Sanford volunteer Virginia Poe honored for arts and civic leadership

Virginia Poe’s volunteer service has left a visible mark on Sanford’s civic life, from the art on City Hall walls to the city’s efforts to preserve Black history through the Historic Goldsboro commemorative quilt project. For that work, she received a Community Service Award on May 11 at a Daughters of the American Revolution Sallie Harrison Chapter luncheon, where nearly fifty members and guests applauded the honoree.

The award was presented by Florida State Regent Kim Zeman and Chapter Regent Dawn Garand, with the effort coordinated by First Vice Regent Michelle Wilder, who also serves as the chapter’s Community Service Award chair. The Sallie Harrison Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was organized in Sanford on November 15, 1918, and its mission centers on historic preservation, education and patriotism. The DAR says Community Service Awards are given on local, state and national levels to people and organizations whose voluntary work has strengthened their communities in outstanding, heroic, civil or benevolent ways.

Mayor Art Woodruff’s letter in support of Poe pointed to her leadership as chair of the Sanford Public Art Commission, where she has helped guide the city’s arts agenda beyond one-off events. The commission advises the City Commission on public-art policy, acquisition, care, funding and public participation, and it has helped steer projects that now shape daily life in downtown Sanford and beyond. Those efforts include Art in Chambers, a rotating exhibit in City Hall’s Commission Chambers that is open to the public before meetings, along with public sculptures, murals and utility-box art installations.

Sanford’s public-art portfolio also includes the bronze sculpture Bridge to the Future, which was funded through an $87,000 investment from the Sanford Community Redevelopment Agency. City public-art materials show that the program is not just decorative, but part of a broader strategy to make public spaces more engaging and more representative of the community that uses them.

Woodruff also cited Poe’s work on the committee for the Historic Goldsboro Recognition Quilt, tying her recognition to a broader effort to preserve Sanford’s Black history. Historic Goldsboro, founded in 1891 by William Clark, is described by the city as one of the first self-governing Black communities in the United States. Sanford has been collecting stories for a commemorative quilt connected to Goldsboro’s original incorporation period from 1891 to 1911.

Poe’s civic role extends well beyond the city’s volunteer circles. Central Florida Printmakers identifies her as a printmaker with a University of Florida Bachelor of Design, an art studio in historic downtown Sanford and service on the board of trustees for the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park. A City of Sanford document from March 2025 also shows staff meeting with Public Art Commission chair Virginia Poe to discuss commission work, underscoring how directly she has helped shape the city’s public face.