Swampy's Florida

Dick Pope, the owner of Cypress Gardens & stalwart Florida promoter, cooked up this pin & card around 1970 with the support of, then Governor, Claude Kirk, to encourage tourists to visit Florida as much as possible. Pope was under the impression that the coming Disney World would only make his Cypress Gardens attendance soar. He was less familiar with how Disney had been operating in California and planned to do in Florida, which was very different than the chummy relationship that earlier Florida attractions across the state had enjoyed.

The card is from the outstanding book by Lu Vickers, ‘Cypress Gardens – America’s Tropical Wonderland’.
You can purchase your own copy by clicking here.