The Conservation Trust for Florida (CTF) is pleased to announce Judge Nelson E. Bailey, Palm Beach County judge, and an acclaimed “Florida Cracker Storyteller,” as the keynote speaker at our annual Fall Round Up and Awards Celebration, Sunday, November 16, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Whitehurst Horse Prairie Ranch near Archer.

The event will highlight Florida’s rich cultural history and honor two landowners who have made a commitment to protecting their land for future generations.

Judge Bailey will share his knowledge of Florida’s uniquely intertwined agricultural history and multi-cultural heritage. He will tell stories while mounted on his horse with Spanish bloodlines that go back nearly five hundred years in this state. He will be accompanied by his Florida Cur cow-dog Cooter.

Nelson’s Florida stories weave together a fascinating multi-colored quilt of Florida heritage and history. He tells stories of the state’s Native-American mound builders prior to the 1500s; Spanish explorers, settlers, and ranchers; Seminole and Black Seminoles; and finally, of Florida’s cow hunters.

Peter Carolin, an award winning landscape painter, will be painting on location during the event and his work will be available for purchase.

For more information, email: busy@conserveflorida.org; visit www.conserveflorida.org; or call 352-466-1178.