Pirate Fest: Community, Flair, and Mermaids Extraordinaire

This past weekend was exemplary of the kind of culture that comes from street festivals. While it’s easy to appreciate the inherent fun of events like Pirate Fest here in the city of Boynton Beach, they also hold a much more necessary role for our communities, particularly young minds. As kids walk around they are treated to amazing sights that encourage imagination and expression. A tent with wonderful mermaids thrilling young children as they shyly approach them for a picture. The family of performers doing daring stunts and holding the attention of an enraptured crowd. Not to mention the number of booths, tents, and galleries like mine that get to set up and interact with people to discuss art, interests, and passions that fuel us and our appreciation of life. I met some truly amazing people this weekend in the store where we discussed everything from our love of vibrant fashion to the strength we find in expressing ourselves.

In particular, I was thrilled to see this same sense of excitement met when talking with the teams from Boynton Beach Art in Public Places and Culinary Tour about the amazing kind of work being produced in our very own backyard. It’s this kind of community building that not only brings people together but also inspires the next generation of engineers, artists, and designers into wherever their drive takes them.

Plus, who doesn’t love a good pirate?

- Amanda J.