You don’t have to look outside of Plant City to read published works from talented authors.
Local authors Felix Haynes, Nick Brown, Gil Gott and Dick Elston will be selling, signing and discussing their books from 5 to 7 p.m. June 4, at the Plant City Photo Archives & History Center.
The event will feature one-on-one talks with each author, along with refreshments, including wine and cheese. The books include Haynes’ “No Substitute for Victory,” Brown’s “Strawberries and Steel,” Gott’s “Remembering Plant City: Tales from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World” and Elston’s “The Life and Times of Plant City in the 1940s.”
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the photo archives.
Felix Haynes
Haynes is a former president at the Hillsborough Community College Plant City campus and part owner and founding publisher of the Plant City Observer. A lover of history, Haynes has written three books and enjoys historical fiction, blending fictional novels with true events.
“No Substitute for Victory” is set in the late 1960s at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. Haynes, like the two main characters in the book, studied journalism at UF during that time and was involved in a fraternity and ROTC.
Haynes served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. In the book, the two main characters have to balance their enjoyable and primarily carefree college lifestyles with dealing with their military obligations as the war approaches.
“I lived a lot of those experiences,” Haynes said.
“No Substitute for Victory” is the second book Haynes has written. He will be selling copies for $10 while also promoting his latest work, “Bully!,” a historical fiction book based around President Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal in the early 1920s.
Gil Gott
As the executive director of the Plant City Photo Archives & History Center, Gott loves history —especially the rich history found in small towns across America.
“I’m fascinated with small-town history, Gott said. “I believe, if you put together all of the small-town history, you would have the scope of history in the United States.”
“Remembering Plant City: Tales from the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World” is a collection of 39 vignettes about people, places and events in the history of Plant City. The History Press, a publishing company in Charleston, S.C., came to Gott to put together a collection of his short stories.
“It’s something that you can pick up at any point and read,” Gott said.
Having lots of historical photos was something Gott made sure to include.
“Photos tell their own stories, sometimes,” he said.
Gott, who also writes a monthly historical column for the Plant City Observer, grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Georgetown in Washington, D.C. before attending graduate school back in Pennsylvania. He moved in 1985, to Florida and later began teaching history in 2000, at the HCC Plant City campus.
Nick Brown
A native of Washington, D.C., Brown is a graduate of Gonzaga High and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Catholic University. He had a career in engineering, including aerodynamic testing and analysis, utility-power systems and synthetic fuels development, rocket motor design and missile systems analysis.
After moving to Plant City 11 years ago, Brown kept hearing stories of Cliff Hardee, a late steel tycoon in the area.
“Strawberries and Steel” tells about the Plant City Steel Corporation and the lives of founders Cliff and Ethel Hardee. The corporation became Florida’s largest steel fabricator and manufactured everything from storage tanks to the structural steel on rides at Disney World.
“I kept hearing stories about Mr. Hardee, and I thought that this guy sounds like an interesting subject for a book,” said Brown, who had written three novels prior to his first biography.
Brown’s book follows the story of the Hardees’ love for family, their employees and their friends and neighbors in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
Although Cliff Hardee died long before Brown arrived in Plant City, Brown got to know Ethel Hardee and decided to write the book after she died in 2009.
“This was my way of paying tribute to Ethel, and although I never had the pleasure of meeting him, Cliff Hardee,” Brown said.
Dick Elston
Former Plant City Mayor Richard “Dick” Elston reflects on what Plant City was like in the early years in his book, “The Life and Times of Plant City in the 1940s.”
In the book, Elston talks about the USO opening in the Wells Building at Evers and North Drane, the rationing during World War II and time spent in Plant City, when the town was much different than what it is today.
“I don’t really consider myself a writer, but this is home-brewed stuff,” he said of the 50-page, spiral-bound book, which was printed locally. “I just wanted to write something about Plant City in a time I remember so well.”
Born in 1932, Elston attended Wilson Elementary, Tomlin Junior High and graduated in 1951, from Plant City High.
In addition to serving as mayor, Elston also has served as a volunteer firefighter for the Plant City Fire Department and worked as a type setter for the Plant City Courier. Later, he attended the University of Florida and worked at the Gainesville Sun. Elston served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and returned in 1956, to Plant City, where he joined his father in the insurance industry.
“I wrote this book for people I know who like to reminisce about the old days,” he said.
BOOK SIGNING
WHEN: 5 to 7 p.m. June 4
WHERE: Plant City Photo Archives & History Center, 106 S. Evers St.
DETAILS: Local authors will talk about their books, answer questions and sign books. Refreshments will be provided for the free event. The four books will be available to purchase at special prices.
INFORMATION: Plant City Photo Archives, (813) 754-1578 or plantcityphotoarchives.org. AUTOHOUSE
