{"id":862401,"date":"2026-06-12T14:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862401\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:52:14","slug":"city-unveils-lavilla-lift-evry-voice-sing-heritage-walking-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862401\/","title":{"rendered":"City unveils LaVilla Lift Ev\u2019ry Voice &#038; Sing Heritage walking trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\"><strong>JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Mayor Donna Deegan joined city officials and advocates Friday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lavillaheritagetrail.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/lavillaheritagetrail.com\/\">LaVilla Lift Ev\u2019ry Voice &amp; Sing Heritage walking trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Following the unveiling, there will be an optional walking tour inviting visitors to explore the 22 connected historic sites across the LaVilla neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lavillaheritagetrail.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/lavillaheritagetrail.com\/\">According to its website<\/a>, established in 1866, LaVilla became a nationally recognized center of Black and Gullah-Geechee culture, music, business and civil rights and was home to a diverse community that included Cuban, Syrian, Greek, Jewish, Chinese and other immigrant families. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The trail shares stories of artists, leaders, institutions and everyday people who helped shape Jacksonville and the nation. Inspired by the birthplace of the song \u201cLift Ev\u2019ry Voice and Sing,\u201d the website said the trail celebrates LaVilla\u2019s resilience, creativity and enduring legacy while inviting visitors to experience its rich history and ongoing revival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Among Deegan, expected speakers are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 etvbxt font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Stack-vJ7SwH7U__StackBase-sc-1m5bkhd-0 evEXvX dsnUCb\">\n<p>Councilwoman Ju\u2019Coby Pittman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Stack-vJ7SwH7U__StackBase-sc-1m5bkhd-0 evEXvX dsnUCb\">\n<p>Ina Mezini, Downtown Investment Authority<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Stack-vJ7SwH7U__StackBase-sc-1m5bkhd-0 evEXvX dsnUCb\">\n<p>Adrian Swanigan, LaVilla Preservation\/LaVilla Committee<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Stack-vJ7SwH7U__StackBase-sc-1m5bkhd-0 evEXvX dsnUCb\">\n<p>Ennis Davis, Community Planning Collaborative\/LaVilla Committee<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Mayor Donna Deegan joined city officials and advocates Friday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":862402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,10083,3188,723,7310,17918,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-862401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-donna-deegan","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-lavilla","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}