The legendary Harlem Renaissance figure was an economic boon to her hometown
Going to Disney World? Try Zora Neale Hurston World Instead
by Roland Laird
With exhibits like Hall of Presidents and Tomorrowland, not only is Disney World America’s premier venue for family-friendly entertainment, but it also one of the most important cultural tourism attractions in the country.
Interestingly, less than 10 miles north of Disney World is another important American cultural tourism attraction. Each January, the city of Eatonville, Florida hosts the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of Arts and Humanities.
These days the week long event attracts upwards of 50,000 people, but the attraction wasn’t always that grand.
As the birthplace of legendary Harlem Renaissance figure Zora Neale Hurston and the first African-American municipality formed after the Civil War, Eatonville had a substantial pedigree, but for decades received no significant attention from the outside world. Ironically, a few days after it celebrated the centennial of its incorporation in 1987, Eatonville learned that the county was planning on turning two-lane Kennedy Boulevard, the spine of the community, into a five-lane thoroughfare, thus demolishing the small-town character of this historic community.
Like any group of people in a bucolic setting, the people of Eatonville were leery of any change, let alone the type of change that came with hundreds of cars zooming through the middle of their town. Sensing that an appeal to their Board of County Commissioners wasn’t likely to stop the highway, the people believed Eatonville’s history had value and that the creation of a marketing tool which promoted that history could succeed where a basic appeal would fail, and The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) was formed.
The founders of P.E.C. were preservationists with a focus on education, the cultural arts, and humanities. Their task was to zero in on the significance of Eatonville from this perspective and “sell” it to the county.
The P.E.C. members also knew that Eatonville being the country’s first post Civil War black municipality wasn’t a compelling enough story to sway the county board so just as Disney World was formed on the basis of the creative output of Walt Disney, the P.E.C. based their vision on the creative output of their native daughter, Zora Neale Hurston. But while Disney’s creativity was “fun” and easily accessible, commercializing without compromising Zora Neale Hurston was more than a notion.
According to N.Y. Nathiri, the current Executive Director of P.E.C. the challenge was to “to take something that might be perceived as stodgy and make it interesting” and thus a festival to honor not only Hurston and her works, but also her ideals and ethics was born.
In using the festival format, the P.E.C. was able to provide activities including a public forum of academic discussions, workshops, and master classes; an Education Day to present age-appropriate cultural arts programming for students; a Street Festival showcasing music, dance, drama, visual arts, folk arts, and ethnic cuisines; and cultural arts events, including concerts, art exhibitions, and theater performances.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
Going to Disney World? Try Zora Neale Hurston World Instead
by Roland Laird
With exhibits like Hall of Presidents and Tomorrowland, not only is Disney World America’s premier venue for family-friendly entertainment, but it also one of the most important cultural tourism attractions in the country.
Interestingly, less than 10 miles north of Disney World is another important American cultural tourism attraction. Each January, the city of Eatonville, Florida hosts the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of Arts and Humanities.
These days the week long event attracts upwards of 50,000 people, but the attraction wasn’t always that grand.
As the birthplace of legendary Harlem Renaissance figure Zora Neale Hurston and the first African-American municipality formed after the Civil War, Eatonville had a substantial pedigree, but for decades received no significant attention from the outside world. Ironically, a few days after it celebrated the centennial of its incorporation in 1987, Eatonville learned that the county was planning on turning two-lane Kennedy Boulevard, the spine of the community, into a five-lane thoroughfare, thus demolishing the small-town character of this historic community.
Like any group of people in a bucolic setting, the people of Eatonville were leery of any change, let alone the type of change that came with hundreds of cars zooming through the middle of their town. Sensing that an appeal to their Board of County Commissioners wasn’t likely to stop the highway, the people believed Eatonville’s history had value and that the creation of a marketing tool which promoted that history could succeed where a basic appeal would fail, and The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) was formed.
The founders of P.E.C. were preservationists with a focus on education, the cultural arts, and humanities. Their task was to zero in on the significance of Eatonville from this perspective and “sell” it to the county.
The P.E.C. members also knew that Eatonville being the country’s first post Civil War black municipality wasn’t a compelling enough story to sway the county board so just as Disney World was formed on the basis of the creative output of Walt Disney, the P.E.C. based their vision on the creative output of their native daughter, Zora Neale Hurston. But while Disney’s creativity was “fun” and easily accessible, commercializing without compromising Zora Neale Hurston was more than a notion.
According to N.Y. Nathiri, the current Executive Director of P.E.C. the challenge was to “to take something that might be perceived as stodgy and make it interesting” and thus a festival to honor not only Hurston and her works, but also her ideals and ethics was born.
In using the festival format, the P.E.C. was able to provide activities including a public forum of academic discussions, workshops, and master classes; an Education Day to present age-appropriate cultural arts programming for students; a Street Festival showcasing music, dance, drama, visual arts, folk arts, and ethnic cuisines; and cultural arts events, including concerts, art exhibitions, and theater performances.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
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