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Brooksville's Tangerine Time To Bring In New Year

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: December 30, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - The Big Apple has its ball, and Brooksville has its big tangerine.

The similarities to the two New Year's Eve celebrations end there.

Times Square this is not, and that's the point, said organizers of the Tangerine Time party planned for 9 p.m. to midnight Monday at Jerome Brown Center.

"We needed something that was family-friendly and nonalcoholic," Wayne Vutech said Tuesday about how he came up with the idea for Tangerine Time as he and his wife were coming home from a party at Brooksville Country Club one New Year's Eve.

"We realized there was nothing else to do in town for people who didn't drink," he said. "I thought this would be a good venue to bring a lot of families together to start the New Year."

Vutech, owner of Archer Painting in Brooksville, and the Brooksville Rotary Club sponsor the event, along with support from local businesses. The city donates the use of the community center, 99 Jerome Brown Place, off Darby Lane near Tom Varn Park.

There will be free food, games and live entertainment.

The Brooksville Junior Service League also is sponsoring an appearance by Sgt. Safety, who provides child identification kits for families.

The first 500 to show up receive a free T-shirt.

There is no cost to attend, but organizers ask revelers to bring a nonperishable food item for the Salvation Army's pantry.

Tangerine Time is now in its sixth year and has found favor with the crowd Vutech had hoped to attract, said city clerk Karen Phillips, who also is past president of the Rotary Club.

It's the kind of party where retirees play cards, children bounce in inflatable houses and parents chat about the previous year's happenings.

"It's so great to see the interaction," Phillips said. "It's all the things we imagined."

The tangerine is a way to honor Brooksville's history as the unofficial "tangerine capital of the world."

The city once boasted a thriving citrus industry. The Bell Fruit Co. would ship dozens of train cars full of citrus, including tangerines, to Tampa each day.

"Now it's tough to even find a tangerine tree in town," Vutech said.

The first Tangerine Time revelers celebrated by dropping a big, orange, vinyl balloon.

The current incarnation, now in its third year, is a Fiberglas orb 6 feet in diameter that glows from lights mounted inside. When the New Year kicks in, so do a few strobe lights.

The 200-pound tangerine is hoisted to a height of 40 feet and drops with the countdown to midnight. When the tangerine hits bottom, a large sign with the New Year spelled out in lights comes alive; workers inserted the necessary "8" last week.

"It's really an awesome sight," Vutech said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Sixth annual Tangerine Time New Year's Eve celebration.

WHEN: 9 p.m. to midnight Monday

WHERE: Jerome Brown Center, 99 Jerome Brown Place, Brooksville

ADMISSION: No charge, but organizers ask attendees to bring a nonperishable food item for the Salvation Army.

INFORMATION: Wayne Vutech at (351) 799-7420 or Karen Phillips at (352) 544-5407

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