Thousands attended Silver Anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston Festival

Thousands attended Silver Anniversary of  Zora Neale Hurston Festival

MayorBruce Mount  of Eatonville, FL; Ava Doppelt, PEC Board member; Reginald McGill, Executive Office, City of Orlando; Rick Sing,  Orange County Property Appraiser; Tiffany Moore Russell, Commissioner Orange County, United States Postal Service; Lucious Sumlar, Gulf Atlantic District Marketing Manager, United States Postal Service, Nancy Rettinhouse; Suncoast District Manager; Congresswoman Corrine Brown, NY Nathiri Executive Director, United States Postal Service Mary Jo Pigott-Groom, Postmaster Maitland, FL, Carol Shirley, Retail Manager(A), Samuel Ings Mayor Pro Tem City of Orlando, and Alvin Moore Councilman Eatonville, The United States Postal Service Carol Shirley Suncoast Retail Manager(A), Vickie Dunn, Suncoast  Marketing Manager(A), Edwin Morales, Supervisor, Customer Service, Jacquelyn Villemaire, Manager, Post Office Operations.

Story & photos by Frank Powell

Thousands attended the 25th Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. Congresswoman Corrine Brown said, “It is more than a privilege for me to serve as the Honorary Chairperson for this year’s Silver Anniversary to ‘Celebrate our Milestone: 25 years of Zora! Festival.’ along with actress Melba Moore. Moore said the celebration was more than just a celebration of Hurston, or of Eatonville but of the Black community. “We came here as slaves, and we’re still climbing out and trying to make things better for ourselves and the rest of the world.” The US Post Office also honored the festival by showing the new Shirley Chisholm postage stamp. Chisholm was the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress, and also the first African-American to run for President. 365 days till the next Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival. The last week of January each year in Eatonville and throughout Orange County, Florida, celebrates the life and work of 20th century writer, folklorist and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston, her hometown, Eatonville, the nation’s oldest incorporated Black municipality and the contributions people of African ancestry have made to the United States and world’s culture.