Florida Fair News
He Still Had a Little Time to Run By: Paul Davis, Florida Strawberry Festival General Manager
When we organize our entertainment lineup each year, we strive to choose an entertainer for our last night who will close our festi- val with a bang. But the final concert this year provided for a personal, exciting and surprising finale that, as far as we know, was a first in all our 80 years. I got a call the final morning of the festival from one of our executive board members informing me that the boyfriend of one of my
staff members wanted to propose – that night. Not only did he want to propose, he wanted to ask her on our soundstage immediate- ly prior to The Band Perry concert. Now we have had many requests involving our concerts and entertainers over the years, but never have I had this one. My mind immediately started racing: “Is this a good idea? Are we positive she will say ‘yes’? What will my board of directors think?” I got on the phone to get some thoughts from other board members. Two of them said, “No way. We would be bombarded from
here on out with people wanting to do that.” Others said they would leave it up to me. Let’s just say I was in a pickle. After careful consideration of the repercussions that could follow, I just couldn’t tell him “no.” I had to let him do it. After all, this
was not some random couple. The young lady he would propose to, Lauren Der, is our public relations and media representative, has volunteered at our festival her entire life, started showing livestock here when she was 3 years old and, on top of all that, was our queen in 2009. Her history with the festival is deep, to say the least. In addition, Andrew McNair, her boyfriend, is a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and has honorably served our country for several years. I would find out later that Andrew, thinking about proposing at the festival, had asked Lauren what her favorite memory was of being queen. Her response was a particular mo- ment she shared with a crowd of 12,000 while speaking on stage before the Taylor Swift concert, sparking his idea of creating anoth- er memorable moment on our stage. Taking all this into consideration, how could I not let him do it? After I gave Sandee Sytsma, the board member who called for Andrew and is also Lauren’s close friend, the ‘go,’ she called Lauren
to tell her I wanted her backstage that night to take a few pictures of the crowd before our last concert. She thought nothing of it and said she would do it. We got Andrew to the grounds and had to carefully escort him in because Lauren could have been abso- lutely anywhere. We then took him up to our directors’ room to wait with Lauren’s parents until just before the show. When Dave and Veronica from 99.5 WQYK, who speak on stage before each concert and introduce the entertainer, arrived, we had to get them in on the project as well. They loved it and devised the perfect scheme where Lauren would suspect nothing. We told absolutely no one what was going to take place that night. Concert time rolled around, and Lauren was busy snapping pictures backstage while Andrew was hiding, unbeknownst to her, just a
few feet away. Dave and Veronica went on stage as usual and, while speaking, told the concert-goers they wanted to take a “selfie” of them with the crowd of about 7,000 in the background. After Dave said he “wasn’t able to stretch his arm out enough to get the whole crowd,” they agreed they needed someone to take the photo for them. It was so convenient that Lauren just so happened to be standing on the side of the stage. They asked Lauren to come take the photo, and, while she was snapping away, Andrew snuck out behind her. She handed them the phone back and turned around, to her complete shock, to meet Andrew. He got down on one knee, the crowd went absolutely wild and Lauren said “yes.” Somehow, the whole thing went off without a hitch, and Andrew and Lauren were married on October 4th. The night’s events, coupled with who was performing, are actually a bit ironic. In 2012, the first time The Band Perry performed at
the festival, Kimberly, the lead singer, met her now-husband in the meet and greet line. Just two hours before Andrew proposed, Lauren was speaking to Kimberly with a news crew, complimenting her ring and telling her how excited we all were to know she met her husband at the festival. Our event has created lifelong memories for so many people, and this is a special one for us. No, we wouldn’t allow just anyone to
do this, but I like to bend my rules a little when it involves one of my own and a member of our military. And just to get her goat, throughout the summer I’ve sure enjoyed telling Lauren, “You know he still has a little time to run.”
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