DELRAY BEACH — Three blocks of West Atlantic Avenue were swallowed by a community festival boasting more than 1,000 people on Saturday.
Despite chilling winds, crowds danced and chatted all day at the Peach Umbrella Plaza Association’s third annual Fall Festival on Saturday.
Along West Atlantic Avenue from Third to Sixth avenues, disc jockeys piped music through giant speakers, vendors cooked up hot dogs and barbecued ribs, and shop owners kept their doors open extra wide.
Mildred Burns, 54, of Delray Beach ran a booth providing information about Little Folks Day Care Center.
“We’re trying to promote the community,” she said. “We need to pull together. It’s so divided.”
Angela Martinez, 22, of West Palm Beach relaxed under a tree along Atlantic Avenue, savoring a meal of fried chicken and rice.
“I am really enjoying myself,” she said. “I like what they have done to Delray.”
Clay Wideman, festival organizer and Atlantic Avenue shop owner, stepped up to the disc jockeys’ microphones and spoke to the crowd.
“This is what it’s all about,” he said. “Let’s bridge the gap. Let people know that Delray is a great town.”
The Atlantic High School ROTC drill squad performed early in the day and the American Red Cross and the Delray Beach police and fire departments offered safety demonstrations.
Wideman said he was pleased with the trunout.
“There is a lot of cohesiveness among the community,” he said. “I think this brings down the barrier between blacks and whites. We are all here with the common goal.”
The volunteer law-enforcement officers were extremely helpful, he said.
“The police have done an outstanding job,” he said. “We couldn’t have pulled it off without them.”
