Hundreds of current and former residents returned to Elizabeth Virrick Park on Saturday to reconnect, celebrate their roots and reaffirm their ties to a neighborhood being reshaped by redevelopment.
Michael Martin drove south from Orlando with his two young children. Zachary Rolle came down from Fort Lauderdale. And Verthelia Sandilands rode into the park on a motorized scooter from her home just blocks away.
Those current and former residents of the West Grove, along with several hundred others, got together in Elizabeth Virrick Park on Saturday for a Coconut Grove reunion touted as a day of celebration, history and culture in a historically Black community that feels under siege from gentrification.
“I think our tag line — ‘Where the Grove still feels like home’ — says it all,” said Kimberly Davis, one of the organizers of the event. “The Coconut Grove community is like most communities dealing with severe gentrification. But we are very resilient. We have the soil, a space, a memory and we still flock back to that.”
On a swelteringly hot afternoon, the gathering under the trees at times looked like any other summertime festival. There was a bounce house for kids, live music from veteran performers like vocalist Charlotte McKinnon – crowned the first Miss Coconut Grove in 1985 – and an array of food offerings that included fried oysters, donuts, roasted corn and barbecue.
Yet the reunion was also infused with a spirit of hometown camaraderie among folks whose roots go back generations, in some cases to the original Bahamian progenitors who settled the Grove.
“They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds. And like weeds, we keep coming back,” said Davis, president and founder of the Coconut Grove Optimist Club. “The Grove is our home.”
Alas, the Grove is no longer home to many with deep community connections. Zachary Rolle, 65, the eldest son of the late educator and musician Billy Rolle — namesake of the Grand Avenue post office — reconnected with several old friends.
“The Grove was always a close-knit neighborhood where everybody knew everybody,” he said. But the changes are as obvious as a high-rise condo towering over a row of small wooden houses. “They call it gentrification, but I call it an invasion,” Rolle said.
The aggressive pace of development sweeping through the West Grove and driving out many who can no longer afford to live there was on the minds of many. “I don’t like what I see, those cube houses,” said Sandilands, wearing a green “Coconut Grove 4 Life” T-shirt. She chatted with a classmate she had not seen since their 1974 graduation from Coral Gables High School.
“I’m not leaving,” said Sandilands. “I have visited other places. There’s no place like home.”
Martin, 44, an engineer, left the Grove for good when he went off to attend Florida State University. But his parents are still around, as well as many he went to school and church with. “It was special,” he says of the vibe in the Grove. “Families and generations grew up together, we knew everybody. But change is inevitable.”
The reunion was interrupted by thunderstorms that rolled in about 4 p.m., but the party continued inside the gym where chairs had been set up for a talent show. “Rain or shine, the party kept going,” said Davis.
Davis said she saw many old friends, including a classmate she had not seen since high school graduation in 2001. “We had a family here from Texas and some others from Jacksonville,” she added, a nod to many who had traveled far to be there.
In addition to the dancing and music from those who signed up for the talent show, the audience was also delighted by a visit from Fatboi Junkanoo Entertainment, the family troupe headed by Grove native Telise Ingraham and featuring her stilt-walking children, Skai and Christopher.
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McKinnon got in a second set on the outdoor stage just before the rains blew in, mixing in some Caribbean rhythms with old school R&B. Offstage she was able to connect with people from the neighborhood she had not seen for years.
“The neighborhood is changing very fast,” said McKinnon, who toured for 12 years with KC and the Sunshine Band. “I’ve seen it happening everywhere, in different cities around the country. But we are holding fast to keep the culture alive. It’s up to us, and events like this help.”
The reunion was scheduled to end at 7 p.m. but did not wind up until 8:30 p.m. because of the rain, Davis said.
Vicky Rivers, the Virrick Park manager who came up with the reunion idea, said the event exceeded her expectations. “There have been lots of changes going on in the community. People feel like they are losing their existence,” said Rivers. “So, I thought it was a good idea to bring them all together.
“Now I am excited to start planning for next year.”
