Artwork helps keep the past in the present.
Johnson’s Barbeque has been serving delicious barbeque to the Plant City community and beyond for more than 60 years. Elton Johnson began slow-smoking pork shoulders out of his gas station-turned-restaurant in 1954. He was a gritty, hard-working, but very hospitable man who was brought up in Alabama during the Depression. His restaurant’s reputation grew throughout central Florida as the place to go for authentic, unpretentious, traditional Southern food.
The Johnson Family wanted to have a mural painted inside their restaurant that showcased their strong family pride, their delicious food, and their strong ties to the Plant City community. “When they put a call out to the community for mural designs, I was excited to submit my mural idea to the Johnson Family,” said local artist and employee of Fred’s Market, Marianne Dawson. “I wanted to show off what the restaurant was all about. I wanted to highlight the family generations who worked at the restaurant, the smoking of the barbeque, the delicious food, and the Plant City community.”
The Johnson Family picked her design, and Dawson got to work on bringing the new mural to life inside the restaurant. “Owen Johnson was ecstatic with the way the mural turned out,” Dawson said. “He loved all the research I did on the family and the history of the restaurant and how it all came together in the mural.”
Dawson has been creative and doing art her entire life. She loved the opportunity to create a mural for the Johnson Family because she loves working for them as well. “I love being part of their restaurant family,” Dawson said. “I love that I can work for them and create art for them that is seen by our community. It has been a wonderful opportunity for me.”
Dawson also has other pieces of her artwork on display in the Plant City community. “I have some of my recent works of art on display at Red Calliope Gallery on Evers in the downtown historic district,” she said. “It’s wonderful that the community can go to two local businesses in Plant City and see the different pieces of art I have created. I hope the community enjoys the art I have created because I just love doing art and having it shown in the community where I’m a proud member.”
If you’d like to see Dawson’s works of art, you can visit Red Calliope Gallery on Evers, which is located at 109 S. Evers in downtown Plant City. The mural Dawson did for Johnson’s Barbeque is located inside the restaurant.
