62 Mayor Bryant is also excited to report the city’s 4th of July celebration plans are already underway. This year, the popular event will showcase The Oak Ridge Boys, long-standing country quartet most famous for their hit song, “Elvira.” The Manatee County Veterans Council will also host its annual Veterans Parade on November 11, 2017. The parade begins at the county fairgrounds and ends at Sutton Park in Palmetto. “We’re hopefully going to continue to do some other projects down at Riverfront,” Mayor Bryant adds. “We’re exploring a lot of different things right now.” Grassroots Gal Outside of work, Mayor Bryant enjoys attending concerts and plays, and spending time with her family. She has two sons—Patrick, a local attorney and Chris, an environmental consultant—and a 4-year-old granddaughter named Emma. “I like to see my granddaughter every chance I get,” she says with a smile. When she’s not in City Hall, Mayor Bryant also spends a lot of her time making appearances at local events. “I attend a lot of different events where we’ve had invitations for the mayor to appear,” she says. “I think that’s important. If a group feels their event is signi��cant enough that they want to have the mayor’s of��ce represented there, I try to make every effort to honor that.” As a Palmetto native who grew up in agriculture, Bryant considers herself a grassroots person. “My primary mission is to serve the community,” she says. “I feel you’re not elected to a position to be a boss to the people—you really have to serve the community. I try to treat people the way I like to be treated. That’s my philosophy. When people come in to talk with us, I treat them with respect, and I hope they will treat us with respect. It’s always a two-way street.” Small but Mighty Spanning only seven square miles with a population of just over 14,000 residents, Palmetto is certainly not a big city. However, this charming Old Florida town has seen dramatic growth and a major rejuvenation in recent years. Because she’s lived here for the majority of her life, Mayor Bryant has had the privilege of watching her hometown transform before her very eyes. “It helps me, knowing the history of the city and how it’s evolved,” she says. “I’m so blessed, I have a wonderful team that works with me, and we’ve been able to accomplish a lot of different things. Based on the feedback I get from a lot of members in the community, they feel like we’re headed in the right direction. Occasionally we’ll have speed bumps, but we try to use the community input to change things and take it in a positive direction.” Above all else, Mayor Bryant believes Palmetto is truly unique because individuals, businesses and organizations are constantly reaching out to her, looking for ways to give back to their community. “They offer to do projects, like helping to keep the parks clean and graf��ti-free for the little kids. Where else do you ��nd that? We’re small, but we think we’re mighty.”
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