February brought more fun and celebration to Plant City, starting with an “Evening on Evers Street,” a fundraising event sponsored by Wish Farms that shut down the bustling downtown street for the evening as the community gathered together and raised money for the United Food Bank of Plant City. The event featured live music, a catered dinner, raffles and local businesses all lighting up the night.
The following week, long-time city employee and newly-appointed assistant city manager Jack Holland was named 2022 Citizen of the Year at the 63rd Annual Awards Luncheon. And later in the month, Jason Jones was named Plant City’s newest city commissioner following Rick Lott’s announcement that he would not be seeking another term as mayor.
Across town, Fazoli’s made it’s grand re-opening, Achieve Plant City raised over $40,000 at their wine tasting fundraiser to assist in funding local schools with supplies and other educational materials and Plant City Police announced a new plan to outfit their officers with body cameras later in the year.
To begin the month, the cheer teams from Strawberry Crest, Plant City and Durant all made their way to Gainesville for the state championship, with Plant City taking home their first cheer state championship in school history while Strawberry Crest earned their jaw-dropping eighth consecutive state title. Plant City’s boys basketball team reached their district final, ultimately finishing the tournament as district runner up, while Durant’s girls toppled Newsome to claim a district championship, both earning a regional quarterfinal appearance. All three schools saw their baseball and softball seasons kick off in February as well, with Plant City’s Adan Longoria highlighting the first week of play with a no-hit performance against Middleton to open the Raiders’ year.