Marsha Passmore and Dodie White can’t remember a time when they didn’t attend the Florida Strawberry Festival.
Their earliest memories of the 11-day event are watching the Grand Parade with their mother, Dora Beveard. Years later, the s
isters began attending the festival on their own.
Year after year, the sisters’ volunteer work continued to grow at Plant City’s biggest event. Passmore and White volunteered on the trams that pulled people around the festival for at least 15 years, and have worked at festival booths for even longer.
“We still love it,” White said. “That 11 days is like magic for both of us. There is something here for absolutely everybody.”
Last year, the sisters collected the crowns of former Strawberry Queens to be placed on display in the festival’s Neighborhood Village to fit the 2016 theme of ‘Royal Fun for Everyone.’
For 2017, the exhibit is back with an all-new display for the 82nd Florida Strawberry Festival.
Remembering the Royals
Florida Strawberry Festival General Manager Paul Davis, along with Sandee Parke-Sytsma, vice president of the festival’s board of directors, were responsible for asking Passmore and White to take over the queen’s exhibit the year before. In the past, the chairmanship was held by former queens Barbara Bowden, Sherrie Chambers Mueller and Silvia Dodson.
“Sandee Sytsma and Paul Davis called and asked to meet with us,” Passmore said. “We weren’t sure we would do it justice.”
But, as they do for so many other events in Plant City, the sisters accepted. They moved the existing queen’s exhibit from the festival’s main exhibit hall to the Neighborhood Village before the 2016 festival began.
At that time, the queen’s exhibit boasted a series of photos of each former queen, ranging from first queen Charlotte Rosenberg in 1930 to Samantha Sun in 2015. Passmore and White dusted off the photos and rehung each one in a long class case. At each end of the case, they left room for a former queen’s dress to be displayed. Last year, the sisters showed off the dresses worn by 2016 Queen Haley Riley and 1971 Queen Sherrie Chambers Mueller.
This year’s display cases are connected by more than just royalty. 2017 Queen Drew Knotts’ flower-printed dress is in one of the display cases. The other case goes back to 1953, when Knotts’ grandmother, Ruby Jean
Redman, was crowned queen. The case includes a retro mixer and toaster, both of which Redman was given the year she won.
Knotts, who was crowned in January, is the third in her family to be queen. Her cousin, Chelsea Bowden, was crowned in 2012.
“We had so much fun putting this together,” Passmore said.
To match the 2017 festival theme of ‘We’re Playing Your Song!’ the sisters collected photos of past queens and their courts with headliners from previous years. In addition to the photos, records donated by Eleanor Poppell line the display case.
“We thought, ‘What better way to showcase this year’s theme than pictures with past entertainers?” White said. “The first one we have is from 1980.”
Headliners and pictures featured in this year’s exhibit include Charlie Daniels in 1999, Jason Aldean in 2008 and Taylor Swift in 2009.
Though the exhibit serves as a way for Passmore and White to pay tribute to part of the festival’s longstanding history, the project has an added special meaning for them, too.
“Marsha and I stay very busy and we’re torn in a thousand directions on a daily basis,” White said. “There’s very little time that we get to spend together, just the two of us. Working on the queen’s exhibit is one of those times. We’re thankful to God for allowing us to have that bit of time to work together on the exhibit.”
The queen’s exhibit will be open to the public beginning Thursday, March 2. Located in the Neighborhood Village behind the festival’s main office, the exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.