As the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Color Guard approached the flagpole ceremoniously, the 4th Annual Heritage Festival at the Pearce Lockett Homestead off the Kissimmee River began Saturday morning with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Butch Thompson purchased the 17-acre estate in 2017 and immediately felt he had a purpose to reinvigorate the historical landmark back to its prime. After he restored the structures and tended the land he started the Heritage Festival – it only grew from there.
“If someone doesn’t maintain history and keep it alive it’ll be lost,” Thompson said. “We’re celebrating history itself, how people lived 100 to 200 years ago. It needs to be preserved, and people have donated a lot of items that we have in the house on the property that came from families that want them to be preserved.”
Around the estate, all of Florida’s history was celebrated and represented at some capacity, whether through live performances of the conquistadors exploring Florida’s shrubland to present day. The SAR Color Guard conducted two ceremonies throughout the event’s duration, one for Patriot’s Day and the other in celebration of an award recipient for aiding their organization.
President of the Highlands Cultural Alliance Gaylin Thomas had a table at the fairgrounds area exposing her organization to people who visited.
“The festival is a beautiful panorama back into time as well as to the future because we got a lot of young people that are here that are just enjoying this,” Thomas said. “That’s the most important thing is that young people being exposed, engaged and involved to be impacted by the reenactments.”
The Florida Highwaymen were celebrated at the festival in terms of their unique style depicting Floridian landscapes. Richard Edwards, a modern Florida Highwayman, displayed his paintings in the schoolhouse on the premises.
Edwards was an apprentice under acclaimed painter Johnny Daniels who was one of the first Florida Highwaymen. He recounted many stories of others in the group who he had encountered in Fort Pierce, where he’s originally from.
“The legacy of the Highwaymen has to go on and it’s going to,” Edwards said. “Kids and people are going to be inspired through my work when they see it. So it’s an honor to carry the legacy and their traditions.”
Live performances were held at the central venue with the Royal Chessmen performing a comedy sketch depicting Spanish figures like Juan Ponce de Leon and others. Actors were costumes indicative of the era along with a fashion show that explained different dresses and their styles.
President of the SAR James Dean, dressed in Revolutionary War era attire, praised Thompson’s restoration of the estate and explained that those in the SAR are descendants of those who aided in the American Revolution.
“When Butch bought this place, there was no floor in the schoolhouse,” Dean said. “You look at the schoolhouse and there’s the finest quality labor and lumber. In the last year, he rebuilt the barn, built to last 100 years.”
