Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival

This weekend was the annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival, in the fishing community of Cortez, of course. Lots of people, lots of seafood, some music, some art, and a nice time. We had peel-and-eat shrimp down on the fish house docks, while watching the pelicans, seagulls, and egrets stir up a ruckus. MoJo (Morris Johnson)'s paintings made me smile. He's a clam farmer and a folk artist, and with that combination, I suspect a sense of humor comes in handy.

Here is the 1912 Cortez Rural Graded Schoolhouse, once used as a school, then as an art school, and as the home and studio of weaver Robert Sailors. In 1999, Manatee County purchased the school, and recently renovations were completed. It is now the home of the Florida Maritime Museum.














Here's a boat used by Cuban refugees to cross the Straits of Florida. It's been fixed up by the craftsmen at the museum's boat works- you can see a "before" picture on their website.


















The festival is a great time to visit Cortez, but then, any day is. Stop by sometime and visit the museum, learn how to make a wooden boat, have lunch at the docks, and take some fresh seafood home for dinner.

Florida News Stories

"Blast from the past: Who owns history?" (Tallahassee Democrat, March 9, 2008) Columnist Mark Hinson ponders his Southern heritage, free speech, and others mysteries of history at a reenactment of the Civil War Battle of Natural Bridge. "Unless you're Tooter Turtle and have access to a time machine, who really knows what anyone was thinking at Natural Bridge in March 1865? All I know for sure is that Civil War re-enactors love loud things that go bang and ka-boom."

"Agreement pending on state purchase of Natural Bridge battlefield" (Tallahassee Democrat, April 27, 2008)

"For sale: House of spies -- $22 million will buy a grand Coral Gables home used by the CIA -- and an island outpost" (Miami Herald, April 20, 2008) "The house at 6312 Riviera Dr. in Coral Gables is grand by almost any measure. It has a 33-foot long living room with dragons carved into its marble fireplace, vases that once belonged to Umberto I, King of Italy, a dance patio, mini-Olympic pool, an elevator, a tidewater pond, more than a dozen bathrooms, two roomy boathouses and a pedigreed architect. Batista once considered buying it and Billy Graham left behind a signed Bible."

"Stuart B. McIver, 86: Revered regional historian" (Miami Herald, April 25, 2008)

"An Epic of the Everglades" A glowing review of Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend, by Peter Matthiessen, in the New York Review of Books.

"Mullets get some air at the Flora-Bama" (Press-Register, April 27, 2008) "By 1 p.m. Saturday, about 300 fish had already been flung. To that point the farthest toss had been registered by Powder Springs, Ga., resident Adam McDaniel, who slung a mullet 183 feet and 9 inches." (I found a link to this report on the Interstate Mullet Toss on the Dave Barry Blog.)

Festa Italiana 2008 in Ybor City

Several city blocks in Ybor City are blocked off this weekend for Festa Italiana -- today and tomorrow, everyone in Tampa is Italian! The highlight of today's activities were the bocce ball tournament and the wine judging. Tomorrow thousands more people will crowd into Centennial Park for food, games, and music. (Perhaps a few will wander over to the Ybor City Museum State Park to see the new exhibit, Sicilians in Tampa, sponsored by the Ybor City Museum Society and curated by yours truly.)

Photos below:

1) The bocce tournament in Ybor's Centennial Park, March 29, 2008
2) The City's Fortune Bosco Bocce Courts, near the Centro Ybor parking garage
3) Sign across the street from the Bocce Courts marking the location of Ybor City's first railroad station. This is where many Sicilians began their Florida adventures, stepping from the train platform to sandy Ybor streets.

Plant City Has Some Big Strawberries

It's strawberry season again in Plant City!



1939 photos of Strawberry Festival



City of Plant City - History



Remembering Plant City, by Gilbert Gott (Google Books)



Plant City (Images of America; Google Books)



Plant City in Vintage Postcards (Google Books)

Avast! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Aye, ye heard me, Talk Like a Pirate Day. Of course, Florida has seen it's share of pirates, and we still like a good pirate festival. The biggest of them all is Tampa's Gasparilla, held every winter for over 100 years.

The pirate ship in the photo above is the Flying Dutchman. Used during the filming of Pirates of the Carribean, the Flying Dutchman is now docked at Castaway Cay.

All Hail the Conch

Yesterday the Conch Republic turned 25, and there's a party going on! The excitement seems to have overwhelmed the official Conch Republic website. While you're waiting for that to return, enjoy "Rubber Chicken Does the Conch Republic."

Festa Italiana in Ybor City

The 10th Annual Festa Italiana kicks off tonight in Tampa's Ybor City with a wine tasting, and tomorrow night is Cinema Italiano! Saturday March 31st, things really get going in Ybor's Centennial Park and the Italian Club, with food, Bocce ball, and a homemade wine contest. Sunday begins with Palm Sunday services, and continues with more food, games, a car show (Italian, of course), and a grape stomping contest. There will also be a kids' area and a culture and genealogy area. You can find a complete schedule and maps on the Festa Italiana's website.

If you are wondering why an Italian festival in Ybor City(?), visit the L'Unione Italiana website for a quick overview. If you're feeling more scholarly, go to the library or your local bookstore for a copy of The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985, by Gary R. Mormino and George E. Pozzetta.

There's a lot happening in Tampa this weekend with the start of regular season baseball and MacDill AirFest 2007, but come on out to Ybor for food and fun. If you stop by on Sunday, I'll see you there!

Florida Festivals This Month

Florida Strawberry Festival
March 1 - 11, Plant City

Florida Film Festival
March 23 - April 1, Maitland

Big "O" Birding Festival
March 30 - April 1, Moore Haven

Calle Ocho Carnival
March 11, Miami

Bike Week
March 2 - 11, Daytona Beach

Will McLean Music Festival
March 9 - 11, Dade City