Longboater urges her neighbors to consider wearing their Sunday best

Are you finding it hard to discern day after Groundhog Day-like day as quarantine wears on? Are you lucky if you make it out of pajamas or sweatpants at some point? 

Well, has Maryann Mazzaferro got a proposition for you. 

Mazzaferro, who walks along Gulf of Mexico Drive daily, wants to make Sundays “Dress-Up Day” amidst the walkers of the area — a day on which you spice it up a little bit, namely, by putting on a nicer outfit. 

“I got to thinking, when I was a little girl my mother always stressed the concept of dresses and wearing a dress, especially on Sunday,” Mazzaferro said. “Sunday wasn’t the same as any other day, and it (wearing a dress) was a way that you made yourself feel special.” 

For a couple of weeks now, Mazzaferro recalls the way her mother stressed her in  Sunday best and puts on one of her dresses and walks with her husband John along Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

“When every day becomes like the day before, let’s make one day out of the week different,” Mazzaferro said. “I think at times like this, people need that.” 

She’s met many people on her daily walks and others have picked up her dress-up day tradition. After posting the idea to Facebook, she heard from one woman who decided to go for her run in a dress and a mother who wanted to introduce the idea to her daughters, and some have reached out to see about the possibility of setting up a socially distanced walk together.

As she walks, Mazzaferro waves to other walkers and at friends or neighbors who honk while driving by. 

“One thing they can’t take away (on Longboat Key) is sunshine, warmth and walking,” Mazzaferro said. “You have to have some type of outlet. You can’t just stay inside.” 

On Sunday, April 26, Mazzaferro set out strolling in a checked blue and white dress, one of the assortment that she brought down for her (originally) seasonal stay on the island. The idea of dressing up on Sundays to add a “spark” to the day goes back to Sunday dinners of Mazzaferro’s childhood. 

“You didn’t have to be the fanciest or have the finest clothes, but you had to put a good foot forward,” Mazzaferro said. “I think my mother would be proud I’m keeping up the tradition.”