Caladium Festival 2021

July 21, 2021 30th Annual Caladium Festival 23
Caladium Festival is rich with history
Editor’s Note: This is a condensed
version of an article written by Anne
Reynolds for a previous Caladium
Festival.
Lake Placid is “The Caladium Capital
of The World.” For any industry that
makes such a mark on an area, there
should be a festival celebrating it.
The idea was first broached by Doris
Gentry and a few years later growers
were prodded and helped by Ann
Bond and Audrey Vickers from the
Convention and Visitors Bureau. They
suggested September as the caladiums
were in full bloom and it was a slow
month for merchants.
Unfortunately, the written history and
a large historical exhibit of the caladium
industry were lost in a 2004 hurricane,
but enough survived in family files to
tell the story and continue the festival.
In 1990, two competing caladium
grower families decided to work together
to make the festival possible. Carolyn
Phypers of Happiness Farms and
Dot Bates of Bates Sons & Daughters
Caladiums took on the job.
The first location of the festival was
at Happiness Farms. In preparation,
Bates and Phypers drove a pickup truck
and walked door to door offering free
caladium bulbs (tubers) by the bagful to
anyone from County Road 621 to Lake
Blue Estates who would plant them. Bus
tours ferried visitors to see the fields
and then be shown how beautifully
caladiums could be incorporated into a
landscape. Two years later, they added
the WatersEdge neighborhood and
left trays of bulbs in the cul-de-sac for
anyone who wanted to plant them.
The festival had one bus and two runs
FILE PHOTO
Festivalgoers will have many options when come to purchasing plants at this year’s Caladium
Festival in downtown Lake Placid.
the first year, with the number increasing
to as many as 41 tours in a year with
one bus doing four or five runs. Sun
Bank, now SunTrust, donated $3,000 the
first year to start the effort and continued
its support for several years.
Vera, Rose and Julia Sapp entertained
festival crowds as cloggers, and guests
also viewed a video about the industry
in a barn. Norma Stokes and the ladies
of the local Farm Bureau provided
lunch for everyone. All the growers
were assigned a task and had a display
table. Other growers besides Bates and
Phypers who participated the first year
were D & L Bulb Farm, Cooper’s Farm,
Joiners, Lake Huntley, Lake Placid
Bulb, Parker Island, Hendry Caladiums,
Sapp Caladiums, Scarboroughs from
Lake Placid, and Caladium World and
Buddy’s from Sebring.
One important commitment was to
recognize the living, first generation
caladium pioneers, Emmett and
Mildred Bates, Paul Phypers Sr., Boots
Holmes, and Zena Hendry. Some of
the older growers would sit in rocking
chairs at the Caladium Arts and Crafts
Cooperative and talk with visitors. All
the men took turns standing under
the shade cloth to talk to visitors and
answer questions. It was moved then
into the Caladium Arts and Crafts
Cooperative, with Dot and Maxine
Kelley overseeing the historical aspect.
Maxine’s family was involved in the
industry for many years, and her
granddaughter, Heidi (Head) Davis, was
the first Caladium Queen.
Although the number of growers
has decreased over the last few years,
the second generations of growers are
making their mark. The Bates family has
had a grower’s exhibit each year. Their
daughter, Teri, grows out pots of new
varieties. All members of the Bates and
Phypers families can be seen in action
throughout the festival.
The festival has something for everyone.
All food vendors are local and the
Caladium Festival committee ensures
there are no duplicates. They only have
room for a hundred booths so there’s a
long waiting list for arts and crafts vendors,
with an attempt to keep at least
half of the booths caladium related. The
vendors love the venue because they are
welcomed and given coffee, doughnuts,
and orange juice when they set up.
They also receive water throughout the
day and a bag of caladiums at the end.
Vendors are visited, treated well and immediately
apply for the following year.
Lake Placid is usually the first venue of
their season.
The festival has required the support
of numerous community volunteers.
The town and the county have been
very supportive by blocking off the
streets and giving free garbage pickup.
Carolyn Phypers said, “We wanted to
help the town and businesses, so the
second year we held it in town.” Every
HISTORY | 37
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