Pink was the color of the day Wednesday as Valley residents joined Seymour business owners to celebrate the sixth annual Seymour Pink Day.
Town Hall, police headquarters, shops, street light poles, and more were decked out with pink balloons and bows to show support for Seymour Pink.
The nonprofit Seymour Pink, A Community’s Fight Against Breast Cancer, works to raise awareness of the disease, and it also raises funds to support those who have been diagnosed with it.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Resident Mary Deming founded Seymour Pink in 2009 in memory of her mother, Theodosia McEnerney, who died from breast cancer at age 55.
Seymour resident Diane Trevelin, an employee at Dragonflies, a floral studio on Bank Street, said the day means a lot to her.
“It’s a day to honor survivors and to remember those who fought the good fight.”
She said her mother, Winnie Trevelin, died of breast cancer at age 57.
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Deming credited Trevelin for making the 80 pink bows that are attached to light stanchions throughout downtown and beyond.
At Teddy Bear Treehouse Learning Center on South Main Street, owner Ann Marie Violano decorated the building with a giant pink bow, ribbons and balloons as she has in years past.
“I’ve been a sponsor since (Seymour Pink) started,” she said. “It’s a really good cause.”
One group of preschoolers painted a pumpkin pink on Tuesday as a craft project. The pumpkin is displayed at the end of the parking lot near the road. “We try to do our own little thing,” Violano said.
At a party at Hot Tamale, a restaurant in Seybridge Plaza in Seymour, pink was the fashion statement of the evening for patrons and waitstaff alike.
Deming said she wants people to know that Seymour Pink’s growth “is a statement to those who are fighting, and we are fighting with them.”
Seymour Pink Treasurer Christine Vartko said the day went well. “It’s a happy day, not a sad day.”
She said businesses who supported the cause by buying T‑shirts were given a half-dozen balloons to display.
“Unfortunately this year we had 103 banners (hanging throughout the town),” Vartko said. The banners are either in honor of a breast cancer survivor or in memory of one who lost the fight.
“The banners are our way to give back to the community,” she said.
Vartko said the board meets once a month and votes on how to distribute funds to are abreast cancer survivors. In October Seymour Pink gave out $9,400 in financial assistance, she said.
“We’re honored that people in the Valley (donate and) want to give back to the community.”
