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The city's stamp club hosts its first national event: the unveiling of the design for the new Longleaf Pine Forest stamp, to be launched in Tallahassee later this month.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2002
CLEARWATER -- For a year, the Clearwater Stamp Club's philatelists lobbied the U.S. Postal Service to officially launch a new stamp -- the Longleaf Pine Forest commemorative stamp -- in Clearwater, the club's home base.
Club members wanted the Postal Service to sell and postmark the new stamp for the first time in the city.
The answer was no.
But the club members got the next best thing.
At Baypex 2002, the club's annual stamp show this weekend at Harborview Center, the new stamp's design will be unveiled. The Postal Service will begin selling and postmarking the new stamp in Tallahassee, home of the largest national Longleaf Pine tree research station, on Arbor Day, April 26.
"This is the first time there has been a national unveiling on the west coast of Florida," said Sue Harton, customer relations coordinator for Postal Service for Pinellas County. "It's kind of a neat thing for a city. It's a great honor."
The Longleaf Pine Forest stamp, by artist John D. Dawson, is actually 10 stamps that together form a forest scene containing the pine as well as 31 plant and animal species including birds, a turtle, a snake, a lizard, a fox and various yellow, purple and white wildflowers.
It is the fourth in the Nature of America series created to promote appreciation for North America's major flora and fauna communities.
"It's a beautiful stamp," said Bob Roose, the club treasurer and stamp show chairman. "The only thing is, they are self-adhesive. I'd like to see them go back to (glue stamps) because the self-adhesive stamps are difficult to remove once they've been put on an envelope."
Regardless, the unveiling and dedication is "the first national event we've had at Baypex," Roose said."It means we're slowly getting to the big time. We're trying to become a national show."
Like many club members, Roose, whose prize possession is a rare 1897 trans Mississippi dollar stamp valued at $600, has a stressful day job. He's an air traffic controller and finds that collecting stamps reduces his tension level.
He enjoys the hobby so much he would like others -- especially children -- to become involved. That is why the event, which features rare stamp exhibits, philatelic meetings and exchange booths manned by dozens of collectors including The Stamp Explorer, Suncoast Stamps and W.E.O. Stamps, is free.
"We do the show as a way of encouraging future members to join," Roose said. "We stress getting the kids there."
At 11 a.m. today, Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst; Katy Roberts, president of the Pinellas County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society; and other dignitaries will be on hand to unveil the poster-size artist's rendering of the Longleaf Pine Forest stamp.
If you want to get an actual stamp, you can do so in Tallahassee on April 26. Three members of the Clearwater Stamp Club will also be heading north to buy stamps to add to their collections.
The stamps will be available at post offices throughout the United States the following day. They will be in circulation for only one year, said Harton.
The national unveiling of the new Longleaf Pine Forest stamp is scheduled at 11 a.m. today at the Clearwater Stamp Club's show, Baypex 2002 at Harborview Center, 300 Cleveland St., Clearwater. The show will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It will feature the programs, rare stamp exhibits and philatelic meetings. Free admission and parking.