She Was The First Queen

PLANT CITY - The year was 1930, and if ever there was a need for diversion, it was then. Money was scarce, the nation was gripped by the Great Depression and people were looking for ways to turn dark clouds into smiles.

Along came the Plant City Strawberry Festival, sponsored by the Plant City Lions Club, to celebrate the area's famous crop.

Gray Miley announced that the festival was going to include the naming of a queen, sponsored by Future Farmers of America.

A striking 16-year-old, Charlotte Rosenberg, was crowned from a field of 36 candidates, based on votes from the public.

"I thought it was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me," Rosenberg would say later.

Through the years, Rosenberg was a living legacy of the first festival, staged March 12-15, 1930.

That legacy faded last month. Rosenberg died Oct. 17 at age 93.

"It's a part of history gone now," said Patsy Brooks, general manager of the Florida Strawberry Festival.

"It's the passing of an era."

Rosenberg was one of the last survivors who played a major role in the first festival, staged in a field off Baker Street near Jackson Elementary School. It was known in its early years as the Plant City Strawberry Festival.

In recent years, people were often surprised that the first festival queen was alive, Brooks said, and Rosenberg was always happy to answer inquiries about her experiences from 1930. Her photo and the photos of all the queens are on display on the festival grounds.

A young woman has been crowned as festival queen ever since 1930, with the exception of a few years during and after World War II. It has become a coveted title, and festival queens are treated like local celebrities, riding in parades and presiding over civic events.

Rosenberg, who had her share of time in the limelight, was known as a "fine lady" who kept in touch with the festival through the years, Brooks said.

Hilman Bowden, a retired banker and longtime festival official, said Rosenberg would telephone him every year to check on the festival, identifying herself as "Charlotte Rose," when she called.

"She was very nice and people loved her," Bowden said.

Stephanie Shuff, who has been queen pageant coordinator for the past few years, expects there will be a tribute to Rosenberg during the 2008 pageant Feb. 2. Shuff said Rosenberg was invited each year to the pageant, as are all past queens, and she "was always gracious" in her written replies, which often said she would be unable to attend.

Catherine Clark, who was festival queen in 1940, said in the early years of the festival queens didn't get to keep their crowns as they do now. It's not clear what happened to the crown Rosenberg wore, but the gown she wore as queen is on display at a museum operated by the East Hillsborough Historical Society.

"I bought my gown in Maas Bros., a downtown Tampa department store. It was an off-white, sleeveless satin gown, very simple, with a V-neck and flared skirt," she recalled three years ago when she donated the gown to the historical society.

Her younger sister, Della Rosenberg, who lives in Starke, brought the gown to Plant City as a gift to the museum at the 1914 Plant City High School Community Center, 605 N. Collins St.

"I just want them to know that I appreciate their having me as their first queen," Charlotte Rosenberg said in 2004. She was ailing from two falls and unable to bring the dress herself.

"I felt that was the least thing I could do so that it might be displayed," she said.

Today's queens are selected by a panel of judges, many of them with pageant experience, who live out of town. When Rosenberg ran for queen, the public voted on their favorites by filling out forms published in local newspapers.

Residents could keep up with the race by reading newspapers that ran the latest tally of the top 10 vote-getters. When it was over, Rosenberg, daughter of department store owners Fannie and Sam Rosenberg, was the winner.

Rosenberg was born in Hilliard, north of Jacksonville, on July 28, 1914. After she graduated from Plant City High School, where she was a cheerleader, she moved to Tallahassee to attend college and married Charles Rosenberg, whose family had a printing business there. She took over operation of Rose Printing Co. after his death in 1966 and remained active in the business for many years. Her son, Charles, operates Rose Printing.

Charlotte Rosenberg was reportedly mentioned in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" because of coincidences in her life: both Charlotte and her husband, Charles, had Rosenberg as a last name. Their fathers both were named Sam; Charlotte's mother was named Fannie, and Charles' mother was named Fannye.

1930 BY THE NUMBERS

PLANT CITY POPULATION 6,800

Males: 3,345

Females: 3,455

GROCERY PRICES AT THE

LOCAL A&P

Sugar (5 pounds): 25 cents

Butter (1 pound): 45 cents

Lettuce (head): 10 cents

Potatoes (10 pounds): 36 cents

Soap (three cakes): 20 cents

Gulden's Mustard: 15 cents

AUTOS

Chevrolet Phaeton: $495

Dodge Six: $835

Pontiac Big Six: $745

OTHER GOODS

Simmons bed outfit (bed, spring,

mattress): $18.66

RCA Radiola 66: $175

Source: Tribune research