ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Hastings is known as the “Potato Capital of Florida” and on Sunday, the area surrounding the small St. Johns County community was featured on the biggest stage.
St. Johns County potato farmer DeLee Parker, 5, was front and center as a 3rd quarter ad showed her holding a potato.
“She is quite the little girl,” her dad Jeffrey Parker said. “When they were taking the photos. She thought the entire photo shoot was about her. They thought they were there for her and she loved it.”
Frito-Lay told the Parkers they were coming to take photos and that there was a possibility it was included in a Super Bowl ad.
As a result, “The Little Farmer” was made. The 60-second ad featured a young girl growing her own potato. It ends with a photo of DeLee before a collage including the Parker family or farmers and other local farmers appeared alongside her.
It included the text: “Lay’s are made from real potatoes, and our potatoes come from real farmers.”
The Parker farm has been around since 1937 and has been in partnership with Frito-Lay since 1964.
“I always wished it would happen,” Jeffrey Parker said, “But I’ve never in a million years would ever imagine that we would that all of us would be included in a commercial from the Super Bowl.”
Two other farming families from the area are featured in the collage at the end of the commercial. They are Wesley Smith of Smith Farms, Steve Singleton, his wife April, and their three sons, of Singleton and Sons Farms.
