Musical celebrates Publix founder George Jenkins

A mini musical honoring the generosity of Publix founder George Jenkins will debut Thursday evening at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland. 

• Musical celebrates Publix founder George Jenkins
• Written by Harrison School for the Arts principal Dr. Daryl Ward
• Show scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Thursday
• Tribute to Publix Founder George Jenkins

"When You Dream" was created for the annual Chamber of Commerce meeting.

The musical was written by Harrison School for the Arts principal Dr. Daryl Ward at the request of chamber chair Janice Tedder Jones. "When You Dream" isn't autobiographical but rather a celebration of generosity. 

Jenkins founded Publix in 1930. Florida's favorite grocery chain now has more than 1,100 stores with 170,000 employees and yearly sales of more than $32 billion.

“And once I figured that out, then it was okay he gave the community," Ward said. "Write a song about that. He gave to his employees, write a song about that."

Ward wrote the script, including the songs but the music was arranged by Lakeland High School teacher Tyler Campbell. Almost all of the performers are Harrison students. 

Janice Tedder Jones said Ward far exceeded her original proposal for a small scale performance for the chamber event. 

"In fact my idea with Daryl was just get up here and sing a couple of songs and he’s just taken it to the tenth degree."

Tickets for the annual chamber event is $65.