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Pioneers<br />
paved the way<br />
Historic industry, festival started generations ago<br />
❦T<br />
his summer, <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Placid</strong> will roll<br />
out the white, deep crimson,<br />
purple, bronze, pink and green foliage<br />
carpet for the 30th annual Caladium<br />
Festival.<br />
But who would have thought such a<br />
thing back in 1990, when two competing<br />
caladium growers – Carolyn Phypers<br />
of Happiness Farms and Dot Bates<br />
of Bates Sons and Daughters Caladiums<br />
– worked together and made the first<br />
festival possible?<br />
The idea to celebrate the caladium<br />
was first broached by Doris Gentry. A<br />
few years later, growers were prodded<br />
and helped by Ann Bond and Audrey<br />
Vickers from the Convention and <strong>Visitors</strong><br />
Bureau. They suggested September,<br />
when caladiums were in full color and<br />
the month was slow for merchants.<br />
Unfortunately, the written history<br />
and an historical exhibit of the caladium<br />
industry were lost in a 2004 hurricane,<br />
but enough survived in family files to<br />
tell the story and continue the festival.<br />
Happiness Farms was the Caladium<br />
Festival's first location. To prepare, Bates<br />
22 ❦ Welcome to <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Placid</strong><br />
and Phypers drove and walked around<br />
<strong>Lake</strong> Clay from County Road 621 to<br />
<strong>Lake</strong> Blue Estates and offered homeowners<br />
bags of free caladium bulbs if<br />
they agreed to plant them. Buses ferried<br />
visitors to see how beautifully caladiums<br />
could be incorporated into home landscapes<br />
and to see the colorful fields of<br />
the caladium farms. The festival had one<br />
bus and two runs the first year, increasing<br />
to 41 tours the second year.<br />
Two years later, the festival organizers<br />
added the WatersEdge neighborhood<br />
and left trays of bulbs in the cul-de-sac<br />
for any homeowners who wanted to<br />
plant them.<br />
Other growers in the first year were D<br />
& L Bulb Farm, Cooper’s Farm, Joiners,<br />
<strong>Lake</strong> Huntley, <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Placid</strong> Bulb, Parker<br />
Island, Hendry Caladiums, Sapp Caladiums<br />
and Scarboroughs from <strong>Lake</strong><br />
<strong>Placid</strong>, and Caladium World and Buddy’s<br />
from Sebring. Each grower had a<br />
task and a display table.<br />
“We wanted to help the town and<br />
businesses, so the second year we held<br />
it in town,” Carolyn Phypers said. Every<br />
year since, the festival has been held<br />
in Stuart Park on Interlake Boulevard.<br />
The festival was later changed to August<br />
because of hurricanes, and then again<br />
moved to the last weekend in July.<br />
Vera Rose and Julia Sapp clogged for<br />
the festival crowds during the inaugural<br />
festival, and guests viewed a video about<br />
the industry in a barn. Norma Stokes<br />
and the local Farm Bureau ladies provided<br />
lunch for everyone.<br />
Living first-generation caladium pioneers<br />
were recognized: Emmett and<br />
Mildred Bates, Paul Phypers Sr., Boots<br />
Holmes and Zena Hendry. Older growers<br />
sat in rocking chairs at the Caladium<br />
Arts and Crafts Cooperative and talked<br />
with visitors. The men stood under the<br />
shade cloth and answered questions.<br />
The meet-and-greet with growers was<br />
later moved into the air-conditioned<br />
comfort of the Caladium Arts and Crafts<br />
Cooperative, with Dot and Maxine Kelley<br />
overseeing the historical aspect.<br />
Although the number of growers has<br />
decreased over the last few years, second<br />
generations have made their mark. Teri
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