Balloons, cupcakes, and smiles abounded on a sunny afternoon at the Belmont Mansion Saturday as the Belmont community celebrated the 195th birthday of Adelicia Acklen, the mansion’s most prominent owner.
The party drew a number of Belmont students, alumni and local families to the historic mansion where activities like face painting, a scavenger hunt, birthday card making, mask making and live music appealed to people of all ages.
The best part of the event, said alumna Sally Robertson, was seeing the mansion again and talking to students who bring back memories of a campus much smaller when she graduated in 1978.
The party also brought local families to campus, including the Espisito family with father Chris and children Paige, Sylvia and George.
“We like to do community activities, historical stuff, so anytime we can go into a mansion like Belmont we always take advantage of it,” Espisito said.
Paige and Sylvia agreed that their favorite part of the day was the crafts, along with the popcorn.
This event was a class project for a group of eight Belmont students enrolled in an event management course.
The day’s festivities also provided community service opportunities and convocation for Belmont students.