LAKELAND — The Lanier County Courthouse Square was filled to capacity for the 39th Annual Flatlanders Fall Frolic Arts and Crafts Show Saturday. Kids and adults lined up at 8 a.m. for the starting gun in the 5K Road Race and 1-mile Fun Run, known as the Dawg-Gone Good Race. At 8 p.m. the Tim Cochran Band performed an outdoor concert at the Jim and Mary Threatte Arts and Civic Center. The event officially began a week ago with the Miss Fall Frolic Beauty Pageant.
The Flatlanders Fall Frolic tradition was begun in 1971 by the Lanier County Lions Club as a one-day festival and has grown over the years into a major event celebrating the end of summer each Labor Day weekend. Proceeds from the event are used to support the Lions Club’s vision and youth programs, the Lanier County School System and to promote Lakeland and Lanier County.
Saturday’s Arts and Crafts show featured woodwork, jewelry, paintings, purses and handbags, primitive signs, dolls, antiques and collectibles, canes and hiking sticks, leathercrafts, toys, quilts and needlecrafts, stained glass, outdoor furniture, and much more. There were also plenty of games and rides for children to enjoy.
Amy Bennett owns Expressions, which specializes in screenprinting, custom embroidery, vinyl graphics and gifts. Bennett said the Frolic has been good for local businesses, bringing some much-needed patronage to Lakeland’s downtown shopping district.
The name Flatlanders Fall Frolic was chosen for the event by its founders. “The season of the year and the area’s topographical characteristics gave rise to the alliterative name,” according to the Flatlanders Fall Frolic Guide. The term frolic is first used in Middle Dutch in 1583, and is related to the German word “frolich,” meaning “happy,” according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines frolic as “an occasion or scene of fun.”
When participants at Saturday’s event were asked what the name “Frolic” implied to them, responses varied. “A social thing,” “good times,” “a community gathering,” “having fun,” “running around having a good time,” were some of the answers given. Mike Duchen, a disabled Vietnam veteran, said the word frolic suggested to him something new and different to do.
Juanita Davis was one of the vendors at the event. She was selling cooking flavors, sneezeless pepper, liniment, salve, spices, vanilla extract, and other items made by the Watkins Company, founded in 1868. She explained that Watkins pepper is sneezeless because it has no filler. It’s the filler in pepper that makes us sneeze, she said.
Davis took issue with the name frolic to describe Saturday’s event. Follies was a more appropriate term for this type of arts and crafts show, she said, whereas a frolic was more akin to the traditional Saturday night frolic, featuring dancing and fiddle playing.
Opinions may vary, but a good time figures prominently in almost every definition.
Local News
Related Photos
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Jeroy Mack, owner of Mack's BBQ in Valdosta, tends to his grill at the Flatlanders Fall Frolic in Lakeland. Jonathan Chick
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Gene Gray, co-owner of Pa's Peanuts, salts some of his boiled peanuts while Donnie Singletary looks on at the Flatlanders Fall Frolic Saturday in Lakeland. Jonathan Chick
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Rhonda Stokes of Bigun's Jams and Jellies shows off a jar of homemade sweet corn relish Saturday at the Flatlanders Fall Frolic. Jonathan Chick
Discussion
Flatlanders Frolic defines 'fun'
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