Palms West Monthly • April 2013 • Page 1
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West Palm Edition
Palms West Pull-Out Section!
SUMMER CAMP GUIDE 2013 With so many summer camps to choose from, we help make picking the right one easy.
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Volume 3, Number 4
Monthly
RPB Rotary to host tourney
Cultural Council unveils exhibit
The exhibit is made up of original works and books by Palm Beach County artists.
The 23rd Annual Royal Palm Beach Rotary Golf Tourney will be held May 3.
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Page 6 The Acreage • Loxahatchee Groves • Royal Palm Beach • Wellington • West Palm Beach
April 2013
Keep PBC beautiful
Roll up your sleeves for the Great American Clean Up Hospice of PBC honors volunteers
By CHRISTINE DAVIS Palms West Monthly
Hospice of Palm Beach County recently hosted its annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at the Kravis Center in honor of its nearly 650 volunteers.
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Gay Polo Tournament returns for 4th year The fourth annual International Gay Polo Tournament is set for Saturday, April 13, at the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.
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Don’t miss tropical fruit tree & plant sale The Palm Beach Chapter of the Rare Fruit Council International will host its bi-annual Tropical Fruit Tree & Plant Sale Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
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Inside
Local Happenings.................4, 6 In Brief.................................8 Nice and Easy.........................9 Manely Speaking................... 10 Summer Camp Guide 2013..... 11-14 Arts & Entertainment.......... 16-17 Community Round-Up.......... 18-19 Outside The Neighborhood....... 20 Service Directory...............20-21 Just For the Fun of It.............. 22 Classifieds........................... 23 PalmsWestMonthly.com
Photo by Bob Markey II/MarkeySportsPhoto.com
Holly and Tommy Robson of The Acreage dance the night away at a concert by the Eagles tribute band The Long Run on March 23 during the three-day grand opening celebration of Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. The village’s 65-acre former golf course has a two-story pavilion building for special events and plenty of water activities including paddle boats and kayaks and a 10-acre Great Lawn for large festivals.
DANCING IN THE PARK Thousands of area residents turned out to enjoy the three-day grand opening festivities at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park. By RON HAYES Palms West Monthly
ROYAL PALM BEACH — On most any given day, Royal Palm Beach’s new Commons Park offers 162 acres of gently rolling lawns, peaceful waters and quiet picnic pavilions where village residents and visitors alike can find rest, recreation and serenity. However, Saturday, March 23, was not that day. Midway through the park’s three-day Grand Opening celebration, country music blasted from the Royal Palm Auto Mall stage, martial arts students broke boards by the Fountain Plaza, helicopter rides swooped overhead and the Great Lawn was circled by a “Food Truck Invasion” of burgers and dogs, lobster rolls, tacos and Philly cheese steaks. In between the food trucks, other vendors offered dog beds, underwater photography and “aromatherapy with shea infused butter.” There was Lite beer for the grown-ups, Cocacola for the kids – and compliments all around. “It’s fabulous!” gushed Patty Donovan, touring the park with her grandson, Joshua, 7. “It’s someplace you can bring the kids. Get them off their video games and let them run around.” She had only one complaint as the noonday sun blazed down. “A little more shade, please,” she said, “a little more shade.” Shade will take a little more time. The 4,000 trees planted to turn a former golf course into a bucolic park need years to grow. But the park
Photo by Bob Markey II/MarkeySportsPhoto.com
One of the main features of Royal Palm Beach Commons Park is its chain of lakes, on which people can paddle boat or kayak. The adjacent multi-story pavilion boasts a WiFienabled café and host weddings, special events and more.
itself has emerged from that vanished golf course only slightly over budget and behind schedule. “We’re pushing to have our Fourth of July celebration there,” Mayor Domenic “Matty” Mattioli said in October 2011, when the park was expected to cost $18 million. Saturday, the mayor sat in the shade of the park’s Banquet Garden, sipping a Bud Lite, ponSEE PARK / PAGE 15
In an effort to make Palm Beach County a cleaner, greener, more livable place, The Great American Clean Up officially will sweep through Palm Beach County on Saturday, April 13, offering volunteers numerous opportunities to pitch in. Interested volunteers can get involved in a number of ways. Go online to the Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful website at keepPBCbeautiful. org for sites or call (561) 6866646 for more information. The City of West Palm Beach Department of Parks and Recreation will partner with the Roosevelt Estates South Neighborhood Association to clean up the Westward Park area on April 13, from 8 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will help with sodding, planting, painting and completing a neighborhood litter clean up. Refreshments will be available and all tools and supplies will be provided. A volunteer registration form is required of all volunteers and a parental signature is required for all volunteers under the age of 18. Those interested can contact Rhonda Barona at rbarona@ wpb.org or at (561) 804-4906. The Royal Palm Beach Clean Up will take place April 13, at the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center at 100 Sweet Bay Ln. Volunteers may sign up at 7 a.m. and receive a safety vest, gloves, pick-up tool, and bags. Refreshments will be served after the event at noon. For more information, call the Public Works Department at 790-5199. In Wellington, volunteers will meet at Tiger Shark Cove Park on April 13 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Gloves, trash bags and T-shirts will be supplied and volunteers will receive water throughout the morning. To register, go online to wellingtonfl.gov and click on the “Great American Cleanup” icon on the events section. Volunteers can register the day of the event. For more information, call Kim Henghold at (561) 791-4137.