LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — Neal Communities, southwest Florida’s premier, private homebuilder, recently donated $5,000 in support of the Parrish Heritage Festival and Chili Cook Off for the Parrish Foundation, a nonprofit that provides grants to groups that serve residents of the Parrish community.
For the eighth year, the builder has sponsored the event, which is put on by the Parrish Civic Association. This year’s festival, held on March 2, attracted more than 2,500 attendees and featured a chili cook off with 27 teams vying for the top spot, live entertainment, parade, games, petting zoo and more.
“We could not put on this event without our generous sponsors,” said Ben Jordan, vice president of the Parrish Foundation. “Pat Neal has been a great supporter of what we are doing to build this community. Parrish is a different type of neighborhood, and people really like the family-oriented things we are doing.”
Through this 8-year-old event, the Parrish Foundation will have gifted about $250,000 in grants to community organizations once the fall 2019 grants are determined.“Creating community events and bringing the community closer together is an important part of our work at Neal Communities and also part of my job as a citizen of Manatee County,” said Neal, CEO and chairman of the board at Neal Communities, who served chili to festival attendees. “We are proud to be a part of this wonderful family-friendly event that supports the Parrish community.”
Parrish Heritage Festival & Chili Cook Off Event
