Credit: Mark SeligerTom Petty‘s hometown of Gainesville, Florida, celebrated what would have been the late rocker’s 68th birthday on Saturday, October 20, by renaming a park in his honor and hosting a number of tribute events, The Gainesville Sun reports.
According to the paper, Northeast Park was rechristened Tom Petty Park during a ceremony held Saturday afternoon. As a kid, Petty lived just a block away from the park and spent a lot of time there when he was young. Tom’s younger brother Bruce and Tom’s daughters Adria and AnnaKim were on hand to take part in the event.
“My brother and I grew up in this park,” Bruce Petty said at the ceremony. “It was a place for us to escape and be kids and have fun. The fact that we are doing this today and the part that we played in it makes it so much more special.”
In her comments, Adria made reference to a song Petty wrote called “Gainesville,” which is featured on Tom’s newly released box set of rarities, An American Treasure.
“Gainesville is an extraordinary place and if you listen to my dad’s music here, it has a different meaning,” she said. “The idea of the air smelling good and the trees are green — there is nothing like this park to really illustrate that.”
Meanwhile, a pair of Petty-themed festivals — the second annual Tom Petty Birthday Bash and the Tom Petty Weekend — were held Friday and Saturday at Gainesville’s Depot Park and at the Heartwood Soundstage venue, respectively. Both events featured a variety of musical acts paying tribute to Tom’s music.
Among the groups that played at the latter event was The Bayjacks, which features Petty’s Mudcrutch band mate Tom Leadon. The Birthday Bash raised funds for a local “Arts in Medicine” program.
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