Leaders from across state visit Dade City

DADE CITY -- After months as president of the Florida League of Cities, Mayor Scott Black finally got to bring his theme home Friday.

Black's administration has been built on the theme "Celebrating Our Cities," honoring the hometown flavor of all of Florida's municipalities. On Friday, he brought a busload of league board members -- mayors and council members from across the state -- to downtown Dade City for some shopping.

"This is what celebrating our cities means," Black said. "I just wanted to show off my hometown. I'm really proud of Dade City. I wanted to show it off."

The visit was in conjunction with a three-day league board meeting at the Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel. After days of work discussing legislative issues and league business, Black said the group got a day off.

His busload of 62 board members and spouses rolled into town shortly before 4 p.m. at the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce building. Officials from everywhere from Hialeah to Gulf Breeze piled out.

Among them, Niceville Mayor Randall Wise, who hosted Black at the town's Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival, Black's first Celebrating Our Cities visit.

His wife, Helen, was ready to hit the shops.

"I just love a walking town," she said. "I just think it's what every town in Florida should be."

Daytona Beach Mayor Bud Asher's wife, Dawn, was captivated by a local delicacy: kumquat bread.

"I just love it," she said, sneaking another piece at the chamber building. "Is there a recipe for this?"

County tourism consultant gave a tongue-in-cheek salute to Black for bringing visitors to his own downtown shopping district.

"I think it's a pretty good move for the mayor to bring his own tourists to town for tourism week," she said.

Pasco County Tourism Week kicks off this weekend with Cinco de Mayo festivities in Dade City today.

Other events in the coming week include: the Cotee River Seafood Festival and Boat Show, New Port Richey; Pasco Arts Council Exhibit, Holiday; Pioneer Florida Museum Mother's Day Celebration, Dade City; Dade City Cruise-In, Dade City; Central Pasco Golf Tournament, Plantation Palms; Swamp Stomp, Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve; Farmers Market, Dade City and Zephyrhills; Zephyrhills Cruise-In, Zephyrhills; and the Audubon Society Birdathon.

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