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Sea gulls and tourists alike flock to Fort Pierce beach in this 1959 photo shared on”Growing Up in Fort Pierce,” one of two Facebook sites that have become
a repository for memories and historical photos of Fort Pierce.
BY CATHERINE ENNS GRIGAS
Call it a love letter to Fort Pierce, social network style.
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The Facebook site, “I Remember Fort Pierce
When…” has a devoted 4,770 — and growing —
fans, with devoted followers waxing nostalgic about
everything from their hometown’s quirky characters to
defunct eateries, abandoned hang-outs and lost landmarks.
It’s a virtual community bulletin board where members trade
recipes for fondly remembered dishes like Mrs. Simonsen’s
peanut butter pie from the long-gone Simonsen’s Restaurant,
jog memories with questions like, “Remember the mosquito
truck?” post elementary school photos, family obituaries, and
faded snapshots while they reconnect with old friends.
Not all of it is ancient history. Events like the Sandy Shoes
Festival and the Soap Box Derby are remembered alongside
more current happenings, like Friday Fest. The Sunrise
Theatre may be a nostalgic spot remembered for its Saturday
matinees, but people now love it for its great acoustics and
first-class acts it draws to downtown Fort Pierce.
The group’s co-adminstrators, Jaret Miller and Richard
Cristles Matias, have more recent memories of Fort Pierce.
“Jaret Miller and I thought one day, let’s make a page where
we can tell our stories to others, find friends, make friends
with something we have in common,” says Matias, 32.
A second Facebook group, “Growing Up in Fort Pierce,”
has fewer members, but it is a virtual repository for local
ephemera and photographs of Fort Pierce posted by area
history buffs who are as interested in historical accuracy as
much as nostalgia. Many of the more than 1,000 photographs
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