Friday, April 4, 2008


A4* Palm Beach Gardens, North Palm Beach, Singer Island Hometown News


Music
From page Al
gor, Amel Larrieux and
Doug E. Fresh, youth can
attend a workshop at an
area school (which one
was not known at press
time) where artists Najee
and Teena Marie will host
question and answer ses-
sions about music. Similar
workshops were held in
previous years, and com-
mittee members brought it
back this year to get more
youth involved with the
event, said Ms. Brown.
 Although the event is
being held during spring
break for area public
schools, "the indication
we've gotten is there are a
significant amount of kids


interested in attending the
workshop," she said.
 City staff has also decid-
ed to put $1 from each
ticket sale toward an exist-
ing scholarship fund; how-
ever, a portion of that will
be set aside for ongoing
requests from local
schools regarding funding
for their music programs,
said Ms. Brown.
 The festival will also help
the community where it's
held in other ways.
 For instance, one of the
event's committee mem-
bers is strongly involved
with the Sea Turtle Conser-
vation League of Singer
Island, and $2 from a por-
tion of tickets sold for Sat-
urday, April 12, will go
toward that effort.
 The event is held on the


beach, during turtle nest-
ing season, so the league
has been concerned about
that over the years. "The
league has worked closely
with us to make it a posi-
tive event, where we can
use the beach without hav-
ing a negative impact on
the turtles," said Ms.
Brown.
 The city and league
should benefit, as the city
staff and event committee
are expecting between
12,000 and 15,000 people
to attend, said Ms. Brown.
 Approximately 1,000
tickets have been sold in
advance. The fact that
Black Entertainment Tele-
vision's Spring Bling
returned to the beach last
week will not decrease the
event's ticket sales, said


Ms. Brown.
 "We are looking at Spring
Bling as having a positive
impact on the (Music Festi-
val) because some young
people who have not heard
about it are learning of it as
BET announced it almost
every break during Spring
Bling (last year)," she said.
 And there are more tick-
ets on hand this year, as
the committee decided to
significantly reduce the
number of complimentary
tickets given to council
members and city staff,
Ms. Brown added.
 One other change from
last year's festival that was
kept was adding a third
day. The last day of the
event will feature gospel
music, performed by
artists Fred Hammond,


Vickie Winans, Jimmy
Hicks and Crystal Aikin.
 Singers should be safe
while performing their
acts, as city officials select-
ed a different stage compa-
ny this year. After a roof
above one of the stages col-
lapsed last year and caused
delays, city staff found that
a similar situation had
occurred at another venue
the company had worked
at, so this year, they
checked references before
making their decision, said
Ms. Brown.
 Despite the new
approach, Riviera Beach
may still not profit from
the event.
 The city spent $610,000
last year and took in less
than half that, a little more
than $241,000. When the


committee pitched its sug-
gestions to the council this
fall, its second vice chair-
woman, Verdenia Baker,
stated the committee had
proposed spending $723,
950 and making $354,800,
but those were preliminary
numbers.
 "Our goal is to break
even both in terms of
sponsorship and ticket
sales. We want to lay the
groundwork for council, so
it,will be easier for them to
fund the event in the
future," said Ms. Brown.
 "(The festival) does have
a strong potential to sup-
port itself."

 For more information on
the festival, call (561) 472-
0316 or visit www.rivier-
abeachmusicfestival.com.


Historical
From page Al


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 g *ar^ o' *
 MAKING.SENSE OF INVESTIN


50th anniversary next year -
in an effort to strengthen the
community through shared-
knowledge of the past,
according to a city press
release.
 The historical society is a
community organization,
which eventually will become
a registered, self-sustaining
not-for-profit organization
run by local volunteers, said
Maria Mamlouk, a member of
the organization.
 Ms. Mamlouk said she is, by
training, a demographer and
has worked for the state
department in foreign aid, the
SAID.
 "At the beginning, frankly,
we did not want to grow too
much, because it was easier to
establish goals about how we
want to grow and to collect
information about the 50th
anniversary," she said, adding
she and other volunteers have
been researching how neigh-
boring cities celebrated their
50th anniversaries.
 While collecting and cata-
loguing relevant historical
documents found in the city's
archives, the volunteers have
begun to develop a record of
the city's history over the past
50 years, according to the


release.
 It is a fascinating task of
unearthing facts, such as
that the first lone resident list-
ed on the 1960 Census of Palm
Beach Gardens, was not Mr.
MacArthur, the Chicago mil-
lionaire who started buying all
the available land in the
northern part of Palm Beach
County, but Charles Cooper,
then 71, who lived in a house
that was assembled from
packing boards and had no
water or electricity, according
to the release.
 Because there is so much
dispersed information, which
will be lost with the passage of
time, the historical society
wants to enlist the support of
residents, particularly those
who were around during the
formation of the city, accord-
ing to the release.
 Currently, the society has 10
volunteers, and the number is
rising, said city recreation
supervisor Amy Stepper, who
is also the city correspondent
for the historical society.
 "The participation of resi-
dents will not only ensure that
their knowledge of deeds and
events are recognized and
recorded, but that the influen-
tial part of the history of the


Allure Marble

 Craftsmanship &Elegance in Bath


city may never be forgotten,"
the release said.
 Diverse current volunteers
include Don Kiselewski, a for-
mer mayor of the city and his
wife, Arline, who was presi-
dent and is currently an active
member of the Palm Beach
Gardens Woman's Club.
 Ms. Kiselewski said the cou-
ple and their four children
have lived in the city since
1971.
 "We volunteers are very
excited at the wonderful
response we are receiving in
this endeavor," she said.
 Other volunteers include
pioneers Linda Smith and
Gunda Caldwell, Ms. Mam-
louk said, adding that Ms.
Smith is a former employee of
Pratt Whitney, one the first
major companies established
in the city, while Ms. Caldwell
is a lady in her late 80s, who
remembers the Seminole
Indians, a long-time resident
who wrote a book about
Wellington.
 Other volunteers are resi-
dents Irene Pedrick and David
Cohen, a former English pro-
fessor from American Univer-
sity in Washington D.C., Ms.
Mamlouk said.
 Peggy Melvik, another vol-
unteer, is very active in vari-
ous not-for-profits within the
area, and is a winter bird from
Cape Cod. Volunteer Marion
Rosencrans is a dynamic lady
who has also been very active
throughout all her life in dif-
ferent not-for-profits, and is a
winter bird from New York
City, Ms. Mamnlouk said.
 The first event of the Histor-
ical Society, held March 25 at
their meeting at the Lakeside
Center on Military Trail, was,
befittingly, the appearance of
Nancy Kriplen, author of "The
Eccentric Billionaire," a new
biography of Mr. MacArthur,
Ms. Mamlouk said.
 The event, which was
attended by 35 guests, was
excellent. Ms. Stepper said.
 "The author shared some
stories from her book, some
personal stories about how
she came to write the book, as
well as answered questions
from the audience and signed
books."


 Ms. Kriplen's book traces
the tumultuous private life
and impressive fortune of Mr.
MacArthur, a figure who was
reviled, feared and admired
throughout his life and after,
according to the release.
 "She draws on extensive
research, including first- hand
interviews with (Mr.)
MacArthur's relatives and for-
mer associates, as well as a
recently discovered collection
of taped interviews with
MacArthur himself, for
insights and anecdotes that
make the subject come alive,
all with his complexities, con-
tradictions and quirks,"
according to the release.
 "What we are planning to
do in the next couple of meet-
ings is get organized, look for
(a) lawyer that will incorpo-
rate us, and later, register as a
5013C, which is a not-for-
profit organization, which will
establish us as a regular com-
munity group," Ms. Mamlouk
said. "Our long-term idea and
the most important legacy
that we're going to leave to the
city is an institution that will
carry on as the keeper of the
history of the city."
 She said that eventually, the
society hopes to achieve grant
requests that will allow a very
small museum about the city
at the Lakeside Center.
 "Our mission is to be of
education and one of preser-
vation," she said. "We need
residents' help. This is the
moment we can grow very
fast."
 Ms. Mamlouk said the his-
torical society is "working on
producing a DVD in connec-
tion with the city's 50th
anniversary to capture both
and video images of those
who played key roles in the
growth of Palm Beach Gar-
dens, as well as visually docu-
menting those who have gone
before us."
 The society meets every
second and fourth Tuesday of
the month at the Lakeside
Center.

 For more information about
the historical society, please
call Amy Stepper at (561) 630-
1116.


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A4 Palm Beach Gardens, North Palm Beach, Singer island


Hometown News


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