By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore’s first three Patterson Street Fun Day celebrations, although they served their purpose, were plagued with blistering August heat, so organizers moved it to September. It didn’t matter.
Kids and adults sought shelter under tents or shade trees as the temperature approached 90 degrees by midday last Saturday, September 21, during the event’s fourth edition.
Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks, one of the free event’s main organizers, agreed.
“I believe it would find us, no matter when we did this,” the chief laughed as he, other police officers, firefighters and Mayor Jim Staff crowded under a canopy to escape the sun.
Despite the unanticipated heat, teens and toddlers scrambled to a bouncy house or chased each other until they got hot. The biggest draw of this year’s event, just as in the past three, was the awarding of gifts donated by various businesses, including gift cards from Walmart and Philanthropic Seed.
Each person in attendance, adult or youngster, was given a ticket, and the gift cards and other prizes ranging from footballs, basketball and toys to various sundry items, were awarded to the lucky ticket holder.
Police and firefighters again grilled dozens of hot dogs, and packaged chips, soft drinks and water were available.
The Fun Day also featured booths where local Red Cross workers and members of Concerned Citizens of Atmore provided information and registered voters. People Engaged in Recovery (P.E.I.R.) made their third recent appearance in Atmore.
A booth manned by Feathers & Fangs, a local exotic animal rescue organization, was a big hit as mostly youngsters held two ball pythons or chatted with a scattering of small birds.
The event was reportedly a joint presentation of EJM Atmore Outreach, Atmore Police Department, Atmore Fire Department and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, but for the second straight year, neither Sheriff Heath Jackson nor any of his deputies were present.
Brooks said the annual event, now a primary presentation of City Councilwoman Eunice Johnson’s EMJ Atmore Outreach, has been and remains to be a valuable tool in his department’s Community Oriented Policing (COP) effort. Plus, he added, he enjoys giving back to the community into which he was born and reared.
“I love doing this, being a part of any kind of community event,” he said. “It seems to be growing every year. It gives people the opportunity to come out and meet our police officers and firemen in a friendly environment. That’s one of the biggest things about it.”