The annual County Jubilee provides significant income for Heritage Village and enjoyment and fun for all who attend.
By PAMELA GRINER LEAVY
Published October 22, 2004
LARGO - Kick start some festive holiday shopping and step back into history at the 27th annual Country Jubilee, on tap Saturday at Heritage Village in Largo.
Country kitsch in the flea market, handwoven baskets, decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, downhome music, wood carvings, a petting zoo, and "greater tater" festival food define the mostly outdoor event that heralds fall's arrival in Pinellas County.
On the heels of Heritage Village's emotionally-charged "Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education" exhibit, the Country Jubilee demonstrates Heritage Village's diversity and longevity.
More than 125 exhibit booths are primed to spread across the 21-acre property. The village, site of more than 20 buildings including preserved houses, a barn, blacksmith shop and other historical structures, is part of Pinewood Cultural Park and home since 1977 to the Pinellas County Historical Museum.
Since the Country Jubilee's inception in 1977, the event has been sponsored by the Pinellas County Historical Society. Profits benefit Heritage Village educational programs and proceeds topped $11,000 in 2003. Vendors vie to participate and pay $75 each to sell their crafts. The Country Jubilee and similar historical society fundraisers help underwrite educational programs such as "Brown vs. Board of Education," said Jan Luth, Heritage Village director.
"This year new exhibit cases were purchased and funds were supplied to take care of historical collections and help with other projects," Luth said. "The dollars generated through the Country Jubilee, a fabulous event, turn around and provide benefits to Heritage Village throughout the year."
A jubilee flea market, slated for the village's Safety Harbor Church, features such disparate items as mugs decorated with belly dancers, fine linens, gold-trimmed Hampton stainless silverware with burgundy handles and stuffed animals. Mona Rohrbough, a 20-year member of the historical society and this year's co-chair, and Jody Stanley, crafters' coordinator, spent days proceeding the jubilee ironing out details, including organizing the flea market sale.
Rohrbough, who co-chairs this year's jubilee with her husband Steve, credits a core committee of 10 and more than 60 volunteers for the jubilee's staying power.
"It means a lot of work and we start in February," she said. "It's work we enjoy and we wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it."
In addition to purchasing crafts and food, Rohrbough hopes each visitor will donate at least a dollar to Heritage Village as they enter the jubilee and visit the Florida history paintings of Christopher Still, now on display. Still's work is also on display at the State Capitol in Tallahassee.
Heritage Village and the Pinellas County Historical Museum, which morphed in 1976 from a dark basement room in the old Pinellas Courthouse to its current spacious, wooded location, continues to move in the right direction, Rohrbough said.
"We're getting more and more activities that really concern the public and have the Christopher Still prints in the Pinellas room that people would enjoy seeing. It's either that or go to Tallahassee," she said. "We just wish that more people would become aware of Heritage Village and all of Pinewood Cultural Park."
Luth echoes that sentiment as she plans to greet Country Jubilee visitors. "First of all, I hope they have a really good time, think about some early holiday shopping, and especially if they have never been here before that they look around, gain some appreciation for what Heritage Village is and come back when there isn't a festival going on."
IF YOU GO
WHAT: 27th annual Country Jubilee at Heritage Village, Saturday , Heritage Village, 11909 125th Street N., Largo.
HOURS: Gates open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
PARKING: South of Ulmerton Road on 119th Street. Free shuttle to park entrance.
ADMISSION: Free admission, donations welcome.
ENTERTAINMENT ON THE GAZEBO STAGE: Judy Barrett and her autoharp at 10 a.m.; Florida Songstory at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Outrageous Fortune at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; Mary Ann DiNella at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Beverly Hills Cloggers at noon; Crabgrass Cowboys at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.; and the Exums at 1 and 3:30 p.m.
