Community Corner

Video: Dennis Lee Serenades Emma Thomas, 86, at Strawberry Festival Event

Octogenarian Emma Thomas got a big surprise at the Evelyn and Batista Madonia Agriculutral Center on the Florida Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds in Plant City, where Dennis Lee singled her out for a special rendition of an Elvis Presley tune.

 

Emma Thomas, 86, said she was tickled pink to be the center of attention at the Feb. 23 media preview party for the 2013 Florida Strawberry Festival, where just about everyone wore red at the Evelyn and Batista Madonia Agricutlural Center on the Florida Strawberry Festival Fairgrounds in Plant City.

"I never thought he would have singled me out," Thomas said, in reference to the serenade she received from Dennis Lee, who for 31 years has been performing at the festival. "I'm telling you, for him to single me out, I'm almost about to cry."

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But she didn't.

Instead, she laughed heartily and even flirted a bit as Lee does what Lee does best, which is to touch the hearts and souls of the people who come to hear him sing.

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"I thought it was wonderful," said Mary Thomas Mathis, the vice mayor of Plant City, who also happens to be Emma's daughter. "Eighty-six-years-old. I know she'll be talking about this for years to come."

Lee and his band were the night's performers, performing "everything from Jerry Lee to Roy Orbinson and, of course, Elvis Presley," as Lee put it.

Lee got his start at the Florida Strawberry Festival 31 years ago, as a clown and mime. Subsequently, he asked the fair manager if his band could play there and word came back that that would be okay. Lee quickly put a band together and now, as his grandfather put it, Lee is "getting paid for what I used to spank you for."

A colorful character with a sharp, yet friendly, wit, always in the mood to entertain, Lee said he chose professional performing as a lifelong career because "I like to hear people clap for me."

"I like the opportunity to touch people's lives in a way where you can make a difference and bring happiness to them," Lee said. "I thought through music and comedy, that's the way I could do it."

 

 


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