2008 Parade Marshall
Duffy Soto has created every official Battle of Olustee Festival poster since 1997 when he was first approached by a representative of the Blue-Grey Army's Board of Directors and asked to submit a "concept"� for the 1998 Festival. His first poster was greeted with enthusiasm and thus, has been asked each year subsequent to paint a new "Remembering Olustee"� memorial poster, which he has done.

Duffy creates his work free of any oversight or involvement from outside interests. Each creation, at a minimum, takes a year to conceive and complete.  Traditionally, no one is allowed to see the art or concepts while undergoing creation. The finished art is therefore a well-kept secret until its "unveiling"� each November or December in time to be adapted to promoting the festival and re-enactment following in February of the next year.

Each poster is unique and tells a story. Only a very  few "Limited Edition"�, hand-signed prints are produced from each original and virtually all of them are donated to charitable, fund-raising causes.  After the festival, the original commemorative poster is loaned to the Supervisor of Elections office for viewing by the public at large. The original painting, from which each event poster is derived, is not available to the public and remains a part of Duffy's personal collection.

Duffy is an accomplished artist and, in addition to his Civil War art, is considered one of the finest aviation artists in the world.  The prestigious National Museum of Naval Aviation has acquired as permanent gifts, eight of Duffy's aviation paintings. The museum, which hosts a million or more visitors each year, has the paintings on exhibition throughout its vast facility. Duffy's Olustee  posters are a favorite with many Olustee fans and serious art lovers alike because each painting illustrates the deep emotion that is the basis for his creative concepts. It is not unusual for Duffy to start and then throw away 20-to-40 painted concepts before settling on something that he is pleased to continue with. The unused concepts are destroyed.

Each year's poster is donated to the Blue-Grey Army to use as their official "event"� poster. They also are permitted limited rights so sell digitally signed copies of the event poster to Olustee memorabilia collectors with the proceeds going to help fund future festivals and other charitable choices.  The event poster, also referred to as the "commercial version"�, differs from the original in that it contains the details and sponsorship identification of each February's festival. The "commemorative"�, or art-original painting, is void of the commercial details.

 In addition to donating the art and use-rights to the Blue-Grey Army, Duffy also donates 100 hand printed and numbered, "limited edition"� collector envelopes with an image of each year's poster printed on the left-hand side and an official one-day-only U.S. Postal cancellation provided by the Lake City Postal Service. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the envelopes go to help support incidental needs of veteran's who are infirmed at the Lake City VA hospital or are in the VA's hospice care.

Duffy and his family came to Lake City from Nashville, Tennessee in 1984 where he worked as a media ratings and audience data interpretation specialist and also operated his own photographic studio and advertising agency. His photo credits include many of Nashville's then most well-known music and entertainment artists. After moving to Lake City, he spent most of his career working for Lake City Community College. His wife, Tess, is a teacher with the Columbia County School System. They have one daughter, Mandy Smith, who lives in Tallahassee with her husband Ed and their daughter, CJ.