Great Southern Cracker Roadshow

Dana Ste Claire, Director of Heritage Tourism and Historic Preservation Development for the St Augustine 450th Commemoration, invited Historic City News readers to participate in a full-blooded celebration of the stories, songs and enduring spirit of Florida’s Cracker culture.

The Great Southern Cracker Roadshow brings to life the ways of the Cracker in a foot-stomping, knee-slapping show featuring two homegrown Crackers, pure bluegrass music, traditional foods, folklore and a mess of surprises – from whip-cracking to buck-dancing and everything in between.

For more information on The Great Southern Cracker Roadshow, visit www.crackerroadshow.com. Flagler Auditorium doors open at 4:15 p.m. for the May 5 show. Seating is first come first serve. The show is the last of the Discover First America program adventures and a special Passport stamp will be available.

Presented in conjunction with Flagler College, the Florida Humanities Council and the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration as part of the Culturally La Florida celebration, the free show comes to St. Augustine on Saturday, May 5, 2012, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Flagler Auditorium, and features an all-star cast of:

• Gordie Peer, one of Hollywood’s last original Western legends and the world’s greatest whip cracker, who can slice paper with his whip at 20 paces with startling surgical precision;

• Janis Owens, one of the best contemporary Southern writers and author of Cracker Kitchen and several other books, known for her lively story-filled presentations;

• Dana Ste. Claire, host & historian, former PBS television host of “Florida Crackerbarrel” and author of the definitive text on Cracker Culture, aptly titled Cracker Culture;

• John Stavely as the comic Dr. Dewey Cheetum, a turn-of-the-century traveling Snake Oil salesman and notorious purveyor of elixirs and false tonics;

• The Florida Bluegrass Express, Florida’s best bluegrass band offering a rousing, rootsy pure bluegrass sound with its distinct combination of banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin.

“Expect a down-home welcome, and a whip-cracking, hug-yer-mama, meet-the-cast show,” said author and cast member Janis Owens. “If you don’t think you’re family, you will after the show. You’ll wake up with Cracker DNA, craving butterbeans! We guarantee it.”