Highlands County orange grove workers are invited to celebrate the county’s American Pickers Day by attending a special exhibit at the Highlands Museum of the Arts on Saturday, Feb. 5. Admission is free to the grove workers on that day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The museum is at 351 West Center Avenue in downtown Sebring, Florida.
Oil paintings by Sebring artist Tony Rosa will be on display. His American Pickers collection of paintings “celebrates the working spirit of a Florida orange grove,” states a proclamation of the Board of County Commissioners of Highlands County. The American Pickers exhibit will be on display at the museum through Feb. 19. See a video of the American Pickers exhibit and other paintings.
“The paintings were created for all the workers in our orange groves, to celebrate them, to recognize them and their vital role in our community,” Rosa stated. “Please help me get the actual farmworkers being celebrated to the museum on their special day to see the exhibit that celebrates them.” Rosa sent an email asking growers and citrus leaders to bring their orange grove workers to see the exhibit on Feb. 5.
The county commissioners’ proclamation cited a 2019–20 University of Florida Economic Impact Analysis Program for some statistics on the citrus industry in Highlands County. According to the proclamation, the county produced 10.33 million boxes of citrus from more than 8 million orange trees. The citrus is grown on 57,351 commercial citrus acres that provide jobs for 1,402 people “with a value-added impact of more than $89 million.”
The proclamation declared that the board of county commissioners “wishes to recognize and celebrate the often overlooked and forgotten citrus grove workers for the vital service they provide to our community.” It declared Feb. 5 as American Pickers Day.
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