FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April is National Poetry Month and this year Farmville businesses will have an opportunity to compete in the first annual “Hometown Haiku” competition. “No in-person events will be held this year due to the pandemic,” says Lori Drake, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and member of the National Poetry Month Celebration committee, “but we are sponsoring a haiku contest for Chamber businesses where the winner will receive free publicity on the Paramount Theater marquee.
According to Drake, Chamber businesses can write a haiku promoting their business and then email it to the Chamber. A group of judges will choose the best haikus, and the winning entries will be posted on the Paramount Theater Marquee. “We thought this would be a fun and safe way to share poetry in the community, and provide some great free publicity to some lucky business owners,” says Drake. “The challenge is to not only write a haiku but keep each line to 17 or 18 characters so that the poem fits on the marquee.”
Drake explains that every effort will be made to make the haiku fit on the marquee but if the winning entry has too many characters for it to work, the name of the business will be posted on the marquee, and the haiku will be displayed in the Chamber of Commerce window and the Paramount Theater window. Submissions are due by April 9 and should be sent via email to the Farmville Chamber of Commerce.
Business owners are encouraged to post their haiku creations in their own windows too so that part of the National Poetry Month celebration includes “Words in Windows” that everyone can see and enjoy.
Established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is designed to inspire the reading and writing of poems, encourage support for poets and poetry, and highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets.
“We also hope everyone will enjoy reading and writing poetry, and sharing a favorite poem with a friend through text or email during the month of April,” says Drake.
At the upcoming Farmville Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, April 5, Mayor John Moore will proclaim April as National Poetry Month, which is the largest literary celebration in the world. Following the reading of the proclamation, Town Commissioners Alma Hobbs and Jamin Dixon will each share a poem.
Farmville’s National Poetry Month celebration is sponsored by the Farmville Public Library, the Farmville Community Arts Council, and the Farmville Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center.
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For more information, contact Lori Drake, Executive Director of the Farmville Chamber of Commerce at 252-753-4671 or send an email.