By Katherine Chen & Kimberly Bogers
Saturday, October 3rd was a time of good company, good food and good music at Pensacola State College’s Warrington campus. Vendors pitched tents to sell their wares while food trucks crowded nearby and music from the bands Pelican 212 and Bear With Me entertained visitors. The event also featured a yoga class for early birds and a chili cooking lesson for children.
A large number of Warrington’s citizens are working hard to make events like this one a common occurrence to increase the area’s popularity. One of these citizens is Jennifer Ponson, Student and Program Outreach Coordinator on the Warrington PSC campus.
“We want to improve Warrington by encouraging economic development and working on local youth and education. Rather than having a professional organization, we are a group of 80 citizens who hold information and business meetings where we share ideas on how to make Warrington a better place.”
When it came to activities at this event, visitors were able to try out different, local foods from the various food trucks on campus. Vendors offered a variety of homemade wares for the interested shopper and the bands introduced a flavor of their own. Visitors sat together at tables and were able to freely interact with other members of the community.
“I had just moved to the Pensacola area in May,” said Drema Scanlon, a visitor to the event. “I’m just trying to get out and find things to do.”
When asked what stood out the most from the event, visitors easily chose their favorite aspect.
“The music,” said John Bailes, a recent graduate from University of West Florida.
“The music here is really good,” said Ron Mckinney. His daughter had attended the children’s chili cooking session earlier in the day. “The kid’s band (Pelican 212) was great.”
“[I like] that there’s more than one food truck,” said Scanlon. “You have more than one choice.”
Ponson wants to improve Warrington the way that Downtown Pensacola was recently improved.
“Just a few years ago Downtown Pensacola did not have a lot going on. People did not visit, there was no shining light. A group of citizens came together with a shared vision to bring the area back to life. Now Downtown Pensacola hosts many events and is really thriving. Our goal is to work together to bring back Warrington in a similar way.”
“Our plan is to host an event [like this] once a month. The proceeds made at the event will go to Pensacola State College’s chapter of SkillsUSA. Students from PSC will help to plan and assist with activities for the future events.”
