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After a meeting in Tallahassee by the state capital I ran around taking photos for Swampy’s Florida. Suddenly I found myself in the midst of an Oktoberfest being set up in Downtown Tallahassee. There I saw an artist setting up his easel. Turns out he was Neil Barnhart, one of the first artists hired to draw caricatures at Walt Disney World. He told me of making his way from the Florida Panhandle to south Central Florida and getting hired to draw. He worked with fellow artists and friends, Marvin Bennett, Harvie Brown and Jack Marler. During his years at the Disney complex he even remembers the person who hired me for my first job, which was drawing caricatures, Michel Hanson (Michael is now a lawyer).

Above is Neil and I and the portrait he drew of me. Below is a view of Barnhart seen by hundreds of thousands during his 40 years drawing people.

As I was taking photos something caught my eye other than the historic architecture of Downtown Tallahassee. It was the book, ’50 Great Walks in Florida’ by my friend Lucy Tobias displayed prominently in the window of the Leon County Visitor’s Center.