Residents of Tom Petty’s home city are thinking up unique ways to honour the music legend.
Lauren Poe, the mayor of Gainsville, Florida – the birthplace of the late star, who passed away last week aged 66 – is putting together a proposal to pay tribute to the Traveling Wilburys band member, but he doesn’t want to settle for a street sign or a day of remembrance.
The mayor told gossip website TMZ that should his proposal be successful, the government official will look into asking the city’s residents’ for interactive and recurring ideas.
One of the ideas muted has been an annual event fans can attend which could also be a memorial for the ‘Free Fallin” hitmaker.
Several Tom tribute acts have been in contact with Lauren about paying tribute to the late singer.
Tom died last week after being rushed to hospital following a cardiac arrest, but it was recently reported his cause of death was "deferred" after a completed autopsy because it was "clear further tests needed to be done".
The day after the ‘I Won’t Back Down’ singer suffered a cardiac arrest, his agent Tony Dimitriades revealed he had passed away.
His family agreed to switch off his life support after learning he had no brain activity.
Tom was surrounded by his friends, family and his bandmates at UCLA hospital in Santa Monica, California, when he died.
He shot to fame in 1976 when he and his band the Heartbreakers dropped hits ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’ and ‘Here Comes My Girl’.
He also spent time in the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys – made up of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne – in the 1980s.
Tom Petty’s home city planning unique memorial event
