CELEBRATION
TIMES TO REMEMBER
Popular festival offers a glimpse into the
days of old and stories of a compelling past
Festival-goers stop by the Navy SEAL Museum exhibit during the recent Treasure Coast History Festival on Fort Pierce’s Second Street.
BY JUDITH COLLINS
It might have been more fitting to rename Second Street
34
“Memory Lane” during the third annual Treasure Coast
History Festival held in downtown Fort Pierce.
There were those who attended the Jan. 12 event to
relive the city’s history through re-enactors; to remember the
early days of Port St. Lucie; to browse the many history books
offered by local writers; or attend the lectures on pirates,
Seminoles or the preservation of the area’s written history.
It was nearly standing room only at the Sunrise’s Black Box
Theatre for “Saving Memories One Page at a Time.” Discussion
focused on what local organizations are doing to digitize
and preserve newspaper accounts, photos and historical
documents that serve as a recorded timeline of the area. The
audience heard from Pam Cooper, retired supervisor of the
Archive Center and Genealogy Department for the Indian
River County Main Library in Vero Beach, Adam Neal, editor
ANTHONY INSWASTY PHOTOS
of TCPalm.com and Treasure Coast Newspapers (including Indian
River Press Journal, St. Lucie News Tribune and Stuart News)
and Nancy Bennett from the St. Lucie Historical Society.
The job is monumental, especially for the historical society,
which has thousands of files that need to be preserved, according
to Bennett. In an effort to facilitate the project, Indian
River Magazine is donating a digitizer scanner to the historical
society, Publisher Gregory Enns announced, and he urged the
audience to volunteer time to help.
“I know my librarian will say, ‘woo-hoo,’ when she hears
about this generous gift,” Bennett said.
SENSE OF PLACE
One of many attendees at the discussion was Fort Pierce
Mayor Linda Hudson, who was pleased that the festival has
been successful in bringing so many people to downtown >>
/TCPalm.com