Spady Living Heritage Day Returns to Historic NW Fifth Avenue September 5, 2008

The ways of southern life come back to Delray Beach at the Spady Living Heritage Day on September 6, 2008.

After the success of last year’s festival, held on historic NW Fifth Avenue, this year’s fall festival will welcome back several popular entertainers, cooks and storytellers. The Spady Museum, located at 170 NW 5th Avenue, will be in the center of the action.

The event is from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; admission is free.

Sponsored by Tom Hinners and Auburn Development, the event will feature the storytelling of Butch “the Florida Cracker” Harrison; the Tradition Bearers of Renaissance Park of Marianna, FL; children’s activities; live musical entertainment; and a farm area.

Live music performances will include the R&B band Strictly Business and the Drinkwater blues band. Festival-goers can enjoy the music under tented seating.

Demonstrations by the Tradition Bearers will include shining shoes, making grass brooms and cooking fried bread and cracklin’. Exhibitors will also discuss syrup processing, turn-of-the-century hand tools and life on the farm. Activities for children will include pony rides; face painting; a bounce house, and traditional games, such as horseshoes, sack race, tug-o-war and 3-legged race.

The 2008 Spady Living Heritage Day Festival is being sponsored in part by a grant from the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.

Established in 2001, the Spady Museum is housed in a two-story residence originally built in 1926 and home to the late Solomon D. Spady, a prominent local educator and community leader from 1922 to 1957. Utilizing exhibits and artwork, the museum has served as a source of information for people wanting to know more about the city's early black history and culture.

For more information about the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, visit the museum on Historic Northwest Fifth Avenue in downtown Delray Beach, one-and-a-half blocks north of Atlantic Avenue, call the museum at 561-279-8883 or visit www.spadymuseum.org.

Official Website: http://www.spadymusuem.com