I attended my first Florida Main Street Conference in July in Ocala. It is kind of a funny story because while I have been reading Bill Kercher’s books about Character Towns and Main Streets, I didn’t know about the Main Street conferences.
I was recently visiting Micanopy with my mom and stopped in Ocala on the way. I was so impressed with their revitalized downtown square. It had a beautiful new hotel, parking garage, ceramic horse sculptures, historical markers, unique local businesses and restaurants, and a gorgeous historic home district. My mom couldn’t walk much, so we mainly drove around the city. Yet, I saw so many great improvements I wanted to know more about how they came about. On social media, I soon learned about a Main Street and Preservation Conference. Guess where the meeting was being held? OCALA. Soon thereafter, I spent three days at a fabulous conference.
Day 1 of the Florida Preservation at Main Street Conference
Part of revitalizing a blighted Ocala downtown was “reactivating” its historic Marion Theater. There at the opening session, we heard from the Florida Division of Historical Resources, Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, Ocala City Manager, Ocala Main Street Board Chair and Executive Director, and a keynote speaker on storytelling.
Oh, my goodness, the storytelling speaker was phenomenal. I later even attended his how-to-tell-stories session. The purpose of and role in storytelling is to create identity, community, and common action and develop cohesion to increase economic impacts and historic preservation on Main Streets.
My favorite story told by the speaker was about a small diner and the family that ran the restaurant. The diner had been in existence for 95 years when the father developed an aggressive strain of cancer and died within 30 days of the diagnosis. The family and staff came together to figure out how to keep running the restaurant. The son, who lived out of state, decided to move back and take on the much-cherished diner. He didn’t really know how to cook or even run the business. Yet, he wanted to make it to 100 years of continuous family operation. He spoke of burning toast and making many mistakes. Yet his commitment to the cause inspired the rest of the town to persevere in eating at the diner. At a subsequent community gathering, this entire story was told. The son received a standing ovation, and the town committed to eating at the restaurant to succeed at 100 years of continuous operation. I had to get a tissue out of my purse because I was tearing up so badly.
Storytelling drew me into this family’s succession story. I want to go eat at the diner now, too.
At the Florida Main Street Conference, you are given the choice to attend four or five sessions. It was always a challenge to choose. I first chose a session on Florida Rosenwald Schools. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) was a Jewish multimillionaire businessman and president of Sears, Roebuck & Company. He collaborated with Dr. Booker T. Washington to advance a visionary program in public education for southern Blacks. His brilliant and generous initiative (1917-1932) helped fund the construction of nearly 5,000 black public schools in 15 southern states. In Florida, the Rosenwald Fund helped to construct 120 distinctive schools. The session included a discussion of 26 schools built in Alachua, Lake, and Marion counties. I, however, took a peek at Dr. Sidney Johnston’s notes to find the schools in Orange County.
There was a school in South Apopka. It was a precursor to Phillis Wheatley Elementary but no longer exists. There is a story about Phillis Wheatley Elementary School and the prior South Apopka schools in my bookAhapopka. I utilized my knowledge, information from The History of Public Education in Orange County, Florida, and assistance from Francina Boykin to write the story on Phillis Wheatley Elementary in the book. I believe there is another such Rosenwald-funded school in West Plymouth. I spoke with the speaker, Dr. Johnston, after the session. He agreed to help me determine if the building is truly a Rosenwald School.
One of the best values of attending a conference is meeting expert contacts. I would never have known a professor at Stetson University existed with so much knowledge of Rosenwald Schools. I tried four years ago to find out if the building was a Rosenwald School. I hit numerous dead ends. Now I have an expert with which to confer.
Thank you for your support in sending me to such a beneficial conference. I shared many pictures and commentary on my social media page: Christine Moore, Orange County Commissioner. I will be looking for like-minded people to join a board for new chapters of Florida Main Streets and maybe a preservation board. My first goal, however, is to convince the powers to be to budget some funding for startups. Successful Florida Main Street Programs Historical Preservation Boards must first have the support of their local governments. Wish me luck.
Editor's Note: This is the third of a four-part series from Commissioner Moore about effective downtowns and preserving history.
