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Focus on Non-Profit Thomas Promise Saves the Rattlesnake Festival By Gary S. Hatrick Reports of the Rattlesnake Festival’s death were not greatly exaggerated, but they have not come true thanks to the Thomas Promise Foundation of Zephyrhills, which has rescued the venerable old event from exiting only in memory. “We didn’t want to see it go away,” said Dianna Thomas, director of the Thomas Promise Foundation “It’s a landmark event and to be able to come in and take over an event that has been around for 50 years is an honor.” Earlier this year the Rotary Club of San Antonio announced that the 50th occurrence of the festival in 2016 would be the last Rattlesnake Festival. The Thomas Promise Foundation stepped in and offered to take over the event along with a few other groups. One of their advantages was that they were willing to keep it in San Antonio. They have been working to update the website with the help of longtime website designer and longtime Rattlesnake and Gopher Enthusiast Dennis Devine. The logo now reflects the relationship with Thomas Promise Foundation and soon vendor applications will be available. They will contact the old vendors and seek out new ones to help enlarge the event, Thomas said. “We’re really hoping to build on the craft side and add in more craft vendors. I’m open to adding more food as well,” she added. Many other familiar things will remain such as the snake show and the gopher turtle races and the popular Rattlesnake Run. They will also keep it a two-day festival. “We’re trying to keep it as close to traditional as possible. It’s been around for 50 years, the people must like something about it,” Thomas said. They will also keep the tradition of helping children with the profits. The festival will go toward helping the Thomas Promise food program Operation Backpack through which they provide food for more than 1,000 local children in east Pasco and central Pasco County who face hunger on weekends when school meals are unavailable. The profits will also help them fund other projects they support behind the scenes such has helping their backpack program kids go on field trips and to activities and assisting them in sport team expenses. Dianna Thomas and her husband Wade founded the Thomas Promise Foundation several years ago when their daughter Brooke, then a first grader Brooke began asking her mother Dianna for more lunch money. When her mother asked why, she was told that Brooke had been giving her lunch money to classmates because they were hungry. The foundation grew from that act of love. One day they hope to be able to extend the backpack program throughout all of Pasco County. Becoming the latest layer in the history of the Rattlesnake Festival may help them on toward that goal. The official history of the Rattlesnake Festival records the festival’s origins and changes through the years. “The first Rattlesnake Festival was held as a community project of the San Antonio Junior Chamber of Commerce. One of the founders of the festival, Eddie Herrmann recalls the beginnings of the festival. “The Jaycees were sponsoring something called “Fun Day” and it had run it course so we needed something to replace Fun Day,” recounted Herrmann with a grin. “So Willy Post had just enlisted as a member of the Jaycees and he said ‘Why don’t you boys have a rattlesnake round-up? They’ll be coming from miles around. He said put a girl in a bikini in a glass case and let the spiders crawl all over her. People will love it.’” Thomas Promise saves - Continued on page 27 26 Community Magazine April 2017


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