History enthusiasts gathered to honor a century of rich cultural legacy during Deeply Rooted: A Celebration of Heritage and Community at the Heritage Center, to kick off the year-long Indian River County Centennial.
The fundraiser was a perfect pairing as the county began celebrating a century of community at the building, itself a registered national landmark. Proceeds from the event support the preservation of the Heritage Center and Indian River Citrus Museum.
Amidst decorative orange trees and the foot-stomping bluegrass music of Low Ground, folks kept warm around the blazing smudge pot, a nod to the county’s citrus industry. These oil-burning devices were used to prevent frost from forming on citrus trees.
The ringing of Waldo’s bell signaled the close of a silent auction, and that supper, catered by Wild Thyme Catering, was ready. As people dined, auctioneer Wesley Davis wrangled the crowd during a live auction, calling out many of the bidders by name after a familiarity born of years living and working in this congenial Florida town.
After dinner, descendants of the pioneers who founded and built the county participated in a fireside chat moderated by rancher Bradley Phares. The lively discussion focused on the county’s history, including the early days of citrus, farming, fishing and cattle ranching. The participants shared stories and insights, emphasizing the deep connections between the past, present and future.
“I’m eighth generation in the cattle business, and fortunate to be in a business that helps me be around people like these gentlemen right here. Because there’s a camaraderie, there’s a kinship that exists, and it’s mostly due to the fact that families like ours moved into this state and helped build it from the ground up,” said Phares.
“When families like ours first came in here, there was not anything in the way of creature comforts,” Phares added, noting that travel had been by horse, ox cart, wagon or boat.
After Sean Sexton read his poem, “This Land,” which speaks to the relationship between humans and the land, Dan Richey, Charlie Sembler and Will Barker shared tales of the county’s founding families and their contributions to the region’s development.
They talked of a harder but simpler way of life, which ran the gamut from hunting black bears on the beach to the thrill of having enough Green Stamps to cash in at the store. Richey noted that people didn’t want to live on the beach back then, a poignant example of how times have changed.
Sembler likened the Indian River County of old to a mixture of a Norman Rockwell painting merged with the colorful words of Ernest Hemingway.
Built in 1935, the Heritage Center itself is ‘deeply rooted’ in the community, having been a gathering place for the community throughout its 90-year history. The iconic building survived a fire in the 1940s, and if not for Millie Bunnell and the Indian River County Historical Society, would have been demolished in 1991.
The building served as a USO during World War II and later housed the Recreation Department’s Physical Arts Center. Today, the city-owned building, and its adjacent Indian River Citrus Museum, is managed by Vero Heritage Inc., whose mission is to preserve and promote the history and culture of Vero Beach.
For more information, visit veroheritage.org or, for upcoming Centennial Celebration events, visit indianriver.gov/100.
Photos by Amy Saville
