AARP volunteers rock Jacksonville Jazz Festival during Memorial Day 2019

Dave Bruns/AARP

AARP in Jacksonville had the hottest ticket in the River City during a warm Memorial Day weekend.
With as many as 150 people literally dancing in the street at the AARP Jacksonville Dance Party, veterans’ recognition, an inspirational session with an emerging jazz legend and more than 1,200 people signing petitions urging Congress to cut prices on prescription drugs, AARP Jacksonville rocked the Jacksonville Jazz Festival May 25-27.
“AARP Jacksonville is about ‘fun with purpose’, and that’s what those who came to the 2019 Jazz Fest found at the corner of Adams and Hogan Streets,” said Justine Conley, AARP’s Associate State Director for Outreach for Jacksonville.
AARP’s event at the JazzFest featured:
- A Dance Party. With local dance instructor, fitness dance expert and DJ, James “DJ Semaj” Lee personally leading crowds of up to 150 Festival attendees, the AARP booth was the center of attention for three days.
- A Veterans Honor Exhibit. AARP volunteers who were themselves veterans met other veterans attending the Jazz Festival, thanked them for their service, gave them buttons recognizing them for their sacrifice and talked with them about their experiences. AARP advocates for and equips veterans to get access to all the benefits they have earned.
- A Prize Wheel where attendees could enter contests to win AARP-themed prizes, including foldable fabric fans, health-living pedometers and other gifts.
- About 1,200 people also signed AARP’s petitions to Congress to take action to bring down prescription drug prices as part of the nationwide “Stop Rx Greed” initiative. The initiative is urging Congress to allow importation of safe, affordable, FDA-approved prescription drugs, to improve drug pricing transparency, to allow Medicare to negotiate with drug manufacturers to bring down prices and to enact consumer protections that help avoid price-gouging by prescription-drug manufacturers.
- A champagne reception for jazz musician and entrepreneur Marcus Johnson. Johnson met with AARP members, community leaders and local residents at the Urban League of Jacksonville, sharing his inspirational experiences as a musician and entrepreneur. For more information, please go to www.marcusjohnson360.com .
AARP Jacksonville has been a Jazz Festival sponsor since 2014. This year, the Association’s activities at the Jazz Festival were powered by 72 volunteers, who organized themselves into teams, helped design the activities at the festival and put in more than 300 hours of volunteer service.