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Forefathers

A A A Comments Thursday, May 26 2005

Tournament honors community builders

Mike Gorman

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FRI 5/27A great number of the people who built Miami into one of the world's most vigorous and fascinating cities during the past 110 years were dark-skinned, the progeny of Africans brought to the New World to suffer as slaves. Some made their way to South Florida from Caribbean islands; others migrated down from the plantations of the Deep South.

Though key to the very founding of Miami, blacks have faced indignities and worse: banned from beaches, segregated into Colored Town (now called Overtown), permitted to work as servants or perform as entertainers in Miami Beach but not allowed to spend the night there. As late as the Fifties the only people of color allowed to enter the rarefied Biltmore Country Club were those working there, many as caddies on the verdant golf course.

So there is both paradox and a bit of justice in the Christ Episcopal Church's First Annual Memorial Golf Tournament. The 8:30 a.m. event, intended to honor blacks who served the Coconut Grove and Coral Gables communities as well as the church, will take place at the Biltmore Hotel (1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables). Christ Episcopal was founded in 1901 by Bahamian immigrants, who created a vibrant neighborhood in what is now Coconut Grove. Viewing the tourney is free; you can pay $50 for a ballroom luncheon afterward. Proceeds go to the church. Call 305-442-9613. --Greg Baker

WOOF!-le Ball

Marlins, Mets, and mutts

THUR 5/26Who let the dogs in? Hundreds of panting and wagging baseball fans (and their two-legged friends) will fill sections 401 to 404 of Dolphins Stadium (2267 Dan Marino Blvd., Miami) to root, root, root for the Marlins when they meet the Mets at the Humane Society of Greater Miami's Bark at the Park. Put a cap on your corgi and catch the opening pitch at 7:05 p.m. And if your pup gets bored during the seventh-inning stretch, take your terrier to the Paw Art booth, where talented pooches can create their own Cassius Marcellus Coolidge renditions. Tickets cost $12; $6 for children and dogs. Proceeds from the doggie ticket sales will benefit HSGM. Call 305-749-1832, or visit www.humanesocietymiami.org to purchase tickets in advance. --Lyssa Oberkreser

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