Print Story Email Story Discuss Story (0)

Recommend ( 0 )

Courtesy photo (From left) Jenny Cheek, Kathy Haley, Jen Brown, Alice Fairel, Jane Hancock, Vicki Jarvis, Kristie Sottile make up the Sebring Centennial Committee.

Related Links

advertisement

published: Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sign up now if you want to sponsor a Centennial event

Here we are, less than a month away from all the festivities planned for Sebring's Centennial Celebration. It's an exciting time for Sebring, and now is the time to register and join the fun.

If you're interested in showcasing your business or organization in the bed race, parade or boat parade, you need to register now. This is a great way to get your name out there and the more participants we have, the better the show will be.

The entry deadline for bed race and parade are just two weeks away, on Oct. 1. For the boat parade, you have until Oct. 13 at the bed race to turn that form in.

Do you want to sponsor one of the events? We'd love to have you. In fact, I'd like to talk about sponsorship a little. This entire celebration week is put on solely by our wonderful sponsors, and if not for them, we would not be able to have this celebration at all.

The Centennial Celebration Committee is a non-profit 501c4 organization. It is run by a group of incredibly hard-working volunteers, very few dedicated people, and I am honored to have the opportunity to serve with them.

Although the mayor and city clerk are involved in the planning, this is not run by the city as some may think. That is why our sponsors are so very important for this celebration. We have no other means of funds to celebrate with other than what we receive from you. This is a unique time in Sebring history and I am thrilled to be a part of it, as we all should be. We should all be excited, we should all take part in it. If you are able to sponsor, we would truly appreciate it.

Think about it, there are many sponsor opportunities, more than you probably care to hear about, but this is the only time we will celebrate our 100th birthday here in Sebring. We have lined up a fantastic week of events and parties that would make our founder proud. Please consider having your name on one of our banners. The banners are in the planning stages and will go to press soon. If you would like to sponsor and be on a banner of your choice, we need to know in the next couple days.

I am urging our entire community and "all that love Sebring" to join together, celebrate together, participate together and make this the best we can. How can you be involved? Visit the newly updated website and let us know.

We would like to thank and spotlight our newest sponsor for the Centennial Celebration, Taylor Oil Company. Established in 1969 by Wayne Taylor, a decedent of a true Sebring pioneer family that settled in Sebring in 1914. Today the company is owned and operated by Wayne and Dot Taylor's son, Charlie, and his wife, Holly and they continue to serve the Heartland area with a full-line petroleum distributorship delivering diesel fuel, gasoline and lubricating oils and greases.

Taylor Oil Company also owns and operates five Taylor BP Food Marts with four locations in Sebring: 3901 U.S. 27 North, 2912 U.S. 27 South, 3390 S.R. 17 North and 3641 U.S. 27 South; and one location in Avon Park at 3 U.S. 27 North.

Thank you to the sponsors that have stepped up for our Centennial Celebrations. We look forward to the week of events with great passion. Remember to stop by the Greater Sebring Chamber of Commerce and get your coffee table book "The One-Hundred Years of Sebring" and your hat, T-shirt, lapel pin, grocery tote bag, cup or bumper sticker, all sporting the official Centennial logo.

Go to the new website, www.Sebring100.com, join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SebringCentennial, call 655-5554 or email events@sebring100.com and get involved. Thanks to the News-Sun for being a sponsor and the opportunity to keep everyone informed on Sebring's Centennial Celebration. Reference this article every Sunday and you won't miss a thing.

Jen Brown is a member of the Sebring Centennial Committee and the Sebring Historical Society.