Presentation on “The Cottages of Lake Worth” book for the Boynton Beach Historical Society.

This is the program from the event last night (click on image to enlarge):

To learn more about the Boynton Beach Historical Society use this link. A special thanks to M. Randall Gill, the Boynton Beach Historical Society President, to Anne Rimler, First Vice President, and to everyone else on the board and staff who made this event so successful.

“The Cottages of Lake Worth” team led by the book coordinator, Janice Snearer, arrived just after 6:00 to set up. When I arrived a short time later was greeted by an already full parking lot. Once inside the room where the presentation was to take place it was filling up fast. Before long chairs were being carried down from the second floor. Again and again.

Janice Snearer (center) shows off the book after it arrived last November to Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein and to Dolores Key, the City’s Economic Development Director.

We soon found out, even before the event was to begin, there were many more people in attendance than their average meeting. By the time I started with the presentation there were over 100 people in the room. Janice brought along books to sell and those 20 were gone in short order. If another 20 books were available many of those would have been sold as well judging by the line at the table.

A view of the venue. The Boynton Beach Woman’s Club at 1010 South Federal Hwy.

My presentation went for about 40 minutes and I was able to delve into the reasons why the cottages exist, spanning much of 20th century here in south Florida. Questions were asked and answered at the end of the presentation, all very good. And there was that question as well, “Are you the Wes Blackman that worked for Donald. . .?”

The Boynton Beach Historical Society was a great host and the staff was on top of everything. It was my pleasure to share some of the best that Lake Worth has to offer. Once again, I am honored to have been given the opportunity.

As a thank you for coming to speak, I was given a bag containing several items including, “Images of America: Boynton Beach”, by M. Randall Gill in conjunction with the Boynton Beach City Library and “Boynton Beach: The First Hundred Years”, produced by the Boynton Beach Historical Society and Friends of the Boynton Beach Library.

Our cities of Lake Worth and Boynton Beach share a long and proud history.

This was the first showing of “The Cottages” PowerPoint presentation. Judging by the feedback it was very well received. I’ll let everyone know when another presentation is scheduled in the future. Thank you everyone for coming out last night.