Tallahassee Magazine - September/October 2011

TALLAHASSEE VOLUME 33 NUMBER 5

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September/October 2011

82

GHOST HUNTERS

With modern equipment and open minds, Scott tepperman, ron bordner and the alPha team are on a quest to find the paranormal.

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TALLAHASSEE INK

once limited to sailors and jailbirds, tattoos have now entered the mainstream. but just how acceptable is body art in this town?

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BEST OF 2011

the tribe has spoken. our readers have named their favorites in 100 categories and we’re sharing their picks with you.

159

CONSTRUCTION SURVIVORS

Photo coUrteSy brian Proctor

Six local contracting companies talk about the changes technology has made for their businesses and what they’ve done to survive economic ups and downs in this sponsored report.

150 WILD THINGS

brian Proctor explores the woods, swamps and shorelines of the region, bringing back striking photographs of the creatures living in the natural world around us.

167

VISIT THE BEACH

the crowds are gone, it’s not too hot and there are special events planned just for you. it’s a great time for a trip to northwest Florida’s beaches.

ON THE COVER

owner alex beltrami and his Midtown Filling Station appear in two feature stories in this issue. the venue was named best bar in the best of listings, and his business was cited for having perhaps the most tattedup staff in town. Photo by Scott holstein.

Tallahassee

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contents 13 15 16 218

From the Publisher From the editor letters to the editor the last Word

Quick reads 19 ONE TO WATCH

new airport director Sunil harmon wants tallahassee to take flight.

20 FIRST PERSON

She dances on air in cirque du Soleil’s “Dralion.”

22 GEN NEXT

toting textbooks may be a thing of the past.

24 TEST DRIVE

Say cheese and make your own mozzarella.

26 LIFESTYLE

a local boutique brings cowboy chic to Monroe Street.

departments 28 EDITOR’S CHOICE

like, um, learn to speak in public with, you know, toastmasters.

32 ON THE MOVE

you don’t have to be an ironman — or woman — to compete in triathlons.

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sepTember–OcTOber 2011

36 GIVING BACK

73 SOCIAL STUDIES

40 PERSONALITY

home & garden

beyond Sunday School: learn more about the Good book at the center for biblical Studies. homegrown President Jim Murdaugh is ready to lead tcc into the future.

48 HISTORICITY

Where were you when the planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001?

See who mixed and mingled with Tallahassee Magazine’s top Singles.

189 CHECK IT OUT

Put a pot of aloe in your window to soothe life’s little mishaps.

190 HABITAT

52 ARTS & CULTURE

Meditations on ananda, a unique SouthWood home with a spiritual foundation.

144 TRAVEL

Mind & body

FSU’s a cappella groups are in perfect harmony. and they sing well, too. not too easy, not too steep; Michigan’s crystal Mountain resort is just right for intermediate skiers.

197 IN FOCUS

events

198 HEALTH

Get Down Downtown the night before the big Game.

dining

now’s the time to prepare for winter’s flu season. help your kids avoid injuries while playing sports.

57 SPOTLIGHT

205 FIRST COURSE

58 CALENDAR

come out of your cocoons, social butterflies, and enjoy all the fun fall has to offer.

»22

roll on over to Food truck thursday for a meal on wheels.

206 FLAVOR

how to tell when good food goes bad.

211 DINING GUIDE

enjoy dishes from around the world in your own backyard.

PhotoS by Scott holStein anD coUrteSy Daniel DeSMaraiS For cirQUe DU Soleil, cryStal MoUntain reSort anD aMrita brUMMel-SMith

in every issue

190

144

20

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September–October 2011

Vol. 33, No. 5

Publisher Brian E. Rowland

Editor Rosanne Dunkelberger

designer Saige Roberts

Staff Writer Jason Dehart Contributing Writers Analiese Barnes, Holly Brooks, Laura Cogdill, Spencer Frankeberger, Angela Howard, Jack Macalevy, Kim MacQueen, Marjorie Menzel, Lilly Rockwell STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Holstein Editorial Interns Alexia McKay, Desiree Stennett

traffic coordinator Lisa Sostre

Sales Executives Lori Magee, Linda Powell, Chuck Simpson Online tallahasseemagazine.com twitter.com/tallahasseemag facebook.com/tallahasseemag

President Brian E. Rowland

Director of Tim Fordyce Publishing operations

Creative Director Lawrence Davidson Production DIRECTOR Melinda Lanigan

Director of Linda Kleindienst Editorial Services

Manager of Finance Angela Cundiff HR/Administration

Manager of Daniel Parisi Integrated Sales Administrator of McKenzie Burleigh Sales and Events

Client Service Caroline Conway Representative Assistant Saige Roberts

Creative Director Graphic Designers Jennifer Ekrut, Laura Patrick, Marc Thomas, Daniel Vitter magazine Ad Builder Patrick Patterson traffic coordinators Lisa Sostre, Marjorie Stone Receptionist Amy Lewis Network Administrator Daniel Vitter

Web Site rowlandpublishing.com

Tallahassee Magazine is published bimonthly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. 850/878-0554.

Tallahassee Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned.

Tallahassee Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright September 2011 Tallahassee Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Partners of Visit Tallahassee and Member, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and Florida Magazine Association.

one-year Subscription $30 (SIx issues) (850) 878-0554 Subscribe online at tallahasseemagazine.com or purchase Tallahassee Magazine at Barnes & Noble, Costco, Books-A-Million, Walgreens and at our Miccosukee Road office.

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Proud member Florida Magazine Association

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S e p t e m b e r – O c to b e r 2 0 1 1

From the Publisher

Having a ‘Caddyshack’ Summer The 1980 major motion picture “Caddyshack,” starring Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, has earned its place as an all-time classic comedy.

Over the past couple weeks, I have been polling people and it seems like everyone has seen it at least once.

If you haven’t, and you have just a semblance of a sense of humor, then please find and watch it so you can enjoy two hours of side-splitting laughter. Rodney is a wise-guy golfer whose series of one liners and overall respect for no one and nothing will keep you rolling from one situation to the next.

One of the film’s main storylines is about a groundskeeper’s (Bill Murray) quest to find — and eliminate — a gopher that is wreaking havoc on the golf course.

My nemeses are three armadillos that set up shop on the grounds of Rowland Publishing this spring.

My first encounter with them came one afternoon in early May when the trio of teenagers were rooting around in our parking lot landscaping. They seemed oblivious to my staffers, who were taking pictures and commenting on their cuteness and blind focus on the search for nourishment of ground grubs and insects, which are their main staple of food.

We all thought they were cute, harmless creatures that gave our corporate property a slice of natural appeal. They would appear most every afternoon and became a playful source of entertainment for everyone.

Then, the dark side of this encounter began to reveal its ugly face. I was in the lobby one day as a customer was leaving the building. Moments after the door closed, I heard a bone-chilling scream. I hurried outside to see her running to her car as an armadillo casually walked around on the sidewalk after she left, oblivious to this woman’s panicked flight from our offices.

At this point, I realized I had a problem and needed to get it solved to avoid future meltdowns or, worse yet, someone who might be injured by the “diller” or themselves while running for dear life.

Doing research, I quickly learned the following: They are very difficult to trap because there are no baits that will work. They are nocturnal … although this trio apparently did not get the memo on that. They have sharp claws, which means you have to be very careful trying to capture one by hand. And, last but not least, they stink real, real, real bad.

I asked many “outdoor” friends and all agreed a shotgun was the best option. That’s good if you live in the county, but I am within city limits and discharging a firearm would put me, rather than them, behind bars.

The best way to capture them is to quietly sneak up behind them and grab their tail to haul them up off the ground, then place them in a cage and transport them far away from the nesting area.

Much easier said than done. They have excellent hearing. Every time I tried to sneak up behind them, they would transform from slow movers to greyhounds and hightail it to the empty lot next door, laughing at this publisher in active pursuit.

So, over the next weekend I returned with a crab net and made a capture — which, moments later, they tore to shreds with their razor-sharp claws and escaped again. I think I saw a smile of defiance on their pointy snouts.

Two months have passed, they are doubled in size and have become my version of the Taliban, entrenched within my beautiful, natural ecosystem.

But then our staff photographer and woodsman, Scott Holstein, came to the rescue. Check out the web page wn.com/ ldavidson02 to see him demonstrate the fine art of “diller” capture. One down. Two to go. I am determined to be part of the exclusive “Diller Dundee” club. Stay tuned … update next issue.

Photo by Scott Holstein

Brian Rowland, Publisher

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BEST HAIR SALON

2011

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From the Editor

Generation Smug

Rosanne Dunkelberger rdunkelberger@rowlandpublishing.com

WOMEN’S AND MEN’S SWIMSUITS AND OTHER FUN ITEMS TO WEAR IN THE SUN

EXCLUSIVE invitation only

Fashion Show in late September at ALOFT Hotel SPONSORED BY

PHOTO by Kay Meyer

School’s in session for another year, and I’m taking this opportunity to indulge in a little back-toschool ritual: writing a “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” essay.

This summer, I went back home again for a fiveday visit with my mother in her Northern Virginia retirement community. (This would probably be infinitely more interesting if I wrote it after the summers I traveled to Rome and Turkey, but so it goes.)

I left my hometown when I was 14, and most people who knew me when I lived there invariably comment about how much my 20-year-old daughter looks like I used to look back in the day. And she does, right down to the waves in her long, thick hair.

With the smugness of youth, she’s quick to point out stray gray hairs or wrinkles that make me look old. At these moments, I usually point to my face and say something along the lines of, “Take a good look, kid, because this is your future.” Which is a pretty horrifying thought for her.

Mom rented guest quarters for my daughter and I in her community, so we were able to share a little bit of the Greensprings experience with her during my stay. It’s a sprawling place, like Tallahassee’s Westminster Oaks on steroids, home to 2,000 people over the age of 62 — many of them well over 62, including a woman who lives down the hall from my mother who’s 102.

Greensprings has just about everything — several dining rooms, a beauty parlor, doctors’ offices, a fitness center, library and even an onsite television station — all connected by a labyrinth of hallways. It might take awhile and you’re sure to get lost at least once, but it’s possible to go everywhere on the campus without ever stepping foot outside. Mom taught me the rules of the road, er, hallways — keep to the right, let someone know if you’re passing and beware of speeding scooters.

As I walked back and forth to her apartment, I was filled with pity for people I saw who were bent over by their ailments or trailed by health care aides. And I must admit I chuckled to myself at the room that served as a parking lot for dozens of walkers and scooters that weren’t allowed in the dining rooms.

Then I realized: Who was being smug now? Essentially, I was looking at my (not-allthat-distant) future. And I have no idea what that future will hold. Do I want to live my golden years surrounded by people who are old like me? Will I be able to afford the buyin at a place like Greensprings? Will I even be able to afford being retired?

These questions resonate with me because whenever Congress starts talking about mucking around with Social Security and Medicare, they assure us these changes will only affect those 55 and older. So guess who’s 54?

Fitting thoughts for the autumn of my life. But, for now, let me touch on the autumn issue of Tallahassee Magazine.

Sure as the leaves fall, it’s time for the Best of Tallahassee 2011. Our readers have once again chosen the top restaurants, stores, service providers and entertainment. Many are familiar names on the list, but there are also plenty of new winners to explore. Thanks to those who took the time to mail in ballots and share their favorites. Be sure to look for the “Best of” logo when it’s time to make a choice — our readers won’t steer you wrong.

Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for that first cool October morning.

A

V ISIO N

O F W H O TELS

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Letters to the Editor Praising the Positive Brian, I enjoyed your article (“From the Publisher: Here They Go Again,” July/ August 2011 issue). You hit the nail on the head with both your brief lesson on travel economics and mild chastising of the media. Keep up the good work.

— Roger Hickey

From the Social Media Comments about the Tallahassee Top Singles 2011 event, held at Hotel Duval on July 16, 2011: Great Top Singles bash last night!!

Thanks to Rowland Publishing and the Hotel Duval staff for a first-class night!! Looking forward to next year’s gala!! — Frank Sandro

Great event Saturday! Thanks for doing it up right for us Top Singles and making it awesome for the guests!

— Cal Brooks Sweet video! Looks like everything turned out awesome for the big night! — Kolpin0714 Agreed! What a great way to help support charities in the Big Bend.

— salsabagel Comments about photos from Big Bend Cares’ Artopia art auction, held June 25, 2011:

It was a wonderful night with great art, great people, and lots of support to ensure the continuation of our efforts in the community.

— Big Bend Cares Do you have something to say?

If you have a comment about or correction to Tallahassee Magazine, send a message to editorial@rowlandpublishing.com or 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308.

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Photo by Daniel Vitter

Great night! Honored to be part of a successful event supporting such a fantastic cause! — Kristen Ledlow

best

thank you for voting us

of.

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F O R

E I G H T

Russell B. Rainey, DMD

Y E A R S!

2011

850.385.3700 221 E. 7TH Ave. | Tallahassee, FL 32303

BEST DENTIST

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QUICK READS people | items | places

PHOTO By SCOTT HOlSTEIn

ONE TO WATCH

» SUNIL HARMON

After paying his dues in aviation departments in Miami, San Diego and New York, Sunil Harmon has come to town to take on the top position as the new Aviation Director at Tallahassee Regional Airport.

“It’s been interesting so far,” says Harmon, who is 48. “Interesting in a good way. I have the support of the governing structure. They have been very encouraging.”

Harmon is fast-tracking innovation that will restructure Tallahassee’s aviation department and hopefully bring more business and air traffic to town.

“If the major airlines think they can get our customers from Jacksonville, Orlando or Atlanta, then they don’t see a reason to come to Tallahassee,” Harmon says.

He has implemented a multi-tiered, 120day plan designed to combat that belief and, in short, make the airport experience better, including elements that will create a more welcoming environment. There is an air service strategy in place as well as plans to beautify the grounds, make the airport more energy efficient and promote new kinds of business.

“In order for Tallahassee Regional Airport to be successful, we have to diversify our lines of business, particularly in making the airport into a commercial economic development engine,” he says.

The plans are already underway and Harmon is hoping to transform the city’s aviation department by the time they’re complete.

“I’ve come here with an open heart and an open mind,” he says. “We’re open for business and we want to do business. We plan to win the trust and patronage of the community.”

— Desiree Stennett

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QUICK READS first person

By Rosanne Dunkelberger

N

othing conjures up the exotic quite like a show by Cirque du Soleil, and when its show “Dralion” comes to Tallahassee for eight performances Sept. 28 through Oct. 2, we can expect to be dazzled by acrobats, contortionists, aerialists, dancers and other artists from around the world.

About half of the show’s 52 performers are part of a Chinese acrobatic troupe, while others hail from Hungary, Spain, Russia, Japan and other countries. So it might come as a bit of a surprise to realize that beneath the blue costume and dramatic makeup of Azala, goddess of the Air, is a Florida girl, Amanda Oroczo of Orlando.

The 22-year-old’s adventure began when she saw a Cirque show in her hometown with her mother 10 years ago. “I was completely enamored by it. It was my first experience seeing something like that and that night after the show I was like, ‘Mom, this is what I want to do,’’’ Oroczo says. She admits her aspirations were something of a “wild fantasy,” and her teenage years were pretty typical, with some emphasis on competitive dancing.

But after high school, the Big Top called to Oroczo and she traveled to Montreal for a “three-year, very intensive” circus school.

While her peers were studying business and accounting, “I specialized in aerial tissue …

I also did contortion and duo trapeze,” she says, and landed her role in “Dralion” right after finishing her circus training. She’s been performing in arenas throughout the U.S. and Canada for more than a year now. “I’m very, very lucky for my role in the show,” she says.

“I get a lot of stage time. I get a lot of opportunity to connect with the audience, and I’m very grateful for that.”

Oroczo has a featured role, playing one of the four elements (the others are Earth, Fire and Water.) She makes appearances throughout the show, but her star turn is an aerial “tissue” pas de deux, flying high above the stage being held up only by long, flowing swaths of cloth, also known as silks.

“There are no safety nets or any tricks, it really is just us,” she explains. “At certain points the tissue is supporting my partner, and he’s the only thing holding me up.”

Getting into her elaborate costume and headgear isn’t the most challenging aspect of her pre-performance ritual. “For me the hardest costuming aspect that takes the longest is the makeup,” which she applies herself. When she began, training for the show included

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September–October 2011

Air Goddess Floridian Amanda Oroczo will perform an in-the-air ballet as Azala when Cirque du Soleil’s “Dralion” comes to the Civic Center Sept. 28–Oct. 2.

two-and-a-half-hour sessions on how to apply makeup. “It definitely takes much longer than that in the beginning, so the first time you actually complete your makeup in one session it feels like you’ve just run a marathon,” Oroczo says. Now, she can do it in about 45 minutes.

Although she did learn French while in Montreal, Cirque’s official language is English.

But the atmosphere is multicultural, and Oroczo says she likes that just fine. “Before the shows you sit down at the table and there’s three or four different languages being spoken in one place,” she says. “It’s really cool because you have to learn how to communicate together and intermingle and really understand each other even when speaking isn’t the primary form of communication.”

And those meals are prepared by a culinary staff that travels with the show. All of her living and travel expenses, except for her cell phone bill, are paid for when she’s on tour.

“People ask, ‘How can you stand to live in a hotel?’ and I say, ‘Oh, it’s really hard to have people make my bed for me every morning.’

It’s not really that difficult.”

Time off is built into her schedule. The troupe works 10 weeks on and two weeks off.

Their typical weekly schedule includes eight performances Wednesday through Sunday, giving them two days off to explore whatever city they find themselves in. “It’s a really nice way to see the world and travel and do what you love,” she says. “I’ve gotten to see more of the U.S. and Canada than I ever thought possible. Every place is so different … you’re there long enough to understand the place but not long enough to get bored.”

But Oroczo is definitely looking forward to performing in her home state. “It’s kind of where the dream comes full circle … . To perform in my hometown in my home state is kind of a surreal feeling of, ‘Alright, I made it,’ ” she says.

Photos courtesy Daniel Desmarais for Cirque du Soleil

Exotic ‘Dralion’ Star is Actually a Home-Grown Gal

Off to Join le Circus

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E n j o y y o u r o w n p a r t y f o r o n c e.

Chicken Drummette Platter

Fully-cooked Smoked Turkey

Floral Arrangements

Chicago Hard Rolls

Key Lime Pie

Invite some help to your next get-together. Like delicious, beautifully-prepared platters and desserts from Publix. Stop by and pick up a copy of our “Start Something� brochure for some tempting ideas on how to simplify your entertaining needs.

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QUICK READS generation next

Digital Textbooks are Coming New State Law Requires Adoption of More Online Textbooks By lIlly RoCkWell

I

THE NEW STATE LAW » Florida’s public schools must adopt online textbooks by the 2015–16 school year. » Schools must spend at least 50 percent of their textbook adoption budget on digital materials by the 2015–16 school year. » School districts are allowed to set up their own school-specific pilot programs to test electronic textbooks.

n 10 years, school textbooks will go the way of typewriters and rotary phones.

It may sound radical to anyone who has graduated high school, but to today’s students, who grew up using the Internet, textbooks can be awfully “old-school.”

High school students lugging around heavy backpacks filled with hardback textbooks will soon be just a memory as publishers and schools work toward offering more online textbooks. This isn’t some faraway idea — a new state law requires that school districts adopt online textbooks by the 2015 school year.

It’s one of the most aggressive laws in the country to push schools to offer more online textbooks and is welcomed by Florida’s Department of Education.

Advocates for online textbooks say students these days have grown up as “digital natives,” and are used to receiving information in an online format.

“These students have immersed (themselves in) and embraced it before they even entered our schools,” said Scotty Crowe, the division director of teaching and learning for leon County Schools. “This is where 22

September–OctOber 2011

the next generation of instructional materials are headed over the next four or five years.”

Textbook publishers say they are ready for the transition and have already begun offering online versions of traditional textbooks.

This year, the state of Florida even included an online science textbook as part of its “approved” adoption list.

Publishers say online textbooks are device neutral and can be used on Kindles, iPads, laptops or any other kind of tablet or e-reader. And they already offer digital content in the form of disks or links to online content.

One huge benefit to offering content online is the ability to update information quicker, rather than waiting for new textbooks.

Schools say there might be a slight cost savings. But one concern for a lot of school districts, including leon County, is how to invest in the electronic equipment needed to use online textbooks and train teachers on using these new devices.

Textbook publishers and leon County Schools say it’s a matter of “when” not “if” they adopt digital textbooks. Shannon lynch, the county’s assistant superintendent for the Division of Teaching, said they aren’t ready to go all-online just yet, but expects it to happen “quickly,” and certainly within the next 10 years.

This shift won’t just impact textbooks, but a host of time-honored school rituals, such as visiting lockers between classes and lugging heavy backpacks.

For students like 17-year-old Carlin Rasky, a senior at Tallahassee’s Chiles High School, making textbooks fully electronic has its drawbacks.

“I’m not too fond of electronic textbooks,” Rasky said. “Some of my teachers have given

them out in the past, and I have found myself less willing to read them through the computer because the program was prone to glitches.”

Rasky said it is also easier to turn to a specific page in a traditional textbook. And like any student, she’s aware of some of the “dog ate my homework” excuses online textbooks can yield, such as telling a teacher the software program doesn’t work.

Still, Rasky said there are some definite advantages. “It would be convenient for students who already spend a great deal of time on the computer,” Rasky said. “not having to carry heavy books all day would also be a definite advantage.”

While digital natives like Rasky may adjust to the idea of going online for just about everything, anyone who graduated high school last century can practice reminding schoolchildren, “Back when I was in school, we had these things called textbooks ...”

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QUICK READS test drive

DIY Cheese Learning How to Create Homemade Mozzarella at Sweet Grass Dairy

By Rosanne Dunkelberger

U

The ingredients for mozzarella — for all cheese, in fact — are very simple: milk, starter, rennet and salt.

Almost Cheese A student at Sweet Grass Dairy stirs the curds that are just one step away from becoming mozzarella balls.

all cheese, in fact — are very simple: milk, starter, rennet and salt. Little calls it a beginner “gateway” cheese but, as we would discover during the two-hour class, “it requires focus and diligence to get it done correctly,” as he writes in the instruction packet.

Once the milk is hot enough, the rennet — a coagulating agent — is stirred in.

In a matter of minutes, the milk separates into curds and whey (remember Little Miss Muffett?). After about 10 minutes, the curd, which has a Jello-like consistency and sits on top of the watery whey, is cut into squares and stirred for a while. In the meantime, we’re heating up a separate pot of water to 150 degrees.

The curds are strained in a colander (save the whey, it’s great for making bread and ricotta cheese), and at this point looking kind of gooey and lumpy.

And then, the messy fun begins.

We’re each invited to grab a handful of the curd and plunge it into that hot water (a double layer of latex gloves helps here, it’s hot).

After a minute or so, you pluck the curd ball out of the water and start to stretch it until it becomes smooth and shiny. After some rolling and tucking, the finished cheese ball is plopped into a saltwater brine and ready to eat. Because it’s a fresh cheese, Little suggests freezing what you can’t eat within a few days.

The dairy’s fresh cheese class is a demonstration, because making it is a three-day process. But participants are also taught how to make ricotta cheese, which takes only a few minutes. Brenda McKinstry of Colquitt, Ga., had already attended the fresh cheese class and swears she’ll never buy ricotta cheese again. “I’ll make my own,” she said.

In addition to a little bag of mozzarella balls, we were given detailed instructions and some citric acid and rennet to try cheesemaking at home and treated to a tasting of a variety of different mozzarellas as well as Sweet Grass Dairy cheeses, which are sold at retail outlets, including the Sweet Grass store in downtown Thomasville.

Cheese, Please Cost is $60 per person. For a listing of class dates and to register, visit sweetgrassdairy.com. To get there from Tallahassee, travel north on Thomasville Road through Thomasville and turn left on U.S. 19. Travel four miles to the crossroads of County Road 202. The dairy is about half a mile past the intersection on the right. You’ll need to make a U-turn to get into the entrance. Sweet Grass Dairy / 19635 U.S. Highway 19 North / Thomasville, GA 31792 / (229) 227-0752 24

September–October 2011

Photo Courtesy Sweet Grass Dairy

sually, a person with basic cooking skills can read a recipe, follow the directions and whip up something fairly close to what’s shown in the cookbook’s pretty picture.

But some foodstuffs and cooking techniques benefit from hands-on guidance of someone who has been there and done that to help us get it right and avoid embarrassing flops. Things like jelly, pickles, puff pastry, French bread or — and this was learned at my mother’s side — gnocchi.

High on my list of do-not-try-this-at-homealone foods is cheese. In my opinion, the process by which milk becomes sharp cheddar is long, mysterious and best left to the professionals. And, that’s true when it comes to hard, aged cheeses. But in monthly classes at Thomasville’s Sweet Grass Dairy, co-owner Jeremy Little offers himself as a cheese-making sherpa for the uninitiated.

Sweet Grass offers two different cheese classes, one demonstrating the technique for making fresh cheese, and the other for making that Italian mainstay — mozzarella. I was invited to join the mozzarella class and found myself on a sunny Saturday wending my way down a dirt road lined by fields that were home to herds of goats.

Classes are held in the cheese-making facility and Little is a stickler for sanitation. Participants — up to 16 people — are required to wear hairnets, clean clothes and close-toed shoes for the class. Four of us shared a cooktop, which allowed everyone to get a hands-on experience.

The process begins with milk — the highest quality possible and preferably not pasteurized at ultra-high temperatures. The cow’s milk we used provided us with a nostalgia trip, with its yellowish coloration and glass bottles. After pouring a gallon into a stockpot, citric acid is dissolved in water and stirred carefully into the milk. It gets very slowly heated to 90 degrees.

This takes awhile, and instead of pot watching, Little gives us a short tutorial on cheesemaking. The ingredients for mozzarella — for

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QUICK READS lifestyle

Western Chic 4

10

9 8

1

5 3 11 7

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12

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1) Survival grey short-sleeved cardigan, $34.95. 2) Rock & Roll red junior sleeveless dress with grey and white rose design, $57.95. 3) Rose 31 red and black crystal necklace, $38.

4) Nett silver finish, diamond hoop drop earrings, $17.50. 5) Run A Muck dark brown straw cowboy hat, $35 6) Nocona Old West Tan boots, $189.95 7) Corral Satillo Tan Mesquite-Harness boots with buckle, $199.95. 8) Judith March long-sleeved one shoulder earth-toned crocheted dress, $74.20. 9) Pure silver and gold hammered finish drop earrings, $10 10) Triple Creek Loula Belle Indian medallion necklace, $70. 11) Old Gringo red-distressed stitched snip-toe boot, $399.95. 12) Corral Boots black distance crackle snip-toe, $299.95 — Alexia McKay 26

September–October 2011

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Editor’s Choice

Raise Your Glass

J

erry Seinfeld just might have said it best: At a funeral, most people would prefer to be the one in the casket instead of the one giving the eulogy.

Public speaking is second only to flying on the Self Help Collective’s Top 10 list of fears.

As it turns out, giving a speech — even a less than stellar one — won’t kill you. But, if you are among the 40 percent of Americans who think being chosen to speak in front of an audience is a fate worse than death (since death ranks a mere No. 6 on the list of fears), a local chapter of Toastmasters International may be your savior.

All over town, people from all walks of life, from students to professionals to doctors and lawyers, are meeting with 28

September–October 2011

the same goal in mind — becoming better speakers and leaders.

“The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth,” says Melissa Floirolli, former president of the SouthWood Toastmasters and the organization’s Division H governor.

The Toastmasters held their first meeting in the basement of a YMCA in Santa Ana, Calif., in the 1920s and chapters have sprung up worldwide in the ensuing 87 years.

Tallahassee got its first taste of the Toastmasters in the 1950s and now 22 clubs

have meetings in the area to give members relief from the sweaty, shaky anxiety attacks that can accompany speaking before an audience.

“I didn’t want to be afraid when I got up to speak, especially in professional situations,” says Shirley Bull, who has been a toastmaster for 20 years.

Bull is a member of the Capital City Toastmasters, who meet every Thursday at Chili’s restaurant on the Apalachee Parkway. She works with the Agency for Workforce Innovation and says Toastmasters has helped her personally and professionally.

As the toastmasters like to say, communication is not optional. Whether verbally or nonverbally, we communicate constantly — and the ability to do so

Photo by Scott Holstein

Local Toastmasters Help Make Giving a Toast as Easy as Pie By Desiree Stennett

Let’s Talk Phyllis Smith speaks before her Capital City Toastmasters group, one of 22 that meet weekly in different locations around Tallahassee.

“I didn’t want to be afraid when I got up to speak, especially in professional situations.” — Shirley Bull comfortably and effectively in professional and social situations is invaluable.

Each club meets once a week for an hour, usually during lunch, in office buildings and restaurants throughout Tallahassee. The relaxed settings allow for comfortable expression and firm, but constructive, feedback.

These meetings are not to be mistaken for the conventional classroom. There are no permanent instructors. Instead, each week a new “toastmaster” presides over the meeting and those attending critique one another.

The toastmaster hosts the meeting and gets the opportunity to refine his or her speaking skills without preparing a speech. Newbies aren’t usually chosen for this position until they get a few meetings under their belts.

Although the Toastmasters’ most important mission is to help members and guests learn to feel comfortable while giving an effective speech, their meetings focus on more than that. Attendees are also expected to improve their grammar and vocabulary. Most club meetings begin with a word of the day that all are encouraged to inject into their speeches and responses.

Although only two members deliver prepared speeches in most meetings, everyone else isn’t off the hook. Everyone who speaks during the meeting is given time constraints and expected to improve their skills.

After the prepared speeches, it’s time for Table Topics, the part of the meeting that gives each person the opportunity to try their hand at impromptu speaking. Even new members and visitors can get their feet wet and speak a little without the pressure of a full speech. Only the “topicsmaster” knows the subjects beforehand.

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Editor’s Choice It’s their job to choose people at random to speak for one to two minutes on topics that can range anywhere from why their favorite dessert tastes so good to the latest political uproar.

This is all a part of the educational aspect that the club promotes. The topicsmaster learns preparation skills, while the Table Topics speakers better their communication skills for the many situations where dialogue cannot be preplanned.

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But don’t let the fear of being called on during table topics keep you from attending your first meeting. All toastmasters move and grow at their own pace. Visitors may decline to speak if the topicsmaster calls on them.

After all speakers have had the chance to give their speeches, long or short, it’s evaluation time.

All the toastmasters take on the task of helping one another improve. Delivering an engaging speech is important, but the “grammarian” also makes sure everyone uses proper vocabulary, while the “ah” counter keeps track of how often speakers use verbal fillers like “um” or “so.”

Many anxious speakers use these fillers as a crutch when their nerves leave them 30

September–October 2011

Photo by Scott Holstein

Added Benefits Capital City Toastmasters’ President Amy Williams says her two years in the group have helped not just her public speaking skills, but also in her workplace.

For more information about the Toastmasters and a list of nearby club meetings, visit toastmasters.org.

Membership fees are $20 for new members and $27 every six months to maintain membership.

Photo: AJ Abellera | Dancers: Haley Iliff (student since 2000) and Sarah Huff (student since 2009)

at a loss for words. This is all meant to make a speaker aware of the habits that could ruin an otherwise great speech.

Another important part of the speechgiving process is time management. No matter how interesting your topic, if it takes an hour to get through a speech that was supposed to be 15 minutes long, the audience is lost.

This teaches the speakers to manage their time properly so no speech is too long or too short. Don’t worry, the timekeeper won’t cut you short but will make you aware if you have issues with staying within the time allotted for each speaker.

Similar to learning to play a sport, building the confidence required to speak comfortably in public takes work. Improvement comes with time.

Most Toastmaster clubs have only about 20 members, and you can visit as many as you like before choosing the one that fits you.

If you’re the kind of person in need of instant gratification, this is where you’ll shine. Most clubs give out weekly awards for the best speaker at the end of each meeting.

No matter what your career path may be, lessons learned in the weekly Toastmasters meeting can be useful.

Amy Williams, a two-year member of the Toastmasters and new president of the Capital City club, says she joined the Toastmasters because her job required her to give presentations and speak to audiences in many different situations.

Williams now works for Florida Fish and Wildlife and, after changing her career path, she continued her Toastmasters membership and recognizes the transformation she has made not only as a public speaker but as a professional.

“It really helps me with networking, leadership, time management and professionalism,” Williams says. n

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On The Move

Me, a Triathlete?

M

any people hear the word triathlon and think of ripped Ironman athletes, crossing the finish line after 10 straight hours of exercise — exhausted, red-faced and dripping in sweat.

Good news. The Ironman is the most 32

September–October 2011

grueling of all triathlons, an event so intense and time-consuming most triathletes never do it. Just like running races, there are much smaller triathlons where just about anyone — yes, even you — can participate.

“With a little focus and consistent training, anyone can participate in a triathlon, and gain that huge sense of accomplishment

when they cross the finish line,” said Jeff Bowman, a triathlete and co-owner of the Tallahassee triathlon coaching company Revolutions.

Luckily, Florida is one of the most popular places in the country to train and compete in triathlons because of its sunny weather and access to open water.

Photos courtesy Fred Decker

Tips for Training For and Finishing Your First Triathlon By Lilly Rockwell

Swim bike run Scenes from Tallahassee’s Red Hills Triathlon. While a shorter sprint event, the area’s hills make it challenging for participants.

Triathlons have also experienced a boom in recent years. Nowhere is that more evident than Tallahassee, where the Gulf Winds Triathletes Club has seen its membership grow from 40 to more than 250 just in the last three years.

First, the basics.

A triathlon is a race in which competitors swim, bike and run consecutively (and always in that order) at prescribed distances. The shortest triathlon is called a “sprint” distance, which is a 750-meter swim (less than half a mile), a 20K bike ride (12.4 miles) and a 5K run (3.1 miles).

Fitness experts say it’s entirely possible to transition from couch potato to triathlete in less than six weeks. Here are some tips for training for a first triathlon: » Don’t buy a $2,000 bike. There is no need to buy a fancy bike or special outfit for your very first triathlon. “I would not recommend buying an expensive bike until you’ve decided that you want to continue to be a triathlete,” said Stephanie Liles, a Tallahassee-based triathlete who competed last year in the World Championship Ironman in Hawaii. “Wetsuits are very helpful if you are not a strong swimmer. Most of the races in Florida are not wetsuit legal, but if you get a chance to race in (one), then do it,” Liles said. The only essentials are a good pair of running shoes and swimming goggles, experts say. » Find a training plan. Whether it’s online or through a group or coach, find a training plan that suits your goals and stick with it. Bob Macdonald, head of the Gulf Winds Triathletes Club, suggests going to the library or bookstore and buying a book on triathlon training first. He also recommends getting a check-up from your doctor before embarking on a training plan. The Web is also a great resource for training plans, some of which cost money, but involve personalized coaching. Liles suggests finding groups around Tallahassee to train with and learn from the more experienced athletes in that group. » Start slowly. “Set realistic goals, be consistent, take baby steps and remember fitness is built over time,” Bowman said. A reasonably fit person, he said, could train

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and compete in a sprint triathlon with four to six weeks of training. A typical week’s training might include three swims, three bike rides and three runs. He also suggests breaking up training into more manageable chunks. If the goal is to run 10 miles a week, run for two miles five days a week, Bowman suggests. For someone who isn’t exercising regularly, allow eight to 16 weeks of training. “Take baby steps,” Bowman said.

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» Strength train to avoid injury.

Sometimes triathletes are so focused on getting in their swims, runs and bike rides they neglect any strength training, which can lead to injury. “Typical injuries related to triathlons include strained muscles, tendons or ligaments related to overuse,” Bowman said. Stretching is key, as are efforts to strengthen your core. “Learn the proper swim technique, get fit properly on the bike and purchase the proper running shoes for training and racing,” he said. By incorporating a strength-training routine at your home or gym two days a week you can prevent injury. » Practice biking and running together. It takes several weeks for your legs to get used to following up a bike ride with a run. Even if it’s a short run, train your body to what that feels like so on race day your legs don’t feel as if they are made of lead. These back-to-back training sessions are called “bricks,” and are typically done on a weekend. Experts say they are mandatory for a good race day performance. » And practice transitions. That means how long it takes you to transition from swimming to biking and from biking to running. Practice changing out of your swim clothes to biking clothes and check out the transition area for the race ahead of time. n

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Giving Back

United in Faith

W

hat would you do if time and money were not an issue?

The question that started out as a party game in 1988 has evolved into Tallahassee’s Center for Biblical Studies, which has provided religious education to more than 4,000 people representing more than 715 congregations over the past 21 years.

“We began to talk … about what color is your parachute (and) what would you do if money were no object,” recalled Joanne Arnett, who has been with the Center from its inception and now serves as president and director. At that time, several partygoers talked about creating

36

September–October 2011

a place that would fill the knowledge gap between the Sunday school hour and theologically trained pastors and priests.

“We met for a year just once a week and prayed and talked and felt that we were to start a school,” said Arnett. Then, organizers canvassed more than 400 pastors, priests and others with an interest in Bible education. “We went to (churches) large and small, black and white, Protestant and Catholic,” she said. “When we went to the pastors, we did not ask for funding. We asked them if they saw a need for a place like this. We asked them to give us correction if they saw problems, and we asked them for the best teachers in their denomination.”

In the beginning, the grassroots organization began holding classes in a Shoney’s restaurant and in church conference rooms. Its latest home is tucked into the corner of a strip shopping center on Northwest Capital Circle near Home Depot and includes classrooms, offices, a bookstore and the largest theological library in the city. In 1995, the Center was honored as the Non-Profit Service Business of the Year by the Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce.

From the start, the teachings have been cross-denominational, not following any particular belief system.

“There’s no litmus test; you don’t have to believe anything to come here. We don’t

Photo by Scott Holstein

Students From Across Denominations Join Together to Learn at the Center for Biblical Studies By Analiese Barnes and Rosanne Dunkelberger

Show and teach David Hull, the Center’s only fulltime faculty member, illustrates his lesson on books of the Bible using water bottles with marbles representing their chapters.

“There’s no litmus test; You don’t have to believe anything to come here. We don’t push in any direction, we just present what scripture has to say .... There’s a lot of joy here and a lot of freedom here.”

— Joanne Arnett

push in any direction, we just present what scripture has to say … . We are Christian, so we focus on Jesus,” Arnett said. “We have had Jewish instructors; they teach on the Old Testament. We have had unbelievers who come (to classes). They are just as welcome … . There’s a lot of joy here and a lot of freedom here.”

The Center is a Bible college, offering accredited programs leading to bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees onsite and online. Although all classes are taught at the college level, the vast majority of students over the years have not necessarily been seeking a diploma. “If you’re going for a bachelor’s or master’s degree, you have tests and homework and its (rigor is) comparable to FSU,” Arnett said. “Most people who come, they have jobs, they’re active in their churches, they care about their families. So sometimes one course is pretty much it.” The bulk of students are from Tallahassee, but some come from other Panhandle counties, as well as South Georgia.

Classes can be used for continuing education credits for teachers, counselors and other professions, as a training ground for church leaders or just for personal growth.

A popular choice, said Arnett, are classes that look into how the Bible is relevant to

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particular interest groups, such as businesspeople or government leaders.

“The Bible says more about money than it says about heaven, hell and prayer all together, which was a shock to me,” she said.

Because many students work, classes are usually offered in 2 1/2-hour sessions one night a week for a series of five to 15 weeks. Prices vary, depending on the length of the series and whether the class is being taken for credit. But prices for a fiveweek summer class on “How to Memorize Scripture” start at $49. Topics such as “Acts in a Nutshell” or “Oils of the Bible” are covered in single, eight-hour Saturday sessions that usually cost $25.

The Center has only one fulltime faculty member, David Hull. One wall of the facility has shelves with white boxes — one for each book and gospel of the Bible — that are filled with fabrics, writings and other artifacts he uses as visual aids for his students.

A strength of the Center, said Arnett, is the variety and the quality of its instructors, including ordained church leaders and doctorate degree holders.

“They come from a variety of backgrounds. To teach here, they need to be more than academic, they need to care about their students and be able to work across denominational lines and have a love for what they’re teaching,” she explained.

“We have a man that lives and breathes church history … . We have another person who loves theology. He can boil it down, he makes it simple.” Another teaches on world view and how to understand other cultures.

When asked how the Center is funded, Arnett looked heavenward and replied, “We’re always like this.” Tuition helps pay the bills although “we’ve never turned anybody down for lack of money … and then we have people who are called Friends

Curious about the Center for Biblical Studies?

You are invited to take your first seminar for free. For more information, contact the center at: 1560 Capital Circle N.W., Suite 6 (850) 513-1000 centerforbiblicalstudies.org facebook.com/centerforbiblicalstudies twitter.com/knowtheword 38

September–October 2011

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from the start President and Director Joanne Arnett has been working with the Center for Biblical Studies since its inception more than 20 years ago.

“The Bible says more about money than it says about heaven, hell and prayer all together, which was a shock to me.�

Photo by Scott Holstein

— Joanne Arnett

of the Center who support us,� she said. “We’ve lived on the edge for 21 years.�

Dr. Bob Schuchts, a former instructor who taught courses such as “Love, Sex and Marriage� and “Experiencing the Father’s embrace� for 19 years, said Arnett’s efforts have been tireless. “She has been a pioneer in bringing unity to the church in Tallahassee and has worked tirelessly to build relationships across all the races and denominations. She has given me great freedom to teach as the Spirit leads me.�

Retired Navy Commander Kay Campbell-Williams, who is working on her second master’s degree at the Center and teaches Saturday “nutshell� courses, said, “This is the place where you meet the true church. You have ethnic groups, cultures and denominations that are all united in Christ.� n

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39

Personality

Taking tcc from ‘Good to Great’

W

hen President Bill Law announced last year that he’d be leaving Tallahassee Community College, his trustees and other local leaders had collective heart failure.

In his eight years at the helm, Law had not only enhanced the 45-year-old college’s national reputation. He’d built TCC outposts throughout its service area — in Crawfordville, Quincy and downtown Tallahassee.

He’d created The Learning Commons, a sort of academic support lab on steroids, which now notches hundreds of thousands of student visits yearly. He’d chaired the Tallahassee-Leon Economic Development Council and set up TCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Center to lure business to town. And for the 2009-10 academic year, Law’s last in Tallahassee, Community College Week ranked TCC No. 9 among twoyear institutions in associate degrees awarded — up 22.2 percent from the year before.

40

September–October 2011

“We knew we wanted a leader who was going to continue the direction we were going,” said Karen Moore, then chair of the TCC District Board of Trustees. “So we did a national search … and what we found is: Sometimes the best of the best is in your own backyard.”

Their choice: James T. “Jim” Murdaugh, a career law enforcement officer and military reservist who had helmed TCC’s Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy with outstanding success, expanding his brief to other educational and workforce development programs in Gadsden County.

The search had attracted a wealth of talent, including Tallahassee attorney Randy Hanna and the presidents of colleges in Ohio, South Florida and Washington state — among others.

“I took it as a point of pride that the pool was so rich,” said Bill Law, now the president of St. Petersburg College. “What did they have, 10 sitting presidents?”

Less than a year later, Murdaugh has

his constituencies purring, from students to other big-time educators to the business community and elected officials. At the June press event for bigbendworks.com, an online collaboration to respond to state layoffs, the room was clogged with dignitaries, and Murdaugh got so many accolades for his leadership role that he was blushing.

“He is off to a very promising start,” said Allison DeFoor, vice chairman of the trustees. “He is making quick headway with all of the various constituencies, and that’s the hard thing about a college presidency. … He’s really proving his ability to pull all those competing interests together.”

“I believe in everything the college does,” Murdaugh said. “The best thing we can do is make a difference in someone’s life so they can earn a living and support a family.”

This job isn’t the first where the affable Murdaugh has been a calming and collaborative force. Before starting the

Photo by Scott Holstein

New Tallahassee Community College President, Jim Murdaugh, Steps Into Historically Big Shoes — and Steps Up By Margie Menzel

— Jim Murdaugh

TCC presidency in November 2010, he spent 11 years as director of the college’s Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy, tapped by then-TCC President T.K. Wetherell. The transfer of the academy from Lively Technical Center to the college was contentious, Wetherell said, but Murdaugh improved its every aspect and attracted 60-plus law enforcement agencies there to train. Now known as the Florida Public Safety Institute, the academy plays a key role in state training and national security, with an international reputation.

“Frankly, he exceeded our expectations,” Wetherell said. “After all the controversy, to bring everybody together, to calm the waters, to articulate a visionary program and get everybody to buy into it — it’s amazing.”

As president, Murdaugh hit the ground running full-out, yet methodically. First, he wanted an accurate assessment of the college’s strengths and weaknesses, so he met with its stakeholders: individually with trustees and community leaders; at a retreat with his executive team led by an independent facilitator; and in forums with students, faculty, staff and community members. Then he convened a Student Success Summit, inviting all hands to take TCC from “Good to Great.”

This, too, echoed his tenure at the law enforcement academy. In 2001, Murdaugh wrote a white paper showing how the state could save by training all its officers there — rather than bringing another facility, run by the Florida Highway Patrol, up to code. His economic analysis showed that by investing $8 million in Murdaugh’s facility, FHP could break

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Leon County Commissioner and president of Desloge Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment

» “He believes that people should be responsible for themselves. He gives them great opportunities and the confidence they can succeed.

It works and works well.” Frank Messersmith, member of the TCC District Board of Trustees and legislative lobbyist

» “He solves problems by combining analysis and deliberation with carefully listening to the opinions of others. He then displays the unique gift of explaining complicated things so that they are easy to understand.

He just makes sense, and you think, ‘Yes, that is exactly what we should do.’” Marjorie Turnbull, Florida A&M University trustee and former TCC Foundation director

» “Under his leadership, Tallahassee Community College is leading the way in training and supporting the needs of our existing businesses and nonprofit providers.” Sue Dick, president of the

“He’s incredibly well organized and knows how to get things done. Jim’s a great educator.”

Bill Law, president of St. Petersburg College » “He understands the impacts of the college’s programs, not only to TCC but to the community he serves … He made a very strong commitment to me that he would be as big an advocate for us as Bill Law was.” Kim Williams, chair of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon and TCC alumnus

Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce

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» “He has good management and people skills, and good politics — not Republican or Democrat, but the politics of any major corporation.” T.K. Wetherell, former president of both Florida State University and TCC

» “Jim is first a good listener … He works strategically. Once he knows all the facts, he steps forward …

He’s a good man. Our community is lucky to have him.” David Ramsay, President and CEO SunTrust Bank, Northwest Florida (retired) and Mission San Luis chair

even in cost avoidance, which in fact happened within four years.

“I understood how fiercely proud those agencies are,” Murdaugh said, “and I understood that any effort that attempted to take away from a particular agency its pride was going to be doomed. Many people said to me, when we started, ‘There is no way you’re going to get all these agencies to play together.’ And today they would tell you they can’t imagine a different model.”

His watchwords: accountability and strategic planning.

Now Murdaugh is asking: Does a TCC education lead to jobs and higher degrees?

Are graduates staying in the area, contributing to their communities?

“Colleges were originally created to provide access to higher education,” he said, “and the reason we are spread out the way we are is that geography was part of being accessible for higher education, as well as cost. Now there’s a shift taking place. Providing access is great, but more importantly, access needs to lead to success. And that is something I’m absolutely passionate about — student success.”

Once again, Murdaugh is emphasizing strategic partnerships, whether with the K-12 schools, the five universities with branches at TCC — Barry, EmbryRiddle, Flagler, Saint Leo and Thomas — or with Florida State and Florida A&M universities.

“You keep hearing from other universities and other programs that there is sort of a conflict between the different types of institutions in different communities,” said FSU President Eric Barron. “But TCC and Florida State are just excellent partners.

“We work from the beginning for students that want to come to FSU and don’t quite make it to go to TCC, and TCC works with those students to enable them to be successful and spend their last couple of years at Florida State. It’s just a great partnership, and Jim is clearly as keen on continuing it as I am.”

FAMU President James Ammons is working with Murdaugh to smooth the transfer of students from the college to his university, establishing a committee with top leaders of both campuses. One goal: a FAMU office at TCC. “He has worked with me to make the TCC/FAMU collaboration a priority, and the administration has embraced this approach,” said Ammons. “FAMU plans to be more visible on the campus of TCC.”

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Another early move by Murdaugh was to seek a tuition hike after community college funding was cut 8.1 percent in the 2011-2012 state budget. To offer colleges some relief, the Legislature gave them the authority to raise tuition 13.4 percent, from $69.50 to $78.84 per credit hour.

Murdaugh asked his trustees for a 10.3 percent hike, to $76.65 per credit, which they approved in May. Murdaugh “wasn’t excited” about the increase, but said it was necessary to maintain the quality of a TCC education.

The Great Recession has eroded staff-tostudent ratios and increased the percentage of adjuncts, as opposed to full-time faculty, in the classroom. Murdaugh wants to reverse these trends; he especially wants to improve students’ experiences with registration and financial aid. His plans also include creation of an Office of Institutional Effectiveness to promote accountability, a provost and expansion of the distance-learning program.

“We have achieved a good balance between success and access with the budget,”

Topsoil | Rock | Sand | Mulches

Jim Murdaugh at a Glance » Age: 58 » Married to Sara Murdaugh, Assistant Bureau Chief of Learning and Development at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

» Father of one son, 14-year-old Austin. » Has lived in Tallahassee 41 years, arriving here in 1970 to attend Florida State University.

» Degrees: B.S. and M.S. in criminology and Ph.D. in public administration from the Askew School, all from FSU. » Began law enforcement career as deputy sheriff with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department in 1977. Progressed through the ranks there, then to the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, the Florida Attorney General’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. » Came to TCC in 1999 to direct the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy. » Military service: 30 years in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring in 2004 as a Lt. Colonel.

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September–October 2011

he said. “It gives us enough funding to ensure the kind of success programming we need to have, both in the classroom and out of the classroom — without, in my opinion, tipping it so far that it impedes access.

“But I’m paying way more attention to success. I’m making no apologies for asking for funding to support programs that lead to student success.”

That philosophy is especially important since the economy tanked. Before, there was something of a historical divide between the academic and workforce development sides of TCC’s institutional culture. But necessity — and Murdaugh — are bridging it.

“There is nothing that requires us to take away from one effort to support another effort,” he said.

“He’s always working toward a seamless transition,” said E.E. Eunice, TCC’s campus police chief and Murdaugh’s longtime colleague at the Florida Public Safety Institute.

Here’s an example: While FPSI is part of the college’s workforce development side, its graduates must complete more than the minimum standard for credit hours (which may explain why they almost always have 100 percent pass rates on state exams). Grads are also given 34 hours toward an associate’s degree, said Eunice, and Murdaugh always encouraged them to continue their education via distance learning.

“Continuing education means we are ratcheting up the quality and quantity of our graduates,” said Eunice.

Distance learning is also integral to Murdaugh’s vision. TCC has done well with it, he told the trustees, but needs more credit programming, more faculty, integrated Web resources that are easier to navigate and expansion beyond the college’s service area. Murdaugh wants to double TCC’s enrollment in distance learning, too, and he’s putting his money where his mouth is, with a $250,000 investment. FPSI is launching a pilot for the development and distribution of online education nationwide.

“I’m anxious to see Jim’s handiwork,” said former president Law. “The fun part will be to see him put behind some of the old stuff I was involved in and put his own flavor on new stuff that drives the ball forward — which is exactly the healthiest thing for an institution.”

“It’s in good hands,” said Wetherell. n

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You helped raise over $30,000 benefiting the following charities: Cards for a Cure; National Eating Disorders Association; Children’s Home Society; Big Bend Hospice; Seminole Boosters; YMCA; Leon County Humane Society; The Junior League of Tallahassee; The Refuge House; Tree House of Tallahassee; Young Life; The Reading Rally; Chelsea House; The Shelter of Tallahassee and Leon County; Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Big Bend; Ronald McDonald House of Tallahassee; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; Boy Scouts of America Suwannee River Area Council; and Livestrong Foundation.

t a l l a h a ss e e

47

Historicity

Our ‘Intersection With History’ Recalling ‘Flashbulb’ Memories of Sept. 11, 10 Years Later By Kim MacQueen

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September–October 2011

“I had no idea what was happening,” she said, “That whole week is just … gone for me.”

Since then, she’s spoken with several people who have processed their memories of 9/11 in similar ways. “I think if people

had other things going on in their own lives that were traumatic — the, say, death of a spouse or family member, or a divorce, even the loss of a job — 9/11 was just one more thing too many,” she said.

Still, Karioth said, people who are emo-

Photo Courtesy Ken Tannenbaum / Shutterstock.com

M

aybe you knew someone in the towers in New York City or at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001; maybe you didn’t. Maybe you’ve got a crystalclear image of what you did, said and saw that day 10 years ago, and maybe your recollection is a little hazy. Everyone remembers that morning a little differently — but we all remember it.

Psychologists call it a “flashbulb” memory — peoples’ tendency to tie witness of a historical or traumatic event to a memory that stays with them forever. Certainly those in the Greatest Generation would tell you the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor was etched in their memory. And any Baby Boomer can tell you where they were, what they were doing and in some cases what they were wearing when they heard the news of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963.

That day, noted Florida State University Grief Counselor Sally Karioth said she was at school, in study hall. “I had my cheerleading outfit on, and I was wearing too much White Shoulders perfume.

It was way too much — I remember I could smell myself,” she says now with a laugh. “I’m sure I thought I looked quite lovely, though.”

Karioth says 9/11 is another “historical marker” that people process in much the same way as the death of a friend or family member.

She’s processed the 9/11 memory differently than the JFK assassination she thinks because, when the towers fell, she’d recently lost a younger brother to a brain tumor.

She’d spent time away from Tallahassee to be with relatives in her brother’s home of Madison, Wis. When she heard the towers had fallen, she realized she’d been so consumed with dealing with her own grief that she hadn’t really been aware of current events at all. Her grief over her brother’s death has superseded her 9/11 memory.

tionally healthy, with good coping mechanisms, “... get better. They still have the memories, but those memories mellow.”

In many cases, it’s more than mellowing. It can also be simple forgetting. Colleen Kelley studies memory in Florida State University’s Cognitive Psychology Department. She said researchers now think that while people often feel very confident about their flashbulb memories years after the fact, they still tend to get a lot of the details wrong.

She points to a 2003 study by Jennifer Talarico and David Rubin of Duke University, who surveyed 54 college students and found their Sept. 11 memories faded just as much as their everyday memories did. They wrote that the extreme emotion connected to the event convinced people their recollections were accurate.

“Flashbulb memories are not special in their accuracy, as previously claimed, but only in their perceived accuracy,” they wrote.

Kelley uses her own memory of the morning of Sept. 11 as an example. She knows she was in her car, driving to campus along Duval Street, passing in front of the Supreme Court Building, when she heard the news. She remembers not really knowing what was going on until she got to FSU’s Psychology Department, where colleagues had tuned a TV into the news.

Later that morning, she decided to go and pick up her son from his downtown preschool, thinking it would be better if he wasn’t quite so close to Florida’s Capitol buildings. But beyond that, Kelley said, her own memories of that day aren’t too solid.

“I think I remember details of hearing about 9/11, but knowing the research, I realize the details in my memory have a good chance of being wrong,” she said.

Kelley often talks about 9/11 in class, with her students.

“Maybe four or five will pipe up and recount their stories. Some students had family and friends in New York that day, and for some of them it immediately became more of a political issue,” she said. “An event like 9/11 can certainly threaten your worldview, it can change

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you. That kind of flashbulb memory is a personal intersection with history. With 9/11, the world changed, and people changed with it.”

One constant in people’s memories of 9/11, especially mothers, was the urge to go and pick up children or connect with family members as soon as possible — whether they were downtown, a little too close to state buildings, or not.

“Many people at work left to get their children and go home, to try and feel safe, but I think that is what has changed — we all feel less safe,” said Tallahassean Carol Knox, who works in wildlife conservation for the state.

“I was at work and we followed the story as it evolved. The first plane hit one tower and it seemed like a bad accident, then the next one hit the other tower. Then it hit me, ‘Hey, that can’t be a mistake,’” she said. “I remember thinking, this doesn’t usually happen to us. We fight our wars ‘over there,’ not near our shores.”

Karioth said she thinks the most traumatic thing about 9/11 was not simply the shock and loss of life, but also the sudden sense of vulnerability.

“We felt secure. We thought, who would dare attack us?” she said. “Then the buildings fell down, and I think we were in shock at the loss of our omnipotence.”

For many, the event signaled a return to prayer, often after a long time away. “I was at a Mothers of Preschoolers meeting, and the leader of the meeting came in and said, ‘We have been attacked, we need to pray.’ And that is what we all did,” said Tallahassee mother Andi Cohen. “I’m Jewish, and MOPS is predominantly Christian. I was probably the only Jew there, but I tell ya … we all prayed to anyone who would listen.”

Lisa Begue Carey, host of “Tallahassee Matters” on WCOT, the City of Tallahassee’s cable access TV, remembers being “at home with my youngest son. A friend called to tell me to turn off the Barney videos and watch the news.”

“I watched in horror for a few moments, then raced to Temple Israel to pick up my preschool-aged son. I knew he was safe, but there was this overwhelming urgency to have him near me,” she said. “I felt a little foolish, like I was being overly dramatic. Then other parents’ cars started lining up behind me. We all wanted to hold our little ones.”

Karioth points out “it’s not so much the events themselves that we remember

as being traumatic, it’s our responses that are traumatic — even though by then we were almost used to tragedy being in our front yard.”

It also didn’t help, she points out, that media coverage of the event was so constant, so overwhelming. Staring gapemouthed at a TV might be the one part of the collective memories of just about everyone in the country who wasn’t on the ground in New York to see the damage for themselves. Tallahassee Democrat Features Editor Kati Schardl spent the whole day on coverage for the paper.

“Many people at work left to get their children and go home, to try and feel safe, but I think that is what has changed — we all feel less safe.”

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Schardl was interviewing blues guitar icon Buddy Guy, when “he interrupted to ask if I was near a television. I glanced around and saw my colleagues clustered in front of the TV sets placed around the newsroom. He said, “Darlin’, you’d better hang up now, and go look at the TV. An airplane just hit the World Trade Center.’”

She spent the rest of the day phoning friends in New York City and putting together a reaction story.

“And because those TVs were always on, it was impossible to escape the horror and tragedy broadcast in real time from New York and Washington, D.C. As much as I wanted to turn away, I couldn’t. I was a witness and it was my duty to really see what was happening, and to remember.”

It’s a memory that’s not easy to shake, whether you want to forget or not.

“You couldn’t get away from it. It was on hour after hour,” Karioth remembered. “And we all kept watching and watching, thinking, maybe this time when I watch the plane … it won’t go into the building.” n t a l l a h a ss e e

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Arts & Culture

In Perfect Harmony TV’s ‘Glee’ Shines a Spotlight on the Talents of FSU’s A Cappella Groups

G

lee” mania has gripped the world.

Once considered a lessthan-cool extracurricular activity in high school and college, the show-stopping TV hit “Glee” has transformed being part of a school glee club into a hip activity.

And while chronicling the trials and tribulations of the fictional high school show choir New Directions, the show is almost singlehandedly responsible for the revival of an almost obsolete artistic endeavor.

While many viewers are getting their introduction to show choirs in the hit Fox series, they’re nothing new. Glee clubs, 52

September–October 2011

where voices had no instrumental accompaniment, were at the height of their popularity in the 1700s and 1800s. The first glee club was established at Harrow School in London in 1787 while Harvard can boast having the first U.S. glee club, established in 1858.

Many colleges across the U.S. have their own groups, including Florida State University, which is home to award-winning groups like “The Acabelles” (all-female), “All-Night Yahtzee” (co-ed) and “Reverb” (all-male).

Each FSU ensemble has managed to find its own niche in FSU’s College of Music. Though all the groups go headto-head in local, regional and national

competitions, their members support each other through their travels, competitions and local endeavors.

The ensembles have occasional gettogethers and performances, says David Ko, the newly elected music director for “Reverb” in 2011-12. “Of course, there’s always a bit of competitive edge that comes out during competitions, as each group is striving to be the best. (But overall) the a cappella community gets along with each other very well.”

Collegiate a cappella competitions feature groups from different regions, often competing in quarterfinals or semifinals. The finals are an international-level competition generally hosted in New York City. When

Photo Courtesy Sandy Robertson

By Spencer Frankeberger

PAPA, PAPARAZZI The coed a capella group All-Night Yahtzee strikes a Lady Gaga-style pose.

it comes to rigorous competitions and such high stakes, the individual groups’ competitive spirit shines, according to Eva Tacot, a senior Music Therapy major. “I think most of the members are naturally competitive, especially when it is something they have really put their heart and soul into,” she says.

A typical arrangement for a co-ed a cappella group includes six parts: two sopranos, two altos, tenor and bass. For an all-male group, six parts is the norm, generally three tenor parts and three bass parts. Female groups usually have three soprano and three alto parts, with one alto part singing bass.

The music director (or anyone else who wants to try his/her hand at it) most often arranges a familiar popular song by writing six specific voice parts, a solo and a vocal percussionist, sometimes referred to as the beatboxer. Some of the more popular songs arranged for a capella performances include Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Sia’s “Breathe Me” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” While set lists on “Glee” have boasted show tunes, jazz standards, classical music and radio hits, the FSU groups’ repertoires are normally limited to pop hits.

There is usually a lack of pre-arranged sheet music for a cappella groups, so most of the time the arranger starts out by repeatedly listening to the song to become totally familiar with it. Then comes the time to figure out the chords and the melody line.

From there, the rest of the parts are filled in and harmony is added throughout the arrangement. That is why no arrangement is ever the same; an arranger may choose to include a different rhythm or different chord in a spot that another arranger of the same piece might not choose to do. The process can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. During the performance, the vocal percussionist typically holds a microphone and, if enough microphones are available, they go to the basses and the soloist.

Though FSU’s a cappella groups are similar to glee clubs, there are several differences between them and the fictional show choir on “Glee.” Most notably, all a cappella groups always sing without instruments — the words “a cappella” mean without accompaniment. t a l l a h a ss e e

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September–October 2011

Another difference is the number of people in each ensemble. Typically, collegiate a cappella groups feature 12 to 15 (usually never more than 18) students, with two or three voices per part. That allows enough breathing room for the group in tight rehearsal spaces — and also helps the group maintain tight harmony.

A big difference between a cappella groups and the New Directions in “Glee” is that most a cappella groups eschew costumes at performances and competitions because it can look unprofessional, sloppy or too “showy.” During competitions, groups tend to dress nicely but with some distinction that separates them from other competitors. For example, “The Acabelles” always wear black and pink — and this past year all members wore black Converse sneakers with pink laces as their signature look.

There’s also a difference in the amount of choreography between the television world and the real world. For a cappella groups, choreography is only required for competitions, and the dancing is generally very minimal. Because they are not true show choirs, music is the focus — not the razzledazzle of choreography or costumes.

At FSU, there’s no teacher like Mr. Schue keeping the singers in line. All FSU’s groups are student-run. Along with a student music director, each ensemble elects officers — such as a business manager, treasurer and public relations chair — to help maintain a strict, tight rehearsal schedule and to keep the professionalism of the group intact.

In terms of fundraising, the groups help each other out. “They are always at each others’ concerts and support any fundraising that one group might do,” Tacot says.

FSU’s Student Government Association (SGA) covers some of the groups’ expenses, but funding comes from numerous endeavors, including ad sales, hosting off-campus concerts and wordof-mouth promotion. This past April, to raise money for plane tickets to an international collegiate competition in New York, “The Acabelles” hosted a bake sale and sang in the student union, a favorite a cappella pastime.

The choral ensembles are open to students of all majors. Students generally audition not only because of the music, but also for the camaraderie. The audition process for joining one of FSU’s groups is fairly quick and simple. Aspiring members sign up for an audition time and are asked

to sing a verse and chorus of his or her chosen song without musical accompaniment. The a cappella singing not only shows off a person’s voice, but also gives the music director and other officers an idea of how well that person can stay in key while singing.

This is typically followed by a rangetesting exercise (how high or low a person can sing) and a short, simple, melodic sight-reading example. While range and

“Of course, there’s always a bit of competitive edge that comes out during competitions, as each group is striving to be the best.

(But overall) the a cappella community gets along with each other very well.”

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sight-reading abilities are considered in the process, they are not the deciding factor, so officers and members encourage wannabe a cappella-holics to try out and give it their best shot.

Prospective members are asked to learn one or two pieces the a cappella group sang in the past or will be singing during the new school year for a second audition.

Returning members participate in these callbacks, allowing the music director to hear which potential members blend well with the older members.

Afterward, the music director and officers discuss who blends well with the group. To “blend” means exactly what it sounds like: when voices meld together to form a unified sound, as opposed to individual voices being easily distinguishable.

It’s a rare handful of singers who get called back to do further auditions for more than one group. That’s probably the only time when the harmony between FSU’s a capella groups can go a little off key — when more than one of them is vying to win over the same voice. n t a l l a h a ss e e

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best

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calendar | social studies | charity

PHOTO COURTESy UNITED WAy OF THE BIG BEND

SPOTLIGHT

» GET DOWNTOWN TONIGHT!

Beginning as a way to kick off homegame weekends with a Friday night of fun, Downtown GetDowns have grown to become a Tallahassee block party tradition, offering evenings of free entertainment for all — from babies in strollers to working professionals to die-hard Seminole and Rattler fans from near and far.

The GetDowns, held in the fall on the Adams Street Commons, support the programs of the United Way of the Big Bend (UWBB) and encourage citizens to create a more united community.

“Whether you’re looking for a pre-game pep rally or outdoor block party, these Friday night events bring family, friends, neighbors, students and visitors together by offering an exciting atmosphere where patrons can enjoy food, music and entertainment,” said Jessica Brown, director of special events for the UWBB. Local artists and children’s groups showcase their talents on the community stage. Quaff a beer with friends and dance the night away to live bands from a variety of musical styles performing on the main stage.

Each event has a different theme. Guests never know what to expect when they walk along the downtown sidewalks. They could be covered in Winter Wonderland’s faux snowflakes or they may find sand between their toes on Beach Blast theme night.

The FAMU Marching 100 and FSU’s Marching Chiefs make special appearances, and fans are invited to show off their Seminole and Rattler pride the night before their home games.

This fall’s festivities are set for Sept. 2, 9 and 16; Oct. 21 and 28; Nov. 11 and Dec. 8 from 6–10 p.m. — Alexia Mckay

tallahaSSee

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calendar September & October Compiled by Alexia McKay

Sept. 3 ‘Sky Guy’ Planetarium Show Presented by the Tallahassee Astronomical Society, this monthly event coordinates with monthly Tallahassee Democrat “Sky Guy” column. Tallahassee’s September sky will be reviewed including prominent constellations, stars and planets. FREE. Downtown Digital Dome Theatre and Planetarium, 200 S. Duval St. 10-10:45 a.m. challengertlh.com

Oct. 1 Blessing of Animals at Mission San Luis Animal owners and pet lovers are welcome to the 7th annual event to bless their furry and feathered friends. A local clergyman will perform individual pet blessings, followed by children’s activities and animal exhibits.

Photos of blessings will be available for purchase. $5 adults, $3 seniors (65 and over), $2 children (6–17). Members of the Friends of Mission San Luis and active and retired military are free with ID. 10 a.m–2 p.m. (850) 245-6406, missionsanluis.org

Sept. 10 Beach Blast Sprint Olympic Triathlon and Duathlon Four races start from the same spot on the beautiful beach. Olympic races take off at 7 a.m. (Central Time) and sprint distance races start at 7:30 a.m. CT. Registration fees for the races differ. This unique event is a great excuse to spend the weekend at the coast. Beacon Hill Park, St. Joe Beach. beachblasttriathlon.com Sept. 22 On the Move MS Luncheon Women Against Multiple Sclerosis (WAMS) will hold its annual fundraising luncheon to raise awareness about MS and raise money to benefit those living with MS in North Florida. University Center Club in FSU Doak Campbell Stadium. 11:30 a.m.–1:15 p.m. For more information, call (850) 386-4843 or email MSluncheon@earthlink.net.

Sept. 23 2nd Annual Celebration of Women and Girls A dynamic evening highlighting the phenomenal and diverse women of Tallahassee.

Short performances by female artists, poets, dancers, singers and more will be included.

Food and music will be provided. $35. Tallahassee Little Theatre, 1861 Thomasville Road. 5:30-10 p.m. theoasiscenter.net Sept. 28–Oct. 2 Cirque du Soleil ‘Dralion’ East meets West when Cirque combines music, artistry and acrobatics to create one of its singular productions for eight local performances. $45.25–$108.25. Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St. Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday 1 and 5 p.m. tlccc.org (See story page 20.)

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best bet Oct. 1 12th Annual Fur Ball The biggest fundraising event for the Leon County Humane Society, this year’s theme is “Harry Pawter and the Goblet of Fur.” Guests are encouraged to dress up like witches, wizards and other Hogwarts characters from the magical world of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. A threecourse meal will be served, followed by a silent auction of animal-related products, jewelry, artwork, stereos and more donated by local businesses. Twirl the night away with the Tallahassee Swing Band. Cash bars, photo booths and interactive games will be available. It is sure to be a magical night, broomsticks, spells and all! $75 per person. University Center Club. 6:30–10 p.m. For more information, call LCHS at (850) 224-9193.

Saturdays through October Downtown Marketplace Tallahassee Enjoy some leisure time at the Downtown Marketplace of Tallahassee, which offers fresh produce, local artwork and food vendors. Each weekend offers a unique selection of cultural and children’s events. FREE. Ponce De Leon Park (intersection of Park Avenue and Monroe Street) 9 a.m–2 p.m.

(850) 224-3252, tallahasseedowntown.com Oct. 1 Cards for a Cure The sixth annual event raises funds for the Tallahassee Memorial’s Cancer Center and honors women’s fight against breast cancer. The night includes live music, hors d’oeuvres, desserts, an open bar, gaming, and silent and live auctions.

Must be at least 21 years old to attend. $75 per person. Tallahassee Antique Car Museum. 7 p.m–midnight. cardsforacuretallahassee.com Oct. 1–Oct. 28 ‘Americana’ Art Exhibit Prominent Tallahassee artist Dean Gioia will be featured in this one-man show at the LeMoyne Art Foundation. The opening reception will be held Friday, Oct. 7 from 6–9 p.m. Known for his ethereal landscapes and nocturnes, the exhibit features the full range of Gioia’s vision of the South.

Light-filled landscapes of rivers, roads and marshes, aging iconic structures and luminous night scenes from the North Florida Fair will all be included. 125 N. Gadsden St. (850) 222-8800, lemoyne.org Oct. 1–Nov.1 Scarecrows in the Gardens Get creative and make a scarecrow — you could win a prize. The Friends of Maclay Gardens are sponsoring the competition, and the entries will be on display at the park during the month of October. Application forms are required and must be submitted

by Sept. 22. Entry fees are $75 for businesses, $25 for adults and $15 for students and nonprofits. A scarecrow idea workshop is planned. For an application form, workshop date and more information, visit friendsofmaclaygardens.com or call Maclay Gardens State Park at (850) 487-4556.

Oct. 1 An Enchanted Evening with Cirque de la Symphonie Audience members will be enthralled to watch the best aerialists and acrobats in the world performing on stage with a full symphony orchestra, perfect to kick off the Tallahassee Symphony season.

For ticket prices, call the TSO office at (850) 644-6500. Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, 8–10 p.m. tallahasseesymphony.org Oct. 1 First Friday Gallery Hop Embrace your virtuoso spirit and visit local art exhibits, shops and studios. Hosted at Railroad Square on the first Friday of each month and other places around Tallahassee, each venue offers a variety of artwork, live music — and did we mention hors d’oeuvres? FREE. railroadsquare.com

will host the sixth annual fundraising event for Ability1st, the Center for Independent Living of North Florida. All proceeds will support services and programs for people with disabilities. FSU Alumni Center. $45. 6:30– 9 p.m. (850) 575-9621, ext.101. Contact Judith at judithbarrett@ability1st.info.

Oct.1–2 Title Wave The Leon County public library’s annual sale features used books (fiction, nonfiction and children’s titles), books on tapes, videos, DVDs and CDs at bargain prices.

Proceeds benefit Friends of the Library, an organization dedicated to raising funds for the library. The sale is located in the garage of the main library. 200 W. Park Ave. Saturday 9 a.m–3 p.m, Sunday 11 a.m–3 p.m.

(850) 606-2665, leoncountyfl.gov/library/ friendsofthelibrary.index.htm.

Photo by scott holstein

Oct. 2 AIDS Walk/5K Run Big Bend Cares invites individuals and teams to lace up their sneakers and participate in this community-based event, now in its 21st year. Its important purpose is to raise funds to provide assistance, support and education to those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS in the organization’s eight-county service area. Tom Brown Park. Suggested registration costs $10 for the walk, $15 for the run. Registration, 2 p.m.; walk/run begins at 3 p.m. For more information, call 656-2437 ext. 225. bigbendcares.org Oct. 2 7th Annual Paula Bailey Dining in the Dark Dine in complete darkness at this unique fundraising event. Guests will be seated by blind people and served by the Leon County Sheriff’s SWAT Team wearing night-vision goggles, to simulate a blind person’s experiences while eating. Named after a former deaf and blind client, all proceeds will go toward services for Lighthouse of the Big Bend, a nonprofit serving the blind. $55 per ticket, $600–$700 for tables. Contributions can be made. University Center Club, FSU campus. 5:30–8:30 p.m. (850) 942–3658, lighthousebigbend.org Oct. 6 ‘Evening of Comedy’ Magician Howard Hamburg and Brent Geris

Presented by Hotel Duval and Tallahassee Magazine.

THE NOMINATIONS ARE IN

best bet Oct. 15–16 4th Annual Farm Tour If you’ve ever wondered where your food comes from, here’s your weekendlong chance to find out, as many of the region’s farmers roll out the welcome mat for visitors. Tallahassee’s New Leaf Market started the event with three organic farms and has expanded tremendously. Last year, 36 farms from North Florida and South Georgia participated, attracting more than 6,000 visitors. Most of the farm tours are free or charge a nominal amount. You are invited to visit as many farms as you can fit in on Saturday and Sunday. Expect to find barnyard animals, facility tours, refreshments, lectures, demonstrations and friendly farmers.

Many participating farms will also be selling their fresh goods during the tour. New Leaf produces an extensive brochure promoting the event that includes descriptions of each participating farm, as well as detailed driving directions, maps and suggested tours. For more information on the Farm Tour and locations to pick up the brochure, visit newleafmarket.coop.

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events calendar Oct. 7 Oktoberfest For one night, downtown Tallahassee can easily be mistaken for the town square in Munich at this German-themed block party.

The festival will include live German folk music, food and plenty of beer! FREE. Downtown Tallahassee on Adams Street (between Park Avenue and Jefferson Street). 6–10 p.m.

(850) 224-3252, tallahasseedowntown.com Oct. 8 Buddy Walk Join children and adults with Down Syndrome along with their families, friends and local supporters for the one-mile walk.

Music, performances, games and activities for the whole family take place before and after the walk. Proceeds benefit the Down Syndrome Association of Tallahassee.

9 a.m.–noon. SouthWood Town Center. dsatallahassee.org

blessing of the bikes at 9:15 a.m by Christian Motorcyclists Association. First bike out at 9:30 a.m, last bike out at 10:30 a.m, last bike in at 1:30 p.m. chromedivas.com

as you sample food and drinks from 20 local restaurants. $40 in advance, $45 at the door. 3945 Museum Drive. 7–10 p.m. (850) 757-8684, tallahasseemuseum.org/zoobilee

Oct. 14 Elder Care Services Oktoberfest Don your lederhosen, practice your chicken dance and join in for a barrel of fun at the 13th annual Oktoberfest, featuring traditional German food and a biergarten, beer tasting, silent auction and live entertainment by Crooked Shooz. The fundraiser supports the work of Elder Care Services, whose signature service is Meals on Wheels. $50. Goodwood Museum and Gardens, 1600 Miccosukee Road.

5–10 p.m. (850) 921-5554, ecsbigbend.org

Oct. 14 Wild Thing Auction If you’re energized by the thrill of the bid, you’re not going to want to miss the live and silent auctions of hundreds of items. While auctions are the main attraction, a buffet dinner and door prizes are also included in the evening’s activities. The event is the major annual fundraiser for Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, an organization whose mission is to rehabilitate sick, orphaned, displaced and injured wildlife. Capital City Country Club, 1601 Golf Terrace Drive. 5 p.m. $35. (850) 508-7587, goosecreekwildlifesanctuary.org

Oct. 14 Zoobilee 2011 For grownups only, leave the kids at home and enjoy an evening under the stars at the Tallahassee Museum. Listen to live music

Oct. 8 7th Annual Asian Festival Gain new insight on the diversity of Tallahassee as you experience the colorful cultures of Asia through music, food and dance, sponsored by the Asian Coalition of Tallahassee. FREE. 10 a.m–5 p.m., Bloxham and Lewis parks, Downtown. (850) 878-0051, asiantlh.org Oct. 8 Brewfest 2011 Sponsored by the Tallahassee Sunrise Rotary, the fifth annual beer extravaganza promises to be a sell-out, with unlimited samplings of more than 100 different beers from 30 breweries. $30 general admission. $99 VIP ticket holders get early admission at 4 p.m, VIP special beers, unlimited food and admission into the museum. Tallahassee Antique Car Museum, 6800 Mahan Drive.

5–9 p.m. brewfesttallahassee.com Oct. 8–9 Beadfest Vendors from across the U.S. will gather in Havana for this biannual show and sale of all things beads. You’ll find raw beads, silver and jewelry-making supplies as well as finished jewelry. Planters Exchange, Havana.

Oct. 9 10th Annual Breast Cancer Poker Run Organized by the Tallahassee Chrome Divas, this event will be raising funds for A Woman’s Place at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Motorcyclists will make various stops and end at The Moon nightclub. $15 per rider, $10 per passenger, $5 for an extra hand, registration is at 9 a.m at Capital Circle Harley-Davidson,

best bet Oct. 15 12th Annual Pumpkin Patch Festival The streets come alive with carnival fever at this free, family-oriented event from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. You’ll find face painting, pumpkin decorating, costume contests, magicians, pony and hayrides for the kids at the day-long event. Visitors can also pick up a pumpkin to turn into a jack o’lantern and enjoy displays of Halloween and fall décor. All proceeds support the Gadsden County Humane Society and Havana Merchants Association.104 N. Main St. (look for the red barn), Havana.

For more information call (850) 545-0824 or visit havanaflorida/events.

Oct. 15 Heart Walk Sponsored by the American Heart Association, this year’s theme is “My Heart, My Life.” Walk three miles to support research for heart disease and stroke. Free coupons for a Subway sandwich will be handed out.

FREE. Tom Brown Park. 9 a.m–noon. (850) 878-3885, bigbendheartwalk.org Oct. 15 3rd Annual North Florida Wine and Food Festival Enjoy a night of tasting and sampling more than 300 wines at this festival — many from the “reserved” and “single-vineyard category.” You’ll also find tasty foods catered by the University Center Club available for purchase and a silent auction featuring luxury travel packages. Proceeds will go to FSU Dedman School of Hospitality. $30 (must be 21 or older with a photo ID). University Club Center. 6:30–9:30 p.m. winefest.com Oct. 20–23 Downtown Tallahassee Ghost Walking Tours From the old Capitol building to the oldest cemetery, follow your guide and be chilled and thrilled by the woeful tales told by spirits from Tallahassee’s colorful past. Bring your camera because, who knows, a specter may want to get into the picture. Tours depart nightly between 6:30–9:30 p.m. from the Challenger Learning Center/IMAX Theater on Kleman Plaza. $15 adults, $5 children 5 and under. Reservations are recommended. (850) 561-0317, toursintallahassee.com Oct. 21 Fall Fever Festival Welcome in the autumn season with live entertainment, food, and arts and crafts vendors. Kids can enjoy the mini cart a l l a h a ss e e

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events calendar nival composed of jugglers and magicians. FREE. Railroad Square. 1–7 p.m. communityatrailroadsquare.org

eclectic home couture (850) 727-4834 2030-5 Thomasville Road Tallahassee, Florida

Oct. 23 Moonlight Jazz in the Gardens The Friends of Maclay Gardens presents the Third Annual Moonlight Jazz in the Gardens on the lawn at Alfred B. Maclay State Gardens. Bring a blanket, chairs, friends and food and let several local jazz bands serenade you under a full moon while you dine.

Tickets are $25 or $10 for students and are sold at the Ranger Station at the entrance to the park. 3540 Thomasville Road.

6–9 p.m. (850) 487-4556

Enjoy a food and wine adventure as you stroll the streets of the Rosemary Beach.

Participants are invited to stop at eight of the community’s restaurants and sample their signature dishes, each of which have been paired with select boutique wines. The event lasts from 1–5 p.m. and tickets are $75 each. Spend the afternoon — or spend the weekend and enjoy a fall weekend at the coast when the weather is mild and the beach is uncrowded. For more information, email info@rosemarybeachuncorked.com or to book your stay at Rosemary Beach call (877) 461-6037.

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Photo Courtesy Kim Jameson

regional best bet Oct. 22 Rosemary Beach Uncorked

Oct. 24 18th Annual Tee Off for Tots Golf Tournament Captain’s Choice Scramble — with morning and afternoon flights — raises funds for the Proctor Endowment for Children with Diabetes and Pediatric Programs at Tallahassee Memorial. Golden Eagle Country Club, 3700 Golden Eagle Drive E. 8 a.m–6 p.m. Contact Bonnie Cannon at (850) 431-5390. tmh.org Oct. 28 Lantern Fest 2011 Organizers are singing “Happy Birthday, Dear Crooked River Lighthouse” with an event celebrating the 116th birthday of this Carrabelle landmark. The evening’s agenda includes a lighthouse tours; a lantern dance; demonstrations and hands-on activities for children; and captain’s tales accompanied by live music and special effects.

An enchanting highlight to the evening will be the display of 116 lanterns surrounding the lighthouse. 5–10 p.m. (850) 697-2732, crookedriverlighthouse.org Oct. 28–29 Halloween Howl The Tallahassee Museum turns its grounds into a spooky playland with activities for all ages at this 17th annual event. $10 nonmember adults, $8 children (ages 4–15), under 3 is FREE, members get $2 off. 3945 Museum Drive. 6–10 p.m. (850) 576-1636, tallahasseemuseum.org Nov. 3–13 North Florida Fair Funnel cakes, corn dogs and turkey legs for all, the 70th Annual North Florida Fair is back once again with amusement rides, performers and entertainment for the whole family. For times, specials and admission costs, visit northfloridafair.com.

Nov. 4–5 Greek Food Festival 2011 Enjoy everything Greek in this two-day celebration. Purchase imported Greek items, join in the ethnic dances and sample gyros or one of the 15 Greek pastries. FREE. Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church.

10 a.m.–10 p.m. (850) 878-0747, hmog.org Nov. 5 2nd Annual Night of Flight A fundraising evening of fun takes off to support the Children’s Home Society. The Private Hangar at Flightline Group of Tallahasssee is the venue for the Night of Flight, featuring food, live entertainment, live and silent auctions, and a jet flyover.

(850) 921-0772, chsfl.org n t a l l a h a ss e e

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Armor Realty of Tallahassee, Inc. 1519 Killearn Center Blvd.,Tallahassee, FL 32309 850.893.2525 (office) • 850.212.3083 (mobile)

CareyCottage.com • Lisa@CareyCottage.com

regional best bet Nov. 4-6 Taste of THE Beach This three-day celebration of food and wine just can’t be contained in one community or one day, so the events range up and down the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast the weekend of Nov. 4-6. Set along the scenic backdrop of 27 miles of white sand coastline and charming seaside towns, the annual festival is comprised of six events ranging from wine and food tastings to a winemaker dinner and charity auction.

The schedule of events includes UnWineD at Pier Park, Al Fresco Reserve Tasting at Ruskin Place, Seeing Red Wine Festival in Seaside, a Progressive Vitner Dinner at Seagar’s Restaurant and Taste of the Beach After Dark in Sandestin.

Taste of the Beach is a collaboration between the Walton Area Chamber of Commerce and Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation (DCWAF). Most of the proceeds from ticket sales and the auction benefit local charities that work to improve the physical, emotional and educational lives of underprivileged and at-risk children in Northwest Florida.

Tickets for individual events range in price from $35 to $145 and can be purchased at tasteofthebeachfl.com.

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Photo courtesy Seaside/Modus Photography

The weekend adventure of fine food and drink ends Nov. 6 with the Taste of The Beach & Charity Auction, at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. A highlight of the event is a spectacular silent auction where guests can bid on fabulous items donated by the community.

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Fashionably L8 Red Carpet at Hotel Duval: 1. Chris Turner, Kaitlin Shepherd, Liz Shawen and Amanda Morrison 2. Dan and Mariah Murphy, LeAnn Bunton, Bruce Carpenter and Juli Sumner 3. Kerri Bryan, Carlie Brown and Brian Taylor 4. Jeremiah Crum and Whitney Anders 5. Chad Kittrell and Taylor Jansik 6. Kristen Ledlow and Steve Adams 7. Lizz Portmess and Christina Dragota [Photos by Definitive Photography] TALLAHASSEE

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My Favorite Things — Bridal Fair: 1. Samantha Hogan, Sarah Ennis and Brittany Butler 2. Mike and Lauren Teal 3. Marlene Falmlen and Mayda Williams 4. Johanna Vaughn, John Gandy and Kathy Vaughn [Photos by Linda Powell]

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Junior League of Tallahassee Mad Hatter Celebration and Annual Awards Ceremony: 1. Laurie Hartsfield, Ceil Parramore and Jade Jansen 2. Rebeccah Cantley, Kate Wasson and Jill Pope 3. Sarah Fixel, Molly Hanerty and Erin Choy 4. Dr. Laurence Rosenberg, Dr. Ben Kirbo and Betsy Couch [Photos courtesy Lauren Kinsey Photography]

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Big Bend Cares — Artopia: 1. Blake Little and Tony Archer 2. Everett Williams and Gregg Cooley 3. Pattie Maney 4. David Campbell and Caroline Conway 5. Todd Szuch and Saige Roberts; Tallahassee Museum Habitat Club & Donors Reception 2011: 6. Emory Hingst and Marguerite Martin 7. Mike and Sharon Hartman, Russell S. Daws, Lane and Susan Green 8. Dorothy Melton and Joyce Phipps [Photos by McKenzie Burleigh and courtesy Tallahassee Museum] 78

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Tallahassee Top Singles: 1. Lance Wilson, Beth Spooner, Melissa Cone, Beth Cao, Rebecca Blizzard, Christine Falco and Tien Cao 2. Chad and Kristin Gardner 3. Laura and Ian Clark 4. Kathy Brooks and Katy Sue Lewis 5. Chase and Carrie McNeil 6. Sandi and Reginald Hall 7. Matt Hourigan and Nina Peters 8. Pam Wilson 9. Greg Tish and Adrianna Juran [Photos by Alexia McKay and Desiree Stennett] TALLAHASSEE

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, RS’, ’ S E RNT E U T H TA N T S ON T U S U N J S O H E U T NOM GH ’TRJ N’T NO ‘ S E N R O E O A EPH F S E M TN ‘GH I R N O R E I R A NE EW FO RITSSP PLH O L HA SPI WEEN T HAR TEIN E O D N LS ALL ASO T T HO J H BY A SCO BY PHO

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tRue BeLIeVeRS Ron Bordner (far left) and Scott Tepperman are members of Tallahassee’s ALPHA team, a group searching for evidence of the supernatural in local haunts.

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T

he sound of footless footfalls down empty halls. The creaky eloquence of organ music where there is none. The sepulchral, distant sound of a spirit sighing within its crypt. If you’re especially sensitive to signs of the afterlife and long to make contact with the other side, you might try haunting the old St. Margaret’s Church in Monticello, where phantom organ music has been heard, or the old Russ House in Marianna, where other spooky goings-on have been reported.

But are there really spirits at work in our old houses and cemeteries? Finding solid evidence is challenging, to say the least.

A place may “feel” haunted, maybe a certain heaviness in the air, but actual proof is hard to come by. The quarry never goes “Booo!” when you’re hunting ghosts.

Nor do books go flying across the room in bizarre shows of spiritual energy, and eerie green corpse lights never illuminate the night.

Just ask a real ghost hunter what it’s like to capture ghostly encounters. It’s more involved than you might think. You have to interview (living) clients, manage a variety of electronic equipment, do your research, diligently listen for any sound of contact, maintain a healthy objectivity … and, in some cases, keep a machete handy.

Wait, what?

Yes, aside from an assortment of recording devices, infrared cameras and gut instinct, a machete can be useful. No, not for warding off aggressive spooks and goblins, but for cutting your way through the jungle.

Scott Tepperman, a new cast member of the SyFy channel’s “Ghost Hunters International,” said that happened to him once trying to get to a haunted location in the New Zealand brush.

A native of Queens, N.Y., the 37-yearold Tepperman — a chef by training and a horror flick aficionado — arrived in Tallahassee in 2004 and joined a local ghost-hunting group. Dissatisfied with the direction the group was going, he and photographer buddy Ron Bordner split off in 2008 to form the Association for Locating Paranormal & Haunted Activity (ALPHA). In 2010, after answering a casting 84

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call in California, Tepperman was hired as one of the on-air investigators on “Ghost Hunters International,” a spinoff from a domestic version called “Ghost Hunters.”

Both men applied for the TV gig, but Tepperman’s outgoing personality won over the producers. “That was a big thing.

I just meshed with them,” he said. “I always wanted to do ‘Ghost Hunters International’ because of their technology. Also, overseas the places are much older than here in America. The cultures are so different; Samoa, Scotland, Ireland — all different. It’s challenging to sensitivities and logistics.”

“I Woke UP For SoMe reaSoN, I DoN’T kNoW WHy, aND I JUST HaPPeNeD To roLL oVer IN BeD aND JUST SaW a FreeSTaNDING ForM JUST WaLkING DoWN THe HaLLWay To My rooM.” — roN BorDNer

MaCaBre INSPIraTIoN Paranormal (adj.): designating, or of psychic or mental phenomena outside the range of the normal. (From Webster’s New World College Dictionary.)

Tepperman got bitten by the paranormal bug at an early age. He’d never seen a ghost but was drawn to strange goings-on by the infamous Amityville murders, when six members of the DeFeo family were murdered, execution style, in their beds.

“When my parents split up, my mother was in Queens and my dad was in Long Island so he’d take me (there) on weekends, and Amityville was relatively close,” Tepperman said. “I was very fascinated by the whole story.”

The Lutz family moved into the house just 13 months after the murders and allegedly ran afoul of demonic spirits in the house and fled in terror 28 days later. Novelist Jay Anson chronicled their “hauntings” in “The Amityville Horror,” published in 1977. But the book proved controversial; the events depicted in it are considered to be exaggerated. Other families have gone on to live at 112 Ocean Ave. in peace and quiet. The iconic quartermoon windows on the Dutch Colonial style home, famous for glaring menacingly from Anson’s book cover and other art, have since been replaced by conventional square windows, making it look like an ordinary house.

Still, that one tragic incident wasn’t Tepperman’s only inspiration.

“I’ve always been a horror movie buff, and to this day I have a ton of horror movies and that’s where my whole passion is,” he said. “And so it didn’t take much convincing to get into this field.” aPParITIoNS IN THe NIGHT Bordner’s enthusiasm for the paranormal also began at an early age.

Unlike Tepperman, he said he actually saw a ghost once, when he was 6 or 7.

Now 29, the former Miami resident was sleeping over at his aunt’s house when he woke up around midnight and saw a form moving in the house.

“I woke up for some reason, I don’t know why, and I just happened to roll over in bed and just saw a freestanding form just walking down the hallway to my room,” he said. “It didn’t quite resemble anyone I knew in the family … . I freaked out, flung the covers off, ran down the hall and started beating on my aunt’s door.”

Later, his aunt admitted to seeing the same thing.

On the hunt Bordner and Tepperman show the tools of their trade in the basement of the Messer House, located at Mission San Luis. For centuries, the site has been the subject of superstition and reported hauntings.

“I don’t remember if she described how it looked, but the general consensus was that she felt it was the spirit of her daughter,” who had been murdered in a convenience store holdup, Bordner said.

According to a 2009 CBS News poll, nearly half of Americans say they “believe” in ghosts. More than one in five Americans say they have either seen a ghost or have felt

like they’re in the presence of one. Women are more likely than men to believe in ghosts, and are about twice as likely to say they’ve seen one.

Bordner said the experience opened his eyes to a different world. He began by absorbing as much literature as he could find.

“At the time, my mom was in school to get her master’s degree so when she’d go to

local libraries to work on her classwork, she’d let me kind of do my own thing,” he said. “So naturally I would be drawn to the supernatural section … . Literally, I’d sit there for hours and pore over fiction and fact about ghost stories and metaphysical stuff and anything I could get my hands on.

I think my forte was laser-beamed toward ghosts and hauntings.”

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keePING aN oPeN MIND Tepperman and Bordner both say the key to being a ghost hunter is not closing your mind to possibilities.

“My family has always been open to spirituality and that metaphysical stuff,” Bordner said. However, he said his family wasn’t really “religious,” an attribute he thinks was a positive characteristic. “I think that helps, because I find that the more religious someone is, they’re less prone to be open to paranormal experiences.”

According the website for a group called Christian Ghost Hunters, as many as 51 percent of Christians between the ages of 18 and 49 believe in the possibility of ghosts.

Tepperman said his family wasn’t very religious either, but were closeminded for other, more pragmatic, reasons.

“They were all realists,” he said. “If you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Move on. And to me, I was always thinking, prove to me it doesn’t exist. I’m not saying it does exist, but I’m not saying it doesn’t.”

IT’S NoT CSI Ghosts don’t leave fingerprints, footprints, strands of fiber or other forensic evidence behind. Tepperman and Bordner acknowledge this and agree that valid evidence of paranormal activity is rare. What they have is gut instinct and a high threshold for acceptable “evidence.” To avoid misleading clients, they’ll even say the investigation is “inconclusive” if the evidence isn’t there. Tepperman polls his ALPHA team members before rendering a decision.

“I think we are one of the few to implement the inconclusive determination,” he said. “We have no problem saying we’re not sure at this time. Sometimes it will warrant a follow-up investigation, sometimes it may not. Sometimes, we don’t agree 86

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with the evidence. Some people might read something that we don’t. Overall, it’s got to be pretty much unanimous. If it’s not, then we’re going to vote it as an inconclusive finding.”

“I’ll be the first person to say I don’t know,” said Bordner.

“We just want to find that there is actually something else out there and when somebody dies, their spirit lives on in some form or another,” Tepperman said. “The main thing we tell our investigators that join ALPHA … is the fact we have no problems with saying ‘We don’t know.’ You are allowed to say ‘We don’t know,’ rather than misleading someone.”

“We’re NoT ‘GHoSTBUSTerS.’ We DoN’T HaVe eCToCoNTaINMeNT CHaMBerS, BUT WHaT We Try To Do IS aT LeaST CaPTUre DoCUMeNTaTIoN oF ParaNorMaL aCTIVITy.” — SCoTT TePPerMaN

No LICeNSe reQUIreD There’s no special college degree to be a “ghost hunter.” The field is pretty much open to anyone, and the Internet is flooded with ghost hunting training websites (some will send you your own “ghost meter”).

If you want to become a “certified” ghost hunter, the trick becomes finding the right online course, Tepperman said.

“One of the things we started out with was an online course — which we shunned

because there are thousands of those,” he said. “But we found one that was a respected, long-standing organization. They had us do some field work, some research … it was visual, analytical and we got certified through this.”

Even then, the “credentials” don’t mean much. It’s just a starting point, Tepperman said.

Bordner said perhaps the biggest credential of all is the desire to explore beyond the ordinary. Like other dreams, it’s a passion that has to be cultivated from an early age.

“I think it has to go way (back) to childhood experiences,” he said. “I think something has to happen to you. It’s like being a good artist. Yeah, you can learn it, but some people are just born with the desire and talent to be good ones.”

A good ghost hunter learns early on that you’re never finished learning, the duo said. Every investigation builds upon what was learned in the previous one.

THIS IS HoW We Do IT Forget “Tobin’s Spirit Guide” and Proton Packs referenced in the 1984 comedy “Ghostbusters.” Only in the movies do “ghostbusters” have handy informational books and fancy nuclear accelerators to trap ghosts. Real-world ghost hunters have the Internet, as well as a bagful of electronic gadgets, to help them in their quest for the truth.

“We’re not ‘Ghostbusters.’ We don’t have ecto-containment chambers, but what we try to do is at least capture documentation of paranormal activity,” Tepperman said. “Now, paranormal activity doesn’t necessarily mean ghosts. It means something that is out of the normal for us, things that we can’t readily explain away.”

Tepperman and Bordner say the ALPHA team conducts very thorough investigations, with methods similar to those used on “Ghost Hunters International.” This means they don’t just run out to a graveyard in the middle of the night on a whim. Potential clients must contact them in writing (which weeds out the spur-of-the-moment types) and then go through a screening interview (to weed out the crazies). They’ll also visit the place to determine if the location is literally safe enough to be in.

’TIS a SPooky PLaCe The actual “ghost hunting” investigation lasts two full, eight-hour days. This routinely involves making some painstaking “control group” calculations during which the location is extensively photographed and all electrical sources mapped out. That way, if something strange happens, they can go back and make note of the differentials.

“The first day of the investigations we do nothing but site photography and baseline data,” Bordner said. “For baseline data we use our EMF meters, which stand for electromagnetic fields, and we use a digital thermometer. The theory is that ghosts feed off of EMF energy. So the first day we go around with our meters and we test where the wiring is in the walls, if there are any sockets around because that can give us false positives. Then we use our digital thermometer to go around the room and test to see if the windows are shut properly, if the air is coming out, what’s the temperature of it. Because the theory is that ghosts can manifest by using this energy, and so we always want to know where all the hot spots and cold spots are.”

During the actual investigation, ALPHA will break into small groups and use audio recorders and other equipment to capture any noise of a spiritual nature.

“We bring very few people with us on an investigation … The less people, the less contamination,” said Tepperman. “Most evidence out there is contaminated, either knowingly or unknowingly, and you run the risk of falsifying stuff as well.”

Having the proper team dynamic is essential, Tepperman said. Ghosts might not be interested in contacting Person A if Person B is in the room with them. But if Person A comes back with Person C, then that change in dynamic might yield positive results.

“We try to do whatever we can to entice something to come out, and make itself known to us,” he said.

To do that, the team uses audio recorders to conduct what is called an “EVP (electronic voice phenomena) session.” A recorder is placed in a room by itself in hopes that it picks up a voice from beyond. Sometimes, a team member or two may stay in place with

Here are some of the places the ghost-hunting team ALPHA has investigated.

Windsor Hotel Americus, Ga. rylander Theater Americus, Ga. Camp Sumter Andersonville, Ga. Jefferson Co. Chamber of Commerce Monticello Jackson Co. Chamber of Commerce Marianna old City Cemetery Tallahassee oakland Cemetery Tallahassee 1812 Cemetery Monticello roseland Cemetery Monticello Clewiston Inn Clewiston the recorder to “stimulate” the atmosphere just by offering a presence, or gently asking questions or by talking among themselves.

Electronic gear isn’t the only tool used during these visits. A certain amount of intuition comes into play as well. More often than not, the pair will “feel stuff” on the first night while taking the baseline studies.

“A lot of times we might feel things and then we know, oops, we need to focus there because we’re already getting familiar with the place and the place is getting familiar with us,” Tepperman said.

“MoST eVIDeNCe oUT THere IS CoNTaMINaTeD, eITHer kNoWINGLy or UNkNoWINGLy…” — SCoTT TePPerMaN

Also, investigators have to have just the right personality to make the ghosts want to come out and make contact.

“If I’m walkin’ down the street and I see

a bunch of hoodlums walking my way and they’re all loud and abrasive and crazy, I’m probably going to cross the street and walk on the other side,” Tepperman said. “But if I’m walking down the street and see two or three people, mild-mannered, walking toward me, I’m not going to think twice about it. Spirits are the same way. They are in a house, and they have someone abrasive and loud coming in, they’re probably not going to make themselves known. If you slowly take the time to get a feel for the place and let them understand what you’re doing, at least not scare them off, you’re apt to get more positive results.”

Bordner said the ALPHA team wants to go above and beyond in their efforts to find paranormal activity.

“If we get some activity we might stay a little longer,” he said. “But most groups that I’ve seen try to condense baseline data, site photography and investigating into just one eight-hour block, one day, write up a report, call it haunted or not haunted. But people are hanging on to every word you say, so if you say it’s haunted, well, it’d better be haunted. If you say it’s not haunted, then it’d better not be haunted.”

USING CoMMoN SeNSe It’s only natural. As humans, we’re hardwired to see familiar patterns in natural objects. We look up at the moon and see a man’s face, or a woman holding a baby.

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A Voice from the Other Side H

e’s not a “ghost hunter” per se, but author and Southern historian Dale Alan Cox loves a good ghost story. He’s traveled all over the South researching legends and folklore and his website, exploresouthernhistory. com, has more than 20 tales of Deep South hauntings.

“I have long had a fascination with ghost stories,” he said recently. However, “Most, I’ve found, are not based on any documented reality or vary significantly from the real events on which they are supposedly based.”

One such case involves “The Ghost of Bellamy Bridge” in Jackson County a few miles north of Marianna. Cox documents the story in a book published in 2007.

The Bellamy Bridge is an old, disused iron bridge spanning the Chipola River.

For many years the spectral form of a young woman who died tragically has been seen floating through the woods near the bridge. According to legend, the woman is Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, said to have died in 1837. Her grave is just south of the bridge on the edge of the swamp.

The legend of her death — and her ghost — has been handed down for generations.

It says Elizabeth was the young bride of Dr. Samuel Bellamy, a prominent figure in early Panhandle society. They were a happy couple, but on their wedding day, her wedding gown caught fire and she died a few days later. It’s said her groom went mad with grief and eventually committed suicide.

“Elizabeth, local residents say, was unwilling to leave her true love behind,” Cox wrote. “An apparition began to appear on dark and foggy nights, wandering the swamps around the small cemetery where she was buried.”

But after much investigation, the story turned out to be only partially true. Sam and Elizabeth were married in North

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Carolina, not Florida, in 1834, not 1837.

The family moved to Florida and set up a cotton plantation; Elizabeth died of malaria — not fire — in 1837. Their two-year-old son also died. However, this tragedy didn’t stop Samuel from leading a “useful life,” Cox wrote. He turned his attention to business and politics but lost a fortune when the Union Bank collapsed in the 1840s.

“His brother, Edward, took possession of Samuel’s Jackson County properties.

Samuel later sued for their return, but died at his own hand in 1853 before the case was decided,” Cox wrote.

Jackson County’s Bellamy Bridge

The Bellamy story is tragic, but the actual origin of the legend may be found in the writings of a 19th century novelist, Caroline Lee Hentz, who had come to Marianna late in life. The plot of one of her novels is rather similar to the legend of the Bellamy Bridge — with some differences.

“The bride … was a young slave named Cora instead of the darling daughter of Southern aristocracy,” Cox wrote.

In Hentz’ book, Cora’s last name was Bellamy. Since the author lived in Marianna, the events in the book became associated with the real Bellamy family. So the legend of the Ghost of

Bellamy Bridge is a hybrid story of fact and fiction.

“The story took root in the literature of a 19th century novelist who wrote of a real-life event that took place near Columbus, Georgia,” Cox wrote. “The story, over time, became associated with a forgotten grave in Jackson County, Florida, however, and lives on to this day.

“None of this proves that there is not a ghost at Bellamy Bridge. Many locals swear to have seen something there,” he said. “Although she did not die in a tragic wedding day fire, perhaps Elizabeth Bellamy roams the quiet cypress swamps to this day.”

Cox said he’s spent about 20 years investigating the actual histories behind ghost stories, and for a time even lived in a haunted house in Savannah. But through it all, he’s never seen any solid evidence of ghostly manifestations. That hasn’t stopped him from coming to his own conclusions about the nature of ghosts.

“I believe that ghosts are not spiritual entities, but instead could be called ‘pictures on air.’ This explains why the more believable ones seem to repeat specific patterns and are seen in the same place over and over (usually under identical conditions),” he said.

This unorthodox view takes a bit of explanation, but it’s not too far removed from the theory that ghosts are linked somehow to electromagnetic energy.

“It basically revolves around the electricity that causes us all to function,” Cox said. “When we die, that electricity leaves our bodies. In a sudden burst, I would think. In the right conditions, I think this could leave an imprint on the air itself.

Basically it is the same principal as the ‘lightning photographs’ that have appeared on windows, etc., when someone was standing and looking outside as lightning struck a house or building.”

BELLAMY BRIDGE PHOTO COURTESY WWW.EXPLORESOUTHERNHISTORY.COM

By Jason Dehart

“Religious people are 100 percent about the supernatural.

Without it, there is no religion.”

Cox, who describes himself as both a “firm Christian and a researcher of ghost stories for many years,” refutes the notion that religious folks are prevented by their Biblical teachings from being open to the paranormal world.

“Religious people are 100 percent about the supernatural. Without it, there is no religion,” he said. “I find, in truth, that many ‘ghost hunters’ actually deny the views of life after death as expressed by Christians, Jews, Muslims and others. That being, of course, of an afterlife in God’s presence.”

The Bible is filled with what we might call “paranormal” experiences along with warnings about dabbling in the occult. In Deuteronomy, God specifically prohibits dealing

with wizards, witches, enchanters and necromancers. There are no “ghosts” in the modern sense; rather, evil spirits and demons commanded

by Satan to deceive people. Sometimes, it became necessary to “exorcise” these demons from people, and records of such exorcisms are found in the New Testament.

Although God prohibited contacting the dead, there is a story in the Bible about a deceased person being summoned. “King Saul, concerned about the future of his kingdom, went to see the Witch of Endor to have her summon the ghost of the Prophet Samuel,” Cox said. “She did so and Samuel basically went off on them for disturbing his rest and prophesied Saul’s doom.”

Cox said that in his years of experience, real documentary research eliminates about 90 percent of the claims of supernatural events.

“Probably another 9 percent can be eliminated by simply using true scientific method to look at the evidence,” he said. “Orbs, for example, are nothing but light effects.

EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) are naturally occurring recording effects. I managed television stations for 20 years and there is no piece of recorded material on which you can’t hear what sound like ‘voices’ if you just listen. They aren’t ghosts.

People used to claim to hear ‘satanic voices’ when they played albums backwards. Now they claim to hear ‘ghost voices’ on digital recordings.

It’s nothing paranormal.”

Tepperman calls this “matrixing,” and it can fool a lot of people. He and his fellow ghost hunters don’t leap to conclusions when a photograph shows something odd.

“You look at something long enough and you’re going to see something,” he said. “One of the basic things we tell people when we start really investigating is, especially if it’s photography-related, to make a small book of false positives. A false positive is something that very well may look paranormal but it’s humanoperator error or of the elements. Like, if it’s raining and you’re taking pictures, you have orbs. You have no idea how many (people) put these things on their websites as evidence.”

“Common sense is a rarity in this field,” said Bordner, who handles the group’s photographic mission. “I had this one person show me a set of a dozen pictures and they claimed it was a ‘shadow person.’ Turned out, the ‘shadow’ was her finger near the camera’s flash.”

Tepperman said people make mistakes all the time in this business. He said some do it on purpose, while others genuinely think they’ve photographed a deceased loved one trying to contact them from the other side. What the ethical, professional ghost hunter does, he said, is take the time to explain to them that they perhaps didn’t use their equipment properly — without bursting their bubble.

“How could you give them false hope or mislead them by not knowing yourself what’s going on?” he said. “It’s very important to know all that stuff.”

No Fakery Here Tepperman talks with pride about his association with Ghost Hunters International, which airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on the SyFy Channel. Despite smack talk from detractors and cynics who say all “reality TV” is fake and staged, Tepperman said that in his case, no one has asked him or the crew to fake anything on their globetrotting investigations.

“I know the stories — ‘Oh yeah, everything’s fake,’ whatever, that’s what I’ve heard, about these shows in general,” he said. “When I joined GHI, and at this point it’s been close to two years now, they’ve never asked us to fake anything. Never. They basically said do what you need to do, and we’ll catch it. That’s it. And I’m very impressed with that because I did not want to compromise myself at all, and I don’t. What we’re doing on Ghost Hunters International is legitimate.” n TALLAHASSEE

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on The wInG Tattoo artist Alain Rodgers inks in the feathers of a phoenix design on the arm of a customer at Euphoria.

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Human Canvases Take the Image of Tattoo Art from Stained to Celebrated

By Desiree Stennett | Photos by Scott Holstein

G

one are the days of bikers and sailors going to dark alleys in sketchy neighborhoods to stain their skin with crude tattoos. Now more average folks, young and old, are going under the needle and coming out with something a lot more permanent than a little botox.

Almost 25 percent of American adults have at least one tattoo, according to a Pew Research study.

The art of tattooing has been around for centuries, but for years American culture saw it as a practice of “undesirables” who adorned sunburned arms peeking out from black leather jackets with cut-off sleeves.

Now body art is cropping up all over the country — on everyone from the long-haired beach bunnies baring their lower back “tags” to corporate employees hiding them under collared shirts and suit jackets. tALLAHASSee

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The popularity of TLC’s “LA Ink” turned celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D into a household name and gave viewers a sneak peek into what goes on in a tattoo shop. This and other reality shows have catapulted tattoo art into the mainstream.

These human canvases are sporting much more than the iconic Sailor Jerry-style anchors or red hearts with “Mom” scrawled across a banner. There are limitless options when it comes to design and color, and the newly tattooed are taking advantage.

Sailor Jerry, an important figurehead in the tattoo industry, was the mastermind who inspired the edgy work of his protégé, Ed Hardy. Hardy’s signature designs, fusing elements of American and Japanese culture, are practically ubiquitous, appearing on lines of clothing, accessories and fragrances in department stores nationwide.

%

This self-expression is becoming a lucrative business as more tattoo shops open up in suburban areas nationwide. In fact, Florida is home to what MSNBC calls “the most tattooed city in America.” Beating out Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Miami Beach has about 24 tattoo parlors per 100,000 people.

Tats Without Regret

Tattoo artists often get a bad rap and are blamed for permanently marking those who are inking without thinking. But don’t believe the hype. Responsible tattoo artists are alive and well in Tallahasssee.

Alain Rodgers, owner of the Euphoria tattoo parlor on Gaines Street, opens his doors at noon Monday through Saturday and is closed most nights by 7 p.m., much earlier than one might expect.

His goal is to stop people who aren’t serious about their tattoos from getting work done that they might later regret, like the

of adults with tattoos have them in places that can be hidden by normal clothing.

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ever-popular soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend’s name on the neck, or the half-naked hula girls dancing on the forearm.

“We try to steer people away from getting tattoos on their hands and necks, because it could either make or break you in getting a job,” he said. “We try not to be ‘that’ tattoo shop.”

Closing a little earlier than other shops doesn’t seem to hurt business at all. According to Rodgers, he and the other Euphoria artists complete more than 3,000 tattoos a year.

Rick Meshell, owner of the Solid Ink tattoo shop on Monroe Street, also believes in responsible tattooing. Meshell says his shop tattoos everyone from college students to doctors and lawyers to minors coming in with their parents.

After three years in business, the artists at Solid Ink do what they can to uphold their reputations — even if that means turning some clients away.

“We don’t do anything racially offensive,” Meshell says. “One guy came in just last weekend asking if we’d do a swastika for him.

I turned him down. We’re not racist here, and we aren’t risking our reputation just because a customer is.”

Meshell says he also refuses to do tattoos on the necks and hands of minors who come in with their parents.

“I’ve had parents argue with me over that,” he says.

“But those kids don’t know where they’ll be in a few years. I couldn’t do it with a clear conscience.”

There is nothing worse than having your tattoo artist make a mistake in their design. To prevent this from happening, both Rodgers and Meshell emphasize the importance of an apprenticeship. This is the process by which aspiring artists learn the ins and outs of the tattooing art. It usually takes about a year but, according to Meshell, it can sometimes take longer. Aspiring artists take this time to perfect their drawing skill, learn how to properly use and sterilize equipment and how to take a client’s idea and turn it into a design.

When an artist feels ready to pick up a needle and try their hand at a real tattoo, they usually start with small ones on themselves and their friends before moving on to booking clients for the shop.

“By the time an apprentice starts tattooing people, they have learned and practiced a lot, so making a mistake isn’t likely,” Meshell says.

Ink at Work

Although tattoo art has made headway toward social acceptability, many of the tattooed are still opting to get theirs in places that can be easily hidden when it’s time to get dressed for work.

Seventy-two percent of adults with tattoos have them in places that can be hidden by normal clothing, according to Pew. Do visible tattoos prevent an applicant from getting hired?

This isn’t a rule set in stone in every work environment — but it’s no urban myth either. The truth is, it just depends on where you work.

Florida State University, one of the city’s largest employers, doesn’t have a policy regarding tattoos in the workplace.

Representatives in the university’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity say there is no requirement for employees

ThInkInG aBoUT InkInG? Alain Rodgers (opposite page) says an early closing time at Euphoria tattoo parlor helps clients avoid getting permanent images they might regret. Alex Beltrami (this page, standing) has two full sleeves of tattoos and thinks the body art on his staff adds to the atmosphere at Midtown Filling Station.

to cover visible tattoos and no one will be denied a job because of them.

Not every place of employment is so laissez-faire. Steve Adriaanse, vice president and chief human resources officer for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare says, “visible tattoos that display nudity, vice, crime, objectionable symbols or profanity are prohibited and must be covered.” The hospital has no policy re-

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lIke DaUGhTer, lIke MoTher Hilda Crook (right) disapproved when Buff Crook (left) got her first tattoo at age 20. But now, mom is sporting a tat of her own. (below) One of Buff Crook’s four tattoos.

garding other types of tattoos, and no applicant will be turned away because of a tattoo.

While some employers have nothing against tattoo art, others welcome them with open arms.

Alex Beltrami, owner of the Midtown Filling Station, says his restaurant/bar could easily be the most tattooed place of employment in town. The visible tattoos and outlandish piercings that could possibly ruin your chances of getting hired at most places give an extra edge that could make you a shoe-in at the Filling Station.

“It’s not really the look of all our customers, but it’s different,” he says. “Everyone seems to like it.”

The décor is rough but refined, with leather and metal design alongside rock band posters, license plates and bumper stickers.

Many of the bartenders have worked together since the Filling Station opened a year ago and have developed a sense of family.

“We’re like a hipster version of Cheers over here,” Beltrami says.

Beltrami has both arms fully covered with tattoos. In his days as a student in Tallahassee, he kept his body art under control.

His tattoos never traveled past the length of a short-sleeved shirt, but when he started his first business, the Tantra Lounge, he completed his first tattoo “sleeve.”

The bartenders at the Filling Station sport tattoos that could rival Beltrami’s in number. Rodgers and other Euphoria artists did much of their work.

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%

of people with tattoos are between the ages of 30 and 64.

The Filling Station is getting recognition for its presence in the tattoo world. Beltrami’s restaurant hosted the Sailor Jerry/ Inked Magazine tattooed pin-up girl model search in July.

Safe and Sterile

Regardless of how anyone may feel about tattoo art, Rodgers says the most important thing to consider in the tattooing process is safety.

At Euphoria, Rogers and his team use pre-sterilized and individually packaged disposable needles and plastic disposable tubes.

Each client gets a new set of equipment to ensure safety.

“Find out what kind of equipment the artist you’re considering uses,” he suggests. “Stainless steel equipment works just as well, but after cleaning them a thousand times, what are the chances of getting them perfectly clean every time?”

This level of safety is a far cry from the way Buff Crook, a local hairstylist, got her first tattoo about 20 years ago.

“Back then, medical supervision was required to get a tattoo but nobody could afford that, and I wanted to get a tattoo anyway,” she says. Crook got her first tattoo in an apartment from a tattoo artist who came to town from Georgia for the weekend.

“I remember walking into the room at 2 p.m. and having to wake everyone up,” she says. “They were all asleep or hung over, but this was the only way I could get a tattoo, so I let them tattoo me.”

It was this lack of safety and sanitation that added to the stigma already surrounding tattoo art. “Dirty needles” promoted the spread of diseases like hepatitis and tuberculosis. These days, the tattooing process is much safer, but it’s still up to the clients to double-check the precautions of their artist.

This tattoo craze is not just a fad for 20-somethings still in the throes of teenage rebellion. Members of older generations who once turned their noses up at the tattooed youth are now joining the ranks. The Pew survey says 47 percent of people with tattoos are between the ages of 30 and 64.

Meshell gave his mother, who was once an avid protestor of tattoo art, her first tattoo a few years ago when she was 50.

Buff’s mother, Hilda Crook, who has spent most of her life in Tallahassee working for local law firms, got her first tattoo five years ago — at age 61.

“From the time I first secretly thought it might be kind of nice to have a little something for myself, it was about 10 years before I ever said anything out loud about it,” she says.

After years of worrying each time one of her children got a new tattoo, she let it slip that she wanted one of her own but was always afraid.

The next day her daughter, who now has four tattoos, made an appointment and she plopped down in Rodgers’ chair at Euphoria and went under the needle. “I wasn’t going to let her keep living in fear,” Buff says.

Hilda emerged with a little red heart on her shoulder and has since added a butterfly perched on top of it.

“I was scared that he might make it too big, too bold,” Hilda said. “This was just one little thing I wanted to have. I was afraid it would show too much. But he did exactly what I asked for.”

Although Hilda is now a member of the tattooed population, she still has her reservations when it comes to those who are heavily inked. An attitude, she says, that stems from the way tattoos were viewed when she was growing up.

“You’d talk about a person and hear something like ‘she’s so sweet and so nice, but she’s got a tattoo.’ It was taboo when I was growing up,” she says.

When Buff got her first tattoo, she made sure to get it on her side so it could be easily covered. “It was very hidden,” she says. “But I wanted to show it off, I was very proud of it.”

Her mother did not react well when the then-20-year-old Buff got her first tattoo, and when she got a second one on her ankle she kept it hidden for a few years before ever telling her mother.

Obviously, her views have changed a bit.

Tattoos Aren’t Forever

As tattooing grows more popular, so does the tattoo removal industry. Dr. James Caldwell’s practice, Dermatology Advanced Care, opened eight years ago but he has been working with laser technology for the past 25 years.

Whether it’s the neon clover on your wrist, the flaming dragon on your forearm or the name of the ex-boyfriend from college you were convinced you’d marry one day before you realized that he was a complete jerk, some tattoos just are not meant to stay.

In fact, according to Caldwell, about 50 percent of people who have tattoos experience some level of tattoo regret within the first two years.

The good news is, advancements in Q-switch laser technology can remove most tattoos — but it’ll cost you, in both time and money.

On average, small tattoos — imagine a half dollar size — will cost $150 per treatment, while larger tattoos can cost closer to $500 per treatment. That is defi nitely more than a little pocket change, since most tattoos take between six and 12 treatments, tALLAHASSee

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Mr. Tattoo Tallahassee Soft-spoken Micah Vandegrift has tattoos all over his body, including a rendering of Michangelo’s Pieta (opposite page) that covers his entire back.

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Tattoo Removal Photos Courtesy CandelaLaser

at least six weeks apart, to be completely removed.

Between 20 and 25 patients a year come to Caldwell for tattoo removal. Although this is a far cry from the thousands of tattoos per year that Euphoria and Solid Ink artists work on, each candidate for removal makes a six- to 12-month commitment that could easily cost well over $1,000.

Associates in Caldwell’s office say the laser procedure feels like a “repeated snap of a rubber band.” Each treatment can take between five minutes for small tattoos to an hour for larger ones.

“It does hurt if you don’t use the anesthetic,” Caldwell says. “But I’ve never had anybody not get treated because of the pain.”

Dermatology Advanced Care consults with each client to determine cost, number of procedures required and what results should be expected. Factors like skin tone, professional versus amateur tattoos, and colored ink versus black and dark blue ink all play a role in the difficulty of removal.

“Black and dark blue ink are the easiest to treat. Those are the best colors for removal. The more iridescent colors are tougher to get rid of. You can still accomplish the goal, but you’re going to be the person who takes 10 to 12 treatments, not five or six.”

Buff Crook, however, is not worried about ever regretting any of the art she has adorning her body.

A few years ago she underwent gastric bypass surgery. After losing weight, she went to get her excess skin removed and her original tattoo was a casualty of the surgery. She has since gotten another tattoo to replace the one she lost.

“People always ask me if I think I’ll wish I never got these when I’m in my 70s,” she says. “I’m not worried about that though. All my tattoos have a special meaning to me, and they will mean just as much to me later.”

Regardless of tattoo regret, there must be something in the ink. Many of Tallahassee’s tattooed who jokingly call themselves addicted, are running to the local shops to go under the needle again and again.

“I wouldn’t call it an addiction,” Meshell says. “I think there is just so much fear before someone gets their first tattoo, then they realize it’s not so bad so they keep doing it.”

Micah Vandegrift was named “Mr. Tattoo Tallahassee” last year. To gain that title, he beat out competitors varying from a few who only had one or two tats to some that were “tattooed from their necks to their ankles.”

Vandegrift has been inked many times and says he doubts he will ever go under the laser to get any of his work removed.

“I’m a little past the point of regretting anything,” he laughed. “I’d have to laser my whole body.”

Vandegrift’s interest in tattoos was sparked at a young age. He got

Ink Now, Pay later Laser treatments can remove tattoos, but the process can take several weeks and cost $1,000 or more. The top photo shows an original tattoo, the results after one treatment (middle) and what it looks like six to eight weeks later (bottom).

his first tattoo at 15, a symbol meaning brotherly love that he and his two brothers share.

“Most of my friends were older and into the rock scene so they were all already getting tattoos,” he said. “Somehow my brothers and I managed to talk my parents into letting us get them too.”

Vandegrift, who moved back to Tallahassee in April and now works with FSU’s library system, says his tattoos have never gotten in the way of his professional life and he has no worries about the future.

“I really want people to hire me based on my qualifications, not how I look,” he says.

Inspired by his love of renaissance art and culture, many of Vandegrift’s tattoos have heavy artistic and historical influences, and he has no intention to stop tattooing any time soon.

“Most of the major extremities of my body have some kind of tattoo,” he says. “I think I look better with tattoos. They are like jewelry to me.

“I’ll probably continue to get tattoos until I run out of space.” n T A L L A H A S S EE

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Osaka Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse and Sushi Bar

Compiled by Desiree Stennett, Alexia McKay, Jason Dehart, Rosanne Dunkelberger and Linda Kleindienst 98

September–October 2011

From Appetizers to Weight Loss, Our Readers Select Tallahassee’s Finest in 100 Categories

of Tallahassee 2011 Whether you’re searching for stellar sushi or a red-carpet-worthy dress, finding the best place to get what you need can be difficult — if you go it alone. Thankfully, it’s time to celebrate the Best of Tallahassee awards in 2011.

Some winners are reigning champs and others are new businesses or longtime underdogs who finally stepped it up enough to be named No. 1.

Either way, give these reader-chosen restaurants, service providers, shops and venues a shot — you’re sure to be pleased.

Tallahassee Magazine is hosting an exclusive invitation-only evening of hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at Chez Pierre in early November to allow our Best of winners to pick up their trophies, bask in glory and celebrate their success.

Food & Beverage AP PETIZER

Bonefish Grill Photos by Scott Holstein

With an innovative menu full of meals that promise to tantalize your taste buds from

beginning to end, it’s no wonder Bonefish was voted for having the best appetizers in town. Seems nothing can compete with their famous Bang Bang Shrimp — and you can get the app for five bucks all day long on Bang Bang Wednesdays.

HONORABLE MENTION » Kool

Beanz

ASIAN RESTAURANT

Masa More than your neighborhood Asian restaurant and located in the popular Midtown area, Masa’s Asian-inspired seafood and sushi dishes blend Eastern and Western cuisine, creating a happy medium that keeps readers voting it as a perennial Best of winner.

HONORABLE MENTION » Azu

BAKERY

The Cake Shop Voted “Best Bakery” for the second time in a row, the Cake Shop conjures sweet memories of grandma’s kitchen on a sunny afternoon.

Indulge your sweet tooth with homestyle cakes, gourmet cookies, breads, brownies, muffins and 18 flavors of cupcakes at its Capital Circle Northeast location.

HONORABLE MENTION » Lucy

& Leo’s Cupcakery T A L L A H A S S EE

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BEST GYM/HEALTH CLUB 100

September–October 2011

WE LOOK FORWARD TO GIVING YOU THE “ULTIMATE SPA EXPERIENCE!”

of Tallahassee 2011

Level 8

HAIR, MAKEUP, NAILS, MASSAGE AND SKIN CARE — WE DO IT ALL!

THANKS FOR VOTING US BEST DAY SPA 3 YEARS IN A ROW!

2011

850.894.4SPA (4772)

BEST DAY SPA

MILLENNIUMNAILANDDAYSPA.COM MON-SAT: 9AM-8PM • SUN: 11AM-5PM

come

eat

enjoy

Thank you for making us #1

B A R TI E

Level 8 This luxe rooftop lounge at Hotel Duval makes you feel like you’re on the top of the world. Stake a claim on a chaise lounge and watch the sun set while sipping a “Cougarita” or one of their other signature cocktails served by some of the foxiest waitresses in town.

Midtown Filling Station This joint is always jumping on weekends, with a high-energy crowd fueled by great drinks, food from the eponymous restaurant next door and exceptional live music.

Photo By Lawrence Davidson

B A RBECU E

Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q If the family is hankering for the best barbecue the South can offer, look no farther than Sonny’s, which serves the lipsmackin’ real thing at its three Tallahassee locations. Beef, pork and chicken are all made better with Sonny’s special sauces.

Fixin’s include corn and barbecue beans — and don’t forget to wash it down with the sweet tea!

HONORABLE MENTION » Piggy’s

BBQ

a modern dining experience 2011

847.0003 | 1001 N. Monroe St.

Best Asian Restaurant/Sushi

T A L L A H A S S EE

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Hopkin’s Eatery

B R EAKFAST

Another Broken Egg Pretty much anything you can think of that can be put into an omelet is at this perennial Best of winner. Guests can choose fillings from bacon, cheese, tomatoes and ham to lobster, crawfish, scallions and grilled chicken for their eggs. And breakfast is on the menu all day long.

HONORABLE MENTION » Canopy

Road Café

B R UN CH

Another Broken Egg After 10 years of being voted Tallahassee’s best, it may be worth taking your lunch break a little earlier to give Another Broken Egg’s brunch menu a try. With down-home options like the Classic Biscuit and Gravy, to entrees with a Mexican flair like the Huevos Rancheros, there’s something to satisfy every late-morning craving.

HONORABLE MENTION » Avenue

Eat & Drink

CA J U N R E STAU RANT

Coosh’s Bayou Rouge Laissez les bon temps roulez! The good times are rolling at this Cajun-themed restaurant. You can enjoy home-cooked jambalaya, red beans and rice, po’boys, crawfish etouffee, gumbo and other Louisiana signature dishes without taking the eight-hour drive to the Bayou State! On Saturday mornings, fresh-baked beignets are served.

HONORABLE MENTION » Harry’s

CARRYOUT/G OURMET TO G O

Your Secret Pantry On-the-go moms facing the prospect of a long night at the stove or another bag o’ burgers find Your Secret Pantry a dinnertime lifesaver. They’ve got a stockpile of nutritious meals for you to grab and go, heat and serve, or assemble to your family’s liking.

We suggest you try Grandmother’s Chicken Pot Pie. It’s yummy!

HONORABLE MENTION » Fresh

Market

CASUAL DINING TIE

Kool Beanz Café The Red Elephant may be a veteran winner in this category, but Kool Beanz is a more upscale casual incarnation. The Modern American-style restaurant dishes out excellent food in a laidback environment that encourages diners to “eat, drink, and talk loudly” — because you’re among friends.

Red Elephant Pizza and Grill It doesn’t matter if it’s after a Little League game or a lunch with co-workers. Whatever the occasion, Red Elephant is the perfect place for a casual meal full of good food with good friends. Not in the mood for their signature pizza? That’s OK; Red Elephant also has chicken, steak and seafood options.

Seafood, Bar and Grille T A L L A H A S S EE

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2011

BEST JEWELRY STORE

3501 THOMASVILLE ROAD • 850-893-4171 • www.gemcollection.com

Where Tallahassee Gets Engaged!

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2011

BEST JEWELRY STORE

3501 Thomasville Road 850-893-4171 @ www.gemcollection.com

The Most Beautiful Diamonds and Precious Gems TALLAHASSEE

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Bringin’ a Taste of South Louisiana to You • Coosh Cool • Family-friendly • Cajun (But not Spicy Hot) • Former Co-owners of the Mill and We’re Bringing Back the Muffin Come pass a good time!

Tailgate Needs? Let us serve up your oppo2011

BEST CAJUN RESTAURANT

nent. Give us a call and we can hook you up with what it takes to tailgate Cajun style.

850-894-4110 | 2910 Kerry Forrest Parkway | Cooshs.com

• • • • • •

Tree Removal Trimming & Pruning Commercial & Residential Insurance Work Fully Insured 24 Hour Emergency Service

2011

BEST TREE SERVICE

FREE ESTIMATES

BY A CERTIFIED ARBORIST

850-228-7876

www.millertreesrv.com miller-tree@hotmail.com

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Thank You For Voting Us The Best! of

Tallahassee 2011

CAT E R I N G

Klassic Katering Voted Best of Tallahassee for the past eight consecutive years, Klassic Katering is known for their creativity, cuisine, presentation and execution. The company’s goal is to exceed your expectations and ensure a truly memorable event.

HONORABLE MENTION » Mad

About Food

C E L E BRAT I ON /SP EC IAL OCCAS ION RESTAURANT

Cypress Whether it’s graduation, a birthday, an engagement or an anniversary, this sophisticated Southern-style restaurant is the place to celebrate. With their ever-changing menu, there is always something new to try. Just sit back, sip a glass of wine and celebrate with friends and family.

HONORABLE MENTION » The

2011

Melting Pot

CO C KTAI L /M AR TINI

Level 8 An upscale lounge at the top of the town requires an equally upscale, sassy martini to go along with it. Level 8 has a new menu of exotic martinis to satiate the tastes of a chic clientele. Try the Wasabi Tini, a “dirty” martini with fetaWasabi stuffed olives.

HONORABLE MENTION » 101

Restaurant

CO FF E E SHOP

RedEye This java doesn’t just help you have a better day, it helps many less fortunate have a better life. RedEye products are environmentally responsible and all their net profits go toward humanitarian efforts both locally and internationally. Who knew a simple cup of coffee could do so much?

HONORABLE MENTION » Starbucks

D E LI

Hopkin’s Eatery When you’re hungry with little time to spare and looking for a healthy meal, Hopkin’s Eatery is the place to go for delicious sandwiches and salads. Now with three Tallahassee locations, there’s always one nearby.

HONORABLE MENTION » Publix

D E SSE R T

Food Glorious Food This restaurant could not have been more aptly named. Their 20-item dessert menu is chockfull of enough sweet dishes to make anyone toss their delusions of dieting out the window.

The only disappointing thing about their desserts is that you have to wait until the end of your meal.

HONORABLE MENTION » The

Cake Shop T A L L A H A S S EE

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BEST COFFEE SHOP

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FA MI LY F R I E N D LY RESTAURANT

Red Elephant Pizza and Grill The folks at Red Elephant have re-introduced the art of dinner conversation in a friendly, laid-back eatery that accommodates your taste buds without emptying your wallet to feed your herd. In addition to the funky critter portraits and low-key atmosphere, Red Elephant’s menu offers an extensive array of reasonably priced items like boiled peanuts, pizza and salads.

HONORABLE MENTION » Old

Town Cafe

FAST F OOD

Chick-fil-A Tallahasseeans don’t go moo. They cluck for Chick-fil-A. This chicken restaurant is so popular, the Northeast Capital Circle location could use its own designated traffic control cop. With six local stores to choose from, (but never on a Sunday!) you won’t miss out on your favorite chicken sandwich combo.

Thank you to the Tallahassee community, our Board of Directors, volunteers and advocates for helping us embrace children and families in the Big Bend.

HONORABLE MENTION » McDonald’s

2011

F I N E D I N I N G R E STAURANT

Cypress Southern-chic Cypress just keeps on winning Best of honors, offering a creative variety of chef-cut aged meats, fresh seafood and locally sourced cheeses and produce. And for dessert?

How about chocolate s’mores ice cream?

HONORABLE MENTION » Avenue

Eat & Drink

H A MBU R GE R

Five Guy’s Burgers and Fries If you stop in expecting an ordinary fast food burger, you’re in for quite a surprise. Five Guys serves up delicious meals with fast food speed and prices. This burger joint uses only fresh ground beef — they don’t even have freezers. With eight different burgers and 16 toppings, there are more than 250,000 ways to order a Five Guys burger.

HONORABLE MENTION » Monk’s/Wells

Brothers Bar and Grill

www.chsfl.org

BEST LOCAL CHARITY/ NOT-FOR-PROFIT

Thank you, Tallahassee, for voting us #1 2011

BEST BARBER SHOP

H A PPY HOU R

Chez Pierre Chez’s daily Happy “Hour” last five hours, and on Fridays and Saturdays there are two of them. All feature specially priced drinks, so there’s no excuse for not partaking of a cool libation in an utterly relaxing setting.

HONORABLE MENTION » Level

8

H IB ACHI

Osaka Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse and Sushi Bar Have a seat and watch as your meal is prepared fresh on a tabletop grill at this northside Asian steakhouse. Enjoy the show, along with hibachi chicken marinated in their secret chicken sauce, scallops, steak, shrimp, and a variety of sushi, wraps and rolls.

HONORABLE MENTION » Mori

Free sports contest, live cameras and and more mor m ore www.renegadebarbershop.com

10 LOCATIONS Tallahassee • Quincy • Ft. Walton

Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar T A L L A H A S S EE

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Special Promotion ends September 30, 2011

2011 F o r

A l l

Yo u r

S tat i o n e r y

N e e d s

The Pavilions ~ 1410 Market St. ~ (850) 681-2824 Toll-Free (800) 983-2266 Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m. www.shopmft.com

BEST GIFT SHOP

Cooking Classes Meeting Room Children’s Parties

Free Wi-Fi Free Coffee Refills

1908 C apital Circ op.com le NE, Tallahassee • 850-386-2253 • www.TallyCakeSh Monday-Fri day 8:30AM-6:00PM & Saturday 8:30AM-12:00PM

2011

BEST BAKERY

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Tried the Rest? We’re the Best!!!

Butch Peacock • LIC# EC13003044

ITA L I AN R E STAU RANT

Bella Bella The eclectically decorated dining rooms of this locally owned restaurant are a feast for the eyes, but your tummy is sure to get its fill too with Bella Bella’s freshly made salads and pasta dishes. Mangia!

HONORABLE MENTION » Carrabba’s

Italian Grill

SERVICE CALLS C Commercial i l•R Residential id ti l Service Calls are our Specialty Super Discounts for Senior Citizens

LO CAL LY OWN E D RESTAURANT

Kool Beanz This neighborhood eatery on Thomasville Road offers unique gourmet meals in a vibrant setting of modern art and dark pastels. Internationally inspired dishes such as Cuban-spiced pork chops and Thai coconut curry make Kool Beanz a funky alternative to your typical candlelit dinner.

HONORABLE MENTION » Avenue

Eat & Drink

In Business Since 1979 • Licensed & Insured PROUD MEMBER OF

2011

LU NCH

Hopkin’s Eatery If the leftovers from last night’s dinner or a soggy salad for lunch aren’t cutting it, a bite into a savory sandwich, pressed Cuban or club sub will surely do the job. Hopkin’s variety of soups, salads, sweets and sandwiches can cause you to be a tad bit tardy returning from your lunch break, but the boss will understand.

HONORABLE MENTION » The

BEST ELECTRICIAN

850-562-1817 seminoleelectrical.com

Crepevine

M E X I CAN /L AT I N AMERICAN RESTAURANT

El Jalisco If you’re craving some authentic Mexican flavor, one of El Jalisco’s Tallahassee locations is the place to go. With their upbeat, all-day happy hour scene, you can enjoy their two-forone margaritas, huge portions and great prices.

HONORABLE MENTION » Pepper’s

Mexican Grill & Cantina

O U TD O OR D I N I N G

Chez Pierre Located in the heart of Midtown in a historic home, Chez Pierre serves up an atmosphere where good food and good friends mix perfectly under the stately oaks or on the climatecontrolled porch. Kick back and relax while you listen to music and enjoy the happy hour that can last until 11 p.m.

HONORABLE MENTION » Andrew’s

Capital Grill & Bar

P IZZ A

Momo’s Truly, a slice of one of Momo’s made-to-order, New York-style, hand-tossed pizzas is “as big as your head.” The restaurant also offers calzones, salads and wings. Look for a brewery to open soon at the Market District location.

HONORABLE MENTION » Decent

Pizza T A L L A H A S S EE

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BEST HOTEL

T A L L A H A S S EE

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THE BEST LITTLE STEAKHOUSE IN TALLAHASSEE

2011

BEST STEAKHOUSE

Join us for lunch and dinner at our beautiful new location on Apalachee Parkway.

Our steaks are not only the best in Tallahassee, but USDA choice midwestern corn-fed beef, specially selected, aged to our specifications and cut daily. We also serve fresh jumbo shrimp and fish – grilled, blackened or fried. So please join us for lunch and dinner or just meet up for drinks at our fully-stocked bar.

F

MARIE LIVINGSTON’S STEAK HOUSE

2705 Apalachee Parkway | Tallahassee, FL | (850) 270-9506

of

Tallahassee 2011

ST EAKHOUSE

Marie Livingston’s Steak House A popular local perennial favorite, Marie Livingston’s uses USDA choice beef that’s specially selected and aged to their specifications and cut daily. The fresh, homemade yeast rolls aren’t bad, either. If steak’s not what you’re hungry for, try the slow-roasted prime rib or jumbo shrimp.

The Wine Loft

SE A F O OD M AR KET

Southern Seafood Looking for that perfect Alaskan wild salmon or mahi-mahi filet to throw on the grill? Or maybe some fresh Stone Crabs or Gulf shrimp? Boats of local fishermen are unloaded daily to provide the freshest finfish and shellfish in town. A perennial favorite, Southern Seafood has a wide variety of fresh seafood that will satisfy the most discriminating palate.

HONORABLE MENTION » Spear’s

Seafood Market

SE A F O OD R E STAURANT

Bonefish Grill

347

SUSHI

Masa Sushi enthusiasts and newcomers can unite at Masa. This trendy and modern Asian-inspired restaurant fuses cusines of the East and West and boasts the best sushi in town. If you think you don’t like sushi, you’ve obviously never had sushi from Masa!

HONORABLE MENTION » Osaka

Japanese Hibachi Steak House &

Sushi Bar

WINE LIST

Started in St. Petersburg in 2000, Bonefish is a seafood lover’s haven, with an array of fish choices and signature sauces. While fish is the main attraction, lemon-basil chicken breast, filet mignon, Maryland crab cakes and fettuccine are mouthwatering alternatives.

HONORABLE MENTION » Wharf

HONORABLE MENTION » Shula’s

Express

SP OR TS BAR

A.J.’s Sports Bar and Grill Watch the big game on one of the 50 TVs or projectors, or belly up to the bar with friends while you dive into a plate of hot wings. AJ’s offers everything from the pool tables and dartboards of a typical bar to an open-air dance floor, live music and karaoke nights.

HONORABLE MENTION » Miller’s

Ale House

The Wine Loft Toast to a new love, job promotion — or to you simply being awesome — with fruits of the vine at this exclusive Midtown bar. Offering the only upstairs balcony bar in Tallahassee along with an intimate downstairs lounge, it’s the perfect place to romance that special someone or socialize with others who have a taste for fine drink, just like you.

HONORABLE MENTION » The

Filling Station

WING S

Wingstop After being voted best wings in town for the fifth year in a row and selling more than two billion wings nationally, it might be time to jump on the bandwagon and become a Wingstop lover too.

HONORABLE MENTION » Hobbit

Hoagies T A L L A H A S S EE

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“We put your family in our family medicine” Thank you Tallahassee for voting Patients First as Best Family Practice.

2011

BEST FAMILY PRACTICE

Your Neighborhood Medical Center 7 116 locations providing you with quality family care.

September–October 2011

www.patientsrst.com

Service Providers

of

Tallahassee 2011

Proctor Group/Honda

ACCO U N T I N G SE RVIC ES

Carroll & Company With more than 1,300 clients, four partners and 25 employees, Carroll & Company has been a trusted local partner to individuals and businesses since 1990. And the accountants are good neighbors too, supporting events such as the Big Bend Heart Walk and the Tallahassee Museum’s Zoobilee.

HONORABLE MENTION » Office

Pro

A IR CO N D I TI O N I NG/H EATING

Benson’s Heating & Air Conditioning No matter the season, the pros at Benson’s are on call to help you keep your cool in the summer and stay toasty throughout the chilly months. They can replace that inefficient, power-sucking unit or keep your newer one in tip-top shape with a variety of service plans.

HONORABLE MENTION » Barineau

Heating & Air

Conditioning

A LT E RATI O N S

Helga’s Tailoring Not every dress or suit jacket fits perfectly right off the rack. With 25 years of experience, Helga’s will make sure you never have to go out wearing anything that makes you look less than your absolute best.

HONORABLE MENTION » Design

Alterations

ASS I ST E D L I VI N G FAC ILITY

Westminster Oaks

AUTOMO BILE DEALER

Ideally located on a beautifully wooded campus, Westminster Oaks combines established neighborhoods of detached villas with the comfort and luxury of mid-rise and garden apartment homes. Residents maintain the independence they desire while taking advantage of all the amenities and special services that allow them to enjoy an active lifestyle.

Proctor is a dealership that matches the quality of the vehicles it sells. Buying is a no-pressure pleasure. But the rubber really meets the road afterward, when you can count on Proctor to keep your car in tip-top shape with service that’s second to none.

HONORABLE MENTION » Cherry

Laurel

AU TO R E PAI R

Perdue’s Automotive Center

Proctor Group/Honda

HONORABLE MENTION » Champion

Chevrolet/University Cadillac

Buick GMC

BARBER SHO P

Renegade Barber Shop

If you’re looking for an all-around good auto shop that can service all domestic and imported cars, Perdue’s can’t be beat.

The shop is independently owned and operated, and inside you’ll find great, reliable service and loyal customers who swear by the shop’s mechanics.

Once again, Renegade has been chosen as the best barbershop in town. When the day has worn you out, this classic man cave will edge you back up again. With a friendly staff, nine locations and affordable prices, they’ve been keeping Tallahassee men looking their best for years. And they’re happy to cut ladies’ hair, too.

HONORABLE MENTION » P3

HONORABLE MENTION » Sports

Automotive

Clips T A L L A H A S S EE

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BEST LUNCH BEST DELI

Dr. James Ryan Fenn

CA RP E T CL E AN ER TIE

Miller’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning When you’ve got a stubborn stain that defies your best efforts, invite the Millers over. This family-owned company has been tirelessly dedicated to cleaning up messes in Tallahassee and the surrounding area for 12 years. Their promise is 100 percent satisfaction, fair prices and award-winning service.

Stanley Steemer With its unmistakable big yellow vans, Stanley Steemer Carpet Cleaner has been serving households and businesses in Tallahassee for 29 years. The company offers cleaning for whatever’s underfoot, including hardwood, tile and carpet floors. And if your ventilation system is dirty, Stanley Steemer will clean that, too.

C E LL PHO N E SE RVIC E

Verizon All your calls are important. With the clearest reception and some of the most popular cell phones, it’s no wonder everyone wants to be “in” with the Verizon network.

HONORABLE MENTION » AT&T

C H I R OP RACTOR

Dr. James Ryan Fenn When’s the last time your regular chiropractor asked you over for a recipe night? Dr. Fenn and his staff want to place you on a path toward whole health and fitness, not just pop your spine back in place. They focus on nutrition, minimizing toxins, maximizing muscle tone and mental well-being.

Tallahassee’s BEST wine list and balcony bar!

•V Voted oted ote t dB BEST ESST wi EST wine ine lis llist iist st 22011 00111 by 011

by Tal T Tallahassee alllah all lah lahas hassee assssee Magaz as ass M Ma Magazine aggaz gaa ine in nee • Two full liquor bars • Wednesdays FREE wine tasting 5:30–7:30 pm • Happy Hour every day, including Saturday!

• Chic lounge setting • Outstanding small plate menu and desserts • Tallahassee’s only Balcony Bar overlooking Midtown dtow town n • Great venue for large and small parties

2011

www.thewinelofttallahassee.net et facebook.com/wineloft m/winelofttallahassee tallahassee Open O p pen M Mo Mon–Th on– on o n–Th n Thu u urr 55pm pm ’til pm ttiiill | Fr Frii & SSa Sat a 4pm–2am 850.222.9914 .9914 Ope Located at the Orleans@Midtown

1240 Thomasville Rd.

The corner of 6th Ave & Thomasville Rd.

T A L L A H A S S EE

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2011

HERE, YOU’RE AMONG FRIENDS. MODERN AMERICAN CUISINE

2011

LUNCH:

MON–FRI, 11–2:30 DINNER:

MON–SAT, 5:30–10 SUNDAY BRUNCH:

BEST CASUAL DINING BEST LOCALLY OWNED RESTAURANT

10:30-2

921 THOMASVILLE RD TALLAHASSEE, FL (850) 224-2466 122

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CO M PU T E R R E PA IR/S ERVIC ES

Aegis Computer Services Whether you’re a college student or professional powerhouse, there’s nothing worse when your computer crashes in the middle of an important project. Aegis is here to save the day whenever simple troubleshooting just doesn’t get the job done.

HONORABLE MENTION » On

Call Computer Solutions

DA N CE STU D I O

Sharon Davis School of Dance Aspiring dancers can learn ballet, en pointe, tap, hip-hop and lyrical in this creative environment. Classes range from pre-k to teens.

HONORABLE MENTION » Tallahassee

Dance Academy

DAY SPA

Millennium Nail and Day Spa After being voted Best Day Spa last year, Millennium kept on pampering their patrons and managed to hold on tightly to their title. Here, they offer everything from manicures and pedicures to full body massages to keep you beautiful and relaxed enough to make it through a busy week.

HONORABLE MENTION » Body

Wisdom

Spend a relaxing day with family at the Tallahassee Museum discovering living exhibits of Florida wildlife in their natural environment.

An iconic Tallahassee landmark for more than 50 years, the Tallahassee Museum is truly an experience for all seasons! Enjoy daily programs, annual events, a Museum store, Trail Break Café, free parking and more!

2011

BEST ART GALLERY/MUSEUM

Not to be missed events that will be here soon: • Zoobilee, October 14 • Halloween Howl, October 28 and 29 • Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs exhibition

Thank you, Tallahassee

for voting me Best Real Estate Agent!

D E N T I ST OF F I CE

Russell B. Rainey, DMD A pineapple is the symbol of the dental practice and represents well the welcoming spirit of Dr. Rainey and his staff. Whether you’re seeking routine treatment or a total “smile makeover,” everyone in the office strives to assure the experience is anxiety free.

HONORABLE MENTION » M.

Darrh Bryant, DMD

D E R M ATOLO GI ST P RAC TIC E

Dermatology Associates These skin specialists help your skin look and feel good again both internally and externally. In a world where image is everything, Dermatology Associates helps their clients put their best face forward.

HONORABLE MENTION » Southeastern

Dermatology of Tallahassee

D RY CL E AN E R

Blue Ribbon Dry Cleaning Your extra-special clothing deserves extra-special care. At Blue Ribbon, a family owned and operated dry cleaner, they take the time to make sure your clothes are cleaned properly.

Their friendly staff guarantees satisfaction or they’ll clean the item again for free.

HONORABLE MENTION » Shamrock

Cleaners

GaryBartlettRealEstate.com m Call me for all your real estate needs!!

850.443.5887

BEST REAL ESTATE AGENCY/AGENT

TALLAHASSEE

123

2011

Authentic Mexican Restaurant

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT

2 FOR 1 MEAVREGRAYDRITAYA!S

NOW THREE LOCATIONS

(850) 878-0800 2022 N. Monroe St.

(850) 668-1002

2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy.

NEW LOCATION!

(850)) 402-0733 6497 Apalachee Pkwy.

BEST DRY CLEANER

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E L ECTR I CI AN

Seminole Electric This team of Tallahassee electricians is standing by to help you with all your wiring needs, from simple outlets to breaker boxes. For more than 30 years they’ve worked hard to satisfy their clients, and you’ll be happy you kept their number handy.

HONORABLE MENTION » Lawson

& Lawson Electrical Services

E M B R OI D E RY

M&M Monogramming M&M can monogram the traditional towels and jewelry, but they’re also ready to leave your mark on tote bags, photo frames, cars, cell phone covers … just about anything you want to let the world know is “mine, all mine.” Their shop in Glendale Square on Thomasville Road is full of inspiration for gifts or a little something for yourself.

HONORABLE MENTION » G.

Willie’s Uniforms

FA MI LY PHYSI CI AN TIE

Patient’s First It’s nice to know there’s a convenient place to go — without an appointment — when you’re not feeling well or have a minor emergency. And when maladies strike outside of the 9-to-5, many of Patient’s First’s seven local offices offer extended daily and weekend hours.

Tallahassee Primary Care Associates Locally based, physician-owned TPCA combines the personalized care of individual doctor’s offices with the convenience and variety of diagnostic and laboratory services found in a large group practice.

SERVING TALLAHASSEE SINCE 1952

F I N A N CI AL I N ST ITUTION

SunTrust Bank When it’s time for a new car, house or business, you need a bank you can trust. SunTrust is a stable financial institution providing excellent customer service that will be there for clients when they need them most.

HONORABLE MENTION » Capital

City Bank

F LO OR I N G

OUR CUSTOMERS ARE FAMILY. AND FAMILY IS OUR BUSINESS!

Brian Barnard’s Flooring America At this family-owned business, two generations of Barnards work to supply their clients’ flooring needs. The store features a large selection of wood, carpet, ceramic and vinyl flooring, and the staff will help you choose a look that matches the way you live, the look you want and your budget.

HONORABLE MENTION » Southern

1353 NORTH MONROE ST. | (850) 224-1811

BEST AUTO REPAIR

Flooring T A L L A H A S S EE

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F LO R I ST

Blossom’s Flowers

of Tallahassee 2011

Whether it’s a declaration of love and appreciation or an apology after a major screwup, when it comes time to say it with flowers, Blossoms is Tallahassee’s choice. No matter the occasion, Blossoms’ custom gift baskets and arrangements are sure to send the right message.

HONORABLE MENTION » A

Country Rose

GY M/HE ALT H CLUB

Premier Health and Fitness Center Premier isn’t just about weights and treadmills. Members can choose from a variety of group classes, including Zumba, Pilates, yoga, spinning and aqua aerobics. Play care for kids, massage therapy, health screenings and a Tropical Smoothie Café are also housed in this one-stop fitness haven.

HONORABLE MENTION »

Sweat Therapy

H A IR SALO N

Green Peridot Recently named winner in Tallahassee Magazine’s Top Salon contest, Green Peridot offers an abundant variety of TLC for women’s beauty and men’s grooming. Stylists are up on the latest styles, coloring techniques and treatments like the hairsmoothing Brazilian blowout.

HONORABLE MENTION » Envy

Salon & Spa

H OTE L

Hotel Duval Swathed in black marble elegance and sophistication, this upscale boutique hotel has become the place to be seen. It’s not only a hotel for out-of-towners, but its lounge, Level 8, has already become the stuff of Tallahassee folklore for its open-air patio setting and comfy couches.

HONORABLE MENTION » Aloft

I N S U RAN CE AGE NCY

Demont Insurance Agency When the chips — and the trees — are down and you’re scrambling to rebuild, it’s good to know that you’re covered by a team that’s got your back. Demont Insurance Agency is an award-winning service offering friendly brokers and a wide range of policies covering your boat, home or car.

HONORABLE MENTION » State

North Florida Animal Hospital

Farm

I N T ER I O R D E SI GN FIRM

Julian Mathis Interior Design Inc. The sale documents make it your house, but the design makes it your home. For the seventh year in a row, Mathis has been voted the best in Tallahassee in the interior design category. His goal is not to have people walk in and find his personality — he wants your style to shine through.

HONORABLE MENTION » L.A.W.

Design

L A N DSCAPI N G/L AWN S ERVIC ES

Esposito Lawn & Garden Center The professionals at Esposito don’t just cut your grass. They provide a comprehensive lawn maintenance schedule for every

type of residence, apartment or office. They also offer insect and disease control, fertilizer, mulching, irrigation, ant service, stump grinding … the list goes on and on.

HONORABLE MENTION » Dickerson

Landscaping

LIMO SERV ICE

Mike’s Limousine No matter what the occasion — wedding, prom, party, birthday — Mike’s has the vehicle to fit the bill, from a 36-passenger Taboo Party Bus with a 2,000 watt stereo system to a 40-foot luxurious “land yacht” bus. There are more than 28 vehicles to choose from, including a hot pink Hummer.

Travel and party in style with Mike’s.

HONORABLE MENTION » Classic

Limo & Sedan Service

MOVING CO MPANY

Mike’s Moving You never realize just how much you own until its time to pack it all and move it across town. When you need to move, don’t be stressed out at the idea of your only friend with a truck breaking your valuables — not to mention the heavy labor.

Instead, trust Mike’s.

HONORABLE MENTION » A.M.W.A.T.

Moving

NAIL SALO N

Royal Nails and Spa Sip on a glass of wine while you get your pedicure — or watch the flat-screen televisions as the friendly staff polishes up your manicure. Each station is personalized and dedicated to catering to your needs.

HONORABLE MENTION » Millennium

Nail and Day Spa T A L L A H A S S EE

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O B STE TR I C/GYN ECOLOGICAL PRAC TIC E

North Florida Women’s Care Dozens of doctors on staff are dedicated to providing outstanding women’s health care. Services for high-risk and normal pregnancies and consultation on infertility are also offered.

HONORABLE MENTION » Bert

Morales, MD

PA IN T E R

Superior Painting

2011

Whether you want drywall repairs, interior or exterior painting or wood staining, custom garage doors, crown molding, pressure washing and wood rot repair, “no job is too small or large.”

Superior — a Best of winner for the fourth year in a row — prides itself on customer service and affordable prices.

HONORABLE MENTION » Marlin

Coating Inc.

P E DI AT R I C PHYS IC IAN

Tallahassee Primary Care Associates The TPCA practice includes family doctors as well as specialists, including pediatricians who look out for the health care needs of our precious and vulnerable little ones.

HONORABLE MENTION »

Tallahassee Pediatrics

P E ST CON TR OL SERVIC E

Capeluto Termite & Pest Control When the pesky critters show up in the cupboard or boardroom, give Capeluto a call. They’ve been stomping out pests in the Tallahassee area since 1964 and feature the most innovative and effective pest control services available.

HONORABLE MENTION » Paul’s

Pest Control

P H OTOGRAPHE R

Dina Ivory Master Photographer Dina Ivory doesn’t just snap photos of kids or families. She creates timeless treasures of life by preserving those fleeting special moments. Look to her to capture your baby’s first toothy smile or an elegant family portrait.

HONORABLE MENTION » Inga

Finch

P U LM BI N G SE RVIC E

Keith McNeil Plumbing When the old plunger or wrapping duct tape around a burst pipe won’t cut it, McNeil’s is on call. It’s the largest plumber in Tallahassee with 24-hour availability, offering service to residential and commercial properties.

HONORABLE MENTION » White’s

Plumbing

R E A L E STATE AGENCY/AGENT

Gary Bartlett Real Estate Moving to Tallahassee in 1997 originally as a WCTV news anchor and now working as a fulltime broker, Bartlett commits himself to making you fall in love with the city just as much as he did. First-time homebuyers and sellers will receive superb service that will surely lead to your dream home.

HONORABLE MENTION »

Jason Picht, The Naumann Group

T A L L A H A S S EE

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Tadlock Roofing While having a new roof installed or repaired is a rare occasion for most of us, the friendly and knowledgeable staff at Tadlock’s is on hand to guide you and make the process as painless as possible. The on-staff roofing crew is fast and tidy — aside from that gleaming new roof, you’ll never know they were there!

HONORABLE MENTION » Tallahassee

Roofing

SEC U R I TY SYSTE M

Safe Touch “I hate Safe Touch!” screams the comedic thief in the Safe Touch commercials. With good reason — Safe Touch features a 45-second guaranteed response time and two-way voice communication activated when the alarm is triggered. Your home and office are in safe hands with Safe Touch. And the rates are good, too.

HONORABLE MENTION » Sonitrol

Southeastern Plastic Surgery If the Cosmo look you want is getting harder and harder to achieve, have no fear. Doctors Ben Kirbo and Laurence Rosenberg and skin care experts at Southeastern Plastic Surgery are here to help you fight the crow’s feet, sagging chin, droopy eyelids and other battles in the war on aging.

Plastic Surgery Clinic

TA N N I N G SALON

Wolff Tan There’s nothing worse than farmer tan lines when wearing your favorite strapless dress. When time isn’t on your side and the Florida sun can’t get the job done the way you need it, go to Wolff Tan for a nice, even sun-kissed glow. Their monthly deals fit perfectly into any college student or professional budget.

HONORABLE MENTION » Sun

¾ Managed Services ¾ On Site and Remote Network Management ¾ Custom Application Development ¾ Web Development ¾ Business Consulting ¾ Infrastructure ¾ Outsourced I.T. Solutions ¾ Hardware & Software Sales

www.aegisbiztech.com

SU R GI CAL P HYSIC IAN

HONORABLE MENTION » Tallahassee

BEST COMPUTER REPAIR/SERVICES

Bunny Tan

for more information: 850-422-2661 ext. 114

sales@aegisbiztech.com facebook.com/aegisbiztech

S A L L Y

Antiques

R U D E

Fine Art

18TH • 19TH • 20TH C ENT URY F URNITURE

T R E E SE RVI CE

Miller’s Tree Service Trees and Tallahassee — they just go together. Miller’s, a threepeat Best of winner, helps you keep yours in tiptop shape with trimming and pruning services by experienced pros. And if a tree should topple, the licensed and bonded company is on call with the right equipment to provide emergency services.

FINE ART

ACC E S S O R I E S

E S TAT E J E W E L R Y

HONORABLE MENTION » ArborWorks

V E TE R I N ARY CL I NIC

North Florida Animal Hospital Your pets are a part of the family; treat them to the best care in town. With wellness care, dental care, surgery suites, weekend kennels and sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, this clinic has the amenities and services to take care of your pets’ needs — even exotic animals.

HONORABLE MENTION » Novey

Animal Hospital

BEST ANTIQUES

850-222-4020

1410 C-5 Market Street Ta l l a h a s s e e , F L 3 2 3 1 2

mctcantiques@aol.com w w w. t r o c a d e r o. c o m / m c t c TALLAHASSEE

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BEST EYE SPECIALIST

1480 Timberlane Road 850.893.4687 Mon-Fri: 9-7 | Sat: 9-5 Doctor’s Office Hours:

Mon-Fri: 9-6 | Sat: 9-3

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1433 E. Lafayette Street 850.877.4687 Mon-Fri: 9-7 | Sat: 9-5 | Sun: 12-5 Doctor’s Office Hours:

Mon-Fri: 9-6 | Sat: 9-4 | Sun: 12-4

South East Eye Specialists

James A. Stephens, O.D., FAAO | Paul L. Harman, O.D. Joshua M. Trafton, O.D., FAAO | W. Stan Peacock, O.D., FAAO | Amy M. Stephens, O.D. Elizabeth J. Vanderpool, O.D. | Rebecca Del Moral, O.D.

John T. Bell, M.D.

2011

Board Certified Ophthalmologist

BEST EYE SPECIALIST

1480 Timberlane Road 850.893.4005 Doctor’s Office Hours:

Mon-Fri: 9-6 | Sat: 9-3

1433 E. Lafayette Street 850.656.3300 Doctor’s Office Hours:

Mon-Fri: 9-6 | Sat: 9-4 | Sun: 12-4

TALLAHASSEE

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Diane von Furstenberg

DVF Shoes • Tor y Burch • Milly • Kate Spade • Sherri Hill • Hudson • Tibi • Trina Turk • Blank

• Autumn Cashmer e

Tony Bowls

•

Tallahassee’s first

•

Signature Store S S

Eva Fr anco •

Aidan Mattox

•

2011

Betsey Johnson

BEST NEW BUSINESS AND

Market Plaza 1 3 5 0 M a r k e t S t . | 5 9 7 - 8 2 01

Beauty Mark •

Envi

2011

•

A modern mix of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Tar ina Tar antina

•

•

Melissa Jellies

•

BEST KIDS CLOTHING

BCBG

Dani Black

• •

•

Thank you for helping us bring fashion to Tallahassee!

•

1410 Market St. | 668-4807

Mavi

1122 Thomasville Rd. | 210-0010

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Black Halo

•

J ova n i

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Rock and Republic

•

David Kahn

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S u e Wo n g

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To r y B u rc h S h o e s

Nicole Miller

Narcissus

•

Halston Her itage

AND

BEST WOMEN’S CLOTHING

Lilly Pulitzer

BEST LOCALLY OWNED BUSINESS BEST WOMEN’S ACCESSORIES & SHOES

of Tallahassee 2011

Pink Narcissus

W E IGHT LOSS/CONTROL P ROGRAM

FURNITURE STORE

Weight Watchers

Turner’s Fine Furniture

Whether you do it online or attend any of the many weekly meetings held around town, Weight Watchers offers a tried-andtrue method to slim down to a more beautiful and healthy you.

Lose weight without feeling deprived while eating a balanced diet filled with fruits and vegetables but where no food is considered off limits.

Hooray! After leaving town for a few years, Turner’s has brought its quality furniture, huge selection and super service back to a convenient location just north of the state line between Tallahassee and Thomasville, Ga.

HONORABLE MENTION » FIT

G IFT STORE

Weight Loss & More

Shopping

HONORABLE MENTION » Ashley

Furniture

My Favorite Things This store is a bride’s — and a gift giver’s — dream-come-true.

From Villa Vietri linens and table accessories to Waterford crystal, collectibles and china, My Favorite Things’ distinctive pieces will add the perfect touch to any home.

HONORABLE MENTION » Textures

A N TI Q U E SHO P

Sally Rude Antiques and Fine Art Gallery For another consecutive year, the Sally Rude’s has been chosen as the best antique shop in town. If you’re in need of 18th, 19th and 20th century pieces from American and Europe, this is the best place in town to start your search. The mother-daughter owners also take requests from customers and promise to let you know the second they find what you’re looking for.

HONORABLE MENTION » Good

Finds

Handmade Market

JEWELRY STORE

The Gem Collection With a dazzling selection of solitaires and settings, this truly is “where Tallahassee gets engaged.” You’ll also find some of the hottest names in jewelry and accessories — including Rolex, Pandora, Tacori, Scott Kay and Alwand Vahan — in the Gem Collection’s can’t-miss-it salmon-colored building.

HONORABLE MENTION » Robert’s

Jewelry & Design T A L L A H A S S EE

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BEST OBSTETRIC / GYNECOLOGICAL PRACTICE

HOME

AUTO

BUSINESS

BOAT

LIFE

FINANCIAL SERVICES

If service is important to you...

Your Insurance should be with us.

2011 We’ve got you covered.

850-942-7760

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BEST INSURANCE AGENCY

of Tallahassee 2011

K IDS CLOT HI N G

Pink Narcissus Lily Pulitzer offers miniature versions of the chic women’s collection at this Market Street boutique. Match up with your little girl in “mommy and me” outfits called “minnies.” Dress styles appropriate for every activity from church to a play day at the park are also available, along with floral pattern and bright-colored cardigans, skorts, rompers and tops.

HONORABLE MENTION » Textures

Handmade Market

LO CAL LY OWN E D S H OP

Narcissus Local businesses provide jobs and stimulate the economy and, over at Narcissus, they’re doing it with lots of style. With two locations, this high-fashion women’s boutique brings New York designer style to the streets of Tallahassee.

HONORABLE MENTION » Cole

Couture

M E N ’S CLOT HI N G

Nic’s Toggery Nic’s has been the place for men’s clothes in Tallahassee for more than 50 years. Then, as now, a tailored suit is the hallmark of the distinguished gentleman, and the store’s consultants are eager to help you choose the professional clothing, shoes and accessories that work for you.

HONORABLE MENTION » Olde

Fields Clothing Co.

N U R SE RY/GAR D EN C ENTER

Tallahassee Nurseries With its shady arbors, soothing fountains, brick pathways and beautiful gardens, Tallahassee Nurseries ought to be a tourist attraction. As it is, it’s one of Tallahassee’s oldest garden centers and offers its customers everything they need to make their yards come alive with color and scent-sations.

HONORABLE MENTION » Esposito

THANK YOU, TALLAHASSEE, FOR MAKING US #1.

2011

BEST CATERER

Gardening Center

O P TO M E TRY/E YEGLASS STORE

The Hour Glass Time for new glasses? The Hour Glass is ranked as one of the nation’s top 40 optical retailers and is a local favorite. The eye specialists here offer full-service, state-of-the art facilities, comprehensive eye exams and, in case of an eye emergency, there’s a doctor on call, too.

HONORABLE MENTION » Tallahassee

Eye Associates

WO M E N ’S ACCE SS ORIES /S H OES

Narcissus Forget diamonds; shoes are a woman’s real best friends.

Whether you’re just dressing up a pair of jeans or trying to show off your long, lean legs and killer calves, a good pair of heels can work wonders — and Narcissus is the place to get them, along with all the other sparkly bits that make your outfit complete.

HONORABLE MENTION » Cole

Couture

elegant creative unique distinctive info@klassickatering.com | www.klassic-katering.com (850) 894.0423 | (850) 509.5005 (mobile) T A L L A H A S S EE

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Cole Couture Who says a Southern woman can’t be au courant? Cole Couture embraces the saying “simple, but cute.” The boutique offers a variety of fun, alluring looks for the confident Tallahassee woman.

Narcissus 2030-1 Thomasville Rd Mon-Fri 10-6, Saturday 10-3 850.514.3148 mmmonogramming.com

a huge

THANK YOU 2011

to our great customers and staff for making M&M Monogramming Tallahassee’s BEST place for embroidery!

A 5th Avenue New York boutique in Midtown and Northeast Tallahassee, Narcissus offers sexy designer clothing for the sophisticated woman on-the-go, whether it’s out on the town or in the office.

Entertainment ART G ALLERY/MUSEUM

The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science The Brogan successfully blends math, science and art together in unforgettable educational experiences for young and old alike. The museum sports two floors of hands-on activities and an art gallery that features works designed to make visitors engage their brain and challenge perceptions.

HONORABLE MENTION » LeMoyne

Center for the Visual Arts

COMMUNIT Y EV ENT

Springtime Tallahassee Every spring, Tallahassee residents come out of the woodwork to prove this town is home to more than just college students and politicians. Thousands flock to the downtown area to enjoy the Grand Parade and Downtown Jubilee, and to eat all the corndogs and funnel cakes their bodies can handle.

HONORABLE MENTION » Downtown

Getdowns

G O LF COURSE TIE

Golden Eagle Golf and Country Club Perched on Lake Diane, Golden Eagle’s 32,000-square-foot clubhouse is only rivaled by the beautiful expanse of land encompassing an 18-hole golf course guaranteed to challenge everyone from duffers to scratch golfers.

SouthWood Golf Club SouthWood Golf Club is an upscale public facility nestled among rolling hills, pastureland and ancient oak trees draped in Spanish moss. It was designed to provide an enjoyable and challenging golf experience for players of all levels.

2011

BEST FLORIST

LIV E MUSIC/ENTERTAINMENT V ENUE

5th Avenue Tap Room With live music and more than 30 kinds of beer on tap, the 5th Avenue Tap Room adds life to the Midtown area. Although the venue is only about a year old, they’ve turned having fun into a serious business, and the crowds are lovin’ it.

HONORABLE MENTION » Trainwreck

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Tallahassee Museum

P L ACE TO BE SE EN

Level 8 Party people are sure to be found at this chic, shiny bar atop Hotel Duval. Be sure to make a red-carpet entrance during Fashionably L8, the lounge’s ladies night on Wednesdays.

HONORABLE MENTION » Hotel

Duval

P L ACE TO TAKE T H E K IDS

Tallahassee Museum It’s not just a “museum.” It’s a place where history and nature combine to tell the story of Florida. Tour an 1880s homestead and then walk on the wild side with Florida’s only zoological collection devoted to native wildlife. It’s all very educational and interactive, and parents get a kick out of it, too.

HONORABLE MENTION » Fun

Station

W E EKE N D GE TAWAY Photo by Nikki Ritcher

St. George Island Enjoy the feel of the pure white sand sifting through your toes while you take a whiff of the salt on the air — and relax! Just a two-hour drive from Tallahassee, St. George Island offers a perfect escape where you can luxuriate in a Gulf or bayfront rental home or kick back and enjoy a beach campout at the state park. Swimming, fishing and kayaking have never been better.

HONORABLE MENTION » St.

Teresa Beach

Local BEST NEW BUSINESS

Pink Narcissus The latest in the local Narcissus fashion franchise, Pink Narcissus — a Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store — is a Lilly Girl’s dream. There’s no way to be glum when you’re surrounded by clothes and accessories in sunny saturated sherbet shades that are the designer’s hallmark.

HONORABLE MENTION » Rinse

and Repeat

LOCAL CHARITY/NOT-FO R-PROFIT

Children’s Home Society The Children’s Home Society of Florida is one of the oldest private, not-for-profit organizations in the state. Its mission is to protect children and stabilize families, as well as protect kids from abuse, and serves 100,000 kids and families every year.

HONORABLE MENTION » Big

Bend Hospice

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Travel

M

any Northwest Florida ski enthusiasts begin their ski experiences on the gentle slopes of North Carolina. But, after a while, they’re ready for the next step before they move on to tackle the Rocky Mountain destinations. The intermediate slopes of Michigan’s Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa offer the perfect stop on the way to the challenges of skiing in the West.

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SEpTEmbEr–OcTObEr 2011

in an area many people perceive as flat.

Located about 45 minutes from the Traverse City airport, this 55-year-old resort is currently owned and operated by the Petriz and MacInnes families, who were among the original investors when 93 families pooled their resources more than 50 years ago to create a recreational slope for use by themselves and friends.

Crystal Mountain employs 400 local Midwesterners whose quest is to make you feel welcome and like part of the family, giving you a sense of connection

PHOTOS COURTESY CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN RESORT

SKI “THE MITTEN”

Northern Michigan’s Crystal Mountain Resort Offers Hospitality and Snow Sports Galore

By Jack Macalevy

TALLAHASSEE

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What to do? One option is a snowshoe tour (this page) of the Michigan Legacy Art Park, an outdoor “gallery” features 43 works of art as well as poetry stones.

Skiing and snowboarding are just the beginning of the activities available year round at Crystal Mountain.

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you don’t find at the corporate ski resorts. Every named run has a personal history attached to it. Once you arrive, you don’t need to be concerned about anything more than getting up and fully enjoying your day and the variety of activities to choose from — and you will not be disappointed.

The resort, located on the pinkie side of Michigan’s “mitten” near the coast of Lake Michigan, has developed into a four-season destination for groups, couples and families — with amenities designed for each group.

In the winter, there are 45 perfectly groomed slopes with a fair share of black diamonds. Yet, the majority of downhill slopes are greens and blues, with good long runs allowing beginner and

intermediate skiers plenty of movement time. An important offering is the resort’s ski school, with more than 70 full and part-time instructors. There are classes for kids and adults, obstacle courses for snowboarders and freestyle skiers, as well as weekly “race” events for those more advanced in the sport.

For more winter fun, try your hand at snowmobiling. Just a short ride from the resort, Crystal Outfitters provides the instruction, machines and outerwear necessary for a spin around the countryside.

Or, spend a few hours practicing your double axel — OK, how about just staying upright? — at the resort’s skating pond.

A unique offering of Crystal Mountain is a paintball biathlon course that gives novices a glimpse into the feeling of and

skills necessary in this Olympic sport. It is a 1.5-mile loop you can navigate with cross-country skis or snowshoes, with three shooting stations that will test your speed and sportsmanship. You can play competitively in teams, trying to finish in the shortest amount of time, or just for fun. Currently only one other American destination offers this challenging and unique opportunity.

Did I say unique offerings? How about a dog sledding experience where you get to stand behind the sled and guide a pack of 10 Siberian huskies across a 40-acre preserve? The Tim Dewey family, enthusiasts of this ancient means of travel, has a stable of more than 30 dogs at their Shemhadar Kennels. Their passion, excitement and knowledge of dog sledding will capture you immediately.

The Crystal Mountain resort has evolved over the decades and now offers 262 lodging accommodations, from hotel rooms to five-bedroom townhomes. The original lodge and guest rooms are still in use and provide value packages.

A new guest hotel was built in the past few years, featuring a full-service, upscale TALLAHASSEE

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restaurant, the Thistle Pub & Grille. In addition to fine dining, Executive Chef Darren Hawley has perfected a “peak performance” menu, designed to fuel winter’s high-energy activities. With the right balance of carbohydrates, calories, proteins and fat, meals on this menu will sustain your body’s needs during activity and extreme weather conditions.

Another way to spend your days — or at least your mealtimes — is sampling the wines produced in Michigan’s nearby wine country. Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas, and the water surrounding them, create a climate that protects the vines from Northern Michigan’s icy winters. Experts say the region’s Rieslings are world class. Periodically, the resort offers wine dinners, wine classes, wine tastings and bus tours to local wineries.

Ciders and microbrews are also produced in the area.

After a day of winter sports, using muscles that Floridians never knew they had, it’s time to adjourn to the resort’s recently completed Crystal Spa. It’s easy to relax on a chaise in its lodge-like environs, featuring a stacked-stone fireplace.

It’s beautiful, as well as being LEED-certified, winning numerous awards for its eco-practices and environmental stewardship. The spa has developed a Snowsports Massage that uses a series of passive and resistance stretches to improve flexibility while also reducing muscle fatigue. The Boot Relief Ritual takes you through 50 minutes of pampering to every muscle and bone below the knee. n

If you go Travel Michigan

(800) 644-2489 michigan.org Crystal Mountain Resort

(800) 968-7686 crystalmountain.com Crystal Adventures

(231) 651-9648 crystaladventures.com Shemhadar Kennels

Stay and Play The Crystal Mountain Resort has 232 places to stay, from hotelstyle rooms to townhomes large enough to accommodate a family — or two.

(231) 779-9976 sleddog@vbs20.com

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A Great Blue Heron wings past the lens of wildlife photographer Brian Proctor on a late afternoon in South Georgia. The largest heron in North America, this familiar bird can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet and can be seen along waterways throughout much of the United States.

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On the

Wild Side Brian Proctor’s Quest for the Perfect Shot at Wildlife — With His Camera

BY JASON DEHART

Photos coUrtEsy Brian Proctor

T

allahassee wildlife photographer Brian Proctor likes nothing better than sitting for hours in a hunting blind waiting patiently with one of his Cannon digital cameras, a selection of lenses — and a strong desire to get the perfect shot.

“I love the outdoors. I do a lot of hunting and fishing, and I think probably the photography part of it keeps me in the woods a little bit longer,” said Proctor about his 30-year obsession.

Proctor’s vocation is commercial real estate broker with Southland Commercial/Sperry Van Ness in Tallahassee. But he likes to take a walk on the wild side every chance he gets. He’ll venture down to the national wildlife refuge at St. Marks, which teems with varieties of wading birds, and he’s developed friendships that have allowed him to “shoot” quail and other wildlife at nearby plantations (he just finished a photo essay book based on photos from one South Georgia plantation). His photographs of turkeys have served as reference material for wildlife artists, and his shots have appeared alongside articles in Field & Stream magazine.

Although he will “shoot” anything that crosses his path — including cottonmouths and rattlesnakes — his first focus is on game animals.

“It’s been my focus because I love to hunt anyway, so deer, turkey, ducks … those are the types of game animals I enjoy doing,” he said.

Whatever the subject, wildlife photography can be challenging at times.

“I think the most challenging for me is capturing ducks in fl ight,” Proctor said. It’s tough, he said, because of their speed and stopping the wing motion action. Photographing in morning and late afternoon light also makes it very hard to capture a sharp image. Making it even tougher is the fact he uses a long, heavy 400mm lens, which he has to hold by hand to have the freedom to track his quarry across the sky.

“If it’s a deer standing still, no challenge. But if it’s moving, whether it’s a bird or a seagull or eagle or duck, it’s just (difficult),” he said. “(It’s all about) timing, luck and just being in the right place at the right time.”

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This osprey (right) photographed on Little Gasparilla Island near Charlotte Harbor was bringing wet sea grass back to the nest on a hot day, and Proctor speculates the adult bird was trying to keep its young cooled down. Osprey feed largely on fish and are common along waterways and seashores throughout the world. 

Photos By Brian Proctor

A migrating swarm of bat-winged Cownose rays (bottom) stretches to the horizon off Boca Grande in this shot Proctor took while fishing for tarpon. “We followed along with them to photograph, and they paid no attention to us or the vessel were in,” he said. Cownose rays are found throughout the western Atlantic Ocean, and packs of up to 10,000 have been spotted between Florida and Yucatan, Mexico. 

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On the Wild Side

Watch where you sit. Proctor snapped this beautiful Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (top) during a turkey-hunting trip in Grady County, Georgia. “As I was going to sit down to do my calling, there was the snake laying right where I was trying to sit,” he said. “I figured I could hunt turkeys any other morning so I went back, got my camera and he was still there, so I started photographing him.” It was a cool morning and the snake wasn’t being aggressive, but that changed as the day started warming up. “I got 150 photos of him,” Proctor said. “I climbed up a branch to get over on top of him (to shoot), and thank goodness it didn’t break. Then he became much more aggressive, and I figured we would part ways.”  An osprey (left) on Little Gasparilla Island wings its way home with a large sea trout clutched in its talons. Proctor said these raptors kill their catch before taking them into the nest, to prevent the fish from flopping around and possibly knocking the young birds out of the nest. “These birds have to be shot with an extremely fast shutter speed to stop the wing movement,” he said. 

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Proctor and some friends were hunting Hungarian partridge in Saskatchewan when he spotted this owl (top right) perched in a weathered and abandoned barn. There are many barns like this on the open northern prairies, and owls like to take up residence to hunt for the small rodents and birds that take shelter in the tall grass or the trees planted as wind buffers around farmsteads. “It was one of those days I had a camera with me when hunting,” he said. “As luck would have it, this owl was sitting there in the frame of a window as a snowstorm was beginning. It was cold, and he was looking for the last meal of the day.”  A hooked tarpon (right) dances on the surface off Little Gasparilla Island. “We were tarpon fishing and I took the opportunity to get an action shot of a jumping tarpon,” Proctor said. “The anticipation of when they’re coming out of the water makes for a difficult thing to photograph and stop the action.”  154

September–October 2011

Photos By Brian Proctor

Proctor came across this big cottonmouth (above, left) as he emerged from a duck blind on a dike in North Florida/South Georgia. It was a warm morning, and he had been photographing ducks when he saw the snake just three feet away. Initially its mouth was wide open but it closed as Proctor started taking photos.

“I tried with a stick to get him to open his mouth again, but didn’t want to fool with him too much because he was an extremely large moccasin,” he said. 

On the Wild Side

Looking for a meal in the outgoing tide, this White Heron was perched to hunt on the edge of a dock on Little Gasparilla Island near Boca Grande, outside Charlotte Harbor.

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Green-winged teal (right), like this trio photographed on the wing, are the most difficult birds to photograph because of their speed, Proctor said. “They’re one of the fastest waterfowl species in our area,” he said. This shot was taken at a North Florida plantation in an elevated position on the edge of a lake. 

Photos By Brian Proctor

Proctor lured these two large turkey gobblers (bottom) out into the open one early morning on a North Florida plantation.

“These are both very dominant birds,” he said. “They were a duo. The one on the right was strutting and the other was more of a lookout.” Proctor snapped this shot when the birds were only 25 yards away from his blind. He later tried again to photograph the one on the right but he wouldn’t come any closer than the tree line in the background. “I fooled him this one time and that was it,” Proctor said. 

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On the Wild Side

This 10-point buck (top) was in full rut when Proctor snapped him after waiting patiently for five hours in a ground blind at a South Georgia plantation.  A wood stork (above) going to roost in this late-afternoon shot taken from an elevated blind on a South Georgia plantation. These storks like freshwater and estuarine wetlands and primarily nest in cypress or mangrove swamps. They usually nest in large rookeries, and their diet consists of small fish like topminnows and sunfish.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lists them as endangered. The breeding population is estimated to be 8,000 nesting pairs and is limited to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  Proctor encountered this fox squirrel (left) on a plantation in South Georgia. The docile animal wasn’t camera shy and waited for Proctor to get in position to take this shot. Proctor said he was actually looking for quail to photograph but decided to snap this shot when he noticed the big squirrel 15 feet up a pine tree. Fox squirrels are the largest squirrels in the Western Hemisphere. 

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SPONSORED REPORT

SURVIVOR: GENERAL CONTRACTOR The INSIDE STORY of how industry leaders navigated the changes of the last 30 years plus the worst recession of their time

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SPONSORED REPORT

TECHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT:

SURVIVING A STORMY ECONOMY LOCAL CONTRACTORS SHARE WINNING STRATEGIES FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS By Morris Palmer In the last three decades, much has changed with Tallahassee’s skyline. Many buildings are new or significantly different — yet many of the contractors’ names are familiar.

Smart phones enable contractors to make quick, informed, lastminute decisions.

All around Tallahassee, the names of construction companies that were in their formative stages in the 1980s can be seen pasted on brand new “Coming Soon” signs in front of major projects around town. These companies have managed to weather the worst recession in modern history and run a gauntlet of business challenges few imagined even a couple of decades ago.

For most people, the title General Contractor conjures up an image of hard hats, work boots, tool belts and muddy jobsites. If prompted to discuss technology in construction, the average person would likely think, “Oh yes, they used hammers before, but now I see them carrying nail guns.” But new technology also brought the first PC, the first cell phone, the Internet and, more recently, 3G speed — all important tools that now fit in a contractor’s pocket.

Wood, metal, tile — you name it and there’s a saw made to cut it with precision down to the millimeter.

Modernization of survey equipment has vastly improved accuracy and portability.

Personal computers allow contractors to bid on work in real time.

Economically, this period has been just as much of a roller coaster ride. The trials of the current economic crisis are fresh on everyone’s mind, yet think back and recall 21 percent interest rates in the 1980s, the savings and loan crisis and another recession — admittedly mild by today’s standards.

Lastly, 30 years’ passage of time forces a business to deal with one of the most difficult issues in any industry — succession. How does a business move forward, stay relevant and adapt to change without compromising the goals and ideals of the founders — who may or may not still be around to remind them why they started the business in the first place.

Studies show the second generation survival rate of family businesses at 30 percent, dropping to 12 percent by the third, and 3 percent for the fourth and beyond.

With this backdrop it is amazing to not only see quite a few names still around from the 1980s, but to see them in front of bigger

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projects, in different market sectors and thriving after nearly 30 years.

So what are the lessons learned by these first-, second- and third-generation market leaders?

What can be gleaned from a generation that jumped curbs racing to bid openings in cars, actually mailed letters to each other to resolve issues, used pay phones to call the office and checked estimates with adding machines? And what important lessons have been learned by those who succeeded them?

Talking to six leading general contractors reveals the keys to how they survived and continue — not just to exist in this marketplace but emerge as thriving market leaders.

THE COMPANIES These six companies serve as examples of businesses that have shown an ability to evolve.

Each has shown significant growth in its market share during this economically volatile period.

Each has shown the ability to adapt to changes without losing sight of its founding principles.

Finally, each has faced its own unique challenges to remain a leader in the marketplace.

MAD DOG — Mad Dog Design & Construction was formed in the late 1970s by several individuals involved in the construction of their own homes at the Miccosukee Land Cooperative. Original founding owner Laurie Dozier and his wife, Kelly, remain at the helm while the remaining partners have moved on. Mad Dog began as a residential builder but gradually transitioned into a commercial general contractor. The Mad Dog “brand” is generally considered one of the most recognized in the area. Corporate annual sales volume has grown more than 300 percent since the 1980s, with single years above $20 million.

SPERRY — Sperry & Associates was founded in the early 1970s by Don and Jane Sperry. Early on the company involved other family members, including Todd Sperry, Tony Benton and Bart Wells, who each became owners. The company is now employee-owned

Survey equipment - Nobles Consulting Group; nailgun & hammer - Fastenal.

Pneumatic nail guns take the place of wooden hammers, speeding up the process.

PHOTOS:

TECHNOLOGY OF THE PAST:

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through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) buyout. The managing owners include Tony Benton and Bart Wells from the original group plus Jay Bostwick, who joined the company later. Sperry had its start in the boom of prefabricated metal buildings and was one of two dominant local players in that market. The company eventually evolved into a full-service commercial contractor. Corporate annual sales volume for Sperry has grown approximately 270 percent over the last three decades, with peak years reaching as much as $25 million.

PSBI — PSBI (formerly known as Pro-Steel Buildings Incorporated) had its beginnings as one of the first prefabricated metal building subcontractors in the area, at the time subcontracting for many builders on this list and others in the area. Founded in the 1970s by Bill Boyette, who was later joined by his wife, Mimi, it remains a family affair with the addition of the couple’s son, Aaron. As the PSBI market evolved

so did the company, into a full-service general contracting and construction management firm.

Maximum corporate annual sales for PSBI have been as much as $18 million in recent years, a sixfold increase over some of the best years of the 1980s.

AJAX — Ajax Building Corporation was formed in the 1950s by Block Smith. Primarily a commercial general contractor in the 1980s, management transitioned first to Doug Smith, Block Smith’s son, and later to Bill Byrne and Jay Smith, the founder’s grandson. Byrne was brought in by Doug Smith during the beginning of the construction management trend to focus on this market, which subsequently became the focus of the business. From an approximate sales volume of $10 million in the 1980s, Ajax has reached annual sales of more than $190 million during the last decade — the largest volume construction company in the area.

“WE ALL HAD A ROLL OF QUARTERS IN OUR TRUCK SO WE COULD CALL BACK TO THE OFFICE.” BART WELLS, SPERRY

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ALBRITTON WILLIAMS — Albritton Williams is older than the other firms.

(According to Jay Smith of Ajax, the original Albritton Williams was partly responsible for his grandfather’s selection of the name Ajax — to precede them in the phone book.) Due to the sudden death of Edwin Chason, the main shareholder and “rainmaker” of the original firm, it took on a new identity and direction in the 1980s. Under the direction of his brother, Thad Chason, a scaled-back version emerged and created its own direction and identity through the 1990s and into the new century.

The focus was on growth but with deference to the family-oriented priorities of its owners. The company has remained a family affair, with management passing along most recently to the newest president, Nick Chason, creating a third-generation company. Since its rebirth in the 1980s, Albritton Williams has once again enjoyed steady growth — more than doubling its volume in the ensuing years.

CHILDERS — Childers Construction was formed in the late 1950s by Bill Childers and provided residential and commercial construction services during this early period.

Bill Childers’ son, Sam, had a similar focus and eventually partnered with Van Champion, an experienced local player with larger projects.

Champion brought the skill and experience necessary to compete in the burgeoning construction management sector. The company continues to operate in these two distinct sectors, headed by Sam Childers and Champion, its current owners. Annual sales and project size have significantly increased since the 1980s.

THE TECHNOLOGY The question of how technology has helped these firms transition over the decades depends heavily on the type of work being done and which generation is giving the answer.

The advent of the cellular phone was universally noted as a major game changer across the board. Recalled Bart Wells of Sperry, “We all had a roll of quarters in our truck so we could call back to the office during the day.”

And every contractor remembers their first personal computer — with varying degrees of awe and anguish. Thad Chason of Albritton Williams remembered processing payroll through a mainframe system at the old Lewis State Bank building. However, “it was a very cumbersome system compared to the accuracy we were able to achieve with a personal computer at the office.”

The advent of job-costing software programs made accurate job costs possible for small companies that did not have full time accounting staff. “It was not just the hardware of the period leading to major change but, in fact, it was software developments that actually made much of the change possible,” said Mimi Boyette of PSBI. For Laurie Dozier, a major technology breakthrough came with the cordless telephone.

“IT WAS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTS THAT ACTUALLY MADE MUCH OF THE CHANGE POSSIBLE.” MIMI BOYETTE, PSBI

“I walked into Edenfield Hardware one day and the clerk was walking around the room with a telephone. Immediately I knew I had to have it and actually purchased that one on the spot,” he recalled. He explained that this new gadget instantly revolutionized his approach on a particular development, unchaining him from his desk and allowing him to move outside and interact with the subcontractors on site.

To understand the effect of some aspects of technology on the business, it is necessary to understand the dynamic of the “bid opening.”

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Bid openings in many cases are public, with strict time frames. Deadlines are absolute, with many competing contractors, subcontractors and suppliers all vying for the job. Competition is extreme and privacy is at a premium.

In a matter of years, the process of finalizing a bid evolved tremendously. Initially the process consisted of mailed or hand-delivered proposals and a flurry of last-minute phone calls, along with some fast work on adding machines and typewriters and then a mad dash to the bid opening by car.

The advent of the fax machine allowed detailed proposals to be transmitted quickly, and proposals put together on personal computers went into spreadsheets that recalculated instantly, allowing contractors to change their bid even closer to the deadline.

More recently, integrated emails, smart phones and high-speed data transfer have literally allowed the process to continue until the last possible minute.

It would seem the advances would have greatly simplified things. However the reality is that more information must be processed faster and with much greater accuracy — and at times they still may have to jump a curb to make it to the bid deadline on time.

THE ECONOMY AND MARKET CONDITIONS Since the 1980s a variety of hurdles have faced these companies. One of the early challenges came when interest skyrocketed to more than 20 percent, a rate unimaginable in today’s market.

But that’s how Laurie Dozier of Mad Dog learned to build on a pay cycle. “A project (was) started sometime after the first of a given month and completed, if possible, prior to the 20th of the following month, the date most bills from the previous month were due,” he explained.

A builder who learned to meet this schedule had the advantage of drastically reducing the amount of construction interest needed for the project — a huge advantage in the entry-level residential market.

High interest rates and tight credit of the 1980s and 1990s contributed to a much more competitive marketplace, with owners looking to squeeze every penny possible from each project. During this time, Bill Boyette said, “All of a sudden we found that builders who normally hired us to handle their steel structures were looking to perform that work themselves, so we had to adapt.” It was during this period that the

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lines began to blur between different sectors, and competition became more intense.

Also during this period, major changes occurred to the contracting process, in particular the emergence of construction management for public projects, which brought major changes to many companies. Jay Smith, president of Ajax construction, credits his father, Doug, with an “openness to change and willingness to bring in outside expertise that made it possible for us to be a leader in this area.” It became a major key to the growth of the company.

Because of the size and process of many of the large projects worked on by these companies, the effect of the downturn hit some as early as 2008 while others are just feeling its full brunt in 2011.

Laurie Dozier of Mad Dog said, “I predicted early in 2008 that it was very likely after I completed the work I had on hand at that time that it would be 2011 before any substantial work returned … and I was dead on.” At Mad Dog, Dozier and his consultants determined what it would take to maintain his core staff and decided that “we need to be prepared to invest in our company.”

Indeed, a major survival factor cited by all was the level of investment each company made in its own balance sheet during the prior years — retained earnings. In a world that revolves around bonding capacity, which reflects a company’s financial strength, the ability to withstand inevitable losses without losing production capacity or hard-earned “branding” in one’s marketplace sometimes boils down to cash reserves.

Another key lesson in surviving the downturn was a philosophy of customer service held by the company. Sam Childers recalled his dad’s “no job too small” mantra. “We would change out a door, remodel a bath, whatever the customer needs — and still will,” Childers said. “These same relationships can lead to bigger jobs later.”

Tony Benton of Sperry remembered that founder Don Sperry “would send us all the way across Leon County to change out some screws on a building that was out of warranty.

That philosophy has brought us repeat business when work is hard to come by.”

Whether first, second or third generation owners, all agree that certain lessons instilled by the early founders — if not obvious before — certainly became clear during the last several years.

SURVIVAL THEMES To run a good business that will survive in economically tough times, some things remain constant. Here are some tips from contractors who have weathered the storms of the past few decades:

•

Customer service is important. Nothing can replace doing a good job, following up on your work and meeting the goals of your customer.

•

Invest in your business. No matter how good times are now, they will be tough at some point along the way. Retained earnings in your business allow you to make long-term decisions, not short-term ones.

•

Respect the vision of the founders. There is a reason a company has an opportunity to be a market leader, and that reason can likely be traced to the person or group — often a family member — that got it all started.

•

Be open to change. Change is inevitable and businesses that survive must adapt.

“I PREDICTED EARLY IN 2008 THAT ... IT WOULD BE 2011 BEFORE ANY SUBSTANTIAL WORK RETURNED … AND I WAS DEAD ON.” LAURIE DOZIER, MAD DOG

CURRENT AND PLANNED WORK 01.

02.

AJAX

Leon County/City of Tallahassee Public Safety Complex

MAD DOG Summit East

04.

Headquarters, SouthWood 05.

Technology Park 03.

CHILDERS FSU Baseball Stadium Expansion

SPERRY Datamaxx ALBRITTON WILLIAMS FSU Strozier Library Renovation

06.

PSBI TCC Advanced Manufacturing Training Center tALLAHASSee

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A D V E R TO R I A L

Leadership Tallahassee and the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce are pleased to honor two leaders for their lifetime of service to Tallahassee, both through their professional endeavors and through the way they have embraced their responsibility to serve the entire community.

The Lifetime Leadership Award Goes to Martha W. Barnett

M

artha Barnett knew she could have it all. She credits her mother with helping her believe she didn’t have to choose between family and career. The first woman attorney with the Florida-based international Holland & Knight Law Firm; Barnett retired as a partner after 38 years. Her list of pro bono work, leadership positions, honors and awards is expansive. She lobbied the Florida Legislature as pro bono counsel on behalf of the Rosewood Massacre survivors, served as president of the American Bar Association (ABA) and was the first woman to chair the ABA House of Delegates.

Barnett is now putting her passion and energy into another wildly successful venture as chief privacy officer for TLO, LLC, a new technology company started by Hank Asher, one of the fathers of the online data fusion industry. Private sector and law enforcement officials around the world are currently using TLO’s online systems for investigative and other purposes.

Martha and her husband, Rick Barnett, a partner in Barnett Fronczak Barlowe Architects, have two children, two grandchildren and include a host of friends in what they consider their close family. Barnett knows she worked hard and did everything her mentor, Chesterfield Smith, managing partner of Holland & Knight, recommended. Yet she marvels at how Smith, a lifetime friend until his death, used his friendships and credibility with others to help her. She says, “He called people in Tallahassee like Bob Ervin and Fred McCord and asked them to take care of me. And they did, just because Chesterfield asked them to.” She laughs, “They are still taking care of me today.”

Barnett remembered how Smith helped her and she, in turn, has worked hard to help others. Karen Walker, a graduate of Leadership Tallahassee Class 16 and executive partner of the Tallahassee office of Holland & Knight (a position once held by Barnett) strongly affirms this. “Martha made it a priority to reach back and bring along younger lawyers. Martha taught me early on in my career what it meant to be an excellent lawyer, the importance of giving back to the community and the legal profession, and that it was possible to be a lawyer at the top of your game while also having a family,” Walker says. “I would not be the lawyer and the person I am today if it weren’t for Martha Barnett.” The list of those Barnett has mentored is long and she worries she isn’t seeing today’s professionals helping younger colleagues enough.

Barnett is proud of her family, which includes lifelong friends like Dee Beranek who says, “Martha lives every aspect of her life with passionate enthusiasm … The special thing about Martha’s friendship is its constancy. She is always willing to make time for those she loves.”

Barnett’s eyes twinkle as she talks about her children, Richard Barnett of Jacksonville and Sarah Barnett Deeb of Tallahassee. She says she loves watching them be “really good parents” and feels a great sense of accomplishment knowing she raised two children who have successful careers and are off to a great start with their families as well. Richard is a lawyer with Fidelity National Title and Sarah is just starting a promis164

September–October 2011

Martha W. Barnett

Leadership Tallahassee Lifetime Leadership Award Recipient

ing career with Capital City Bank, where she’s distinguished herself as a superstar, according to Senior Vice President Emory Mayfield.

Lawton Langford, a graduate of Leadership Tallahassee Class 1, president and CEO of Municipal Code Corporation, sums it up best: “Martha is amazing. Her grasp of complex concepts is quick, and her perspective unique. She’s always inspiring. … We are lucky to have Martha on our Board. I am honored to call her my friend!”

Indeed, we are all lucky to have Martha in Tallahassee and she is very deserving of the Lifetime Leadership Award.

— Flecia Braswell, Leadership Tallahassee Class 8 The Lifetime Leadership Award recognizes an individual who has made significant, tangible leadership contributions to the Tallahassee community for more than 25 years. Emphasis is placed on individuals who have made substantive achievements in the career and community arenas.

PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS: Godfrey Smith, Grace Dansby, Bobby Bowden, George Langford, Kate Ireland, William Foster, Ken Boutwell, Stan Marshall, Sybil Mobley, Ray Solomon, Budd Bell, Alexander J. Brickler, Duby Ausley, Marjorie Turnbull, Sandy D’Alemberte and John Hogan.

A D V E R TO R I A L

Honoring James Elliott Messer The Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Past Chairmen’s Award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the business community before, during and after their tenure as Chairman of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. The award was named after William James Elliott Messer Godfrey Smith, the first Chamber Godfrey Smith recipient, an individual Past Chairmen’s Award Recipient who epitomized the ideals of honor, dedication and commitment to our community.

This year’s winner certainly meets that standard as the legacies of his chairmanship continue to attract thousands of people and millions of dollars to our community every year.

As Chamber Chair 1976-1978, Elliott Messer led the charge for the building of the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center and the creation of Innovation Park, home to world-class research facilities such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. A Duke graduate, Messer said he wanted something like the North Carolina research triangle for Tallahassee and got the right people together to make it happen.

Similarly, Messer initiated a collaboration of FSU, FAMU, the City of Tallahassee and Leon County — as well as secured funds from the Florida Legislature — to take the civic center project and give it direction.

The projects undertaken by the Chamber during Messer’s chairmanship were so extensive, he was asked to serve an additional year. “I got a lot of help from others at the Chamber and in the community, especially Chamber President Lewis Pollaty,” Messer said. “He helped me greatly — and he even let me practice a little law.”

A founding partner in the law firm Messer, Caparello & Self, Messer said investing time in the Chamber is a great way to serve the community. “The Chamber is an excellent place to start,” he said. “First, learn what the issues are, and then as a volunteer you can really accomplish something if you have good ideas. You don’t have to be an elected official to make a difference.”

Messer continues to challenge the community to get more involved. “The community needs more volunteers to give time to the issues we face. We’ve got them, but they can be overcome. I think it is important to be involved. It really is.”

Today, Messer says he enjoys spending time with his family, working on his farm and, of course, the practice of law.

— Dave Fiore PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS: DuBose Ausley, Frank S. Shaw, Jr., J. Louis Hill, Payne H. Midyette, Jr., John R. Lewis, George R. Langford, Kim Williams, Tom Barron, James E. Joanos, Karen B. Moore and John Perry Thomas

Leadership Tallahassee 17th Annual Distinguished Leadership Awards Presented by: BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA BOWSTERN MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS CAPITAL HEALTH PLAN TAPROOT CREATIVE UNITED WAY OF THE BIG BEND

Thursday, September 15, 2011 Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center, 6 p.m.

LIFETIME LEADERSHIP AWARD

Martha W. Barnett, Holland & Knight; TLO, LLC GREATER TALLAHASSEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE GODFREY SMITH PAST CHAIRMEN’S AWARD

James Elliott Messer, Messer, Caparello & Self, P.A. AWARD FINALISTS LEADER OF THE YEAR

Marc Bauer, Hotel Duval Theresa Flury, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Big Bend Mickey Moore, Southern Scholarship Foundation Cheryl Phoenix, America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend Sean Singleton, Verge Technology

LEADERSHIP PACESETTER

Ben Graybar, Tallahassee State Bank Sha’Ron James, Florida Department of Financial Services Gloria Pugh, A.M.W.A.T. Allison Tant Richard, Community Volunteer

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Dot Inman-Johnson, Capital Area Community Action Agency Jerry Osteryoung, Servant Leader, Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship Cecile Reynaud, Florida State University For information contact:

Barbara Boone, Executive Director bboone@talchamber.com ∙ (850) 521-3112 Sponsored tables: $1,000 Individual reservations: $100

Leadership Tallahassee is a division of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to cultivate a diverse network of emerging and experienced leaders committed to improving the community.

T A L L A H A S S EE

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1634-1B Govenrnors Square Blvd.

Tallahassee, FL 32301

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Indian Pass

The Courtyard by Marriott Sandestin at Grand Boulevard offers guests a

• flexible meeting space • pool

Marriott Sandestin at Grand Boulevard

Apalachicola Carrabelle

The area features golf courses designed by legends such as Greg Norman, Tom Fazio and Fred Couples.

relaxing getaway in the heart of Northwest Florida’s beaches.

In addition to all the luxuries of Marriott accommodations, this hotel offers a unique coastal atmosphere and features:

Port St. Joe

St. George Island

The Residence Inn by Marriott Sandestin at Grand Boulevard is a

unique retreat for vacationers looking for a ‘home away from home’ to relax as well as extended stay guests.

Hotel amenities include: • a full kitchen in each suite • separate living & sleeping areas

• cabana

• family-friendly with kid’s game room, library & outdoor pool

• two spa rooms

• hot tub and fitness center

Indulge in a healthy breakfast buffet with items cooked to order in the morning and a refreshing cocktail in the lobby bar with friends in the evening.

• pet-friendly Wake up to a free hot breakfast buffet and enjoy a complimentary light dinner on Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Our guests enjoy the premier resort amenities of Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort including beach access, championship golf, tennis, spa services and boating. The area’s finest dining is a short stroll from your hotel room at Grand Boulevard’s Town Center, and minutes away, Silver Sands Factory Stores offers 100 designer outlet stores.

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GULF COUNTY

forgotten coast Florida’s

By Jason Dehart

There’s no such thing as a stranger in Gulf County. Here, the folks are friendly, courteous and always glad to see you, and no matter the time of year, there are plenty of things to see and do. You can browse the shops of Port St. Joe, go fishing, or just kick back and enjoy the beautiful local beaches, which are among the best in the nation.

My wife, Patricia, and I recently spent a weekend in Gulf County, which is located 77 miles southwest of Tallahassee and blessed with 43 miles of white sand beaches. We stayed at the Turtle Beach Inn, a bed-and-breakfast just south of the famed Indian Pass Raw Bar. The Inn is a state-certified Green Lodging establishment nestled between the palms and pines on a remote beach that is actually a turtle nesting area.

Owner Trish Petrie, a retired schoolteacher, was very gracious, leaving our room key in an envelope taped to the office door to accommodate our late arrival.

Our first adventure of the weekend was a fishing tour of St. Joseph Bay. Easygoing charter boat captain Charlene Burke of About Fun Charters welcomed us aboard her 22-foot, centerconsole Mako, the Saint Misbehavin’. A marine biologist by training, Capt. Charlene grew up on the Mississippi coast and has a wealth of knowledge about the local ecology.

We landed three nice black drum in the 5- and 6-pound range and headed back to the Port St. Joe Marina and the Dockside Café, which cooks your catch. General Manager Rick Carrie told us they don’t ordinarily clean the catch before cooking it, but graciously agreed to fillet one and cook it to order. He even invited us to leave the cooler, promising that when things slowed down in the kitchen the other two fish would be filleted, bagged up, iced down and set outside for us to pick up the next morning. We took him up on his offer.

Rick didn’t charge us for the filleting and even turned down a considerable tip. He didn’t know us from Adam’s house cat …

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Cape San Blas beaches

Gulf Coast dunes

but that’s Forgotten Coast hospitality for you. Trish noted that Rick and staff made us feel like we’d dined with them a million times before — like family.

After lunch we shopped along nearby Reid Avenue and then had supper at Provisions, an upscale and award-winning surf-and-turf restaurant that moved here from Miami in 2005.

Here we enjoyed the house sangria, along with some juicy flank steak, roasted potatoes and shrimp.

The next morning we had brunch at the Thirsty Goat Bar & Grill, located in the 100-year-old Port Inn, then went horseback riding on Indian Pass Beach. Gulf County has one of only three beaches in Florida where you can ride horses. We drove over to Salinas Park at Indian Pass Beach to meet with Kelly Smith, owner of Broke-A-Toe, an ecotourism group that has offered horseback rides on the beach since 1995. The Broke-A-Toe guides are experienced and certified, and the horses are well trained and great with riders of all ages.

All in all, the whole trip was fantastic, and we look forward to going back again to experience more Forgotten Coast hospitality.

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GetJoin In… Renew the…Game: theGame: Volunteer!

Call: (850) 644-3484 Visit: Seminole-Boosters.com

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PANAMA CITY BEACH Sunrise dunes, St. Andrews

AREA HIGHLIGHTS Boatyard Restaurant boatyardclub.com Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant & Waterfront Market captainandersons.com Florida State Parks and Eco Nature Adventures St. Andrews State Park visitpanamacitybeach.com/ do/eco-nature

paradise Fall into

As we say goodbye to the hot summer months, now is the ideal time to kick it up or kick back in Panama City Beach. The air is cooler, the beaches are less crowded and the world-class resorts and hotels are more affordable. And it’s all just a short drive away.

If fun events are what you’re looking for, fall is a great time to experience the festivals and concerts Panama City Beach has planned just for you.

The can’t-miss events this fall begin with the Fun Never Sets Country Music Fest. On Friday, Sept. 23, ACM and CMT award winner Miranda Lambert takes the stage following opening performances by friends Justin Moore and the Randy Rogers Band. Saturday, Sept. 24, hit maker Jason Aldean will entertain fans with his unique style of country music.

On Columbus Day weekend, check out the Pirates of the High Seas Fest Oct. 7-9, which includes a Mardi Gras-style pirate parade with fabulous floats, masked performers, a “Let the Good Times Roll” block party featuring treasure hunts, costume contests, the reenactment of the Battle for the Seven Seas fireworks show and more.

Gulf World Marine Park gulfworldmarinepark.com The Hombre Golf Club hombregolfclub.com Lady Anderson Dining Yacht Captain Anderson’s Marina ladyanderson.com Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau visitpanamacitybeach.com Saltwater Grill saltwatergrillpcb.com The Sea Dragon piratecruise.net Shipwreck Island Water Park shipwreckisland.com Wonderworks wonderworkspcb.com

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Panama City Beach

Parasailing, Panama City Beach

Pier Park is a shopper’s paradise.

Stroll through beautiful landscaping and endless boutiques, specialty stores, restaurants and entertainment venues amidst colorful Caribbean architecture.

And after dinner or a movie, you can also take a carousel or Ferris wheel ride at Miracle Strip Amusement Park.

Want to take a walk on the wild side?

ZooWorld is a zoological and botanical conservatory that is home to more than 200 animals, including exotic and endangered species. And at the Wolf Encounter you even get a rare chance to have your photo taken with a wolf.

Exotic animal encounters at Gulf World Marine Park let you go nose-to-nose with a variety of animals, from sea lions to dolphins. For more of a handson experience, sign up to swim with the dolphins or try your hand as a trainer for a day. The park even has an overnight program for the more adventuresome who want to learn about the animals’ nighttime habits.

Without a doubt, Panama City Beach is packed with restaurants featuring top chefs and unique, mouth-watering delights. The seafood is fresh, and ocean views and sunsets are second to none. Dining out in the city is an experience all its own. Operating since 1967, Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant & Waterfront Market has served innovative classic Gulf Coast cuisine to millions, many of them return visitors.

And for an on-the-water dining treat, one of North Florida’s premier dinner cruise experiences can be had on the Lady Anderson Dining Yacht.

Shipwreck Island is a 20-acre, tropical-themed water park filled with wet adventures, from curving flumes, dual slides and rapid river rides to a treetop drop into a 500,000 gallon pool.

At Coconut Creek Family Fun Park, there are two 18-hole mini-golf courses and the first of its kind in America — the Gran Maze, a giant labyrinth about the size of a football field that will test your navigational skills as you find the four checkpoints before you exit. At the Cobra Adventure Park, you can try out the Vertical Accelerator for a heartstopping ride, or if you feel like you want

In November, savor the flavors, sights and sounds of Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast as Taste of THE Beach hosts UNwineD at Pier Park. This festival features wines of more than 300 international varieties, as well as food sampling from the best of Bay County’s area restaurants.

FALL EVENTS Country Music Fest – Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean Sept. 23-24 Frank Brown Park Tickets available only through lodging packages visitpanamacitybeach.com Pirates of the High Seas Fest Oct. 7-9 Pier Park visitpanamacitybeach.com Taste of THE Beach – UNwineD Nov. 4-5 Pier Park, $35 tasteofthebeachfla.com

to channel your inner buccaneer, enter a fantasy swashbuckling world aboard the 85-foot pirate ship The Sea Dragon.

Looking for some indoor fun? Try lying on a bed of nails or experience hurricaneforce winds at the “upside down house,” a quirky, four-story building known as Wonderworks. You can test your Visit northwest florida beaches

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skill and sense of reality with mind-boggling, head-scratching virtual, mental and physical challenges. Or, just a short walk away, you can see some of the more bizarre wonders of the world during a stroll through Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum.

If you love to golf, you may know that Golf Magazine has recognized Panama City Beach as one of America’s top three golf towns. The Hombre Golf Club, annual host to the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School, is also located in Panama City Beach and has earned a reputation for scenic and challenging play.

Want to get closer to nature? Panama City Beach is also a popular destination for eco-tourism and is often referred to as “The Last Undiscovered Florida Coast.”

Pack a picnic lunch and escape to St. Andrews State Park or Shell Island for a truly serene natural experience. The 1,260-acre park has more than 1.5 miles of beach on the Gulf of Mexico and the Grand Lagoon along with rolling, white sand dunes separated by low swales of pinewoods and marshes.

Grab the shuttle or rent a pontoon boat from St. Andrews State Park and set off for Shell Island, a pristine, 700-acre undeveloped barrier island and wildlife sanctuary situated just across the ship’s channel from the mainland. Shell Island is a great place for dolphin watching and is home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of bottlenose dolphins.

There’s still time to capture the carefree summer feeling this fall. So many special memories are waiting to be created … The Fun Never Sets in Panama City Beach.

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St. Andrews Panama City State BeachPark

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SOUTH walton

south walton

Find your perfect

beach in

Dreaming of a beach destination that’s both relaxing and invigorating? One that speaks to you personally? Is truly authentic? Come find what many Tallahasseans have already discovered — their perfect beach.

Located along the sparkling turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico in Northwest Florida, South Walton is close, yet far from ordinary. With 15 beach neighborhoods, each with its own distinct flavor, you can enjoy a restful respite or exciting adventure.

Summer may be the quintessential beach season, but spectacular sunsets, cool gulf breezes and outstanding seasonal rates make fall the perfect time to visit South Walton. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Autumn Tides, the destination’s signature season of culinary, cultural and artistic events set against a stunning backdrop of breathtaking turquoise water and sugar-white sand.

Love the outdoors? Begin your adventure by exploring our 26 miles of sandy beaches, more than 25,000 acres of preserved land and 15 rare coastal dune lakes. Both on the beach and off, outdoor activities are naturally abundant in South Walton. Beyond traditional sunning and swimming, adventurous travelers can enjoy stand-up paddle boarding (YOLO is the local board of choice), kayaking or fishing on the stunning aqua-hued waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Charter trips launch straight from Grayton Beach.

Is shopping your passion? Score some serious bargains at Silver Sands Factory Stores, the nation’s largest designer outlet, then browse an eclectic mix of funky

and sophisticated boutiques and galleries including Gulf Place, The Shops of Ruskin and the Merchants of Rosemary Beach, just to name a few.

Foodies relish the fusion of flavors created by award-winning chefs using fresh-from-the-gulf and locally sourced ingredients, much of it delivered daily by local grower Mac Farms. As the sun makes its spectacular evening splash into the sea, head out to enjoy live music at one of the local hotspots. Hang with the crowd at the famed Bud & Alley’s, the iconic Red Bar, The Village of Baytowne Wharf or First Note Music Hall.

Or enjoy a romantic dinner for two, followed by a peaceful beachside stroll.

Paddle through paradise

The Autumn Tides season features a diverse mix of outdoor festivals and celebrations to help select the perfect weekend to visit South Walton. Plan your visit around annual events like Baytowne Wharf Beerfest in September, Autumn Tides Month at Silver Sands in October, Taste of the Beach in November, holiday celebrations in December, 30A Songwriters Festival in January, and more.

With luxury accommodations, awardwinning restaurants, spas, shopping, championship golf and a year-round calendar of festivals and events, South Walton offers exceptional options for the discerning traveler. You’re far from ordinary. Shouldn’t your vacation be the same? Visit South Walton. Come find your perfect beach.

Visit South Walton’s sparkling turquoise waters

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EMERALD COAST

emerald coast Experience the

The Emerald Coast is the crown jewel of the Gulf.

Spanning 24 miles of unspoiled beach and bayfront through the friendly seaside towns of Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island, the Emerald Coast is famous for its diverse range of year-round recreational activities and cultural events; more than 15,000 affordable accommodations; and unassuming, laid-back charm. For millions of loyal visitors who return year after year, it’s not surprising to learn that Southern Living magazine voted this particular

part of the Emerald Coast “Best Beach Town in the South” more than a dozen consecutive years in a row.

Locals and loyal visitors will tell you, it isn’t the seemingly endless amenities and animated attractions that make the Emerald Coast a destination unlike any other. It’s the way you feel: at ease.

In addition, there’s daily access to abundant fresh Gulf seafood, a large deep-sea fishing charter fleet,

adventure watersports, 1,080 holes of championship golf, hundreds of specialty boutique and designer discount shopping stores and dozens of family-friendly attractions.

Nature’s Playground Okaloosa Island is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, a 40-mile long pristine barrier island. In addition, there are several picturesque preserved state parks on both the Gulf and Choctawhatchee Bay that serve as natural playgrounds for nature walks, birding, picnicking, water sports, fishing, boating or simply sunbathing.

The underwater 100 Fathom Curve draws closer to Destin than to any other spot in Florida — creating the speediest deep-water access on the Gulf. Channel your inner Jacques Cousteau with a snorkel, scuba or Snuba dive and discover an array of underwater treasures from seahorses to the protected loggerhead sea turtle.

This phenomenon makes Destin the “World’s Luckiest Fishing Village.”

Harboring the largest and most elaborately equipped charter boat fleet in Florida, it is no wonder more billfish are caught each year on the Northwest Florida Gulf coast than all other Gulf ports combined. Beyond deep-sea fishing; pier, shore, back bay and fly fishing all reel in a great time for the sports enthusiast.

Take your adventure on top of the water and enjoy stand-up paddle boarding, parasailing or a leisurely

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SaVE THE DaTE pontoon board ride. Camp riverside and canoe, kayak or tube down crystalclear rivers. Try kite boarding, or get a different perspective of the coast with an ultralight airplane, parasail or paraglide ride.

Sept. 6 Civil War Sesquicentennial: Asboth Raid of 1864 cityofcrestview.org Sept. 6–10 3rd Annual Seaside YOLO Board Celebration yoloseasiderace.com

Sept. 30–Oct. 2 33rd Annual Destin Seafood Festival destinseafoodfestival.org Oct. 1–31 63rd Annual Destin Fishing Rodeo fishing@destinfishingrodeo.com Oct. 14–Nov. 5 Mystical, Magical, Mysterious artsdesignsociety.org Oct. 15 Destin Car Club-Euro Exotic Car Show harborwalkdestin.com

Activities & Attractions The Emerald Coast is acclaimed for its sporting collection of great golf escapes. Courses created by such worldrenowned architects as Finger, Dye and Fazio, utilize surrounding waters — bay, bayou, gulf and sound — and natural contrasts of woods and wetlands for scenic, yet challenging play.

A collection of family-friendly museums and amusements range from marine to military. The Indian Temple Mound Museum and Park has an unrivaled collection of artifacts will take you on a journey through 10,000 years of prehistory. The U.S. Air Force Armament Museum is full of fascinating exhibits and displays of Air Force weaponry and airplanes spanning four wars.

Filled with interactive educational experiments, the Emerald Coast Science Center is kid-tested, proven fun. The Track Family Recreation Center attracts little adventurers who love to go-kart race, bump boats and putt their way through goofy golf courses.

Big Kahuna’s adds a splash to any family vacation with 40 exciting water rides. Get your hands dirty at the many hands-on teaching art studios and galleries, such as the Arts & Design Society, Full Circle Gallery and the Northwest Florida Art Association. A visit to the Emerald Coast wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the area’s oldest beachfront attraction, Florida’s Gulfarium. It hosts everything from 600-pound gray seals to 2-ounce clown fish in 14 intriguing exhibits.

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SaVE THE DaTE

Oct. 22 Vettes in the Village baytownewharf.com

Oct. 15 Dog Daze fwbchamber.com/dogdaze

Oct. 22 Baytowne Wharf Beer Festival baytownewharfbeerfestival.com

Oct. 22 Rosemary Beach Uncorked rosemarybeachuncorked.com

Oct. 28 Noche de los Muertos Costume Party alysbeach.com/events

Oct. 29–30 16th Annual Destin Festival of the Arts mattiekellyartsfoundation.org Nov. 3 Winemaker Dinner (850) 231-5900 Nov. 4 First Friday ArtWalk seasidefl.com Nov. 4 Al Fresco Wine Walkabout (866) 976-7990 Nov. 4–6 Taste of The Beach tasteofthebeachfl.com Nov. 5 Seeing Red Grand Tasting (866) 976-7990 Nov. 6 A Celebration of Bubbles thegreatsoutherncafe.com Nov. 6 Telluride Mountain Film Festival & Wine Tasting xorbia.com/tickets/mo Nov. 12 Blues, Brews and BBQ harborwalkdestin.com Nov. 12–13 Flutterby Arts Festival culturalartsassociation.com Nov. 25–26 Holiday Celebration baytownewharf.com Nov. 26 Turn on the Town seasidefl.com Dec. 31 Hilton Sandestin Beach 27th Annual New Year’s Eve Gala hiltonsandestinbeach.com Dec. 31 Baytowne Countdown baytownewharf.com

20 V i s i t n o r t h w e s t f l o r i d a b e a c h e s

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home&

gaRDen

CHeCk IT ouT

» EASY-TO-GROW ALOE

these days, it seems aloe is everywhere, from tissues to lotions to herbal medications. But you don’t have to spend a ton of green to enjoy the elements of this greenery at home. you can grow it yourself.

According to the international Aloe science council, the aloe plant is indigenous to Africa, and some say it was used by the egyptians. however, it soon made its way to the u.s. and now, it’s practically everywhere. While native to a warm, dry climate, the aloe plant is very easy to

grow at home no matter where you live. the aloe vera plant can often be found growing outside in southern california, texas and Florida but those living farther north can also enjoy the multi-faceted fern as an indoor plant. “in general … most people in tallahassee consider them indoor plants,” says Audrey post, whose nom de plume is ms. Grow-it-All. “however, with the right microclimate, an aloe could survive one of our standard winters outdoors.”

Aloe plants can start out very small, but they

design | tips

can also grow very quickly and are known to multiply. the plant has thick, succulent leaves and, according to the iAsc, can grow up to four feet high. it thrives in bright light and needs very little water, much like the cactus.

Aside from its unique beauty, the aloe plant is also known for the gel inside its crisp, spiky leaves, which many people use to relieve the sting and redness of a first-degree burn. Just break open a leaf and smooth the gel onto the burned area three to four times a day. — Angela Howard

tALLAHASSee

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Habitat

Sacred Spaces An Ancient Measurement Creates a Home with Spirit

W

hile people may not know the family who lives in the Craftsman-inspired SouthWood home on Grove Park Drive, their house has had thousands of visitors.

Designed and built by the then up-and-coming boutique firm K2 Urban Corp., it was one of the more upscale, distinctive homes featured in the 2007 Parade of Homes.

At the time, there were comments on its green clapboard and shingle exterior and wide-open interior spaces, brightly lit by expansive windows. But most intriguing, inside and out, was a tiny, square room — the only one on the third floor — that jutted over the front of the house, with a triptych of windows providing a commanding view of the neighborhood’s Central Park Lake.

Why was the room sitting up there by itself? Why so little? What was its purpose?

It’s a meditation room, but that is just one of the secrets held by the house named Ananda, a Sanskrit word meaning pure happiness or bliss.

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The Brummel-Smith family lives here, a pair of husband-and-wife doctors, Ken and Amrita, and their two sons, Gabriel and Corey. They came to Tallahassee from Oregon in 2003 so that Ken could chair the geriatrics department at Florida State University’s medical school, bringing with them a West Coast sensibility and an open mindedness to other cultures and beliefs.

The most radical departure from tradition came when Amrita Brummel-Smith decided to forego inches and feet and use an ancient unit of measurement called the Hebrew Sacred Cubit when designing their home. “It’s a linear unit of measurement. Many cubits have been designed over history (of) varying dimensions but this one appears to be what was used in some aspects of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon,” she says. A Hebrew Sacred Cubit, the subject of a dissertation by Sir Isaac Newton, measures just a smidge over 25 inches.

“It’s considered to have just a life-affirming quality, a quality of affording serenity. We’ve all read some about

photo courtesy Amrita Brummel-Smith

By Rosanne Dunkelberger

Photo by scott holstein

SERENITY IN SOUTHWOOD The Brummel-Smith family (facing page) sits on the steps of their home, directly beneath the peaked-roof meditation room. Amrita Brummel-Smith (this page) in the meditation room. She contemplates and follows the teachings of Ramana Maharishi, shown in the photograph she is holding.

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Habitat

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JIM SMITH

Photos by scott holstein

A Home of Intention Some of its decorative details maintain the spirit of the home, named Ananda. The repeating archways (facing page), designed using perfect Hebrew Sacred Cubits, lead to a sitting room. Indian shiva lingam stones are found on display inside the home (bottom) and embedded into its brickwork (top left). The “heart” of the home (top right) is centered on the porch as you approach the front door.

feng shui … that there are certain ways structures can be designed that seem to facilitate more connection with the divine.”

As the head of K2’s planning and design studio at the time (the company is now defunct), it was up to architect Beth Hollister to make the ancient measurement work in a modern home. “I had never worked with a cubit before,” she says. “I’m accustomed to working in modules … most people work in 16 inches (or) 24 inches as a module, but it was close enough … that the task of planning kind of came together fairly quickly.”

Because she had lived and worked in Africa and Asia, Hollister says she wasn’t

fazed by the Brummel-Smith’s request to incorporate spiritual considerations in the house plan. She had to provide for feng shui and other cultural requirements (no staircases at the front door, no beds facing westward) when designing a home for a client in Thailand. The Brummel-Smith’s third-floor meditation room wasn’t a surprise either; Thai houses typically have such a room at the highest point in the home, she says.

The Hebrew Sacred Cubit is most evident in the meditation room, which was meticulously designed to measure 5 cubits by 5 cubits square and 4 cubits tall, T A L L A H A S S EE

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with a ceiling insert that is exactly 2 cubits by 2 cubits.

The room is spare, which is why the eye is drawn to a large painting of a smiling, bearded man that hangs on one wall. He’s Ramana Maharishi, a sage who lived in India from 1879 to 1950.

He lived simply at the foot of the Aruna Chala mountain, teaching a philosophy that included solitude and stillness. Amrita considers him her guru and practices his tenets in her counseling business, “The Practice of Stillness.”

“He is someone whose life I hope to in the smallest possible way emulate,” she says. “He’s very Christ-like in his absolute love and compassion for all beings … . I’ve traveled to India four times to visit the place where he anchored himself. He spoke and he offered verbal direction to people when necessary, but the bulk of his teaching was in silence. And that’s my practice.”

In general, the home’s interior has an open, contemporary look utilizing pale colors and a minimum of decoration. The kitchen opens onto a great room that runs the width of the entire house. A hall with three archways that look vaguely like a Japanese temple leads to a sitting room with comfortable seating and a slate fireplace. The master bedroom is spare, but its bath features a deep Japanese soaking tub big enough for two people and a wooden sauna.

The second floor plan features the boys’ and guest bedrooms and his-and-her work studies separated by a shared library crammed with books “that needs a lot of thinning,” she says, adding an admission that her office space is an island of “total chaos” in an otherwise simple and serene home.

While symbols of Amrita’s Indian spirituality are prominently displayed throughout the home, the décor also includes angels, Celtic crosses and Native American iconography. “I’m very eclectic,” she says.

She still embraces her Catholic roots, but is also inspired by the beliefs she has encountered on her travels to places such as India, the southwestern U.S. and Alaska.

“Ultimately, truly I feel that … there is only one source of what’s holy or sacred,” she says. “The gifts of discovering that in many places have been marvelous.”

A few spots feature collections of rocks only found in India’s Narmada River called shiva lingam stones. Multicolored, naturally smooth and shaped like an elongated 194

September–October 2011

photos courtesy Amrita Brummel-Smith

These walls can talk As the home was being constructed in 2007, friends and family of the Brummel-Smiths would send inspirational messages, which were written onto its walls and floors.

egg, “in Indian culture they’re considered to be very sacred stones,” she relates.

Small versions of the stones, as well as stones gathered on the family’s other travels, are embedded in the brickwork of the Craftsman-style columns in front of the home. A special silver-dollar-sized, heart-shaped rock is the centerpiece of the porch’s floor tilework as one approaches the front door.

And there are touches that add to the spirit of the home that are never to be seen.

“When we were building the house, we really wanted intention to be part of the innards … so we invited friends and family — and we contributed ourselves — to send us poems, quotes (and) good wishes,” Brummel-Smith says. “They are all written on the insides of the walls.

They’re written at the entryway, they’re written over the door and through these walkways. (In) the meditation room, the entire floor is sacred writings.”

A favorite quote, sent by her sister, is underfoot as you walk in the front door: “Whatever the question, the answer is love.” n T A L L A H A S S EE

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Tim Duff, Keith Hay and Paul Watts, COO Electronet Broadband Communications

RE AL CUSTOMERS . RE AL ISSUES . RE AL SOLUTIONS .

FSU Credit Union has multiple locations throughout Tallahassee and Crawfordville. We were experiencing problems with our communications provider, which was affecting many of our branches. We contacted Electronet for assistance and they provided new broadband connections.

After the new Electronet circuits were installed, our performance improved dramatically. We were so pleased that we had Electronet build ďŹ ber into one of our newest branches. We have been very pleased with the performance and the reliability. Plus, we like the fact that we can call on our local representative if needed, not some auto attendant or an 800-phone number.

We are very pleased that we made the switch to Electronet and highly recommend them.

FSUCU is pleased to announce the addition of a sixth location, 1412 Tennessee Street, opening in late summer.

Keith A . Hay

3 4 1 1 C a p i t a l M e d i c a l B l v d . Ta l l a h a s s e e , F L | 2 2 2 . 0 2 2 9 | w w w. e l e c t r o n e t . n e t 196

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BODy

iN FOcUS

» FIGHT THE FLU

First it’s the rough coughing and the body aches. Then it’s the runny nose and the high fevers. ’Tis the season — and we’re not talking about Christmas.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza — “the flu” — is a contagious respiratory illness. Left untreated it can lead to pneumonia or even cause death.

The typical flu season runs from October to mid-May. So what can you do to tame this bad boy and keep it from attacking you? First and most

importantly, get vaccinated. Every year the Centers for Disease Control makes a vaccine based on the three most common flu viruses of that year. Contrary to rumor, you cannot get the flu from the shot.

“Your body destroys the virus,” said Dr. Homer Rice of Patient’s First in Tallahassee.

“The vaccine just trains your body to recognize and attack it.”

Everyone over the age of six months should get vaccinated. It takes two weeks to get full immunity from the shot, according to Rice, so

your life | well-being

the sooner you get stuck the better.

Secondly, covering your mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and washing your hands are the most effective defense against catching or spreading a virus.

A weak immune system is fair game for any viral infection, so keep it strong by staying healthy, eating right and exercising. And stay away from sick people.

If all this fails and you do catch the flu, do yourself and everyone else a favor. Stay home.

— Alexia McKay

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Health

Kids and Sports When the Youngsters Get Moving, Be Prepared to Prevent and Treat Injuries By Alexia McKay

“W

hy don’t you go outside and play,” is a mother’s typical hint to get the kids off their lazy bottoms and out of the house in hopes they’ll work out more than just their fingers on the remote control, computer or video game console.

However, getting children off the couch and onto the playgrounds and playing fields is not without its hazards. Although sports can be fun, improve physical fitness and promote sportsmanship and discipline, they can also be dangerous.

Let’s start by facing the obvious: Parents have to accept the fact that kids will have minor cuts and bruises, whether it’s from falling off a bicycle or scraping a knee while playing kickball. That’s nothing a tube of Neosporin, a cartoon bandage and an encouraging pat on the back can’t cure.

There may also be the big boos-boos, requiring a visit to the doctor or a trip to the hospital (along with more cartoon bandages and even more pats on the back).

Sudden jumps, twists and turns can lead to a series of ouches, cracks and pops; words and noises you dread to hear

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while sitting on those rickety bleachers at the Saturday morning pee-wee game.

Injuries can cover a wide range, but most likely your child will be facing a sprain or strain.

“Those are the most common injuries,” said Alan Morales, an athletic trainer at Leon High School and parent of a 10-year-old son who is active in sports.

A strain damages a muscle or a tendon.

Muscle tissue produces movement, while a tendon is a tough tissue that connects the muscle to the bone. Sprains are injuries to ligaments, the strong tissue that holds joints together.

“Different sports stress different parts of the body,” said Dr. Floyd Jaggears, orthopedic surgeon at Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic.

In football, he said head injuries, such as concussions, and neck injuries concern him the most because of the aggressiveness of the sport. Track can cause tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendon.

Shoulder and elbow injuries are often seen in baseball and softball.

“Regardless of what you do, if you’re playing a sport, you’re pushing your body to the limit,” Morales said. “The

Active and safe Parents should be vigilant about safety, even if it isn’t game day, because most sports injuries actually occur during practices.

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Health head injuries are probably the scariest because the person is unconscious and (they’re) not giving me feedback.”

Fast-moving sports that involve rigorous twisting and turning of joints, such as basketball and soccer, can cause strains of tendons or sprains of ligaments.

Most injuries occur during practice and are caused by collisions, improper use of safety equipment or poor mechanics.

identifying injuries There are two types of injuries: acute and overuse.

Acute injuries result from a sudden force, immediately resulting in swelling, bleeding, weakness and intense pain or tenderness.

Overuse injuries occur over time and are commonly caused by continuous use of a particular body part. According to the Stop Trauma Overuse Prevention campaign [STOP], initiated by the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine, overuse injuries are the result of repetitive trauma to the bones, joints and tendons.

Improper training is the usual cause and can happen to people returning to a sport after being hurt or those pushing themselves beyond their capabilities.

“Any time you’re pushing the body beyond the point it can repair itself, you’re going to end up with an overuse injury,” said Jaggears.

Overuse injuries are mostly seen in younger kids who are pushed harder than they need to be. “They all have their sprains and strains, but a lot of times the younger kids will have more fractures and the older population will have fractures but more ligament injuries,” he said.

But ligament injuries can be just as severe as fractures.

Jaggears said in adolescents, a ligament will tear and, depending on where it is located, will have to be restructured.

Younger children’s ligaments are stronger than their bone and will pull off a piece of bone, causing fractures. Although sometimes a fracture is easier to repair than a ligament, the orthopedist said both injuries can be bad.

Overuse injuries are seen less often in high school and college levels because the training environment is more controlled and most athletes are conditioned year around for their sport. “The coaches tend to better understand the importance of 200

September–OctOber 2011

ALL BetteR Quick action with antibiotic ointment and a bandage can stave off an infection later.

gradual increase in training at that level,” said Jaggears.

Most injuries can be handled using the RICE method — rest, ice, compression and evaluation. However, some may require more intense treatment.

“A severe sprain may require bracing or casting,” said Jaggears, “and a more severe sprain might require surgery.” Severe sprains, often referred to as tears, tend to occur more with older children, he added.

Healing Wounds Sterile bandaging and antibiotic ointment can take care of most cuts. The wound must be kept clean until it heals.

“A neglected wound can get infected,” said Jaggears. “It can cause a localized infection at the site of the cut, or the bacteria can get into the blood and carry the infection to other parts of the body.”

If the wound is deep and gaps open, stitches will be needed. Jaggears said most lacerations can be handled at an urgent care center, but if it is a soft tissue injury that is deformed, dirty or mangled, it’s better to go to the emergency room.

If major surgery is required, a rehabilitation program immediately follows. Rehab helps kids get back into action through therapy, exercise and other devices such as ultrasound that uses heat to relieve pain and enhance healing.

Morales puts his athletes through a series of treatments, including RICE, motion exercises and weight training, depending on the severity of the injury.

“Pain is one of our primary indicators on how we’re going to go,” said Morales.

“We always look out for the safety of the kid. We do want them to enjoy that sport for the rest of their life.”

Safety First!

Quick Tips on Preventing Injury Get Checked — Annual physicals by your doctor can determine whether your child is physically fit to participate.

Eat Right — Consuming the proper amount of nutrients can delay fatigue and fuel your child’s body during activity.

Stay Hydrated — Water and other sports drinks can reduce the risk of dehydration or other heat-related illnesses.

Appropriate Training and Conditioning — Warm-up exercises before practice minimize injury. Cool down workouts after practice relax muscles that tightened during playing.

Proper Adult Supervision — Make sure athletic trainers or another adult knowledgeable about sports injury are on call to catch the accident before it happens.

Positive Attitude — Having a great attitude ensures a healthy performance, mentally and physically!

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MAXIMIZED QUALITY NUTRITION ON MAXIMIZED OXYGENATION and LEAN MUSCLE Most treatment takes place at home. Just think of yourself as the nurse assisting the doctor and your child is your primary patient. You can observe swelling and manage light workouts. Once diagnosed, most doctors provide detailed instructions on how to treat the injury and, as a parent and “temporary nurse,” your job is to follow them. Be on the lookout for swelling, joint stiffness, numbness and intense pain that continues past the projected healing rate.

When it comes to children’s health, no precaution is a dumb precaution. Don’t hesitate to take your child back to the doctor.

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Proper Equipment and Activity Surfaces It’s important for kids to use equipment and safety gear that fits well and is designed for their age group. “You want to make sure they [kids] have the proper equipment for that sport,” said Morales.

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Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) certifies major sports equipment for usage and safety. According to Dave Halstead, NOCSAE technical director, the equipment is put through various scientific tests. Test scores must meet certain standards that are deemed acceptable at reducing the risk of injury.

Halstead said parents must know that the equipment used by their child is the proper equipment for that sport and has been certified for that use.

Playing surfaces must also be checked for holes, cracks or anything that may cause kids to slip or fall. “You always want to make sure the surface is safe enough to play on,” said Morales.

If your youngster is involved in a contact sport such as football or wrestling, make sure he or she is sporting a mouth guard. Yes, they can be uncomfortable and it could make their mouth pucker like a wide-eyed goldfish, but they’re customfit and could save you a trip or two to the dentist. Mouth injuries are more likely to occur on the playground than while playing a sport, because most teams make it mandatory to wear a mouth guard.

If your child takes a bop to the choppers and knocks out a tooth, immediate action is required.

According to local pediatric dentist Dr. Stanley Shephard, if a tooth is knocked out, don’t panic. Pick up the tooth by the top and rinse it (do not scrub) with warm water. If your kid is a trooper and you have the guts to do it, put the tooth back into the socket and see a dentist. If not, put the tooth in milk to keep it moist and take it and your child to the dentist within 30 minutes.

“The longer the tooth stays out of the socket, the harder it will be to put back in,” Shephard said. Baby teeth are rejected during the healing process and cannot be put back in.

If the tooth is broken or fractured, the nerve may be injured, but your dentist can treat it based on the severity of the damage.

By knowing the causes of sports-related injuries and how to prevent them, you can help ensure your child’s sports experience is a safe and less bumpy one.

If your kid wants to try out for a team, encourage them! Do not let your fear of “what if” corrupt their physical ambitions.

Instead become knowledgeable on the sport your kids play and be aware of the risks. n

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dining

GUIDE

restaurants | food | atmospheres

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

FIRST COURSE

» FOOD ON WHEELS

Tallahassee’s streets could soon rival those of New York City — minus the bone-crushing crowds. Street vendors and mobile food trucks are popping up all over town, offering everything from all-American comfort food to tacos to Red Velvet Waffles.

Food trucks are becoming increasingly more popular in the culinary universe, according to Rebecca Kelly, owner of Street Chefs. “We get to get our concept out to the masses without the anchor of a restaurant and a low overhead, which is so

important in this economy,” she says.

If you just can’t seem to run across the mobile goodies during the week, every Thursday night Tallahassee’s food trucks gather at the home of Cuzzy’s Key West Seafood Shack at 300 Tharpe St. and let their customers’ taste buds take a trip around the world.

At Food Truck Thursdays, from 6:30 to 10 p.m., customers and cravers will find at least five trucks, musical entertainment, karaoke and tons of hungry people. Food prices vary, but the family-friendly event is free.

Consider trying the Street Chefs’ gourmet version of the classic grilled cheese, boasting four cheeses, tomato and, for those who want to kick it up another notch, a version with bacon because, as Kelly says, “bacon makes everything better.”

If you’re worried about missing happy hour at a local bar, swing by the Lucy and Leo’s cupcake stand. Their alcohol-inspired cupcake options are a great alternative. — Desiree Stennett

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Flavor

Safe Storage Eggs will stay fresh for weeks in the refrigerator, but eggsafety.org says because of the possibility of bacterial contamination, you should never buy an egg with cracks.

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To Eat?

Or Not

To Eat?

I

A Guide to Help You Decide When Food Items are Fit for Consumption

By Holly Brooks and Desiree Stennett

n the flurry of “use by,” “sell by” and “best by” dates on food labels, it’s a wonder most people aren’t up to their necks in expired food as they try to navigate the date code hieroglyphics.

Still, we’ve come a long way from only a few decades ago, when food freshness was determined by color codes, or a string of numbers and letters, that only grocery store managers and food companies could decipher. More often than not, it was difficult to impossible to get a clear explanation from anyone about what those codes meant.

These days, however, it’s relatively easy to know when foods on the shelf are at their best and when it may be time to give them a toss.

Unfortunately for the consumer, there is no uniform or universally accepted system of date coding in this country.

In fact, most states nationwide don’t require stores to have printed expiration dates on food. In short, you’ll have to navigate on your own. But, remember, most food store managers will be happy to help you decipher that date on your gallon of milk, package of cereal, can of tomatoes or carton of eggs.

(If a calendar date is used on a product, however, federal regulations say it must include the month and the day of the month. Canned and frozen products must also include the year.)

The first step in taking the guesswork out of feeding your family is to remember that food dates are not safety dates — they are quality dates. That means if your milk is “best by” the first of the month, you can still drink it on the second, but don’t expect it to taste as crisp and fresh as it did when you bought it.

“Shelf life is going to be determined by the actual chemical components of the food,” said Lee Cornman, acting director of the Division of Food Safety at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Stores and manufacturers use two kinds of coding to determine how long food will stay on the shelf and how long consumers should keep the food once it’s at home. t A L L A H A S S EE

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How long does food keep in the refrigerator?

Helpful storage tips from the USDA: FRESH OR UNCOOKED PRODUCT

STORAGE TIMES AFTER PURCHASE

Poultry

1 or 2 days

Beef, Veal, Pork and Lamb

3 to 5 days

Ground Meat and Ground Poultry

1 or 2 days

Fresh Variety Meats (Liver, Tongue, Brain, Kidneys, Heart, Chitterlings)

1 or 2 days

Cured Ham, Cook-BeforeEating

5 to 7 days

Sausage from Pork, Beef or Turkey, Uncooked

1 or 2 days

Eggs

If product has a “use-by” date: follow that date.

If product has a “sell-by” date or no date: cook or freeze the product by the times on these charts.

PROCESSED PRODUCT

September–OctOber 2011

AFTER OPENING

3 to 4 days

3 to 4 days

Cooked Sausage

3 to 4 days

3 to 4 days

6 weeks/pantry

3 weeks

5 to 7 days

3 to 4 days

Vacuum-packed Dinners, Commercial Brand with USDA seal

2 weeks

3 to 4 days

Bacon

2 weeks

7 days

Hot dogs

2 weeks

1 week

Luncheon meat

2 weeks

3 to 5 days

7 days

slices, 3 days; whole, 7 days

9 months

3 to 4 days

Ham, canned, shelf stable

2 years/pantry

3 to 5 days

Canned Meat and Poultry, shelf stable

2 to 5 years/pantry

3 to 4 days

Corned Beef, uncooked, in pouch with pickling juices

Ham, fully cooked

3 to 5 weeks

UNOPENED, AFTER PURCHASE

Cooked Poultry

Sausage, Hard/Dry, shelf-stable

Closed dating is normally saved for non-perishable foods. You’ve probably seen these jumbles of numbers and letters on the bottoms of the canned vegetables in your pantry. These are meant more for use by manufacturers than consumers. As a general rule of thumb, mealtime.org says canned foods should be eaten within two years of processing; however, they could potentially last much longer.

Coding used for closed dating varies from company to company, so consumers can’t always crack them on their own, but they can contact the manufacturers for the information.

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» »

Ham, canned, labeled “keep refrigerated”

Open dating — those are the use by, sell by and best by dates — is used mainly on perishable goods like meat, eggs and dairy products. These kinds of products have actual dates instead of codes to help customers and grocery workers tell what foods are at their peak of freshness and what needs to be taken off the shelves.

Generally, the “use by” and “best by” dates simply tell shoppers the last day to

get the best quality or flavor from food.

The manufacturer sets this date and while the best policy is to abide by it, many foods can still be safely consumed after this date has passed. And, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, once a perishable product is frozen, it doesn’t matter if the date expires because foods kept frozen continuously are safe indefi nitely.

Keep Your Cool Milk that has not been properly refrigerated will probably spoil before its “sell by” date.

In the case of infant formula and some baby foods, however, the USDA says the products should not be used after the date printed on the label — not just because of the possible decline in quality, but also a drop in the nutrient value.

“Sell by” dates don’t tell how long a product can be eaten. These dates are simply meant to let a store know when it’s time to remove an item from the shelves. But, a general rule of thumb is that shoppers shouldn’t buy food after the “sell by” date.

“Manufacturers know the science of their product, and they’re going to give the best quality recommended use date that they can to the customers,” Cornman said. “It doesn’t mean that there’s a fixed ‘you must throw it away at this time and this date.’”

In general, high-acid canned foods such as tomatoes, grapefruit and pineapple will retain best quality on the shelf for 12 to 18 months; low-acid canned foods such as meat, poultry, fish and most vegetables will retain best quality on the shelf for 2 to 5 years — if the can remains in good condition and has been stored in a cool, clean, dry place.

The dates printed on cans and food labels are a good way to gauge the freshness of a product, but what is most important in food safety is proper storage.

Cornman recommends investing in a refrigerator thermometer to make sure the temperature in the fridge is always 40 degrees or cooler. However, that ideal temperature is not quite cold enough for fish to have a full shelf life. Simply putting the fish in the fridge will leave you with about two days to either cook it or freeze it.

“Keep the fish on ice in the fridge at a temperature of about 30 degrees,” says Matt McCreless, general manager at the Southern Seafood Market. “If you do that, you should have three to four days of shelf life.”

No matter how much time the label gives you, if you leave your milk on the counter or in a too-warm refrigerator, it can spoil and drinking it would be a bad idea.

For perishable products that have just a sell by date or no date at all, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection service provides an online fact sheet that can help with figuring out when foods are safe and when it’s time to toss it out. n

2011

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The Pub From Ireland

2011

BEST LIVE MUSIC/ ENTERTAINMENT VENUE

FINNEGAN’S WAKE Northern Florida’s only Authentic Irish Pub Live music & Full bar Guinness, Bass and Smithwick’s on tap Watch real football on flatscreen TVs Open 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Everyday 850.222.4225 | thepubfromireland.com Facebook: Finnegans Wake Irish Pub

1122 Thomasville Road, Manor@Midtown 210

September–October 2011

Live Music Dance Music Provided by Greg Tish/GT Entertainment 37 Draught Beer Taps Two Full bars with spirits, wine and beer Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights Located next door to Finnegan’s Wake 850.222.4225 | Facebook: Fifth-Avenue-Tap-Room 1122 Thomasville Road, Manor@Midtown

dining guide 2011 Best of Tallahassee..........................

Breakfast/Brunch....................................

Lunch......................................................

Dinner.....................................................

Takeout Available...................................

Outdoor Dining......................................

Live Music..............................................

Bar/Lounge.............................................

Reservations...........................................

Credit Cards Accepted............................

Up to $10............................................... $ $10 – $15................................................$$ $15 and up.......................................... $$$

Join us for sizzling fajitas and frozen margaritas!

Gourmet Specialty A LA PROVENCE $$$ French. A rich décor and graceful atmosphere create a memorable dining experience, offering French-Mediterranean cuisine, including Crepes De Mer and Escargot de Bourgogne. A complimentary amuse bouche, a bite-size appetizer, allows chefs to show off their culinary skills to guests. 1415 Timberlane Road. Lunch 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Mon.–Sat. (850) 329-6870

1140 Capital Circle SE #15,Tallahassee, FL (850) 877-2020 peppersmexican.com/locations/tallahassee

$$$ Andrew’s 228 American and Italian. A chic urban restaurant serving signature blends of creative American and Italian cuisine in stylish surroundings.

Named one of the Top 20 Restaurants in Florida three years in a row by Florida Trend. Private rooms are available for banquets and meetings. 228 S. Adams St. 6–10 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 6–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3444.

Anthony’s $$ Wood Fire Grill American and Italian. After 26 years in Betton Place, restaurateur Dick Anthony has returned in a new location with a new menu featuring grilled chicken, steak, fish and hamburgers. Italian favorites that made the original Anthony’s so popular have returned on the “First Loves Second Chances” portion of the dinner menu. 1355 Market St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon.–Sun., Brunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Sun. (850) 224-1447, anthonyswoodfiregrilltallahassee.com $$$ Avenue Eat & Drink A chic restaurant offering a melting pot of flavors fresh from the South, served in scrumptious dining presentations. Sunday brunch is a not-to-be-missed treat. Refine your meal with a glass of wine or a cocktail at the onyx bar.

115 E. Park Avenue. Brunch 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Sat.–Sun., Lunch 11 a.m–4 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Dinner 4–10:30 p.m Mon.–Thurs., 4–11 p.m. Fri.– Sat., (850) 224-0115 TALLAHASSEE

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CHEZ PIERRE $$$ French. French and Southern hospitality converge at Chez Pierre. From the signature Crepes Poulet to delicious grilled duck breast and freshground Australian lamb burgers, the restaurant repeated “Best Happy Hour” and Best Outdoor Dining” honors from the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2011. Live music accompanies your meal most nights of the week. Sun.–Thurs.

11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. 1215 Thomasville Rd. (850) 222-0936. $$$ Cypress Restaurant New Southern. Voted “Best Fine Dining” and “Best Celebration/Special Occasion” by Tallahassee Magazine readers in 2011. Sophisticated Southern regional dining in a contemporary, metropolitan setting. Menu features chef-cut fish and aged meats, fresh in-house preparations, comprehensive wine list and full bar. Valet parking available at night. 320 E. Tennessee St. Dinner only Tues.–Sat. Open at 5 p.m. (850) 513-1100. $$$ Food Glorious Food American. Choose from several savory soups, nearly a dozen salads, and a great selection of sandwiches and pastas with hot entrées that represent a variety of world cuisines.

Heavenly dessert concoctions — voted “Best Dessert” in 2011 by Tallahassee Magazine readers — will please even the most discriminating diner. 1950 Thomasville Road. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m. Tues.–Thurs. and Sun., 5:30–10:30 p.m.

Fri.–Sat., Closed Mon. for dinner. Sun. Brunch 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. (850) 224-9974. $$$ Georgio’s American. If George Koikos is in the house, you can count on a visit to your table from him during your meal. His hands-on commitment to quality, food, service and a personal touch have kept his restaurants in business for 44 years.

Now with two locations. 3425 Thomasville Road.

Opens 5 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 893-4161 or 2971 Apalachee Parkway. 4–10 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 877-3211.

Kitcho Japanese $$ Restaurant Japanese. Its specialty, sushi, was named the best in Tallahassee in 2006. Step inside Kitcho’s Velvet Lounge for a sip or two of sake as you sit comfortably while waiting for your table. 1415 Timberlane Road. 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5:30–10 p.m. Tue.–Fri., 5:30–10 p.m. Sat., 5:30–9 p.m.

Sun. (850) 893-7686. $$$ Liam’s Restaurant American. Located in historic Downtown Thomasville, Ga., Liam’s serves delicious sustainably sourced, natural, organic foods. The menu changes based upon what the owners find to be the best available ingredients from small artisanal producers. Look for a catch of the day along with great tasting beef and pork dishes.

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A large selection of cheeses is a specialty here.

113 E. Jackson St. Lunch 11a.m.–2 p.m. Tues.– Fri. Dinner 5:30 p.m.–close Thurs.–Sat. European Breakfast 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat. (229) 226-9944 The Melting Pot $$$ Fondue. This restaurant offers a variety of fondues including cheese and chocolate dessert.

The Melting Pot earned two “Best of” awards in 2010, for “Best Romantic” and “Best Celebration/Special Occasion” restaurant. 2727 N. Monroe St. 5–11 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 5 p.m.–midnight Fri.–Sat. (850) 386-7440.

Mockingbird Café $$ Fusion. Enjoy hand-cut steaks and Gulf seafood along with American regional, Mediterranean, Asian and Middle Eastern dishes in an upscale refined atmosphere. Food is fresh, locally purchased and seasonal, made from scratch by talented in-house chefs. Diners will also enjoy delicious seasonal desserts, nightly food and drink specials and live music on weekends. 1225 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., dinner 5:30–10 p.m Mon.-Sat. Bar/lounge 5:30 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. Brunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Sun. (850) 222-4956.

VINTAGE BISTRO & BAR $$$ Fusion. Vintage Bistro & Bar has a new chef and a revamped menu. Its palate-pleasing menu offers selections featuring local and fresh ingredients. Relax and unwind with live entertainment, a cocktail, a fine cigar and, of course, a glass of wine from hundreds of selections. 1019 N. Monroe St. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 224-0322.

atmospheres Old Town Café The Cuisine: For 21 years Old Town Cafe

has been serving fresh, high quality food to Tallahassee diners. Signature items include daily blue plates specials, fresh seafood, baby backs and slow cooked prime rib.

The Décor: The unique diner-esque facade houses a comfortable casual atmosphere inside with a distinct “retro” flair.

Plans for the Future: “By popular demand, we have just made catfish an every day, all-day blue plate and added shrimp creole as our new Friday blue plate!”

Since opening Old Town in 1990, the restaurant business has changed in many ways. What hasn’t changed is how much I still love it.

Measure of Success: “Seeing familiar faces day in and day out; when guests keep coming back you must be doing something right!”

Old Town Café 1415 Timberlane Road, Tallahassee, FL (850) 893-5741 | old-town-cafe.com

Specialty A.J. Sports Bar & Grill $ American. This hangout spot — named “Best Sports Bar” by Tallahassee Magazine readers in 2011 — is known for its sandwiches, backyard burgers and flavored wings. Watch sports from one of their 50 flat screens, shoot some pool or play darts, or enjoy happy hour. 1800 W. Tennessee St. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Fri. and noon–2 a.m.

Sat.–Sun. (850) 681-0731 Andrew’s Capital Grill and Bar $$ American. Andrew’s, a Downtown landmark for 35 years, is an energetic, casual, see-and-beseen spot. House favorites include a popular lunch buffet, hamburgers, chicken quesadillas, Mediterranean Pasta, Cedar Plank Salmon and Chicken Fiorentina. Downtown delivery. 228 S. Adams St. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat.; Brunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-3444/Fax (850) 222-2433.

Another Broken Egg Café $$ American. Made-to-order items using the finest ingredients, cooked to your liking. Voted Tallahassee’s best nine times, including the 2011 TALLAHASSEE

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Dining Guide

awards for “Best Breakfast and Best Brunch.”

In Evening Rose at 5740 Austin Davis Ave. and 3500 Kinhega Drive. 7 a.m.–2 p.m. Tue.–Sun. (850) 907-3447.

AZu — a Lucy Ho’s $/$$ restaurant Asian. Serving Tallahassee since 1970, Lucy Ho’s offers Japanese style cooking with Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Peking and Taiwanese influences. After nearly four decades, Lucy Ho’s has moved back to the Apalachee Parkway, just east of Capital Circle Southeast, to better serve its customers. Diners will also find a full bar and the freshest sushi. 3220 Apalachee Parkway. Weekdays, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sat., noon– 10 p.m.; Sun., noon–9 p.m. (850) 893-4112.

G ourmet Panini Sandwiches • Artisan Breads Global Wines • Imported Italian Pasta & Other Market Items Family Size Meals To Go • Lunch & Dinner Items Tailgating Specials & Catering Available 1122 Thomasville Road, Suite 4 | 421.5862 | lunasitalianfood.net Tues-Fri 10am-6pm, Mon & Sat 10am-3pm, closed Sun CASH, MASTERCARD, VISA, AMEX

$$ Bella Bella Italian. Cozy home-like atmosphere and authentic homemade traditional Italian food made this Midtown dining hotspot the “Best Italian” winner in 2011. Try their famous Bubble Bread and delicious pasta specials. Catering available. 123 E. 5th Ave. Lunch 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 5–10 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 412-1114. $$ EL JALISCO Mexican. With two–for–one margaritas most nights of the week, where can you go wrong?

And the food, named “Best Mexican/Latin American” in 2011, is great too. Endless chips and salsa complement any menu item; the chicken quesadillas and beef tamales will keep you coming back for more. Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–12 a.m.

Sun. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 2022 N. Monroe St. (850) 878-0800. 2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy. $$ Jonah’s Fish & Grits American Southern. This Thomasville, Ga. restaurant serves good food made fresh daily in an alcohol-free, family friendly atmosphere. Soups, salads, pastas and specialty sandwiches focused on fish and seafood with a Southern twist are featured at lunch and dinner. Dinner also includes a more extensive selection from their wood-burning grill including their signature Gingersnap Salmon. Made-from-scratch Hush Puppies are a house specialty. Low-fat and Kids menus are available. 109 East Jackson St. Lunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon-Fri. Open Sat. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (229) 226-0508

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$$ Kiku Japanese Fusion. With a wide selection of sushi rolls and traditional Japanese dishes, Kiku caters to a variety of tastes. 3491 Thomasville Road Suite 12. Open Mon.–Thurs. 11–2:30pm, 4:30–10 p.m., Fri. 11–2:30 p.m., 4:30–10:30 p.m., Sat. 12–10:30 p.m. and Sun. 12–10. (850) 222-5458. $$/$$$ Kool Beanz Fusion. As winner of Tallahassee Magazine’s 2011 “Best Locally Owned” and “Best Casual Dining” restaurant, this colorful and casual spot has been serving up gourmet dishes since 1996. Diners can expect delicious modern American cuisine,

PRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING FRESH, HIGH-QUALITY COFFEE LOCALLY as well as dishes influenced by the worldwide travels of the kitchen staff. Menus change daily so guests can expect something new with each visit. 921 Thomasville Road. Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Dinner Mon.–Sat. 5:30–10 p.m.

(850) 224-2466. $ LUNA’S ITALIAN FOOD Italian-American. Gourmet deli sandwiches and pasta dishes to take home. Large selection of imported wine, cheeses, sauces and Italian grocery items — plus Italian gelato. 1122 Thomasville Road. 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.– 5 p.m. Sat. (850) 421-5862.

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$–$$ Masa Asian Fusion. Masa serves up a creative menu with items such as Chilean Sea Bass Wraps with mango salsa, Tropical Fruit Sweet and Sour Chicken and Japanese tiramisu. In 2011, Masa repeated wins in the “Best Asian” and “Best Sushi” categories. Enjoy an extensive selection of wine, beer and sake in a casual dining setting.

1001 N. Monroe St. 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Noon–10 p.m. Sunday. (850) 847-0003.

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$ Moonspin Pizza Moonspin offers gourmet pizza and calzones, salads and desserts. Its toppings are fresh from local farms in the South Georgia and Tallahassee area. 113 N. Crawford St., Thomasville, Ga. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Wed.–Sun, Dinner 5–9 p.m.

Wed.–Sun. (229) 226-4488

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$$ Old Town Café American. Southern hospitality is embedded throughout this family-owned restaurant. Mom’s meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans makes you feel like you’re home, not to mention their world famous prime rib, which slowly roasts all day. Timberlane Road. 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Mon.–Thurs. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fri. and Sat. 4–10 p.m.

(850) 893-5741 Osaka Japanese Steakhouse $$$ and Sushi Bar Japanese. Knives flash and patrons gasp as talented hibachi chefs “play” with your food while creating delicious chicken, steak and seafood dishes in front of you. Voted “Best Hibachi” by readers of Tallahassee Magazine. 1690 Raymond Diehl Road. Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m. (850) 531-0222. Private parties. $$$ Sakura Japanese. Sleek interior design mixed with amazing dishes equals a spectacular meal experience. This new and exciting Japanese cuisine rewards not only your taste buds but also your eyes with its beautifully prepared dishes of sushi and other traditional Japanese fare. 1318 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Dinner 5–10 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 5–11 p.m. Fri.– Sat., 4:30–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-9991. $$ THE WINE LOFT Wine Bar American. Enjoy delicious items off the small plate menu and a vast selection of wines in a TALLAHASSEE

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food bites We’ve got tasty suggestions, whether you’re in the mood for big eats or a little something something.

burGer | wells brothers bar and Grill aka monk’s

Prepare to be dominated by the Gator-Hater burger. It starts with a 9-ounce beef patty (or substitute a veggie burger or chicken breast) that’s loaded with bacon, onion, lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese. The “bun” is buttered, toasted sourdough bread spread with horseradish mayo. Comes with a side. $7.95

Salad | avenue eat & drink

Start off your meal with the Arugula Salad’s symphony of flavors.

The locally sourced peppery tasting green is topped with candied pecans, blue cheese crumbles and dried back mission figs — then dressed with a divine applewood smoked bacon vinaigrette. $8

appetiZer | hotel duval level 8

Level 8 unveiled a Small Bites menu to complement the wine, beer, cocktails (Cougarita, anybody?) and panoramic view from the hotel’s rooftop lounge. Check out the Duval Sliders — there are mini hamburgers and Bradley’s sausage burgers on the menu, but our favorite is a barbecued beef on an egg challah roll topped with spicy coleslaw. $14

Cabo’s Wet Supreme Burrito

VooDoo Dog’s PB&B Burger

eNtrée | cabo’s island Grill and bar

Cabo’s Burritos start with a 13-inch four tortilla stuffed with beans (refried or black), cheese and homemade salsa, but you can add on to make it Supreme (sour cream, onions, black olives), Wet (topped with lettuce) or Ultimate Wet Supreme (all of the above plus a dousing in house-made chili con queso).

Finish one of these and you will not walk away hungry. $3.99–$8.50

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PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

BEST HIBACHI

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Dining Guide

chic, sophisticated atmosphere downstairs or on the balcony overlooking Midtown. The Wine Loft boasts a generous array of more than 50 wines by the glass and more than 70 by the bottle that earned it “Best Wine List” honors in 2011. The Wine Loft has two full liquor bars and Tallahassee’s only balcony bar. 1240 Thomasville Road. Open 5 p.m. Mon–Thu., 4 p.m.–2 a.m. Fri. and Sat. (850) 222-9914. thewinelofttallahassee.net

Family/Casual Chick-fil-A $ No, there’s not a farm in the back of their restaurant, but one could easily assume it with the fresh, crispy taste of their famous chicken. Voted “Best Fast Food,” Chick-fil-A’s chicken sandwiches, salads, wraps and nuggets are an on-the-go treat for the ready-to-roll eater. Four locations, 8:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.–Sat., closed Sundays. $$ Coosh’s Bayou Rouge Voted “Best Cajun,” Coosh’s Bayou Rouge offers the best of Louisiana with its signature crawfish, po’boys, gumbo, muffalettas and jambalaya. 2910 Kerry Forest Parkway, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.

Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–10 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Sun. (850) 894-4110 $ The Crepevine French Fusion. Delicious signature crepes are stuffed with fillings that make them savory or sweet. You can order from the menu, or create your own. Breakfast-style crepes are served all day long. The menu at this casual bistro also includes salads and yogurt bowls. 2020 W. Pensacola St., (850) 562-7373; 1304 N. Monroe St., 329-6754. thecrepevine.com $ Earley’s Kitchen American Southern. For 33 years, Earley’s has been dishing up “good ole Southern” country cooking for breakfast and lunch at its restaurant inside Henry’s Meats. A second location now open in SouthWood serves fried chicken, pork chops, made-from-scratch vegetables, desserts and more, as well as a few extra Savannah-style dishes like shrimp and grits. The SouthWood restaurant also serves a Sunday brunch buffet. At the 1812 S. Monroe St. location: Mon.–Fri., 6:30 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sat. (breakfast only) 7 a.m.–noon. (850) 224-7090. The SouthWood location at 3196 Merchant’s Row Blvd.: Mon.–Sat. 7 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.– 1 p.m. (850) 692-3491. $ five Guys BURGERS & Fries Burgers. Five Guys was a quick hit with the readers of Tallahassee Magazine, who named its burgers the best in 2010 and 2011. Serving up made-to-order burgers and hot dogs with your choice of Cajun or home-style fries, it’s no wonder this restaurant has customers coming back for more. 1872 Thomasville Road. Mon.– Sun. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. (850) 597-7514

$ Hopkins’ Eatery American. Sandwiches, salads, delicious sweets and more. Voted “Best Deli” and once again voted the best place to have lunch by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2011. 1660 N. Monroe St. and 1415 Market St. 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Mon.–Fri., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. (850) 386-4258, (850) 668-0311.

MOMO’S $ Pizza. Boasting the largest pizza you’ll find in Tallahassee — and possibly the Southeast — Momo’s offers big flavor that’s gotten a “Best of” award in 2011. Fill yourself up with a slice for yourself or order a pie to share. Now with two locations: Sun.–Thurs. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 1410 Market St. (850) 412-0222 and 1416 W. Tennessee St. (850) 224-9808.

One Fresh Stir Fry $ Choose your cooking style, pick your starch, pick the meat and vegetables and finish up your bowl with sauce and garnish. Toss it in a pan and you have a tasty stir-fry meal, One Fresh style. They also offer a variety of hoagies, sushi, burritos, tacos and barbecue. Three locations, 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sun. Pepper’s Mexican Grill & Cantina $ It’s a fiesta every day at Pepper’s. Enjoy mariachi music as you chow down on fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas and other Mexican specialties served with their homemade sauces. 1140 Capital Circle S.E. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon–Thurs., 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–9 a.m. Sun. (850) 877-2020 Red Elephant PIZZA AND GRILL $ American. Enjoy a fresh, fast and filling meal that will satisfy your taste buds and your wallet. The casual atmosphere is perfect for social gatherings with friends and family, say readers of Tallahassee Magazine, who voted Red Elephant “Best Casual Dining” and “Best Family Friendly” restaurant. 2910 Kerry Forest Pkwy Suite C-3., Sun.– Thu. 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 1872 Thomasville Road Suite A., Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m. 9:30 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Kerry Forest (850) 668-7492. Midtown (850) 222-7492.

Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q $ Barbecue. Enjoy Sonny’s “feel good” barbecue and special sauces. Voted “Best Barbecue” in 2011. 3101 Dick Wilson Blvd., 2707 N. Monroe St. and 1460 Timberlane Road. All locations 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Fri.–Sat. Dick Wilson Blvd. (850) 878-1185, N. Monroe St. (850) 385-2167, Timberlane Road. (850) 906-9996. Catering available.

Wing Stop $ Wings. Named “Best Wings” winner in 2011, Wing Stop offers freshly made wings sauced and tossed in a choice of nine flavors. Savor something sweet with the Hawaiian sauce or

something zesty with the Hickory Smoked BBQ. 1964 W. Tennessee St., 3111 Mahan Drive, 6668 Thomasville Road. All locations 11 a.m.– midnight Tennessee St. (850) 574-9464, Mahan Dr. (850) 942-9464, Thomasville Road (850) 219-9464.

VILLAGE PIZZA AND PASTA $$ Pizza/Pasta. Made-from-scratch New York-style pizza is a favorite at this casual Italian spot, but its mouthwatering pastas with secret marinara sauce are close behind. One of its most popular choices, the Village Special, includes enough fresh toppings such as pepperoni, sausage, broccoli and mozzarella, to satisfy any pizza lover.

Not to mention homemade garlic rolls. 1400-33 Village Square Boulevard. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Mon.– Sun. For catering call (850) 893-9001.

Steak/seafood BONEFISH GRILL $$$ Steak/Seafood. Although a chain, Bonefish works hard to make each restaurant—and each meal—unique with an array of seafood and sauces that can be mixed and matched to diners’ tastes. The restaurant earned 2011 “Best of Tallahassee” honors for its appetizers (Can you say Bang Bang Shrimp?) and the star of its menu, seafood. Mon.–Thurs. 4–10:30 p.m., Fri.– Sat. 4–11:30 p.m., Sun. 4–10 p.m. 3491 Thomasville Rd. (850) 297-0460.

Harry’s Seafood $$ Bar & Grill Cajun. A New Orleans dining experience you won’t soon forget! Delicious Creole cuisine, fresh seafood and steaks, rich pastas, sensational salads and more. “Great Food, Great Service; Good Value, Good Times.” 301 S. Bronough St. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Thu.–Sun., 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3976.

Marie Livingston’s $$$ Steakhouse Steak. This restaurant specializes in steak — named Tallahassee’s “Best Steakhouse” once again in 2011 — but also serves seafood such as shrimp and fish. Marie Livingston’s has moved to a new location with a sophisticated decor, but the quality and value remain the same. 2705 Apalachee Parkway. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.– Fri. Dinner 5 p.m. daily (850) 562-2525. $$$ Shula’s 347 Steak. The legendary Miami Dolphins’ head coach brings his philosophy for winning football games — the quest for perfection — to the dining table at his namesake restaurant, located in Hotel Duval. Keep it light and casual with Premium Black Angus Beef burgers or a gourmet salad or opt for one of their signature entrées — “Shula Cut” filet, New York strip or Cowboy steaks. Reservations are suggested. Sun.–Thurs.

5–10 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. 5–11 p.m. 415 N. Monroe St. (850) 224-6005 n TALLAHASSEE

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The Last Word

The Bellevue Princess Learning the Royal Roots of a Fantasy ‘Castle’

By Laura Cogdill

T

218

September–October 2011

Moved and Preserved The house of the author’s childhood daydreams now sits on the grounds of the Tallahassee Museum and is open to visitors.

the first time. My heart raced. My palms were sweaty. I think I tripped going over the threshold. The wide staircase swept my mind back to the days of frolic on the porch. My dreams had imagined the hallways and parlors bustling with laughter and banter, but that day the house was hollow, and its cavernous echo surprised me. Gaps leaked light between a few boards of the wood plank floor and walls. Princess Whoever-She-Was must have struggled to keep the mansion warm.

Over the years, the museum has refilled the simple, spacious, high-ceiling rooms with period furniture and displays of everyday life. I relive my story of the grand house with my first-graders when we visit the museum each fall. Funny how I age, but my house doesn’t. Funny the looks I get from my students when I tell them that, as a kid, I played princess on this very porch.

“Did you really?” one will invariably ask. “Yes,” I say in a royal way. The children stand, mesmerized, with minds that usually add or subtract only one- or two-digit numbers, trying to calculate my true age if I played on the porch of a house so obviously old.

In the parlor downstairs, mannequins sport long, 19th-century dresses. An innocent voice dares ask, “Did you dress like that, too?”

“Yes,” I answer. But I don’t tell them it was only in my dreams.

The Bellevue princess was Catherine Murat, who built her home after the death of her husband, Achille Murat, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Catherine could be considered “American Royalty” since she was the great-grandniece of George Washington. The plantation house, built around 1840, has been restored and opened to the public as part of the Tallahassee Museum’s “Old Florida” area. n

Photos by Nikki Ritcher and courtesy florida archives

allahassee’s Murat house, Bellevue, had a very low profile for much of the 20th century, abandoned on Jackson Bluff Road. Some knew the house was “famous,” but not me or my two friends as we walked past it between our school and community center.

After years of counting the same steps of our concrete path, what could be more alluring to pre-teen princess wannabees than a huge, deserted old house? Occasionally, we would deviate from our prescribed path home, all the while fearing our parents would drive by and discover us.

We spent those afternoons on the house’s expansive porch, imagining it was our veranda, sipping sweet tea and touting the virtues of our husbands, the princes. Several renovations were considered: enclosing the porch, making the columns more substantial, adding a graceful walk up to the front steps. The biggest debate was over the thickets of bamboo throughout the property. Much could be said for a bamboo barrier between you and the lowly neighbors, but bamboo spreads too fast and is uncontrollable, and we wanted every detail of our futures controlled.

A pact was made that one of us would rescue the old house after we married and, deep down, I knew it would be me. But one heartbreaking day I learned it would be moved, and I figured “they” would put tacky apartments where my glorious dreams once stood. I didn’t want to hear where it was bound, nor why, because now it couldn’t be mine. Eventually I inquired as to where my house was held captive. Yes, my house. I was the only princess still living in the area.

Eventually, the Junior Museum, now the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science, moved “my” house to its grounds.

I watched it in its new surroundings year after year, but the poor house seemed doomed to a life of empty waiting. At first I couldn’t go near it, mainly because visitors weren’t allowed, but also because I felt somehow betrayed — by hope, dreams, reality — I’m not sure which.

It was easy to be critical: “There aren’t enough trees around it, nor bamboo. Why did they paint it that color? Why can’t we go near it?” Somewhere in the middle of my disappointment, I discovered my house was once owned by Princess Somebody, a relation to Napoleon. The Napoleon, Emperor of France.

A real princess’s house after all.

Consolation outweighed my hardheartedness over the move.

Landscaping went in around my house, and a fresh coat of paint puts a new perspective on anything. Finally, one long-awaited and dreamt-of day, I walked through the door of my dream home for

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