Dancing, performances, delicious food and senior center pride were all on display at the Hillsborough County Aging Services Black Heritage Celebration.
The annual Black Heritage Celebration brought together more than 400 members from the Hillsborough County senior centers, dining centers and community seniors who attended the celebration on February 29 at The Regent, located at 6437 Watson Rd. in Riverview.
This was the first time Hillsborough County Aging Services held the event since 2020. It had been cancelled since then due to COVID-19 concerns.
“We have such a good time,” said Angelina Alexander, a member of the Progress Village Senior Center. “Aging Services does a wonderful job. We dress for the occasion. We laugh. We dance. The food is wonderful. It’s just a wonderful time to be back.”
This year’s theme was ‘It’s a Family Reunion.’
“It’s about coming together, reuniting with friends, meeting new people and having a really good time,” said Mary Jo McKay, Hillsborough County Aging Services nutrition and wellness manager. “We will have to pull them off the dance floor.”
Attendees could sense the healthy competition in the air among the various groups as they performed wearing their brightly colored dining or senior center team T-shirts.
Performances included members from the Oaks Senior Center, Brandon Senior Center, Lutz Senior Center, Town ’N Country Senior Center, Progress Village Senior Center, Ruskin Senior Center and Wimauma Senior Center. Seniors performed skits, danced and had a great time sharing and getting together again to celebrate Black History Month.
From active adult programming and in-home services to hot meals and referral services, Hillsborough County Aging Services offers residents ages 50 and over various services to enhance quality of life. The senior centers provide fitness walks, group exercises, health and wellness talks, dance classes, arts and crafts classes, computer classes, health screenings, bingo, dominoes and chess, to name a few of the programs.
Learn more by visiting https://hcfl.gov/aging or calling 813-272-5250.
