The Laker/Lutz News

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Brenda Minton

Scarecrow fest to enliven Dade City

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Just in time for fall, patrons will have a chance to enjoy the Scarecrow Festival.

At the annual Scarecrow Festival, patrons get to customize their very own scarecrow and indulge in other fun activities.
(File)

The Dade City event function set for Oct. 12, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A host of vendors will offer food and crafts, and there will be entertainment, too.

Mr. Tommy will make his return with live musical performances, and a sing-along for kids and adults.

Patrons can design their own scarecrows for $5, and characters from the PAW Patrol television series will be there, with photos scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

If patrons choose, they can leave their custom-made scarecrows in a supervised area while they engage in other activities, then can pick them up afterwards.

Kids will have lots of options for fun too.

There will be a petting zoo, a pony ride and a barrel train ride through a corn maze, with Conductor Joe at the helm.

Other activities will include rock climbing, rock and pumpkin painting and touch-a-truck.

Admission is free for those under 5; $5 for those 5 to 18; and $10 for ages 18 and up.

Parking is free. Service animals are allowed, too.

The event will be held at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road in Dade City.

For additional information, contact Brenda Minton at (352) 206-8889 or at .

What: Scarecrow Festival

Where: Pioneer Florida Museum & Village at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road, Dade City

When: Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Free for those under 5; $5 for ages 5 to 18; $10 for ages 18 and up.

Details: The Dade City event makes its return with favorites such as performances by Mr. Tommy, and barrel train rides with Conductor Joe. Multiple vendors will  offer food and other items, too.

Info: Contact Brenda Minton at (352) 206-8889 or at .

Published October 2, 2019

Egg hunts and services planned to celebrate Easter

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If you’re looking for a way to celebrate Easter season, you’ll find plenty of options across the region.

There are fun events, such as Easter crafts and egg hunts, solemn Good Friday events and Easter service celebrations.

Here are few highlights from around the area covered by The Laker/Lutz News.

They are presented here, in chronological order.

  • The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road in Dade City, has created a new event called the Jelly Bean Fling that will debut on April 8, and will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is $5 for anyone over 5 years old, and parking is free.

Natalie and Nolan Kassabaum pause for a photo op with Jasper the Easter Bunny, who will be one of the highlights at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village’s Jelly Bean Fling, set for April 8. The photo was taken at The Book Shack.
(Courtesy of Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)

The schedule begins with “Breakfast with Jasper, the Easter Bunny” at 9 a.m. A pancake breakfast, with bacon or sausage, will be served for $3 each. After breakfast, kids can make their own Easter bonnet, with hats provided to decorate, while supplies last. Then, they can march in the Easter Parade with Mr. Tommy.

There will be Easter egg hunts, with four different age groups, up to age 12, which will have staggered start times, beginning at noon.

Other highlights will include face painting, a petting zoo, touch a truck, a bounce house, a slide, train rides and many games to play. There also will be armbands for $5 each for unlimited selective activities. Individual pricing will be available as well.

Mr. Tommy will perform at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the Gazebo. The concession stand will be open with freshly made hamburgers and hot dogs. There also will be food trucks.

For information, call Brenda Minton at the Pioneer Florida Museum (352) 567-0262 or (352) 206-8889.

  • First United Methodist Church, 38635 Fifth Ave., in Zephyrhills, invites children through fifth grade to a free Easter egg hunt on April 8, from 10 a.m. to noon. To maximize fun and fairness for all, four separate hunts will take place. The groups are: Infants to 2-year-olds; 3- and 4-year olds; kindergarten through second-graders; and, third- through fifth-graders.

Additional activities will include a petting zoo, pony ride, jumpy house, games with small prizes, snacks and crafts. All activities are free and there is no event admission.

  • The San Antonio Farmers Market is offering a Spring Market on April 8, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at San Antonio City Park, 12202 Main St., in San Antonio.

The market will feature a basket chance drawing, with more than a dozen baskets containing everything from gift certificates to chocolates to Irish Coffee ingredients.

Vendors will sell fresh produce, free-range brown eggs, jams and jellies, wine, organic plants and seeds, old-fashioned roses, dried herbs and herbal oils, honey, jewelry, woodwork, dog treats, and several types of yard art. Jim’s Hot Dogs will offer hot dogs, coffee and sodas for sale, and there will be free Easter crafts and games for the kids. The event is sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Antonio. For information about the Farmers Market or the Rotary Club of San Antonio, contact President Winnie Burke at (352) 437-5161 or .

  • Saint Leo University’s Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and the First Year Experience team are hosting Easter Eggstravaganza on April 9, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Children of all ages from the community, as well as faculty, staff, and students, are welcome to attend the free event, which will be in The Bowl, behind Saint Francis Hall and the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library. The university is at 33701 State Road 52. Take Exit 285 off Interstate 75 and go 4 miles east.
This cross, shrouded in purple, is a sign of the Lenten season at Saint Leo University. Many area churches will be having Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter services, so check the local church’s bulletin or website for more information.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

Activities will include an Easter egg hunt, egg toss, egg race, games, and more. Candy and snacks will be available. Tri Sigma also will have a tent where participants can make tie blankets for the March of Dimes. For information, contact .

  • Grace Community Church, in Wesley Chapel, is inviting area residents to celebrate Palm Sunday on April 9 at 10:30 a.m. Plans include an outdoor worship service on the church property, 7107 Boyette Road, with a large shade tent and comfortable church chairs. There will also be a full-length Grace Harbor program for kids from newborns to fifth-graders. After the service, there will be a hot dog lunch, bounce house and an egg hunt. For information, visit ExploreGrace.com.
  • The Tampa Bay Moms Group is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt and Craft event April 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Northdale Park, 15550 Spring Pine Drive in Tampa.
  • Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 20735 Leonard Road in Lutz, has scheduled Holy Week services, including Maundy Thursday on April 13 at 7 p.m.; Good Friday on April 14, at noon and 7 p.m.; and Easter Sunday on April 16, with a sunrise service at 7 a.m., and a worship service at 10 a.m. For information, call (813) 9494-7173, or visit HolyTrinityLutz.com.
  • Harvester United Methodist Church, at 2432 Collier Parkway in Land O’ Lakes, has scheduled its Holy Week services, including Maundy Thursday on April 13 at 7 p.m.; Good Friday on April 14 at 7 p.m.; a community Easter egg hunt on April 15 from 10 a.m. until noon; and Easter services on April 16, at 7 a.m., 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. For information, call (813) 948-2311, or visit HarvesterUMC.com.
  • Heritage Church, 1854 Oak Grove Blvd., in Lutz, has schedule Easter weekend services for April 15 at 6 p.m., and April 16, at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11: 30 a.m. It will have a kids’ egg hunt after each service, so be sure to bring baskets for the kids. There also will be live music and a special message of “Hope and Purpose.” Also, there will be children’s classes for all ages. The atmosphere is casual, and there will be free refreshments. To find out more, call (813)909-4080, or visit YesHeritage.com.

Many area churches have special celebrations planned for Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter. Check their websites or church bulletins for more information.

Published April 5, 2017

Sugarcane festival adds spicy twist

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For the seventh straight year, the Raising Cane Festival returns to the Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City.

The sweet celebration, however, now comes with a spicy twist.

The one-day festival, which highlights the traditional method of milling sugarcane into syrup, will include its first-ever chili cook-off.

The event is set for Jan. 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road.

A flat-belt tractor with steel rollers is another way sugarcane stalk is transformed into cane juice. One is shown here during a previous Raising Cane Festival.
(Courtesy or Richard Riley)

The International Chili Society (ICS), an organization that sanctions nearly 200 chili cook-offs worldwide each year, will sanction the cook-off, expected to feature at least 10 professional chili competitors.

The contest was added, in part, to help boost attendance, said event coordinator Brenda Minton.

“I was always looking for something else to add to it that might bring in a different crowd — along with the ones that we had,” Minton said.

Furthermore, she said the cook-off “adds credibility” to the annual Raising Cane Festival.

“People come from all over to participate in it,” Minton said, referring to the chili cook-off competitors. They do that, she said, “because they want to get points, so that at the end of the year they can win prizes from ICS.”

The ICS cook-off includes three categories: Chili Verde, Salsa and Traditional Red Chili. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place in each category.

Local chili-makers, too, will get a chance to display their culinary talents.

They’ll compete in a separate cook-off, battling for the Steve Otto’s People’s Choice Award, where festivalgoers cast votes for their favorite recipes.

Meanwhile, the staples of the sugarcane festival remain.

In addition to a homemade cane syrup breakfast, attendees can partake in a syrup-tasting contest, where samples from 24 different manufacturers are judged on taste, color, pour and clarity.

Other planned activities barrel train rides and a petting zoo, as well as cane pole and iron skillet tossin’.

Also, live entertainment will be provided by the Crackerbillys, the Sara Rose Band and Those Unscrupulous Sunspots.

Yet, the event’s main course is still the old-timey cane-making demonstration, hosted by museum experts.

Wilbur Dew, who’s produced cane syrup for more than 20 years, is one of the scheduled demonstrators.

The 83-year-old said sugarcane is often cut this time of year, because “cool weather causes it to sweeten up.”

Using a technique that dates back several hundred years, the entire syrup-making process takes about six hours to complete, he said.

Sugarcane is first grinded into cane juice, using either a mule or tractor-powered mill.

“We have a mill that looks a little bit like a washing machine ringer,” Dew said. “It’s two or three steel rollers that the cane stalk is pushed through.

“The mill may be a vertical mill that’s powered by a mule walking around in a circle, or it may be a horizontal mill that’s powered by a flat-belt tractor.”

Once squeezed, cane juice is then boiled in the museum’s 80-gallon kettle.

The process usually yields 8 gallons to 9 gallons of syrup, Dew said.

To create a desired texture, Dew noted the ideal boiling temperature is around 227 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The temperature determines viscosity,” he explained. “Whereas maple syrup pours real thin, we want cane syrup to be a little thicker. Some would say: ‘We want it to stand up as tall as a biscuit on a plate.’”

And, unlike some other sugary substances, Dew said cane syrup is “an all-around good sweetener.”

“I much prefer it to maple syrup,” he said. “You can put it on pancakes, your biscuits. It’s really anything that you would use brown sugar on — some people use it in their ham preserving process.”
Museum experts say cane syrup was a routine part of pioneers’ diets, especially those settled in southern states, like Florida.

“In the Deep South, sugar was a commodity that you had to buy,” Dew said, “but you could make syrup and it would sweeten your coffee, or your tea.”

“It was just, in general, a common sweetener,” he added.

Event admission is $5 per person, with free admission for children age 5 and younger.

The Pioneer Florida Museum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Florida’s pioneer heritage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information on the event, visit PioneerFloridaMuseum.org., or call Brenda Minton at (352) 206-8889.

Published December 28, 2016

Food, quilts and horse pulls on tap this weekend

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The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village is gearing up for its 26th annual Farm Festival and Quilt Show.

This quilt is an example of a Hoffman challenge quilt. (Courtesy of The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)
This quilt is an example of a Hoffman challenge quilt.
(Courtesy of The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)

The two-day event features a Southern Draft Horse Pulling Competition on Feb. 6, and a quilt show and other activities on both Feb. 6 and Feb. 7.

The event is very popular, said Brenda Minton, the museum’s event coordinator.

“It usually brings in about 2,500 to 3,000 people. We expect more than that this year, because we have heavily promoted it,” she said.

Quilt lovers will be able to see quilts on display, and also will be able to buy supplies and take part in a raffle to try to win a quilt, provided by Quilts of Plum Lane in Dade City.

“Each year it (the quilt) is donated by someone different,” Minton said, noting the proceeds from the two-day event, including the raffle, benefit the nonprofit museum.

The museum relies on admissions and rentals to provide the revenue needed for its operations, she said.

Other highlights of the Farm Festival and Quilt Show include cane grinding and syrup making on Saturday, and arts and crafts show, traditional crafts and festival vendors.

There also will be a number of children’s activities.

No coolers or pets are allowed, and no food or beverage can be brought on-site, but there will be a concession stand.

On Saturday, festivalgoers will be able to buy a fried chicken dinner or a pulled pork dinner. The organizers decided to offer both to be sure they don’t run out of food, Minton said.

There also will be live entertainment. The lineup features The Dulcimer Connection, ColdIron, and the Sarah Rose Band.

The New River Poets will also be providing entertainment, Minton said. They’ll be doing skits in the schoolhouse.

Festivities take place at the museum, 15602 Pioneer Museum Road, 1 mile north of downtown Dade City, just off U.S. 301.

Event hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Feb. 6, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Feb. 7.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children, ages 6 through 12. Admission is free for children under age 5.

Published February 3, 2016

Fish fry and Florida’s history mix on Sept. 11

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The Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, 15602 Pioneer Museum Road in Dade City, is situated on 16 acres and has an old schoolhouse, church and general store as part of its attractions.

Now, it would like more people to come and see what it has to offer.

Those Unscrupulous Sunspots will entertain the hungry crowd with live music at the museum. (Courtesy of Those Unscrupulous Sunspots)
Those Unscrupulous Sunspots will entertain the hungry crowd with live music at the museum.
(Courtesy of Those Unscrupulous Sunspots)

“One of the issues that we have here is that a lot of people don’t know about the museum,” said Brenda Minton, event coordinator for the museum. “It’s kind of like Dade City’s best kept secret.”

Minton hopes the secret will be out with the museum’s Old-Fashioned Family Style Fish Fry, which will take place Sept. 11 from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.

The Kiwanis Club of Dade City is co-sponsoring the event.

The fish fry replaces their Pioneer Days event in an effort to offer something new to the community. It includes live music by Those Unscrupulous Sunspots, a six-piece band that performs covers of rock and roll classics from The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Neil Young, as well as playing original tunes.

In addition to the fish, dinner includes items such as cheese grits, hushpuppies, cole slaw and baked beans. Food can be ordered to go, and is available by delivery to businesses that order 10 or more dinners during that time.

The museum hopes most people will choose to eat there and take a fresh look at the area, and the dozen or so buildings that have been collected over its history.

The museum had popular fish frys several years ago, and they hope its return will reacquaint people to their attraction. (Courtesy of the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)
The museum had popular fish frys several years ago, and they hope its return will reacquaint people to their attraction.
(Courtesy of the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village)

The Pioneer Florida Museum began at the Pasco County Fairgrounds before moving to its current location more than 40 years ago. Many of the buildings were renovated and relocated to their new home, and they come from different parts of the state. A shoe repair shop from downtown Dade City shares the grounds with a steam engine from Trilby, and a Lacoochee school and general store. There’s also a cane syrup mill, a quilt building and a barn.

Those Unscrupulous Sunspots will be performing on the front porch of another structure, the Overstreet House, which is a two-story farm home made of pine.

The main museum features a sample bedroom, doctor’s office and dentist’s office. There are also authentic examples of clothes, tools, toys, pottery and other artifacts from Florida’s pioneer era that began in the 1800s.

Minton believes that people will be interested in returning once they see the history on display.

Some come back for more than a tour, she said. The Enterprise Church, built in 1878 and replaced in 1903, is still available for weddings.

In addition to the music, the museum will set up picnic tables and hold games during the event.

Visitors who stay to eat will enjoy free lemonade and iced tea as well.

The museum’s goal is to sell 500 tickets for the event, and Minton said feedback has been good so far.

“It’s kind of bringing the community together for a fun afternoon and also showing off the museum,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a nice crowd.”

Tickets for the fish fry are $8 and can be purchased at the museum, the Dade City Chamber of Commerce or by calling (352) 206-8889. For more information, visit PioneerFloridaMuseum.org.

Published September 2, 2015