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Volunteers Bring History To Life

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By JANIS D. FROELICH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

YBOR CITY - If the Ybor City Museum Society had not been formed in 1982, the small museum might not be thriving today.

As the society's acting director Chantal Ruilova Hevia said recently, without the strength of dedicated volunteers the former bakery building also wouldn't have such a bright future.

"This was the first citizens support group in the state park system," said Hevia, sitting in the museum's sunny courtyard on a cool morning. "Now lots of the state parks and facilities have community members who pitch in and help."

The museum's 20 docents and other volunteers will be on hand today for the ninth annual Cigar Heritage Festival at Centennial Park, with proceeds benefiting the museum society. Hevia said the festival, the society's largest fundraiser, attracted about 10,000 people and raised $18,000 last year.

The cigar industry will be well-represented, with brands such as Cuesta Rey, Arturo Fuente and Olivia Tobacco Co. A museum tour is another highlight. The festival is the society's opportunity to update the Ybor City community and history buffs on what is happening in and around the 20,000-square-foot museum.

The museum, 1818 E. Ninth Ave., was established in 1977 in the refurbished Ferlita Bakery building, which dates to 1923.

The museum complex, which is a state park, includes the adjacent garden and fountain, a trio of cigar workers' houses and the museum store, which is housed in a two-story casita.

Hevia, who began as a volunteer three years ago, likes that the museum is multicultural, just like her ancestors who came from Spain and Italy to West Tampa.

"As a child, we were always in Ybor City visiting family and friends," she said.

As a tour group of four passed by, volunteer Ron Waldo showed them the coffee tree planted in the Mediterranean-style courtyard. He said the berries turn red as they ripen; the darker they are, the stronger the coffee.

"But coffee isn't grown in Florida," he told the tourists - the soil generally isn't moist enough.

Park ranger Nancy Garrison said the coffee tree demonstrates to visitors the types of vegetation tried by early Ybor City settlers. Behind the cigar workers' houses on Ninth Avenue are small vegetable gardens and pots of herbs such as rosemary and parsley.

It's this lifestyle presentation that is the museum's biggest draw, Garrison said.

"People are really curious about how the cigar workers lived," she said.

The workers lived fairly well, said Waldo, as he continued his tour inside a shotgun house built without costly glass in its windows, only lace curtains to keep out dust.

He said the two-bedroom houses rented for $1.50 to $2.50 a week to the men and women who worked in Tampa's more than 200 cigar factories in the early 1900s.

Tillo Beer of Germany, who was part of the tour group, agreed that showing how people lived is what makes the museum a standout. "It's very interesting because I didn't know Tampa was so big in the cigar industry," Beer said.

At today's festival, people can play dominoes, a favorite pastime of cigar workers, and listen to period music.

The museum store will be open. Volunteer Willy Emerson said the best-selling item is a $5 cigar (five for $19), hand-rolled at the museum.

A SMOKIN' GOOD TIME

WHAT: 2007 Cigar Heritage Festival, featuring cigar vendors, a live broadcast by Cigar Dave at noon, a beer garden, Latin cuisine and entertainment; The Tampa Tribune is a sponsor.

WHERE: Centennial Park in Ybor City, across from Ybor City State Museum, 1818 E. Ninth Ave.

WHEN: 10 am. to 5 p.m. today

COST: Free admission, including museum tours; donations benefit the Ybor City Museum Society

INFORMATION: www.ybor museum.org or www.cigar heritagefestival.com

Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 835-2104 or jfroelich@tampatrib.com.

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