Pecan Grove Family Facility, a new event venue in Quincy, held its grand opening on May 1 and 2 offering its visitors a variety of food, music, and activities to do.
There were food trucks like Diamond and Henry Lynn’s Granny’s Fried Kitchen serving fried delicacies like hot wings and catfish. For the visitors that didn’t want to break their diet, Marisol Mejia and her son, Brian Mena, sold fresh cut fruit and homemade juices while still adding a bit of spice for those that wanted to try something new.
Visitors were able to stroll around the grounds while enjoying the fresh summer breeze or cool down in pavilions; each pavilion has its own fan and grill. For some people, the main highlight was the music provided by DJ Tony Hernandez from Sonido Mega and DJ Fugitivo. Their playlist ranged from everything in Spanish and English.
“I like the bouncy house,” said 5-year-old Anthony Somoza. “I like to jump and jump and jump so high that I can touch the sky. The slide is so much fun, too!”
Somoza and his 1-year-old sister, Emma Somoza, were among the children that ran around playing in the playroom and taking part in other activities during the 2-day event.
It was such activities like volleyball, soccer, corn hole, tether ball, badminton, a playground, and bouncy houses, that Valentin “Val” Pelayo felt captured the family friendly atmosphere he envisioned when building the facility.
With the vision of a new and fresh place for families to visit and have a good time, Pelayo built Pecan Grove Family Facility. After 27 years of owning a business, Pelayo felt it was time to retire and give back to the community.
“I sold my business and founded the facility because I wanted to do something different,” said Pelayo. “I’ve had experience in coaching kids at school and other soccer tournaments around town. I think this facility will allow people to have fun and enjoy of a family friendly place.”
Pelayo says Pecan Grove will have more activities and things to do once everyone becomes familiarize with the location and with having had an attendance of roughly 100 people during the grand opening, he remains optimistic about the future of the facility and hopes that with continual advertisement and word of mouth, more people will visit.
“In the future we want to do leagues, but it all depends on how many people are interested to play soccer that’s including leagues for kids, women, and men.” said Jonathan Pelayo, Valentin Pelayo’s son. “We have bigger area fields in the back that can be used for flag football or anything that requires a big enough field. We also want to go ahead and get basketball courts done.”
Located on a 16-acre land, Pecan Grove is a venue still in the making but is already offering the residents of Quincy and surrounding areas a new place to unwind during the summer.
Maybelline Somoza – mail@gadsdencountytimes.com
Photos by Maybelline Somoza
