ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The rain didn't keep people from enjoying the 450th anniversary fun in downtown St. Augustine Monday evening, as plenty of people were out showing their pride by dressing up in traditional clothing and even a few pirate costumes thrown in for good measure.
"It blew my mind how many people came. I just didn't think that many people had this much in common," attendee Amanda Walsh said.
Like many of the people who came to celebrate St. Augustine's 450th, Walsh said Monday's storm didn't rain on her parade, or stop thousands of attendees from coming out to support local businesses, restaurants and shops, like Spanish Dutch Convoy, which had one of the most sought-after items of the celebration.
"It started with a tote bag and it said party like its 1565 and it just kind of morphed from that," Michelle Vagan, owner of the Spanish Dutch Convoy, said.
Vagan said she sells handbags but wanted to add a unique twist to the big celebration, so she called up Flagler College junior Mary-Jo Lendering to help.
"She's like, ‘I need a design I need to make bag,' and I'm like, ‘sure let's do this!'" Lendering said.
So the two put their heads together and Lendering drew up a design, scanned it, and the rest was history. Twenty shirts, originally just for friends, turned in 100 shirts that sold out immediately.
"I called up Jim at Freddos and said, ‘Can we do more?' And he said, ‘I can get you 250,' so Friday morning we opened with 250 more T-shirts after our original 200 and they sold out that night. I call Jim that night and I said, ‘Can we do some more,' and he said, ‘No, we don't have any more T-shirts!'" Vagan (pictured below) said.
So that's when the entire family got involved, helping purchase every white shirt they could in the city.
"I was like, ‘This is crazy,' seeing people walking around with my design on a shirt was something completely out of this world," Lendering said.
Within three days nearly 1,000 shirts were sold.
"We had a lot of fun and I've had more locals walk in this weekend then I probably have in the longest time, so it was just good to be doing business with my community," Vagan said.
Any one still looking for a shirt can head to the Spanish Dutch Convoy's website or head directly in to the store.