Plant City played host to the National Baton Twirling Association’s Florida State Solo Championships and All American Group Competition this last weekend.
The event featured teams and individual twirlers from all over the state — with 52 groups and 117 individual twirlers in total — ranging from as young as four years old to collegiate performers and beyond. With attendees that included UCF’s Starlet Knights Majorette Line, led by Lynann Hudson, and twirlers from the University of Missouri and the University of Florida, the competition is co-directed by Hudson and her mother, Barbara Patrick.
The event has previously taken place at Polk State College in Winter Haven, however scheduling conflicts made this the first year that it was held at Plant City’s new Sadie Gibbs Martin Community Center. Patrick said that the new location worked great but added that there are naturally pros and cons to each venue, so a survey will be distributed to determine where the competition will take place in future years.
In addition to Hudson’s work with UCF’s Starlet Knights — a group that she was formerly a featured twirler on — she and Patrick are also co-directors of the Patrick’s Patriots Twirling Corps right here in Plant City, a group that’s been instructed by Patrick for over 60 years. The group began practicing under an oak tree at Courier Field around 1960, eventually finding a home at a local charter school, then the Planteen Rec Center and now the Sadie Gibbs Martin Community Center.
You may have seen Patrick’s Patriots around town in the Christmas Parade, the Florida Strawberry Grand Parade and several other events throughout the year in Plant City, but they also have a competition team that takes on events across the country. Individual winners from Patrick’s Patriots this past weekend include Millie Rigdon, a winner in the Beginner 7-9 Year Old division, and Lorelai Benfield, a winner in the Beginner 10-12 Year Old division. As a team, the Patriots’ dance twirl team finished second, qualifying for the National Competition at the University of Notre Dame in July.
The next step for the group will be the NBTA Southeast Regionals & Miss Majorette of the Southeast competition in Savannah, Georgia on May 14 before heading to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana for the America’s Youth On Parade – National Baton Twirlers Association National Championships, a competition that Patrick’s Patriots have attended for the 52 years.