The Highlands Current swiftly published an article about the change in leadership for the Spirit of Beacon Day after the new Committee presented at Beacon’s City Council Meeting on July 5, 2022.
Gwenno James began the presentation to introduce the new Committee by saying that the Spirit of Beacon was “alive and well,” as she was quoted in the Highlands Current. Gwenno is the reason the day didn’t dim in 2017, when Rose Story and others stepped down, with no one to pass the torch on to.
Gwenno stepped up, and saw the organization through two brutal years of the pandemic, when in-person parades were not allowed. In 2022, Gwenno accepted new responsibilities at her job, requiring her to travel more and not be able to be in town for the parade and festival.
Hearing the call, Katie Hellmuth Martin, publisher of A Little Beacon Blog designer/producer at Katie James, Inc., and small business advocate at Tin Shingle, volunteered to lead, and was accepted. She, along with new board members Nickeya Allen Smith and Junior Zayed Dabashi, delivered a speech before City Council describing the vision for the year.
The Highlands Current reported: “Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Martin and a new slate of committee members said the theme for this year’s event will be “the Origin Story” of the Spirit of Beacon. Racial unrest led community leaders in 1977 to organize the inaugural festival in hopes of unifying the city’s residents, and 'it was important to me to keep these roots alive and nourished’ as part of this year’s event, Martin said.”
