Cherry Blossom spirit branching out to Macon's Houston Avenue

Pink bows line Houston Avenue and festoon the fence of Pendleton Homes.

"It looks beautiful," Darnell Jenkins said as she sat near her front porch at the entrance of the housing complex. "That is a blessing, Jesus."

Her friend, Louise Henderson, was wearing a pink T-shirt as they admired the decorations from their plastic lawn chairs.

"I think it's real nice," Henderson said.

Jenkins also was sitting outside Sunday as volunteers put up the ribbons and placed a Cherry Blossom Festival sign in the grass.

"When (my children were) growing up, I made sure I took them to Cherry Blossom," Jenkins said.

This year, some members of the surrounding community are making sure the festivities spread to their section of town.

"What can we do to get involved with Cherry Blossom?" one of the concerned residents asked during a monthly meeting.

Antonio Lewis-Ross, the president of SMART, or South Macon Arts Revitalization Technology, took part of his lunch break Monday to pick up where Sunday's effort left off.

The group organized last summer. It began with a dream of building a neighborhood park on Lynmore Avenue, which has been approved for blight funding through Macon-Bibb County.

They are now branching out to other projects to "help with the fellowship and camaraderie around the neighborhood," Lewis-Ross said.

As he carried a staple gun and plastic container of bows down the street, one of the ribbons flew across the parking lot of the Tom's Mart at the corner of Rutherford Avenue.

James Warren, who calls himself the "Hustle Man," scurried to catch the runaway bow as he juggled a coffee cup and cigarette in one hand.

"I love the Cherry Blossom Festival. It's a wonderful thing," said Warren, who likes the new bows. "It really brightens everything up. It gives it a different look."

He was an even bigger fan of the bunch of pink blossoms painted in the middle of Houston Road, a treat usually reserved for downtown Macon's parade route.

"It's really, really cool," he said.

Lewis-Ross' mother, Frankie Lewis, first approached Cherry Blossom CEO Jake Ferro months ago about ways they could embrace the festivities.

"Everybody's excited about it," she said.

In an interview with The Telegraph last month, Ferro said he was impressed by the group's request to "bring the spirit of the festival to our neighborhood."

More than a dozen people came to the first meeting, and by the second gathering, 50 volunteers were lined up, Ferro said.

Lewis, who teaches at Bruce Elementary School, has helped organize Pink Day at the school Friday.

"Bruce Elementary aims to be the pinkest school in the city," her son said.

Cherry Blossom board members will be planting trees on the Houston Avenue campus, and festival royalty will judge a classroom door decorating contest for the younger grades, he said.

All the signs in the parking lot are sporting pink bows.

Lewis-Ross said it's part of a larger effort to encourage people and businesses to decorate for the festival.

"We plan to embrace Cherry Blossom through ... the school, community and churches in the area," he said while taking a break from stapling bows along the thoroughfare.

A Houston Avenue motorcycle ride April 1 runs from Macedonia Baptist Church near Eisenhower Parkway, down to Rocky Creek Road and back to the school, where a band will be playing in the parking lot.

A mural also is planned along Murphey Homes on Eisenhower Parkway.

"Basically, we're putting a staple in the area that, you know, Cherry Blossom is not just in the downtown area but also throughout Macon and also in the community," Lewis-Ross said.

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303 and follow her on Twitter@liz_lines.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Cherry Blossom spirit branching out to Macon's Houston Avenue ."