When it comes to community boards in Plant City, Al Berry’s name can frequently be found on them.
The Plant City native has served as a trustee for Hillsborough Community College and on the boards of the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center and the City of Plant City’s Board of Adjustment, among others.
For Berry, the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World is more than just the basis for his service work — it’s home.
“The main thing about Plant City is the community itself,” Berry said. “It has a lot of atmosphere and a lot of flavor that a lot of small towns don’t have.”
The Life of a Salesman
After graduating from Plant City High School, Berry left Plant City for El Paso, Texas. While there, he attended Texas Western College and worked as a toll collector.
When he returned to Plant City, Berry began his 34-year career in broadcasting. He worked as a deejay at WPLA in Plant City before going into broadcasting sales. He ended up co-owning the station with Ercelle Smith, after Smith’s father sold them the station.
One of the station’s most popular shows was This N’ That, a two-hour segment.
“People would call and buy and sell things,” Berry said. “We had some regulars.”
There was a woman known as Aunt Maggie, who would call the station from Springhead to sell jewelry she made out of rattlesnake hides, and Junior, a man who begged the hosts to let him play his guitar on the air.
“We made the mistake of letting him play once,” Berry said. “We turned the volume down and took other calls. When we turned it back up, he was still playing.”
Berry found success in advertising, a skill he took to the Florida Strawberry Festival.
“As a kid, there were two exciting things that happened in Plant City,” Berry said. “There was the Silas Green from New Orleans Traveling Minstrel Show. My dad was a policeman, and he took me to see the show.”
The second event, Berry said, was the Florida Strawberry Festival.
Berry is a past president of the festival and a former Redcoat. He went emeritus in 2015. He did promotion and advertising for the festival.
“I did their guides,” Berry said. “It was exciting to watch the festival grow from a little five-day fair to what it is today.”
Berry, who was named Citizen of the Year in 1998, also is a 52-year member and past president of the Plant City Lion’s Club. He was able to see the club bring concerts to the festival. Today, Florida residents line up to buy tickets for their favorite musicians.
For Berry, selling ads for the festival came naturally — it was the organization he was passionate about.
“I felt good about what I was selling,” he said. “When you feel good about the product, you don’t have any problem talking about it.”
Today, Berry works as an advertising representative for the Plant City Times & Observer and In the Field Magazine and writes his column “Rocking Chair Chatter” for In the Field Magazine, a publication owned by his daughter and Observer co-owner Karen Berry.
“I would be fully miserable if I fully retired,” Berry said. “I’m kind of excited about the direction Plant City is going. I think we’ve got good management. And I think we’re doing well financially for a town our size. That comes from good management. Plant City has its own flavor.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.