The first permanent settlers in Dania Beach arrived from Chicago in 1898 with Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. W.C. Valentine, a developer and pioneer, planned the community, which he called Modello. These early settlers, most of Danish heritage, renamed the town Dania when it was incorporated in 1904. Reincorporated as Dania Beach in 1999, the town is a popular tourist destination on Florida's famed Gold Coast.

Originally known more for tomatoes than tourists, Dania Beach was billed as the "Tomato Capital of the World." In 1927, local residents held the first "Tomato Day Celebration" to raise funds to replace a church destroyed one year earlier in a catastrophic hurricane that ravaged the town. Large crowds made this celebration, complete with tomato fights and a Miss Tomato beauty pageant, an annual event for the next quarter of a century.

By the 1950s, saltwater intrusion had wreaked havoc on the tomato crop, and locals turned to gaming and a sport that originated in the Basque region of Spain: Jai-Alai. Played with 2 or 4 players on a 3-walled court, and with a ball and a hurling device called a cesta, the game rewards the player who is able to hurl the ball off the front wall with enough spin and speed to keep an opponent from returning it.

Visitors to Dania Beach can enjoy the 220,000 square-foot "Showplace of Jai-Alai" or take in the annual Main Street Tomato Festival. The March festival features cooking contests, a Jai-Alai Tomato Tournament, and a parade. Once the Tomato Capital of the World, Dania Beach is now the "Antique Capital of the South"--with over 100 antique sellers in the downtown area, many of them housed in historic buildings, such as Broward County's first movie theatre. A city with enough charm to be movie set, Dania Beach beckons the modern traveler.

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council. Script written by Naomi Williams. Narrated by Dave Dunwoody.