FORT PIERCE - Hats, hats, and more hats, a fashion show, music and a silent auction will be featured at the 3 rd Annual Hattitude Luncheon in memory of the late Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston.

The luncheon is Saturday, Feb. 23 from 2 - 6 p.m. at the Koblegard Student Union at Indian River Community College, 3209 Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce. Reservations are $30 per person and can be made by calling the St. Lucie County Cultural Affairs Council at (772) 462-1767.

As part of the 4 th Annual "Zora Fest! The Harlem Renaissance," the Hattitude Luncheon recognizes Hurston's love of hats, with guests asked to wear a hat to the luncheon. Hurston was rarely seen without a hat in photographs from the Harlem Renaissance period and during her years working on the Federal Writers Project.

During the luncheon, guests will learn more about the personal Hurston from Hassie Russ of Granny's Kitchen in Fort Pierce. Doss was Hurston's student at Lincoln Park Academy and her family lived next door to Hurston in the Lincoln Park area of Fort Pierce. She will share those memories.

The Hattitude Luncheon is one of several activities leading up to Saturday, March 29, the official day of "Zora Fest! The Harlem Renaissance." The festival day will include appearances by noted authors Lucy Hurston, niece of the Harlem Renaissance author, and Valerie Boyd, biographer and author of "Wrapped in Rainbows," music and games for children, a dramatization of Zora! by researcher and actress Phyllis McEwen and actor LeRoy Mitchell portraying James Weldon Johnson, the first black attorney to join the Florida Bar.

Other festivities will include "Voices of the Harlem Renaissance" on Friday, March 28 at the Magnet School for the Arts on Delaware Avenue in Fort Pierce, a review of a Hurston book, and a Sunday brunch featuring author Lucy Hurston.

Hurston was born in Alabama and her family moved to Eatonville, Florida when she was 6 months old. She was raised in Eatonville and later moved to New York City where she attended Barnard College and became involved in the growing New Negro Movement, later known as The Harlem Renaissance.

Later in life, Hurston returned to Florida and wound up in Fort Pierce during the last years of her life. She worked as a part-time teacher at Lincoln Park Academy and was a columnist for the black newspaper, The Chronicle. Hurston died in Fort Pierce in January 1960. Her achievements are recognized through the Dust Tracks Trail established several years ago in Fort Pierce.

For more details about the 2008 "Zora Fest! The Harlem Renaissance" celebration visit www.stlucieco.gov/culturalaffairs.