Volume 25 Issue 5
Inside:
Your Complete Guide To The 2017 ‘Taste!’
February 24, 2017
In Neighborhood Magazine
Now The Only Neighborhood News Publications Serving Hillsborough & Pasco Counties! The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! For the complete list of the neighborhoods that receive this publication by direct mail in New Tampa (zip code 33647), see page 54!
Taste Of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel To Rock Florida Hospital Center Ice! Dress Warm! The Coolest Event Ever Will Be Held At The Coolest Venue Ever — Saturday, March 18, Noon-4 p.m! sweet tooth, as Blondie’s Cookies, La Berry Yogurt & Ice Cream, 7 Layers Bakery, Happy Cow Frozen Yogurt and The Cake Girl are among those that will be dishing out desserts. For a complete list, check out pages 34-39.
By John C. Cotey The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) was no longer interested in putting on any more big events. The New Tampa Rotary Club just happened to be looking for one. So, with a little bit of gentle negotiations, the Taste of New Tampa — formerly a New Tampa Chamber of Commerce fund raiser that was inherited by the WCCC when the two chambers merged in 2014 — fell back in New Tampa’s mouth…errr, hands. “They had an asset, meaning the trademark for the Taste of New Tampa, and it was a great opportunity for us as a club to take on that trademark,’’ says Karen Frashier, the presidentelect of the New Tampa Rotary and chair of the 21st (but now-renamed) “Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel.” Scheduled for Saturday, March 18, noon-4 p.m., at the new Florida Hospital Center Ice (see story, pg. 10), this year’s Taste has the potential to be the best one ever. Why? Here are our top five reasons you should attend the 2017 “Taste”: 1. IT’S INDOORS! If you attended many of the previous 20 Tastes, chances are there was at least a time or two when you cursed out the weather. Whether you were soaked by the rain or just drenched in your own sweat, being held outdoors sometimes made the food spectacular a crapshoot. But, you’ll want to wear an extra layer of clothing for this one. You won’t be standing directly on ice —
Also Inside This Issue: News, Business & Sports Updates New Development Planned Near Lake Forest, Crystal Lagoon & Gigabit City Being Built From Ground Up In The WC, Center Ice Complex & Costco Open To Big Crowds, Luis Viera Eyes Vet Center For North Tampa, Turner-Bartels Has Teacher Of The Year Finalist; Springs Sports Starting Up; Plus, Local Business Features!
Pages 3-32
Neighborhood Magazine
Big Things Planned For Area Thespians, Our Exclusive ‘Taste Of New Tampa’ Special Preview Section, Vuelo Mexican Grill Taking Flight On BBD, Cypress Point Church Opens Youth Center; Plus, More Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes!
Pages 33-56
The drumline from Wiregrass Ranch High was on hand at the WCCC Business Breakfast on Feb. 6 (at PHSC’s Porter Campus) to help announce the restaurants participating in the 2017 Taste. but it will be beneath the rink’s special “sports court” floor — and the temperature inside the FHCI will be below 60 degrees. You’ll be dry from any rain, though, and you can leave the sunscreen at home. Hurrah! 2. THE FOOD! The last Taste in 2013, due to the threat of torrential rain, ended up having fewer than 20 restaurants show up. This year’s event already has 41 signed up, with a month to go. According to our own Gary Nager, the restaurant chair for the 2017 “Taste”, there are another dozen
or so still interested in participating at our deadline, so you might just have the choice of sampling food and adult beverages from more than 50 restaurants and beverage providers when it’s all said and done. Your choices cover just about the whole spectrum of categories. Arroy Thai, Cantina Laredo, Dempsey’s Steak House, Latin Twist Cafe, Little Italy’s, OTB Delights Cafe, Paramount Lebanese Kitchen, Pepe’s Cuban Cafe and Union 72 are among the many participating at our press time. And, organizers didn’t forget about your
3. ITS FOR A GOOD CAUSE The New Tampa Rotary Club supports a lot of worthwhile causes, and much of the money raised at The Taste will help the club support about 25-30 nonprofits in this area. The Rotary’s signature project is Feeding America Tampa Bay, so four mobile food pantries in the USF area, Meals on Wheels and the club’s meal-packing events – to which the club devotes $10,00014,000 annually — will benefit. “We saw (the Taste) as a great potential fund raiser for the nonprofits that we support,” Frashier says. Also, 10 percent of the net proceeds will be provided to the WCCC to be used for scholarships for area high school students. The WCCC already gives out mutliple scholarships to students at Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools, but now, thanks to The Taste, you can add Freedom and Wharton to that list, too. 4. THE ENTERTAINMENT The Taste continues to add new stuff every week, but you can plan on checking out the Wiregrass Ranch drumline (photo above), the Bob Thompson Trio and the New Tampa Players, a local acting troupe that plans to perform a medley of Broadway hits, including some from it’s latest production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” (see story on page 33).
See “Five Reasons” on page 35.
Peabody’s Concert To Help Provide Sand Wheelchairs For Paralyzed Vets
The Other Side of the Dunes, a nonprofit organization that provides beach-accessible wheelchairs for paralyzed veterans, will host a benefit concert featuring the popular local Deacon Blues Band (TheDeaconBlues.com) tomorrow — Saturday, February 25, 7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. — in the Palms Lounge at Peabody’s Billiards & Games in the Shoppes of Amberly plaza in Tampa Palms. Last year’s event drew a crowd of roughly 200 and raised more than $2,300. There will a $10 donation cover charge, with all proceeds going to the Other Side of the Dunes, a U.S. Military Veteran-run 501c3 charity, which was created in 2015 by former Marine Eric Wooten and his wife Sandra. The beach wheelchair (pictured above) allows the user to travel along the beach thanks to the larger wheels that won’t sink into the sand and become impossible to rotate by hand, which is what happens with conventional wheelchairs. The sand wheelchairs cost roughly $6,500 apiece. Moneca Lemos McVey, a U.S. Navy
veteran, will be the next wheelchair recipient. Her chair will be threewheeled, in bubblegum pink, with a USB port. The concert, which will begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7, is one of a number of events hosted each year by Other Side of the Dunes. The group held a toy drive and its first annual golf tournament last year. Peabody’s (PeabodysTampa.com) is located at 15333 Amberly Dr. For more information, call 972-1725. For more information about the Other Side of the Dunes organization, visit OtherSideoftheDunes.org.