Thaddeus Bullard, also known as WWE star Titus O’Neil, and actor Dave Bautista are set to lead a ‘Love Walk’ across Tampa next week.
The Bullard Family Foundation is hosting the Love Walk for business leaders, elected officials and families to walk together across the Fortune Taylor Bridge Saturday June 27, according to the Facebook event page. Starting at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, the walk will take place from 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Tampa’s Fortune Taylor Bridge, formerly the Laurel Street Bridge, was renamed in 2018 after Tampa City Council voted to restore honor to the memory of Fortune Taylor, who was freed from slavery and met with success as a business owner and acquired 33 acres of land on the Hillsborough River’s eastern bank.
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In 1892, Taylor came to an agreement with the founder of West Tampa Hugh McFarlane to have a bridge constructed connecting West Tampa and the east side of the Hillsborough River, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
At the time of its completion, the bridge—which is currently home to a colony of bats that fly out at sundown—acted as a symbolic cultural link between the white and Hispanic Tampa residents of the west and the Black residents of the east. Next Saturday’s Love Walk is set to cross the bridge and end with an unveiling of the ‘Love Wall,’ created by local artist Bianca Burrows in collaboration with Bavaro’s, at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park.
The Love Walk event page reminds participants to bring their own water and wear masks.
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This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2020.