On New Year’s Eve, Plant City began a new tradition—the Strawberry Drop. “We made history—the first time for Plant City,” Dawn Hyatt, Plant City Main Street Executive Director said. “This definitely showed the importance to the community of these downtown events. We were overwhelmingly surprised at the turnout—far, far more numbers than we had anticipated.”
To usher in the new year, Plant City Main Street held this celebratory night with music, street vendors, open businesses, and a countdown to the new year. “We had food trucks and vendors completely sell out,” Hyatt said. “It was really a huge win for the Plant City community—espe- cially the downtown. It was a huge impact for our merchants.”
Arley Smude, with Metals and Nature, built the metal frame, and Bob McDowell built the lighting and created its programming. For the countdown to midnight, a six-foot strawberry, glowing with flashing lights changing from red to white to blue, descended to the crowd. And when the clock turned midnight, the crowd’s cheers rivaled those of New York City’s Times Square.
The owners of businesses like Spirit Art Gallery and the Crafted Butterfly had to usher shoppers out at 11:30 so they could view the drop. “The fact that we still had people in our merchant stores that stayed open until 11:30 at night makes me cry happy tears,” Hyatt commented. “That is the best news that I could get—that our merchants thrived. If they stayed open, they did well. We will have to expand it a little bit to meet the needs of the community, because it was elbow to elbow. We are very pleased with how it went.”
The estimate is that 10,000 people came through the event over the course of the night. “There was wonderful city support as far as having two commissioners show up for it,” Hyatt addedd. “We are very grateful to our sponsors. We couldn’t have put it on without them. The Kid Zone was a huge success, and I think we will have to add to it.” Hyatt expressed a special thank you to the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, and the Strawberry Festival for partnering in sponsoring the Kid Zone. They provided children with free bouncy houses, carnival games,
prizes, and face painting for the entire night. “It was a beautiful blessing,” Hyatt added. “It was emotional for me—specially seeing how the community pulled together like it did—that was just huge.”