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State Tourism Officials kicked off the Viva Florida! Campaign today urging Floridians to visit Pensacola and St. Augustine to celebrate the state’s Spanish heritage.

Pensacola was the first attempted Spanish settlement in the US and the first thanksgiving was celebrated by the Spanish in St. Augustine. Today Counsel General of Spain Santiago Cananas Ansorena told the assembled crowd that his government was thankful.

“I want to say, on behalf of the Spanish crown, on behalf of the Spanish government, and on behalf of the Spanish people, that we want to thank the state of Florida, its governor, its people for all your efforts in preserving our common heritage, our common history,” Ansorena said.

Prior to the ceremony, several dozen students from the Pensacola Episcopal Day School had a surprise encounter with the Governor. The students were at the Mission San Luis in Tallahassee to wrap up a year of study.