The Plant City Photo Archives and History Center is recording the Florida Strawberry Festival’s history in a new way.
Once the cameras start rolling, it doesn’t take long for the memories to come to life.
The Plant City Photo Archives and History Center began preserving photographs that captured the past of the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World in 2000, later expanding to include written articles and documents.
Now, video recordings are being added to the mix.
With funding from the Florida Humanities Council, the center has been able to obtain video recording and lighting equipment. This fall, the center began conducting video interviews as part of the center’s new program, ‘Strawberry Legacies: Field to Festival.’
The video interviews take place with Plant City residents who have had major involvements with the Florida Strawberry Festival.
“It’s wonderful,” Gil Gott, executive director of the Photo Archives, said. “To get them recorded is of great historical significance.”
Gott is currently working on a book about the history of the festival with Lauren McNair, the festival’s public relations and media representative. The book, tentatively titled, The Florida Strawberry Festival: A Brief History, is set to be published in February 2017.
Gott and McNair have divided the content by decades. The book is set to include information on former queens and charter members.
But though the festival has an extensive history that spans over 80 years, finding some information proved to be a challenge.
“There was some sparsity of information for some years,” Gott said. “That made it quite apparent that we need to capture as much as we can from the people who have been in it.”
Thus, the oral history project was born.
Gott and Kim Hamilton, the center’s administrative assistant, have set up a video recording space at the archives. Dubbed Studio 106, interviews conducted in the space include recordings with B.M. Mac Smith and Al Berry, two former festival presidents.
Sandee Sytsma, daughter of the late strawberry grower Roy Parke, also has been interviewed. Today, Sytsma serves as the festival’s vice president.
While the interviews are beneficial to Gott and McNair as they finalize the festival history book, all interviews will be available for Plant City residents to enjoy at the center. Gott is planning to continue the program for as long as people can add to the festival’s history.
“Oral histories are just great,” he said. “You’ve got to capture these things. You won’t find it written down anywhere. Once it’s gone, you just can’t make it up. It’s more a chronicling of their memories. Most people are just very humorous.”
Those interested in having a personal copy of the oral histories must pay for the cost of production of a DVD. The festival oral histories will be available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, at the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center, 106 S. Evers St.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
