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Highlands Today

Annual Avon Park Pioneer Homecoming Picnic Set For Aug. 9

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 4, 2008

AVON PARK - The second annual Avon Park Pioneer Homecoming Picnic will be held at noon Saturday, Aug. 9 at the Avon Park Community Center.

Highlight of the event is recognition of the 2008 Pioneers of the Year, as chosen by the Historical Society of Avon Park, which sponsors the picnic. This year, the pioneers are Nancy Betts Nunnallee and Duane Kopta.

Jean Jordan, picnic committee chairperson, said this will again be a covered dish affair, with the society providing iced tea, coffee and tableware. The event is open to the community and admission is free, with donations accepted.

Entertainment will be provided by the Glad Hatters, the traveling entertainment group affiliated with Highlands Little Theatre. A slide show of photos of old Avon Park will also be shown.

Nunnallee, 86, and born in New York State, came to Avon Park with her family in 1934 when she was 12 years old. An avid musician, she stills plays the alto saxophone for the South Florida Community College Highlands County Concert Band. A board member of the Historical Society of Avon Park, she was named co-board member of the year for 2007.

Kopta, 74, was born just east of Avon Park in 1933 in a cabin on property homesteaded by his grandfather, G. L. Bryant, beginning in 1909. Kopta and his wife, Wanda, still live on that land in a house he built in 1958 when they were first married. In 1969, he became Highlands County's first state-certified general building contractor. He has also been a Rotarian for 30 years.

For more information about the picnic, call Jordan at 453-6957.

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