Randy Britt, one of the regulars at James Weldon Johnson Park. He is one of the people featured in a new photo and storytelling exhibit. | Photo by Toni Smailagic
Published on March 23, 2026 at 3:44 pm
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As James Weldon Johnson Park celebrates its 160th year in Downtown Jacksonville, the city’s oldest park is using a photography exhibit to showcase some of the people who frequent it. And a storyteller reveals even more about the 10 park regulars.
160 Years of Stories: A Photo Exhibit tells the stories in word and portraits of the people who make the park in Jacksonville’s public square what it is today.
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The photo exhibit is produced by Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park and the Jessie Ball duPont Center. They describe it as not a history lesson, but rather a love letter to the Jacksonville residents who make James Weldon Johnson Park the heart of the city.
Exhibit photographer Toni Smailagic came to Jacksonville from Bosnia as a refugee and has excelled at natural-light portraiture and documentary storytelling. He is the founder of events website Cre8Jax.
Smailagic described one of the exhibit’s photos in an interview Monday on WJCT’s First Coast Connect program. The photo is a portrait of Park Ambassador Randy Britt, who also does spring planting at the park.
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“Yeah, everybody sees Randy. Everybody has their own stories with Randy,” Smailagic said. “Like after we posted some of the preview pictures, the amount of people who either commented or talked about their experiences with Randy afterwards or the stories that they’ve had, or I don’t know, just even talking to Randy on a more in-depth level.”
Randy Britt came to Jacksonville from Chicago, living in a shelter until he got a job offer while walking through James Weldon Johnson Park to the library.
The park’s storyteller
Pulling together the stories of those like Randy Britt is Barbara Colaciello, storyteller and artistic director at Bab’s Lab. “It was a perfect project for me. And it’s always about distilling it to that experience, that moment. I was looking for visceral connections to the park,” Colaciello said.
Colaciello saw that in Jason Benjamin, owner of Big Baby Trucking Inc., who likes to spend part of his day in the park playing Bit Whist, a card game similar to spades. He’ll start playing in the late morning and play until about 3 p.m., as long as it’s not raining.
Colaciello described Benjamin to First Coast Connect host Anne Schindler as working from the park.
“He’s got the phone, he has a great business where stuff comes in at the docks, and he has a team that will pick it up, and he’s doing all the logistical stuff on the phone, but playing his game,” Colaciello said. “Yeah, he just loves being in the park.”
The photo exhibit, 160 Years of Stories: A Photo Exhibit, runs through May in The Jessie Ball Dupont Great Hall at 40 E. Adams St.
