Community Corner
From Arts to Grand Marshal: DeCroce Honored for Volunteerism at Apple Harvest Festival
The talented Southington resident has made her name known across the community for her work in bringing art and culture to Southington. Her efforts haven't gone unnoticed.
For the past several years, Mary DeCroce has turned herself into a familiar face at the town’s annual Apple Harvest Festival. Each year, she has taken the land behind the YMCA and turned it into a destination for art lovers of all ages with “Harvest the Arts.”
DeCroce will now serve in another role as well in 2013 after members of the Apple Harvest Festival Committee named her as the Grand Marshal of the event’s annual parade.
“She has dedicated so much time to our community and to this event, serving as coordinator for the popular ‘Harvest the Arts’ weekend,” said committee member and Southington Town Councilman Christopher Palmieri. “She is positive and energetic; she’s enthusiastic about everything she does. For her it has always been service above self that’s exactly the type of person we are looking for.”
There aren’t many in the community that aren’t familiar with DeCroce, who serves as an art teacher at the St. Dominic School, as an avid volunteer that has helped produce murals all across town and most recently as the president of Southington Community Cultural Arts, a group that aims to build an arts and culture center in the old Gura Building.
She is also a cancer survivor and has been a participant in the past nine Southington Relay for Life events, as well as serving three years as one of the event co-chairs.
“This is an incredible honor for me,” said DeCroce, a longtime supporter of the arts. “I’ve never done anything for recognition. I got involved because this is something I’ve always been passionate about.”
The Southington resident first got into art in 1990 and has worked with it ever since. In recent years, she has dedicated her time to bringing the arts center to the downtown area and has been well involved in the community, helping place murals in nearly every corner of the town.
“Mary has coordinated numerous artistic endeavors in town including 8 murals located in downtown Southington and along the linear trail, the “Art of Graffiti” workshop, and most recently the mural for the “Because of 26” event dedicated to the tragedy which occurred in Newtown,” Palmieri noted.
DeCroce first got into murals after visiting a friend in Philadelphia in January 2009. While there, she noticed beautiful pictures painted across buildings and learned that the city had commissioned talented graffiti artists to do so to cover gang signs and other negative graffiti in the community.
“I was so inspired by the public art that I came back to Southington and said this would be amazing to see here. That year, Sue called from the Pepper Pot and it really took off from there.”
DeCroce will lead the parade when it steps off on Oct. 6. For more information on this year’s Apple Harvest Festival, click the link provided.
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