Page 8 - June 2020 Issue.indd

Join us at Dusk at the
Greensboro Drive-In Theater
Friday, June 12 or Saturday, June 13
as we celebrate together, while apart.

NCHS’s

Class of 2020
#HomeGrownGraduation

Sadly, this year’s headcount will officially be zero. Like most
Guidelines To Participate Are As Follows... other scheduled traditions, the Strawberry Festival in 2020
• Families attending may only include immediate family has fallen victim to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Even a
members who live in the same household. proposed reunion to mark the 40th anniversary of the dedica-
• Families must stay in vehicles at all times, unless there is an tion of the Agricultural High School marker in front of Ridgely
emergency. Elementary was scrapped. But instead of being sullen about
• NO outdoor seating permitted, including seating in an it, I decided to share some of the nostalgia with you as well
open bed of a vehicle.
• Windows may be half way down. as off er some future suggestions based on a separate tribute
• WHEN ARRIVING AND UNTIL PARKED-MASKS to the seeded fruit -- one that occurs each winter a thousand
MUST BE WORN miles away in Plant City, Florida.
* Follow all guidelines and restrictions in place by Gov. Hogan
It is a huge deal to the people of the southwest Florida region,
ONE TICKET PER VEHICLE - please do not reserve a attracting over 500,000 paying customers per year on aver-

ticket for each person in the vehicle, only the vehicle itself. age. That Strawberry Festival, just like ours, was conceived by
Tickets are first come first served and must be reserved the local Lions Club but all the way back in 1930. Eventually
on-line prior to the event – NO TICKET - NO ENTRY. the area American Legion and other civic groups there were
Please no more than two vehicles per student. brought on board and the event has been going strong and
growing ever since. Instead of a one-day event, theirs is now
SENIORS an eleven-day draw.
Please wear your cap Strawberries are still a major industry in that part of the
and gown for a turning Sunshine State, which is connected by Interstate 4 to the
of the tassels with your Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area. I know we still have a couple
peers. Vehicle decorating U-Pick patches here and there, but they commercially plant
is encouraged.
strawberries on approximately 10,000 acres each year. With that
said, some modern similarities do exist: Plant City residents,
For FREE tickets, visit just as we have done historically, grow plenty of vegetables
https://nchshomegrowngraduation. too and raise herds of cattle. As someone who has spent a fair
eventbrite.com amount of time down there, I have concluded the people and
the town are not that much diff erent than up here. Th ey just
sturdy metal fencing, covered high-rise stands, scoreboards, get the heat and humidity most of the year as opposed to the
cook shack, storage sheds, cinder-block bathrooms, and fi eld summer months!
lighting, have since been removed in favor of a larger venue on
Cow Barn Road that does not currently factor into the order So here is my modest proposal. It is two-fold, actually. Th ere is

of the celebrated day. an official “sister city/sister county” program that Ridgely and
for that matter Caroline can join with its Florida counterparts;

The advertised Strawberry Festival events seem to multiply on
Plant City is in Hillsborough County if you are wondering.
a yearly basis, perhaps in part necessitating such changes to

This program pairs American municipalities and counties with
Martin Sutton Memorial Park. Fairly recent additions include a
equivalents around the country and for that matter, around the
5k race, a non-denominational worship service, diverse musical
world. It is a proven entity and great for marketing. I would
acts, a car show, and an ever-sprawling collection of vendors,
gladly initiate the process provided the necessary briefi ngs meet
historical booths, and political issue advocacy tables. As a
the approval of relevant county stakeholder organizations. Just
result, Lions Club organizers and regional newspapers state
think of the possibilities with Plant City alone as we jointly
attendance grows annually as well, reaching perhaps 10,000

raffle trips, invite leaders to friendly rivalry charity soft ball
visitors from all over Maryland, Delaware, and occasionally
games, and participate in promotional photo ops among many
farther based on published interviews.
other possibilities.
8