Seymour Wednesday mobilized for “Seymour Pink Day,” a way to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.
The downtown area lampposts and utility poles were strung with pink banners. Pink ribbons were painted onto the asphalt on First Street, the downtown street where Town Hall is located.
Businesses around town decorated their windows with pink ribbons and pink balloons and employees wore pink outfits.
Seymour hosts Seymour Pink Day each year. It’s a large-scale community effort to get the word out about breast cancer, and raise money to donate to breast cancer causes.
At the Teddy Bear Treehouse Learning Center on South Main Street, the children wore pink, as did their teachers.
“All the kids, everybody is in pink,” said AnnMarie Violano, owner of the learning center.
She said she gets into the Seymour Pink groove every year.
“We show our support to the cause,” Violano said.
Breast cancer is a topic that women at the Body Shoppe hair salon in Seymour relate with, said Kelly Steeves, who owns the salon, as well as the Oxford Academy of Hair Design. Both businesses are located in The Mansion, the former Carousel Gardens on North Street.
“We’re all women so we can completely relate with the cause,” Steeves said.
She and her employees and some students all wore pink. Some, including hair stylist Erica Fasana, had pink feathers put in their hair.
At the academy, free haircuts were being offered with a $10 donation to Seymour Pink.
“We’ve got all kinds of goodies and balloons going on,” Steeves said.
She said a portion of hair feather sales at the Body Shoppe salon, as well, will be donated to Seymour Pink.
The pink spirit was everywhere.
Outside the Seymour Cinemas on Derby Avenue, a bouquet of pink balloons greeted people showing up for the matinee movies. The pink balloons and pink ribbon theme was repeated all around town.
People even wore pink to work out, at the Peak Fitness Center in Klarides Village on Route 67.
“Our whole staff and a bunch of our members have pink T‑shirts on today,” said Jeff Tottenham, manager of Peak Fitness, which has been hosting special events and fundraisers for Seymour Pink.
One of the special fundraisers was a pink treadmill, on which members competed to get the most miles, at $10 a try, so they can win a free annual membership. The manufacturer of the treadmill also donated 10 cents a mile to the Seymour Pink cause.
Seymour Pink Inc. is a non-profit organization that has donated money to the Griffin Hospital Wellness Campaign, provided scholarships to graduating seniors, provided gifts cards for the purchase of groceries, provided nutritional supplements for chemotherapy patients, subsidized rent payments, paid for medical deductibles, chemotherapy treatments, doctor’s visit deductibles and other charitable causes, according to its website.
Seymour Pink Day is an annual event for the town.
At a Board of Selectmen meeting Tuesday night, First Selectman Paul Roy encouraged everyone to wear pink for the day. He has been wearing pink ties lately to show his support.
Gov. Dannel Malloy got in on the act as well, proclaiming Wednesday, Oct. 19, as Seymour Pink Day in Connecticut.
An event set for Thursday, Oct. 20, is the Downtown Seymour Night out for the Cause, a Seymour Pink night of shopping, with shops downtown open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
According to the Seymour Pink website, pink T‑shirts are available at Tickled Pink downtown, Envy Salon in Oxmour Plaza, Seybridge Pharmacy, Hair Intrigue at Tri-Town Plaza and Peak Fitness.
There is also a bead Fundraiser, with pink beads being sold at Tickled Pink downtown, as well as Newbury Place in Southbury. Ten dollars of each $25 bead benefits Seymour Pink.
Here are some other upcoming events:
Friday, Oct. 21: Candy Coburn, a national country singer who is the celebrity ambassador for the Susan G. Koman for the Cure, performs at 7:30 p.m. at Seymour Middle School. Tickets are $5. For more information e‑mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Saturday Oct. 22: Peak Fitness, 1 Klarides Village Drive, Seymour, will host a Zumbathon fundraiser to benefit Seymour Pink. The donation will be $10 and all proceeds will go to Seymour Pink.
Sunday Oct. 23: Vineyards of the World Wine Tasting from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Ari Bella Restaurant, 66 Huntington Street, Shelton. The cost is $50 a person. For information call 203 – 926-1122.
Friday, Nov. 4: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., The Inn at Villa Bianca, 312 Roosevelt Drive, Seymour, hosts the third annual wine tasting gala for Seymour Pink. $30 in advance, $35 at the door. For more information call Stephen Gencarelli at Mountain Road Wine & Liquor at 203 – 888-3460.
Click here for the Seymour Pink website.
Click here to see an list of events happening in the Valley published earlier this month.
