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By Melody Jameson
melody@observernews.net
Fun comes wrapped in bold splashes of bright colors, the soaring sounds of voices raised in song, the tastes that only freshness can supply and the remarkable recreations of touchstone times past at this year’s Ruskin Tomato and Heritage Festival.
The annual event, a project of the not-for-profit Ruskin Community Development Foundation (RCDF) and a spring time celebration of the area’s agricultural bounty as well as its centuries-deep historic roots, runs Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, at E.G. Simmons Park off 19th Avenue N.W.
“As usual, the 2009 version of the two-day run is packed with events, entertainments, demonstrations plus dozens upon dozens of vendors offering food, crafts, plants or other goods to appeal to every age bracket, from small children to seniors”, Fred Jacobsen, RCDF president, told The Observer this week. “And, as usual, we’ve added in new attractions this year,” he noted.
For example, for the first time this year a second stage will operate throughout the run at the eastern end of the festival to host a blue grass jam for talented area musicians wishing to perform either collectively or individually, said Don Glover, festival chairman.
Then, in the Children’s Court, one of the South County Home Depot stores is bringing in its young peoples’ workshop designed to share with kids the pleasure and satisfaction of constructing something by hand from scratch, using individual creativity and easily mastered tools, Glover added.
Another innovation has been scheduled in the children’s section involving free balloon art and free face painting, the chairman said. “Of course these activities are expansions of that area of the festival,” he added, where many of the traditional amusements such as the “bounce house,” pony rides, euro bungee swing and obstacle course still will be available.
Still another attraction reflects the growing interest in “living green,” Glover said. “The Watershed,” made possible by the Alafia River Basin Board, the Florida Wildlife Council, the Camp Bayou Learning Center, and other participants, will furnish demonstrations, interactive exhibits and speakers with information aimed at making daily life at the local level a more environmentally healthy one – in an enjoyable tour format included in the price of festival admission, he added.
Yet another new wrinkle this year, Jacobsen pointed out, will be crowning of Ruskin’s royalty slated for noon on Saturday. Choice of the successful candidate for Queen and/or King will be based on whichever competitor raises the largest amount at $1 per vote for a second-year scholarship fund helping a SouthShore Hillsborough Community College student defray his or her continuing educational expenses. Jacobsen also noted “there’s still time for entrants who live in, work in or support the Ruskin community to get into the race.”
Such additions to the festival schedule this year, however, are not displacing any of the customary features that are such crowd pleasers, Glover emphasized. For as long as the supply lasts, visitors to the 2009 festival will receive free Ruskin-grown tomato plants for transplanting to their own gardens, he noted. “The word from the greenhouse is that this year the plants are bigger in larger pots and many already are bearing fruit,” the chairman added.
More than 75 vendors have signed on for the 2009 festival and “we usually see a surge during the week just before the event, so the total could top 100,” Glover said. Their wares are numerous and multiple, he added, ranging from jewelry of several different types, to wooden toys to handmade soaps to floral baskets to sunglasses and tee shirts.
The situation is similar with the plant vendors, Glover said. Both orchid and rose growers are on tap, along with cultivators of palm and banana trees plus other varieties, he noted. “And if demand exceeds the supply of free tomato plants or someone wants several plants, another plant vendor to meet that need is on the roster, too.”
In the realm of good things to eat, the festival food menu this year includes what locals and visitors have come to expect at a festival honoring “down home,” Glover noted. Fried green tomatoes, fried catfish, smoked mullet, and barbecue all will be available, along with an array of fresh and canned beverages, he said. In addition, free slices of ripe tomatoes will be provided by one of the South County’s Gasparilla krewes. The same krewe will be making and selling tomato sandwiches on the spot as a fund raiser to support its community projects, the chairman added.
An expanded “farmers’ market” exhibiting and selling the range of produce which made Ruskin famous as a growing center will return to the festival, including participation this year by Sweet Bay Supermarkets, Glover said.
In Heritage Village, that section of the festival dedicated to display and demonstration of local life’s common components in decades long past, there also are some newcomers, the chairman asserted. A beekeeper, weavers and chair caner will be joining the blacksmith, “swamp camper” and other pioneer re-enactors showing off the skills that kept a 19th and early 20th century community alive, its residents clothed, its horses, tools and dwellings maintained, its strong boiled coffee and baked goods sweetened.
The two-day program of entertainment on the main stage at the west end of the festival grounds will include many returning favorites from previous festivals, Glover said. Caroline Cline again will pay tribute to the music world’s one and only Miss Patsy Cline at 11:15 AM and 1:15 PM on Saturday. Paul Carr, a local attorney in his other life, along with his Swamp Stompers is penciled in at 12:15 AM and 2:15 PM that same day. A C&W band, cloggers and a youngster’s chorus also are on tap that day.
Sunday’s main stage performers include the Children’s Choir from St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Sweet Adeline’s, Kelly Emerson, plus the Southern Star Band.
The festival opens each day at 10 AM. Parking is free of charge and a free shuttle to ferry visitors from their vehicles to the entrance will be available. Admission is $5 per person, with children under 12 admitted without charge.
©2009 Melody Jameson
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