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Chilly Breeze Doesn't Deter Strawberry Fans

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By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 3, 2009

PLANT CITY As always, Monday's Florida Strawberry Festival Grand Feature Parade drew throngs of area kids who traditionally get a school holiday to enjoy the procession.

But plenty of adults found time to jockey for prime parade positions along the downtown Plant City route.
"It's something you don't miss," said Virginia Griffin, 65, perched on the tailgate of a pickup truck in a Reynolds Street parking lot. "I was born and raised here, and been to every one."

To compensate for the afternoon's cool, breezy weather, Griffin — wrapped in a sheet — explained how she happened to wind up in the shade.

"Usually we're over there and burning up," she said, pointing to an open area near the post office, prime real estate she and her large family often stake out. "We got a tan" last year it was so sunny, she joked. "Then, when we had an opportunity to be here, it turned cold."

To take advantage of the "comfortable seat" of her husband's three-wheeled motorcycle, Ruth Grone leaned back and viewed the parade from 100 feet away in the warmth of the sun.

"My coat is there," she said, pointing to the garment she had shed. "He has his coat on," she said of her husband, John, seated near the curb.

Both are glad to be spending two months in Winter Haven, far from their Midwestern home in Delphos, Ohio.

"It's probably 20 degrees there now," John Grone said.

Those on the sunny side of the street included Ronnie Taylor of Lakeland, who brought his children to the 1 p.m. parade.

"I left work early and picked them up from day care early so they could see it," he said of Brock, 3, and Brook, 1 1/2, who, from the comfort of their red Radio Flyer wagon, waved at passing Egypt Shrine clowns.

Area schools cancel classes for the parade, which draws some 100 entries, including convertible-riding politicians, horse-drawn wagons, commercial floats, marching bands and assorted other groups.

Paul Tucker, dressed as Uncle Sam, was driving one of the half-dozen vintage cars in the parade — until something "snapped."

A Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy helped push Tucker's 1928 Ford Model A onto Thomas Street after it petered out halfway through the hour-long parade.

"All of a sudden it didn't have any drive train; the engine still runs," Tucker said as he awaited the car that towed the 81-year-old vehicle from his Lutz home.

"That's' the first time it's ever happened to me," he said of the antique he has driven in countless parades since 1985.

The parade is held annually on the first Monday of the Florida Strawberry Festival, which runs through March 8. The festival includes a carnival midway, baby contests, concerts and mountains of strawberry shortcake.

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