TAMPA, FL -- On Channelside drive, near the new Tampa Bay History Center, the noises you hear are from streets cars and traffic.
There's a parade planned here for Saturday. A parade that'll be like none you've ever seen in downtown Tampa.
"I'm just picturing the people in the transportation and utilties department who are used to stamping permits for man hole cover repalcement or curb construction, and then cattle drive comes across their desk," said Carlton Ward, Junior.
Ward smiles at the thought of a cattle drive through downtown Tampa. On Saturday, this conservation photographer and others from the Tampa Bay History Center will make an 1800s Florida tradition come to life with real cowboys and cattle.
One of the riders will be Dennis Carlton. "What we're doing now is separating the cows off from the calves," said Dennis Carlton on Audubon Ranch in Hillsborough County.
He's an eighth-generation Floridian who drives cattle through five counties. This weekend he'll be riding on pavement.
"My family's been in the ranching business for 100 years so it's kinda a lifestyle that's been passed down to me and I'm just trying to carry it on," said Carlton.
The cattle drive is expected to bring folks into the Tampa Bay History Center's new exhibit. You'll find more than one hundred years of Florida cattle ranching to see and hear. It's a tradition that Ward's driving home on Saturday.
"Florida is a big cattle state. In 1521 the first cattle in all of North America arrived not too far from here on the Gulf Coast. Even still today, 20% of the state and 7 million acres is cattle ranch and it's kinda lost in the state's identity," said Ward.
