Miami – On the eve of the 105th anniversary of the passing of co-mother of Miami, Mary Brickell, a group of advocates intend to begin another round of an uphill battle/debate to shed light on the British-born, Australian-raised, and pre-Miami-Miamian who came to build a metropolis twenty years before Julia Tuttle set foot in Miami.
The calendar of activities, tours, lectures and “first-annual Look-A-Like contest” over the course of 39 days (and 50 events – hosted by some of Miami’s top institutions such as FIU, MDC, Miami-Dade County library, The Barnacle, Vizcaya, Pioneers Club, Genealogical Society and more) will be released to the public on October 19th.
The Mary Brickell Foundation – a new 501c3 organization welcomes Miamian’s of all ages and background to retrace the steps (6 walking tours) and stories (over 23 presentations) and journeys (by boat, bike, metro-mover and by Brightline train) that begins with a solemn remembrance “flower” ceremony at Mary Brickell Park January 13th (the 105th anniversary of her passing) at 2 pm and concludes with the 1st annual Mary Brickell look-a-like Contest on Feb 20th, ( the 191st anniversary of the day Mary was born in Bolton England).
Leading the way is great-granddaughter Beatrice “Bea” Brickell, who, one year ago after retracing her great-grandparents’ footsteps in Australia decided (from her stateroom of a Celebrity Cruise Ship barreling from Sydney to The Great Barrier Reef) to launch what she realized was now time to do so. “I believe it’s time to form a foundation to continue to advocate for Mary Brickell as well as educate all Miamians – especially the school ages children in South Florida about the true story of how our community got its start”
Tapping Historian Cesar A. Becerra, Producer Mia Laurenzo, Former FIU President Steve Sauls and Brickell advocate Elena Kasparis the group is ready and has already hit the ground running to correct a few misunderstandings about Mary Brickell but also ask themselves to act at times under the mantra; “what would Mary do?”
Organizing a half dozen major long-term projects is Executive Director Katia Gauchier who is in charge of navigating the ebb and flow of challenges to produce a major Musical, a Documentary, a small army of educators to fan out across all 4 counties and launch a massive rollout of 51 events beginning Jan 13th, 2027.
Mary, long associated under the shadow of her husband William Brickell is slowly, incrementally being more recognized as a prime mover in early Miami to the point where historians have been realizing her growing importance; one saying she is “Mom number two” others clarifying “without Mary there would be no deal with Flagler” and one former Dade County Historic Preservation Office Director claiming “she may have even been more influential than Julia Tuttle.”
Becerra, long the disciple of a long forgotten advocate who found the first photo of Mary after a 30 year search and who has written a book – now on its second printing – on the ongoing debate, has now retrieved the baton and is running with it full throttle; “there is no doubt in my mind that Mary is at the very least a co-founding Mother of Miami and she is long overdue in recognition for how many cards she held to birth our city.”
The calendar of events at the printer now will be released digitally on the foundation’s website www.marybrickell.com and soon distributed all over Dade County has a special oversized image of Mary Brickell that will top out at 27 by 39 inches. The foundation had designed the calendar side to be a “learning Calendar” where even if you can’t attend, you still will learn of Mary’s impact. Each event has been curated and written to teach some aspect of Mary’s story.
Though the foundation is new, its advocacy can be traced back 60 plus years from the gathering and protection of Brickell artifacts to a 1958 article the mother of our first female U.S. Attorney Jane Wood Reno wrote calling Mary a mother “along with Julia, Miami’s other mother” and journeys of advocational and full blown historian’s work of piecing together parts of Mary’s critical role and theories as to why some have chosen to mask it from public view.
Reservations and tickets will be able to be purchased on the web-site and all go to support the group’s main two missions other than advocacy; outreach education to all South Florida public schools and a annual weekend festival beginning Feb 20th 2028 at Mary Brickell Park, a 2.3 acre of land (situated today between the First Presbyterian Church of Miami and the W-Hotel/Icon property) with a reverter clause that states if the City of Miami dares to commercialize the property the property reverts back to the Brickell family.
Special, unfolded copies of the oversize poster will be available on their website as a collector’s item celebrating Mary’s image, once thought to be non-existing due to Mary being “too ugly”, “cantankerous” or just plain “too shy” neither of which turned out true as there are now 3 known photos of Mary, the first of which took 30 years to surface!
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