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SPOTLIGHT
Freedomfest continues through Friday.
Bart Butler, who went Durant High blind eight years ago, is still searching ready to return to work. for first win.
FK@LNTQ GIRL PAGE 8
+ Tickets on sale for hospital gala Tickets are now available for the South Florida Baptist Hospital Foundation’s annual Diamonds & Denim gala. This year’s event will take place from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Florida Strawberry Festival Expo Hall, 2301 W. Oak Ave., Plant City. The gala will feature a catered dinner, dancing and prizes, including a $4,500 diamond ring from Crescent Jewelers. Tickets are $60 each, and advanced reservations are required. To purchase tickets, contact the foundation, (813) 757-8478.
+ Downtown to host GardenFest The Plant City Garden Club and the Plant City Downtown Business and Merchants Association will host GardenFest and More from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Train Depot and McCall Park. The event will feature a variety of plants, garden art, speakers on related gardening topics, art, antiques, crafts, bargains, food and more. For more, call (813) 716-0950.
+ Calling all P.C. Girl Scouts Both new and old Girl Scouts are invited to attend Journey Through Girl Scouts, which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Davis Park, 612 N. Parsons Ave. The event will feature different stations for new and old girls in Daisies, Brownies and Juniors. Wear green and bring a water bottle. New registration is $15.
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This week’s winner is
Mackenzie Dawson See her photo on PAGE 14.
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upcoming
COLOR COORDINATOR by Michael Eng | Editor
by Amber Jurgensen | Associate Editor
Gospel music fest to take spotlight The 15th Sonshine Opry Gospel Music Festival will take place Sept. 14, at the Florida Strawberry Festival.
Plant City’s reigning pop art diva, Jules Burt, was commissioned to paint portraits of all 53 2014 Miss America contestants. She will present them to the contestants this week, in Atlantic City, N.J.
Jules Burt squints to get a closer look at the girl’s face. A few minutes earlier, the framed canvas was on an easel, but now, Burt is holding it with her left hand, steadying the bottom of it on her leg. “She needs a little touch-up around the eyes, don’tcha think?” she muses aloud, as she adds some eye-liner with a black marker. “Mmmm-hmmm. Yep. Much better.” A harvest table completely covered from years of paint splatters and drops sits in the breakfast nook of Burt’s Walden Lake home. A few feet away, another table holds dozens of colors, brushes and other supplies. It’s 10 a.m., and the morning sun is bright and alive in this, her makeshift studio. The unmistakable melodies of The Temptations’ classic, “My Girl,” play on a nearby radio. For the past two months, Burt has been working on the largest commissioned order of her long and celebrated career. She was tapped to paint 11-by-14 portraits of all 53 contestants in the 2014 Miss America Pageant. Using photos, she created the pieces in what has become her famous style — bright colors, wide, exaggerated eyes and, of course, her signature pursed lips. She also
The Evelyn and Batista Madonia Agricultural Show Center will be jamming this weekend with faith-based tunes. The 15th annual Sonshine Opry Gospel Music Festival will bring national gospel artists, local church groups and entertainers to the main stage. “I can’t wait for that uplifting feeling of praise and worship with hometown folks to lift God’s name up,” organizer Cindy Griffin said. “It’s just all-day family fun.” The event includes local church performances from Plant City Church of God, First Baptist Church of Dover, Harmony Baptist Church of Dover, New Hope Worship Center, the East Thonotosassa Baptist Church, Hopewell Baptist Church and more. “I really like that we’re featuring the local performers first and then building up to the national performers,” Griffin said. Tommy Cash, Dennis Lee, Ramblin’ Rose and Ezekiel 33 will be performing in the evening. Tommy Cash was born in Arkansas, eight years after his brother, Johnny. He performed with his first band in high school, before enlisting in the U.S. Army. During his service, he deejayed for the American Forces Radio Network. After his service, Cash played with Hank Williams Jr. In 1965, he signed a record deal and has been making hits ever since. They include “Six White Horses,” “One Song Away,”
covered each frame in rhinestones. After all, they are beauty queens. Burt shipped the majority of the girls to Atlantic City last week, and this week, she left for America’s Playground, as well. She’ll present the pieces to each contestant Sept. 12, during a party following the preliminary rounds. “I’m sad to see them go,” Burt says of the pieces. “But, I’m super excited to see them in Atlantic City. It will be worth getting all my glue-gun burns.”
FUN FINE ART
Although she’s a Plant City native, Burt never competed in any pageants herself. But, with her father, Royce Burt, serving as principal of Turkey Creek JuniorSenior High School and her mother, Jeanie Burt, working as a teacher and counselor at Plant City high School, Burt spent plenty of time around party dresses, fancy hairdos and sparkly accessories. “They took me to all the Homecoming dances, and I got
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OUR TOWN
FREE • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
SEE JULES / PAGE 4
It’s fun fine art. It makes you feel good. If I can make somebody put on a smile for a minute, then that’s worth it. — JULES BURT
SEE OPRY / PAGE 4
TAKING SHAPE by Michael Eng | Editor
Workshop offers first glimpses of life in Plant City’s Midtown The Plant City Commission, Planning Board and Historic Resources Board gave city officials input on the future Plant City development. Plant City officials revealed some of the first real details about the long-anticipated Midtown project Sept. 9, during a special joint workshop that included the Plant City Commission, the Planning Board and the Historic Resources Board. Inspired by communities such as Lakeland’s Munn Park, Tampa’s Hyde Park and downtown Sarasota, Plant City’s own
85-acre, live-work-play community jumped much more sharply into focus this week. Workshop attendees were able to view the first sketches of the six building types that one day will line Midtown streets. They also saw a Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization rendering of a grand Midtown entrance on Collins Street. City staff also discussed
details about Midtown’s new form-based code. Once approved by the Planning Board and the City Commission, the code will govern all Midtown projects and act as a guideline for the eventual developer. City Manager Greg Horwedel said the language and regulations in the code are critical both to attracting the development community, as well as to Midtown’s end product.
Courtesy of the Hillsborough MPO
This rendering shows how city officials hope street improvements one day will welcome residents to the new Midtown. “The challenge for us is how to make this happen and still provide an economic incentive for somebody to come in, invest their money and build this,” said City Manager Greg
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Horwedel. “If you look around Munn Park, that’s exactly the type of template we were looking at.
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Crossword...................14
Obituaries.....................9
Opinion ........................6
Sports.........................11
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