Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

With post office's help, Homosassa to ditch obscurity

A pictorial cancellation featuring the Homosassa Arts, Crafts and Seafood Festival will be sold at the event.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published November 1, 2005

	[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
	Homosassa postmaster Deborah Baptist watches postal clerk Fred Plumsky try out a rubber cancellation stamp Monday that states "Support Homosassa's Rustic Heritage" at the Old Homosassa post office. The stamp also features the date of the Arts, Crafts and Seafood Festival, Homosassa as the postmark's location, and a crab with a palette and brush.

HOMOSASSA - It used to be that getting recognition through the post office involved having your name on a wanted poster that was tacked to the wall.

But some of Homosassa's leaders have found a positive way to get fame for their town with help from the post office. And they are raising money for charitable causes at the same time.

For the first time during the Homosassa Arts, Crafts and Seafood Festival on Nov. 12-13, postal workers will offer a special event pictorial cancellation that features the festival. It can be purchased at the event, organizers announced Monday.

The pictorial cancellation features a colorful envelope, known as a cache, which sports the festival logo of local shellfish and stone crab. During the festival, workers will add the special cancellation, or postmark. The ink cancellation states "Support Homosassa's Rustic Heritage" and includes the date of the festival, the Homosassa post office as the postmark's location, and a depiction of a crab with an artist's palette and paintbrush.

Such special issues are popular with stamp collectors and those who support the sponsoring organization's purpose. The pictorial cancellation is $4.

Diane Toto, president of the Homosassa Civic Club, which organizes the festival, said she hoped this special offering will add to the credibility and recognition of the event, which is in its 31st year. She also said she hoped it raises important funds for the club's community projects, including schools, Scouts, scholarships and the Young Marines. All proceeds return to the civic club.

The festival pictorial cancellation will get widespread attention because it will be included in the "Postal Bulletin," which avid stamp collectors worldwide scan to find out what items they want to include in their collections.

"I think this is an important thing for all of Citrus County," said Toto, who has been working with Homosassa postmaster Deborah Baptist for months to make this special issue happen. During Monday's announcement, Toto, other festival organizers and community supporters jammed into the tiny Old Homosassa post office to have copies of the press releases stamped with the special postmark.

"Even though the cancellation does not mention the 31st art and seafood festival, it does honor the history of Old Homosassa," Baptist said.

Those who wish to purchase the caches can buy them at the post office trailer, which will be set up during the festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 12 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 13. The envelopes can also be addressed and sent with the cancellation during the festival.

The caches can be purchased by mail until Dec. 13 through the Homosassa Civic Club, P.O. Box 493, Homosassa, FL 34448.

Requests for cancellations only can be made through the Homosassa post office, 10780 W Yulee Drive, Homosassa, FL 34487-9998.

--Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 352 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 1, 2005, 05:00:06]