A fan petition is calling on Florida to make John Anderson’s 1992 Everglades classic the o

A fan petition is calling on Florida to make John Anderson’s 1992 Everglades classic the official state song.

The idea has been around for years. One petition was posted on July 29, 2018, and is addressed to Florida leaders including Governor Ron DeSantis. It argues that current state song writer Stephen Foster never visited Florida, while Anderson grew up in Apopka and wrote about the state’s land and its first people.

A second petition, launched in November 2025, calls for the song to be adopted as a state anthem instead.

According to reports and posts circulating online, John Rich later voiced support for the effort. So far, the governor has not publicly commented.