{"id":425643,"date":"2026-10-12T15:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/425643\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:50:11","slug":"new-foundation-launches-mary-brickell-calendar-with-50-events-oct-19th-with-collectors-edition-oversize-poster-for-39-day-observance-from-her-105th-anniversary-of-her-passing-to-the-191st-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/425643\/","title":{"rendered":"New Foundation launches (Mary Brickell) calendar with 50 events Oct.19th with collector\u2019s edition oversize poster for 39 day observance from her 105th anniversary of her passing to the 191st anniversary of her birthdate."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Miami \u2013 On the eve of the 105th anniversary of the passing of co-mother of\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The calendar of activities, tours, lectures and \u201cfirst-annual Look-A-Like contest\u201d over the course of 39 days (and 50 events \u2013 hosted by some of Miami\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mary Brickell Foundation \u2013 a new 501c3 organization welcomes Miamian\u2019s 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 \u201cflower\u201d 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).<\/p>\n

Leading the way is great-granddaughter Beatrice \u201cBea\u201d Brickell, who, one year ago after retracing her great-grandparents\u2019 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. \u201cI believe it\u2019s time to form a foundation to continue to advocate for Mary Brickell as well as educate all Miamians \u2013 especially the school ages children in South Florida about the true story of how our community got its start\u201d<\/p>\n

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; \u201cwhat would Mary do?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cMom number two\u201d others clarifying \u201cwithout Mary there would be no deal with Flagler\u201d and one former Dade County Historic Preservation Office Director claiming \u201cshe may have even been more influential than Julia Tuttle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 now on its second printing \u2013 on the ongoing debate, has now retrieved the baton and is running with it full throttle; \u201cthere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The calendar of events at the printer now will be released digitally on the foundation\u2019s website www.marybrickell.com<\/a> 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 \u201clearning Calendar\u201d where even if you can\u2019t attend, you still will learn of Mary\u2019s impact. Each event has been curated and written to teach some aspect of Mary\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

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 \u201calong with Julia, Miami\u2019s other mother\u201d and journeys of advocational and full blown historian\u2019s work of piecing together parts of Mary\u2019s critical role and theories as to why some have chosen to mask it from public view.<\/p>\n

Reservations and tickets will be able to be purchased on the web-site and all go to support the group\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Special, unfolded copies of the oversize poster will be available on their website as a collector\u2019s item celebrating Mary\u2019s image, once thought to be non-existing due to Mary being \u201ctoo ugly\u201d, \u201ccantankerous\u201d or just plain \u201ctoo shy\u201d neither of which turned out true as there are now 3 known photos of Mary, the first of which took 30 years to surface!<\/p>\n


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