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Eddie Herrmann

Rattlesnake fest not hiss-tory after all

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New organizers have stepped forward to take over the management of the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run, an event that had appeared to be headed toward extinction.

The Thomas Promise Foundation will be taking over reins of running the festival, that has been a mainstay in the City of San Antonio for a half-century.

A Bay News 9 reporter gets a first-hand feel for this creature at the Croc Encounters’ alligator pen, a popular attraction at the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run.
(File)

The San Antonio Rotary Club had been the festival’s primary organizer and had announced on Feb. 1 that 50th festival, which was held in October, would be its last.

In announcing that decision, Betty Burke, festival chair, said the club decided to step away from the festival because it was too much for the small club to handle.

After that announcement, however, five organizations stepped forward, expressing interest in taking over the event.

Club members talked about those willing to take over the festival during the club’s Feb. 21 meeting, and after discussing the various pros and cons of each of the interested groups, they reached a consensus, deciding that Thomas Promise would be the best fit for the festival’s original mission.

Burke then headed to the San Antonio City Commission meeting to share the news.

This isn’t the first time the festival has had a new organizer.

Burke recapped the festival’s history, in her announcement about the festival’s demise.

The festival originally was conceived by founders Eddie Herrmann and Willy Post, as a rattlesnake roundup — to replace the San Antonio Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Fun Day, which was being discontinued.

The Jaycees presented the first Rattlesnake Roundup on Nov. 4, 1967, in City Park, in San Antonio, according to a history compiled by Burke. Its aim was to entertain and to give funds back to the community.

The event continued for nearly a decade with few changes, until the Jaycees, gave up their chapter. That prompted Herrmann and other members to form the Rattlesnake and Gopher Enthusiasts (R.A.G.E.) group to carry on the tradition.

In 2013, R.A.G.E. announced it could no longer manage the event due to a lack of new volunteers to help.

That’s when the San Antonio, Dade City Sunrise, Wesley Chapel, Wesley Chapel Sunrise, Zephyrhills and Zephyrhills Daybreak Rotary clubs stepped in and assumed leadership, under the banner of the East Pasco Rotary Charities.

After that, the San Antonio Rotary Club took over in 2014, assuming full leadership for the festival.

In choosing to hand the festival off to Thomas Promise Foundation, club members noted that the organization seems in line with the original intent, to help the local community.

Thomas Promise Foundation provides backpacks full of food complete with three meals and snacks for underprivileged children in Pasco County. The meals help feed children through the weekend when they would otherwise go without.

The charity’s Operation Backpack began after Brooke Thomas gave her lunch money to classmates she saw going hungry. When she asked her mom for more lunch money, her mom asked why, and Brooke said she just wanted to help.

Thomas Promise Foundation began with that young girl’s compassion.

Now, the organization will bring new life to the Rattlesnake Festival & Run.

Published March 1, 2017

Festival may slither back to life

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The San Antonio Rotary Club is considering four organizations that are interested in taking over the annual San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run.

The club announced earlier this month that the 50th festival, held in October, would be its last.

Children enjoy riding around in a barrel train during a previous San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival. (File)

“We pulled out all the stops for the 50th annual festival to honor and celebrate this longstanding community fundraiser,” Betty Burke said, in the announcement.

“The sad fact is that it’s just too large of a project for our small club and the declining pool of community volunteers,” Burke added.

Since then, however, the club has heard from four organizations, and it will be discussing their offers to take over the event at its meeting Feb. 21.

Some of the organizations are for-profit organizations and some are not, Burke said, declining to identify them before the club meets.

Burke had a mixed reaction when organizations came forward expressing an interest in taking over the festival.

“On the one hand, we kind of felt that the 50th (festival) was a good one to finish it with,” she said.

On the other hand, after news broke that the club would no longer organize the festival, most people were sad to see it go, she said.

There’s a possibility the festival could move, depending on which organization is selected to take it over, she said. Or, the new organizers would need to work with the City of San Antonio, if the festival stays at the park.

Burke said she’ll present the information to the club, and they’ll discuss which organization would seem to match up with the festival’s original purpose.

Burke recapped the event’s history, when she announced it would be ending.

The festival originally was conceived a half-century ago, by founders Eddie Herrmann and Willy Post, as a rattlesnake roundup — to replace the San Antonio Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Fun Day, which was being discontinued, according to Burke’s recap.

The Jaycees presented the first Rattlesnake Roundup on Nov. 4, 1967, in City Park in San Antonio. Its aim was to entertain and give funds back to the local community.

That event continued for nearly a decade, with few changes, until the Jaycees gave up their chapter.

The gopher tortoise races, as seen during last year’s San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run, use wooden mechanical tortoises, instead of live ones.
(File)

That prompted Herrmann and other members of the community to form the Rattlesnake and Gopher Enthusiasts (R.A.G.E.) group to carry on the tradition, Burke adds. That group incorporated as a nonprofit in 1996.

In 2013, R.A.G.E. announced it could no longer manage the event due to a lack of new volunteers to help.

That’s when the San Antonio, Dade City Sunrise, Wesley Chapel, Wesley Chapel Sunrise, Zephyrhills, and Zephyrhills Daybreak Rotary clubs stepped in and assumed leadership for the festival, under the banner of East Pasco Rotary Charities, the recap added.

“The East Side Rotaries did an outstanding job with the festival in 2013,” San Antonio Rotary president Winnie Burke, said in the club’s announcement.

“In the face of losing the festival entirely that year, it was heartwarming to see

our larger community pull together to keep the tradition alive,” Winnie Burke added.

When that group stepped down, saying they wouldn’t manage the festival in 2014, the San Antonio club took over as the sole organizers.

The celebration marking the event’s half-century mark was a two-day event, featuring a 5-mile and 1-mile run, a family bike ride, musical entertainment, a snake show, a cowboy show, crocodile demonstrations, mechanical gopher tortoise races, food booths, children’s rides and a pumpkin patch.

Now, it appears that a new chapter is about to be written for the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run.

Published February 22, 2017

A half-century of old-fashioned fun

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A half-century ago, the San Antonio Jaycees got together and hatched a plan for a fun way to raise money to support local causes.

They figured they could hold a festival, with rattlesnakes as the centerpiece.

Cowboy Tom is a popular act at the annual San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival. The event is celebrating its half-century mark this year. ({Photos courtesy of San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival)
Cowboy Tom is a popular act at the annual San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival. The event is celebrating its half-century mark this year.
(Photos courtesy of San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival)

Over the decades, the leading organizers have changed — and so have some of the particulars — but the essence of the annual event remains the same: Every year, on the third weekend of October, residents and visitors flock to the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run in City Park.

This year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary, organizers have scheduled a two-day festival.

Organizers of the event have gone from the Jaycees, to R.A.G.E. (Rattlesnake and Gopher Enthusiasts), to a group of Rotary Clubs, to the Rotary Club of San Antonio, which has been the chief organizer for the past three years.

“We, of course, have help from the people who did it all of those years,” said Betty Burke, chairwoman of the current organizing committee.

“Dennis Devine, he’s been with it since the beginning, and he’s our music master.

“Jack Vogel is one of the people who started it. He was in the Jaycees,” Burke said. His son, Jay, is this year’s volunteer coordinator.

Betty’s daughter, Andrea Calvert, who works for the Town of St. Leo, is involved, too. The town sponsors a pumpkin patch, which is a popular place for people to take photos of their children, and to snap selfies, too.

Burke’s sister, Winnie, who is the president of the Rotary Club of San Antonio, is also involved. She’s in charge of the arts and crafts area.

Blacksmith demonstrations are among the highlights at the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival.
Blacksmith demonstrations are among the highlights at the San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival.

Other members on the festival planning committee include Terri Grissom, Rick Behnke and Anne Kibbe.

Event highlights include 5-mile and 1-mile runs, a family bike ride, musical entertainment, a snake show, a cowboy show, crocodile demonstrations, mechanical gopher tortoise races, food booths, children’s rides and a pumpkin patch.

Other attractions include a butterfly exhibit, children’s crafts and games, a farm animal exhibit, M.A.D. Flames Fire Entertainment and Pioneer Village demonstrations.

Vendors will be selling a variety of items, there will be a farmer’s market, and there will be a pet corner, too.

Visitors also will have a chance to learn more about the festival’s history.

In the beginning, preparing for the event meant going out into the woods — equipped with a long pole with a hook on the end — and rounding up snakes.

Amateur and professional snake hunters would bring the snakes in, and organizers would pay for their snakes, according to published reports.

The gopher tortoise races used to feature live tortoises, too.

People would decorate the creatures with glitter and nontoxic paint, and pit them against each other.

The live gopher tortoise races ended after increasing development in Florida led to the state placing them on its protected species list.

Undaunted, organizers began using wooden replicas, operated by yanking ropes to pull them to the finish line.

Over the years, the festival has helped to create many fond memories.

Children enjoy riding around in a barrel train during a previous San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival.
Children enjoy riding around in a barrel train during a previous San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival.

“It is a fun thing. The kids have always had fun,” said Donna Swart, a former volunteer, who recalled how much her kids enjoyed the festival and racing live gopher tortoises.

Eric Herrmann, who has run the mechanical gopher tortoise race for years, said he’s been going to the festival his entire life.

“As the son of one of the founders, I’m very proud of it,” Herrmann said.

“It’s one of the last old-fashioned, hometown festivals,” Herrmann said, noting his dad, Eddie Herrmann, helped to design the mechanical gopher tortoises used in the races.

“It’s a very distinctive and unusual game, that’s pretty much singular to our festival,” he said.

He recalls one festival when a girl desperately wanted to win, but couldn’t, despite repeated attempts.

At the end of the second day, she still hadn’t won a race.

“I made a decision and I called her over, and we gave a one-time award for ‘Perseverance,’” he said.

Those kinds of things make all of the work worthwhile, he said.

“There are moments of pride,” Herrmann said.

One year, a Japanese television crew came to film the event, and the race they chose to cover included the young son of a Japanese-American family.

The boy’s grandmother still lived in Japan.

“The grandmother watched the show in Japan,” Herrmann said. “That was the first time she ever got to see her grandchild — other than in a picture.”

In another instance, a young man who had attended the snake show was bit by a snake after the festival had ended.

Because he’d gone to the show, he knew what to do and sought immediate medical attention, Herrmann said.

“The doctor said, ‘That festival probably saved his life,’” Herrmann said.

The event’s souvenir T-shirts have been wildly popular through the years, he noted, adding, “there are pictures of people all over the world, who are wearing the festival’s T-shirt.”

Kibbe, a volunteer who is handling the public relations for this year’s event, is fond of the festival.

She lives on Pennsylvania Avenue, across from City Park, and she lets musicians who are playing the event to park in her yard.

“I am front and center,” Kibbe said. “I like to tell people, ‘Yes, I’m having a festival this weekend in my front yard.’”

Kibbe appreciates the way the festival has evolved, and she thinks others admire that, too.

“As people became more ecologically and environmentally conscious, we stopped painting the turtles, and we stopped catching the snakes. And now, it’s educational,” she said.

Indeed, families who homeschool their children often show up because there are so many opportunities for learning, she said.

Socially, it’s a great time, too, Kibbe said.

“It’s like a big family reunion in a lot of ways,” she said, noting people who lived in San Antonio come back for the event.

“Folks come back from out-of-town. They moved to Saint Pete, or they moved to Orlando, but they come for the festival. So, that’s a big plus.”

This year’s event is being organized by the Rotary Club of San Antonio.

Proceeds from the event will support local educational programs, scholarships, community projects and international Rotary projects, such as Polio Plus.

The event is partially funded by Visit Pasco Tourism and Visit Florida, and is supported by numerous local sponsors, including The Laker/Lutz News.

San Antonio Rattlesnake Festival & Run
Where: City Park, 12202 Main St., San Antonio, Florida, 33576
When: Oct. 15 and Oct. 16
How much: Parking, admission and most of the entertainment are free; there are nominal charges for the snake show. 

Festival schedule
Oct. 15
8 a.m.: Rattlesnake run begins; race winners are announced on main stage at 9:15 a.m.
10 a.m.: Festival opening ceremony

Musical lineup
10:15 a.m.: Graham Music Studio’s Showstoppers
11 a.m.: Crabgrass Cowboys
Noon: Beaumont!
1 p.m.: J2
3 p.m.: Jesse & Noah
4 p.m.: Those Unscrupulous Sunspots

Other highlights include:

  • Cates Educational Snake Lectures: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. (Free for those 5 and under, $3 for ages 6 through 12; $5 for those 13 and older)
  • Cowboy Tom’s Wild West Show: Performances throughout the day (Free)
  • Croc Encounters demonstrations: 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. (Free)

5 p.m.: Festival closes for the day

Oct. 16
9:30 a.m.: Family bike ride
11 a.m.: Festival grounds open

Musical lineup
11 a.m. to noon: The band called 2 PM
Noon: Moon Dance
1 p.m.: Sassafras Bluegrass
2 p.m.: Mark Hannah & Major Dade’s Last Ride
3 p.m. Mary Smith with Dean Johnson

Other highlights include:

  • Cates Educational Snake Lectures: 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. (Free for those 5 and under, $3 for ages 6 through 12; $5 for those 13 and older)
  • Cowboy Tom’s Wild West Show: Performances throughout the day (Free)
  • Croc Encounters demonstrations: Noon, 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. (Free)

3:30 p.m.: Closing ceremony
4 p.m.: Festival ends

Published October 12, 2016

 

Historian sheds light on German POWs in Dade City

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The recent death of Eva Martha (Goddard) Knapp has sparked memories of the work she did to trace the history of German prisoners of war who lived and worked in the Dade City area during World War II.

Knapp, who died on June 20, 2015 in St. Petersburg, was a noted historian in the Pasco County Historical Society.

This photo was taken during the 1995 dedication of a historic marker to record the fact that German prisoners of war lived in Dade City during World War II and served as laborers. They were paid the prevailing wages, but the U.S. government deducted money to cover expenses for housing and feeding them. (Courtesy of Fivay.org)
This photo was taken during the 1995 dedication of a historic marker to record the fact that German prisoners of war lived in Dade City during World War II and served as laborers. They were paid the prevailing wages, but the U.S. government deducted money to cover expenses for housing and feeding them.
(Courtesy of Fivay.org)

She was particularly known for the research she did about the German POW camps, including a camp housed in an area now known as Pyracantha/Naomi Jones Park.

Knapp donated many of her materials to the University of South Florida, according to local historians Madonna Wise and Eddie Herrmann, who put together some background information about Knapp, following her death, which they shared with The Laker/Lutz News.

According to their research, a biographical excerpt on Knapp in the USF collection details Knapp’s involvement in collecting information about the German POWs.

The USF excerpt says that during the 1991-1992 school year, Knapp was teaching English at Hernando High School in Brooksville, and her 10th-grade class read Betty Greene’s novel, “The Summer of My German Soldier.”

Eva Martha Knapp, former president of the Pasco Historical Society, did extensive work to trace the history of the German prisoners of war who lived in Dade City during World War II. (Courtesy of Madonna Wise)
Eva Martha Knapp, former president of the Pasco Historical Society, did extensive work to trace the history of the German prisoners of war who lived in Dade City during World War II.
(Courtesy of Madonna Wise)

After reading the book, Knapp’s students interviewed family members and acquaintances that were old enough to remember World War II to see if they knew if German prisoners of war had been held in Pasco County, the excerpt says.

During those interviews, they heard that some German prisoners had worked at the Pasco Packing Company, the excerpt adds.

So, two students visited the company and learned from company executives that German POWs indeed had worked there.

The class also was able to locate some of the men who had been prisoners in Florida camps, and who had remained in Florida after the war.

The class received a letter from a former prisoner, detailing some of his experiences.

Ludeke Herder, a prisoner who was a Protestant, shares his memories of one Christmas in a letter dated Jan. 9, 1992.

Because it was Christmas, the prisoners were allowed to go to a “Protestant-Lutheran Church in Tampa,” he writes.

“Our guards were inside the church too, without guns. After the worship, our guard told us to leave the church through the same door, like we came in, but the vicar told us to go through the door at the side of the church. Our guard was mad, but allowed us to take the other door,” he adds.

The story of the German prisoners of war who lived in Dade City is recorded on this historic marker. (Courtesy of Fivay.org)
The story of the German prisoners of war who lived in Dade City is recorded on this historic marker.
(Courtesy of Fivay.org)

As they came through a small door, he continues, “the people gave us cakes, candy and coffee and it was a wonderful Christmas day and I never can forget such a kind gesture.”

Letters such as this one are the types of items contained in the collection at USF, which resulted from the students’ and Knapp’s research efforts.

The archive also contains photocopies of material gathered by Knapp during her research, including copies of official documents from the National Archives, correspondence with former German prisoners of war, photocopies of Der P.O.W. Zeit-Spiegel (a publication) and other materials.

Knapp worked extensively with Herrmann to archive the information.

Herrmann shared some of his knowledge about the German prisoners during a recent interview.

The men lived in the Dade City camp, but went out to do jobs, Herrmann recalled.

“They went out every day. They rode a bus to go to work in Brooksville,” he said. They dug lime rock at a mine that was used in building construction.

“They worked in the orange groves,” Herrmann added. “They got to be friendly with people. They even worked in people’s yards.”

Additional details of the prisoners’ experiences in Dade City are contained on a historical marker Branch Camp No. 7, placed there in 1995 by the Pasco County Historical Preservation Committee.

The marker explains that the demands of World War II created a shortage of agricultural workers here at home.

To reduce that problem, the United States Army established about 500 prisoner-of-war camps to supply laborers.

Camp Blanding, near Starke, was headquarters for the 22 camps in Florida, with the Dade City camp being designated Branch Camp No. 7, according to the marker.

The Dade City camp began in March 1944 and housed about 250 men, many who had been involved with Rommel’s famed AfrikaKorps.

The camp was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It had a three-tent mess hall, which was also used for church services, classes and movies.

It also had a canteen attached to a small day room; a larger day room with table tennis and a piano; sleeping quarters and latrines, according to the marker.

The prisoners handled a variety of jobs, according to the marker. They worked at the McDonald Mine in Brooksville, where they made limestone bricks for Pasco Packing Building No. 7, and at Cummer Sons Cypress Mill in Lacoochee.

The prisoners’ spiritual needs were attended to by a minister of the Zion Lutheran Church of Tampa and by priests from nearby Saint Leo Abbey.

Knapp developed lasting friendships with the prisoners and even traveled to Germany to visit them.

She was long-time member of the Pasco Historical Society, where she served as president of the society in 2002.

She presented to the society in May of 1995 on her research about the prisoner of war camp and Pasco Packing.

She also participated as a costumed docent, demonstrating, and teaching spinning and weaving skills at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village.

She is survived by two sisters, Margaret Allen and Jane McDavitt; three children, Diana Neff, Roberta Stalvey and Howard Knapp; eleven grandchildren and one great granddaughter.

Memorial donations may be made to the Pasco Historical Society or the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village.

More information is available at EastPascoHistoricalSociety.com/pascomurals.html or WarLinks.com/memories/knapp.

Published July 22, 2015

Book captures Dade City’s history through photographs

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When visitors drop by downtown Dade City, its stately historic courthouse, unique shops and good restaurants likely will impress them.

But there’s so much more to Dade City’s story, and Madonna Jervis Wise has captured that through 200 photographs of the people and places in this city that initially was known as Fort Dade.

Downtown Dade City, during the 1940s, was a thriving hub of activity. (Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)
Downtown Dade City, during the 1940s, was a thriving hub of activity.
(Courtesy of Madonna Jervis Wise)

Wise began working on the volume about a year ago. She’d done another book called “Zephyrhills” for Arcadia Publishing, and the South Carolina publisher approached her to see if she had an interest in writing a book about Dade City.

Wise wasn’t sure initially if she wanted to take it on. But her family encouraged her to pursue the opportunity, and Wise decided to meet with some local leaders to see if they’d like to have a book about their community published.

John Moors, the executive director of the Dade City Chamber of Commerce, greeted the idea with enthusiasm and set up a meeting for Wise with the city’s development director. She also met with the Dade City Preservation Advisory Board, which encouraged her to write the book and provided invaluable suggestions, she said.

Wise said her husband Ernie played an instrumental role, too.

The book includes photographs of everything from old railroad depots to stately homes, from ballet dancers to orange packers. It includes photographs of the sons and daughters of Dade City, who shaped the community and played an instrumental role in Pasco County and beyond.

“Dade City is a rich historical hub,” Wise said. “For many, many decades, this county was run by Pasco High graduates.”

The book showcases the community’s diversity, covering the history of the African-American community and its migrant farmworkers.

Wise used information and photographs she gleaned from a multitude of sources. Jeff Miller of the West Pasco Historical Society provided about 3,000 photos for her to consider from his collection.

She also used photos from the collections of Helen Eck Sparkman and of Oliver and Barbara DeWitt, who provided them to Eddie Herrmann, one of the authors of “The Historic Places of Pasco County.”

The Pasco County Genealogical Society and the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System’s Genealogical Collection, as well as the librarians, were invaluable resources for the work as well, Wise said.

She used photographs from The Memory Project, produced by the Florida government.

The book’s photographs convey the city’s history through its people, residences, churches, social and civic clubs, and commerce. It points out that Pasco Packing, later known as Lykes Pasco, was the largest orange packing plant in the world, in the days before freezes, blight and development wiped out much of Florida’s citrus industry.

The photographs also show homes of early residents, with many of the structures still standing today.

“My husband photographed many of the houses,” Wise said, noting some of the photos had to be taken more than once, to be sure that alarm signs and air conditioners didn’t show up in the frame.

When they were out in the neighborhoods taking the photographs, people would approach them and ask what they were doing, Wise said. When she told them about the book, she said, “they would add other pieces to the story. It was great. It was just great.”

The actual work of culling photographs, writing captions and arranging the layout was a gargantuan task. But Wise enjoyed learning about Dade City’s history and spending time with the people who helped on the project.

Besides Herrmann, other primary sources included William G. Dayton and J. Thomas Touchton.

“I probably talked to Eddie (Herrmann) nearly every day,” Wise said. “And Bill is a real storyteller. He can give you the feel for the different eras. He knew a lot of the inside of what was going on.”

Touchton, a Dade City native and leader of the effort to establish The Tampa Bay History Center, also provided valuable insights, she said. Touchton has an international reputation for the collection of maps he’s acquired, and has fond recollections of Dade City.

“He told me the most fabulous stories about growing up there,” she said.

As she conducted her research, Wise was struck by the realization that Dade City remains a cohesive community, something that’s not all that common in the 21st century.

As people page through the volume, Wise hopes it will inspire them to learn more about Dade City.

“The book is intended to be an invitation to learn more about Dade City and serve as an enticement to walk through Church Avenue, visit the historic courthouse, dine in a vintage café, or visit the Pioneer Florida Museum and Village,” Wise writes in the acknowledgements section of the book. “History must be shared to pass it on to the next generation.”

If you go …
WHAT: Author Madonna Jervis Wise will offer some remarks regarding her new book, ‘Images of America, Dade City’
WHERE: Historic Pasco County Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave., Dade City
WHEN: Oct. 4, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
DETAILS: Other speakers at the event will include Pasco County commissioner Pat Mulieri, Dade City councilman Scott Black, Trilby historian Angelo Liranzo, and J. Thomas Touchton, founding board member of the Tampa Bay History Center

Published September 24, 2014

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San Antonio sizzles: It’s Rattlesnake Festival time

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Every year, on the third Saturday of October, thousands head to San Antonio Park to enjoy wide-ranging activities and foods at the annual Rattlesnake and Music Festival.

The event almost didn’t happen this year, though.

Previous event organizers had decided not to have the annual festival. So a half-dozen Rotary clubs from East Pasco County stepped up to take on the event, said David West, a festival board member.

Aislynn Brooks, left, sits atop a pony waiting for the ride to start. The 19-month-old Rattlesnake Festival attendee is practically a pro, making her second appearance at the festival. Aislynn’s mother, Heather Brooks, stands alongside. (File photo)
Aislynn Brooks, left, sits atop a pony waiting for the ride to start. The 19-month-old Rattlesnake Festival attendee is practically a pro, making her second appearance at the festival. Aislynn’s mother, Heather Brooks, stands alongside. (File photo)

While this festival marks the 47th year that people have gathered to experience the festivities, this year’s lineup has a few changes.

For one thing, music will play a larger role — hence the festival’s new name. For another, there will be a beer garden, said Mike Mira, president of the East Pasco Rotary Charities, which has taken over the festival.

Another change is that the event will be one day, instead of two.

But the Oct. 19 festival will begin at 9 a.m. and go until 10 p.m., featuring an evening concert — another new twist, West said.

The planned reptile show had to be cancelled, but Wild Things of Dade City will be doing a wild life show, Mira said.

The event also will feature Billy the Exterminator, of A&E reality television program fame, West said. His appearance is being sponsored by Ierna’s Heating & Cooling, of Lutz.

Skip Mahaffey, a widely known local radio personality, also has been confirmed as the master of ceremonies for the evening concert.

In conjunction with the annual event, the Rotary Club of San Antonio is hosting the 35th annual Rattlesnake Run. Runners can choose to race for 5 miles or 1 mile on a course that includes hills, sidewalks, groves, a bridge and more hills.

The event also features festival foods galore.

Eddie Herrmann, one of the festival’s original founders, recalls its early days when it actually featured a rattlesnake roundup, with people bringing rattlesnakes they had captured. They would enter them in competitions judging size, weight and appearance.

The snakes would win prizes, and in turn, they would be used in payment for the snake expert who put on a show, Herrmann said.

Real gopher tortoises were used in races, too, Herrmann said. But that stopped after state officials objected to people handling the reptiles.

Mechanical tortoises, designed by Herrmann, now take the place of the live ones.

While there have been changes over time, the festival still aims to provide affordable family fun, and to raise money for community causes, West said.

There’s no admission charge or parking fee, but attractions within the festival and food will carry a cost, West said.

Those attending the festival will have plenty of choices of things to see and do and can get their fill of festival foods.

This year’s slate of entertainers includes The Beaumont Family Bluegrass Band, the Florida Cracker Boys, Steelhorse and Crabgrass Cowboys. Cowboy Tom will be there, too.

There will be animal shows, arts and crafts, a truck show, and rides and games for kids.

People who want to grab a bite to eat or something to drink can purchase such offerings as barbecue chicken, corn on the cob, rattlesnake bites, gator nuggets, pizza and funnel cakes.

Rod Lincoln, owner of Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q in Zephyrhills, has donated 700 chicken dinners and is the event’s primary sponsor, Mira said.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Rotary clubs, which in turn provide a considerable amount of support in the community, Mira said.

Rotary clubs, for example, provide food bags for families in need during the holidays, bags of food to help feed hungry children during summer months, and school supplies for kids going back to school.