Addresses of Welcome and Responses 
ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF PALATKA 
Mayor S. J. Kennedy 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I deem it an honor and a pleasure 
to meet you here tonight, and in be¬ 
half of the citizens of Palatka, to ex¬ 
tend to you a welcome; a welcome 
with the word written in large, gold¬ 
en letters. We have no walls or fences 
around our city; neither have we a 
key that I might present it to you, 
but our borders are all open and we 
come to you with open arms and say 
to you that all we have is yours; en¬ 
joy it, and when you return to your 
homes, we trust that your stay with 
us shall have been so pleasant that you 
can congratulate yourselves that you 
have been present at the twenty-sev¬ 
enth annual convention of this organ¬ 
ization. 
We are glad to have you with us 
tonight, tomorrow and the following 
day, and we would be glad to have 
you longer. We are proud of you; 
we are proud of you as an organiza¬ 
tion, one of Florida’s products, with 
its membership extending throughout 
our State, and beyond. We are proud 
of you, for we feed that Palatka is 
the birthplace of this organization, for 
it was here thirty years ago that a few 
orange growers gathered together and 
formed themselves into what was known 
as the Florida Fruit Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion. 
Some of you present here tonight 
may have been members of that asso¬ 
ciation. There are not many left of 
the number. Some of them who were 
dear friends of mine have crossed the 
river and are resting under the shade 
of the trees in the Great Beyond. 
We are glad you are with us, and we 
hope you will continue to .'grow, that 
your organization may be known in 
every part of Florida and the United 
States. 
In conclusion, permit me again to 
say to you, in behalf of the citizens of 
Palatka, that we welcome you to the 
Gem City of Florida. 
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