Steve Meisburg
Steve Meisburg
Steve Meisburg
Steve Meisburg
Steve Meisburg
The Honorable Steve Meisburg was Tallahassee’s second-longest serving city commissioner, holding office from 1987 to 2003. He also served as Mayor in 1990. But there was more to him outside political life. As a minister, he married hundreds of Tallahassee couples. In the 1970s, he and Tallahassee musician John Paul Walters formed the folk duo Meisburg and Walters, which produced three albums for Casablanca Records, which at the time also included Kiss and Donna Summer. Meisburg was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, to prominent parents. He fought against the racial injustices in the South and became a social and civil rights activist. He attended Millsaps College and Lexington Theological Seminary, graduating in 1965. That same year, he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. He then went on to be a preacher before teaming up with Walters. Meisburg also initiated what became the city’s annual Winter Festival, and mediated between Springtime Tallahassee, the NAACP and residents who opposed the use of a costumed Andrew Jackson figure to lead the Springtime parade. He helped convince parade organizers to put Jackson in the middle of the parade. Bolstered by African-American support, Meisburg received 52% of the vote in the February 1987 election and beat challenger Pete Ballas. His political career ended when he ran for Mayor in 2003.

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