Come out to historic Plant City on Saturday, November 9 for the 42nd Annual Pioneer Heritage Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The daylong, free festival is held at the historic 1914 Plant City High School Community Center, located at 605 N. Collins St. in Plant City.
This year, the Plant Museum (located at the University of Tampa) is sponsoring ‘Mr. Henry Bradley Plant’ (Plant City’s namesake), who will greet visitors to the festival. In addition, two live characters from the museum’s Upstairs/Downstairs at the Tampa Bay Hotel will be at the festival. You can listen to tales told by Arthur Schleman, a Hunting and Fishing Guide (circa 1895) and Maggie Stroud, a Laundress (circa 1920).
Moreover, local artist John Briggs will be creating a new lithograph of Henry Plant in a studio on the third floor of the 1914 Plant City High School Community Center.
The auditorium at the center will be dedicated to Roy Wise, the building caretaker for 29 years who passed away in 2017. A plaque in his honor will be unveiled.
You can enjoy arts and crafts, face painting and more. There will be a small model train to ride courtesy of the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum. Vendors will on hand selling everything from jams and jellies to clothing, garden ornaments and candles. You will be able to find lots of heritage crafts such as pine needle baskets, tatting, knitting, basket weaving, folk arts and chair caning.
The Plant City Garden Club will host its annual juried flower show. The East Hillsborough Art Guild will sponsor an Art Show and Sale as well as a special auction of wooden slat chairs painted by member artists.
There will be a bake sale courtesy of the Quintilla Geer Bruton Archives Center. The Planteen Recreation Center of the Plant City Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor the children’s games. Kids can enjoy old-fashioned games such as potato sack races, egg races and two-legged races.
“The Annual Pioneer Heritage Day is a great day of enjoyment for the whole family. We have music on stage, and local dance studios perform,” said Shelby Bender, executive director and president of the East Hillsborough Historical Society.
To become a vendor, please contact the East Hillsborough Historical Society at 757-9226 or visit https://www.ehhsoc.org.
