PLANT CITY, Fla. — Plant City is using a part of its history to drive its future when it comes to encouraging tourists and locals to visit downtown.
It’s called Henry’s Hidden Train Hunt. You get 10 clues to find 10 miniature locomotives scattered throughout downtown.
Three-year-old Mason and his father, Daryle, love playing on the old red caboose outside the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum.
“So the idea of a scavenger hunt is exciting because, Mason, do you like trains? Yeah, he likes trains. Do we want to go look for little trains? Yeah, you do,” said Daryle Hemel, speaking with his son.
The fun begins right outside the museum, where families can pick up their map from a Henry Plant cardboard cutout and start following the clues.
“Snug between two buildings, find old Henry’s train car,” said Hemel, reading one of the clues.
“They learn a little bit of history, as far as Plant City, if they aren’t from here, and they get to walk the downtown area, basically a six-block area, they are walking past all the shops,” said Benny Lubrano, executive director of the museum.
Lubrano said it’s amazing how many people don’t realize the significance of the railroad when it comes to Plant City.
“The railroad came in 1885, and it was not until three years later that the town was actually founded,” said Lubrano.
Arley Smude worked alongside the museum and Plant City Main Street to come up with the placement of every train.
“And each of the trains, from the engine to the caboose, are all placed in a location that has a historical relevance to that type of train,” said Smude. “So, for example, the milk car train is where there used to be an ice cream factory.”
Smude said the best part is that the scavenger hunt isn’t just for kids.
“I've been told that wedding parties and church groups and all that will come from over an hour,” said Smude. “Some of the trains are a little bit easier to find but some of them are not, we’ve gotten what I take as a compliment of complaints of it being a little bit too hard.”
If you find all 10 trains, a prize is waiting for you back at the museum.
“So we love the idea of checking out Plant City, learning these things, finding out what’s in the local community and what people do to make it fun, I think we all learn,” said Hemel.
