While visiting Las Vegas recently, a friend asked me to go with him to visit the pawn store made famous on the hit TV show, Pawn Stars. As we were walking through the store, I caught sight of a framed piece with the words “Lakeland Civic Center” on it.
As a long-time Lakeland resident, I was surprised and intrigued. As it turns out, the piece was part of a collection dedicated to the southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. As the story goes, the band performed at the old Lakeland Civic Center on October 18, 1977. The following day the group flew to Greenville, South Carolina, for a concert and then boarded their Convair CV-240 private plane for a flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tragically, the plane ran out of fuel and crashed in a wooded area near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Six people, including lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant, died in the crash, while 20 other passengers survived.
The memorabilia piece contains the poster used to promote the concert at the Lakeland Civic Center as well as the original setlist used by the band during that tour. It also includes a copy of a postcard Van Zant used to send to his fans in response to the fan mail he received.
Due to the historical ties to Lakeland, I thought it would be an interesting piece for the Center to own and display.
Donated by Phil Grimes