Spring Obsession Obsesses Over Spring At Lake Crago Park
by James Coulter
Carol Prevatt has been creating glass wind chimes for the past 14 years. She self-taught herself after repairing a pair of old chimes. Now she makes her own and sells them out of the store in her home.
From puppy dogs to majestic swans, Carol designs her chimes after everything and anything. No matter what they look like, they all sound just as mellifluous as their glass bits clangor in the wind.
Carol has been selling her chimes at the annual Spring Obsession in Lakeland for the past seven years. She draws in plenty of customers at the show, and she loves the overall majestic landscape of the venue, customarily hosted at Munn Park. This year, the location was changed to Lake Crago Park.
This year, she made up for lost time, as the show was not hosted last year due to COVID-19. She loved being able to reunite with old customers, and she also enjoyed being able to take in the new view at the show’s new venue.
“I do well at these shows,” she said. “I enjoy talking to the people and watching them look at the art and brag on it, I love it, they enjoy looking at it. Customers have been happy with this new venue and so am I. I love it. Everyone who comes out loves it, and they hope they will be out next year.”
Last Saturday, the Rotary Club of Lakeland hosted its 18th annual Spring Obsession outdoor spring event. More than 60 vendors showcased various flowers and plants and outdoor decor, gardening equipment, and other spring-related merchandise.
Since it first started 18 years ago, Spring Obsession has been hosted at Munn Park in Downtown Lakeland. However, due to the current COVID-19 crisis, the event was canceled last year.
This year’s event was hosted at the new Lake Crago Dog Park off of Massachusetts Avenue. The new venue was selected to not only highlight the new location but to provide a more spacious environment that would permit for better social distancing, explained Kathy McGee, Lakeland Rotary Club Member.
Gladys Baxley, a Rotary Vendor Coordinator, helped oversee the change of location. She claimed the turnout was tremendous, and she owed the overall success to their marketing strategy. Over the past few weeks, she and her team has been working overtime to promote the event and its new location.
“I think we got the word out in term of our marketing,” she said. “We knew that a new location would call for more marketing efforts, and we used all media, social media, to get the word out, and our vendors got the word out for us.”
Whether or not the event will stay at its new location at Lake Cargo Park, or return to its old home in Downtown Lakeland, has yet to be determined; however, Baxley is more than happy to have the event hosted at either location.
“The turnout has been tremendous,” she said. “We were pleasantly surprised that when we moved the event [that] had been in Munn Park for many, many years. So this was the first time we changed. People came in big numbers, so we were very pleased…It seems positive to be here. We are very happy, and if we can work all the details out, we would love to stay.”
The City of Lakeland participated as one of the many vendors. Lakeland Parks and Recreation volunteers distributed free plants and flowers that were grown at their nursery.
Most of their foliage is grown for public landscaping, with the different plants being donated to the community through an event such as this, explained Amanda James, Grounds Maintenance Supervisor with Parks and Recreation.
“We gave away a few plants,” she said. “Probably not as many as in the past, but there were quite a few people…who are interested in what we did and how we can help out.”
While Amanda enjoyed the excellent weather and tranquil atmosphere at the event, she missed its old location in Munn Park. She much preferred it being near the local eateries and shops in the downtown area.
“I don’t know if I’m fond of the new location,” she said. “I feel it is too cramped. Downtown was better because it was more open with shops and places to eat down there. The atmosphere was nice. But it has been a success for us this year.”
