits prepared a month ago were topped with the made-from-scratch strawberry topping and later with the ice cream bar. One last layer of strawberry topping was smothered over the decadent dessert before it was packaged.