By Brenda Eubanks Burnette
I was recently at the opening of the Lakeland History and Culture Center’s new citrus exhibit called “From the Groves, Lakeland’s Citrus Story,” located in the Lakeland Public Library by Lake Morton. Lakeland was once called the “World’s Citrus Center,” so this exhibit is long overdue. It’s been two years in the making by LuAnn Mims, the library’s special collections supervisor, but it was definitely worth the wait!
As you enter the exhibit, you’re greeted by large graphics of groves, an old picking bag on the wall with a 30-foot picking ladder hung overhead, and the smell of orange blossoms misting in the air. Starting at that point, you can scroll through maps showing the grove locations of prominent Lakeland-area citrus growers and learn about Lakeland’s leading citrus families.
From there, an actual old truck bed loaded with several field crates helps tell the story of how transporting the fruit from the grove to the packinghouse evolved. A large slide show on the wall takes you through the packinghouse and processing plants, showcasing the women who did the majority of the grading and sectionizing.
Different tools, machinery, artifacts and companies from Lakeland are highlighted throughout, including a replica of the Lakeland Junior Chamber of Commerce orange juice stand. The stand was located on the east side of Lake Mirror in the 1940s to promote the locally grown citrus fruit and orange juice processing.
The display also shows the transition from packing fruit in large wooden barrels packed with moss to the better known wooden crates for shipment up north. This, of course, segues into the art of the citrus crate labels, with numerous labels from the area displayed throughout the exhibit.
One of the displays that I was enthralled with was the one on marketing which featured the “It Isn’t Just for Breakfast Anymore” campaign created by the growth of the industry due to the development of frozen citrus concentrate. Mims had managed to find a number of commercials used to promote the industry “back in the day,” including a promotional interview with Major League Baseball player Yogi Berra on the benefits of orange juice to refuel the body! There were several videos that I had never seen before, so I thoroughly enjoyed learning even more about the history of our industry.
And, of course, there was a section on the Florida Citrus Queens and the part they played in marketing the industry, including various artifacts, a formal dress worn by Rosemarie Payne and a kimono worn by yours truly when I went to Japan in 1982!
The final display in the exhibit is devoted to citrus byproducts and features oral histories from Lakeland residents who worked in the citrus industry that you can listen to before you exit under the boughs of citrus trees perched over the doors.
There are many interactive opportunities, including voting for which fruit you like best, writing your favorite memories on sticky notes to post on a mural of a citrus tree, and listening to firsthand accounts of people involved in various facets of the industry. Regardless of whether you are in the industry or not, this is something so well done that there will be something of interest to anyone who takes a little time to spend going through the thoughtfully placed items and interactive features. If you are in the industry, you will definitely reminisce about the times you were coming in “from the groves…”
See FloridaCitrusHallofFame.com for video footage from the opening reception of the exhibit.
Brenda Eubanks Burnette is executive director of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Pieces of the Past is presented in partnership with Florida Southern College’s McKay Archives Center in Lakeland.
Share this Post
Sponsored Content