Oths spring2014

SWAMP DASH + BASH

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SPRING FESTIVALS

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OUTDOOR LASER TAG

Spring 2014

HIGH SPRINGS & ALACHUA

plus Ichetucknee History Old Timers Day Helps to Preserve Area Heritage

Dancing with Mother Nature There’s Something Fresh Going on at Bambi’s Organic Country Farm

Scott Meyer Sculptor, Architect, Inventor, Philosopher, Screenwriter, Builder

SPACE INVADERS

PIONEER DAYS

There are Alien Plants and Animals Among Us

Art and Entertainment Combine for a Historical Day of Family Fun

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FGCA DEVELOP’S

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We partner with parents to help their children grow in their faith & excellence in academics.

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68

CONTENTS SPRING 2014 • VOL. 12 ISSUE 01

>> FEATURES SPRINGTIME FESTIVALS

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Alachua Spring Festival A Fun-Filled Day of Music, Food and Games

50

BY SHAYNA POSSES

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Newberry Spring Festival Newberry Watermelon Festival

BY SHAYNA POSSES

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Watermelons Bring Farming Traditions to Family and Friends

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High Springs Pioneer Days Art and Entertainment Combine for a Historical Day of Family Fun

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A Veggie-tastic Celebration The Windsor Zucchini Festival Offers Family-Friendly Fun for the 30th Year

Bringing Spring to Main Street

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Lightin’ Up Newberry Family Fun at New Outdoor Laser Tag

BY CRYSTAL HENRY

The Cedar Key Arts Festival Celebrating 50 Years of Creativity

BY SHAYNA POSSES

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Interview: Scott Meyer Sculptor, Architect, Inventor, Philosopher, Screenwriter, Builder

BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

ON THE COVER

PHOTO BY TJ MORRISSEY / LOTUS STUDIOS

Meet sculptor Scott Meyer. From his ranch in Alachua, Meyer works primarily in hand-selected stones from around the world, using a variety of materials to create work in any style from abstract to realism. At the age of 40, he decided to devote himself to art full time.

>> DOWN AND DIRTY

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Swamp Dash + Bash

Saturday, April 19 Swamp Dash & Bash WINDY HILL FARMS 13126 NW 174th Ave., Alachua $ 60 plus a small fee for the adult race; $ 40 for the kid race 4 miles for the adult race; 1 mile for the kid race swampdash.com

Get Muddy For a Good Cause

WRITTEN BY ILANA LIFSHITZ PHOTOS COURTESY OF JONATHAN REMBERT

A

ndy Farina thought he would never run again. Eighteen years ago, Farina suffered a back injury in an accident; five years ago he couldn’t run a single mile without experiencing excruciating pain. But three years ago, he hit the ground running — and jumping — for the first time since his accident. Since 2011, the Gainesville Health & Fitness trainer has run between 15 and 20 mud runs, and in April he’ll run another.

On April 19, Farina will join an estimated 1,200 participants for the fourth annual Swamp Dash & Bash at Windy Hill Farms in Alachua. Like Tough Mudder and Savage Race, Swamp Dash & Bash is an obstacle-filled race through mud that ends with a band, food and — if runners are 21 or older — beer, said Jonathan Rembert, the chief mudder (and owner) of the Swamp Dash & Bash. Registration, which opened in November at $35,

is now $60 (plus a small fee) and includes a T-shirt, a medal and that coveted beer. Spectators can come out to watch the race, but there is a parking fee of $10.

The first wave of runners leaves the starting line at 9 a.m., and about 20 to 30 minutes after, the second wave leaves. The intervals continue until everyone is out running the 4-mile, 20-obstacle trail. There is also a kids’ race, Rembert said. The one-mile, 8- to 10-obstacle trail is for those who are 12 and younger. It’s $40 and includes a T-shirt and a medal. In the adult race, the first two waves to leave are the competition wave and the team wave. On average, everyone in the competition wave finishes within 35 minutes, Rembert said. In order to be part of a team, each member must finish within 30 seconds of each other.

Farina has competed in the Swamp Dash & Bash alone and with a team. For the past couple of years, he has competed with a team because it makes the race much

OPPOSITE: Teammates help each other scale over the “Great Wall of the Swamp” during last year’s event.

Competitor’s were not allowed to simply walk around the obstacles without risking disqualification.

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

Spring 2014 | 29

By Ilana Lifshitz

Down and Dirty for a Good Cause Looking for a challenge? Three words: Swamp. Dash. Bash. Learn about this obstacle-filled race through mud that ends with a celebration of music, food and — if you’re old enough — beer. Not to mention, it’s all for a good cause.

What more could one ask for?

>> GROWING PROBLEM

Space Invaders

90

There are Alien Plants and Animals Among Us in Central Florida

Aliens Among Us

WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL HENRY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KRISTEN KOZELSKY

T

here are alien life forms lurking in the woods of Central Florida. Some creep through underbrush and snake up and around the trees. Others submerge themselves in the lakes and streams leaving a trail of destruction and death. And others are found in your own backyard.

These foreign species often look harmless, but they are the second biggest threat to the health of Florida’s biodiversity.

The two biggest problems that biodiversity faces are humans and invasive species, said biologist Tom Morris. Invasive species are non-native plants and animals that take over and kill the natives.

Many people have heard about the python problem in Florida. Pet owners are releasing pythons into the wild when they get too big or the owners grow tired of caring for them. Morris said 99 percent of the small mammals such as raccoons, mice, rats and opossums are gone when the snakes are rampant.

But another killer is on the loose in Florida, and its

Need caption. 40-50 Words

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

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By Crystal Henry

From pythons to air potatoes, and even housecats, invaders live among us here in the Sunshine State. If left unchecked, exotic plants and animals can wreak havoc on the natural balance. Read about some of the culprits and see what you can do to help combat the invaders.

>> HISTORY

Celebrating Old Times

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Old Timers Day at Ichetucknee Springs State Park Helps Preserve the Area’s History PHOTOS COURTESY OF ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS STATE PARK

TOP: Fort White High School’s class of 1960 homecoming court enjoys the sights at Ichetucknee Springs.

Locals have used the spring for recreational activities for centuries. At the turn of the 19th century, many locals would spend weekends at Ichetucknee and even celebrated holidays there, such as the Fourth of July.

WRITTEN BY STYLIANA RESVANIS

E

very year, Ichetucknee Springs State Park hosts a get-together where people share a meal and pull their lawn chairs into a circle to reminisce about life in Old Florida.

To an onlooker it might appear like a family reunion of sorts, but these visitors don’t necessarily share the same DNA. Instead, their bond is that they all visited or lived near the springs before it became a state park.

The gathering, known as Old Timers Day, allows people to share memories of the area that can help paint a more complete picture of the park’s geographic and cultural history.

“This is a fantastic way for us to fill in the gaps of our knowledge with the local flavor,” said park services specialist Sam Cole, who has coordinated Old Timers Day for the past eight years but has also helped plan the event annually since its inception in 1997.

He said that while the gathering originated mostly as a way to gather information about flooding, organizers soon realized it could teach them even more, such as the park’s history as a phosphate mining operation

140 | Spring 2014

and details about the old town of Ichetucknee in the late 1800s.

This year’s Old Timers Day, which will take place April 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include a potluck, a van trip to some of the park’s cultural sites — such as the Mission de San Martin de Timucua and the old gristmill at Mill Pond Spring — a visit to the Environmental Education Center, and, of course, a storytelling session.

“My mother believed in getting here before daylight so we could be here bright and early. We wouldn’t leave until 10 at night,” said Carolyn (McDonald) Cornman, describing her family’s trips to the springs at the 1999 reunion, according to “Old Timers Remember — Ichetucknee Springs,” a book about the history of the springs.

Ichetucknee Springs became a state park in 1970, and two years later, the U.S. Department of the Interior declared it a national natural landmark. But before all that, it was a place for fishing, socializing, bathing, swimming and even baptizing.

Columbia County businesses would close on Wednesday afternoons so residents could go for a

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Spring 2014 | 141

By Styliana Resvanis

Itchetucknee History Hey “Old Timers,” or those that wish they were. Learn about Old Timers Day at Ichetucknee Springs State Park and how it helps preserve the area’s history. There are even tales about how cars would end up in the springs in the ‘50s.

The articles printed in Our Town Magazine™ do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Tower Publications, Inc. or their editorial staff. Our Town Magazine endeavors to accept reliable advertising; however, we can not be held responsible by the public for advertising claims. Our Town Magazine reserves the right to refuse or discontinue any advertisement. All rights reserved. © 2013 Tower Publications, Inc.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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>> FEATURES 78

Shine a Light America’s First 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum

BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

98

Dancing with Mother Nature There’s Something Fresh Going on at Bambi’s Organic Country Farm

BY ERICKA WINTERROWD

108 Hip Ways to Help Out Spring Fundraising for Haven Hospice

BY CRYSTAL HENRY

148 The Return of Fantastic Fridays High Springs’ Community Development Corporation Active Again

Published quarterly by Tower Publications, Inc. www.towerpublications.com

PUBLISHER Charlie Delatorre charlie@towerpublications.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Albert Isaac editor@towerpublications.com fax: 352-416-0175 OFFICE MANAGER Bonita Delatorre bonita@towerpublications.com ART DIRECTOR Hank McAfee hank@towerpublications.com

BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

154 Making a Difference Girl Scout Troop 733’s Latest Project Helps Keep Girls In School

BY SHAYNA POSSES

160 Sportsfest Alachua Chamber of Commerce’s Biggest Fundraiser of Year Draws Golf Enthusiasts

BY ILANA LIFSHITZ

162 Fine Art and Fresh Air Santa Fe College’s Spring Arts Festival is a Welcome Sign of the Changing Season

BY ANDREW V. PESTANO

DESIGNER Neil McKinney neil@towerpublications.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Crystal Henry Ilana Lifshitz Shayna Posses Styliana Resvanis Darla Kinney Scoles Ericka Winterrowd Andrew V. Pestano INTERNS Shayna Posses Ericka Winterrowd ADVERTISING SALES Jenni Bennett 352-416-0210 jenni@towerpublications.com Melissa Morris 352-416-0212 melissa@towerpublications.com

COLUMNISTS

Nancy Short 352-372-3245 nancy@towerpublications.com

38 74 112 146 152

Pam Slaven 352-416-0213 pam@towerpublications.com

Crystal Henry ............................................................ NAKED SALSA Donna Bonnell ......................................................... EMBRACING LIFE Kendra Siler-Marsiglio ..................................... HEALTHY EDGE Albert Isaac ................................................................ DIFFERENT NOTE Terri Schlichenmeyer .......................................... READING CORNER

INFORMATION 128 Spring Sports Schedules Middle and High School 118 Community Calendar

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136 Library Happenings 168 Advertiser Index

Helen Mincey 352-416-0209 helen@towerpublications.com Annie Waite 352-416-0204 annie@towerpublications.com

ADVERTISING OFFICE 4400 NW 36th Avenue Gainesville, FL 32606 352-372-5468 352-373-9178 fax

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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SPECIAL >> COMMUNITY

Linda Rice Chapman, with Jim Brandenburg, has been painstakingly repairing the tile on the walls of Alachua’s soon-to-be-completed Tourist Welcome Center and Museum.

Alachua’s Welcome Center and Museum Years in the making, the City of Alachua Historical Society and the Chamber of Commerce are poised to open the doors to the new Tourist Welcome Center and Museum.

The former post office and police station was vacated in 2007, which got the ball rolling for the facility.

“That freed that building up, which allowed us to come to an agreement with the chamber and the historical society,” said Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper in a 2011 interview.

As Our Town goes to press, a grand opening and ribbon cutting has yet to be set, but it won’t be long.

The Chamber and Historical Society have partnered to display local historical and cultural artifacts with both permanent and rotating exhibitions showcasing the region’s rich heritage. This is all possible through the dedication and hard work from private citizens and grants from the Alachua County Tourist Development Council and the City of Alachua Downtown Redevelopment Trust Board.

During Phase One of the project, local architect Paul Stressing provided pro bono work for the chamber to get the building up to code while retaining the building’s distinct art deco style. The project included extensive demolition, reworking of electrical and mechanical supply, returns and ductwork, plumbing, conversion of one restroom into a handicap unisex accessible toilet room, the addition of a ramped sidewalk at the front inside of the building… the list goes on.

Now Phase Two is in progress, and funding is still

16 | Spring 2014

needed for interior components to display tourist information, historical artifacts and furnish the museum/ chamber office and common space, as well as other related items.

Attorney Linda Rice Chapman said the City is grateful for the work and donations from private persons and organizations and plans to formally recognize them when the building opens.

“Jerry Smith (retired from Capital City Bank) stepped up and made a generous personal contribution which allowed us to do the landscaping and cement and brick work,” Chapman said. “Jim Brandenburg (retired Alachua Elementary School principal) has done most of the painting and Lowes donated the paint. I have been patching the tile on the front since we cannot afford to replace it yet.”

However, they still need funding and to that end she is actively seeking donations for the patronage program, inviting people to make the Tourist Welcome Center and Museum a reality.

Chapman encourages people to sign on as a patron and become part of the City’s history, sharing pride in a project that will enhance Alachua and benefit its citizens and businesses. Individual or Corporate donations will be permanently memorialized on the “Wall of Donors” when the museum opens.

Want to help? Contact Linda Rice Chapman, Chair, for details. 352-226-2432. s

MESSAGE >> FROM THE EDITOR

Festivals, fundraisers and air potato round-ups are just a few of the fun things to read about in this issue of Our Town Magazine.

For decades our towns have offered family friendly events such as the Watermelon Festival in Newberry, Alachua’s Spring Festival and Pioneer Days in High Springs. These festivals are tons of fun and I always run into a lot of friends. But did you know there is also Old Timers Day at the Itchetucknee Springs State Park? For years, people have met up at the spring to gather information about flooding — but it has since grown into much more. Learn more about this event within these pages.

In addition to our local festivals, we bring news of a few neighboring festivals. Cedar Key is celebrating its 50th Anniversary of Old Florida Arts while Windsor offers up all-things zucch (is that a word?) with its 30th Annual Zucchini Festival. Closer to home is the 45th Annual Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival in Gainesville, with art, music and fun.

Speaking of art, we also bring you an interview with a sculptor in Alachua and feature about a new venue in Newberry being touted as America’s first 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum.

Newberry is becoming well known for its sports complex, and now an additional activity is joining in — laser tag. Read about how a High Springs’ entrepreneur is expanding his Waldo outdoor laser tag business to the city of Newberry. I understand it’s fun for all ages, so perhaps I should introduce our 12-year-old to the sport and join in the battle. I’m sure I wouldn’t stand a chance against the nimble-footed lad.

Want to help clean the environment of aliens? Then get involved by pulling some wicked weeds. Read about Current Problems’ efforts to rid our environment of invasive species, such as air potatoes and coral ardisia — non-native plants that threaten our natural habitats.

Throughout the year there are organizations that fundraise for good causes or otherwise pay it forward. In this issue we cover but a few, ranging from a Girl Scout Troop in Alachua to Haven Hospice’s VIVA! event, from the Swamp Dash and Bash Mud Run to Alachua’s Sportsfest.

From master gardeners to artists, we strive to bring a smorgasbord of interesting content to our readers. I truly hope you enjoy our offering.

Happy Spring!

HotAir

Balloon

Adventures 352-339-6146

Daryl Hickman, Owner WWW FLYFLORIDANOW C WWW.FLYFLORIDANOW.COM

Sightseeing • Birthdays • Engagements • Weddings • Anniversaries

NOW CARRYING CARRYIN

www.alachuafarmandlumber.com

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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STAFF >> CONTRIBUTORS Ericka Winterrowd

Ilana Lifshitz

is a graduate student in multimedia journalism at UF, where she also received her BFA in theatre performance.

She enjoys gardening, collecting gnomes, and fawning over a Malti-Pom named Doodle.

is a senior journalism major at UF. She aspires to work for a food or travel magazine after graduation. In her free time, she enjoys watching Law and Order: SVU marathons, catching up with friends and trying out new recipes.

emwinter@ufl.edu

isarahlif@ufl.edu

Donna Bonnell

Darla Kinney Scoles

is a freelance writer who moved to Newberry in 1983.

She enjoys living and working in the town she now calls home.

remembers taking a high school journalism class and falling in love with the process. Oodles of years, one husband, three daughters and multitudinous stories later, she’s still in love with it all.

That, and dark chocolate.

donna@towerpublications.com

darlakinneyscoles@gmail.com

Andrew Valentine Pestano

Crystal Henry

is usually daydreaming.

He is a journalism graduate of the University of Florida who enjoys laughter, playing piano and fighting crime (in his head).

is a freelance writer and columnist born and raised in West Texas. She received her B.S. in Journalism in 2006 from the University of Florida. She is in love with the Florida landscape.

avpestano@gmail.com

ces03k@gmail.com

Styliana Resvanis

Shayna Posses

received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from UF. She enjoys freelance writing, singing and testing new recipes in her spare time. A lover of all things cultural, she dreams of learning new languages and traveling the world.

is a UF journalism senior.

She chose journalism for the commas and stayed for the stories. Her life is made possible by coffee, cardigans and the thought of the cats she’ll adopt upon graduation. saposses@gmail.com

sresvanis@gmail.com

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In This Issue:

HEALTHY EATER

Comprehensive Plan: The City’s Vision for Growth

Gainesville, FL Permit No. 233

SUMMER CAMP GUIDE BIRTHDAY PARTY DIRECTORY

GAINESVILLE SINGS THE BLUES

PROJECT MAKEOVER

AT A CROSSROADS

Amateurs and Celebrities Share the Stage at Blues Society’s Monthly Jam

UF Student Organization Gives Back to Local Schools

Florida Attraction Silver Springs is No Longer Privately Owned

32

Take Control of your Taxes

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3 LOCAL COUPLES SHARE THEIR STORIES

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22 Infinite Energy CEO Talks Company Culture 25 SCORE: Peers Offer Free Help to Business Owners

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CHARITY OF THE MONTH

Alpha Phi Omega NOVEMBER 2013 WINNER – 3,255 VOTES

El Trapiche sits in the heart of Central America — a Nicaraguan village of less than 200 people.

Basic needs are barely met.

F

amilies have to travel to nearby villages to collect an entire week’s worth of clean water at one time. There is no school to speak of in El Trapiche, although dedicated community members will sometimes create makeshift classrooms inside homes. And Nicaragua in general ranks as the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

But change is coming.

With the help of international aid and the dedication of locals, challenges are being overcome.

Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity at the University of Florida, has spent this fall raising money for the village. It has won SunState Federal Credit Union’s November Charity of the Month Contest with 3,255 votes on Facebook.

Including the $1,000 prize, they have raised $3,800 so far.

Alpha Phi Omega works in partnership with a separate international development program, Free the Children, whose goal is to improve access to education, water, food, healthcare, and sustainable income in impoverished areas.

Sammy Felman is Alpha Phi Omega’s philanthropy co-chair alongside Alicia Leva at the fraternity. Through Free the Children’s “Adopt a Village” program, they chose El Trapiche as their service project for this semester. Felman was familiar with the area, having taken a two-week trip to Nicaragua last summer.

Alpha Phi Omega’s donation has helped build new classrooms and a water reservoir that gives direct access to all the homes in the village. Families no longer have to walk to outside villages weekly.

Free the Children has also built sidewalks that give better access to the new classrooms, helping to avoid the dense mud during the rainy season, and planted gardens and trees to prevent erosion of the new buildings.

22 | Spring 2014

The classroom’s new mural, painted in the colors of the Nicaraguan flag, brings brightness and hope.

Ultimately, Free the Children states on its website, the program is about freeing children from poverty, from exploitation, and “from the notion that they are powerless to effect change.”

In spring semester, Felman said Alpha Phi Omega will continue its work with Free the Children in El Trapiche. Felman and Leva both plan to make trips to Nicaragua, Felman said, hopefully to see the progress they have helped create.

Felman recalled from her previous trip to Nicaragua, where she worked to build a school on an island off the coast, how grateful the locals were.

“All the kids wanted was to learn so badly and to be in school,” she said. “It was incredible to see how much they appreciated it.” s Learn more at www.facebook.com/ufalphaphiomega.

TO NOMINATE A CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE OR TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES, VISIT:

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CHARITY OF THE MONTH

Beauty’s Haven Equine Rescue DECEMBER 2013 WINNER – 2,950 VOTES

When Theresa Batchelor received a call about a young Arabian mare that had been seized by the county due to neglect, she knew the mare, now named Beauty, was not the only one in need of rescuing.

A

fter a surgery to remove a tumor that was growing inside Batchelor’s spinal cord, she received the news that the extraction caused permanent nerve damage. She was left quadriplegic and was told she would never walk again.

Through physical therapy, tenacity and faith, she did regain use of her limbs. However, Batchelor has no feeling or proprioception below her neck — she has no idea where her arms and legs are unless she is looking at them. She is what is known as an incomplete quadriplegic. She was advised to give up many of her favorite activities, including horseback riding.

Enter Beauty. The mare had been traumatized by prior abuse, and to say she did not like people would be an understatement. Gaining her trust seemed impossible, but Batchelor has experience with overcoming impossible situations.

She had a plan. She would spend each day with Beauty, teaching her voice commands. Over the course of a few months, Beauty finally began to heal. She seems to sense that Batchelor is different. This has only helped strengthen their bond, which developed into a beautiful and trusting relationship, one that led Batchelor to be able to horseback ride again.

Because of this experience, Batchelor was inspired

24 | Spring 2014

to start a nonprofit organization in 2006 called Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Recue. The purpose is to help as many equine friends as possible when they are in need. The charity networks with other rescue organizations and individuals, and works to educate others about horse slaughter in an effort to make it illegal — not just in the United States, but also in Canada, Mexico and other countries.

Horses that arrive at the rescue come from auctions and kill buyers. Some are surrendered by owners who can no longer care for them, and some are seized by authorities. The organization tries to help horses that are desperately in need of a safe place to go. Once a horse is at the rescue, then comes the costs of rehabilitation, training, proper feed and care. Expenses include initial care, grain, feed and other necessities, which are costly. Some horses with special needs will live out their days there.

Jeanne Bartsch is on the board of directors for the rescue, and said this organization is unique because Batchelor takes in horses that other rescues might not because of the cost required to rehabilitate them.

“If they need acupuncture, they get it. If they need massage therapy, they get it,” Bartsch said. “She never gives up on them.” s

TO NOMINATE A CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE OR TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES, VISIT:

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CHARITY OF THE MONTH

Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses JANUARY 2014 WINNER – 2,664 VOTES

Magic the miniature horse has done it again.

M

agic is part of a larger organization, Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, which has again won $1,000 in the January SunState Federal Credit Union’s Charity of the Month contest. Gentle Carousel consists of a team of 27 miniature horses — all therapy animals that visit hospitals, hospices, assisted living programs and disaster relief areas.

The registered nonprofit was founded by Debbie Garcia-Bengochea and her husband Jorge. It began about a decade ago when the couple purchased their first two miniature horses for their North Florida ranch.

The horses would graze in a pasture in front of their bed-bound neighbor’s window. With curiosity piqued, the neighbor one day asked them to bring the miniature horses closer so he could have a better look.

Immediately, the neighbor was thrilled.

He was so excited to see the tiny horses that he got out of bed to pet and play with them. It was then that Debbie and Jorge realized the emotional power these pint-sized animals could have.

Since then, the couple has bought and bred an entire team of horses and traveled the world bringing comfort and happiness wherever they go.

The team has found international success.

Magic was named one of Time Magazine’s 10 most heroic animals, and on the Reader’s Digest list of Hometown Heroes, Magic was the only animal that

26 | Spring 2014

made the cut. The AARP also named Magic the most heroic pet in America.

The Carousel therapy horses are now Breyer Model horses, becoming a part of the classic toy legacy. And some of the horses are now working outside of Athens, Greece, in orphanages, hospitals, schools and programs for the elderly.

But even though it has found success worldwide, the North Florida organization remains involved at home.

Outside of visiting those in need, Gentle Carousel runs an award-winning literacy program called Reading is Magic. The miniature horses visit local libraries, schools and at-risk youth programs to bring stories to life and inspire young readers.

Whether visiting young children touched with illness or communities faced with disaster, Gentle Carousel’s miniature horses bring larger-than-life joy to everyone they meet.

For 2014, charities will only be eligible for the $1,000 prize once a calendar year. However, these charities are still welcome to enter every month and will be eligible for the random $500 prize. Remember every vote a charity gets counts as an entry into the random drawing for the monthly $500 donation. s Learn more at www.facebook.com/TherapyHorses.

TO NOMINATE A CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE OR TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE NOMINEES, VISIT:

www.facebook.com/SunStateFCU and click on “Charity of the Month”.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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>> DOWN AND DIRTY

Swamp Dash + Bash Get Muddy For a Good Cause

WRITTEN BY ILANA LIFSHITZ PHOTOS COURTESY OF JONATHAN REMBERT

A

ndy Farina thought he would never run again. Eighteen years ago, Farina suffered a back injury in an accident; five years ago he couldn’t run a single mile without experiencing excruciating pain. But three years ago, he hit the ground running — and jumping — for the first time since his accident. Since 2011, the Gainesville Health & Fitness trainer has run between 15 and 20 mud runs, and in April he’ll run another.

On April 19, Farina will join an estimated 1,200 participants for the fourth annual Swamp Dash & Bash at Windy Hill Farms in Alachua. Like Tough Mudder and Savage Race, Swamp Dash & Bash is an obstacle-filled race through mud that ends with a band, food and — if runners are 21 or older — beer, said Jonathan Rembert, the chief mudder (and owner) of the Swamp Dash & Bash. Registration, which opened in November at $35,

is now $60 (plus a small fee) and includes a T-shirt, a medal and that coveted beer. Spectators can come out to watch the race, but there is a parking fee of $10.

The first wave of runners leaves the starting line at 9 a.m., and about 20 to 30 minutes after, the second wave leaves. The intervals continue until everyone is out running the 4-mile, 20-obstacle trail. There is also a kids’ race, Rembert said. The one-mile, 8- to 10-obstacle trail is for those who are 12 and younger. It’s $40 and includes a T-shirt and a medal. In the adult race, the first two waves to leave are the competition wave and the team wave. On average, everyone in the competition wave finishes within 35 minutes, Rembert said. In order to be part of a team, each member must finish within 30 seconds of each other.

Farina has competed in the Swamp Dash & Bash alone and with a team. For the past couple of years, he has competed with a team because it makes the race much

OPPOSITE: Teammates help each other scale over the “Great Wall of the Swamp” during last year’s event.

Competitor’s were not allowed to simply walk around the obstacles without risking disqualification.

28 | Spring 2014

Saturday, April 19 Swamp Dash & Bash WINDY HILL FARMS 13126 NW 174th Ave., Alachua $

60 plus a small fee for the adult race; $ 40 for the kid race 4 miles for the adult race; 1 mile for the kid race swampdash.com

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more enjoyable. He said they’re able to feed off each other’s energy, stay motivated to keep running because they don’t want to let each other down, help each other out along the way, and laugh with one another.

“Whether you’re faster or slower, we’re going to push each other and give our absolute best,” Farina said. “One way to build your own mental toughness is by helping the guy next to you.”

One setback Farina experienced running the Swamp Dash & Bash was getting lost. Deer ran through tape at a complex intersection of the race and caused Farina and his team to take a wrong turn. Although they eventually found their way back to the trail, the team’s time suffered, which ultimately frustrated his competitive teammates.

Looking back, he now sees it as a learning experience. It

30 | Spring 2014

taught him not to rely on the markings as much and to be more observant to detail during every race.

The setback hasn’t stopped Farina from competing.

He said he began running mud runs because he wanted and needed a new challenge. As a trainer, he’s always challenging his trainees to do what they’ve never done before, and it was time for him to challenge himself the same way. Farina grew up with a fear of heights, and by jumping and climbing different obstacles, he has faced his fear and pushed himself out of his comfort zone.

“I think there’s a lot of fear in life and society, and I just feel like on a small scale we need to face those and deal with them,” he said. “So if I’m willing to talk about that to others, I have to be willing to do that myself.”

In fact, mud runs are his favorite compared to road

races, such as marathons, for example. He finds mud runs to be simple and require little equipment. But more importantly, he thinks they’re fun. Farina’s always been a trail runner. In the past, he has run a 50-kilometer race, which equals about 31 miles. To him, mud runs are playful and require a variety of skills. He doesn’t want to just be a runner; he wants to be able to climb and jump all while putting his endurance to the test.

“I think mud runs really mirror real life,” he said.

“There’s mystery to it. You don’t know what to expect.”

Of all the mud runs in which Farina’s participated, he said right now Tough Mudder was the most challenging, and not necessarily because it is 11 to 13 miles on rugged terrain. Tough Mudder also infuses electroshock therapy into its obstacles, and participants must

run through live wires with voltages as high as 10,000 volts. He recalled a time when he was involuntarily slapped to the ground. In terms of toughness, second place belongs to Savage Race. Bringing up the rear is the Swamp Dash & Bash.

To train him and others for the race, Farina said he and his coworkers build obstacles at Gainesville Health & Fitness. He starts training anywhere from eight to 16 weeks before the run and he has all of his workouts laid out. Even though he doesn’t obsess about his training, it’s important to him to have good endurance, flexibility and good range of motion in order to maneuver each obstacle. For Farina, a tight muscle is a weak muscle.

Eating healthy is also important. Although Farina doesn’t adhere to any special diet while training, he

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Spring 2014 | 31

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does make sure to practice good nutritional habits.

“If you want the machine to work well, and you want it to work long and hard, you gotta fuel it well,” he added.

However, the Swamp Dash & Bash is not just about training, running a race, completing obstacles and drinking a free beer. Rembert said it is also to “get muddy for a cause.”

Participants’ donations and other proceeds benefit Tyler’s Hope Foundation, a charity that raises money for dystonia research and finding a cure, but also strives to raise awareness about the disorder. Last year, the run raised between $4,000 and $5,000. This year, organizers hope to raise about $10,000.

There are different ways runners can donate. One is

32 | Spring 2014

during the registration process, where participants can personally donate to the foundation. The other is to create a donation page. By creating the page, participants can get friends, family and the public to donate money to them, which will ultimately be donated to Tyler’s Hope Foundation.

Anyone and everyone can participate in the Swamp Dash & Bash. Rembert said all ages and all athletic abilities are welcomed.

“It doesn’t take an athlete really to do this,” he said.

Farina said only about 10 to 15 percent of runners are competitive racers, while about 80 percent are just trying to get through the course and hang out afterward.

“It’s not all about winning,” he said. s

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hen patients enter the office of Douglas M. Adel, D.D.S., they become a member of a family. With 25 years of service – and even second-generation patients – Dr. Adel and his staff have learned how to not only take care of their family of patients, but to provide them the very best dental care and treatment.

After earning an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Florida and a dental degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Dr. Adel launched his own private practice in Alachua. Since then, he has watched his business go from handwritten files, to developing dental X-rays to a full-fledged digital office.

34 | Spring 2014

Devoting his career to providing the utmost innovate care has been at the forefront of his practice’s growth. “It has truly been amazing to implement state-of-the-art technology and computerization into my office,” Dr. Adel said.

“It is such a benefit—not just for our office functions, but more importantly for our patients.”

From adults to children, patients are offered the latest in dental technology, technique and equipment. Dr. Adel was one of the first dentists in Alachua County to utilize the Wand, a computer-controlled local anesthetic device that takes the place of the traditional anesthetic injections and provides extra patient comfort. His office also utilizes Cerec (a computerized system that allows crowns to be

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shape, size, and color is possible, and the results speak for themselves. It is truly a life-changing investment.”

“It is the philosophy of our office to treat all patients like members of our family, and to provide quality dentistry for each individual patient,” Dr. Adel said. “We listen to their needs, evaluate their situation, and then recommend the best treatment plan for that patient.”

Patients of Dr. Adel will also notice a drastic change to the outside appearance of Douglas M. Adel, D.D.S. Additional parking, expanded sidewalks connecting to downtown Alachua and renovations to nearby landmarks are the product of a shared effort among Dr. Adel and surrounding businesses, who donated land to bring this vision to fruition.

Dr. Adel focuses not only improving the patient experience, but extending it far past the time a patient spends in his office. With patients of all ages, he places a large emphasis on education and practicing good oral hygiene— even visiting local elementary schools to spread awareness to students.

“I think it is important to start dental education at a young age,” Dr. Adel said. “I always encourage parents to bring their 2- and 3-year-olds to watch them have their teeth cleaned, which familiarizes them with the process and allows them to ask questions.”

In addition to family dentistry, Dr. Adel specializes in cosmetics—a field of dentistry experiencing progressive demands in recent years. One of the most rewarding cosmetic procedures, Dr. Adel said, is designing and placing porcelain veneers to help patients create a beautiful and natural smile.

“Every smile is as unique as every person is unique,” he explained. “Any

Among all of this growth, Dr. Adel said he has found one thing that has not changed—his patients, and the unwavering appreciation he has for them.

“Our patients have helped us to grow and prosper by their kind words about our dental practice,” Dr. Adel said. “I thank each of them for their trust and support over the last 25 years. I feel truly blessed to have such an experienced and caring dental staff, and to be in such a wonderful community. I look forward to what the next 25 years will bring.”

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true family man, Dr. Adel places family and faith above all. Married for 27 years, he and his wife, Lisa, enjoy visiting their three sons Josh, a UF graduate who is working at the University of Minneapolis as Director of Basketball Operations; Jeremy, a Fordham University graduate who is and currently working on his Masters in Biomedical Sciences; and Joseph, a junior at the University of South Florida and a pitcher on the baseball team. As longstanding members of the community, the couple remains active in numerous organizations, sponsoring a myriad of events and local initiatives.

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COLUMN >> CRYSTAL HENRY

Naked Salsa

Life Lessons

P

art of my job description as a mom is to teach my kids right from wrong. A wise soul once told me that children are little uncivilized people. They are people, so they have valid feelings and a voice to be heard. But they need to be civilized, and part of teaching that civilization is guiding their moral compass.

Unfortunately, some children miss that lesson and grow up to be hoodlums who get run down by minivans in the parking lot.

Yesterday, my friend Mary and I took a trip to the hobby shop just to browse all the potential Pinterest projects the store has to offer. We loaded up the kids in the “I’ve given up” wagon aka my minivan, and headed to the craft store.

We rounded up our loot, and as Mary was checking out with her 15 giant discounted picture frames, my toddler and I went to pull the van around front. But while strapping Violet into her car seat I saw something sparkly in her grubby little paw. She’d boosted a pretty awesome Little Mermaid scepter from the toy kiosk near the register. It was only a $2 toy, and I was in a little bit of a hurry. It would have been easy to just let her keep the silly thing. The only alarm bells that sounded were the ones in my head that said, “Stealing is wrong. Teach your toddler.”

Well, the only thing Violet thought I was trying to teach her was that Mommy is mean and takes awesome princess scepters from little children. But my good deed did not go unnoticed by my 4-year-old.

“Violet, we do not take toys without paying,” she scolded. I beamed a little as I jogged back inside to return the stolen merchandise.

I walked in and announced, “Looks like we have a shoplifter.” All the cashiers’ heads whipped around and one customer near the candy kiosk looked up in a panic. I casually laughed, waved the scepter and explained what happened.

The cashier thanked me for my honesty, so I smiled, laid the scepter down on the counter and jogged back to the car.

Mary and I giggled about my little thief as I buckled up, but as I put the van in gear a guy came barreling

38 | Spring 2014

out of the store chased by the manager and the nice stock boy who had helped us load the frames into my van. The perp was the panicked candy kiosk customer, and his jacket was full of stolen merchandise.

The middle-aged manager and the little stock boy were huffing and puffing, but the thief was way ahead of them. He knew that he could outrun those guys, but what he didn’t know is that he could not outrun a certain mother driving a minivan with a breastfeeding bumper sticker. If I wouldn’t let my toddler get away with stealing a prized Ariel scepter I certainly wouldn’t let this thug muffin steal some crafting goods.

I put the pedal to the metal and floored it through the parking lot after this kid who only looked back once to see the distance growing between him and the employees. As I got closer to the thief I wasn’t sure of my intentions. I wasn’t going to murder him for stealing some curly ribbon, but I couldn’t just let him get away either. So I laid on my horn frantically and got right on his tail.

I can’t even describe his face as he turned around to see a minivan full of kids and moms about to take him out. His eyes went wide in surprise and confusion and that look you get when you know you’ve been caught doing something bad by your momma. He threw his jacket in the air and packages of markers and cans of spray paint went flying into a nearby cactus. I think he was rethinking his style choices as he tried to pull up his sagging jeans and bolted into oncoming traffic. He channeled his inner Frogger and made it across the street safely, but he didn’t even turn around as he kept running through the gas station parking lot and out of sight.

The winded manager approached the van fighting back laughter until he saw that he’d be picking merchandise out of a cactus. He thanked us for our help as our kids cheered from the back. Although we didn’t catch him, I’d like to think that thief might have learned a small lesson. After all, he did have to go explain to his cohorts that he didn’t get the goods because some crazy little blonde lady in a minivan scared him almost clean out of his pants. s

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>> GOTCHA!

Lightin’ Up Newberry Family Fun at New Outdoor Laser Tag

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAYNA POSSES

R

ichard Dreher has a knack for making the unlikely happen.

At 19, he bought a scuba store — in his home state of Minnesota. He ran it successfully for a decade.

Some years later, he fell into cave diving, sold the business and moved to Florida to teach full-time.

But it wasn’t quite enough to keep Dreher, now 34, occupied. He got involved in community service projects: running nonprofit Project Gainesville, helping with art shows downtown and working on music festivals.

“I always have my fingers in a project,” he said.

“I want to engage with people and have them enjoy where they live.”

So when the Waldo Farmers and Flea Market contacted him about spicing up the market, Dreher couldn’t say no. The problem, he figured, was the lack of things to do nearby. On a trip to North Carolina, he found the solution. He ended up at an acquaintance’s outdoor laser tag facility, and M2 Battlesports was born.

“He just up and decided to start laser tag,” said Sarah

42 | Spring 2014

Berman, one of the employees at his facility in Waldo.

“He just said, ‘I have to have that.’”

Though Dreher was into paintball and airsoft, he had no experience with laser tag.

“I always thought it was kind of cheesy and for the kids,” he said.

A year later, he runs a successful center in Waldo, a mobile business that sets up private games at homes or churches. And now he has plans to open another facility at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex.

Among the yellow barrels, giant tires and wild bushes that dot the eight acres of the flea market where the original M2 Battlesports is located, boys and girls plot their attacks, becoming screaming blurs with alarmingly realistic guns and headbands that flash red when they’ve been hit. Moans of agony accompany the soldiers as they rush to base to recharge, eager to get back to living out their video game fantasies.

With headbands instead of heavy vests registering successful shots, the game is well-suited for Florida, making mid-summer shootouts a viable option for a

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Chase Baucom (bottom left) takes aim from behind the guard tower. Baucom was at M2 Battlesports to celebrate his 16th birthday. Garrison Norman (right) stalks players on the opposite team while avoiding being spotted. Ryan Appling (top left) fires his laser gun to take down an opponent.

generation raised on video games and air conditioning.

It is also easier to maneuver than in normal laser tag, said 10-year-old Thomas Greene.

“You can run like no tomorrow,” he said.

After two hours of playing an assortment of games like domination and capture the flag, running catches up to the troops. Thomas chugged soda, explaining that he needed a boost after lugging around his gun, which he said had to have weighed at least 20 pounds.

“The guns felt like it was real life,” said his friend Kade Jackson, also 10. “Except you’re not getting hurt.”

Players — who aren’t just kids but college students and businessmen, too — choose from a variety of weapons made to resemble real-life counterparts such as AK-47s and assault rifles. On Saturday afternoons,

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their battlefield is contained to M2. But on weekend nights, the soldiers take over the market itself, ducking between booths in true Call of Duty fashion.

Dreher thought outdoor laser tag would do well in Waldo for grown-up reasons.

“I wanted something super family-friendly that everyone could enjoy,” he said. “I didn’t want to do something where people have to wear a lot of protective gear and get dirty. That’s a lot of commitment.”

But when it comes to actually running the facility, Dreher’s a kid at heart. When a team’s uneven or when someone is getting slaughtered, he jumps in to save the day. At this point, it doesn’t take long for him to turn the tide.

“I try to play as much as I work,” he joked.

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He said the different settings and game options keep the game interesting. The weapons can be set to various modes, making the game more like paintball or more military-realistic, harder or easier, depending on the crowd.

But the biggest sell for Dreher is being obligated to stay outside. The outdoors has always been a part of his life. His mother got him into scuba at 14. He tried to do the college thing, and although he was good at it, it just wasn’t for him. With his mom’s support, he bought

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“We love nature. We don’t like shoveling snow and it’s hard to make a living teaching cave diving when it’s cold.” the scuba store he had managed in high school. Along the way, he got his cave diving certification in Mexico.

After hearing about a great instructor in Florida, he made the trek down and was hooked. His staff would run the store for a few months of the off-season so he could be diving down south. Then, the tourism industry faltered in the wake of 9/11, and Dreher and his wife decided to make a change.

“We love nature. We don’t like shoveling snow,” he said. “And it’s hard to make a living teaching cave diving when it’s cold.”

The couple have been in High Springs for eight years, though adventure is never far away. Their last excursion led them to Colorado to go ice climbing. However, they also enjoy tamer activities such as mountain biking, kayaking and, of course, outdoor laser tag.

Dreher’s next exploit will be figuring out what to do with the 20 acres M2 Battlesports will have at the Newberry location. Right now, the plan is to offer more scenario-based games such as having to rescue an endangered pilot. Giving players missions to complete will add to the video-game feel, Dreher said. There might even be some GPS technology involved.

But the most important thing to him is that people enjoy themselves.

“I really like doing things that entertain people,” he said. “I just had a feeling that people would embrace this.”

As Zach Hartjes, one of Dreher’s employees, put the guns away after a Saturday afternoon birthday party, a boy dropped his gear and ran to his mother.

“This game was fun!” he screamed.

Hartjes shook his head and laughed.

“That’s ‘cause you won,” he shouted back.

But the child was long gone, sharing battle stories with his friends and debating what flavor his victory ice cream cone should be. s

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>> CULTURE CLUB

Springtime

Festivals WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL HENRY

Alachua Spring Festival

A Fun-Filled Day of Music, Food and Games

Where: Main Street in Downtown Alachua When: Sun., March 30, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Event is free and open to the public. www.alachuabusiness.com

M

ore than 150 vendors will dazzle shoppers while live music streams from two stages.

Bring your furry pooch and stroll down the street dotted with Victorian style homes.

Stop by the South Stage to have a rest and listen to Travelin’ Light, said festival chair Valerie Taylor. This year’s Alachua Spring Festival will feature plenty for the kids as well with rides, bungee jumps, ponies and a petting zoo. Most of the stores and restaurants along Main Street will be open for business or grab a funnel cake, barbecue or kettle corn from one of the festival vendors.

Relax and take in the music or catch a glimpse of artists at work in Theater Park.

The Alachua Business League started the festival 12 years ago with a group of volunteers who wanted to bring visitors to their town. It’s a great way for people from all over the area to experience what Alachua has to offer. The festival committee hopes to draw people into the local businesses and keep them coming back after they discover Alachua’s charm. It’s a way to build the economy while providing entertainment and fun to people from across the area.

Logistics coordinator, Kelly Harris, said the festival typically draws 5,000 to 10,000 visitors looking for plants, jewelry, woodcrafts and homemade jams. Non-profit groups will be handing out information and provide some games and activities for the kids, such as face painting and puppet shows. The event is free, but proceeds from the vendor fees will enable the Alachua Business League to award a scholarship to a Santa Fe High School student so they can continue their education at Santa Fe College and become a future entrepreneur. Last year they were able to award around $1,700.

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Newberry Spring Festival Bringing Spring to Main Street Where: Main Street in Downtown Newberry When: Sat., April 5, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cost: Event is free and open to the public. www.newberrymainstreet.com

T

he first weekend in April, Newberry’s downtown will come alive for the 7th Annual Newberry Spring Festival. It’s a family friendly kind of street market sponsored by the Newberry Main Street Organization. Craft vendors will line the street selling pottery, jewelry and flowers. Others will have woodcrafts, aprons, candles and goat soaps. Festival coordinators said to expect food vendors as well with barbecue, funnel cakes and kettle corn. Grab a Tropical Sno treat for the kids while they enjoy the bounce houses.

The festival also coincides with the opening of the Newberry Farmers Market. Just across the railroad tracks

from the festival the farmers market will be in full swing from 8 a.m. to noon. The market is certified with the statewide nutrition program, which provides farmers market coupons for seniors and those on WIC. This year the organization got a grant that enables them to match those coupons for fruit and vegetables at the market. If someone has $40 in coupons to spend at the market they will have $80 at the Newberry Farmers Market.

Around 2,000 to 3,000 people come to the spring festival each year to enjoy the entertainment. This year Late Night Delivery will be entertaining all day with music from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

The event is a fundraiser to get people into downtown Newberry. The Newberry Main Street Organization works on historical preservation, but it also works to revitalize and build up downtown businesses.

Barbara Hendrix of the NMSO, said last year one cupcake shop sold all their cupcakes in one day because

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of the festival. It helps people discover what Newberry has to offer and hopefully keep them coming back after the festival is over.

Hendrix said they’d like to get some monthly festivals going to continue bringing people into those downtown businesses.

Newberry Watermelon Fest Farming Traditions with Family and Friends Where: Destiny Comm. Church property on Hwy 26 When: Sat., May 17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: $3 per person, kids are free www.newberrywatermelonfestival.com

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he Newberry Watermelon Festival began in 1946 as a celebration of agriculture. It’s the oldest consecutive watermelon festival in the country, said its president Kathi Thomas. It’s all the watermelon your heart desires and activities the whole family can enjoy.

One of the most well known productions for the festival is the beauty pageant. Beauties range from dimpled diapered dolls to high school sweethearts. But the main event is the coronation of the watermelon queen. But her royal highness isn’t just a pretty face. These girls have to be smart and well versed in all things agriculture.

“They’re really knowledgeable about what the ag industry is,” Thomas said.

They are not only the face of the Newberry festival, but their job also includes spreading awareness and information about the agriculture industry. The queens are often University of Florida students and FFA girls. Two years ago the Newberry watermelon queen went onto the senate floor to lobby for agriculture.

The queen also goes into the elementary schools to provide information on farming and the health benefits of the

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melons. In the past 5 or 6 years, three of the winners of the statewide watermelon queen competition came from the Newberry Watermelon Festival. Two of those queens went on to win the national watermelon queen title. If last year’s state-wide queen, who is from the Newberry festival, wins at the national competition this year, it will mean back to back state and national watermelon queens will have come from Newberry.

For the furry beauty queens there is a doggy beauty pageant followed by the watermelon festival parade. Then participants can check out the auction and all the contests for watermelon eating, seed spitting, and hog calling.

Children will enjoy the bouncy houses, bungee jumping and obstacle courses, and children 5 and under can join in the watermelon roll. They’ll roll their watermelon down a path in a race to the finish. A more hysterical version of the watermelon roll is the roll off between local personalities Lewis Stokes and Mark Copeland. Watching two grown men waddle down the path keeps the crowd in stitches, Thomas said.

All the watermelons for the festival come from local farmers.

“We’re promoting agriculture,” Thomas said.

Last year because of the bizarre weather, the local melons weren’t ready until a week after the festival. So another farm in Arcadia donated all the melons they used.

“We always have people from our watermelon family who donate,” she said.

The festival has grown so much that its planning committee had to find a new location. Last year they moved the festival to the future site of the Destiny Community Church to try and accommodate everyone.

About 5,000 people came out last year, which was relatively low. They’d like to see more attendees this year since it’s their second year at the new location. Proceeds from the festival go directly toward festival costs, scholarships and Destiny Community Church. Each year they distribute a $2,000 scholarship to a graduating senior.

And since the church does so much for the community, Thomas said they have a win-win situation.

High Springs Pioneer Days Art, Entertainment and History Combine Where: James Paul Park When: Saturday, April 26 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, April 27 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cost: Event is free and open to the public. www.HighSprings.com or call 386-454-3120

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ake a step back in time during the annual High Springs Pioneer Days Festival. Old favorites such as the railroad and black history museums will be in full swing in the Historic High Springs Elementary School Building and Community Center.

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craft and trade booths. Live music will put some pep in your step as well as radio personalities from KCountry and 98.1 in Live Oak. Freeze with your hands up at the annual shootout reenactments twice a day throughout the weekend. Festival patrons are encouraged to join in the fun by dressing in period clothing.

“It adds to the spirit of the festival,” said Dot Harvey, communications manager for the High Springs Chamber of Commerce.

New to the festival this year is the quilt show in

They’re spreading the excitement by featuring some of the quilts in each issue of the local newspaper, so they hope more people will join in the excitement.

Some quilts will be hung while others will be laid out on tables. Clark said they’ll set up little vignettes with furniture to add to the atmosphere of each quilt.

In one room, they’ll also be showing a PBS series about quilts and their value in our culture and history. And they’ll have talks and hands-on demonstrations that people can take home with them as well. Anyone

the old restored schoolhouse. Mosey over to the Post Springs room to see the exhibit, “Tell me a story: Quilts with a tale.”

Suzie Ann Clark, coordinator for the Heritage Village, said she’s running the quilt show this year and is so excited for the new exhibit. The quilts won’t be judged, but instead they’re asking people in the community to share their stories. They’ll have t-shirt quilts, story quilts and memory quilts. An old one Clark will be showing dates back to around 1812. It was in her father’s family when they loaded the family into a Conestoga wagon and headed west to Oklahoma to take part in the free land the U.S. government was giving away. The quilt sat in the old sod house where her family lived so many years ago.

One quilt maker was commissioned by a family to make a quilt out of a woman’s wedding dress.

The young woman was only married a few months before she died in a car accident, so the quilt will be in memory of her.

Clark said they’ll be taking photos of the makers or owners with their quilts and she has someone who is interested in compiling all the stories into a book.

interested in displaying a quilt can call 386-454-8889 for more information.

Outside in the Heritage Village they will have old-time crafters including a woman who spins and weaves. The 1800s mercantile wagon will have food such as pork rinds and old fashioned soda pop. Last year they had a blacksmith with a trailer full of tools who narrated as he worked.

Let the kids play some of the old-time games while you grab some kettle corn.

The festival began as a celebration of the tobacco harvest, but when the demand for tobacco dropped in the 1970s they switched the focus and pressed on as an old-time variety show where men dressed as dance hall girls. The new theme was a little too scandalous for the town, so in 1981, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored a citywide yard sale. Women wore old-time dresses and men dressed as cowboys. The annual gunfight started as an impromptu act put on by one of the residents. The yard sale morphed into the festival we know today with more than 65 vendors and visitors in the thousands. Now it’s an annual fun fest and a peek into the past. s

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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>> SUMMER SQUASH

A Veggie-tastic

Celebration The Windsor Zucchini Festival Offers fers Family-Friendly Fun for the 30th Year ear

WRITTEN BY SHAYNA POSSES

O

n one Saturday every year, the children of Windsor get excited about their vegetables.

The Windsor Zucchini Festival is celebrating 30 years of games, contests and zucchini-flavored everything this May. Bobbi Walton has been in it since the beginning.

She started the festival with Robert Hutchinson, now a county commissioner, to raise money for the volunteer fire department. Fish fries just weren’t cutting it.

Hutchinson suggested a festival based on the area’s biggest crop.

“I laughed at him,” said Walton, president of Windsor Community Services. “I told him, ‘No one will buy into that.’”

With the money raised from that year’s festival, they were able to make the payments necessary to keep the fire department building open. Since then, the festival has paid off the building’s mortgage, bought two fire trucks and kept up with the department’s insurance.

54 | Spring 2014

“I never did want to be a fire per-son, but I could always raise money,” y,” Walton said.

And in the process, she’s helped create a Windsor tradition. She said this year’s festival will offer all the favorites ites that bring more than 20,000 people to the e 2,000-person town every spring.

“It’s one of the most exciting days for Windsor,” Walton said. “A week or two before, the he kids start asking, ‘Bobbi, when’s the festival?’”

Their day starts after the opening ceremony with the Duke of Zuke and Queen of Zuqueenie eenie pageant giving children and teens the chance to squash the competition. If the thought of getting onstage leaves your child a little green, there will be arts and crafts and — in honor of three decades of the e festival — oldfashioned country games.

Walton said they usually have some e sort of ride or bounce house, but the organizers decided ded they don’t want kids to have to worry about bringing ing money. So,

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30th

Annual

Windsor Zucchini Festival Where: Windsor, County Road 234 between State Road 20 and State Road 26.

When: Sat., May 10, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Event is free and open to the public.

Visit www.afn.org/~windsor/page2.htm for orr more details

“There was a year we sold $5,000 in fried zucchini,” she said. “You have to fry a lot of zucchini.” they decided to go back to the festival’s roots with activities like a greased zucchini carrying contest and a zucchini toss, which is played like cornhole but with squash-shaped beanbags.

The older crowd can get in on the zucchini fun with a carving contest, which never fails to impress Walton.

She said there are usually eight to 10 carvings, and they’re never the same thing.

“One year, a lady carved a little church, and she had a fence around it and had little benches in front of it,” she said. “I can’t believe what she did with toothpicks and zucchini.”

For those looking for zucchini-free entertainment, there will be live music and 93 booths selling everything from jewelry to exotic plants.

Festival chairwoman Cindy Kruger said the plants are probably her favorite part, giving the event a garden vibe.

“It’s off the concrete, under the beautiful oak trees,” she said. “It’s a really pretty drive even to just get here.”

But the reason people come from near and far? The

56 | Spring 2014

food, of course.

“The zucchini ice cream, fried f i d zucchini — oh my,” Kruger said.

Sweet Dreams makes the zucchini ice cream especially for the festival. It has become an old standby like Blackwell’s zuke cornbread and the fried zucchini, which draws a family up from Orlando every year, $8 in hand for two orders of the treat.

“There was a year we sold $5,000 in fried zucchini,” she said. “You have to fry a lot of zucchini.”

There is also a Cook-A-Zuke competition that leads to adventurous options such as zucchini spaghetti and zucchini chocolate cake.

Still, Walton said the festival’s calling card is a barbecue chicken dinner provided by local groups. The meal is cooked by volunteers and dished out for $9 a plate, accompanied by veggies of all kinds — cabbage, black-eyed peas, yellow squash — prepared by the Cracker Boys Hunt Club.

“You can’t name a fresh vegetable they won’t have some of,” she said.

It is a real group effort, keeping the close-knit community going from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pull it all off. And though the festival’s namesake no longer fills fields and grows on the side of the road — now, there are more blueberries — Windsor wouldn’t have it any other way.

“One of our congressman declared us the zucchini capital of Florida,” Walton said. “It’s been our calling.” s

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>> OLD FLORIDA

Celebrating 50 Years of

Creativity

WRITTEN ITTEN BY SHAYNA POSSES

A

t the second-ever Cedar Key Fine Arts Festival, 9-year-old Beth Johnson — now Beth Davis — won the children’s category for a watercolor of a fish house. Her prize? A ribbon, her picture in the paper

and $5.

She grew up with the festival, which turns 50 this year. Every spring, Davis and her friends would wander around in between shifts at the school booths, checking out the art and the interesting visitors who flocked to town. Now Davis leaves the prize-winning to others, but she looks forwards to the event every year.

“It’s always a really exciting weekend,” she said. “It shuts down the town.”

Cedar Key sits about 60 miles southwest of Gainesville at the very end of State Road 24, an island community of about 800 with a passion for the arts.

The festival — renamed the Old Florida Celebration of

60 | Spring 2014

the Arts — that started with 40 exhibitors and a few hundred visitors in 1964 now attracts a lively competition for one of the 120 exhibition slots and more than 20,000 art-lovers who take over the four blocks of Historic Second Street. The art displayed includes paintings, sculpture, textiles, photography, jewelry and crafts, and is accompanied by local seafood, entertainment and children’s activities.

The juried art show will be held on April 12 and 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with artists competing for more than $14,000 in prizes and awards — a far cry from the first show where artists simply had to reserve sidewalk space in advance, and winners were chosen by a popular vote.

Started by Bessie Gibbs, operator of the town’s historic Island Hotel, the event was one of the first art festivals in the area, said Beverly Ringenberg, this year’s event coordinator. A 1968 article in the Florida

Rural Electric News saluted the town for “an Arts Festival that would do credit to a much larger city.”

“In a world increasingly involved in materialism, it is refreshing to find a small community willing to go all out in pursuit of the aesthetic,” the article reads.

Mike Segal, whose colorful, Floridainspired paintings have brightened the festival for 25 years, said the area has always attracted artists. When the festival began, Cedar Key had quite a few nationally recognized artists working nearby, which drew attention to the show.

“This is an area of Florida that has more artists per square mile than anywhere else in the state,” Segal said.

“It’s isolated. Artists have to work in isolation, and people who live here mind their business.”

The arts-minded community combined with the natural beauty of the island proved a perfect foundation for the festival, and April became the month of art in Cedar Key, a tradition that continues to this day.

The festival grew quickly, Ringenberg said, attracting 15,000 visitors less than a decade later. That year — 1972 — the Lions Club’s annual fish fry cost $1.50, and the festival was standing room only, according

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PHOTOS BY LARRY BEHNKE

ABOVE: Art-lovers explore the village of tents that takes over Historic Second Street for the weekend.

LEFT: At the City Park gazebo, entertainers play what Ringenberg calls the “best toe-tapping music of the last four decades.”

to a Gainesville Sun article. The next year, visitors were doubling up in single rooms. The barely two-lane roads were overrun with traffic jams. By 1975, there were 500 artists — and one policeman.

Locals started to think the festival was starting to get too big, so the decision was made to split the event into two: the spring arts festival and the October Seafood Festival. The arts festival settled down into a non-juried show, open to anyone.

“It was always a fairly good show,” Segal said, but in

62 | Spring 2014

2005, a Chamber of Commerce committee got together with local artists to revamp the festival and bring it back to its original vision.

That’s when Marsha Schwartz got involved. The mosaic artist and her sculptor husband, Chick, fell in love with the town as soon as they got out of their car at the Island Hotel the first time they visited.

“I’m not sure what draws us all here, but I’m amazed by the talented people who live here,” she said. “Besides just the beauty of the place, everybody waves at you.

Everybody smiles at you.”

They moved down from Canada, where they raised their children on a farm — “We did everything with a book in one hand,” — and were a natural choice to help

reimagine the arts event.

“When the chamber took it over, someone said you shouldn’t have an arts festival without the input of artists,” Schwartz said. “It was a natural assumption that it should be about art.”

“The show really serves as a museum without walls for an underserved arts community.”

The organizers visited other festivals and got to work recruiting talented artists. The Schwartzes used their connections in the art world to attract former and current museum directors and curators to act as judges.

It was a difficult but wonderful year, Schwartz said.

“I remember the first year, the artists came up to us who were involved, and they were so happy and awed by how they were treated. The word got out quickly,” she said. “It was that euphoria of having the townspeople, the businesspeople and the artists so grateful.”

Since 2009, the festival has been run by the Cedar Key Arts Center, an organization that provides arts programming and exhibits for the community yearround. For the festival’s 50th anniversary, staff chose to

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PHOTO BY LARRY BEHNKE

Old Florida Celebration of the Arts April 12th and 13th • 10am – 5pm www.cedarkeyartsfestival.com for an underserved arts community,” put the focus on a local landmark he said. “The thing I think is the most — the Honeymoon Cottage. The important is to see all these people Thomas family, of Gainesville, from all these small communities built the wood-framed cottage having a cultural exchange on the 300 feet from shore as a weekend highest level.” getaway years ago. It has been But he said one of his favorite the subject of art creation after parts of the event is seeing the same art creation, but storms have customers every year and watching gotten to it, said Ringenberg, past their children grow up. president of the arts center.

“On the [Island] Hotel’s veranda, Locals are apt to say that one and in the lobby, reunions happen,” more big storm will get the best reads an old St. Petersburg Times of it, so the festival organizers article. “Never seeing each other decided this would be a good at any other time during the year, year to honor the iconic building, PHOTO COURTESY OF OLD FLORIDA bunches of annual friends meet in the Ringenberg said. Its image is being CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS quaint lobby where they first met.” used in the festival’s marketing, Carmen Williams displaying her art It is a wonderful time for the locals, and the center will hold an exhibiin 1964. By the ‘70s, thousands of who throw their support behind the tion commemorating the cottage art pieces competed for recognition festival year after year. Community in February. During the month of in eight categories, including acrylic volunteers staff the event. Nonprofit April, the center will hold a special painting and pottery. organizations such as churches and exhibition detailing 50 years of art garden clubs run the food booths. The in Cedar Key. artists involved mostly hail from the North Florida region.

With only a couple galleries remaining in the area after “It is simply the will and desire of the people who the recession and no art museum or arts council in Levy live here to retain this connection to art,” Schwartz County, Segal said it is the combination of the center, the said. “Each year, everyone seems to have worked themfestival and local artists that keeps the arts thriving.

“The show really serves as a museum without walls selves to exhaustion, but we keep coming back.” s

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>> INTERVIEW

Scott Meyer

SCULPTOR MINING FOR CREATIVITY

Sculptor, architect, inventor, philosopher, screenwriter, builder — Scott Meyer is constantly creating. His desire in every project is the same: Leave a positive mark on the world.

INTERVIEW BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

AGE: 61 HOMETOWN: BURLINGTON, WISCONSIN LIVING IN ALACHUA FOR: 28 YEARS EDUCATION: EVANS HIGH SCHOOL (ORLANDO) CLASS OF 1971 Plus 43 years training in the school of life, AKA the school of hard knocks.

No formal art training.

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“I’m just an old hippie, living in the woods, making art,” says sculptor Scott Meyer, when asked to reveal what some might label ‘the mysterious life of an artist.’ Looking at Meyer’s ponytail, Crocs and bus-conversion guesthouse, one might be inclined to agree.

Let him talk a bit longer, however, and Meyer reveals a much more complex, Renaissance-man type of mosaic, with his interests and talents ever-shifting between art, invention, farming, film, spirituality, writing, construction and a vast array of side adventures including a recent foray into the Himalayan salt market.

“I’m continually mining the vein of creativity, heavily,” Meyer said.

At 61, Meyer says he has spent the last several years reinventing himself, post-recession.

“The last five years have been rough in the art market,” said Meyer, whose sells his work mostly at the wholesale level to interior designers. “People

just quit buying art. I’m selling onetwentieth of what I sold in prior years.

I’ve recently started carving smaller, less-costly pieces in jade, as well, hoping to enter a different market.”

Currently finishing a pair of alabaster vases to be shipped to Chicago, the man whose hands bear witness to both the strength and scars that come from decades of working with stone, plans to use those hands to construct a micro-home. Hoping to sell the micro-home to raise building capital to finance a 4,200 sq. ft. studio and warehouse, Meyer notes that in a fluctuating art market, you do what needs to be done.

“People tend to think of artists as living in some magical world,” Meyer said.

“But really, we are just like everyone else. We eat, sleep, pay bills and do what it takes to get by. Admittedly, though, there is something magical that takes place when you are creating. That’s the beauty of my world.”

PHOTOS BY TJ MORRISSEY

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I recently caught up with Scott Meyer and he opened up his world — and his 40-acre Alachua ranch — to Our Town Magazine.

People are always curious about artistic talent — where it comes from, how one discovers it, nurtures it, and why one is driven to create. What is your backstory?

SM: At age 19, with no real prospects or plans, I had what I can only describe as an unbelievably powerful spiritual experience.

I had no formal art training. Nor had I been inclined to pursue art. I was not an artist.

But the day following this experience, I was.

I woke up knowing how to sculpt and to draw. Every detail. And I was, from that point on, compelled to do so. I have never taken lessons or studied under someone else. I did not choose art. Art chose me.

I have not always been able to focus solely on sculpting, however. For many years, when raising a family, I worked in the construction industry. I’ve been a plumber, carpenter, mason, electrician and cabinetmaker. But it’s hard to maintain an interest in something that is not your calling. Even when I could not do so full time, I wanted to sculpt.

When my son, Eli, was six and his two older sisters, Onna and Shanna, were almost grown, I decided to give my art my full attention. That was about 20 years ago.

Now that you can spend your time creatively, what is a typical day like for you?

SM: At 61, I’m just not interesting in working as hard as I used to. I wake up when I’m rested and morning hours are dedicated to my personal life. Then, I catch the noon train to work, so to speak, and go at it until 5:00 in my workshop. I find that I can get a lot done in five solid, productive hours. I’m fairly disciplined and I’m a hard worker. If I’m under a deadline, I will work late, but usually I stop at 5:00 and cook dinner for myself and my girlfriend, Valoree.

What is your favorite thing to do when not sculpting?

SM: I love good films. I also do a lot of designing — buildings, machinery, future sculptures.

And I love good food, a little too much, I’m afraid.

What catches your artist’s eye?

SM: I enjoy beauty in every form. Nature is

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filled with beautiful things. Also architecture, other people’s art — and people.

Where do you go for, or find inspiration?

SM: I can’t say I go anywhere for inspiration, but that I go everywhere for it. Inspiration is in everything. I am always “gardening” my knowledge, feelings, dreams, hopes, beliefs and ideas, hoping to reap some inspiration.

It’s an internal thing and difficult to describe.

Is there another artist whose work you admire or who has inspired you?

SM: Far too many to try to name them! I am inspired by all good art. But if I had to name one, it would be Michelangelo — and especially The Pietà.

Who is your biggest fan or cheerleader?

SM: I feel like every time someone tells me they like what I do, or pays their hard-earned money for my art — that’s a fan! Recently, a woman looked at my work and stared crying.

That’s better than money. So, there’s not really any one person. My family has always been very supportive.

Is that how you stay motivated? When others admire your sculptures?

SM: I would say my motivation comes from a few sources; others’ appreciation of my work, inspiration, financial necessity and, of course, caffeine.

Once inspired and motivated, how do you find the right stone for a project and then select the perfect piece?

SM: Most of my travel revolves around prospecting. I prospect all over the country for stones that are suited for sculpting, then have them shipped — 24 tons at a time — to my ranch. It’s to my advantage to get the largest stones I can, although I am limited to 14,000 lb. pieces since that is all my crane can lift.

How to approach the stone is another matter. Sculpting is as much engineering as it is talent or skill. You can either conceive the idea and then find a stone that meets your needs, or you can pick a stone and let it become what it wants to become. I enjoy both. As far as finding the perfect stone, I have told my students that picking a stone is like picking a mate. You want one with the least character flaws. Flawless being a near impossibility, try to find one whose flaws you can live with.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCOTT MEYER B&W PHOTO BY DANA RASMUSSEN

Sculptor Scott Meyer’s works are held in private collections across the country and grace some of the finest homes in America.

More than simply an artist, however, Meyer holds copyrights on four literary works and his hobbies include architectural design, machinery design, inventing and studying spiritual texts from around the world.

“I like to show off Mother Nature — expose its beauty — and make it even better,” Meyer said.

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PHOTO BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

After all that effort to obtain your stone, have you ever really messed up a sculpture and had to scrap the rock, or do you simply make something else out of it?

SM: Yes, to all of those. Stone is a very unforgiving material to work with — and it’s easy to make a mistake. It is rare that you are able to rework it. You get one shot. I have a whole building full of mistakes.

That’s just the way it is.

Tell me about your lit stonework.

SM: Well, years ago, I discovered that if I lit the stone it would take on a new dimension. In prospecting, I found that a particular domestic alabaster really did it for me. As far as my lit vases go, it took about ten years to solve all the problems inherent in the process to make them. I have to admit to taking advantage of Mother Nature’s beauty to my own benefit. I sell more of my lit vases than anything else.

Are you ever fully satisfied with your work? Or do you always see a flaw?

SM: Usually I am satisfied, but not always, because I’m not interested in mediocrity. I’m looking for quality in my work. People say I’m overly hard on my own work. I don’t think I am.

How do you choose your next project?

SM: It would be nice to say that I just go by inspiration, but truthfully, finances always enter the picture to one degree or another. There’s what I’m inspired to do and then there’s what finances dictate I do. I can make artistic products, or simply art, or even more personal art. Each one, in that order, is a little less marketable. I combine the aspects of inspiration and finances and go with that.

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Is there something you have always wanted to create, but never have?

SM: Yes. I have tons of art that I want to do yet. In particular, I have a line of political art I would love to do. I have inventions I would like to see come to fruition — and several building projects.

If you were not an artist, what would you be doing?

SM: I think it was Nikolas Tesla who said, “The only thing better than being an artist is being an inventor.”

I do find great satisfaction in the process of inventing.

But my dream job would be as a screenwriter. In fact, I have written three film concepts. I think it is important to leave a positive mark on the world. Films have the ability to do that in a big way.

Since you can’t yet watch your film concept, describe for us the feeling of sitting back and looking at a just-finished sculpture.

SM: That feeling can vary. If I can feel the magic and quality in the piece, it’s an incredibly good feeling. On a rare occasion, I’m unhappy. I often joke about looking at my stone wicker basket for a pick-me-up. If I’m feeling down, I go and touch it and say, “I made this.” It is fulfilling to take a raw material that has little or no value and make out of it something that is valuable — to me and others. I like to bring beauty to the world, and when I do it brings me inner peace. s

Meyer’s work can currently be seen at Leonardo’s 706, Downtown 101 and the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, and adorning the walls, shelves, tables and porches of his own cottage in Alachua.

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COLUMN >> DONNA BONNELL

Embracing Life Spring Chickens

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pring is in the air! It is the season to celebrate rebirth. Gardens are planted, windows opened and a general cleansing takes place — both physical and mental. On a recent road trip to my hometown, I found myself reminiscing about a special spring season that took place long ago. This tale about how my life took an unexpected path began circa 1968.

Born in the metropolis of Miami, I was a city girl. As a young adolescent, my family moved to a section of Dade County just beginning to grow in population, but still somewhat rural. We had an acre of land and farm animals. Someone gave us two chicks. My sister and I fell in love with our baby boys, named Henry and Caesar. However, they grew into monstrously mean roosters. These angry birds ruled the land, while the humans were held hostage inside our own home. All of us, especially our mother, were afraid to go outdoors.

Eventually a neighbor suggested that we butcher the foul fowls. Henry and Caesar became Sunday supper.

When we began to eat, Mom got nauseous. Dad said they were too tough to chew. Sandy and I cried.

That could have been an end to my chicken story,

but it was only the beginning. Shortly after the demise of Henry and Caesar, we shared our failed roosterraising saga with a friend. Ironically (perhaps) she was forming a 4-H club in our neighborhood. Sandy and I were invited to join. Since it was comprised of students from farming families, the unofficial theme (of the club) was animals. Of course, we did not own any creatures.

Therein lays the paradoxical twist to this story.

My sister and I came home from school the next day and found an incubator, filled with eggs. Our new leader had gotten in touch with the Dade County Agricultural Extension Agent and shared our story. Mysteriously (maybe) he was looking for a foster home for fertile eggs — soon to be chicks. We became their temporary parents, in charge of turning the eggs four times every day.

Miraculously most of the eggs matured and hatched.

What a spectacular sight to witness the chicks peck their way out of their shells. Hearing our precious newborns peeping was music to our ears. A few days later, the agricultural agent came to pick up the incubator and babies. All of us were so sad to say goodbye. He

Birdzilla would roost on the roof, dive down and spur family, friends or foe.

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asked if we would like to keep the chicks as our 4-H project. We enthusiastically accepted his offer.

From that day forward, chickens played an important role in my life. One of my high school accomplishments was to become the State of Florida Poultry Judging champion, which came with a college scholarship. I raised and showed hundreds of chickens, ducks and turkeys, and candled and sold eggs. In addition, my husband and I met at the Dade County Agriculture Fair.

Decades have passed. We moved to Newberry and have owned a few chickens since those days.

Sometimes history has a way of repeating itself — déjà vu seemed to occur.

Once again, I became the foster parent of a friend’s chickens while she was in the process of moving. We somehow acquired a rooster, which we named Birdzilla!

Birdzilla was a terrifying territorial terrorist gamecock.

He stalked anyone who entered his domain. Birdzilla would roost on the roof, dive down and spur family, friends or foe. This feisty foul would follow an innocent bystander and attack them from behind. He had to go.

After the Henry and Caesar lesson learned many years ago, we found this big bad bird another home.

Today, the only chicken I have is a Christmas ornament, made by a friend in honor of Birdzilla. Always strategically placed at the top of the tree, the dominate decoration seems to guard and protect his brood of holiday trimmings.

The modest home once located on one-acre plot of land no longer exists. The structure was demolished, to make way for a Miami-Dade College campus. Miami has drastically changed, but my childhood memories remain steadfast.

On my lighthearted ride down memory lane, I embraced the value of taking a break from current reality and putting life into perspective. While pondering the past, I discovered a phenomenon that charted a unexpected track in my life’s journey.

Who knows what lies ahead? Spring has arrived.

Lexi and Owen (my two 4-year old grandchildren) may get chicks from the Easter Bunny. Stranger things have certainly happened. s

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>> GLOWING ENDORSEMENT

Shine a Light America’s First 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum

WRITTEN BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

E

very artist has at least a glimpse of a vision for his or her next work, whether it’s a painting, sculpture or story. Robert Roberg is no exception, with the exception that his vision extends well beyond the canvas of his latest 3-D fluorescent painting — or even his newly opened 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum in Newberry.

The first details of this vision were painted in 1988 when Roberg originally took fluorescent paint and created a work titled “Thirsty and Blind.”

“I didn’t know anything about 3-D work back then,” Roberg said. “I just liked the fluorescent colors and it seemed like the fluorescent paint had new life.

My later paintings were designed with layers to enhance the 3-D effect.”

Over the interim years, Roberg has pursued the 3-D fluorescent method — and other artists interested in the same — both creating and gathering a body of work that varies in size, subject and technique and showcasing them in what Roberg bills as America’s First 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum.

“This is something relatively new in artistic terms,” Roberg said. “Paint didn’t used to glow. Not often does something really fresh and new come into the art

PHOTOS BY TJ MORRISSEY

Newberry Mayor Bill Conrad with Robert Roberg and his daughter Mercy. Visitors are encouraged to don 3-D glasses and dress in fluorescent-friendly clothing.

78 | Spring 2014

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“Like every child, my mother gave me paper and pencil to keep me busy. Then I took art classes in my middle years of school. In high school I could be found doodling while the teacher was talking. Before you know it, you’re an artist.

I’ve never studied art. I’ve pretty much taught myself.

What I’ve found is that art is both relative and subjective.”

— Robert Roberg, folk artist

world. This combined 3-D fluorescent concept is fresh and new, though both have been around in separate formats for years.”

The idea for the museum itself is also fresh and new, as evidenced in its name. Having searched the world over, Roberg, a teacher at the University of Florida’s English Language Institute, has been unable to find any other art or museum venue featuring this unique format for painting.

“I went online and looked up topics like fluorescent, neon, and black light and found people who were doing fluorescent art, though not all are using the techniques for 3-D,” Roberg said. “But I couldn’t find another such museum in the world. Once, when visiting Amsterdam, I saw an advertisement for a fluorescent museum. It didn’t feature 3-D work, and was never open while we were there, but it did spark the thought, ‘I could do that!’”

As Roberg now leads visitors through the museummanifestation of that thought, his enthusiasm is as

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vibrant at the neon paint adorning the walls, ceilings, furniture and light fixtures there. Encouraged by the artist to first walk among the works without 3-D glasses and then go back through with them, museum patrons experience a unique visual treat.

Newberry resident Steve Donahey’s four children commented on the facility’s grand opening experience with words like “Whoa,” “Awesome,” “Creepy,” “Cool,” and “My shorts light up!”

“I saw this and thought the kids might like it,” Donahey said. “Apparently, they do!”

Also touring opening weekend was Gainesville resident, Mauricio Nunez, who described the museum as “innovative.”

“My wife was a student of Robert’s at UF,” Nunez said. “So we came out to see and support him. I love this. Not only is it a 3-D experience but you also have the novel fact that it is paintings. I do love art.”

“It’s an experience that I’ve never had before,” added his wife, UF English student Cristina Nunez Godoy.

PHOTO BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

Artist Robert Roberg explains a large painting titled “Angelification” to visitor Mauricio Nunez during the recent grand opening of America’s first 3-D Fluorescent Art Museum in Newberry. The event drew more than 50 visitors the first night, with Newberry’s mayor cutting the ribbon to officially open the unique venue.

“Something completely new. You tend to think that everything has been done that can be done with art and then you see something like this.”

Roberg, grandfather to Wisdom, age 3 — whose work hangs in the museum — recognizes the appeal of the genre to the younger generation, as well as the necessity to garner fans and future artists from its ranks. As a result, children’s (“And children of all ages!”) classes are a big part of the museum’s offerings during non-exhibit hours. Roberg and his wife, Monique, have scheduled Saturday afternoon sessions for both children’s crafts and adult 3-D fluorescent painting.

Future efforts include plans for story and song writing, filmmaking and black light puppetry.

“We’re quickly moving into a world with digitally produced music and 3-D printers,” Roberg said. “What is happening to the artist? This art has something that cannot be mass replicated. Machines can’t do this. This art is different. It’s like the paint is almost saying ‘Catch me if you can; I can do something technology can’t.’

You can’t replicate this with a 3-D printer. It’s going where a computer can’t go.”

Roberg hopes this becomes a movement and not just a flash in the pan. The area is home to many artists, but he said there is no new level for them to go.

“This could be liberating,” he said. “I want people to see this. They need to see this. Otherwise, it’s all just sitting in my storage unit.”

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“This could be liberating, I want people to see this” With a well-attended February grand opening weekend (close to 60 guests the first night alone, with Newberry’s mayor cutting the ribbon), Roberg is encourraged about the future of his dream-come-true endeavor. or.

“It’s one of those dreams you think will never happen,” Roberg said. “Twenty years ago, when my daughter was just twelve, she drew a design for this museum as I told her about my idea. She presented me with that drawing last night at the opening, having kept it all these years.”

Roberg said his ultimate vision is to have a lot of 3-D fluorescent artists in the area, so when people visit to Florida they will want come and see the fluorescent art.

“Maybe one day Newberry will be known for this art the way the Sebring, Florida area is known for its murals,” he said. “We spotted this building space for rent when we came here for the opening of the Fire House Gallery. Not having found a suitable location in Gainesville, we came here. There has been a lot of good support from the local community. This is an easy going-place and out here we’re a little more unique.”

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>> GROWING PROBLEM

Space Invaders There are Alien Plants and Animals Among Us in Central Florida

WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL HENRY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KRISTEN KOZELSKY

T

here are alien life forms lurking in the woods of Central Florida. Some creep through underbrush and snake up and around the trees. Others submerge themselves in the lakes and streams leaving a trail of destruction and death. And others are found in your own backyard.

These foreign species often look harmless, but they are the second biggest threat to the health of Florida’s biodiversity.

The two biggest problems that biodiversity faces are humans and invasive species, said biologist Tom Morris. Invasive species are non-native plants and animals that take over and kill the natives.

Many people have heard about the python problem in Florida. Pet owners are releasing pythons into the wild when they get too big or the owners grow tired of caring for them. Morris said 99 percent of the small mammals such as raccoons, mice, rats and opossums are gone when the snakes are rampant.

But another killer is on the loose in Florida, and its

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Biologist Tom Morris at the recent coral ardisia pull at Loblolly Woods that took place on February 22. The ardesia plants are thick in the headwaters of Hogtown Creek, where the city of Gainesville sponsors ardesia pulls there. Morris said the ardesia was head high.

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furry little paws can be found curled up on your lap.

Domestic housecats that are allowed to roam outside are decimating the songbird and lizard population.

Some people worry about letting their precious Fluffy outside for fear that a coyote might attack. But cats are natural hunters and are the real predators.

On the island of Guam, Morris said people go out into the preserves to admire the beauty of Guam’s lush forests, but they often report having an uneasy feeling.

Then it dawns on them that there are no birds singing.

A serpent called the brown snake has infiltrated the forests and wiped out the bird population, including several species specific to that area.

But the snakes are not to blame, Morris said.

Humans are almost 100 percent at fault for the invasive species problem around the world. There is a theory that the niches for plants and animals are filled on each of the continents, and that it takes a real disturbance for a new species to take hold.

“Disturbance is our middle name,” Morris said.

“From bulldozers to machetes.”

One example is a fungal disease called laurel wilt that came over from Asia in the bellies of ambrosia beetles. The disease is killing a tree called the red bay.

The tree might seem insignificant, and many people may not even know what it is. But the spicebush swallowtail butterfly depends on the tree to lay her eggs. And although people may wonder why they should care about one species of tree or butterfly,

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Morris compares the delicate balance of nature to a well-oiled machine. What if each morning you went and plucked a random piece out of your car? It might not make much of a difference at first, but without all the pieces the car eventually wouldn’t run. Each piece

With shovels, gloves and buckets, volunteers go to work at Loblolly Woods. The Great American Cleanup season has begun and Current Problems is looking for people to sign up for river cleanups. Contact Current Problems or show up at Westside Park – they will find a place to put you to work.

is dependent on another. Protecting each species of native plants and animal is the key to biodiversity.

Biodiversity is essential to a healthy ecosystem. The invasive problem isn’t exclusive to the untamed forests of Central Florida, but it’s also affecting agriculture.

“If you don’t give a damn about biodiversity then do what we’re doing right now,” Morris said.

The red bays aren’t the only ones in trouble. The trees are members of the laurel family, and so they can spread laurel wilt to other family members, such as the betterknown sassafras and avocado trees. So far there is no real treatment for the disease, but the avocado industry in Florida is very concerned. Millions of trees have died

from the disease even with efforts to contain it. But since the beetles can fly, it’s been a challenge. The main effort has been to tell campers not to transport firewood from other areas, but the disease has already shown up in Miami avocado groves. They burned the trees down, but Morris said it’s just a matter of time before it spreads further. This invasive species has spread past the natural ecosystem and into our agriculture.

One theory, China connection, explains why some invasives tend to thrive, Morris said. When the earth was a supercontinent, the southeast United States and China were in the same longitudinal belt. When the continent split the plants were isolated, but now

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the headwaters of Hogtown Creek. The city sponsors ardesia pulls there, and Morris said the ardesia was originally head high and as thick as could be. It had excluded every other plant, and once it gets that bad there’s really not much you can do to destroy it.

Herbicides might work, but they can kill bigger trees. So groups often lead cleanups by hand.

One group that has taken on the job is Current Problems. Morris said one has to be smart in getting rid of invasives, so volunteers go out to areas that the ardesia is actively spreading. Some areas are so overgrown they’re almost hopeless. So they try to stop it in its tracks and press it back to the stronghold. Then they will deal with the worst of it last.

“Exotic plants are like trash that reproduces.”

that we are bringing in the distant cousins of our local vegetation, the local plants catch the diseases and can no longer fight them.

One of the biggest threats to the citrus industry is citrus greening. This disease gets its name because the fruit stays green when it should be ripening. It then becomes very bitter and inedible. Morris said if citrus canker is like a cold, citrus greening is more like a cancer. Farmers don’t even know their tree has the disease until it’s had it for a while. One infected tree can infect an entire grove before farmers even know it’s there. Again this disease is caused by a small non-native insect.

“These exotic animals and plants can really wreak havoc,” Morris said.

In the woods by his house there is a plant called a privet. Lugustrom, a commonly used bush, is part of the privet family. Morris said some non-native plants are well behaved and will stay within a person’s garden. But others, like the lugustrom, will spread like wildfire, and it’s impossible to tell the good from the bad. Privets love the wetlands, and when they escape into the woods they will absolutely dominate the understory. It’s originally from Asia and ideally adapted to be invasive. It has flowers that produce seeds. If you break off a limb it will root, and sometimes it will arch down and root again.

The ardesia plants, or coral ardesia, are thick in

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“If we don’t stop it, it’ll be all over the place,” Morris said.

Fritzi Olson, of Current Problems, said last year they planned an ardesia pull at Loblolly woods, and the weather was terrible. They didn’t expect many people to show up, but they were pleasantly surprised to have almost 40 volunteers.

Current Problems also went up at least four times a year to the Ichetucknee for eight years in a row to remove water lettuce by hand. They would sometimes have as many as 70 people out on the water. They have also helped remove water hyacinth, wild taro and water lettuce from Lake Santa Fe, and the air potato roundups have hundreds of volunteers each year.

Olson said the impact the clean-ups have varies.

They employ someone to regularly pick out new baby plants at the Ichetucknee, and the river is almost completely free of water lettuce. But the battle against the invasive species is on-going.

Without the help of groups like Current Problems and other eradicating volunteers, some areas of Central Florida would be completely overtaken by invasive species. Without the ongoing spraying program, the water hyacinth would completely take over.

People can get involved first by educating themselves about invasive and non-native species of plants and animals. Remove any invasive exotics from your own yard, and properly dispose of them so they don’t spread.

Some plants, such as aquatics, need a permit. But it’s simple enough to fill out online and there is no charge.

People are the reason for the invasion of these foreign plants and animals, but people can also work to be a part of the solution. s Volunteers can get involved with the Nature Operations Department through the City of Gainesville, or check with local state parks to see if they need help. To get involved with Current Problems email aar@currentproblems.org.

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>> DIRT DON’T HURT

Dancing with Mother Nature

There’s Something Fresh Going on at Bambi’s Organic Country Farm STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERICKA WINTERROWD

A

n old white and brown cracker house sits on a property spanning three and a half acres. On a sunny February day, Bambi Liss, 54, tends her farm. There is a crisp coolness in the air and the smell of herbs wafts through the wraparound porch. While sitting on her porch swing enjoying a glass of homemade hibiscus tea, Liss explained how she became the founder of Bambi’s Organic Country Farm and her utter surprise at just how green her thumbs have become.

It wasn’t that long ago that Liss took a leap of faith and purchased a farm in Fort White. It was May of 2012 and she wanted to create a place where natural foods could be grown free of chemicals and pesticides. After six months of a farmer apprenticeship program in Homestead, Liss told her husband that she finally knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: a farmer.

“He was like, ‘oh here she goes again,’” Liss said with a chuckle.

98 | Spring 2014

Once she and her husband were moved in, she wondered where to begin.

“The land needed a lot of work, so we just started a 20x30 area and we hand dug some raised areas where we planted a few vegetables, some cucumbers, beans and corn. And that is how we started,” Liss said.

Since then the farm has grown exponentially and all types of produce can be found on her land.

“I was amazed,” Liss said. “I never thought I had a green thumb.”

She said that her farm is rather small but people can grow everything that they would need for themselves on not even a quarter of an acre.

“We happen to have really good soil here,” Liss said.

“This land had not been farmed for several years, but many years ago it was part of a 360-acre plantation and 14 people lived inside this house here.”

Since the property had a history of being a farm, she was happy she could bring it back to its roots.

Something Liss is very proud of is leaving food behind for the next generation.

Since opening the farm, Liss has lost 25 pounds. “I didn’t go on a diet,” Liss said.

“I knew if I started farming the land and working the land that the weight would come off automatically, and it does.”

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“We have over 50 fruit trees on the property in the ground,” Liss said. “And eventually they will produce a lot of fruit. Won’t it be awesome, once I am no longer here on this property, that whoever moves in will be moving into a property that is just loaded with fresh food already? So anybody who has a house on any amount of land, they can start growing fruit trees and other things so they also will leave behind food for the next generation coming in.”

Liss considers her farm as a steward of the land, using environmentally safe, organic and heirloom seed free of genetically modified organisms (GMO) and chemicals. All harvesting and planting is done by hand and water conservation is always practiced.

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“We are using a drip irrigation system, which uses minimal amounts of water compared to having a sprinkler where the water goes all over and evaporates,” Liss said. “We run drip tape, which has little holes in it every six to eight inches, so the water drips out and spreads out only onto the necessary area where we plant.”

She said wintertime is one of her favorites for growing because that is when she grows cold weather vegetables such as lettuce, onions, carrots, turnips, parsnips, kale, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula and all of the herbs: parsley, dill, oregano, and cilantro, to name a few.

Then, in the summer there are the tomatoes, corn, beans and okra. Her fruit trees include apple, peach,

Liss, along with her dedicated farmhands, tend the land daily. Lettuce, kale and cauliflower are just some of the things one may find growing on her farm. A scarecrow helps keep away critters that find her produce especially tasty.

“Harvesting is always a dance with nature.” pear, plum, orange, tangerine, fig, lemon, lime and bay leaf as well as an edible hibiscus tree. Then there are the potatoes, ginger, turmeric, chives, scallions, radishes — and don’t forget the fresh-cut flowers, her favorite being the sunflower.

“I love sunflowers,” Liss said. “They make me feel so happy when I see them, because they are so tall and I just stand back looking at them and think, wow.”

With all of that produce, it is rare for Liss to take a trip to the grocery store.

“Lettuce, forget it. I don’t think I’ll be buying lettuce

ever again,” she said. “I’ll have lettuce all year round, hopefully.”

Liss’ path to planting started back in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where she was born and raised.

“When I was about 8 years old, I decided to grow some vegetables at home,” she said. “I planted some carrots, radishes and some beans and when they all came up, I loved it.”

Even though she has fond memories of planting when she was young, she said she had no background in farming and that all of her family came from the city.

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“You don’t have to be born into it,” Liss said. “You either love it or you don’t.”

For about five years, Liss had a macrobiotic catering service in Philadelphia, which, she said, is a holistic way of eating, mainly whole grains, vegetables, beans and seaweeds. She then moved to Pompano Beach after attending a vegetarian health spa vacation — from which she never returned home.

“I wound up working in the kitchen there and becoming the social director,” she said. “And I gave cooking classes to the guests who came to the spa.”

From there she worked as a private macrobiotic chef for celebrities in Ft. Lauderdale and as a marketing specialist at a Whole Foods Market in Aventura.

“I started to really understand and learn about organics working there,” she said. “You really get educated.”

After that, she sprinkled seeds in education, teaching children in Miami and Hialeah by giving cooking classes and planting gardens at afterschool programs.

“I was introducing them to healthy foods and healthy eating,” she said. “And then I thought, we need to start a garden.”

After receiving some coaching on how to start a garden, she said the children loved it and she discovered that she did too.

“At first I didn’t know how to start a garden, I really didn’t have the background in it,” Liss said. “I decided the children would be a part of it and we would all

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learn together.”

It was when Liss applied to be a farmer apprentice with a program in Homestead that she started studying organic farming and permaculture, a way of planting and farming that works in conjunction with nature through ecological designs. This system is used on her farm now, and seems to be working like a charm.

“In permaculture, we try to plant in layers and we use curves,” Liss said. “You can plant more extensively with permaculture designs and bring in perennial plants that fix nitrogen in the soil, which keeps your soil nice and rich for growing food.”

She, however, has never had a problem with the soil on her land. She remembers a neighbor stopping by while she first looked at the property.

“He said you could grow anything on this land,” she said. Aside from the neighbors being so welcoming and positive, Liss said it just felt right. She also ate dirt.

“I actually tasted the soil, and I said, ‘Wow, it tastes good!’”

Liss had heard that the soil in vineyards that produce the finest wines tastes good.

“So your soil is very important,” she said. “Also, this soil has not been used for many years. Nothing has been sprayed on it for many years.”

She explained how she also took soil samples to be tested in an effort to make sure her land was chemical free. Since then, she has never looked back.

Liss uses a compost system comprised of three compartments that turns rubbish, such as old produce and leaves, into fertilizer.

Currently, the farm is open for business every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4 to 6:30 pm.

“People can come up and shop,” she said. “We also have some added value items like marmalade. We call it golden marmalade and we make it with locally grown Seville oranges and mire lemons that I grow here.”

On Thursdays from noon to 5 pm, Liss can be found at the High Springs farmers market where she sells her tea, produce, baked goods, as well as jams and jellies.

High Springs resident Linda Heyl has been working with Liss for several months and said that farms such as Bambi’s are important to the community.

“I believe in what she is doing, the diversity of what she is doing,” Heyl said. “Everything is local and I’m a big believer in buying locally, so that is one of the reasons I am more than happy to be involved with her farm and help in making it successful.”

The success of growing depends a lot on weather and Liss explained that sometimes Mother Nature is an unruly dance partner.

“Harvesting is always a dance with nature,” she said.

Between the cold spells and the rain, the sun eventually comes back out and crops begin to grow.

“And we’ll be ready to harvest,” she said.

Liss has had a lot of help from her neighbors and said the people in her community are amazing.

“The neighbor next to me has an 8-year-old son and he came over with a cabbage plant because he wanted to plant it here,” she said. “He comes over every day and waters it, and that is what it is all about.”

If she could be any plant or produce grown on your farm what would she be?

Liss surveyed her land and thought long and hard before answering.

“I would want to be a fig tree,” she said. “Because figs are sweet and delicious, and they keep coming back.” s

th 38th Anniversary Special!

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Rolling Oaks Plaza

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL 352.372-5468 FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION.

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9

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>> Spring and Fall

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>> Features on coaches, players and recruits

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>> CHARITY

Hip Ways to Help Out Spring Fundraising for Haven Hospice

WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL HENRY

I

n 1978 after the loss of his brother-in-law, local Gainesville physician Raymond Fitzpatrick recognized the need for some kind of compassionate end-of-life care for people in the communities of North Central Florida.

With help from the administrator of Alachua General Hospital and the president of the AGH auxiliary, Hospice of North Central Florida was born. Over the years HNCF expanded and in October 2005 they became known as Haven Hospice.

For more than 32 years, Haven Hospice has been providing end of life care for those who need it. They also provide crucial bereavement support for the friends and family members who lose loved ones each year. They have transition programs for people who are facing life-threatening illnesses, but who aren’t quite ready for hospice care. They provide support phone calls and volunteer companionship programs, and they help people get in touch with the resources they need when facing a life-threatening illness.

As a compassionate pillar of the community, they

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never turn anyone away, said public relations manager Patricia Krogh. Even if a homeless person without a penny to their name had only six months to live, Haven Hospice would be there for them.

They run Camp Safe Haven, which according to their website is a free camp for children, teens and families who have lost a loved one. The staff and volunteers to help children understand their emotions through fun and therapeutic activities. They use a three-step approach to help encourage children and teens to first deal with their feelings of loss, then manage those feelings and finally understand that grieving is a natural process. They learn that it’s okay to feel sad and to express their feelings.

The day camps for children and families are a loving place full of hands-on sessions to help work through those emotions. They’ll get free t-shirts, snacks, lunch and some light fun to help them realize it’s okay to still have fun while they are grieving. They also take time to love, honor and remember those they have lost.

The overnight camp for teens is two nights at Camp

PHOTOS BY ALBERT ISAAC

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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Don’t Miss These Fundraising Events for Haven Hospice

IT’S A HOLE IN ONE! March 21st 1:00pm Golf Club at Fleming Island For more information contact Dr. Al Rizer 904-213-2639

V¡VA! 2014 April 12th Time TBA Rembert Farm For more information call 352-271-4665 or email smbrod@havenhospice.org

IT’S TIME TO FISH! April 26st 11:30am - 5pm For more information call 352-271-4665 or email smbrod@havenhospice.org

Immokalee where they can find support from other teens. They’ll form friendships while playing sports, climbing and swimming. They have group sessions to understand their grief and memorialize their loved ones.

These camps and some of the other support programs are all free to the community, but Haven Hospice is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides programs and services regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. And in order to provide all these important services, Haven Hospice must reach out for support.

On March 15, Haven Hospice hosts its 5th annual Run for Haven in the Tioga Town Center. Runners participated in the St. Patrick’s Day themed 5K or 10K run or walk through the Town of Tioga. Visitors enjoyed their drinks while listening to live music by Natalie Nicole Green and A Little Bit More. The first 700 registered runners were awarded a commemorative medal and a shirt.

Also in March is the inaugural golf tournament to benefit the organization. The “It’s a hole in one!” tournament will begin at the Golf Club at Fleming Island with a shotgun start at 1 p.m., and will be a Captain’s Choice, or best ball, tournament.

In April Hospice will host “It’s time to fish!” The fishing will start at safe light, and the fishermen can cast

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their lines until 3 p.m. Last year there were more than 70 competitors and over 200 attendees. In addition to the bass tournament, families can enjoy an entire day filled with activities such as a kid’s casting tournament, kid’s fish tank fishing experience, food, drinks, music and more.

But the jewel in their crown of fundraising efforts is the 10th annual signature Haven Hospice ViVA! fundraising event. This year attendees will venture deep into the heart of Africa with an extravagant safari theme, said Stephanie Brod, the fundraising and special events coordinator.

The fundraiser kicked off last summer with a party in August. They announced the African safari theme

for this year, and guests were whisked away to another world. They were welcomed by African reptiles and turtles from Hogtown Reptile Shop and were immersed in African music and live dance performances. Blue Water Bay provided culinary delights, and Burkhardt Sales and Service sponsored the drinks.

Brod said people will be greeted at Rembert Farm by a huge safari jeep and dancers from the African Studies department at the University of Florida. They’ll also have a display from the Harn museum to help set the stage.

Blue Water Bay will provide all the food people can eat, and each area will reflect an African theme. Patrons can grab a drink and head to the rain forest, complete with live parrots, to put in their bids at the silent auction.

They’ll have singers and a live auction, as well, where one of the prizes is a trip to Africa. In their 10th year, Brod is happy to say that some of their sponsors have been with them for a decade. They typically have about 650 people at the event, and all the money goes toward the patients and families they help at Haven Hospice.

“We’re there for them,” she said. “And that’s all because of the money we raise at these events.”

They will sell tickets at the door, but Brod recommends calling ahead for reservations. Tickets are $150, which includes all the food and drinks you can eat or drink, valet parking and all the entertainment for the event. s For more information on tickets or to become a vendor or donor, call 352-271-4665 or email smbrod@havenhospice.org.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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COLUMN >> BY KENDRA SILER-MARSIGLIO

Healthy Edge Helping Kids Cope with the Loss of a Pet

T

o many, pets are like close members of the family… they are often buddies who love us — no matter what. Here are some tips to help your kids (and you) deal with the loss of a cherished pet.

Pets are a great way to help children deal with the stressors of school and growing up. Connecting with an animal can help kids when they are anxious, sad, lonely or sick. However — even with the best of care — the lifespan of a pet is generally much shorter than our own.

When we lose pets, we can teach children how to cope with stressors in a healthy way. In many cases, a pet’s death may be kids’ first times dealing with losing a loved one. Helping children through the grieving process for a pet can help them learn how to cope with other losses — whether it’s the loss of a person or something else they may cherish.

Breaking the news will likely be difficult. Here are some tips from Kids Health to help you: 1. Sit down with your child in a place where her or she feels safe and comfortable and not easily distracted.

2. Do one-on-one conversations so that each message can be tailored to each child.

3. Gauge how much information kids can process based on their developmental maturity. Children need messages delivered that fit their levels of understanding.

4. Answer questions with clear and simple responses that fit their maturity levels.

Abigail McNamee, PhD, EdD, chair of the City University of New York Department of Early Childhood and Childhood Education, told WebMD that parents should consider three questions that influence their child’s ability to process a pet’s death: • “How many experiences has your child had with death?”

• “How have you talked with him or her about death?”

• “What’s been seen on television?”

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According to typical age-based developmental stages, children ages 3 to 5 tend to view death as temporary and reversible. It’s important to make sure that they understand that you or the vet couldn’t bring a pet back to life.

Also make sure that kids this age know that they didn’t cause the pet’s death. An example provided by WebMD is a four-year-old thinking he was to blame for a pet’s death by wanting a playful puppy to replace an elderly dog.

Although children ages 6 to 8 typically understand death is irreversible, they often believe it only happens to others. A pet dying brings death closer to home. Children ages 9 to 11 have a realistic understanding of death.

However, even in these age ranges, kids can blame themselves for the pet’s death. It’s important that you address that not taking the pet out for more walks wouldn’t have changed the outcome; it’s not the child’s fault.

When pets need to be “put down,” consider talking to kids before it happens. Here’s what you should consider discussing with kids if you need to euthanize your pet: • the vet has done what he or she could • your pet is in pain and that won’t change • the pet will go to sleep first and then die peacefully • you and the vet will make sure the pet doesn’t feel hurt or scared Offer your child a chance to say goodbye beforehand.

If your child is emotionally mature enough, consider letting him or her help comfort the pet during the process.

Stay away from saying that the pet went “to sleep” or “got put to sleep.” You don’t want your four-year-old to be scared to go to sleep or develop unnecessary fears about the doctor’s office.

Losing a pet is hard, but the joy of having pets (and even processing a pet’s death in a healthy way) can give your child a healthy edge. s Kendra Siler-Marsiglio, Ph.D. is the Director of Rural Health Partnership at WellFlorida Council.

HEAR NOW HEAR ALWAYS Rediscover hearing‌ Celebrate the sounds of life!

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Taste of the Town

SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL 352.372-5468 FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION.

Brown’s Country Buffet 14423 NW US Hwy 441, Alachua, FL 32616 Monday-Friday: 7am - 8pm Saturday: 7am - 2pm Sunday: 8am - 3pm

386-462-3000 Brown’s Country Buffet is country-style cooking at its finest, just like Grandma’s house! A buffet style restaurant, Brown’s Country Buffet is open seven days a week! Foods like fried chicken, grilled pork chops, real mashed potatoes, steamed cabbage, banana pudding and coconut pie, just to name a few, are served in a laid back, relaxing environment.

We offer AYCE fried shrimp on Friday nights from 4-8 along with whole catfish & ribs. In addition to their buffet, Brown’s also offers a full menu to choose from. You are sure to find something to satisfy any craving at Brown’s. Serving lunch and dinner daily and a breakfast buffet Friday-Sunday until 10:30am, you’re sure to leave satisfied, no matter when you go. So, when you’re in the mood for some good home cooking, Grandma’s style, visit Brown’s Country Buffet.

Newberry’s Backyard BBQ 25405 W Newberry Rd, Newberry Monday-Wednesday 11am-9pm • Thursday 11am-9pm Friday and Saturday 11am-11pm • Sunday 10:30am-8pm

352.472.7260

newberrybbq.com

BBQ — The one and only Newberry’s Backyard BBQ is located in our historic building in beautiful downtown Newberry. Our pork, chicken, beef, and turkey is smoked to perfection daily. Our salads and sides are always fresh. If you are thirsty we have the best sweet tea in the South and a full bar as well. Make sure to bring your kids, we serve their meals on a frisbee that they take home. For your entertainment, we always have live music on Friday nights and Karaoke on Saturday evenings. Always remember big or small we cater all gatherings.

Flying Biscuit Café 4150 NW 16th Blvd., Gainesville, FL 32605 Located in the Fresh Market Center Mon - Fri: 7am - 3pm • Sat - Sun: 7am - 4pm

352-373-9500

www.flyingbiscuit.com

BREAKFAST — The Flying Biscuit is out to reinvent breakfast in Gainesville! Maybe you’ve tried their soon-to-be-famous creamy, dreamy grits or their “moon dusted” breakfast potatoes, but did you know you can have them at anytime? With a unique open menu, all the items that appear are available throughout the day. With a variety of healthy and hearty dishes, The Flying Biscuit caters to a variety of tastes. With options ranging from the Smoked Salmon Scramble, the Bacon Cheddar Chicken Sandwich or the Tofu and Tater Salad, there’s something for everyone. Call us up to an hour before your expected arrival time to add your name to our call ahead seating list.

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Gator Tales Sports Bar 5112 NW 34th Blvd (across from the YMCA) Mon-Tues 4pm - 12am • Wed, Thurs 4pm - 2am Friday 11am - 2am • Sat 9am - 2am • Sun 9am - 12am

(352)-376-9500

www.gator-tales.com

BAR & GRILL — GATOR TALES Sports Bar features 3 large separate entertainment areas! You can relax at our Tiki bar in a large covered outdoor patio with tropical tunes enjoying 3 large screen TV’s. If you prefer to be inside, visit the sports bar, where you can find large TV’s, a performance stage with nightly entertainment including karaoke, live bands and acoustical sets. We have a separate pool hall and offer two happy hours every day. Gator Tales has a variety of domestic and import beers including a local favorite Swamphead Stompknocker and BigNose. Appetizers black angus burgers, gator tail, and salads.

Breakfast served all day everyday. Check our website for trivia, karaoke and other events.

Cilantro Tacos 25740 West Newberry Rd., Newberry, Florida 32669 OPEN SIX DAYS Monday - Saturday from 11:00am to 8:00pm

352-472-1300

Like us on Facebook!

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN — Enjoy a laid back, family-owned atmosphere – a true no-frills mom and pop restaurant. After a friendly greeting, you’ll be seated right away. While you look over the menu, snack on a complimentary bowl of tortilla chips served with two delicious homemade salsas (red and cilantro). The menu features a variety of tacos including: steak, pork, chicken, ground beef, or shrimp with your choice of toppings. Other classic items available like the Burrito Grande, Nachos Grande, Quesadillas, Fajitas and Tostadas.

And for something more adventurous... try the Mexican Hot Dog… a hot dog wrapped in bacon and covered with tomatoes and jalapenos!

Cilantro Tacos will be your new favorite choice for lunch or dinner.

Dave’s New York Deli 12921 SW 1st Road • Tioga Town Center Open 7 Days

352-333-0291

www.DavesNYDeli.com

AUTHENTIC NY DELI — The Reviews are in and here’s what customers are saying about Dave’s NY Deli Tioga Town Center!

“Best Reuben, Best Pastrami, Best Philly, and Best Wings” Dave’s continues to be the place to go for authentic NY Deli food and Philly Cheesesteaks. Owner Dave Anders says “Nothing beats quality ingredients combined with a friendly staff. We bring in all of our Pastrami and Corned Beef and Cheesecake from New York’s Carnegie Deli. In addition we offer Nathan’s Hot Dogs, NY Kettle Boiled Bagels, Nova Salmon, Knish, Cannolies, Philly Cheesesteaks, Wings, Cubans, Subs, Kids Menu and more.”

Come out and enjoy Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at Dave’s NY Deli.

Now serving beer and wine.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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Taste of the Town

SPECIAL RESTAURANT ADVERTISING SECTION. CALL 352.372-5468 FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION.

Northwest Grille 5115 Northwest 39th Ave., Gainesville 32606 Open 7 Days: 11am to 10pm (Friday open until 11pm) Saturday & Sunday: Serving brunch 10am to 3pm

352-376-0500

www.northwestgrillegainesville.com

SEAFOOD — Locally owned and operated, Northwest Grille has been providing the finest quality fish and seafood entrees in a friendly atmosphere since 1996. Whether it’s their fresh, local seafood and fish, or handcrafted sauces and specialty desserts, Northwest Grille has something to please your palate. Meat lovers will enjoy the hand-cut steaks and vegetarians will love the wide range of vegetarian options.

Serving lunch and dinner daily, Northwest Grille, offers an extensive brunch menu on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-3pm. Northwest Grille also features a full liquor bar with nightly drink specials. Happy hour is served daily from 3pm-7pm and all day on Wednesday – offering a wide assortment of craft beer, wine and $5 martinis.

Copper Monkey West 14209 W Newberry Road, Jonesville, FL 32669 Across from the Steeplechase Publix Sunday-Thursday 11am - 11pm • Friday-Saturday 11am - 12am

352-363-6338

mycoppermonkey.com

Restaurant & Pub — Located in the heart of Jonesville, this All-American dining is convenient to all neighborhoods in Gainesville, Alachua, Newberry, High Springs and beyond. Our family-friendly dining features great food at a great price. Whether you come in for the “best burger in town” or try any one of our freshly made salads, pastas or sandwiches, you will not leave disappointed. Our USDA choice steaks, served with 2 sides, offer a great alternative for the perfect celebratory meal. We also feature a full-service bar with signature drinks and many options for your viewing pleasure. Great food, great price, we’ll see you soon.

Napolatanos 606 NW 75th Street Gainesville, FL Monday - Thursday & Sunday 4:00pm-10:00pm Friday 4:00pm-2:00am • Saturday 4:00pm-11:00pm

352-332-6671

www.napolatanos.com

ITALIAN — Napolatanos is the longest original owner operated restaurant in Gainesville. Nappys, the name the locals have given Napolatanos has the most extensive menu. Whether you choose pizza, calzones, salad, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, seafood, steak dinners or the best chicken wings in town, Nappy’s uses only the freshest ingredients. Visit on Tuesday & Wednesday for half price appetizers. Save up to $4 on pizza on Thursday and $5 off bottles of wine on Saturday. Outside dining with live music on Sunday evenings. Family meals for pick-up starting at $21.95.

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Customized Catering a Dos Mama’s Specialty

F

ive days a week, Dos Mama’s serves a bevy of home-cooked favorites for the residents and workers on the east side of Gainesville.

From their chicken and dumplings to their famed Cuban sandwiches, co-owners Terra LaFleur and Rosa Sandoval enjoy serving what their customers often don’t have time to make themselves.

But Dos Mama’s isn’t just a restaurant. LaFleur and Sandoval have also expanded the catering side of their business, offering their services for cocktail parties, receptions, rehearsals, fundraisers and more.

And by “more,” they mean pretty much anything a customer can think of.

“We are your custom caterer. That’s our thing,” said LaFleur. “We can do anything – gluten-free, vegetarian, anything that you want, we can do it for you.”

Dos Mama’s handles all kinds of events from small gatherings to large extravaganzas. Whether a customer wants plated meals, a buffet or a variety of hors d’oeuvres, every job gets top quality food made from scratch.

The duo met while working at another establishment in Gainesville, where LaFleur was the catering manager and Sandoval was the front house manager. The women struck up a friendship and

realized that their 40 years of combined food and beverage experience would be a great foundation for their own business. They opened Dos Mama’s in May of 2012 with a focus not only on quality home-cooked food, but on premium customer service as well.

“We are hands-on owners; we want to make sure the customers are happy,” said LaFleur. “With some chains around town, you don’t see the owners. Rosa and I are there at all times. If someone has a problem, we can take care of it.”

The restaurant is open for lunch five days a week, with expanded hours on Fridays for dinner and live local music. The pair also regularly participates in charity events such as Souper Fun Sunday and Taste of Gainesville.

Whether it’s the restaurant, the catering work or the community it serves, the ladies of Dos Mama’s keep one simple mantra in mind.

“We have the best food and service,” said LaFleur. “That’s it.”

Dos Mama’s is located at 2017 NE 27 Avenue in Gainesville. Visit www.dosmamasgainesville.com for operating hours, menu and other information.

Bring our southern flair to any party!

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2017 NE 27th Avenue • Gainesville (located behind Sonny’s BBQ on Waldo Road) www.VisitOurTowns.com

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CALENDAR If you would like to have an event considered for publication in this calendar, please submit information directly. post 4400 NW 36th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32606 | e-mail editor@towerpublications.com | fax 352-373-9178

ART CO-OP RECEPTIONS

MUSIC IN THE PARK

1st Fridays, Monthly 7:00pm – 9:00pm

3rd Sundays, Monthly 2:00pm - 4:00pm

HIGH SPRINGS - High Springs Art Co-Op, 115 North Main St. Meet the artists at the Co-op’s monthly art reception, featuring snacks, refreshments and art. April 4 - Suzanna Mars, Photography; May 2 - Alfred Phillips, Acrylic Painter; June 6 - Eric Shupe, Sculpture. Exception: no first Friday in July.

Instead, Saturday, July 12- Spiked Ice (Adult Ice Cream Party). 386454-1808. highspringartcoop. blogspot.com.

HIGH SPRINGS - James Paul Park and Community Garden, 200 North Main St. Every third Sunday, come enjoy local music and fresh air out in the park. Bring lawn chairs, refreshments, and blankets. Admission is free. 352-275-4190.

HIGH SPRINGS FARMERS MARKET Thursdays and 1st Saturdays, Monthly Times Vary HIGH SPRINGS - By Plantation Oaks Assisted Living facility.

Thursdays Noon – 6pm; First Saturday 9am – 1pm Vinegars, herbs, backpacks, purses, pumpkin bread, banana bread, buttons, aprons, caricature by our local artist Corinne Gherna, fresh produce and seafood, tropical snow refreshments, sweet chocolate dipped goodies, jewelry, dishtowels, berries, nuts, eggs, gifts, homemade jams, relish, pickles, soups and much more.

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FANTASTIC FRIDAYS First Fridays 6:00pm - 9:00pm HIGH SPRINGS Downtown. A fun evening of theme related activities sponsored by the High Springs Community Development Corporation (CDC), Visit the shops on Main Street and First Avenue, attend the Artist of the Month Exhibit and Wine and Cheese Reception at the High Springs Art Co-op. Enjoy live music, side-walk vendors, children’s activities, auctions, games, prize drawings and more.

Fun for the whole family! Dot at 386-4547610; dphshadow@aol.com or Wanda at 386-4541224; wandalk2000@gmail.com

LADY GAMERS 1st Fridays, Monthly 1:00pm HIGH SPRINGS - Woman’s Club, 40 NW 1st Ave. The Lady Gamers meet for fun, friendship and food — and don’t forget the cards, board

games and any other activities you would like to bring to the group.

A 10,000-MILE JOURNEY

NEWBERRY FARMER’S MARKET

GAINESVILLE - The Florida Museum of Natural History, 3215 Hull Rd. Art joins science to reveal the wonders and perils of the Swallow-tailed Kite’s migration in a six-month installation at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida.

The paintings, poetry, and photography of Margo McKnight, Chris Cock, and Jim Gray bring to life Avian Research and Conservation Institute’s exciting discoveries about the year-round ecology of this alluring raptor. 352-846-2000.

April through June 8am – Noon NEWBERRY - Stroll through the farmer’s market across the railroad tracks in Downtown Newberry.

This certified farmer’s market features fresh local fruits and vegetables. Its certification with the statewide nutrition program means that eligible seniors and WIC recipients can use their coupons to buy fresh produce at the market. They also received a grant enabling them to match those coupons for fruits or vegetables doubling their value.

ARTWALK GAINESVILLE Last Friday of Every Month 7:00pm - 10:00pm GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Plaza. Self-guided tour of downtown’s galleries, eateries and businesses. Pick up a map near Bo Diddley Plaza, visit more than a dozen spots, including local landmarks like the Hippodrome and The Sequential Artists Workshop. Watch live performances throughout the night, as well. www.artwalkgainesville.com.

Through April 13 Times Vary

FAMILY DAY AT THE DAIRY FARM Saturday, March 15 9:00am – 2:00pm HAGUE - Now in its third year, Family Day at the Dairy Farm is free and open to the public. It takes place at the UF dairy farm in Hague, 20 minutes northwest of Gainesville. The event offers visitors an up-close look at the operation of a real working dairy farm, and information about the UF research and Extension projects that help Florida’s dairy farms improve their production and herd health. Directions are available at www. familydayatthedairyfarm.info.

NEWBERRY MAIN STREET FISH FRY AND BAKE SALE Saturday, March 15 11am – 3pm NEWBERRY - Newberry Municipal Building.

Come support the Newberry Main Street Organization with a Fish Fry Fundraiser.

Pre-sale tickets will be $10, which includes a full plate of fish and fixin’s. Proceeds from the fish fry will help fund operational costs for the Newberry Main Street Organization.

The group’s goal is to enhance downtown Newberry and help local businesses thrive. They operate the visitor’s center as well as an art gallery and a small business incubator with the intention of driving people and businesses into the Newberry Main Street area.

Run for Haven Saturday, March 15

4:00pm

NEWBERRY - Tioga Town Center, 140 SW 128th St. The Fifth Annual Run for Haven, put on by Haven Hospice, will feature a 5K and 10K run/walk with a St. Patrick’s Day theme. Other children’s activities, costume contests, food and music will be available. Call 352-331-8773 -331-8773 to pre-register.

FARM-TO-TABLE DINNER Saturday, March 15 4:30pm ALACHUA - Swallowtail Farm, 17603 NW 276 Ln. As part of the 2013-2014 Farm to Table Dinner Series, Chef Jose Gonzalez of the Jones B-Side will be preparing dinner. The series highlights delicious food from Swallowtail Farm and surrounding local farms that is artfully prepared

by Gainesville area celebrity chefs, celebrating the wonderful local food culture. Tickets are $80 and will go toward sustaining Swallowtail Farm. 352-840-7170.

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast Saturday, March 15

7:30am – 11:00am

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville High School, 1900 NW 13th St. Come to a pancake breakfast hosted by the Gainesville Kiwanis clubs, held in the Gainesville High school cafeteria. $5/person; kids under 12 accompanied by parent eat free. Takeouts are available and the portions are generous.

Proceeds from the breakfast support youth-oriented projects throughout Gainesville. Info: 335-3985 or email patbartlet@yahoo.com.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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MUSIC IN THE PARK ANNIVERSARY

THE MOB

Sunday, March 16 2:00pm - 4:00pm

GAINESVILLE Thornebrook Gallery, 2441 NW 43 St. Ste 6D. A one week showing with an opening party the evening of Friday March 21st from 6:00 until 9:00 and a closing party from 3:00 until 5:00 on Saturday March 29th. For the last three years, Thornebrook Gallery has offered a show called “The Mob” featuring local artists. artists from this area. www.thornebrookgallery.com.

HIGH SPRINGS - James Paul Park and Community Garden, 200 North Main St. High Springs Music in the Park Series is celebrating its 2 year Anniversary Party with food, drinks, cake and live music all under the oaks. Come out and “Enjoy our Good Nature.” Bring lawn chairs, refreshments and blankets.

352-275-4190.

SCIENCE CAFÉ Monday, March 17 6:30pm JONESVILLE - Saboré.

Hyatt and Cici Brown Professor of Florida Archaeology Kenneth Sassaman from UF’s department of anthropology, “Futurescapes of Ancient Native Americans of the Florida Gulf Coast.”

Participants purchase their food and beverage for each program from a special Science Café menu, with seating and ordering beginning at 6pm First-come basis with limited participation. RSVP at least one week in advance: Amanda Erickson Harvey, 352-273-2062 or aerickson@flmnh.ufl.edu.

March 21 – March 29 Times vary

KANAPAHA SPRING GARDEN FESTIVAL March 22 – 23 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Kanapaha Gardens. Saturday: 9am - 5pm, Sunday: 10am - 5pm. The Spring Garden Festival features about 175 booths offering plants, landscape displays, garden accessories, arts and crafts, educational exhibits and food.

Also featured are a walk-through butterfly conservatory, children’s activities area, live entertainment and live auctions. Parking is free and two off-site parking areas are serviced by shuttle

buses. $8 for adults and $5 for children two to 13. Cash only (no credit cards) at these events.

352-372-4981.

G. F. HANDEL’S MESSIAH Sunday, March 23 3:00pmpm GAINESVILLE - Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Hear Messiah as you’ve never heard it before, with 16 professional singers, soloists and chamber orchestra, conducted

by John T. Lowe, Jr. Arrive early for best seating. 352-372-4721. holytrinitygnv.org.

CATTLEMEN’S BANQUET Thursday, March 27 6:00pm ALACHUA - Santa Fe River Ranch, SFRR 29220 NW 122nd St. The 75th Cattlemen’s Banquet, sponsored by the Alachua Lions Club. 6:00pm social hour (wine and beer) and 7:00pm dinner.

Live auction and silent auction by Alachua Women’s Club. Tickets - $50 donation and includes a sizzling steak dinner. Tickets may be purchased from Gunter Hirsh: 386-462-3702 or 352-538-9709.

“DEPEND ON IT” 18266 NW HWY 441 • HIGH SPRINGS, FL OFFICE: 386-454-3633 CELL: 352-339-6069 Brenda@ ForresterRealty.com • www.ForresterRealty.com

CALL BRENDA FOR EXCELLENT REAL ESTATE SERVICE! 120 | Spring 2014

INDIA FEST AND HEALTH FAIR Saturday, March 29 9:00am – 6:00pm GAINESVILLE - Santa Fe College, Gymnasium (Building V), 3000 NW 83rd St. Admission fee is $5 (Children 5 and under free).

Experience the colors of India. Let your feet dance to the rhythm of popular Bollywood music and the classical dances of India. Buy Indian jewelry and apparel. Health Fair will provide free health screening and information. Get your basic blood test done for $60 (CBC, CMP, Lipid Panel) Please do not eat or drink after midnight for blood test. 352-275-2276. www.icec-florida.org.

FALLEN HEROES 5K Saturday, March 29 9:00am GAINESVILLE - UF, Commuter Parking Lot, Gale Lemerand Dr. Benefits from the race will go to the Gainesville Fisher House Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting wounded military members by providing free living facilities to their families. A portion of the funding will also go the UDT-SEAL Association. Info - Hank Murphy: 813-454-7218.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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ALACHUA SPRING FESTIVAL

Antique Tractor and nd Car Day

Sunday, March 30 11:00am to 5:00pm ALACHUA - Main Street, Downtown. The 23rd Annual Alachua Main Street Festival offers a fun-filled day of music, food and games. Free. www.alachuabusiness.com.

Saturday, March 15 9:00am to 2:00pm

OLD TIMERS’ DAY

NEWBERRY - Dudley Farm m Historic State Park. 18730 West Newberry Rd. Learn about our rich heritage as members of the North Florida Antique Tractor Club ub demonstrate the importance ce of the tractor to agriculture. e. e They will plow a sugar cane e field on a variety of vintage machines, dating from the 1930s. The local Antique ca Automobile Club of America our will display their cars for your on: viewing pleasure. Admission: $5.00 a car, with up to 8 occupants. 352-472-1142. org. www.friendsofdudleyfarm.org.

Saturday, April 5 10:00am – 2:00pm HIGH SPRINGS Ichetucknee Springs State Park, Head Spring picnic grounds at the North Entrance off Elim Church Road.

Originally organized to retrieve data about historical flooding periods, this event offers a wealth of information about life in “Old Florida.”

SANTA FE SPRING ARTS FESTIVAL

Ella Fitzgerald Fri, March 21

April 5 – 6 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Historic

District. NE 1st St. 45th Annual Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival.

7:30pm – 9:30pm

EGG DROP GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center. This tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, “The First Lady of Song,” features the 17-piece Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and vocalist Delores King Williams — a winner of the Billie Holiday Vocal Competition who has performed at the White House and Carnegie Hall. The evening centers on original arrangements created for Fitzgerald in the ‘40s and ‘50s, which haven’t been heard by live audiences in more than 40 years. www. performingarts.ufl.edu.

122 | Spring 2014

Saturday, April 5 10:00am – 1:00pm ALACHUA - 5441 Cellon Creek Blvd. What is an Egg Drop? It’s like an Easter Egg hunt, only way cooler. In addition to thousands of eggs on the field, they will drop eggs from a helicopter signaling the official start of the hunt! Your kids will have a blast collecting eggs that can be redeemed for tons of candy! Entry and entertainment is all free! Don’t Forget: Your Easter Baskets!

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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NEWBERRY SPRING FESTIVAL Saturday, April 5 9am – 4pm NEWBERRY - Downtown Newberry. Join the Newberry Main Street Organization for their 7th annual Spring Festival. Guests will enjoy music, food, crafts and plenty of activities for the kids.

Admission is free, so come explore all that downtown Newberry has to offer.

Living the Gospel in Downtown Gainesville!

The Rev. Louanne Loch Rector Dr. John T. Lowe Dir. of Music

Sunday Services 8:00am • 10:30am • 6:00pm

Wednesday Service 12:15pm

100 NE 1st Street Downtown Gainesville (352) 372-4721 www.HolyTrinityGNV.org The Episcopal Church welcomes you ...and we do mean YOU!

124 | Spring 2014

walks led by experts start at 8am on the Florida Birding Trail.

Walking workshops highlight butterflies, native plants and flowers. Vendors and exhibitors offer native plants and nature- and garden-related items.

Many free activities will be offered for children, and food and drinks will be available. 386-4662193. fourriversaudubon.org.

OLD FLORIDA CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS

SPRING NATIVE PLANT SALE

April 12 & 13 10:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday, April 5 9am – Noon

CEDAR KEY - 2nd St. 50th Annual Spring Arts Festival. This juried event features 120 fine artists and craftsman along with delicious local seafood, homemade baked goods, kid’s activities, music and more in beachfront City Park. This friendly island community is located 60 miles SW of Gainesville at the end of SR-24 in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. Come for the day or the weekend, enjoy art, nature, food & fun in this very special place. Contact Bev Ringenberg: 352-543540. www.cedarkeyartsfestival.com.

GAINESVILLE Morningside Nature Center, 3540 E. University Ave. The benefits of “going native” are many: from lower maintenance to drought and heat tolerance. The Native Plant Sale features thousands of beautiful native shrubs, trees, wildflowers, ferns, grasses and vines grown at area nurseries.

Vendors are members of the Florida Native Plant Society and certify that plants are nursery propagated and grown. The sale features free, expert plant advice, free Park-a-Plant service that allows you to shop hands-free while we tag, store and help you load your plants, music and a free naturalist-led wildflower walk at 11:30am Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted!

ALLIGATOR LAKE SPRING FESTIVAL Saturday, April 12 8:00am – 3:00pm LAKE CITY - Alligator Lake Park. Enjoy a free community festival celebrating nature. Bird

GAINESVILLE CIVIC CHORUS Sunday, April 13 Time TBA GAINESVILLE - First Presbyterian Church.

Lenten Reflections!

The season closes with the First Presbyterian Chancel Choir joining the GCC in a varied program of music appropriate for the season as part of the First Presbyterian concert series. www. gcchorus.org.

“OLD FLORIDA” BIRDING AND NATURE FESTIVAL April 18-20 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Hampton Inn, 101 SE 1st Ave. Gainesville Ecotours will offer photography field workshops and paddling opportunities at springs, local rivers and the Alachua Sink at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.

Hike with the Florida Trail Association and tour the Butterfly Rainforest. The Lubee Bat Conservancy will open its doors for tours from noon to 5:00pm for festival participants, and there will be a sunset tour of Lake Alice and the bat houses on campus. Lectures include Florida sinkhole geology, an introduction to birding, the history of birding in Gainesville, and nature photography topics. gainesvillebirdingandnaturefestival. com. 904-704-4087.

GAINESVILLE CIVIC CHORUS FUNDRAISER Friday, April 25 Time TBA GAINESVILLE - Haile Village. Meet and greet old and new friends at the GCC fundraiser. Street

ViVA! 2014 African Safari Saturday, April 12, 2014

Time TBA

ALACHUA - Rembert Farm. ViVA! is Haven Hospice’s signature fundraising event that had over 600 attendees in 2013. Food and drink from Blue Water Bay, auctions, live music and entertainment. For more information or to become a sponsor, auction donor or purchase a ticket, contact Stephanie Brod: 352-271-4665; email smbrod@havenhospice.org.

party, live music, silent auction, munchies and wine. www.gcchorus.org.

HIGH SPRINGS PIONEER DAYS April 26–27 Times Vary HIGH SPRINGS - James Paul Park. Take a trip back to the old west for the 37th Annual Pioneer Days Festival. You will experience period music, the heritage village, contests, reenactments and a

parade. Admission is free, 5,000 attendees expected. Saturday, April 26 – 9:30am to 5pm and Sunday, April 27 – 10am to 4pm.

386-454-3120. www.

HighSprings.com.

GRIMY GULCH SALOON April 26–27 Times Vary HIGH SPRINGS - New Century Woman’s Club, 40 NW 1st Ave. The Woman’s Club’s Grimy Gulch Saloon is back for Pioneer

Days. Stop in, sit awhile, have breakfast or lunch and listen to the entertainment in the air-conditioned Clubhouse. Enjoy BBQ, ham & cheese and turkey sandwiches, Coleslaw, beans and dessert, such as pies, cakes, breads, brownies and muffins.

The Country Store will be stocked with toys, crafts, decorations, candy and preserves like the ones from yesteryear.

“The Finest Auto Interiors & Custom Boat Canvas”

L&S Auto Trim Since 1952

• Seat Covers • Cycle Seats • Headliners • Convertible Tops

352.372.8661 www.landsautotrim.com 5721 N.W. 13th Street, Gainesville , FL 32653

www.VisitOurTowns.com

See our gallery of work online!

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DR. GREG BORGANELLI | PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY

We specialize in the oral health care needs of Adolescents, Children,Toddlers and Infants.

• PREVENTATIVE / ROUTINE CARE • FUN ATMOSPHERE • OVERHEAD TV’S & VIDEO GAMES

Gregory N. Borganelli D.M.D., P.A. Short Drive Limited Traffic

875 SW State Road 47 | Lake City, FL 32025 | 386-752-8200

Specializing in Behavior Modification ication • DOGMANSHIP • SOCIALIZATION • BOARD AND TRAIN • PERSONAL TRAINING • GROUP CLASSES

ard winni n aw

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VICTORIA & RICHARD WARFEL CERTIFIED • LICENSED • INSURED

3909 NW 97th Blvd. (near Gateway Grand dH Hot Ho Hotel) otel) o el) el l)

352-278-7404

www.DreamK9.com com

126 | Spring 2014

Voted 2013 Best of Gainesville for dog training

Newberry rry Watermelon l Festival Sat, May 17 Times TBA NEWBERRY - Destiny Church, future site, SR 26 just past SW 202nd St. The 68th Annual Newberry Watermelon Festival is back for another year of seed-spitting, pie-baking, hog-calling and, of course, watermeloneating. The watermelons are provided by local growers and are free to visitors. www. newberrywatermelonfestival.com.

April 26 – 27 9:00am – 4:00pm HIGH SPRINGS - 40 NW 1st Ave. The New Century Woman’s Club will have the Masonic Children’s Identification Program available to all children in the area. All information is returned to the parent/guardian to be used in case of an emergency.

No information is maintained by anyone else.

RELAY FOR LIFE Fruday, May 9 6:00pm HIGH SPRINGS - Civic Center. The Relay For Life movement features community and campus events that offer an inspiring opportunity to honor cancer survivors, promote how individuals can reduce their cancer risk, and raise money to help end cancer. www.relayforlife.org.

AIR SHOW RESCHEDULED Saturday, May 17 9:00am - 4:00pm GAINESVILLE - Santa Fe College, 3000 NW 83rd St. American Heroes Air Show. Free.

Explore helicopters from law enforcement, fire service, military, ENG/EMS with static displays from local, regional, state and Federal/DOD agencies. www.heroes-airshow.com.

PARK

10% OFF

SCHOOL’S OUT FAMILY FEST Saturday, June 7 11am – 5pm GAINESVILLE - Forage Farm at Prairie Creek Lodge, 7204 SE County Road 234. Come celebrate what’s great about our community with live local bands playing music geared toward kids, local food vendors, arts and crafts, games, nature walks, food and garden workshops, water fun and more. All proceeds benefit Forage outreach program and the Gainesville Seen Library.

Info: www.foragefarm.org. s

Up to 4 people. Admission, Camping. One coupon per visit.

(1 day/night only)

OTHS mag. Exp 06-15-14

CHILDREN’S IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM

COUPON NOT VALID ON MAJOR HOLIDAY WEEKENDS

• Covered pavilions • Concession stand • Large tiled bath house • Canoe & tube rentals • Nature trail • Volleyball courts • Horseshoe pits

• Playground • Picnic tables & grills • Campsites w/ electric and water • Primitive wooded campsites

Located in beautiful High Springs

386-454-1369 www.bluespringspark.com

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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SPRING SPORTS HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL SPRING SPORTS SCHEDULES FOR SANTA FE HIGH, NEWBERRY HIGH, MEBANE MIDDLE, HIGH SPRINGS COMMUNITY SCHOOL AND OAK VIEW MIDDLE. INFORMATION COMPILED BY CRYSTAL HENRY

Santa Fe High School varsity baseball DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

VARSITY

3/1

Keystone Heights Home

11:00a.m.

3/4

PKY

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/6

Gainesville

Away

4:00 p.m.

Williston

Away

4:30 p.m.

2/11

Taylor County

Away

5:00 p.m.

3/7

2/14

Williston

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/10

Buchholz

Away

6:00 p.m.

2/18

Suwannee

Away

6:00 p.m.

3/11

Fort White

Away

4:30 p.m.

2/20

Bradford

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/14

PKY

Away

7:00 p.m.

Trinity Catholic

Home

11:00a.m.

2/21

Ft. White

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/15

2/25

Trinity Catholic

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/17

Buchholz

Home

7:00 p.m.

2/27

Bishop Kenny

Away

6:00 p.m.

3/19

Bradford

Away

6:00 p.m.

3/1

Keystone Heights Home

1:00 p.m.

3/21

Keystone Heights Away

4:00 p.m.

3/4

PKY

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/24

Trenton

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/6

Gainesville

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/5

Gainesville

Home

11:00a.m.

3/7

Williston

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/11

Ft. White

Away

7:00 p.m.

softball

3/12

PKY

Away

7:00 p.m.

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

3/15

Trinity Catholic

Home

2:00 p.m.

2/6

Buchholz

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/18

Interlachen

Home

7:00 p.m.

2/7

Fort White

Away

6:00 p.m.

3/20

Hollywood Hills

Home

7:00 p.m.

2/11

Lafayette

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/21

Keystone Heights Away

7:00 p.m.

2/13

Gainesville

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/24

Trenton

Away

7:00 p.m.

2/14

Suwannee

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/25

Interlachen

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/4

Bishop Kenny

Home

7:00 p.m.

2/18

Bradford

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/5

Gainesville

Home

2:00 p.m.

2/20

Interlachen

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/8

Suwannee

Home

7:00 p.m.

2/21

PKY

TBD

6:00 p.m.

4/10

Bradford

Away

7:00 p.m.

2/25

Buchholz

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/15

Buchholz

Away

7:00 p.m.

2/27

Lafayette

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/17

Taylor County

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/4

Bradford

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/7-3/8

Raider Invitational

3/11

Interlachen

Away

7:00 p.m.

TIME

3/13

Fort White

Home

6:00 p.m.

junior varsity baseball

TIME

TBD

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

2/10

Gainesville

Away

6:00 p.m.

3/14

PKY

Away

6:00 p.m.

2/12

Buchholz

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/18

Keystone Heights Home

7:00 p.m.

2/14

Williston

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/20

Madison County Home

7:00 p.m.

2/20

Bradford

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/21

Columbia

Away

7:00 p.m.

Gainesville

Away

7:00 p.m.

2/21

Fort White

Home

4:00 p.m.

4/1

2/25

Trinity Catholic

Away

4:30 p.m.

4/3

Keystone Heights Away

7:00 p.m.

2/26

Gainesville

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/10

Madison County Away

6:00 p.m.

2/28

Buchholz

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/11

Suwannee

7:00 p.m.

128 | Spring 2014

Home

Parks for play and long walks in nature.

Exquisite art galleries.

Activities for learning, fitness and connection offered year-round.

So much to love.

All in your city.

Gainesville. www.cityofgainesvilleparks.org

City of Gainesville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA).

Great Breakfast SERVED ALL DAY!

NOW OPEN IN

Lunch & Dinner • Entrees & Baskets

High Springs

SANDWICHES • SALADS • SOUPS BURGERS • FISH & CHIPS

- Open Everyday 8:00am-9:00pm

386-454-5775 615 Santa 615 Sant Sa nta a Fe Blvd Blv lvd d • High High g Springs, Spr p in ings g , FL 32643 gs 326 643 www.thedinerhighsprings.com www ww w.th thed th edin diner erhi high hi ghsp hspri ring ings s.co com m

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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Newberry High

varsity softball

varsity baseball

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

TIME

3/11

Ridge View

Home

6:00 p.m.

3/13

Whitmire

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/14

Saluda

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/18

Abbeville

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/21

Ninety Six

Home

7:00 p.m.

TIME

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

3/1

Union County

Away

12:30 p.m.

3/3

King Academy

Away

4:30 p.m.

3/6

Wagner-Salley

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/11

Whitmire

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/13

Fairfield Central

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/14

Saluda

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/25

Batesburg Leesville Away

7:00 p.m.

3/19

Whitmire

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/28

Mid Carolina

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/21

Ninety Six

TBD

TBD

3/31

Fairfield

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/25

Batesburg Leesville Home

7:00 p.m.

4/1

Saluda

Away

7:00 p.m.

3/26

Fairfield Central

TBD

7:00 p.m.

4/4

Abbeville

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/28

Mid-Carolina

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/1

Saluda

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/8

Ninety Six

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/4

Abbeville

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/11

Batesburg Leesville Home

7:00 p.m.

4/8

Ninety Six

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/14

Fairfield Central

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/9

Clinton

Home

6:00 p.m.

4/15

Mid Carolina

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/11

Batesburg Leesville Away

7:00 p.m.

4/24

Ridge View

Away

6:00 p.m.

4/22

NB Academy

7:00 p.m.

Home

junior varsity softball

junior varsity baseball

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

11:00 a.m.

3/13

Whitmire

Home

4:30 p.m.

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/14

Saluda

Home

4:30 p.m.

Mid Carolina

Away

5:00 p.m.

3/18

Abbeville

Away

4:30 p.m.

3/11

Whitmire

Away

4:30 p.m.

3/21

Ninety Six

Home

4:30 p.m.

3/13

Fairfield Central

Home

4:30 p.m.

3/25

Batesburg Leesville Away

4:30 p.m.

3/15

WCS

Home

9:00 a.m.

3/15

Mid Carolina

Home

1:00 p.m.

3/28

Mid Carolina

4:30 p.m.

3/18

Abbeville

Home

4:30 p.m.

3/19

Whitmire

Home

4:30 p.m.

girls varsity soccer

3/21

Ninety Six

Away

4:30 p.m.

Date

Opponent

Site

3/25

Batesburg Leesville Home

4:30 p.m.

3/25

Columbia

Away

5:00 p.m.

3/26

Fairfield Central

Away

4:30 p.m.

3/27

Ninety Six

Home

7:00 p.m.

3/28

Mid Carolina

Home

4:30 p.m.

4/17

Mid Carolina

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/1

Saluda

Home

4:30 p.m.

4/4

Abbeville

Away

4:30 p.m.

4/29

Batesburg Leesville Home

6:00 p.m.

4/8

Ninety Six

Home

4:30 p.m.

5/1

Union County

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/11

Batesburg Leesville Away

4:30 p.m.

5/5

Columbia

Home

5:30 p.m.

4/15

Mid Carolina

4:30 p.m.

5/7

Laurens

Home

5:30 p.m.

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

3/1

Chapin

Away

3/1

Dutch Fork

3/3

130 | Spring 2014

Away

TIME

Away

TIME

Time

TELEPHONE

352-335-8888 FAX MACHINE

352-335-9427

Alliance Pediatrics, P.A. Allia

www. MyAlliancePediatrics.com

Alliance Pediatrics welcomes

Dr. Stephanie Kirkconnell NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS CALL TO REGISTER TODAY Proud to accept UF Gator Care, FL Blue, Medicaid & most major insurances.

“I am excited to be joining the Alliance Pediatrics team. Being your child’s doctor is an honor, and I look forward to serving my patients and community.”

4627 NW 53RD AVENUE • GAINESVILLE, FL 32653 Behind Hunters Crossing Shopping Center

Affordable, Professional Land Clearing

Lance Lewis – Owner & Operator

• Land Clearing • Landscaping • Tree Mulching • Demolition • Debris Haul-Off • Lawn Care

• Mulching • Clean-ups • Skid Steer Work

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Land & Lawn, LLC

352.258.3147 www.SouthernLandandLawnService.com

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Newberry High (cont.)

Mebane Middle School

girls junior varsity soccer

soccer (Girls Play First) DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

3/10

High Springs

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/12

Bishop

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/17

Kanapaha

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/19

Oak View

Home

4:00 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

3/31

Lincoln

Away

4:00 p.m.

Strom Thurmond Away

5:30 p.m.

4/2

Westwood

Home

4:00 p.m.

4/4

Mid Carolina

Home

5:30 p.m.

4/7

Ft. Clarke

Away

4:00 p.m.

5/3

Strom Thurmond Away

5:30 p.m.

4/9

High Springs

Away

4:00 p.m.

4/14

Kanapaha

Home

4:00 p.m.

5/4

Mid Carolina

Home

5:30 p.m.

4/16

Oak View

Away

4:00 p.m.

5/8

Saluda

Away

5:30 p.m.

5/14

Ninety Six

Away

5:30 p.m.

5/17

Mid Carolina

Home

5:30 p.m.

6/1

Union County

Home

5:30 p.m.

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

TIME

3/11

Union County

Away

5:30 p.m.

3/13

Strom Thurmond Home

5:30 p.m.

3/21

Saluda

Home

5:30 p.m.

3/27

Ninety Six

Home

4/3

TIME

High Springs Community School soccer (Girls Play First)

boys varsity soccer

OPPONENT

SITE

TIME

3/10

Mebane

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/12

Westwood

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/17

Oak View

Away

4:00 p.m.

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

3/6

Buford

Away

5:30 p.m.

3/7

South Pointe

Away

6:25 p.m.

3/19

Kanapaha

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/8

Chester

Away

10:00 a.m.

3/31

Ft. Clarke

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/11

Union County

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/2

Bishop

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/13

Dutch Fork

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/7

Lincoln

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/19

Woodruff

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/9

Mebane

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/21

Saluda

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/14

Oak View

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/24

Fairfield Central

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/16

Kanapaha

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/25

Abbeville

Home

6:00 p.m.

3/28

Ninety Six

Away

7:00 p.m.

Oak View Middle School

4/1

Batesburg Leesville Home

7:00 p.m.

soccer (Girls Play First)

4/4

Mid Carolina

Away

7:00 p.m.

4/7

Saluda

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/10

Fairfield Central

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/15

Ninety Six

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/17

Mid Carolina

Home

7:00 p.m.

4/18

Abbeville

Away

6:00 p.m.

4/29

Batesburg Leesville Away

7:00 p.m.

5/1

Union County

Away

7:00 p.m.

5/5

Columbia

Home

7:00 p.m.

5/7

Laurens Dist 55

Home

7:00 p.m.

132 | Spring 2014

TIME

DATE

DATE

OPPONENT

SITE

TIME

3/10

Kanapaha

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/12

Lincoln

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/17

High Springs

Home

4:00 p.m.

3/19

Mebane

Away

4:00 p.m.

3/31

Bishop

Away

4:00 p.m.

4/2

Ft. Clarke

Home

4:00 p.m.

4/7

Westwood

Away

4:00 p.m.

4/9

Kanapaha

Away

4:00 p.m.

4/14

High Springs

Away

4:00 p.m.

4/16

Mebane

Home

4:00 p.m.

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AD V E RTI S E M E N T

Jim Douglas Sales & Service continues their legacy of being “Your trusted dealer since 1926” In 1926, Jim Forrester’s grandfather started a business that would continue over three generations. It started as a Chevrolet dealership in Alachua, and it moved to High Springs in 1935 with the railroad. Times changed, and the business evolved. But one constant remained: the owner’s commitment to his customers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever sold a car,” says Jim Forrester. “I’ve had a lot of people buy them from me. But I don’t think I’ve ever sold one.”

Jim said they’ve developed over the years what he hopes is a good reputation. Above all people trust his team to help them, and that’s what he likes to focus on.

“I have found them to be very honest people,” says Emily Finley.

As a customer for nearly two decades, Finley said she finds the people at Jim Douglas Sales and Service to be very honest folks who are very thorough and reliable with their work.

Any time she’s had car problem she takes it in to Jim Douglas because of the personal attention she receives. They come out and talk to her face to face.

They explain what needs to be done then they put everything in black and white so she can think about it before she has the work done.

There’s a family feel to the business, and they treat everyone the same, she said. They always work her in as soon as possible, and she feels comfortable trusting them to help her. Just yesterday, Lamar Moseley was having repairs done in the Service Department and said, “I like coming here. It feels like home. You know, like family.

134 | Spring 2014

The certified technicians are familiar with all domestic and Asian automobiles and can perform a wide range of repairs and service.

In addition to maintenance and repairs, Jim Douglas offers a wide spectrum of cars and trucks for sale, and they are able to get most everyone financed for a vehicle.

Jim said customers often leave saying it’s the easiest car buying experience they’ve ever had.

“People should enjoy their purchases,” Jim said. “It should be a fun experience.”

He said his job is to help his customers navigate the mine fields of car buying and maintenance. Of course as a business they are there to make a profit, but he said they don’t need to make it off of one person. The idea is to help his customers walk away with an experience they are happy with.

Emily Finley said she loves that there is such a reliable place near her to bring her vehicle when she has trouble.

“I believe in keeping business in the home town,” she said.

And the people at Jim Douglas are glad to have her business.

“This is small town atmosphere. This is High Springs,” Jim said. “Everyone here is family.”

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LIBRARY SCHEDULE Alachua Branch Library .....................14913 NW 140th St. .............................. 386-462-2592 High Springs Branch Library ...........135 NW 1st Ave........................................ 386-454-2512 Newberry Branch Library .................110 South Seaboard Dr. ..........................352-472-1135 For further information on scheduled events visit www.acld.lib.fl.us

ALACHUA

continue your favorite tabletop games.

Teens (12-18)

PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Level Up! Tabletop Gamers Club Mondays – 4pm Every Monday afternoon gather at the Library to start up or continue your favorite tabletop games.

Bring snacks, hang out, nerd out and have fun.

Children (5-11 years) Lego Club Tuesdays – 3pm Preteens meet to create challenging structures.

Preteen Club Wednesdays – 3pm After-school group that explore stories and participate in story-related arts and crafts.

Preteens (8-12) Preschool Storytime Thursdays 11:15am Come join us for stories, song and dance.

PROGRAMS FOR TEENS Level Up! Tabletop Gamers Club Mondays – 4pm Every Monday afternoon gather at the Library to start up or

136 | Spring 2014

Alachua Crafternoons Thursdays - 2pm Crafts in the afternoon at the Alachua Library! Bring your favorite needlecraft, hubby or ideas.

Share and learn from other crafters in the community.

Teens (12-18)

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Tuesdays – 6pm Classes for adults who want to learn English.

Alachua Crafternoons Thursdays - 2pm Crafts in the afternoon at the Alachua Library! Bring your favorite needlecraft, hubby or ideas.

Share and learn from other crafters in the community.

Adult (19 and up) Poets and Writers Among Us Thursdays – 4pm to 5pm Poets and writers meet to inspire and be inspired.

Johnson Steppers Thursdays – 6pm to 7pm Practice contemporary dance steps to learn the latest moves or to tone muscles. No experience required.

Everyone welcome Come on.

Healthcare Marketplace Navigator 4pm to 7pm on the second and fourth Monday of the month.

Need help understanding how to sign up for health insurance? A certified Navigator will be present at the Alachua Branch Library.

Adult (19 and up)

registered therapy dog who needs some relaxation after his hard work. Children of all ages may stop by to read him a good book or tell him a good tail. Guy loves people, books and a good pat on the head.

Elementary (5-11 years), Teen (12-18) Zumba: the fun way to fitness Mondays – 6pm to 7pm Zumba mixes bodysculpting movement with dance steps mainly derived from Latin music.

Meeting Room A+B Adult (19 and up), Teen (12-18)

PROGRAMS FOR ALL AGES Artists’ Brown Bag Club Mondays – 12pm Monthly brown bag event for artists to gather, share ideas and network. Bring your own brown bag lunch.

Dog Gone! Good Reading Corner Mondays- 3pm to 4pm Come read to Guy, a

HIGH SPRINGS PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Mary’s Marvelous Storytime Tuesdays - 11:00 am to 11:30 am Come join us every Tuesday for books, songs, puppets and dancing.

Preschool (3-5 years), Toddler (1-3 years), Baby (1 and under)

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS Crafter’s Circle Wednesdays – 1pm to 2:30pm Do you find the time to work on your craft projects at home?

Have some fun with the Crafter’s Circle.

Seniors, Adult (19 and up), Teen (12-18)

NEWBERRY PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Storytime Goat Workshop Wednesdays – 11:00 pm to 12:00 pm For our Storytime children! We’ll learn all about goats. You’ll be able to milk a mama goat and hold a baby goat.

Preschool (3-5 years), Toddler (1-3 years)

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS Tempting Reads Book Club Every fourth Wednesday - 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Every fourth Wednesday we will have a book club discussion (with refreshments) featuring popular and recently published books including books recommended by participants.

Open to the public.

Adult (19 and up) Newberry Walking Club Thursdays – 11:00 am to 12:15 pm Tired of walking

alone? You can build a network of walking friends.

Adult (19 and up) You want book?

How to use the library’s website and databases Thursdays – 11:00am to 1:00 pm Do you need help navigating the library’s website? If so this class is designed with you in mind.

Seniors, Adult (19 and up)

Follow Us To The Bed ‘n Biscuit Inn BOARDING FOR DOGS & CATS • GROOMING • DAY CARE

PROGRAMS FOR ALL AGES Midweek Movie Madness Wednesdays - 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm Relax and join us on Wednesday afternoons for midweek movie on the big screen. Watch some of the latest movies and the best of some of the older ones.

Elementary (5-11 years), Teen (12-18) Newberry Needlecrafters Tuesdays – 1:05 pm to 2:20 pm Have a needlecraft that you love, but have a hard time finding time to actually work on your projects? Have some fun with this crafting group, which meets at the library Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 pm.

Adult (19 and up), Seniors, All Ages

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Alachua Business League

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>> HISTORY

Celebrating Old Times Old Timers Day at Ichetucknee Springs State Park Helps Preserve the Area’s History

WRITTEN BY STYLIANA RESVANIS

E

very year, Ichetucknee Springs State Park hosts a get-together where people share a meal and pull their lawn chairs into a circle to reminisce about life in Old Florida.

To an onlooker it might appear like a family reunion of sorts, but these visitors don’t necessarily share the same DNA. Instead, their bond is that they all visited or lived near the springs before it became a state park.

The gathering, known as Old Timers Day, allows people to share memories of the area that can help paint a more complete picture of the park’s geographic and cultural history.

“This is a fantastic way for us to fill in the gaps of our knowledge with the local flavor,” said park services specialist Sam Cole, who has coordinated Old Timers Day for the past eight years but has also helped plan the event annually since its inception in 1997.

He said that while the gathering originated mostly as a way to gather information about flooding, organizers soon realized it could teach them even more, such as the park’s history as a phosphate mining operation

140 | Spring 2014

and details about the old town of Ichetucknee in the late 1800s.

This year’s Old Timers Day, which will take place April 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include a potluck, a van trip to some of the park’s cultural sites — such as the Mission de San Martin de Timucua and the old gristmill at Mill Pond Spring — a visit to the Environmental Education Center, and, of course, a storytelling session.

“My mother believed in getting here before daylight so we could be here bright and early. We wouldn’t leave until 10 at night,” said Carolyn (McDonald) Cornman, describing her family’s trips to the springs at the 1999 reunion, according to “Old Timers Remember — Ichetucknee Springs,” a book about the history of the springs.

Ichetucknee Springs became a state park in 1970, and two years later, the U.S. Department of the Interior declared it a national natural landmark. But before all that, it was a place for fishing, socializing, bathing, swimming and even baptizing.

Columbia County businesses would close on Wednesday afternoons so residents could go for a

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS STATE PARK

TOP: Fort White High School’s class of 1960 homecoming court enjoys the sights at Ichetucknee Springs.

Locals have used the spring for recreational activities for centuries. At the turn of the 19th century, many locals would spend weekends at Ichetucknee and even celebrated holidays there, such as the Fourth of July.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS STATE PARK

The annual event allows residents a chance to share fond memories of good times spent at the springs.

The Brannaka family (right) enjoys a day at the springs. Charles Brannaka, pictured right, was one of the state park’s first managers.

swim. In their youth, Old Timers would jump from a tire swing into the 72-degree water, visit the springs for end-of-school and church-group trips, play music and chill watermelons in the caves, according to “Old Timers Remember.”

Because the roads passed the edge of the spring in those days, sometimes a car or two would even end up in the cool waters. In fact, Cole said an Old Timer once talked about a time in the 1950s when he parked at the top of the ridge and his Ford Anglia rolled into the spring.

Cole also recalls another Old Timer describing what the gristmill’s wheel looked like before it deteriorated.

From the description, park staff members were able to

142 | Spring 2014

estimate the size of the building and the wheel (about 6 feet long).

“A little mill like that was the lifeblood of this old town of Ichetucknee,” Cole said.

The cool waters of the Ichetucknee have steadily served the area for centuries. Before the Old Timers, Native Americans used the springs dating back thousands of years. In the late 1890s and early 1900s the site became North Florida’s phosphate industry headquarters due to its abundance of limestone, and

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Come Celebrate Old Timers Day

April 5th 10am - 2:00pm ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS STATE PARK 12087 SW U.S. 27, Fort White, FL 32038 The event will be held at the headspring picnic grounds (at the north entrance to the park, off of Elim Church Road).

The event is free for Old Timers. Coordinators are still working out price details for the public. local timber and naval store industries harvested cypress and long leaf pine forests in the area through the 1940s, according to the Florida State Parks website.

Aside from the historical and cultural information Old Timers Day provides, it also gives park staff the opportunity to use what Old Timers say as inspiration to create other events, such as Iche Nippy Dip Day, where park-goers celebrate the new year by swimming in the head spring.

As many as 100 people have attended Old Timers Day in the past. And while it began as invitation-only, this year coordinators hope opening it to the community can expand the event’s audience and continue to keep the area’s cultural history alive.

“It’s a way to keep expanding our base,” said park

144 | Spring 2014

manager Mebane Cory-Ogden. “We want to keep that torch getting carried on from one generation to the next.”

Old Timers are encouraged to help pass the torch by bringing relatives to the event so they can share the beauty of the springs while passing down their family’s history. To date, the youngest attendees have included weeks-old babies while the oldest have included people in their late 90s.

“The new generation is not learning as much about the history,” Cole said. “One way we try to remedy that is to get that connection going with the previous generation. If you know that your roots are connected to the land, then you’re going to learn more about it.” s For information on general park admission and to learn more about the event, visit www.floridastateparks.org/ichetuckneesprings.

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COLUMN >> ALBERT ISAAC

Different Note

Happy Travels!

M

y publisher, Charlie Delatorre, recently admitted that he has a fear that one day he’s going to open up this magazine and see that I’ve written about him in my column. Well, Charlie, this is that day.

Sort of.

I recently had a birthday (feel free to send gifts, C/O Tower Publications, Inc. — address in front of this magazine). Charlie is telling everyone I’m 87. Truth be told, I’m considerably younger than that. But, as the oldest living full-time employee at Tower Publications, I feel obligated to nap often and also mention what fun it is working here (old-fogy cracks notwithstanding).

In addition to my birthday in February, it is also my daughter’s birthday. A big one, too. The BIG THREE O. How is this possible? Thirty? Are you kidding? In my head she’s still a child, but in reality she’s a full-grown woman with children of her own. So, to commemorate this milestone, her most-significant-other plotted a birthday surprise: he planned to fly my wife, The Voice of Reason, to Ohio. I suggested we all go — me, The Boy (our 12-year-old) and my wife.

I am not a frequent flyer. The last time I had flown was on our anniversary when we cruised out to Las Vegas. Unversed in the ways of airline travel, I was mortified when I realized I had to remove my shoes to get through security. I was wearing the most threadbare socks in my possession (I had planned on wearing

them one last time and throwing them away in Vegas).

They looked great from the ankle up, but the toes and the bottoms of those socks were see-through. And I had to walk across the lobby in those bad boys.

So I was prepared for the Ohio trip. But like the best laid schemes of mice and men, it went awry when I did not have to remove my shoes. And I was wearing some really cool socks, too.

So we board the plane, all excited to be flying in a 717. As soon as we got seated, some idiot in the seat across the aisle from me began playing some aggravating game on his iPad with the sound turned up all the way. I’ve been having headaches, and I could feel the tension build in my brain with each boing, ching, slap, clap and gong — every annoying sound you can imagine. Why didn’t someone say something? Surely I wasn’t the only one annoyed by that noise.

The guy next to him was concentrating on his iPad and wearing earbuds. But the people around him seemed blissfully unaware of the cacophony.

Then The Voice of Reason observed that the offensive passenger, who happened to be an old dude (in other words, about my age), was also wearing earbuds. It dawned on me that he’s not rude, he’s just stupid, and didn’t realize his earbuds weren’t plugged in.

The noise continued. I couldn’t even hear the instructions on using the oxygen masks or how to

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leave the plane should something go wrong.

I motioned to the flight attendant (also blissfully unaware of the noise) who asked the dude to plug in those headphones.

Ah, peace at last.

What does this have to do with Charlie, you may be wondering. I’ll get to that in a minute.

The birthday surprise for our daughter was epic. We stood in the kitchen while her beau escorted her into the house with his hands over her eyes.

Facing the children, he removed his hands and they screamed “Happy Birthday!”

Then came part two: he covered her eyes again, turned her around, and then she saw the two of us. “Surprise!”

She was blown away. With tears in her eyes she ran into our arms.

Then part three, as she walked into the living room and The Boy dropped balloons from above and the rest of the brood opened fire with cans of silly string. Epic, I tell you. Epic.

And our travels went off without a hitch, except when I left my keys on the conveyor belt at security.

Fortunately, a guy ran down the concourse to find me

and return me my keys. Whew!

When Charlie heard this story, it reminded him of his travels, and the time he had left his iPad on a plane.

Keep in mind, this is his SECOND iPad, a gift from all of us for his 40th birthday after he’d lost his first iPad. Mere days after getting the first one, he had driven off with it on the roof of his car. It was never to be seen again.

So, we gave him a new iPad with a heart-warming inscription that reads something like, “To initiate self-destruct sequence, place iPad on roof of car.”

Which he left on the plane.

When he went to lost and found, they told him that there were several other iPads and asked if there was an inscription.

“Yes,” Charlie said and uttered those fateful words. “To initiate self-destruct sequence…”

Without further ado, he was swarmed by TSA, stripsearched and put into custody as a terrorist.

I’m KIDDING (although that would be tragically funny). The Airline Gods always smile upon Charlie (he has other stories to prove it, but I’m out of space) and he returned home without incident.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s naptime — one of the perks for being the oldest living full-time employee at Tower Publications. s

Then came part two: he covered her eyes again, turned her around, and then she saw the two of us.

“Surprise!”

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>> HIGH SPRINGS

The Return of

Fantastic Fridays STORY AND PHOTOS BY DARLA KINNEY SCOLES

M

ost everyone looks forward to Fridays. High Springs looks forward to Fantastic Fridays.

Once a popular monthly event in the close-knit community — forced economically to take a bit of a hiatus — Fantastic Fridays and a few other projects are now a new reality thanks to the reemergence of the High Springs Community Development Corporation (CDC).

With volunteer citizen and business-owner CDC members stepping up to eventually accomplish three major goals, the grass-roots group is led by long-time resident, Dot Harvey, who has high hopes that the organization will make a difference downtown.

“We are determined,” said CDC President Harvey, “to do anything we can to vitalize our downtown and encourage a strong economic foundation here. With a core group of about 15 members and a board of six, we have a lot of great ideas and hard workers to carry them forward.

“Right now we’re just leaving the station and we need to get on down the tracks!”

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With two Fantastic Fridays under their collective belts, the members are encouraged by the response thus far. February’s “Find Your Heart in High Springs” event included children’s activities, free chair massage, 25-cent auctions, line dancing lessons, sidewalk vendors and musicians, evening shopping and open hours at the local railroad museum.

Timed to coincide with the High Springs Art Co-op’s Artist of the Month Show and Wine and Cheese Receptions, Fantastic Friday events run from 6 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month. March’s Fantastic Friday was themed “Go Green, Shop Local, Have Fun!” and featured live music, children’s games and activities, shop and sidewalk vendor specials and fun prizes — all focused on lawns, gardens and the environment.

“As this grows, the sky will be the limit on what we can do,” Harvey said. “It’s up to us. There is a lot of potential. We have a common cause and want this city to build on its assets. We have incredible outdoor features here, a strong arts community, a variety of restaurants and the oldest continuously operating theater in the state. You

Business owners such as Nancy Habig and Linda Lenseth (above & right) at Sally’s Sensibles stay open late for Fantastic Fridays. Visitors to Sally’s at February’s event were even greeted with goody bags and special bargains.

A budget-friendly, 25-cent auction was part of February’s Fantastic Friday in High Springs. Plans for the March 7 event will emphasize ways to help protect the environment, the joys of gardening, the advantages of supporting local businesses, and good old fashioned fun.

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“Not long ago, High Springs was voted the ‘Friendliest Small Town’ in the state of Florida. We want to get back to that. Our common cause is bringing unity to the city.” name it, you can find it here. At the same time, we want to do this in such a way as to preserve the quaintness and personality that is High Springs.”

Harvey has recruited an enthusiastic team to the CDC, including vice president and retired finance manager, Wanda Kemp. A long-time resident and Chamber of Commerce volunteer, Kemp decided to get involved in the CDC when invited and has been working hard since, planning, procuring sidewalk vendors and helping get the word out about the monthly happenings.

“I like it here because it is a nice, friendly town,” Kemp said. “I used to come up here and visit my mother and people would wave at you as they passed. They are still that way. High Springs has a quietness, a quaintness. People here are nice. It’s a great place to live and a great place to visit. We hope our events will bring in more visitors so they can experience the city’s charm.”

Sisters Nancy Habig and Linda Lenseth, owners of Sally’s Sensibles on North Main Street, stayed open later than usual for February’s Fantastic Friday. Though the weather was less than desirable that night, the shop still had several customers, including a couple from Perry.

“That’s our hope,” Habig said, “that people will come from Gainesville and other nearby cities, and become returning customers. When we had Fantastic Fridays a few years ago, that was the case. These events are good for getting people out on the street, too.”

Both Habig and Lenseth feel that with consistency the monthly endeavors will benefit businesses and residents alike. Support from both the city’s mayor and city manager — with plans such as the creation of a combined event calendar to be posted on the city’s website — will help the CDC’s efforts along those proverbial tracks.

As the group moves forward, their mission is

three-fold with Fantastic Fridays just one element of the plan. Also on the project list are the maintenance and improvement of the city’s entry signs and the beautification of a small area known as Pocket Park along the railroad tracks downtown.

“We want to make this little park a welcome spot for people to relax and enjoy themselves for a little bit,” Harvey said. “Landscaping is planned, along with benches and a sign on the gazebo. Perhaps this might even become a little wedding spot.”

A kiosk with a city directory and event listings and local literature will eventually be put in place there as well.

Gateway signs — six in total — will also benefit from a maintenance program and the addition of solar lighting for nighttime visibility.

While all of these projects require funding, Harvey is hopeful that with corporate sponsors, grants, event proceeds and individual contributions, the group will be successful in every endeavor.

High Springs resident and Fantastic Friday regular, Vivian Arndt, is certain of it.

“It’s only going to get easier and better,” Arndt said.

“With the merchants staying open late and the long summer nights on their way, people will come. High Springs is a special place. One of a kind.”

One might even describe it as fantastic. s There are scheduled upcoming Fantastic Fridays in High Springs on April 4, May 2, June 6. Check the Calendar listings starting on page 118 for more community events.

The CDC holds a general meeting the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30 at the High Springs Historic Elementary School Building and Community Center, 120 NW 2nd Street.

For more information on the CDC, contact President Dot Harvey: 386-454-7610, dphshadow@aol.com, or Wanda Kemp: 386-454-1224.

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> TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER BOOK REVIE REVIEW EW >>

Things I’ve Learned from Dying: A Book about Life written by David R. Dow c.2014, Twelve $25.00 / $28.00 Canada; 273 pages

J

ust one more bedtime story.

You wanted that as a child because you’ve always been someone who hates endings (one more for the road). Everyone knows you never get out the door on time (let me just look again). Coat on, hat on, and you start another story (did I tell you…?).

“Goodbye” sounds so final and it’s not a bad thing that you can’t take your leave. But, as in the new book “Things I’ve Learned from Dying” by David R. Dow, sometimes, it’s time to go.

The crime was horrifying for its brutality: four

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teenagers broke into the home of an 84-year-old woman, slinked upstairs to where she was watching TV in bed, took her car keys, and killed her. Later, Texas law allowed Eddie Waterman, who did not shoot the fatal bullet, to be sentenced to die for the crime.

In Huntsville, where “inmates spend twenty-three hours a day in a sixty-square-foot cell with… a slit of translucent plastic for a window” David Dow met Waterman, his new client. Dow, a lawyer for Death Row inmates, had been down this road before. At their first meeting, he “did the math” and figured Waterman would “be dead in twenty-eight months.” Still, he would try to overturn the sentence.

Dow’s father-in-law, Peter, asked why Dow wanted to save Waterman’s life. It was a good question from a man who was dying himself: Peter had metastatic melanoma.

But as hard as Dow fought to save the life of Waterman, who had nothing and wanted to live, Peter, who had everything to live for, wanted to die. Every possible legal chance was used to help Waterman’s plight; Dow and his team even put themselves in danger of disbarment. Meanwhile, Dow’s wife, Katya, desperately searched for viable alternative treatments for her father, who’d decided there’d be no more chemotherapy.

“I know you know how to let go,” Peter wrote to Dow. “I need you to teach it to Katya.”

In a file stored somewhere in my computer, there’s a flexible list of my Top Five Books Ever. “Things I’ve Learned from Dying” is there.

As a meditation on life, author David R. Dow first takes his readers on a dual path of sorrow (“My entire life consists of trying to put off the end.”). The situations, together, drip with irony; his good memories of Peter seem grief-flat, dry and joyless. It’s hardly believable, then, that Dow’s dog falls ill during this time, which feels to readers like another kick to the stomach.

That’s overwhelming — obviously for the author as much as it is for us — but it’s also so affecting that you’ll find your hand creeping over your mouth as you read.

You may even cry. But you won’t avoid being moved.

This memoir on life and death is a must-read for both sides of the capital punishment fence. It’s a must-read for anyone who’s lost a loved one. Start “Things I’ve Learned from Dying,” and I don’t think you’ll be able to leave it. s Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book.

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>> STITCHED TOGETHER

Making a Difference Girl Scout Troop 733’s Latest Project Helps Keep Girls In School

WRITTEN BY SHAYNA POSSES PHOTOGRAPHY BY RADHA SELVESTER

W

hen Joni Perkins says bye to her friends at school to head to Girl Scouts, she gets weird looks.

At 16, she’s not your typical scout (“People at school always say, ‘So, you’re selling cookies for your younger sister, right?’”), but Troop 733 isn’t your typical troop.

On President’s Day, the group of high schoolers celebrated their day off with a potluck/crafting extravaganza, dancing around the Alachua First United Methodist Church to Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” and transforming lollipops into ninjas.

But as happy as they were to munch on homemade mac ’n’ cheese instead of cafeteria fare, the girls don’t take school for granted.

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Their latest project, Mission Possible: Keep Girls in School.

Period!, has taught them better.

It all started last year — the troop’s first — when the girls started their Girltopia journey. In order to receive a Gold Award, the highest achievement for a scout, a girl must complete two journeys.

Girltopia, Joni explained, taught the troop about the things girls go through worldwide, good and bad.

Sex trafficking stuck out to them, and they put together a skit they presented to groups all over Gainesville.

“We had learned a lot about girls’ struggles,” Joni said. “We became passionate about adversity around the world.”

This September, it was time to think about their second journey.

They were supposed to be visited

by Linda James, their troop leader’s Sudanese friend. The girls skyped with James on Easter, learning about the turbulence created when the South Sudan separated from the country in 2011.

She couldn’t make it to Gainesville in the fall, so her husband, Jacob Atem, came to speak to them instead.

He — also from Sudan — told them about his childhood as a refugee, 10 years spent eating grass and wandering.

“It was a really austere life,” said Radha Selvester, one of the troop’s co-leaders. “One kid would go to school. The rest would forage for food.”

South Sudanese girls are twice

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When the scouts first took on this project, they didn’t even know how to sew. Now they’ve completed 300 shields for South Sudanese girls.

as likely to die in childbirth than they are to graduate from high school, Atem explained.

Emily Smith, 15, wanted to know why.

“He was kind of embarrassed,” she said. “But I got on him: ‘What’s happening?’”

Red-faced, he explained that once girls reach puberty, they end up having to stay home from school during their menstrual cycle. In a country where people struggle for necessities like food and water, sanitary supplies are a luxury they can’t afford.

Staying home a week every month adds up, and eventually, most girls drop out.

“They’re missing a week of school every month — you might as well

156 | Spring 2014

not bother,” Selvester said. “They have only about 400 girls graduate from high school every year.”

Left with few other options, they marry young, earning dowries for their families. But their bodies are often not mature enough to give birth, leading to South Sudan having the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

Overwhelmed by the statistics, Emily jumped out of her seat, Selvester said.

Before moving to Florida, Emily had worked with a group in her home state of Colorado to sew reusable menstrual pads. It seemed like the perfect solution, and the troop set a goal to make the students of Juba Girls Secondary School 200 comfort kits — panties, shields,

waterproof liners, a washcloth and a drawstring bag to hold it all.

There was a small problem: They didn’t know how to sew.

“The original plan was to do it in one day,” Selvester said. “But they couldn’t even sew the drawstrings, which is just a straight line down a piece of fabric.”

They refused to give up. Ladies from the American Sewing Guild came to their first sew-a-thon to show them how to work sewing machines and sergers. Three sew-athons in, the girls have 300 shields finished or almost finished. The next one is planned for March 29 at the Alachua Library.

“What they set out to do is outrageous, and they’re going to do it anyway,” Selvester said. “They’ve

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learned how to sew, how to work together for this impossible dream.”

Emily’s mom volunteered their home as storage for all the comfort kits in progress. Now, their living room is overrun with piles of flannel squares and empty drawstring bags and bolts of outrageous, floral fabric.

“It’s been an adventure for all of us,” Emily said.

They’ve worked up a presentation about their cause, which has

led to donations of everything from fabric to underwear to money.

Packages have come from across the country and across the state. A UF student, upon hearing about the project, texted Selvester on her 21st birthday to say she’d used some of her birthday money to order $100 worth of flannel for the girls.

They have a while to go before they reach their goal, even with scouts taking home fabric to cut and

shields to sew — the few who can handle the difficult curves, that is.

“Joni’s got those curves down,” Selvester said.

“Joni’s got some curves,” Emily joked.

The girls laughed as Joni danced in her seat.

Despite the difficulties, the girls remain eager, cutting fabric as they meet to talk about future endeavors.

Their latest undertaking? Writing a letter convincing Ellen to put them on her show — though they’re sending one to Oprah as backup.

Selvester’s been running Girl Scout troops since her 16-year-old daughter, Sita, was 4. A scout herself, Selvester has led a lot of girls, but this group, she says, is special.

She started the troop last year with three, and it’s grown to 20.

“We’re like a Girl Scout magnet or something,” she said.

Some — like Joni and Sita — are lifelong scouts. Others joined a few months ago. They come from all over the area, from families of various resources.

“Our troop is extremely diverse: black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay, straight, young, old,” Selvester said.

The girls all get along, so they don’t understand why the warring tribes in Sudan can’t.

But they know they can’t fix the whole world just yet. So, they sew.

“When people go out and change the world, they go to high school and college, and then they change the world,” said Radhika Khara, 16.

“But us, we’re starting early.” s

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>> FORE!

Sportsfest Alachua Chamber of Commerce’s Biggest Fundraiser of Year Draws Golf Enthusiasts

WRITTEN BY ILANA LIFSHITZ

T

wenty-five years ago, Rick Robertson opened Conestogas Restaurant on Main Street in downtown Alachua. Today, the family steakhouse, which is still in operation, is a corporate sponsor for the Alachua Chamber of Commerce’s Sportsfest Golf Tournament.

Started by Robertson and A.C. Short 24 years ago when Robertson was president of the chamber, Sportsfest was created as a fundraiser for the chamber.

They wanted it to be based around a golf tournament and have the proceeds go toward the youth recreation department in Alachua, Robertson said. The name “Sportsfest” developed from the number of sports offered for the first two years of the event, like a 5-kilometer run, a skeet shoot, a tennis tournament and a golf tournament. Noticing that the golf tournament brought in most of the money, the men decided to make it an event solely around golf, he added.

This year’s Sportsfest takes place on June 14 at 8 a.m. at Meadowbrook Golf Club in Alachua, said David Pope, the committee chair for Sportsfest. Pope

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is responsible to pull the committee together, make assignments and go out to start soliciting contributions, which has three different levels: corporate sponsorship, hole sponsorship and individual players.

The chamber is always looking for new and more participation. The corporate sponsors get an entire team for the event. However, the main sponsor is Dollar General, whose distribution center is in Alachua.

To register, sponsors must fill out an application. It costs $60 per golfer to play, and details about sponsorship fees can be found on a flier from the chamber.

There is no age range for golfers; however, they must have a handicap. In general, golfers receive handicaps when they turn in their scores; based on that score, one receives a numerical grade, which in turn becomes their handicap. When golfers play against each other, they get their scores adjusted so they are seen as competitively even, Pope said. The event is not open to the public, but it is free for friends and family members of golfers to come to the links and show their support.

Robertson said in the past, Sportsfest brought in

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID POPE

A group of golfers comes together at last year’s Sportsfest Golf Tournament.

Make sure to wear proper golfing attire for the tournament.

between $5,000 and $10,000. The chamber used that money to benefit the recreation department by installing air conditioning in the gym, providing maintenance repairs, creating baseball fields and purchasing a tractor-mower to keep the fields looking their best.

Robertson added the biggest benefit of having Sportsfest is that it helps the recreation department and helps the children. He firmly believes in giving back to the community.

“If you take care of the kids, a lot of time you keep them out of trouble,” he added.

Pope said 8 a.m. may sound early, but the registration fee includes breakfast sausages upon arrival and a catered lunch provided by Conestogas Restaurant.

Golfers play an entire 18-hole round of golf in a

scramble format with four people per team. On average, golfers take between four and five hours to finish the round. At the end of the tournament, players take part in “The Dollar General Sportsfest Golf Tournament Capital City Bank Shootout.” In order to be considered for the shootout, players must be part of the top three players of the net and gross divisions or any team that qualifies by a special designated hole. Winners win cash prizes instead of golf equipment, such as bags and clubs, because most players already have the equipment they need.

In the past, there have been as many as 22 teams, but this year the chamber is limiting it to between 18 and 20 teams, Pope said “It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Pope added. s

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>> HELLO SPRING

Fine Art —

a n d

—

Fresh Air Santa Fe College’s Spring Arts Festival is a Welcome Sign of the Changing Season

WRITTEN BY ANDREW V. PESTANO

D

ormant driveways and sleeping streets have resurrected every spring for decades. Life is captured and appreciated through all senses during the Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival in downtown Gainesville, where dogwood trees and azalea flowers paint the canvas that surrounds enchanting homes.

Whether the event draws those seeking to appreciate art and culture or those looking to satisfy a craving for springtime lemonade and funnel cake, the art festival delivers. The 45th Annual Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival will be held on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6.

Booths, barbecues, tents and tables will conquer North East First Street and the Thomas Center lawn with art, music and food in the city’s Northeast Historic District, which was first mapped out in 1854 and includes iconic Floridian architecture from the 1880s to the 1950s.

The birth of the festival took place the same year man first landed on the moon. In 1969, Santa Fe faculty and staff noticed the lack of fine arts festivals in the region and worked to bring artistic culture to

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JACKIE SCHINDEHETTE

Schindehette has been an artist for about 30 years and specializes in painting Florida landscapes. Schindehette paints “en plein air,” an expression used to describe painting while outdoors.

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Alachua County. It was one small step into the creation of a tradition.

The inaugural festival hosted about 500 people on the lawn of the Thomas Center.

“That first year, anyone with a table … could sell their work,” Kathryn Lehman, coordinator of the event, said in an email.

The festival established itself as part of Gainesville’s customs. It evolved from hosting a few hundred attendants to more than 100,000 every spring, and as the festival matured, so too has the art.

Paintings, photography, jewelry, sculptures, glass and watercolor artwork are few of the many types of art visitors will find bringing life to the event.

“It’s a chance for people to experience and be inspired by high-quality, fine art pieces and the artists who create them,” Lehman said.

164 | Spring 2014

Artists must apply to join the ranks of one of the best outdoors art festivals in the nation. Artists from all over the United States and the world apply to the juried show.

“In some years, we have had artists apply from as far away as Egypt,” Lehman said.

It took Jackie Schindehette a few years to build up the courage to apply as an artist-participant in the now-distinguished festival.

Schindehette has been an artist for about 30 years, but felt a little intimidated because of the great competition that attends and the prestigious reputation the festival carries in the community of artists nationwide, she said.

She has been accepted into the festival for more than 15 years now. This year, she is the poster artist, an artist chosen each year to create a poster for the show with information advertising the event. The poster artist also has an exhibition of artwork in the President’s

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KATHRYN LEHMAN

Festival visitors browse the wide array of art available. Many of the presenting artists sell originals and prints of their art.

The popular event tends to take over Northeast First Street as residents and tourists enjoy the warm spring temperatures of Gainesville — an average high of 77 degrees.

Many different forms of art appear, including sculpting, fiber and woodwork — almost all of which are available for purchase.

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Hall Gallery at Santa Fe College. The news of this honor came as an exciting surprise, she said.

Music also contributes to the vibrancy the festival brings to the community. Groups such as the Gainesville Community Jazz Band and the Buchholz Allegro Vocal Ensemble have performed over the years.

Each year brings new, diverse sounds to stage such the Jacaré Brazil ensemble, which performs traditional and popular Brazilian music, and last year’s musical headliner Tropix, a Latin band that covers multiple artists including Marc Anthony and Olga Tañon.

The music helps create a lively environment that gives the festival a pleasant charm, Schindehette said.

One of the people who best represent the spirit of the festival is Eleanor Blair. She first participated in 1972 when she exhibited handmade dolls, but back then, the festival was more of a whimsical garage-sale party than the professional event it is today.

Blair has participated every year since and also has a studio in downtown Gainesville. Throughout the years, she has won many awards, including the 2013 Award of Distinction for two-dimensional art.

“The competitive section is difficult to get into, but there is a community section,” Blair said. “I recommend it to young artists because it’s a great opportunity to see how people react and respond to your work.”

Although the festival is a phenomenal place to get recognized, the essence of the festival is not in the competition or awards, she said.

After participating for more than 40 years, Blair said one of the most enjoyable aspects of the event is the weather. She recalls that, incredibly, for all the years she’s attended, there have been only a handful of times when the wind was harsh or the skies dark.

However, rain or shine, the festival continues.

Schindehette has seen generations of family members come back over the years to visit and buy her work, which to her is very special.

Each year, both Schindehette and Blair look forward to seeing what their fellow artists are up to, to catch up with old friends, to meet people and foster new friendships.

“After so many decades, I see all my friends. Every person I ever knew seems to walk by,” Blair said. “It’s great to sit in the sun and enjoy the parade of all the people.”

The energy Santa Fe puts into planning the event, the hard work by artists who travel to showcase their art and the musicians who come out to play every year are what make it a marvelous experience for everyone, Blair said.

For more than 40 years, the Spring Arts Festival has been a significant part of Blair’s life, and she believes it helped shape Gainesville into the city it has become — and for that, she is grateful. s The 45th Annual Santa Fe College Spring Arts Festival will be held Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6 in Gainesville’s downtown historic district. Visit springartsfestival.com for more info.

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ADVERTISER INDEX 4400 NW 36th Avenue • Gainesville, FL 32606 352-372-5468 352-373-9178 fax AUTOMOTIVE City Boys Tire & Brake ...............................147 Gainesville Harley Davidson ..................... 47 Jim Doglas Sales & Service ............ 134, 135 L&S Auto Trim ..............................................125 Newberry Auto Repair ............................... 66 RPM Automotive .......................................... 67 Sun City Auto Sales....................................133 Tuffy Tire & Auto Service .............................2

REAL ESTATE Coldwell Banker - MM Parrish ................. 58 Forrester Realty ...........................................120 Miller Real Estate .......................................... 39 Norfleet Homes ............................................. 67

FINANCIAL / LAW Alarion Bank..................................................138 Allstate Insurance, Hugh Cain ............... 106 Easy Tax & Accounting ABC LLC ..........166 Edward Jones - Ed Potts..........................139 Ference Insurance Agency ........................ 41 H&R Block ......................................................145 ProActive Tax & Accounting .................... 59 State Farm - Tish Olesky ..............................2 Sunshine State Insurance .......................... 76 SunState Federal Credit Union .....................................23, 25, 84 Three Rivers Insurance ................................75

FITNESS and BEAUTY Anytime Fitness ...............................................6 Charisma for Hair ....................................... 150 Hair & Nail Depot.......................................... 39 I.C.E. Training - Florine Bush .................... 45 Jodie’s Beauty & Barber ............................ 87 Jonesville Traditional Barber .................... 41 Laura Green - Barber ...................................74 Nails-N-Spa..................................................... 88 Salon Eye Candy ........................................ 106

PETS and VETS Bed & Biscuit Inn ......................................... 137 Dancin’ Dogs Boarding .............................. 67 Dream Dogz ..................................................126 Pamper Your Pet .........................................166 Pampered Paws ............................................ 86 Susie’s Pet Sitting & Grooming ..............166

MISCELLANEOUS Cash for Cars ................................................. 77 Holy Trinity Episcopal Church ................124

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EDUCATION & CHILD CARE Alachua Learning Center ......................... 172 First Christian Academy ...............................9 Forest Grove Christian Academy ..............4 Gainesville Country Day School ..............73 Millhopper Montessori School ................102

MEDICAL / HEALTH Affordable Dentures ..................................159 Alachua Dental .............................................. 65 Alliance Pediatrics .......................................131 Caretenders .................................................... 96 City Drugs Pharmacy.................................. 88 Clear Sound Audiology..............................113 Douglas Adel, DDS ...................................... 34 Gainesville Dermatology .................... 63, 82 Gainesville OB/GYN .................................... 33 Gentle Dental Care .....................................170 Dr. Greg Borganelli Pediatric Dent. ......126 Hunter Family Dentistry ............................. 41 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery .................27 Palms Medical Group ................................... 10 Samant Dental Group ............................... 104 UFHealth - Plastic Surgery ........................ 15

RETAIL / RECREATION Alachua Business League ........................139 Alachua Farm & Lumber ............................ 17 Alachua Pawn & Jewelry ........................... 89 Balloon Adventures of Gainesville .......... 17 Bambi’s Organic Country Farm .............. 87 Beacher’s Lodge.................................. 46, 158 Blue Springs .................................................. 127 City of Gainesville .......................................129 Colleen’s Kloset............................................138 Cootie Coo Creations ................................. 88 Dance Alive! ..................................................123 Family Jewels & Purse Strings ................. 41 Fletcher’s Center West................................ 41 Garden Gallery .............................................138 Gator Fine Wine & Spirits .........................171 High Springs Farmers Market .................. 86 High Springs Pioneer Days ....................... 86 Hippodrome State Theatre....................... 121 Jewelry Designs by Donna ....................... 88 Klaus Fine Jewelry ....................................... 83 Lentz House of Time ....................................75 Liquor & Wine Shoppe ...............................171 Morrell’s Furniture .........................................57 New 2 You ....................................................... 67 New Smyrna Beach ........................................7 Oaks Pawn .....................................................167 Paddywhack....................................................37 Pawn Pro ......................................................... 89 Stephen Foster Cultural Center ...............37 Valerie’s Loft Consignment ..............76, 139 World Martial Arts Center ........................103

SERVICE A&K Outdoor Services ............................... 76 A-1 Pest Control ............................................. 41 Alpha Bytes Computers ............................ 46 Best Restoration .......................................... 157 Chimney Sweeps of America..................158 Computer Repair .......................................... 86 Craft Cleaners ................................................ 63 Creekside Outdoor Improvements ...40, 77 Gainesville Regional Airport ................... 127 Gonzalez Site Prep .....................................166 Grease Busters .............................................. 46 Growers Fertilizer ........................................145 Jack’s Small Engine Repair...................... 157 Lotus Studios Photography ..................... 20 Oliver & Dahlman ......................................... 87 Quality Cleaners ..........................................146 Southern Land & Lawn...............................131 Stitch In Time Embroidery ........................ 67 William Weseman Construction .............151

HOME IMPROVEMENT Al Mincey Site Prep ......................................75 America’s Swimming Pool Co. ................. 18 Bloominghouse Nursery ............................ 47 Cook’s Portable Buildings ........................135 Floor Store ...................................................... 66 The Green House Nursery............................8 Griffis Lumber................................................ 58 H2Oasis Custom Pool & Spa ....................50 Overhead Door ............................................. 97 Pools & More .....................................................2 Red Barn Home Center .............................. 95 United Rent-All.............................................159 Whitfield Window & Door..........................75

DINING & DRINKS 60 North Main ................................................. 11 Brown’s Country Buffet .............................114 Cilantro Tacos ................................................115 Conestoga’s Restaurant............................138 Copper Monkey West ............................ 5, 116 Dave’s NY Deli ...............................................115 The Diner ........................................................129 Dos Mama’s East Side Eatery .................. 117 El Toro............................................................. 106 Fluid Lounge .................................................153 Flying Biscuit Café .......................................114 Gator Tales Sports Bar ...............................115 High Springs Coffee Company ............... 52 Napolatanos ...................................................116 Newberry Backyard BBQ ..........................114 Northwest Grille ............................................116 The Talented Cookie Company............... 87 TCBY ................................................................ 137 World of Beer ...............................................153

PHOTO BY TJ MORRISSEY

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78 >> MOMENT OF ZEN

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You Have a Choice for your child’s education.

Alachua Learning Center Elementary and Middle School located just North of the town of Alachua on State Road 235, serves students from all parts of Alachua and neighboring counties.

Charter Schools are part of the Florida Alternative System of Public School Choice and charge no tuition.

While having the benefits of a “small-school” environment the Alachua Learning Center provides a challenging and fulfilling academic, cultural and physical educational program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

The Alachua Learning Center has consistently been rated an “A” school by the State of Florida.

Our varied physical education curriculum includes on-campus rock climbing and subscribes to the “President’s Fitness Program”.

The Alachua Learning Center offers inspiring classes on a variety of subjects: Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, P.E. Sports, Rock Climbing, Drama, Music, Clay Sculpting, Computer Graphics, individual Student Book Publishing (writing, design, illustrating), Drawing, Painting, Crafts, Community Service Display Projects, and exciting Field Trips.

Alachua Learning Center 386-418-2080

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