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Beginning at 9 a.m., downtown will
come alive with historical re-enactors
ranging from Seminole War soldiers
from the 1800s to early settlers in the
1900s who will depict life on the Treasure
Coast.
Trolley tours will take participants to
significantly important historical sites
in Fort Pierce. For required reservations
for the trolley tours, call 772.466.3880.
Free historical ghost tours led by
paranormal investigator Larry Lawson
will also be held throughout the day.
Registration for those tours are taken on
the day of the festival.
Authors of books on the history of the
Treasure Coast will be featured in the
festival’s Authors Alley, where visitors
can purchase locally written books and
talk to the authors.
The festival also features a fish fry
hosted by the Summerlin Family, the
first family of fishing on the Treasure
Coast. The fish fry, which begins at
11 a.m., is $12 per plate and includes
fish, cole slaw, baked beans and hush
puppies.
Three sessions on historical topics
will be held in the Black Box in the
Sunrise Theatre. All the sessions are
free and no reservations are required,
though seating is on a first-come basis.
The first session, “Billy Johnson’s Fort
Pierce,’’ starts at 9:30 a.m. and features
social media personality Billy Johnson.
Johnson’s posts about growing up in
Fort Pierce have become widely followed
on the Facebook page “The Fort
Pierce Connection.’’ A nurseryman and
landscaper and former commercial
fisherman, Johnson vividly recalls his
free-wheeling
childhood
growing up in
Fort Pierce in
the late 1960s
and early 1970s.
The second
session, “The
Ais Natives of
the Treasure
Coast,’’ begins
at 11 a.m. and
features historian
and archaeologist
Alan
Brech, who has
discovered the
location of nine
Ais towns along
the coast, including the paramount town
near Sebastian. Long before Europeans
and even the
Seminoles, an
ancient people
known as the
Ais roamed the
Treasure Coast.
The third
session, “We
Remember
Backus,’’
begins at 1
p.m. Relatives,
friends and
students will
recall the life
of Florida’s
pre-eminent
landscape artist
A.E. “Bean’’
Backus of Fort
Pierce and how his art and life’s work
influenced generations of artists and
continues to inspire today.
This year’s festival will cover a
period of two weekends, with Waldo
Sexton Homestead Days taking place at
the 1917 home place of Vero Beach pioneer
Waldo Sexton at 5000 12th St., Vero
Beach. That event will be held from 10
a.m. to 4 pm. on Saturday, Jan. 4 and
Sunday, Jan. 5.
SPONSORED CONTENT
A.E. “Bean’’ Backus