Cole Arbour, 4, helps his grandmother, Jeanne Rocque, pick berries Monday at Stevenson’s Strawberries in Wayne. Crowds of pickers swarmed the fields that opened to the public on Monday to harvest the first Maine fruit of summer. Arbour and Rocque drove out from Augusta with Arbour’s brother, Aiden Paradis, 9.

Pickers head into the fields Monday at Stevenson’s Strawberries in Wayne.

Ford Stevenson hands Alice Berry quarts of freshly picked strawberries Monday at his family’s farm, Stevenson’s Strawberries, in Wayne. Stevenson said the cool winter and mild spring produced a bountiful crop of the summer fruit.

Ripe strawberries in a patch at Stevenson’s Strawberries in Wayne.