Florida's "First Billboards" Get New Life Thanks to the Heritage Center
- Vero Minute
- 22 hours ago
- 2 min read
The vintage advertising art that once adorned wooden citrus crates is getting new life along roadsides throughout Indian River County, thanks to the Heritage Center. The Florida Citrus Crate Label Trail, a statewide initiative that began in Polk County, has arrived here with plans for 30 to 40 signs, a significant expansion from the three that went up in 2022.
Brenda Eubanks Burnette, former executive director of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame and current board member of the Heritage Center, brought the statewide trail program to Indian River County. Signs are now scattered across historic sites including the Citrus Museum, County Courthouse, Hallstrom Farmstead, and Jones Pier Conservation Area, each with QR codes linking to deeper history.
The 4-by-4-foot reproductions showcase labels from the 1920s through 1950s, when growers glued colorful lithographs to crate ends to lure buyers in dimly lit northern warehouses.
The imagery is pure Florida fantasy: pin-up girls lounging under palm trees, wild orchids blooming in impossible profusion, beaches that promised endless sunshine.
Indian River fruit commanded premium prices because the region's unique combination of soil, humidity, and water table produced citrus with higher "brix" levels (sugar content, to the uninitiated) than anywhere else.
The color-coded backgrounds told buyers what they were getting: blue for top-grade fruit, red for second-tier, green for roadside stands. In a way, these labels were Florida's first billboards, selling both citrus and the dream of tropical paradise to snow-bound northerners.
The trail is funded by a Tourist Development Council grant, but businesses can sponsor signs for $2,000.
Visit www.veroheritage.org/citrus-museum for trail locations and details.
The Indian River Citrus Museum, housed in the Heritage Center at 2140 14th Avenue, is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5.