Former city official planning festival to honor seniors | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Bettye McPherson of Palatka looks over some of the jewelry and crafts she made. She plans to show some of her craftwork at the Palatka Senior Arts Festival on Sept. 11.
Positively Putnam FL

Mary Lawson Brown has wanted to do something special for senior citizens in the community for a while.

An outdoors festival planned for next month is something the retired longtime city commissioner hopes is a step in that direction.

The Palatka Senior Arts Festival is scheduled 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sept. 11 along the Palatka riverfront and marina. Brown said the event will be in conjunction with National Grandparents Day on Sept. 12.

Brown said the purpose of the event is to give an opportunity for seniors to be arts and crafts vendors, sell their wares and be recognized for their talents.

“We haven’t done anything really special for our senior citizens,” Brown said. “We hope to make it a special day for them.”

The festival will be outdoors near the marina the city dedicated last year in honor of Brown’s 36 years of service as a Palatka city commissioner.

Brown talked with city commissioners individually to get their OK for the festival because of COVID concerns.

Brown and Eddie Cutwright, Palatka’s director of recreation and cultural arts, said safety guidelines will be followed for the event.

Cutwright said he welcomed the idea from Brown and hopes to make the senior festival an annual event.

“We’ll try to do some social distancing, have sanitary stations and other COVID measures in place to keep our seniors and visitors safe,” Cutwright said. “It’s something we’d mentioned doing before COVID last year and didn’t get a chance to do it.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and a great thing to do for an age demographic that over the years we have kind of forgotten about. It’s giving them fun and an opportunity to show some of their craftwork. We’ll start small. We hope it can grow and be something we can continue to do for our senior citizens.”

Brown said people will be asked to social distance.

“It’s outdoors, not indoors,” Brown said. “We’ll be safe, but I also think people need something to lift them up.”

Brown said she knows several seniors in the area who do artwork, make jewelry and other crafts.

“This gives them a chance to show their talents, maybe sell some of their creations to help pay some bills or get other things they need,” Brown said.

“We also hope it will give a chance for some of the younger people to learn crafts and enjoy being around our older residents. They can learn a lot from them.”

Brown said she is looking for those in the community who would like to help sponsor or contribute to the event. For more information, those interested can call her at 916-0567 or email Connie Schneider at schn454@bellsouth.net.

In conjunction with the event, Brown encouraged grandchildren to write letters about what they appreciate about their grandparents. The Palatka Daily News will publish selected letters. Letters can be emailed to Trisha Murphy at tmurphy@palatkadailynews.com by Aug. 27.