Pioneer Days stakes claim as Top 20 event

The Pioneer Florida Museum gains a competitive edge from a tourism group's listing of the Labor Day weekend festival.

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 15, 2000

DADE CITY -- The Pioneer Florida Museum joins some elite company this year.

The museum's Pioneer Florida Days festival, held over the Labor Day weekend each year, was named this month to the Southeast Tourism Society's list of the top 20 events in the South for September.

"The Top 20 events represents the best festivals the Southeast has to offer," program coordinator Stephanie Brown-Newton said.

The society was founded in 1983 to promote tourism in its 10 member states. Membership includes visitors bureaus, motels, travel agencies, newspapers, magazines and tour companies.

Honey Rand, the consultant who helps coordinate Pasco County tourism efforts, said being named to the Top 20 list is a major accomplishment.

"The publicity this generates is wonderful," she said. "They send out this list to tens of thousands of tour operators and bookers looking for information on events throughout the Southeast, as well as to media outlets."

Museum curator Donna Swart was pleased with the listing, after previous attempts to join the Top 20 list fell short.

"I am very proud for the museum," she said. "A lot of people worked very hard for 26 years to keep this going."

The society includes some big-name events on its Top 20 list, and joining is not easy, Brown-Newton said.

Previous listings have included the Orange Bowl Festival in Miami, the Kentucky Derby Festival in Louisville, Ky., and the prestigious Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase horse race.

A spot on the list is not guaranteed year to year, and events must compete each time for a new listing, Brown-Newton said. Judges consider the event's uniqueness, local involvement and corporate support before selecting its finalists.

And the Pioneer Florida Museum won't be the first in Pasco County to take its place on the list. The Odessa Rodeo and Festival in Odessa was listed as one of the best events in April this year.

Rand said she hopes to get the Dade City Bug Jam, a celebration of Volkswagen owners, on the list this fall, putting Dade City on the map twice in one year.

Swart said that while the Top 20 listing for the big festival is a major honor, it isn't the only thing going on at the museum.

Organizers are presenting their first Magnolia Garden Festival this weekend. The two-day event offers plant sales, lectures on gardening in Florida, flower arrangement seminars, herb garden tips, lessons on designing a garden to attract butterflies and an exhibit of painted porcelain and pottery.

David Mobley, a floral industry professional, offers floral arrangement lessons with the help of Bonita Flower Shop, Expressions by Tracy and Winn-Dixie Marketplace florists, and arrangements will be sold to raise money for the museum. In addition, landscaping expert Doris Bareiss is scheduled to teach classes on replacing water-hogging lawns with native Florida plants and wildflowers that tolerate heat and drought better than imported plants.

Swart said the new Magnolia Garden Festival could become an annual event at the museum.

The festival is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the museum, a mile north of the Dade City line on U.S. 301. Admission is $5, and parking is $2.

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