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Highwaymen Museum To Get A Permanent Home

The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency (FPRA) plans to permanently install the future Highwaymen artist museum in the city-owned Jackie L. Caynon Sr. Building.

 

Last year, the FPRA approved renting the facility at 1234 Avenue D to the Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen, Inc., a non-profit organization run by Doretha Hair-Truesdell, the wife of the Alfred Hair. Audria Moore-Wells, Special Project Coordinator at the FPRA, explained that the FPRA could only sign a one-year agreement with the Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen organization at that time due to City of Fort Pierce ordinances. Instead, FPRA needs to issue a request for proposals on the building and try to extend the contract with the Highwaymen organization for more than a year because FPRA truly wants to give the Highwaymen a home to operate the organization and the museum. Additionally, Ms. Moore-Wells introduces the timeline for the bidding process. The first publication of the request for proposals was on June 21st, followed by two advertising dates, June 21st and June 26th. Then, FPRA will evaluate the proposals in August and present the recommendations to the board in September.

 

However, Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen also faces some challenges. First, it sells driving license plates to help maintain the future museum’s operations. However, its sales haven’t reached 200 yet. Moreover, Florida policy regulates the state to manufacture custom license plates only after 3,000 of them have been pre-sold, so the museum has a long way to go before production. To help this non-profit organization, FPRA advertises in the Florida City & County Management Association and on its website, plans to make promotions during celebrations on Juneteenth, and reaches out to a pop-up art gallery. Second, other organizations may apply for this city-owned structure, which means the Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen will have to compete with others. However, luckily, it meets the requirements of the application. More specifically, the projected timetable for the bidding process does not conflict with the organization’s lease agreement, which was approved nearly 10 months ago, confirmed by City Attorney Tanya Earley. The Original Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen, Inc., has already submitted its plans to the State of Florida for remodeling its current rented facility.

 

Ms. Moore-Wells said that the FPRA received the contract from the state. It will issue an RFP for the project once it has had a chance to review the agreement.

 

Anyone interested in Highwaymen art and who wants a customized Highwaymen license plate can visit TCSLC.com. If the sale fails to reach the minimum production number, the money will be refunded to those who purchased the license plates.