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Vero Heritage’s 19th Annual IRC Pioneer Dinner
April 28, 2018 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
$75.00
Passage of time can be marked by calendars, clocks, pocket watches, growing families, and photos – lots of photos. Mike DuBose keeps time with all of these and more. Mike DuBose is the great grandson of early pastor and businessman Dr. J.C. DuBose. The patriarch moved to Vero around 1912, before Beach was in the city’s name, and established a jewelry business that is still in the family. J.C. also founded First Baptist Church of Vero Beach, and as was common for jewelers at the time, worked as an optometrist.
Mike has been amassing an amazing collection of family heirlooms and artifacts. He has so many treasures that he barely has enough room to contain them. Mike and his son Todd, the current father-son team that runs the family jewelry business, started curating the collection in their jewelry store, but quickly ran out of room. Everything had to be transferred to Todd’s house. On a recent Saturday, the family lovingly selected the most prized possessions that would be on exhibit at The Heritage’s Center’s signature fundraiser, the annual IRC Pioneer Dinner.
After the Heritage Center was saved from demolition and refurbished as a historic centerpiece of Vero Beach, its board of directors decided to showcase the building while honoring descendants of noted pioneer families at a special dinner.
The board began selecting families that have contributed to the community’s civic and business life to be honored as the outstanding pioneer family for the year. The families’ roots in Indian River County must date back to 1925.
This year, on April 28, the Heritage Center will honor the family of Dr. J.C. DuBose.
The event will open with music from Blue Cypress Bluegrass and cocktails at 6pm. Dinner catered by Adrienne Drew will be at 7. The family will then present an illustrated program, with photos and carefully curated mementos including J.C.’s original watch repair desk from the early 1900s and the lamp that his wife Alice used as the business bookkeeper. As one might expect, the family is bringing plenty of clocks and photographs.
The Pioneer Dinner is the signature fundraising event for the Heritage Center. The city owns the building and leases it to Vero Heritage, Inc., a nonprofit group that must generate funds to defray the building’s operating costs.