Plant City kicked off their 2022 New Year with the yearly return of the city’s 36th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Cultural Arts Festival, an event that saw marching bands and floats and spectators fill the streets of Plant City as the parade made its way through town and down to the Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center. The community center then hosted several food vendors as local drumline bands performed in a Battle of the Bands, kicking off a multi-week celebration leading up to MLK Day. The following week, the festival held their Leadership Breakfast where awards were handed out to several community leaders before eight local Plant City students received scholarships funded by the John Dicks Family Foundation, the Mosaic Company, Wish Farms and Tipsy Bookworm.
And on Monday, Jan. 17, the festival wrapped up with a special recognition for local veterans, held at the Bing Rooming House Museum.
January also saw ChiliFest warm up a cool day at the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum, winners crowned for the Plant City Junior Royalty and Strawberry Queen’s Pageant and a bill passed that would later name the strawberry shortcake as Florida’s official state dessert. Details were provided regarding Plant City’s annual budget, with a majority of their $91.2 million in appropriated funds for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 largely focusing on Plant City’s general fund, aimed at city departments including Parks & Recreation, police and fire rescue, administration, development services and local libraries. Additionally, primary focuses for the annual budget included improvements to management of the newly-completed McIntosh Preserve, new city vehicles for several departments, over 84 miles of city roads to be resurfaced and Plant City’s Cart-To-Curb garbage-collecting system. In sports, Durant and Plant City met in a late season rivalry matchup on the court, with both Plant City’s boys and girls taking home victories as the teams prepared for district tournaments the following month. Concluding the high school soccer seasons, Durant, Plant City and Strawberry Crest all saw their seasons end for both the boys and girls teams in their respective district tournaments.