Building floats in a sand-bottom, barely standing pole barn led Gibson Electric Field Engineer Mitzie Privitt to her husband Jerry and their shared passion for service. Three decades and over 700 floats later, Privitt is honored to serve as the president of the 87^th West Tennessee Strawberry Festival, Tennessee’s largest and longest-running festival.

“It’s my year to put my spin on the festival, which is awesome,” Privitt said. “I never thought I’d find myself here because I’m the worker bee that stays behind the scenes.”

As a youngster, Privitt watched and studied her mom build parade floats for Brown Shoe Company and had a ball tackling the homecoming floats with her class at Peabody High School. In 1991 when her son Taylor participated in the Gibson County Fair, Privitt built a float for him to ride in several local parades, including the Strawberry Festival. Two years later, Privitt was hired as the festival’s float builder, with area businesses also asking for her services.

Toiling over a Wendy’s restaurant float that featured a maypole, Privitt was ready to call it quits. Jerry, who was little more than an acquaintance at the time, stayed with Privitt helping her complete the job.

“I was a hot mess when we met but he continued to keep a check on me in that old pole barn,” she joked. “It was one day before the parade and that Wendy’s float was barely even started. I was on the verge of tears and ready to throw in the towel.  If he hadn’t stayed all day and night into the wee hours of the morning helping me, I never would have gotten Wendy’s maypole to Main Street.”

Privitt would learn that Jerry was worried about her being alone at the barn at night. Known for his care and concern for others, Jerry is the co-founder and executive director of the Humboldt Area Rescue Squad (HARS), a team of highly trained rescue technicians and EMTs. They married in 1997 and welcomed daughter Allie in 1998. They are grandparents to Jude and Joseph, and Privitt is honorary “Mimi” to her niece’s children, Olivia and Oliver.

In 2001, long after the pole barn was demolished and several temporary workplaces later, the couple built a shop at their house. Every year from Jan. 1 to the first week in May, Privitt builds 26 to 34 floats. From baby strollers to golf carts to 20-ft trailers, Privitt designs each float from start to finish.

“Customers usually come to me with little to no idea of what they want,” Privitt said. She builds floats for businesses, churches, pageant royalty and families. “The first questions I ask them are the age range of the children riding on the float, the number of children on the float and what those children love.”

She starts with a sketch. Once the design is approved, Privitt uses anything at her disposal – wood, PVC, cardboard, wallpaper glue and more – to bring her vision to life.

“I never know what I’m going to use, but I love working with tissue paper,” she said. “That is the most traditional part of the build that hasn’t been forgotten.”

Privitt found her love for art at a young age and took art classes in high school. She attended Lambuth College on scholarships for art, academics and tennis. Unsure how to make a living with art, she studied drafting at a Tennessee technical school.

Privitt joined Gibson Electric as a dispatcher in 2007 and moved to GIS technician in 2019. She was recently promoted to field and compliance engineer where she is blending the skills she has learned at the cooperative with those honed in her workshop.

“Talking to members is the same as talking to float customers,” Privitt said. “It’s all about finding out what they want and presenting them with what we can do on their budget and finding the best way to hook into our electric and fiber grid.”

While she spends most of the year juggling the responsibilities of work, family and passion projects ranging from float building to supporting HARS, Privitt will dedicate May 4-10 to the Strawberry Festival and the 36 events and estimated 75,000 people that will flock to Humboldt, during the week. As president, she chose this year’s festival theme, “It’s a berry good life: When our community unites, the celebration ignites,” which honors the 100-plus Strawberry Festival volunteers. When the floats she has lovingly crafted move down Main Street to the delight of families from across the state, Privitt will take a moment to reflect on her 32-year journey.

“Who would have thought something I did just in my free time would turn into 32 years’ worth of work?” she said. “It’s like an artist seeing their artwork in a museum. I just get to see mine in a parade.”

Visit https://strawberryfestivaltn.com/ for more information on the West Tennessee Strawberry Festival.