Everglades City
by Thomas Lockyear
Every year Museum of the Everglades collaborates with our local school to create an exhibit that celebrates a specific aspect of this unique community.
Students are encouraged to submit artwork, photos, videos, stories, interviews and more – the field is wide open – to help us share a part of the character and history of the area with visitors from around the world.
This year we have challenged the students to celebrate military veterans from the greater Everglades City area. This can include historic figures from the region’s storied past, friends or family members, ancestors, those who recently served or are still deployed, etc. Our goal is to identify as many veterans from the area as we can and salute their service to our country with creative, artistic, and literary tributes composed by our local students.
As in previous years, Friends of Museum of the Everglades have pledged $1500 toward prizes for student entries in this Creative Response Contest. The award ceremony, which will be held this year on Friday, May 17th from 5pm to 7pm, will include the distribution of cash prizes to students of all ages across a variety of categories.
To coincide with the exhibit, the Museum will be partnering with the Everglades Society for Historic Preservation to install banners honoring local veterans who have passed on street new banners opposite the Centennial banners currently displayed on lampposts throughout town. The plan is for the banners to be hung in time for Memorial Day.
The exhibit will also include historic information about the greater Everglades area’s contributions to our Country’s armed conflicts in both natural resources and manpower.
Thousands of board feet of bald cypress were logged for the building of Navy vessels during WWII, and many local fishing vessels were commandeered and repurposed as patrol boats to protect coastal waters.
Men and women from Everglades, Chokoloskee and Ochopee have served in nearly every military action since the Civil War, and profiles of hometown heroes like Peg & Totch Brown (both Bronze Star recipients during WWII) will be prominently featured as well.
Families are encouraged to help their students share stories and photos of any friend or family member who has served or is currently serving to ensure that they are included in the exhibit. The deadline for student submissions is 4pm on Saturday, May 4th.
We likewise call upon any other community members who know of veterans from the area to share information about them with us. In time, we hope to develop a complete and comprehensive list of our veterans that would facilitate creating a plaque or monument honoring their service.
Please call the museum at (239) 252-5026 or contact Thomas.Lockyear@colliercountyfl.gov for more information.
