When Kelly Jo Barnwell was hired by Anderson County to direct the senior center named for her mother, one of her primary goals was to relaunch the signature event that ran for 15 years under Jo Brown’s leadership.
On July 21, 2021, Golden Years Jamboree will celebrate the sixth year of its rebirth with an event focused on senior citizens at Christmas Village Field near the Civic Center of Anderson.
“Jo Brown was just an amazing, incredible mother, but also a communitarian who loved her senior citizens dearly and her senior citizens loved her,” Barnwell said. “Golden Years Jamboree truly was her signature event.”
The 6th Annual Golden Years Jamboree will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 21. The morning event will feature a Senior Expo that will raise funds for a new roof for Caroline Community Center in Williamston and live entertainment by The Band Silver from Iva. The 25th Jo Brown Senior Citizen of the Year Award also will be announced.
The history of the Golden Years Jamboree and a quarter century of senior award winners is recorded in a series of photographs and scrapbooks housed at the Jo Brown Senior Center.
“I took (the contents of) Mom’s office and Golden Years Jamboree that was given to me in a box and I put all these scrapbooks together,” said Barnwell, a former Creative Memories scrapbook consultant. “It took me about two years to do the project, but all of that history is now recorded in the Jo Brown Senior Center through Creative Memories albums.”
Anderson County began funding programming for senior adults in 1981, with county residents 55 and older eligible to participate at no charge. Programs at the Jo Brown Senior Activity Center in Anderson include recreation and wellness activities such as line dancing and OverEasy exercise classes, hobbies such as Tolly Arts & Crafts and Quilts of Valor, and clubs such as the Anderson Area Coin Club and Anderson County Bridge Club.
OverEasy exercise classes also are conducted in community centers throughout the county and led by senior leaders in the local municipalities.
For more information on the Golden Years Jamboree or senior adult programs in Anderson County, contact Kelly Jo Barnwell at (864) 231-2237 or kbarnwell@andersoncountysc.org.
For event updates, follow Golden Years Jamboree on Facebook.
