What's In A Party?

Story by Bill Proesch
For the Jupiter History Web

In February, 1925 a small group of citizens came together and formed the Town of Jupiter. On February 12, 2000, several thousand showed up to party and celebrate 75 years of history.

The tour of Town Hall was fascinating to an outsider like me, but many Town employees took the tour and seemed equally fascinated by the opportunity to see and hear about the other departments of our government.

The equipment and facilities were impressive. The most common comment I heard as I passed through the halls was "I can't believe how big this place is." Every Town of Jupiter employee I encountered and listened to seemed justifiably proud to show off their town and genuinely happy to be there to share it with us. Where is this morale problem I keep reading about? It was nowhere to be found anywhere.

A highlight of the day for me was the one-time performance of Roaring to Life in the 20's by Lorian L. Brownlee. The play took place in front of a SRO crowd in Council Chambers. Ms. Brownlee brought Jupiter history to life blending together the actual words of Jupiter pioneers with a clever narration. As someone who has just recently begun studying local history myself, I was impressed by the accuracy of the play as I heard many of the same passages I've been reading from the works of Bessie DuBois, Carlin White and others.

I was first in line to purchase my copy of the special edition of The Loxahatchee Lament. This book is very well done and a real bargain. I saw many people carrying them around, so I assume they sold very well. If you couldn't make the event but want to get one of these limited edition volumes (only 4,500 copies were printed according to the jacket cover) call the Loxahatchee River Historical Society for more information.

At the end of the day, one thing impressed me most about this big open-house party. As a citizen of Jupiter I felt like I was welcome everywhere. The tours were organized, but stragglers and wanderers were all around and just as welcome as the tours. Other than a few understandably locked doors, people were wandering around and having fun all over the place. Our Mayor, Town Manager, Council, Department Heads, and Police not only allowed this, they seemed to welcome it.

Thanks, Town of Jupiter employees. It WAS a party and a good job by all involved.