“A few older folks straggled weary-eyed out of darkened, cot-filled meeting rooms at the Pensacola Bay Center to see what the ruckus was about,” writes Troy Moon in Monday’s (9/11) Pensacola News Journal (Florida). “Little girls stood in the lobby of the second floor doing little jigs to the unexpected recital. On Monday, three musicians from the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra”—bassoonist Abigail Walker, violinist Grace Kim, and oboist Asher Kelly—“came to play for evacuees from Hurricane Irma, hoping to provide musical solace in the storm. It’s the kind of little touch that helps ease the pain of relocating, uncertainty, fear and boredom that accompanied about 200 storm evacuees to the Bay Center from their homes in Central and South Florida…. The Red Cross and local organizations and business have tried to make the stay a bit easier. Gulf Power set up phone charging stations and televisions…. And Gulf Power management reached out to the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra to send a few musicians…. ‘Usually, we’re the ones who need help during storms,’ Walker said of Pensacola. ‘This is a chance for us to give them a sense of peace and help take away some of the pressure.’ ” Video is included.
Posted September 13, 2017
Pictured: Bassoonist Abigail Walker of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra gives an impromptu lesson to three-year-old Karin Abigail Marie Alfaro, of Miramar, Florida in between performing for evacuees at the Bay Center shelter in Pensacola on September 11, 2017. The Alfaro family spent the past two nights at the Bay Center and are preparing to head home. Photo by Gregg Pachkowski
