By Jose Lozoya | Special Correspondant
When Gill Gott, the executive director of the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center, presented the board of Friends of the Library with the idea of a history trivia challenge, he knew it was a great way to promote the use and support of Bruton Memorial Library.
The Friends of the Library committee is made up of staff from the Photo Archives and other volunteers. They put their heads together to bring out some big names in Plant City, including Mayor Rick Lott, and will pit them against each other to see who knows the most about the town’s history to win the History Trivia Challenge cup Tuesday, May 19, at Plant City Entertainment.
The first-time game will consist of four teams of four members each. The teams will compete to see which can answer the most questions and gather the most points.
The game will consist of 20 questions grouped into four categories with ascending difficulty and rewards. There will be five rounds of Plant City history questions.
If there is a tie, there will be two sets of tie-breaker questions to determine the final winning team.
The Archives is responsible for making the questions and quiz logistics. Most questions and answers can be found in one of two books: “Plant City: Its Origin and History” by Quintilla Geer Bruton and David E. Bailey Jr.; and “Remembering Plant City: Tales from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World” by Gott.
All contestants of the game are highly involved in the community’s clubs, businesses or city government, such as Michael Cameron, a team captain of the trivia game. For Cameron, being involved in the Plant City community is all he ever knew.
“Before I was born and while my mother was pregnant with me, she worked at the Bruton Memorial Library,” Cameron said.
The tradition has been passed to him. In addition to accolades such as 2014 Citizen of the Year, he is now the founder and president of Cameron Financial Investment, located in downtown Plant City.
He is looking forward to the trivia challenge.
“I sure do love being a part of this community,” he said. “I grew up with Mac Smith who is on my team, and I personally know my other team members. It makes it way better to have a relationship with the people on my team and I’m looking forward to the challenge with them.”
Admission is free and donations are accepted. Donations will be used by Friends of the Bruton Memorial Library. Hopewell Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens are the sponsors of this event. For more information call the Photo Archives and History Center at (813) 754-1578
IF YOU GO
Trivia Challenge
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 19
Where: Plant City Entertainment, 101 N. Thomas Street
The competitors
Captain: Michael Cameron; members: Mac Smith, Mike Sparkman, Paul Hetrick
Captain: Gail Lyons; members: Marsha Passmore, Al Berry, Billy Herold
Captain: Rick Lott; members: Hugh Gramling, Terry Ballard, Jack Gibbs
Captain: Felix Haynes; members: Bob Edwards, David Miller, David Sollenberger