The barrier island’s citrus industry is long gone but Vero Beach has launched a colorful effort to keep the memory of it alive with metal signs displaying images of citrus packing labels.
The signs have already been erected at Sexton Plaza, Jaycee Park, Riverside Park, Wabasso Beach, Jones Pier and 20 or so other island and mainland locations, with dozens more to follow as part of Indian River County Citrus Crate Label Trail.
Hailing from a time when art and commerce combined to spread the fame of Indian River fruit around the world, the labels are beautifully evocative visions of an Eden-like agricultural world.
Known as “Florida’s first billboards,” the labels got their start with the advent of lithography in the late 1800s. At the time and well into the 20th century, wooden crates were used to ship fruits and vegetables.
Feeling the beauty of the world they lived in and sensing its power to touch the hearts and tap the wallets of consumers, Indian River growers and packing house owners competed with each other to come up with the lushest, most romantic images, hiring local artists to create brand-building labels that would entice customers to their product.
With the development of cardboard boxes after World War II, brand names and other info could be more cheaply printed right on the boxes themselves, and the wooden crates and dreamy labels showing brilliant fruit and happy people faded into history.
But they never faded completely, reproduced on postcards and preserved by citrus families, they have remained a touchstone of the days when, in the words of one northern visitor, the early spring air on Ocean Drive and Main Street downtown smelled like “orange cupcakes.”
That heavenly scent is still stuck in the brain chemistry of older residents and now the images are being revived in a large and lasting way.
Funded by a grant from the Indian River Tourist Development Council and private sponsorships from local businesses, organizations and individuals, the local Citrus Crate Label Trail is part of a statewide Citrus Hall of Fame project. The Heritage Center and the Indian River Citrus Museum are helping with the project, working with the Cultural Council of Indian River County’s Art in Public Places program.
Former Florida Citrus Queen and Vero resident Brenda Eubanks Burnette is heading up the effort. She recently ended her term as executive director of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame and now is president of the Heritage Center board of directors.
Burnette knew that prominent grower and Citrus Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Chicone had a large collection of original labels that he wanted to share. Working with him, she pulled in local citrus bigwig George Hamner to get the project going.
The signs are made by Vero Beach’s Brister Signs and Digitech in Lakeland.
Anyone interested in viewing these gorgeous, nostalgic signs can obtain a map and a listing of current locations throughout the county at the Heritage Center, 2140 14th Ave., in downtown Vero.
Future sites include Vero Beach City Hall, the City Marina, Humiston Park and the Laura Riding Jackson House. But there is no set limit to how many signs will comprise the local trail, as there were hundreds of beautiful labels created over many decades with fascinating stories behind them.
Businesses, organizations, families and individuals can sponsor a sign for $2,500.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
