Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498
NEWS BRIEFS Central-Cocoanut neighborkids leading the first annual celebration of the 1955 Sarasota Beach Caravan in 2010. Contributed photo NEIGHBORKIDS TO LEAD FOURTH CELEBRATION OF BEACH CARAVAN On Sept. 28, for the fourth consecutive year, children who live on Central and Cocoanut avenues in Sarasota and their neighbors in the greater Newtown community will celebrate the 1955 Beach Caravan, "a powerful example of the forward-thinking leadership of Newtown neighbors," a news release says. All members of the broader Sarasota community are invited to join them on Saturday, Sept. 28, beginning at 3 p.m., the release adds. The "neighborkids" will lead their own caravan, host a beach picnic and share the story of the 1955 Beach Caravan, the release continues. This is "a way of celebrating and honoring the community's significant civil rights history and … a way of inspiring forward-thinking leadership today," the release adds. "Over half a century ago, Newtown neighbors made civil rights history when they introduced and championed the idea of fully integrated beaches in Sarasota County and organized weekly car trips to Lido Beach as a way of demonstrating that it was high time for all beaches in Sarasota County to be open to all people," the release points out. This happened before Rosa Parks' actions led to the Montgomery, AL, bus boycott, and before many people in the United States had heard of the