Plant City Travel Guide

dinosaur world has a collection of life size models of dinosaurs in a tropical setting. this roadside attraction may be an educational experience for children. they also have a fossil dig where children can sift for fossils.

johnsons barbeque has been a plant city institution since 1954. in my opinion one of the best barbeque joints in florida. they offer chopped pork, ribs, beef, chicken, turkey and barbeque sausage. they also offer fried catfish as well. great barbeque moderately priced. when traveling between orlando and tampa on I-4 johnsons is worth the one mile side trip to visit.

parkesdale farm market is an interesting store were you can buy strawberries in season and fruit baskets year round. an interesting place to visit when in plant city.

What to buy: strawberries !

Every March, Plant City is the host for the Strawberry Festival.
(see the website below for details on dates and times)

It is a combination of 4H exhibits and county fair and strawberry harvest celebration.
Arts and craft vendors are there; live entertainment is given with some nationally known stars; Strawberry king and the parade with marching bands and local community service people will be seen; midway rides for kids and young adults; and plenty of food tents.

COME ONE, COME ALL...

to get there:
I-75 exit onto I-4, Take I-4 East towards Orlando
Take the Thonotosassa Rd. Exit. Exit 19 SR 566
Turn right on Thonotosassa Rd. and follow to traffic light
At traffic light go straight onto Lemon St. and follow to 4 way stop at Oak St.
Turn right on Oak St.
Ticket Office is approximately 2 blocks on the left. (Sign out front)

According to crime stats, Plant City is generally pretty safe: there is less than one major crime per day in the area. Auto Theft and petty thefts (shop-lifting for example) are most prevalent.

There are 100 registered sex offenders in Plant City. That gives you less than 1% chance of running into one; unless of course you are on vacation with kids then the odds go up dramatically (the SOs often target tourists with kids or lone women).

So just remember to lock your car doors and use the safety chain-latch on your morel door.
Don't go anywhere unfamiliar alone, especially very late at night.
If an emergency occurs, use your cellphone to call for help.
Use common sense and know who is around you.

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(this was also placed in the Zephyrhills Travel Guide because that was our home base).

At the Palm Harbor Homes factory for building mobile homes we got the factory tour.
They sit you down as a group with a company representative and you fill out a form that basically wants to find out if you are interested in buying a home. (If you answer "yes, I am interested" then you will be spotlighted by the representative during the tour). Then you get to view a 15 minute video on the mobile home process and how good these homes are (they do have free popcorn.... really). Then you walk through the manufacturing plant and see all the steps used to put together the parts that become prefab walls and fixtures. They have about 20 people working on different phases and items of each prefab section.
Then the tour goes to an overhead balcony where you see the prefab sections being joined into the final product. The tour is about an hour and (I thought) very interesting.

location is: 605 South Frontage Road, Plant City, FL (Plant City is an industrial suburb 10 miles south of Zephyrhills at junction of route 39 and I-4)