A small group of business leaders and members of the Lehigh Acres Spring Festival Committee met for entertainment and snacks Friday night and to make a

plea to the community for financial contributions for the Festival.

Ernie Hartman, president of the Spring Festival Committee, announced that the festival will be held between March 20 and March 28.

“We’re going to have a great festival,” Hartman said. He introduced others from the committee and told of their responsibilities. One was Vicki Culver, the vice president, who will continue to oversee the

Spring Festival Idol contests.

“We have a great time with this part of the festival,” she said. “It continues for seven nights in both the young idol and the adult idol contests.”

Culver who emcees the Spring Idol Contest said the competition starts with 12 contestants in each of the two categories and each night, judges will make

comments and vote on the contenders, much like the original Fox Television American Idol, which has been a phenomenal success.

“On the last Friday night is the last session and the judges will have eliminated the contenders and we will end up with two idols,” she said.

You can go online to get a form to sign up for the Idol contest. They are at: lehighspringfestival.com.

Hartman announced the addition of Susan Teston to the Spring Festival board. She is the assistant director at the Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce.

In between presentations by Hartman and Culver, board member Lehigh singer Kalee Coyle entertained the group. She was given loud applause.

Coyle, who is well known in Lehigh as a talented singer, was the winner of the first Spring Festival Idol Contest. Once a person has won, they cannot run

again, Culver said.

Danny Stephenson played the keyboards while Coyle sang. He is a member of the Spring Festival Board, too, and this year assumes the task of bringing entertainment to the festival.

This is where the need for funding comes in. Groups that are brought in command fees and that funding is provided by sponsors.

Checks were gathered by Hartman who told The Citizen that close to $4,000 was collected. He said the names of sponsors will be released to the media.

But the surprise announcement of the night by Hartman was that the Clydesdales, the giant sized Budweiser horses, will be in Lehigh again. They were here once before, Hartman said, and they were popular with parade goers.

He said Andy Reisinger will again plan the gala parade, which will wind its way down Homestead Rd., beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, the last day of the

weeklong festival.

Some on the board said some well-known groups are being approached. The theme this year is “Journey Through The Decades,” and entertainment will reflect that.

William Hoppe, simply known throughout Lehigh as “Hoppe” was at the gathering and said he was ready to go. He and Keith Richert, who was not able to attend, are at the festival every day and night working hard, among others. And so is Hartman.

It was announced that Liz Eilf would be ahead of all contests at the festival, including the pet show and the food contests such as the best chili in Lehigh.

“Now’s the time to get those recipes ready and plans made,” she told The Citizen.

The Spring Festival began around 32 years ago and was sponsored by the Lehigh Corp. It was usually held before Easter as a going-away gift to people who came to Lehigh from up north for the season. Usually after the festival, the snowbirds left in droves to return to their northern homes.

It is one of the most attended events in Southwest Florida and in the parade, hundreds of youngsters march or ride on trailers. They are the young athletes in town who dress up in their uniforms.

Hartman said the same upper end midway with plenty of amusements and rides will be at the festival and open every night.

“It’s free to the public what better can that be? All the people have to do is pay to park and that is a small fee and the committee shares half of the

proceeds with the Lehigh Acres Soccer League,” Hartman said.