This weekend's Springtime Tallahassee festival packed the city's downtown with celebrants. Amidst all the fun, the serious reason for the event's creation many years ago persists to this day.
Just over half a century ago, local leaders began the festival to counter the intent of some downstate lawmakers to move the State Capital to Central Florida. That possibility resurfaced in the Legislature this year. That brought this reaction from Springtime attendee Alan Hanstein.
"There will always be people from South Florida who think it should be down there," he observed. "But everybody else knows that this is the Capital!"
The Florida Legislature has actually considered moving the Capital 6 times since 1870. Barbara Wilson noted all of those efforts were unsuccessful.
"They should be getting the message (by now,)" she laughed. "We can't lose it. It's in Tallahassee. This is the Capital and everything around Tallahassee revolves around the Capital."
That includes the yearly celebration of the beginning of spring.
