Pioneer Days takes 35th annual peek into the past

UF law student Caroline Picart shows a necklace to her friend, Carolyn Terrell, who was visiting from Tallahassee for the day. The women drove from Gainesville on Saturday to check out Pioneer Days and couldn't get enough of Lynne Hutchins' Suwannee Song Designs jewelry.

Colleen Mahoney is a woman who takes pride in knowing her roots.

High Springs is a town that shares her sentiment, and for the past 35 years, has celebrated its history every spring with Pioneer Days, a weekend festival of arts and crafts, music, food, games and a special concentration on commemorating and honoring local heritage.

Technically, Mahoney isn’t from High Springs; she hales from Lakeland.  But when she came to participate in the event this year, she found herself right at home, sharing High Springs’ pride and reverence for ancestry and Florida history.

She explained that her historic Florida pride reaches back to her sixth-great-grandfather, John Whidden, who was the first white settler in Polk County. This was Mahoney’s first time at Pioneer Days, where she demonstrated her craft of palm weaving, dressed for the occasion in full historical costume. She shared a tent with friend Barbara W. Silagi, who was also dressed up and was demonstrating her craft of traditional cotton spinning.

Silagi, a Pioneer Days veteran, invited Mahoney to join her this year. They were just two of the many vendors and artisans surrounding the James Paul Park sinkhole exhibiting their wares.

Aside from the array of craft displays and local businesses, and an entire section dedicated to edible commodities such as funnel cake, ice cream and kettle corn, the festival also featured its Kids Corral, which this year included a bounce house, real ponies and a mechanical bull to ride.

The High Springs Chamber of Commerce hosts the event, and as chamber president Donna Mogler explained, it is one of the chamber’s biggest yearly fundraisers.

Sandra Webb, the chamber’s event manager, said the final count on how much was raised this year won’t be available until April 14, but based on observation she’s confident the weekend was a success.

“It was two beautiful days,” she said, estimating between 2,000 and 3,000 attended.

There were fewer vendors than years past, Webb said, because the event was held at the beginning of the month rather than the end so as not to conflict with Easter. But, she said, that might have helped the city as a whole in the long run.

She was pleased to hear from downtown businesses, including High Springs Antiques, Enchanted Memories and Coffee Clutch that business was good during the festival. Having fewer vendors, Webb thinks, encouraged people to visit local shops.