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The Music Of Farewell

Photo provided by Myrle Henry.

Myrle Henry, pharmacist and founder of the Florida Opry, in center, holding hat, stands among volunteers for the Opry.

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By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

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PLANT CITY - Every year for the past 10, Myrle Henry has said it might be his last Florida Opry. Few people realized that this time he meant it.

'I guess I'm just kind of burned out,' said Henry, a local pharmacist who founded the country music concert series as a means of bringing entertainment - and visitors - to his hometown.

They came by the busload, from Polk, Pinellas and Pasco counties and beyond. They came for the music and fellowship on the fourth Saturday of the month throughout tourist season.

They came because Henry wanted them to.

'This was a labor of love, because we all love Myrle and Tomi,' said Carol Bassett, one of about two dozen volunteers who have served as ushers, greeters, stage hands and opry supporters through the years. 'It's definitely going to be sad,' he said of the curtain closing on the opry in what would have been its 10th season.

Henry's wife, Tomi, has mixed feelings about the opry coming to an end.

'People don't realize what goes into it,' she said. 'It got bigger and bigger. It just mushroomed.'

Henry started the opry with half a dozen volunteers, his own seed money and a venue with a lot of history and little in the way of amenities.

The 1914 Plant City High School Community Center, a local landmark and cultural icon, seemed the perfect place to launch a new tradition - even if it didn't have air conditioning or an elevator. No matter, the show went on without them.

'I got hand fans from the Hopewell Funeral Home and gave them out,' Henry said.

The volunteers carried wheelchairs up the stairs to the second-floor balcony. Years would pass before the city's Historic Resources Board secured a grant to install modern conveniences in the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

About 400 people filed into the old high school auditorium on opening night in January 1998. Many returned again and again, despite the rising temperatures as winter gave way to spring in Plant City.

'Oh, it was hot in there. But it was good wholesome family entertainment,' said Sam Ward, a retired U.S. Army major who discovered the opry in its second year and has held season tickets for the past five.

The lineup ran the gamut from country to bluegrass and gospel. Jack Greene, Jean Shepard and other veterans from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry shared the stage with Tampa Bay area talent such as Randy Scott, Brian Chytka and a young Pasco County singer named Victoria K.

Marguerite Hutto, one of the many regulars to attend the Florida Opry, was especially fond of the Three Plus One Quartet, a grandfather who performed with his grandsons.

'They were so good and so cute,' said Hutto, 84. 'One of the little boys sang bass. I tell you, that was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.'

Still, attendance was spotty. Big names tended to draw big crowds. Many paid tribute to their famous relations. There was Jett Williams, daughter of Hank Sr.; Tommy Cash, brother of Johnny; Caroline Cline, cousin of Patsy; and Tommy Horton, son of Johnny.

Despite the sometimes sparse crowds, the opry had its share of sellouts, and even homegrown talent enjoyed a solid fan base.

Stephanie Ann, an electrifying fiddler/singer from Brandon, twice filled every seat, and patrons had to be turned away.

The Southern Star Bluegrass Band was another crowd favorite that eventually was booked to open and close each season. Ken McWilliams and The Nashville Band also was a regular, with multiple appearances each year.

Season ticket holder Nita Bass said she loved all the acts but was especially fond of Southern Star, partly because she used to babysit the group's banjo player, Bud Burt.

Bass and her husband, Cecil, moved from Plant City to Lake Rosalie, east of Lake Wales, in 2005. They have made the 55-mile trek to the opry ever since.

'My husband and I have always loved country music,' she said. 'We've been to Nashville several times and to Branson Missouri. That's why we were so thrilled at having it here.'

Nonetheless, the majority of Florida Opry fans hail from out of town.

Some winter residents regularly planned their annual migration around the rhythms of the opry, which routinely kicked off in October.

Canadians Jim and Lynne Cummings reside in Valrico from late October through early May. The opry has been a fixture for them for several years.

'We're always anxious to see the shows when we get here,' Lynne Cummings said from her Ontario home. 'We're very disappointed to lose it.'

They are hopeful that Henry will consider staging at least a few shows this year.

'I know Myrle works diligently to find good acts,' she said. 'I know it's a terrific amount of work.'

Henry said he's not ruled out the possibility of putting together some shows this season.

He tried, without success, to find someone to take over the opry. For now, the brightly painted stage backdrop is being stored at the East Hillsborough Historical Society headquarters in the 1914 high school.

'I feel like I'm letting people down not doing it,' he said. 'I've already had people calling wanting to buy season tickets. Bands have called wanting to sign on.'

He also has returned money to those who paid in advance.

'We went ahead and paid for another year hoping it would encourage him, but that didn't work,' Nita Bass said.

Money is not the issue, Henry said.

For years the opry operated at a loss, with Henry subsidizing it like a hobby.

'I don't play golf,' he said.

The past few years, however, it finally became self-supporting, he said. It also has grown to the point where it was consuming a great deal of his time - time already split between his church, his community and his passion for the Florida Gators.

Henry, who continues to work as a pharmacist three days a week, also has taken on a new role as trustee of the new Evangelical University and Seminary based at First Baptist Church of Plant City.

'That's kind of an exciting thing - to be on the ground floor of something like that,' he said.

This month, Henry gathered his volunteers, who number nearly 30, and served up an evening of pizza, salad, ice cream and memories.

To them, it was more than an end to an era.

'It's like a family,' Bassett said.

'It is a family,' Henry replied.

Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813) 865-4436 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com.

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