Rhea Heritage officers serve as Strawberry Parade grand marshals

Rick Dye, president, and Tom Davis, vice president, of the Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation served as grand marshals of the 78th annual Tennessee Strawberry Festival parade today. The pair lead the presentation of the Scopes Trial Play & Heritage Days each July, and this is the 100th anniversary of the world-famous trial.

The Scopes Trial, sometimes called the Scopes Monkey Trial, earned Rhea County its place in the history books, so it is fitting that the county’s largest annual gathering, the Tennessee Strawberry Festival, honors the Scopes Trial during the trial’s centennial. 

The theme for the 78th Strawberry Festival is “The Great Berry Debate,” alluding to the historic debate between William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow at the trial. 

Dye and Davis, who have served on the foundation board since it was founded in 2016, were recently named co-grand marshals of the May 10 Strawberry Festival Parade by the festival coordinating committee.

In 2016, Rhea Heritage Preservation Foundation picked up the responsibility for producing the Scopes Trial Play and Heritage Days celebration each July, and is playing a major role in planning activities for the Scopes Centennial this July. Since then, RHPF has added the Nokian Tyres Summer Nights concerts in June, and holiday “radio theatre” dramas including War of the Worlds and It’s a Wonderful Life as part of PumpkinFest and Christmas at the Courthouse. 

The Rhea Heritage float featured Larry Jones as William Jennings Bryan, Dye as Clarence Darrow, and Davis as the judge. The float was led a 1925-vintage Model T driven by Ben Lorenzen and escorted by the Rhea County High School Girl's Flag Football Team.