Fifth Annual
TREASURE COAST HISTORY FESTIVAL
Saturday Jan. 14, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A celebration of historical events in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties

Treasure Coast History Festival 2022 Schedule of events

Treasure Coast History Festival schedule of events

Jan. 14, 2023
Downtown Fort Pierce – 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

9 a.m. – Exhibitions Open (S. Second Street between Orange & Atlantic Ave.)

See the full schedule...

Free Admission. Presentations in the Sunrise Theatre Main Stage are also free. Seating in the theater is on a first-come, first serve basis (reservations are now closed). See you at the festival!

Historical re-enactors Talissa L. Wilson and James B. Odell talk with attendees at the 2017 Treasure Coast History Festival.

History Festival celebrates 100th anniversaries of a school, a theater and a ranch

Three headliner sessions scheduled for at the annual Treasure Coast History Festival focus on the 100th anniversaries of one of Florida’s first high schools for black students, the boom-era Sunrise Theatre in downtown Fort Pierce and one of the region’s earliest cattle ranches.

The festival will take place Saturday, Jan 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Second Street in front of the Sunrise Theatre, 117 S. Second St., Fort Pierce. Besides historical exhibitions outside the theater, the festival also features three presentations inside the theater, all tied to events that began in 1923.

Access to all events at the festival, presented by Indian River Magazine and sponsored by St. Lucie Battery and Tire, is free. Also assisting in production of the festival are Main Street Fort Pierce, the St. Lucie County Historical Society and the Sunrise Theatre...

Descendants of the Cow Creek cowboys

Free history festival returns to downtown Fort Pierce Jan. 14

Treasure Coast history will come alive in downtown Fort Pierce on Saturday, Jan. 14, as the 6th Annual Treasure Coast History Festival is celebrated.

This year’s festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Second Street in front of the Sunrise Theatre, 117 S. Second St.. Besides historical exhibitions outside the theater, the festival also features three presentations inside the theater, all tied to events that began in 1923, exactly 100 years ago.

Access to all events at the festival is free, compliments Indian River Media Group...

2020

Marshall Adams of the A.E. Backus Museum

Free History Festival takes place tomorrow in downtown Fort Pierce

FORT PIERCE — The lineup for this weekend’s Treasure Coast History Festival has been announced, with separate sessions on the native Ais culture and the life of landscape artist A.E. “Bean’’ Backus headlining the event.

The free festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow (Sat., Jan. 11) in downtown Fort Pierce and features historical re-enactors, ghost tours, historical trolley rides, sessions on historical topics and an old-Florida fish fry. Read more...

Billy Johnson

Social media personality Billy Johnson featured at Saturday’s History Festival

On any given day, Billy Johnson is likely to pull from his memory some long-forgotten piece of history that happened in Fort Pierce a half century ago and post it on the popular Fort Pierce Connection Facebook page.

The world of Johnson 50 years ago was idyllic: riding his bike downtown, plying the waters of the Indian River in his flats fishing boat, spending the weekend in his family’s cabin on one of the river’s spoil islands or dropping into the local bowling alley for a cherry Coke. Read more...

diorama at the Florida Museum of Natural History

Ais, 15,000-year natives, topic of Saturday’s History Festival

When the Spaniards arrived on shores of the Treasure Coast 500 years ago, an ancient people known as the Ais greeted them to the land they and their ancestors had lived on for thousands of years.

The Ais and their ancestors had been living on this coast for perhaps as long as 15,000 years, says an archaeologist who has studied them and uncovered some of their settlements over the last two decades. “It’s an interesting phenomenon,’’ says Alan Brech of Palm Bay, who will be one of the featured speakers at the Treasure Coast History Festival in Fort Pierce on Saturday. “As a researcher, I’m fortunate because there’s a lot to do and it’s easy to make contributions because so little has been done.’’ Read more...

newspaper

Get tips on family and historical research at History Festival on Saturday

Ever want to know more about your ancestors or about the town you grew up in? Would you like to have the skills to methodically search newspaper and government records to know more about your relatives and the times in which they lived?

This year’s Treasure Coast History Festival will share resources to help you find the information you are seeking. The festival is sponsoring a session at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, "Save Your History," in the Black Box of the Sunrise Theatre, 117 S. Second St., Fort Pierce. The session is free and admission is on a first-come basis. It will feature this panel of experts... Read more...

Larry Lawson leads a ghost tour

FREE HISTORY FESTIVAL RETURNS TO DOWNTOWN FP SATURDAY, JAN. 11

The Treasure Coast History Festival returns to downtown Fort Pierce on Saturday, Jan. 11, with an all-day event featuring historical re-enactors, ghost tours, historical trolley rides, sessions on historical topics and an old-Florida fish fry.

This is the fourth year of the festival, which highlights the history of the Treasure Coast. Free and open to the public, the festival is produced by Indian River Magazine Inc. in association with Main Street Fort Pierce, Sunrise Ford/Volkswagen, the St. Lucie County Historical Society, the A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery and the Sunrise Theatre. Read more...

artist. A.E. Backus

Famed Fort Pierce artist to be remembered Saturday

FORT PIERCE — The A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery will present a panel discussion entitled “We Remember Backus” as a session in the fourth annual Treasure Coast History Festival on Saturday, Jan. 11, presented by Indian River Magazine. The panel discussion will start at 1 p.m. in the Sunrise Theatre’s Black Box Theatre located at 117 South 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Fort Pierce. Admission is free and no reservations are required, though seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Read more...

Mark Tripson

Waldo Sexton Homestead Days returns to Vero Jan. 4-5

Treasure Coast residents will have a rare opportunity Jan. 4 and 5 to visit the original 1917 homestead of Vero Beach pioneer Waldo Sexton.

The family of Mark Tripson, grandson of Waldo Sexton, are hosting Waldo Sexton Homestead History Weekend from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5,on the property at 5000 12th St., Vero Beach, as part of the Treasure Coast History Festival produced by Indian River Magazine.

Waldo Sexton History Weekend will kick off Friday night, Jan. 3, with a dinner at the homestead from 5:30 to 9 p.m.featuring speakers former Indian River County Commissioner Fran Adams and Maj. Eric Flowers of the Sheriff’s Department. Tickets to the dinner are $100 and can be purchased at www.waldossecretgarden.com A portion of the proceeds benefit the Sam R. Tripson Memorial Foundation and the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. Read more...

The Waldo Sexton homestead was expanded over time to accommodate his four children.

Celebrate the spirit of Waldo Sexton this weekend at his original homestead

VERO BEACH — Treasure Coast residents will have a rare opportunity this weekend to visit the original 1917 homestead of Vero Beach pioneer Waldo Sexton.

The family of Mark Tripson, grandson of Waldo Sexton, are hosting Waldo Sexton Homestead Days from 10 a..m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the property at 5000 12th St., Vero Beach, as part of the celebration of Vero Beach’s centennial and the Treasure Coast History Festival produced by Indian River Magazine.

Sexton, who arrived in Vero Beach in 1913, would go on in the next five decades to... Read more...

2019

Festivalgoers

Thousands celebrate region’s history at annual festival

Thousands of people visited this year’s Treasure Coast History Festival presented by Indian River Magazine Inc., packing the Emerson Center in Vero Beach for a presentation Thursday evening and swarming downtown Fort Pierce Saturday for an all-day event.

Waldo Sexton

Waldo Sexton stories appearing in Indian River Magazine

Thanks to all who attended “Waldo Sexton and the Sexton Family Today’’ at the Emerson Center Thursday night as part of the Treasure Coast History Festival. As promised, here are the links to some of the other Sexton stories we have published.

brothers Lee, Robbie and Mike Adams

History of Adams Ranch headlines Treasure Coast History Festival

The history of Adams Ranch, which began with the purchase of land at less than $2 an acre 80 years ago, will headline this year’s Treasure Coast History Festival on Saturday, Jan. 13, in downtown Fort Pierce.

reenactors

History Festival to be celebrated in Fort Pierce, Vero Beach

An all-day festival featuring historical re-enactors, ghost tours, historical trolley rides and sessions on historical topics will highlight this year’s Treasure Coast History Festival in downtown Fort Pierce on Saturday, Jan. 13.