Word of South draws crowds on a sunny Saturday in Tallahassee

What was originally projected to be a rainy Saturday ending up sunny just in time for the Word of South Literature and Music Festival in Downtown Tallahassee.

The weekend-long festivities feature well-known authors and musicians, including an event geared towards kids dubbed Literacy Lane. Tents were staked along the lawn in front of the Adderley Amphitheater at Cascades Park.

Families flocked to Literacy Lane to take part in activities ranging from watercolor painting to tie-dying shirts. Vendors sponsoring the tents, including Leon County Schools, gave away picture books to the children there.

Across the lawn at the Amphitheater, families danced and sang along to the tunes of award-winning singer/songwriter Jennifer Daniels and Eric Litwin, a New York Times Best Selling author who is the original author of the popular “Pete the Cat” book series.

“I love seeing families interacting with each other,” Litwin said. “It feels good seeing so many smiling faces after some rough years.”

The event was hoping for a sunshine-filled Saturday after previous years of weather-filled weekends. According to vendors sponsoring Literacy Lane, it poured in 2021, and wind made it difficult to keep tents grounded at the festival last year.

When Daniels and Litwin wrapped up their festivities, families returned to Literacy Lane to find FSU Football stars Jared Verse and Trey Benson reading the picture booth “We Don’t Lose our Class Goldfish” to the children surrounding.

Benson eventually joined the children to listen to the defensive end Verse read aloud. When Verse finished reading and said “the end,” the crowd that gathered gave a round of applause.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Word of South 2023 draws crowds on a sunny Saturday in Tallahassee