OTNB-Winter2012

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Winter 2012

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TOUR DE FELASCO

ACR Hunnies Grow Roller Derby in N. Central Florida

Riders and Volunteers Prepare for the 2013 Race

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FGCA WISHES EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR

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When Experience Matters…

Dr. Reddy has been in this area since 2002, practicing in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, with a doctorate from Osmania University/ Gandhi Medical College; Residency & Fellowship at Chicago Medical School; an additional Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; and is Board Certified by the American Board of Gastroenterology, specializing in Hepatology.

Dr. Reddy consults with patients needing care in Gastroenterology and/or Hepatology, treats Hepatitis patients, performs colonoscopies and endoscopies at Central Florida Endoscopy & Surgical Institute of Ocala, LLC as well as area

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8 | Winter 2012

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70

CONTENTS WINTER 2012 • VOL. 10 ISSUE 04

>> FEATURES 26 36 51

Camellia Christmas

52

Volunteers of the Year

Bloom During the Winter Season

As Nominated by Their Peers

BY DANA EDWARDS

BY ALLYSEN KERR

A Wide Place in the Road 60

Santa Fe Elks Lodge

Jonesville Comes of Age

A New Generation of Elks

BY ELLIS AMBURN

BY JANICE C. KAPLAN

Volunteers

64

On the Town

Helping Nonprofits Thrive

Entertaining Nights in High Springs

BY ALLYSEN KERR

BY LARRY BEHNKE

10 | Winter 2012

ON THE COVER PHOTO BY TOM MORRISSEY Meet Newberry resident Frankie Harvey, chef and author. Frankie Harvey spent 12 years working in the catering and food service industry, which deepened her love of gourmet cooking. After raising five children, her family and friends encouraged her to write a blog offering recipes and her cooking experiences. From this came her book, “Entertaining with the Elegant Gourmet.”

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>> I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE

by Sarah Brand

Pedal Power Bicyclists will again be taking to the trails at the San Felasco Hammock State Park and Preserve for the Tour de Felasco. This mountain bicycling event challenges riders with a tour through one of North Florida’s most diverse ecological and geological preserves, covering either 50 miles or a metric century of 62 miles without crossing a single paved road.

Tour de Felasco Volunteers and Riders prepare for Annual Race

BY SARAH BRAND

S

tepping out of the mini van, Jerry Yermovsky plants his feet on the well-cut grass, stretching his arms overhead. The vapor from his breath penetrates the cold air as he slips a cloth cap onto his head, shutting out the nippy morning air from his freezing ears. He tops it off with a helmet, buckling the strap under his chin.

Walking to the back of his vehicle, he opens the hatch and reaches inside. Pulling out his bicycle, he checks the wheels and tires. Everything OK, he walks the bicycle over to the start of the trail.

Swinging his leg across to the other side of the bike, he places his feet on the pedals.

Taking in a deep breath, he starts to ride.

Yermovsky has ridden the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park’s Tour de Felasco four years in a row. This year the tour will be held on January 12 at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Tour de Felasco, an annual bicycle marathon consisting of either 50 or 62 miles, has been held at the park for the past 10 years.

Planning for the event began in August by the Friends of San Felasco Citizen Support Organization.

“We start getting all of ourselves organized,” said CSO publicity chair Mike Kelley, describing how the secretary of the club prints out a list of everything the group did the previous year.

“Then we go over and see what

worked and what didn’t…and throw out the things that didn’t or modify them and make them better,” he said.

From there they create a signup list and get the main people involved.

Delegating tasks, such as coordinating volunteers, the CSO then begins discussions on how to prepare for the race. Water, food, SAG stops, parking, routing trails,

PHOTO BY STEVE AUER

Robby and Robert Lester high-five each other during a previous Tour de Felasco bicycle race, an event that attracts upwards of 500 people to hit the trails at the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.

clearing those trails, maintaining the trails and lining out the course all had to be arranged between the CSO and their 100 volunteers.

SAG stops, or rest stops, are placed every 15 miles throughout

20 | Winter 2012

the trail, abundantly stocked with food and water and managed by five to six volunteers.

Communicating via cell phone, volunteers placed at the SAG stops are responsible for the rest areas

www.VisitOurTowns.com

to be fully supplied. There will also be a SAG stop specifically for the riders’ lunch.

Beginning at the entrance of the bike trails, the Tour uses biking, hiking and horse trails at San Felasco.

Winter 2012 | 21

>> ENTERTAINMENT

82

Area Festivals

by Jennifer Riek

Happy Days Looking to get out of town and enjoy other events in the surrounding region?

Here is a glimpse of just some of the things available within a few hours drive of our area. From Bluegrass to Celtic music, from to strawberries festivals to Pine Castle Pioneer Days, there is much to be found in some of the small towns of North Florida.

A Short Drive for Holiday Fun

BY JENNIFER RIEK

T

o those who live beyond state lines, Florida can be summed up in three simple terms; beaches, snow birds and long lines at Disney World.

But to those who live between the orange groves, those that know the truth, Florida is a place of beauty, culture and best of all, festivals.

Central Florida especially is home to several celebrations that visitors merely cut through Alabama and Georgia to attend. From Celtic tales to bluegrass tunes, Florida is more than warm sand and blue skies.

Palatka Bluegrass Festival (February 21-23, 2013) Tucked between the cafeteria

and the concession stand at the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch in Palatka, the Bluegrass Festival offers an outdoor celebration beneath the convenience of a covered pavilion.

Festivalgoers will come from near and far with lawn chairs in tow to see live bands take the stage. Thursday, February 21 will provide music from performers such as the James King Band, the Bluegrass Brothers, Nothin’ Fancy, the Crowe Brothers and the Grascals. Friday, February 22 will bring the Marksmen, Alecia Nugent, Goldwing Express, the Gibson Brothers, the Seldom Scene and Dry Branch Fire Squad. Saturday, February 23 will round out the weekend with Tony Holt & the Wildwood Valley Boys, the Little Roy

& Lizzy Show, the Moron Brothers and much more. Performances will last from 11 a.m. to 9:15 p.m.

Thursday and Friday with a final close at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets are available now for reserve, promising prime seating in the first 18 to 30 rows in the four sections of the pavilion. After the deadline of January 15, visitors can still purchase tickets at the gate for $30 per day or $75 for both days.

Children below 6 are free but music lovers above are welcome to attend for $15 per day or $45 for three days. Tickets can also be reserved for the Fall Palatka Bluegrass Festival, held October 10 to 12, 2013.

PHOTOS PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE PALATKA BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

Multi-award-winning country and bluegrass artist Ricky Skaggs, and award-winning songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist bluegrass singer Rhonda Lea Vincent are only two of the many performers who entertain the audience at the annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival that takes place in February. The Palatka Bluegrass Festival is held to benefit the Rodeheaver Boy’s Ranch in Palatka.

Pine Castle Pioneer Days (February 23-24, 2013)

82 | Winter 2012

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Winter 2012 | 83

>> HIVE MIND

142

Belle On Wheels

by Janice C. Kaplan

Roller Derby Are you ready to roll? These Hunnies are. Meet the Alachua County Rollers, a group of young women that strives to provide the highest level of training. They describe themselves as a dynamic group of grad students, working professionals, college students, hair stylists, scientists and parents.

The ACR Hunnies Help Roller Derby Grow in North Central Florida

BY JANICE C. KAPLAN

A

qua Holic. Breeze Bayou.

Tier in Mier. No, these are not drinks at the newest nightclub. But they will knock you on your rear better than any tasty beverage.

The names are just three of many on the roster of the ACR Hunnies, a flat track roller derby team based in North Central Florida. Made up of nearly 30 athletes, trainers, referees and other volunteers, the Hunnies practice twice a week at the Skating Palace in Lake City and compete in roughly a dozen matches — called “bouts” — each year.

The group had a specific goal in mind when it was established in

April of 2010.

“We had a vision of a competitive roller derby league that emphasized athleticism over the typical campy social group that happened to roller skate,” said Sara Ivins in a recent email. Sara is a founding member and vice president of the group who goes by the track name Salma Hectic. “With two-to-four-hour practices, team workouts and volunteer trainers, the Hunnies are more than a social group. We are a hard working, sweat-drenched group of skaters supported by passionate and dedicated volunteers.”

Despite the rigorous practices, the athletes still have an everpresent sense of fun in what they do. Track names and numbers are

142 | Winter 2012

often a whimsical reflection of the women’s interests (one has even given the track name “Nova Canine” to her dog) and they often dress up their uniforms with stickers, outlandish socks or even costume pieces.

While the athletes’ commitment to their sport is a common bond, their interests and backgrounds span a wide range. Members of the team include a doctoral candidate in biomedical science, an insurance claims representative, college students, a former speed skater, nurses and a water fitness instructor — team co-captain Misty Ann Ward, who is also the aforementioned Aqua Holic.

“Roller derby is one of those sports that is all-accepting,” Ward

PHOTO COURTESY THE ACR HUNNIES

“It’s like a family,” said Misty Ann Ward (middle row, right). “It’s so much fun and so empowering as a woman, to just feel accepted and to know that whatever it is you’re working hard to do, you can do it.”

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Winter 2012 | 143

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. © 2012 Tower Publications, Inc.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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

PUBLISHER Charlie Delatorre charlie@towerpublications.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Albert Isaac editor@towerpublications.com fax: 352-373-9178

>> FEATURES 70

154

Every Day Gourmet Turning Meals Into Special Occasions

BY CASSIE GANTER

90

Winter Fine Arts Fair Tioga Town Center’s Winter Fair

OFFICE MANAGER Bonita Delatorre bonita@towerpublications.com ART DIRECTOR Hank McAfee hank@towerpublications.com DESIGNER Neil McKinney neil@towerpublications.com

BY CASSIE GANTER

124 Cinderella’s Corner Prom and Wedding Expo

BY COURTNEY LINDWALL

132 Don Ricard From Gemology to Antiques and Collectibles

BY ELLIS AMBURN

150 Jen Blalock

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ellis Amburn Larry Behnke Sarah Brand Dana Edwards Cassie Ganter Kelsey Grentzer Janice C. Kaplan Allysen Kerr Courtney Lindwall Jennifer Riek

All Around Healthy, All Around Champion INTERN Cassie Ganter

BY ALLYSEN KERR

154 Gardens from Garbage Compost Network Diverts Food Scraps Away from the Landfill

BY KELSEY GRENTZER

Nancy Short 352-416-0196 nancy@towerpublications.com

COLUMNISTS 34 78 98 130 164

Crystal Henry ............................................................ NAKED SALSA Donna Bonnell ......................................................... EMBRACING LIFE Diane E. Shepard .................................................. MAMA MUSINGS Kendra Siler-Marsiglio ..................................... HEALTHY EDGE Albert Isaac ................................................................ DIFFERENT NOTE

INFORMATION 106 Community Calendar 162 Worship Centers 12 | Winter 2012

ADVERTISING SALES Jenni Bennett 352-416-0210 jenni@towerpublications.com

120 Library Happenings 168 Advertiser Index

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

You deserve to be heard, to have a say in your healthcare.

• We take the time to understand your needs and goals • Care plans personalized for your lifestyle • Free consultation to help you decide • Care for every stage of your life

www.GvilleOBGYN.com • 352-371-2011 6400 West Newberry Road • Gainesville (Medical Arts Building next to North Florida Regional Medical Center) www.VisitOurTowns.com

Michael Cotter, MD; David Stewart, MD; Cyndi Vista, CNM; Ronnie Jo Stringer, CNM; Heather Stevens, MD

Winter 2012 | 13

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SPECIAL >> ANNOUNCEMENTS

A Welcome Addition Farrah Ann Waite

Liam Wayne Morrison

Presley Norene King

Ryan and Rhyan of Bronson, Florida are pleased to announce the arrival of their daughter, Farrah Ann Waite.

Luke and Amber of Bronson, Florida are pleased to announce the arrival of their son, Liam Wayne Morrison.

Dale and Tara King of Fort White, Florida are pleased to announce the arrival of their daughter, Presley Norene King.

Born: July 17, 2012 at 11:03 a.m.

Weight: 6 pounds, 15 ounces Height: 21 inches

Born: July 15, 2012 at 11:35 a.m.

Weight: 7 pounds, 4 ounces Height: 22 inches

Born: Aug. 17, 2012 at 8:33 p.m.

Weight: 8 pounds, 11 ounces Height: 20 inches.

Her maternal grandparents are Gina Brown of Macclenny and Scott Brown of Port St. Lucie.

Her paternal grandparents are James and Ann Waite of Bronson.

His maternal grandparents are James and Ann Waite of Bronson.

His paternal grandmother is Judy Beauchamp of Chiefland.

His paternal great-grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Beauchamp of Chiefland.

Her maternal grandparents are Gene and Pam Sapp of Fort White.

Her paternal grandparents are Dale and Debbie King of Lake City.

Her maternal great-grandmother is Marian Baker of Alachua.

Presley is also welcomed by her three sisters, Alexis, Camryn and Bella.

...and a welcome edition

CHARLIE DELATORRE PUBLISHER

We don’t get new additions to the Tower family very often, but when we do, it’s fun to spread the word. Team Tower gained some new members in 2012, and although it’s been a while for some of us, there’s nothing quite as special as having a new little human to show off.

Also, you have probably already noticed the changes to this edition that I’m proud to officially announce. We’ve been using the Our Town moniker for almost three years — and with this issue it becomes the official name of the magazine. In addition, we’ve upgraded our paper quality throughout the magazine thanks to the ongoing support of our many advertisers.

We are commited to bringing you the best magazine possible and these changes represent that commitment. Thank you all for the incredible support we’ve received throughout the years. s

14 | Winter 2012

MESSAGE >> FROM THE EDITOR

Season’s Greetings!

As I sit here typing these words, it is unseasonably warm, even with Christmas just around the corner.

I’m hoping for some cold weather to put me in the Christmas spirit (and also to get rid of the insects in my yard, for that matter).

I trust that it has been as wonderful a year for all of you as it has been for us (didn’t it go fast?).

I’m looking forward to the New Year and I’m feeling optimistic about the future. After all, it’s way more fun to feel optimistic.

I’m also looking forward to another year of visiting many of the cool places and people in our community, from canoe paddles down the Santa Fe River to the many seasonal festivals offered in High Springs, Alachua, Newberry and Jonesville.

There are a lot of good things going on in our communities, and I hope to attend most of them.

I also look forward to hearing from our readers.

If you like what you see, I encourage you to send an email to our writers and let them know. We all work very hard to provide you with the best stories we can offer, highlighting the many good things that happen in our towns.

Regular readers have probably noticed that we’ve changed the name of this magazine to Our Town.

But worry not, the High Springs, Alachua, Newberry and Jonesville areas will still be represented on the cover and, as always, our editorial content will continue to feature the many great people, places and events that make our communities special.

In the coming months, feel free to email me (editor@towerpublications.com) information about upcoming events for us to include in our calendar – perhaps we may even write a feature story. Keep in mind that this is a quarterly publication, and as such we need a LOT of advance notice.

In the meantime, sit back and peruse this new edition of Our Town. We think you will enjoy it. s

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STAFF >> CONTRIBUTORS Cassie Ganter

Sarah Brand

is a freelance writer and a senior at UF majoring in journalism. A South Florida girl at heart, she enjoys relaxing days spent on the beach when she is not busy writing feature stories.

is a junior studying journalism at UF. A lover of travel and adventure, she one day hopes to be a freelance journalist living in New York City. In her spare time she enjoys listening to classic rock, reading and sleeping.

clganter@ufl.edu

sbrand6@ufl.edu

Janice Kaplan

Courtney Lindwall

has been a freelance writer since 2005. In her spare time Janice loves cooking, Gator sports, Jimmy Buffett anything and spending time with her husband and kids.

is a Florida native, now studying journalism at UF. She loves telling and hearing good stories. In her little bit of free time, she enjoys hiking, camping and eating delicious food.

kaplan_ janice@yahoo.com

c.lindwall@ufl.edu

Ellis Amburn

Crystal Henry

is a resident of High Springs as well as the author of biographies of Roy Orbison, Elizabeth Taylor and others.

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.

ellis.amburn@gmail.com

ces03k@gmail.com

Jennifer Riek

Dana Edwards

is a freelance writer and a student at UF’s College of Journalism. She was born and raised in Seattle, and delights in all things classy or humorous. Needless to say, she would die in the wild.

is a student at UF. She writes for her hometown newspaper, serves as director of communications with the UF Campus Diplomats, and is a Peer Mentor in the UF residence halls.

screaminnocence@gmail.com

danaedwards14@comcast.net

Allysen Kerr

Diane Shepard is a writer and Mama to two young children. Her next work in progress is a memoir “Keeping Time with Turtles.”

Allysen Kerr is a freelance writer and graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications.

diane@towerpublications.com

allysenrenee@gmail.com

Larry Behnke

Donna Bonnell

is an artist, writer, photographer and a graduate of the University of Michigan in cinematography and painting. He has used solar electricity since 1984 and lives in a dome home.

is a freelance writer who moved to Newberry in 1983.

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

larry@towerpublications.com

16 | Winter 2012

donna@towerpublications.com

When you visit Tioga Town Center, you’ll get the perfect running shoes, the right fit,

…and Mike.

Sure, the picturesque storefronts, coffee shop, boutiques, restaurants, world-class fitness center and bakery, make Tioga Town Center a prime shopping destination.

But it’s more than that here— It’s the people who make Tioga Town Center an experience like no other in Gainesville. It’s people like Mike Carrillo— owner of Gainesville Running & Walking— who take the time to find the perfect running shoes for you with just the right fit, and make Tioga Town Center your favorite place to visit.

So come on out! Take a stroll around and talk to the people who will make Tioga Town Center your favorite destination in town.

SW 128th Street & W. Newberry Rd. Tioga, Florida 32669

352.331.4000 www.VisitOurTowns.com

www.TiogaTownCenter.com Winter 2012 | 17

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

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>> I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE

Tour de Felasco Volunteers and Riders prepare for Annual Race

BY SARAH BRAND tepping out of the mini van, Jerry Yermovsky plants his feet on the well-cut grass, stretching his arms overhead. The vapor from his breath penetrates the cold air as he slips a cloth cap onto his head, shutting out the nippy morning air from his freezing ears. He tops it off with a helmet, buckling the strap under his chin.

Walking to the back of his vehicle, he opens the hatch and reaches inside. Pulling out his bicycle, he checks the wheels and tires. Everything OK, he walks the bicycle over to the start of the trail.

Swinging his leg across to the other side of the bike, he places his feet on the pedals.

S

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Taking in a deep breath, he starts to ride.

Yermovsky has ridden the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park’s Tour de Felasco four years in a row. This year the tour will be held on January 12 at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Tour de Felasco, an annual bicycle marathon consisting of either 50 or 62 miles, has been held at the park for the past 10 years.

Planning for the event began in August by the Friends of San Felasco Citizen Support Organization.

“We start getting all of ourselves organized,” said CSO publicity chair Mike Kelley, describing how the secretary of the club prints out a list of everything the group did the previous year.

“Then we go over and see what

worked and what didn’t…and throw out the things that didn’t or modify them and make them better,” he said.

From there they create a signup list and get the main people involved.

Delegating tasks, such as coordinating volunteers, the CSO then begins discussions on how to prepare for the race. Water, food, SAG stops, parking, routing trails,

PHOTO BY STEVE AUER

Robby and Robert Lester high-ďŹ ve each other during a previous Tour de Felasco bicycle race, an event that attracts upwards of 500 people to hit the trails at the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.

clearing those trails, maintaining the trails and lining out the course all had to be arranged between the CSO and their 100 volunteers.

SAG stops, or rest stops, are placed every 15 miles throughout

the trail, abundantly stocked with food and water and managed by five to six volunteers.

Communicating via cell phone, volunteers placed at the SAG stops are responsible for the rest areas

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to be fully supplied. There will also be a SAG stop specifically for the riders’ lunch.

Beginning at the entrance of the bike trails, the Tour uses biking, hiking and horse trails at San Felasco.

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PHOTOS BY SARAH BRAND

ABOVE: This trail offers bicyclists the option of a one-mile or four-and-a-half mile ride.

Joy Taylor turns her bicycle as she heads down the 4.5-mile Cellon Creek Loop trail. Taylor rode the Tour de Felasco in 2008. “It was the coldest day of me life,” she said about the marathon from 2008.

“Usually at each intersection we place a sign. Now the trails can go either way,” Kelley said.

The day of the marathon, hiking and horse trails will still be open to visitors, so notifications and signs will be distributed throughout to warn guests of the multitude of bikers.

“This is the one time of the year that you can ride on trails that you normally wouldn’t have a chance,” Yermovsky said.

CSO members are required to maintain each trail. If any trail is down, they are responsible to clear it out.

“We have a scheduled maintenance day every second Saturday of the month,” Kelley said.

“And we’ll have 10, 15 or 20 people — depending on the weather — out here to help us.”

Kelley said that all of them are concentrating on the tour now, making sure the trails are clear.

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“And anything that goes down on the trail, that’s what we’re working on now, to make sure it gets ready,” he said. “We did have some problems because of the rain and the water. We had a lot of trails that were flooded out, and we’re trying to do some reroutes now. We go around it, find another route.”

Kelley said that there are not any sensitive areas where riders would have to walk their bikes.

Each cross-trail is also marked with environmentally friendly blue tape on trees, and map routes are stapled on posts.

Once all the tasks were in the process of completion registration began — and was closed an hour and a half after it opened in October.

Up to 500 riders and more participate, paying $55 at the time of registration. Spots are also given to sponsored riders. Sponsorships are placed into three categories: A-Level, B-Level or C-Level.

A-Level sponsors pay $500 and up, and receive 10 guaranteed spots for riders. They also get their business name or logo included on the event T-shirt, their name featured on San Felasco’s website, a product demo tent at the lunch SAG stop and company banners and signs at the start and finish areas.

“We are guaranteed 10 spots, but the rider still pays for their entry. Workers and customers could be our riders,” said Gerry Woods, assistant manager of Cycle Therapy, an A-Level sponsor. “The most important part is sponsoring the park. All the money that is put into the Tour is put back into the park.”

The first A-Level sponsor with $1,000 received thirty guaranteed rider spots.

B-Level sponsors ($499 to $250) and C-Level ($249 to $100) are also entitled to their business names and logos on the event T-shirt, product and demo tents and banners

PHOTO BY STEVE AUER

Mike Hetrick is a veteran of all previous Tour de Felasco rides. For an added challenge, he rode the 2012 Tour de Felasco on a single speed bicycle.

and signs at the start or finish.

However, B-level sponsors are given five rider spots, while C-Levels have one rider spot per $50.

Riders also receive other benefits for registering. The CSO gives them a red wristband, similar to the yellow “Livestrong” bands, a route map, the red Tour de Felasco event shirt, and goodie bags hand-made by elementary school students.

Additionally, they get breakfast, lunch and dinner, chances to win a $50 Apple gift card, Sports Authority water bottles and ditty bags.

The park is also equipped with portable toilets.

“Porta-Potties [are] kind of an important thing,” Kelley said. “We have about 24 of them. We place them all over the park. They’re really, really nice.”

For riders, the event is seen as a personal challenge. Given the option of biking 50 or 62 miles, many are experts in marathons looking to finish as fast as possible.

“We have a lot of these guys who are pretty old marathoners and they try to do this as fast as they can and they don’t stop at SAG stops,” Kelley said.

Yermovsky, a rider of the 50 miles, said his first time was difficult, adding that riders need to train more for the 62-mile option.

“You just have to be in better shape for it,” he said.

The Tour de Felasco is an event enjoyed by many. Volunteer parking lot veteran Bill Brown said there is a core group of people who volunteer, helping oversee the execution of the CSO’s plans.

“Its enjoyable seeing the number of people who show up,” Brown said. “It’s a real neat event.” s The 2013 Tour de Felasco will be held on January 12 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park (U.S. 441 just south of Alachua).

San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park San Felasco Hammock is a state preserve park established in 1974.

At 7,000 acres, it is home to birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

Filled with limestone outcrops and changes of elevation, the park has 18 different biological communities, including areas of sandhill, hydric hammock, upland pine and swamp.

Blues Creek, Turkey Creek and Cellon Creek surround the outside boundary of the park and have

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recently began flowing through it. The landscape is also sprinkled with sinkholes, steephead springs, ponds and small lakes.

Having two entrances, the park is open to visitors. Split into two areas, the southern and northern parts, only hiking is allowed in the southern part. Bicycle, hiking and equestrian trails span across the northern part.

There is a small parking fee upon entrance to the preserve.

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>> WINTER’S ROSE

Camellia Christmas Bloom During the Winter Season

BY DANA EDWARDS hile other flowers and trees lose their leaves and petals during the colder months, fragrant camellias burst through the dull brown colors adding pinks, whites and reds to the winter lull.

The local Gainesville Camellia Society hosts its annual camellia show in January to celebrate the blooms of the winter flower.

This year, the society will host its show January 5-6 at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.

Camellia enthusiasts can enter their blooms at 7:30 a.m. for the contest, with prompt judging at 10 a.m. The general public can view the prize-winning camellias

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26 | Winter 2012

from 1-5 p.m. on January 5 and from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on January 6.

Plants will be sold and all proceeds go to the Gainesville Camellia Society. The show aims to educate locals about the care, culture and appreciation of camellias.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Nancy Collins, treasurer for the Gainesville Camellia Society. “We have more than 1,000 blooms and people from all over attend.”

Collins said most attendees and contest entrants are local, but quite a few come from different cities in Florida as well as from other states such as Georgia and Alabama.

She said some of the attendees go to shows from different states throughout the year.

Camellias are an easy-to-grow

winter plant with minimal care.

With an affinity for the colder climates, camellias grow well in central and northern Florida away from the sandy beaches. The plant was introduced to other parts of the world by the Asian countries.

More than 30 varieties of the flower were exported to Europe in the 18th century, and the flower was brought to New England America in 1797. The oldest camellia japonica plants can be found in cities in Portugal, Germany and Italy. Though perfect for America’s southern winters, camellia varieties have been cultivated for New England, the Pacific Northwestern and even Canadian winters.

With more than 400 named species, the camellias that grow

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PHOTO COURTESY OF COLEEN DEGROFF

Each year, the Gainesville Camellia Society hosts its annual camellia show to celebrate the blooms of the winter flower.

After judging, the best blooms are moved to a convention table, but all of the camellias are left for public viewing.

“Camellias are often underutilized.

They grow so well when most plants don’t and they are such carefree, easy-to-grow plants.” best in Florida are the Camellia japonica, Camellia sasanqua and hybrids of these two. Japonica camellias grow larger and more robust than the sasanqua camellias.

Both are used as landscape shrubs.

Some species of camellias can grow to the size of a tree if left to grow without much pruning.

These easy-to-grow flowers require well-drained soil with an acidic pH. If these ideal conditions do not exist, it is best to grow camellias in large containers.

However, camellias do well in most inland areas of North and Central Florida. The flowers bloom generally in October through December, though depending on the species the blooms can last for a short or

28 | Winter 2012

long period of time going into the January through March timeframe.

Species that bloom from November through January are best in Florida’s temperamental winters.

“Camellias are often underutilized,” said Sydney Park Brown, an associate professor and extension specialist of consumer horticultural sciences at the University of Florida. “They grow so well when most plants don’t and they are such carefree, easy- to-grow plants.

I find them very rewarding.”

Brown said all she does when planting camellias is fertilize a new plant one to two times a year with light watering and pruning. Sandy soil is not ideal. Camellias prefer shady areas with air circulation

and should be planted at least five feet apart. To start growing camellias, Brown suggests starting the growth in the fall so the roots can develop during the winter. It can take about half a year for the plants to become established.

Few pests affect camellias, but the most common bugs include tea scale, aphids and spider mites.

Scales eat the underside of camellia leaves. It is possible they might not be noticed until a large amount has developed. Aphids suck juices from young camellia leaves, leaving them distorted. The insect also produces a sticky solution that mold enjoys, leaving an unpleasant sight to the leaves. Spider mites are also found on the underside of the camellia leaves during hot, dry environments with poor air circulation and little rainfall.

Diseases that can affect camellias include leaf spot, dieback, leaf and bud gall, and root rot.

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Winter 2012 | 29

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PHOTOS BY DANA EDWARDS

Wilmot Gardens represents one of the University of Florida’s earliest horticultural efforts, originally developed to honor Royal J. “Roy” Wilmot. Today, Wilmot Gardens is being restored to become a healing and meditation garden for patients, students, faculty and staff and the greater Gainesville community.

damage is left behind on leaves.

Dieback occurs during the spring when new shoots wilt and die.

Leaf and bud gall appear as thick, enlarged leaves or buds during cooler springs.

Young leaves of other camellia species are also processed for tea.

The edible oil from camellia seeds has been used in the Chinese culture for cooking. The beverage can be consumed hot or cold and has been known to possess properties that can help vascular function, immune system strength and inhibit tumorformation among other benefits, according to livestrong.com.

Camellias can grow in six recognized ways: single form, semi-double form, anemone form, peony form, formal double form and rose form double, according to Brown’s article “Camellias at a Glance.” Displays of camellia collections in Florida are located at Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales

30 | Winter 2012

and Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park in Tallahassee.

UF’s roughly four-acre Wilmot Gardens hosts camellias, the favorite plant of the horticulturalist for which the gardens are named: Royal J. “Roy” Wilmot. Wilmot classified many of the 3,000 known camellia varieties in the 1940s and was an authority on the flower. He founded the American Camellia Society in 1946.

The gardens were once the largest publicly owned collection of camellias in the country, according to the Wilmot Gardens website.

The so-called UF “secret garden” by Mowry Road and Gale Lemerand Drive has been a hidden treasure overgrown with vines and weeds over the years. Due to an infestation of southern pine beetles in 2006, 80 percent of the Wilmot Gardens pine trees died. This prevented muchneeded shade for the camellias.

Additionally, hurricane winds brought down the dead trees,

and kudzu and air potato vines harmed the camellias growing in the gardens. From the nearly 500 species of camellias and azaleas growing in the gardens in 1940s, about 70 specimens remain -– some still labeled with their metal tags from nearly 60 years earlier.

Currently, the gardens are undergoing a $40,000 restoration project for a healing and meditation garden for Gainesville locals and Shands patients to enjoy. UF is currently not conducting research on camellias, Brown said.

With an immense camellia heritage rooted in the legacy of Wilmot, Gainesville holds an historic and geographic appeal for camellia enthusiasts. Those wishing to more fully appreciate Gainesville’s natural charm for these winter blossoms are encouraged to try their hand at cultivating camellias and to even attend local presentations on the flowers, such as the Camellia Festival in early January. s

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Located in the former Cain Drugs building on NW Santa Fe Boulevard, City Drugs opened this past July and is owned and managed by Raj Mani, R.Ph. After working in chain store pharmacies for ten years, Raj wanted to get back to the basics of helping customers with their medications.

“When you work for a chain store you are often busy doing paperwork instead of helping customers,” he said. “If you want to talk to them or have a consult, you have no time.”

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32 | Winter 2012

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A separate consultation room allows customers to discuss medications privately and thoroughly with any of the pharmacists. Raj even makes house calls to deliver filled prescriptions.

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COLUMN >> CRYSTAL HENRY

Naked Salsa Cowboys and Indians ast night I went to a Diwali celebration and was one of only maybe 10 pale faces in a sea of a thousand Indian-Americans. It was dinner and a show, and they were all dressed in the beautifully ornate traditional garb of their culture. The hubs told me he got tickets at the last minute, and all I really knew of Diwali was from a hilarious, yet less-than-educational episode of The Office. So naturally when I got there and saw the level of elegance that most were exuding, I felt quite underwhelming in my classic black on gray attire.

But as I sat in the audience watching the vibrant dancers on stage leaping and swooping to the joyful music, I felt so grateful to the people around me for their hospitality and willingness to share such a special piece of their culture.

I grew up in small-town Texas, where you might be surprised to learn has an incredibly limited IndianAmerican population. I only ever knew one boy of Indian-American descent who was in a few of my classes in junior high. Ethnic diversity is not Odessa’s forte. Giant jackrabbits and prairie dogs we have, ethnic diversity we have not. It’s pretty much Texans, and people who ain’t from ‘round here.

Now Texans can be any color you please, but you

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have to be born within the borders of the state. Think of the border between Texas and Mexico as more of a dotted line, and the border between Texas and Oklahoma as an impenetrable force field.

Texans are proud as a people. We even have our own toast, and things are absolutely bigger there. All my exes live there and the oil industry is bigger than Kevin Bacon since everyone there is connected to it in less than six degrees.

Food is a source of pride for each culture, but it’s also a way to bring us together.

But the food. Oh the food. The Mexican food is what I miss the most about my childhood home. Florida has Cuban food, and it is totally spectacular. But it’s like comparing manzanas and naranjas. They’re just not the same. The hubs is from New Orleans, so he’s pretty proud of his jambalaya and red beans and rice. But his pride is nothing next to a Texan’s.

Food to me is the spokes model of a culture. It’s what represents the heart and soul of the people and

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it relies on nature to provide the flavors that showcase that region of the earth. And as a Texan I like to proudly declare that our food is superior to all others. It’s the playground taunt of ‘My dad is stronger than your dad.’

Food is a source of pride for each culture, but it’s also a way to bring us together.

As the Diwali dancers neared their finale last night, tendrils of mouthwatering aromas crept through the theater. It was almost time for dinner, and I was starving. I knew not to expect enchiladas, but aside from that I was going in blind.

As we walked through the buffet line, my little blonde-haired blue-eyed toddler danced wildly without reservation mimicking the Diwali performers as the young Indian-American woman next to me chuckled warmly. Her mother smiled sweetly at my silly dancer and said something to me in a language I didn’t understand. Her daughter told me her mother said that my daughter reminded her of her own granddaughter, who came running up just a few moments later.

The little girl had bells on her ankles and was decked head to toe in pink and gold. She and Sunny briefly sized each other up before squealing with delight and whirling around as the music drifted through the dining hall. Her big beautiful brown eyes and dark hair were a stark comparison to my little cherub, but the woman was right. As they whirled around squealing it was clear to see that they were just two different flavors of the same cookie.

We sat down near their family so the girls could play, and as we ate I felt more and more accepted. I was so obviously an outsider, someone who wouldn’t know a sari from a dhoti, but each gaze was met with a smile and a nod, an acknowledgement that I was welcome to break bread with these people who seemed so different from my family.

But as I devoured fork after fork of tikka masala, naan and biryani my insecurities melted away. We were just people. We’re all representatives of mankind. We all have the same heart and soul. And as they say the best way to man’s heart is through his stomach. s

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The University of Florida Periodontal Disease Research Clinic is seeking volunteers WITH HEALTHY GUM S AND MILD TO SEVERE GUM DISEASE to participate in a dental research study. The study requires that you come to our clinic FOR AT LEAST 8 STUDY VISITS OVER 13 MONTHS OR AT LEAST 11 STUDY VISITS OVER 21 MONTHS. The purpose of the study is to find the best test to determine gum disease progression. The first study visit includes an oral examination and evaluation of your teeth and gums. If you qualify for the study you will have the following procedures: dental x-rays, dental cleaning, blood draws, and multiple saliva and plaque samples taken during the study.

You may be eligible if: • You ARE at least 25 years of age • You MUST have more than 20 natural teeth with 12 of those teeth in the back of your mouth with NO holes/ NOT broken • You have NOT used ANY tobacco products within the past year • You MUST NOT have any severe dental problems and MUST NOT have had periodontal treatment in the past 6 months (regular cleanings are acceptable) • You DO NOT have braces on your teeth • You ARE WILLING to delay a dental cleaning or gum treatment for 12 months while in the study • You DO NOT require antibiotic premedication for dental treatment • You ARE in good physical health (No diabetes, HIV, AIDS) and HAVE NOT taken antibiotics in the past 6 months • You ARE NOT pregnant, lactating, or breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant during the study • You DO NOT REGULARLY take anti-inflammatory medicine (example: Advil, etc.)

• You ARE NOT allergic to tetracycline antibiotics (example: minocycline, doxycycline, etc.)

• You ARE WILLING to come to the clinic for a minimum of 8 study visits over 13 -21 months • You HAVE NOT participated in a clinical study in the past 30 days

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Eligible participants will receive oral examinations, dental cleaning and financial compensation.

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>> LINEAGE

Wide Place in the Road Jonesville Comes of Age

BY ELLIS AMBURN hough little more than a wide place in the road between Gainesville and Newberry, Jonesville is a very fancy wide place indeed, nothing like the laid-back little village it used to be.

If it can be said to have a town center, it is the intersection of Newberry Road and NW 140th Terrace, where the Publix supermarket is the hub of activity.

Jonesville’s Facebook page describes the town as an unincorporated community with

T

no city government. The Internet site FL HomeTownLocator simply calls it “a populated place.”

Joy Glanzer, a founding member of the local Chamber of Commerce, called the area a “collection of neighborhoods,” in a recent telephone interview. “It has no boundaries.”

The community spreads out several miles to the north and south from State Road 26 (Newberry Road), and encompasses Dudley Farm Historic State Park, Jonesville Baptist Church on SW 15th Avenue, a cemetery, and the spacious Jonesville Park at NW

32nd Avenue and NW 143rd Street.

The park boasts a panoply of top-flight facilities and activities, among them baseball fields, a milelong track, a disc golf course, tennis courts, and soccer fields.

Jonesville resident Jason E. Hodges, a writer, skateboarder, and author of the blog, “The Dirt Worker’s Journal,” which has nearly 10,000 followers, calls his hometown “a place of the heart . . . a small community nestled between larger cities, holding its own against unbridled development.” He wonders what the future holds for it.

PHOTO BY ELLIS AMBURN

Jason Hodges visits the grave of his ancestor, Virginia Dudley Jones, daughter of Jonesville pioneer P.B.H. Dudley Jr. and wife of John Joseph Jones, after whom the town was named in 1875.

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

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Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 persons live there, Glanzer estimated, and in lieu of local government they receive their mail from the Newberry post office, and utilities are handled “mostly by Clay Electric and GRU,” she said.

When Hodges was asked what happened to the funky old buildings in the downtown area, he replied in a Facebook message: “Most of the old buildings were torn down between 1995 and 2000. There were Rosie’s Drinking Emporium and the Jonesville Mall, which was the old Cummer Lumber Company building. It used to sit about a mile east of Newberry but was moved eight miles in the 1920s to Jonesville. The building was rolled on logs and pulled by teams of mules.” The Jonesville Mall was full of antiques for years.”

Hodges said everything was sold in a huge auction when Mr. Farnsworth passed away. His son took over and turned it into a feed store. Then the grandson took over,

Haven’t you

waited long enough?

38 | Winter 2012

and it closed around 1996.

A rare photograph of the old Jonesville Feed and Supply store was recently shown to members of the community, who reacted with astonishment and delight, some saying it looked like a one-horse town straight out of a Hollywood Western or vintage TV series.

Others fondly recalled how much fun they had had hanging out at places like Rosie’s Bar, going through such youthful rites of passage as boozing, flirting, and shooting pool.

All of them agreed that the only permanent thing about Jonesville is change, and that change can be downright spooky.

Though the modern architecture of the new mall forever wiped out the rustic charm of downtown Jonesville, the surrounding countryside remains rich in antebellum history and pastoral allure. One could probably find no better guide than Jason Hodges, who commands an encyclopedic knowledge of

Jonesville and thrives on sharing it.

Hodges, a man with a lean athlete’s physique, intelligent eyes, and a Guinness trucker’s cap, arrived for an interview in his rugged white pickup truck. Later, as he drove to Dudley Farm Historic State Park, he described himself as a direct descendant of John Joseph Jones, after whom the community was named.

In “Jonesville: The Story Behind the Name,” an article by Hodges and his sister Laura Poole, the authors relate that Jones, a brownhaired, blue-eyed 14-year-old farm boy from Alabama, rode to Florida on horseback in 1849 and homesteaded a farm across the road from the sugarcane and tobacco plantation of Phillip Benjamin Harvey Dudley Jr. With the help of 30 slaves, P.B.H. Dudley ran an operation that was not only a farm but a place where people could shop for groceries, medicines, shoes, candy, harnesses and hardware, get their mail, and

PHOTO PROVIDED COURTESY OF DON L. DAVIS

Gas was 20 cents per gallon when Mr. Farnsworth (left, with son and daughter Helen) ran the Amoco station in 1936. “Behind it is all farmland,” said Don L. Davis, president of the Jonesville Capital City Bank. “Rosie’s [bar] was later in this building.”

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PHOTO BY ELLIS AMBURN

Tobacco and sugarcane were among the crops raised by Jonesville pioneers in the 19th century. A direct descendant of John Joseph Jones, after whom Jonesville was named, freelance writer Jason E. Hodges stands in front of the tobacco barn at Dudley Farm Historic State Park, which occupies more than 333 acres off State Road 26 between Gainesville and Newberry, according to a park statement on the Internet.

socialize. The surrounding town was known as Dudley’s long before it became Jonesville.

J.J. Jones married Dudley’s daughter Mary, and she bore him two sons. When the Civil War broke out, J.J. joined his father-in-law, now Captain P.B.H. Dudley, in the Alachua Rangers volunteers. J.J. sustained serious wounds in battle, and by the time he came home, Mary had expired of an illness. He then married her sister, Virginia, who gave him seven more children.

After Jones became postmaster, the town was named after him, becoming Jonesville in 1875.

His wife Virginia Dudley Jones and her sister-in-law Piercy Jones Geiger started the Jonesville Baptist Church in a log cabin in 1867.

They had some outside assistance, according to Don L. Davis, president of the Capital City Banks in Jonesville and Gainesville. Davis

40 | Winter 2012

wrote in a Chamber of Commerce publication, “Prior to 1860, two missionaries from St. Augustine helped the local residents establish the Jonesville Baptist Church.”

According to Poole and Hodges, just before “Joepa,” the affectionate diminutive by which Jones was known in the family, died in 1913, a relative recalled, “I remember looking at Joepa sitting in the bed propped up by pillows. My father handed me to him, and he took me in his arms. He had this long gray beard. That’s my last memory of my grandfather.”

Today the log cabin church that Virginia helped found is an imposing red brick building with a steeple, and in the cemetery nearby lie the remains of many of the town’s founders, including Virginia and John Joseph Jones.

In November 2012, as Jason Hodges strolled around the Dudley

plantation, he said, “How wonderful of Myrtle to take care of all this and give it to the state.” He was referring to Myrtle Dudley, the youngest of Captain Dudley’s children, who was born in 1901. In 1983 she donated the plantation to Florida Park Services, according to the Dudley Farm Historic Park website.

Inside the main house, a gabled, tin-roofed Georgian edifice made of longleaf pine that rises in homey splendor from a rose garden, Hodges brushed the palm of his hand over a bedstead and murmured appreciatively, “Turned wood, everything done by hand.”

Dudley Farm hosts annual events throughout the year. A celebration of Myrtle Dudley’s birthday, the Annual Cane Day fundraiser, is held on the first Saturday in December, which in 2013 will be December 7.

The event features grinding cane and boiling cane syrup.

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PHOTO BY ELLIS AMBURN

Newberry resident and Park Services Specialist Sandra Cashes was on duty one recent November afternoon at Jonesville’s Dudley Farm Historic State Park, a fully functioning antebellum plantation, open to the public.

“Boil and skim the juice for about three hours,” Ms. Dudley wrote in a note quoted in Albert Isaac’s article “Take a Step Back in Time: Dudley Farm Historic Park.”

“Dip it up and down until you know that it is done by letting some drip off the dipper and it forms a thread . . . There is a party, all the neighbors are invited and some syrup is cooked until it is candy.”

The staff of this authentic working farm wears period clothing and performs daily chores, raises crops, and tends to heritage varieties of livestock. On a recent afternoon in November, a friendly, apricot-colored mule approached a fence and allowed itself to be petted, no doubt expecting an apple or carrot. In the distance a formidable bull looked less congenial, and was separated from visitors by the same fence against which the mule rubbed its neck.

Later, over dinner at The Pickled

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Pelican in Jonesville, Hodges talked about the youngest of John Joseph Jones’s nine children, J.A. “Dixie” Jones, the sole member of the family to remain in Jonesville. A prosperous farmer, Dixie was also a humanitarian in an area where a mass lynching occurred during which an unborn baby was expelled from its mother’s body as she was hanged.

“I heard the baby survived,” Hodges said.

Despite the race crimes of the time, Dixie Jones was the only farmer who went out of his way to help African-Americans who wanted to get a start in agriculture.

He was glad to show them the ropes or help with barn raising, flying in the face of widespread intolerance.

He also shared his phone with neighbors, even placing one by the road, and his wife Quintine was instrumental in bringing electricity to Jonesville.

Until fairly recent years the

community remained untouched by developers.

“The new highway to Newberry made a difference,” Don Davis reflected in a telephone interview.

“When I was managing the Barnett Newberry bank, I got interested in the neighborhood.”

During a subsequent interview in the conference room of Capital City’s office in Gainesville, Davis described the stages of Jonesville’s growth from the 19th century to the present. In the beginning the Dudleys, Holts, Joneses, and a few other farming families constituted the town center at the present site of Dudley Farm. Each farmer had a specialty — a sideline to supplement farming income.

“Griffith was the blacksmith,” Davis said. “The Holts had the sawmill, someone else the milling operation. I think someone had a cotton gin.”

At the turn of the 19th century,

3-15-13

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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PHOTO BY JASON E. HODGES

TOP: Jonesville Feed and Supply “sat across the street from Publix years ago,” said Jason Hodges, Jonesville resident descended from the community’s 19th-century founder, John Joseph Jones.

PHOTO BY JASON E. HODGES

RIGHT: “Warmness pervades my heart — I miss home,” wrote Kathryn Will when she saw Jason Hodges’s photograph of Rosie’s Bar on Facebook.

Hodges replied, “I realized in the 1990s that Jonesville as I knew it was disappearing. So, I went and took photos of buildings that were on their way out. I wanted people to be able to look back on a place that meant so much to me as a child.”

with the advent of phosphate mining and the coming of the railroad to Newberry, “Stringfellow’s store was rolled on logs to Newberry,” Davis said.

“In the 1920s the new Jonesville started with Dixie Jones’s house.”

Once situated near the Amoco station, the house is now owned by attorney Carl Johnson, Davis said. Davis produced and narrated a video entitled “Newberry: The Early Years,” which includes information on Jonesville in the 1920s and 1930s. The VHS is for sale at the Oak View Middle School in Newberry.

The first store opened in what is now the town center in the mid1930s, Davis estimated.

In a telephone interview, Mary Lois Douglas Forrester said, “I remember going to Uncle Tom Douglas’s store with my Daddy [Jim Douglas, founder of the Chevrolet dealership in High Springs]. It was on the road from Alachua to Jonesville, came out of the San Felasco Hammock. He and his son gave up the store and built lots of

44 | Winter 2012

duplexes in the 1940s and 1950s, now in Gainesville.”

In a rueful essay entitled “A Letter to John Joseph Jones,” Hodges and his sister Laura wrote that Jonesville’s “farmland has disappeared quickly . . . It became easier and more lucrative to sell the land . . . Farming was too expensive . . . Fortunately, there are a few places left standing, one of which is your youngest son Dixie’s home. It rolled around on wheels for a while, but now it looks as though it is going to stay.” A handsome white house, Dixie’s abode is located across from West End Golf.

A good way to round out a day in Jonesville is to hike Dudley Farm’s Pause and Ponder Trail, described

by Florida State Parks as a “.3-mile nature trail through woodlands with wild grape vines, American Beauty Berry, and wildflowers.” Birdwatchers are advised to keep a sharp lookout for pileated woodpeckers as they stroll through magnolias and live oaks to the picnic area.”

Such is the Jonesville Jason Hodges and many other residents

want to see preserved. While driving down Jonesville’s tree-shaded Dusty Trail he said that many of the community’s farmers “are now farming houses.”

The observation recalled a remark novelist John Steinbeck, author of “Cannery Row,” made after the sardine crop fled Monterey Bay due to over fishing. Subsequently the abandoned canneries became a haven for tourist traps. The sardine fishermen of Monterrey were now “fishers of men,” the Nobel Prize laureate noted.

As Hodges and his sister expressed in “A Letter to John Joseph Jones,” “We wonder, Mr. Jones, what would you think of this fast-growing place that doesn’t even have a sign marking its history? Maybe one day the town will have one. Maybe then people will know your story, pressed out with stamped lettering standing on the roadside.”

They would have to slow down to read it, for the path the Joneses and Dudleys carved through the wilderness is now a four-lane highway with cars whizzing by at 50 mph. s

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ADVERTISEMENT

ProActive Tax & Accounting: The Name is Not By Accident

A

s tax season approaches, business owners and individuals alike begin the annual scramble for travel receipts, previous returns and other records. For clients of ProActive Tax & Accounting, however, much of the work is already done.

“We’re not reactive,” said Beth Davies, CPA, who co-owns the firm with fellow CPA Pam Burns.

“That’s why we named the business ProActive. It was not by accident. Our whole intent is to be active in their business. We show you ways to make taxes and accounting easy for you.”

Located in Jonesville just off of Newberry Road, ProActive offers a variety of bookkeeping, accounting and tax preparation services. But what Burns and Davies are most known for is their plan-ahead approach when helping clients with financial matters. Their tax planning programs, weekly classes and chief financial officer (CFO) services are just some of the ways in which ProActive helps clients save time in the long run.

Tax planning involves setting up a custom plan for your business or personal finances to get the maximum benefit from ever-changing tax laws. For a one-time fee, ProActive helps you develop a tax plan based upon your current finances and where you want to be in the coming years.

48 | Winter 2012

The key to protecting your assets, said Davies, is to plan ahead for tax season instead of waiting for the year to end.

“A lot of people come in at tax season and say, ‘What can you do for me?’ But there’s really not much you can do for the prior year. That’s history, that’s written,” she said. “We may be able to jockey a little bit, but for the most part we can’t really change the circumstances or undo anything. You can’t retroactively put tax strategies into play. You’ve got to do that going forward.”

Davies stated that their typical tax planning client saves anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 per year, with some customers saving much more. With the one-time price of such plans starting as low as $1,500, the return on investment in the first year alone is remarkable.

As Certified Tax Coaches with roughly 50 years of combined accounting experience, Davies and Burns have the expertise needed to find the best way for you to maximize your earnings.

The firm’s Part-Time CFO service provides the perfect solution when a business needs professional advice but cannot afford a full-time CFO or comptroller. ProActive will handle bill payments, manage cash flow and overall act as the financial arm of a client’s company. The service is available at a fraction of the cost needed for salary and benefits that an employee would require, and it gives business owners unparalleled freedom to focus on their

professional passion instead of worrying about finances.

“We make sure they have enough money to pay their suppliers and make sure things are taken care of,” said Davies. “We have a number of clients that say, ‘This has just freed me up tremendously to actually run the business.’”

While their experience can make them a key to your business’s success, Davies acknowledges that a basic working knowledge of tax laws and financial practices is crucial for everyone. That is why ProActive offers weekly classes covering topics such as tax deductible items, QuickBooks, retirement and social security, basic business practices and more. These classes are open to the public and held at ProActive’s comfortable office.

The ProActive staff is committed to educating clients not just during classes but at any time. Burns and Davies believe that regular communication is an important aspect of the CPA-client team, and they have an opendoor policy for visits and phone calls when customers have questions or need advice.

The goal is to ensure that clients have a basic understanding of the behind-the-scenes work that ProActive does for them, as well as the decisions that they are making themselves.

“Most people don’t understand anything about taxes, and a lot of them don’t want to know anything. But the biggest misconception is probably that they feel like they have to be technical experts, and they don’t. We give them a layperson’s overview. And a lot of times all it takes is a 15-minute phone call and we can give them a better way to do something.”

With such a wide variety of services, ProActive lives up to its name and keeps the focus on the client.

“We want them to be an active participant in their business and their tax planning,” Davies said. “While we know a lot about business, we don’t know all the little idiosyncrasies to each individual business and how each owner operates.”

“Nobody knows their business better than they do.”

ProActive Tax & Accounting is located at: 303 SW 140 Terrace in Jonesville, just off of Newberry Road behind Capital City Bank.

For more information, visit their website at www.proactivecpas.com or call them at 352-333-7880

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Winter 2012 | 49

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>> GIVING BACK

Volunteers Helping Nonprofits Thrive

BY ALLYSEN KERR o one understands the importance of a volunteer more so than nonprofit organizations. Without volunteers some organizations could not provide services to those who need it most. Some organizations would have to shut their doors.

Whether it is fundraising, tutoring students after school or just providing an ear to listen, volunteers bring more to the table than just their time.

They bring expertise, talents and hope for the community they serve.

Now more than ever, nonprofits are forced to do more with less, said Christopher Johnson, executive director for the Nonprofit Center of North Central Florida.

“About 43 percent of the nonprofits are operating in the red, so there’s a tremendous number of organizations out there that need help or support in some shape or form,” Johnson said.

The Nonprofit Center recently published a study in October that revealed just how critical volunteers are to the nonprofit sector.

In the state of Florida, the economic value of one hour of time is equivalent to $18.66. The Nonprofit Center estimated that the dollar value of volunteer hours to Alachua County’s nonprofits was $10 million in 2010.

While the monetary value is great,

N

nonprofits still need more help.

“It’s more critical now than ever to invest in our nonprofit organizations and to give our time, talent or treasure to these organizations where possible,” Johnson said.

For those who find themselves unsure of where to volunteer, Johnson said getting involved is pretty easy.

“People are attracted to things they have a passion for… so just simply [think] about where your passions lie.”

Whether it is homelessness, animals, or child advocacy, there are opportunities all around Alachua County. There are also various ways to volunteer.

Sitting on a board and giving professional expertise pro bono are two ways to give back. Volunteering in this manner can help nonprofits become sustainable and divert their funds to other activities.

After finding an organization with similar passions, Johnson said the next thing to do is to learn more about what the organization does.

“Alachua County is very diverse…and I think even if all of us identified one thing that we’re passionate about, we could make an impact in the sector as a whole.”

Volunteers may benefit the organization but there are also significant benefits for the volunteer.

Volunteering is a great way to network and build relationships.

According to HelpGuide.org, an

www.VisitOurTowns.com

online resource for nonprofits, volunteering can also improve health, decrease depression and increase self-confidence.

For the business professional, volunteering can provide excellent career experience and teach valuable job skills. s

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: www.volunteermatch.org www.unitenet.org www.gainesvillevolunteer.com www.ncncf.org

STATS ON NONPROFITS AND VOLUNTEERS • Alachua County is home to more than 305 nonprofits (Based on 2011 Form 99 Returns) • 23,458 – number of people employed by nonprofits • 26,236 - Number of Nonprofit Volunteers in Alachua County (10 percent of County’s Population) • $18.66 – Equivalent of one hour of time.

• $10 Million – Estimated value of time contributed by volunteers in 2010

Winter 2012 | 51

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>> ALTRUISM

Volunteers of the Year As Nominated by Their Peers and Members of the Community

BY [WRITER NAME] n October, SunState Federal Credit Union and Tower Publications Inc. teamed up to identify volunteers who were contributing to the nonprofit community as a whole.

The volunteers varied from teens to seniors and all have done more than their share to improve the lives of others and the local community.

Nominated by friends and family, these volunteers were then voted on by their supporters and respective charities. Each winner received an iPad 2 in appreciation of their work, as well as a donation toward the charity of their choice.

Here are their stories.

I

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Jade Salamone, 28 1ST PLACE WINNER :: AGES 19-54 Jade Salamone loves bats. Even more so, she loves volunteering with the Lubee Bat Conservancy.

Since 2011, Jade has been giving her time to help the international conservancy with its most important mission: “protecting biological diversity through the conservation of fruit bats.”

A South Florida native, Jade moved back to Gainesville from San Diego with her husband in 2010 to complete her residency at the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo. As an avid fan of bats, Jade jumped on the chance to

volunteer with the conservancy after someone mentioned the opportunity.

Jade believes that volunteering makes a huge difference.

“I know for myself, I give a lot of my extra time because the people who are volunteering are the ones who, a lot of times, end of making it possible for places like Lubee’s to continue,” Jade said in a telephone interview.

Like many nonprofits, Lubee has a small staff and any extra help makes a big difference, she said.

“So getting someone who is really passionate about it, coming up there and giving up their time, I know it really helps improve the

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Winter 2012 | 53

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PHOTO BY TJ MORRISSEY

lives of the bats because they are getting all the care they can get,” Jade said.

Not only do the bats benefit from the volunteers, but the community does as well.

“I think that works for every field,” she said. “You’re getting more people interested in it and then those volunteers go out and get

54 | Winter 2012

everyone else interested in it.”

She believes that volunteer work makes it possible for more things to function well and for everyone to be a part of something in the community.

Jade’s volunteer work has also opened doors for internships.

Last year she volunteered with a company that helps with woodpecker conservation. Giving her

time landed her an internship with the organization this fall.

Jade said that they organizations she volunteers with are very appreciative of their volunteers.

“That [appreciation] just makes you want to keep doing it.”

She graduates from Santa Fe’s Teaching Zoo program this December. s

Leonard Boice, 55 1ST PLACE WINNER :: AGES 55+ Leonard Boice is the “do-it-all” guy at Another Way Inc., a domestic violence crisis center. The Lake City native handles all of the maintenance and any work that needs to be done.

Leonard has been helping the organization for the past two years.

He found out about Another Way through his wife who works by the nonprofit.

“Whenever they need me, I’m there,” he said in a recent phone interview.

He volunteers because it is worthwhile and it is a good cause.

The organization provides services to four counties in North Florida and Leonard travels where they need him.

“Sometimes there’s not money for things and the money they do have needs to be spent on other things,” Leonard said.

“Rather than paying a plumber to come in and costing over 50 bucks and hour…it may take me an hour and a half but they don’t have to pay that money out and they can use that money for something else.

It’s pretty important.”

In addition to plumbing, he also helps with fundraising events. For the last two years, Leonard was the official tea maker at their annual benefit.

“The first year I did it was kind of touchy, but the second year they did it, I had it down pat,” he said.

Volunteering has helped Leonard fill up his schedule since he is currently unemployed.

“Larry is a familiar face in the community,” said Lindy Tatterson Eden, Larry’s daughter. “He has grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for the annual back to school bash at the Catherine Taylor Park in High Springs for the last three years.

He also has volunteered to cook for events for his grandchildren’s school and martial arts fundraisers.”

Larry loves to meet new people and finds opportunities to do so during Alachua’s Spring and Harvest festival.

A cancer survivor, he finds the same opportunities at the

cancer drive for the American Cancer Society by SunState Federal Credit Union.

Larry was technically ineligible for the award because he is the father of one of the credit union’s employees. However, his good deeds couldn’t go unrecognized.

The contest committee decided that instead of disqualifying Larry, they would “duplicate” the prize.

This means that another charity will receive $1,000.

Larry and his wife have lived in High Springs since 1979 and are parents of two daughters. s

Larry Tatterson, 68 Larry Tatterson likes to take advantage of any opportunity to fire up his big grill. He believes that volunteering helps everybody out and he thoroughly enjoys it.

“People ask me if I’ll do it and I say, ‘Sure, I’d love to do it,” Larry said in a telephone interview.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Winter 2012 | 55

PHOTO BY TJ MORRISSEY

1ST PLACE WINNER (TIE) :: AGES 55+

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Dixie Boston, 15 1ST PLACE WINNER :: UNDER 18 Dixie Boston has been quite a busy young lady. Between starting organizations, volunteering at animal shelters, her local dance studio, and playing for younger children, she is well on her way to becoming a philanthropist.

Her passion for giving is rooted in Dixie’s family values. Ever since she was a child, Dixie’s parents instilled in her the importance of volunteering and making a difference in the community.

Dixie said that her earliest volunteer experience was working with the Girl Scouts to do a couple of events. But she mostly remembers cleaning up the trails around the Suwannee River with various groups.

Cleaning the trails became such a priority that she started an organization called the Suwannee River Renewal Project. Every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, she and a team of volunteers, including

the Girl Scouts, have gone out to clean the trails.

“I think volunteering is important because if no one gives and everyone takes, there’s not really a good dynamic, Dixie said in a recent phone interview. “There’s no harmony and kind of a discord.”

She also encourages her fellow teens to get involved.

“Not only is it good for the community, it’s good for yourself and it’s definitely a feeling of selfsatisfaction,” she said.

Dixie figured out where she liked to volunteer by “dipping” into everything she could find. “[But] most of my volunteer work is based off of stuff my family and I enjoy,” she said.

Her mother, Peggy Boston, is very proud of her and nominated her for the award.

“She does a lot, and you know with volunteering you don’t really get recognized, which clearly is not the reason we do it but it just never hurts to give you a boost, to make

you feel like you’re being appreciated,” Peggy said of Dixie. “When she sees something she wants to do it so a lot of times I have to rein her in.”

One thing is clear: Dixie finds complete satisfaction everywhere she volunteers.

“The projects that you complete you know that you did it out of your own time and your own resources and it’s definitely good to give back to a community that’s given so much to you,” she said. s

THE WINNERS UNDER 18 1st Place: Dixie Boston 2nd Place: Elizabeth Lovvorn AGE 19 -54 1st Place: Jade Salamone 2nd Place: Kristy Hancock AGE 55+ 1st Place Tie: Larry Tatterson and Leonard Boice 2nd Place: Aqueela Khuddus

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>> AT YOUR SERVICE

Santa Fe Elks Lodge A New Generation of Elks

BY JANICE C. KAPLAN eing a member of the Elks Lodge is a family affair for Scott Thomason. His grandfather was an Elk and his father is still an active member, and his brother and his wife are also Elks. But when it came time for him to join, Thomason admits that he was a bit hesitant at first.

“There was the stereotype of guys sitting at a bar and drinking,” he said. “But it’s really about serving your community and helping your neighbors. It was kind of eye-opening once I got involved. It did take some twisting of my arm on my dad’s part to get me to join, but once I did I was hooked.”

Now the Elks hope to serve the

B

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High Springs and Alachua areas through a proposed Santa Fe Elks Lodge. Thomason has been named interim chairperson for this effort, and he and several area residents are actively recruiting members and looking for a suitable location for their lodge. The Florida State Elks Association is assisting those efforts, and the group has received support from other Elks lodges across Florida.

The goal is to establish an organization and location where they and their families can enjoy activities, help the community or simply have a place to congregate.

“We want members who are here to do good, and we’re looking for a lot of families,” said the married father of five, who came

to the area a few years ago from Boca Raton. “One of the reasons I moved up here was to be able to go and enjoy the springs and enjoy the fishing and the rivers and the tubing and the rafting. It’s a lot more fun when you have a group of people who like to share and help each other and their neighbors. I think that’s the biggest thing we’re looking for.”

The national organization, known officially as the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (BPOE), has served communities across the nation for over 140 years with the credo of “Elks Care — Elks Share.”

Statewide there are 60,000 men and women of all ages who are proud members, carrying on the traditions of compassion and camaraderie in a

PHOTO BY ALBERT ISAAC

Members of the proposed Santa Fe Elks Lodge (left to right) Scott Thomason, Alex Alderman, Tom Work and George Fortier, were on hand at the High Springs Fall festival last October, selling food and drinks, promoting their efforts, and recruiting new members.

number of ways — particularly with children and veterans.

The Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services provides physical and occupational therapy to children who do not have ready access to such services. Over the last dozen years they have traveled over five million miles treating thousands of children in their homes, many of whom are not able to travel to medical facilities, and services received by patients who meet eligibility requirements are free.

The Elks also run the Florida Elks Youth Camp, a 405-acre site in Marion County at which children can participate in swimming, sports, art and other activities.

Although there is a modest fee for the one and two week sessions, the Elks will not turn away anyone who is unable to pay for their child to attend. Additionally, the organization offers a variety of scholarships to high school seniors to help them attend college when they otherwise might not be able to do so.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

The sacrifices of veterans who have served the United States are not lost upon Elks members.

Since 2007, the Army of Hope program has distributed over $170,000 to families of deployed military members to assist with home maintenance and repairs, medical and dental emergencies not covered by insurance, clothing, shoes and even babysitting.

All of this work is funded through private contributions to a trust run by the Florida State Elks

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Association, without government financial assistance.

“We made a promise many years ago that, ‘So long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them,’” said Tom Elmore, an Elk assisting with the High Springs efforts. “We have [Elk] representatives in all of the veterans’ hospitals in the state of Florida and if they need anything, we do it for the veterans. We will never get away from that.”

Elmore explained that this commitment to veterans, and to anyone in need, has been a cornerstone of Elk belief for a long time. And he should know — in June, he will celebrate 50 years of membership with the BPOE. “I’ve seen the Elks do many things, and Florida has come a long way,” he said. “Our purpose is to help the fellow man.” s

To join the proposed Santa Fe Elks Lodge Membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (BPOE) is open to adult men and women age 21 and older that are citizens of the United States. While the Elks emphasize a family-friendly environment, all adults with “good moral character” are happily welcomed regardless of whether they have children.

Anyone interested in joining the proposed Santa Fe Elks Lodge can call Scott Thomason at 386-315-0587 or email him at scottcthomason@gmail.com. The group can also be found on Facebook.

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>> FOOD, MUSIC, FUN

Out on the Town Entertaining Nights in High Springs

BY LARRY BEHNKE igh Springs is a small town, but it is becoming a larger place for evening entertainment.

Although most of the unique small shops close at 5 p.m. there are things to do after dark, especially on weekends.

The downtown area is an easy walk, so park anywhere. None of the following is more than two or three blocks away. And there are no parking meters anywhere.

H

Great Outdoors The Great Outdoors Restaurant has been the downtown anchor business for years. It is a destination for Gainesville residents as

64 | Winter 2012

well as a local favorite. It uses the area’s water recreation theme, displaying local springs photos, diving gear and hanging wooden canoes. A large restaurant room leads to the Springhouse Tavern and then to an outdoor patio. Food and drinks are served throughout.

The patio has a huge fireplace of large round rocks at one end, and a stage for musicians at the opposite end. A variety of mostly local bands play pop, rock, country, folk and blues. Free live music is featured Wednesday through Sunday evenings. The outdoor atmosphere those nights is very festive.

Manager Carol Doherty once described the place as “elegantly casual.” The owners, Bob and Karen Bentz, completely restored the

114-year-old opera house to its present glory.

Linda Heyl likes to visit here.

“I’m very social and like coming here to see my friends,” she said in recent interview. “And now High Springs has even more social opportunities. Like last week I heard an awesome blues band at Southern Soul.”

The Great Outdoors is closed Mondays.

Southern Soul A block north of the Great Outdoors on Main Street is a recent addition to High Springs’ nightlife.

Southern Soul Restaurant & Lounge offers authentic soul food from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and on weekends people flock in to hear mellow jazz

PHOTOS BY LARRY BEHNKE

TOP: Carol Doherty greets customers to the Great Outdoors. Carol has been manager for four years.

RIGHT: The Great Outdoors patio with band playing on stage at rear.

— a first for this town. The house band is three-piece: keyboards, sax and a soulful singer. A set may start with an old Miles piece, then get people moving and singing along with a Smokey Robinson oldie.

Other bands, often playing blues, are featured Thursdays.

Jo Grandison runs the place with her mother, Priscilla Darling and her brother, Derrick Darling, who cooks.

“We had done food at festivals before, but always wanted a restaurant,” Grandison said. “We looked all over and were surprised to find this place. It’s a lot bigger on the inside than it looks.”

The cozy interior and elegant bar is drawing repeat customers.

“We really needed a place in High Springs like this, a jazz club for

grownups,” said Kristen Merritt, a regular. “The music is great and not too loud. You can talk with friends or just sit in a corner and read.”

The Dive A half block east of the Great Outdoors, down First Avenue is The Dive Pub & Grub, a more casual restaurant that serves good food and a nice variety of draft and bottled beer, plus wine. Jim Wegman painted the artwork on the walls, who also sometimes plays music here with his friend Don Austin.

Free live music happens Friday and Saturday nights until 9 p.m.

The Dive is run by Dickie Arvin, a former tugboat captain.

“I wanted to open a friendly place with good service,” he said.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

“We get every age in here from people on walkers to those with baby strollers. You can come here after a visit to the springs still wearing your bathing suit and bring your dog to our outdoor patio too.”

A sign outside says, “No shirts, no shoes, no problem.”

Arvin estimates his lunchtime crowd is 80 percent women and many tourists.

“Last week we had four people from Japan and three from Italy,” he said. “They come here to go cave diving.”

But locals also appreciate the atmosphere and reasonably priced food. The back courtyard has a tropical theme and a big television, popular during Gator games.

Mike Melansom and his wife

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PHOTO BY LARRY BEHNKE

TOP: Southern Soul house band features, left to right, Wayne Levy, Ben Grier and Phillip Thomas.

TOP RIGHT: Customer Mike Melansom and owner of The Dive, Dickie Arvin at the bar.

RIGHT: Southern Soul owners, Priscilla Darling, left, mother of Jo Grandison and Derreck Darling, the family core that runs the restaurant.

work in Jacksonville, but they fell in love with High Springs and bought a small house here for getaway vacations.

“I’ve been coming here since it opened,” Melansom said about The Dive. “And I love the downtown area; it’s quintessentially old time Florida.”

More Food Three other places downtown offer food without entertainment.

Gator Q is a block east of The Dive and specializes in barbecue, but also serves wings and sandwiches.

On the corner of First and Main is the new Pizza 2 Go, offering pizza and Italian specialties. Marco and Rosanna DeSantis run the place with their son Carlo.

“We like it here and plan to be here awhile,” Marco said.

A half block west of Main Street is The Station Bakery & Café. Most of their business is during the day: baked goods, sandwiches and ice cream. But Friday and Saturday evenings until 8 p.m. they serve turkey, roast beef and chicken dinners.

Sonny Richardson takes orders.

“The biggest thing about a

66 | Winter 2012

restaurant is you have to run it yourself,” he said about the key to success. “Three of us each work 60 hours a week.”

Theaters and Art Around the corner, on those same nights, beginning at 8 p.m. (and on Mondays for $3 a ticket) a movie shows at the Priest Theatre, Florida’s oldest continuously operated movie theater. The local treasure opened in 1910 and still shows first-run movies a couple weeks or so after the films open in Gainesville.

Janet and Alan Alligood run the theater with help from their children, the way they had helped when Janet’s parents ran it for 25 years before them.

“Our family is tight,” Janet said one Friday night. “And we get great joy seeing people enjoying themselves.”

For the current movie, call 386-454-SHOW. A different theater is located on First Avenue, near Gator Q. For 20 years the High Springs Community Theater has been putting on quality

plays that often feature local actors.

And for four weekends each year they have a mystery dinner theater in the old opera house upstairs in the Great Outdoors Restaurant.

The High Springs Art Co-op is open until 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Co-op members host an open house for a different guest artist on the first Friday of each month until 9 p.m. The 15 artists that display their work encourage browsing and visitors can enjoy interesting conversations, plus wine and cheese.

A new restaurant is currently being created from a former antique store on Main Street, to further draw people to the small, emerging downtown.

Folks once joked about this town rolling up the sidewalks at dark, but these current and future venues are slowly adding to High Springs’ evening offerings.

Not every night in High Springs has activities, but by calling ahead, and especially on weekends, visitors and locals alike can find an amazing mix of fun in this charming town. s

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>> WHAT’S COOKIN’?

Every Day Gourmet Turning Meals Into Special Occasions

BY CASSIE GANTER PHOTOGRAPHY BY TJ MORRISSEY he rich, decadent fragrance of truffle oil, Fontina cheese and pan seared mushroom drifted through the dimly lit elegant kitchen of Frankie Harvey’s Newberry home.

“Ethan, would you like a slice of this before we have to leave for practice?” Harvey asked her 10-year-old grandson.

“Yes. Yes. Yes, please!” Ethan exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.

As she gently pulled the steaming wild mushroom tart out of the oven, a smile spread across her face.

“This is what I love so much

T

about food and cooking,” she said.

“Eating brings people together, even when schedules are busy and hectic. You always have to make time to eat.”

As the author of “The Elegant Gourmet” cookbook, Harvey’s passion for food is contagious.

Published in February 2012, the cookbook is a reflection of not only her natural talent and affection for all things culinary, but also her passion for family.

Based on the concept of making everyday meals elegant and special, Harvey said she decided to write her cookbook in an effort to inspire

families to come together the way meals bring her own family together.

“I want my readers to enjoy their families and have fun around meals,” she said. “I want people to be inspired and creative with food.”

Her enthusiasm and excitement for cooking is present throughout the décor of her home. Expressing her fondness of mood lighting and the importance of warmth in the home, she took a seat at the bar adjacent to the kitchen.

An important part of making each meal special is the ambiance, she said.

Harvey has always loved cooking.

Frankie Harvey poses with her cookbook during a dinner she prepared in July. Harvey published “Entertaining With The Elegant Gourmet” in February of 2012.

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

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As part of the silent auction held at the Gainesville Heart Ball last spring, Frankie Harvey offered a five-course meal, prepared and served at the home of the highest bidder. “So they picked the menu,” Harvey said. “Five courses from my book and I added a couple of different things.” The meal included a seared ahi tuna with pineapple and ginger salsa appetizer, coconut curry soup, watercress kiwi and radish with peppered goat cheese, chicken saltimbocca and porcini risotto.

After earning her degree from a junior college, she attended culinary school but was unable to finish. She continued to work in restaurants and catering and with her thirst for cooking left unquenched, she channeled her passion into cooking for family and friends.

Just a couple years ago, it was her children, husband and friends who encouraged her to start an online blog to document her recipes and experiences in cooking.

As the blog grew in popularity and frequent readers began requesting more recipes, her family pushed her to take the next step from the blog, which was to write and publish a cookbook.

Since the beginning, her family

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has been her motivation and inspiration to cook.

“If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ that will give you some kind of idea as to what our family dynamic is like,” she said with a smile. “We are all very tight-knit and involved in one another’s lives and we make so many memories together.”

Having grandparents who came to the United States from Lebanon, Harvey’s cooking is also heavily influenced by her culture and heritage. “The Elegant Gourmet” offers some tastes of Mediterranean inspired recipes.

“I love and appreciate every kind of food, but my absolute favorite meal to cook is rack of lamb,”

she said. “I think that’s definitely because I grew up eating it at all our family’s special occasions.”

But Harvey’s family does more than just inspire the recipes.

From helping to name her blog and cookbook to carefully selecting the recipes to be featured, Harvey’s family played an integral role in the production of the cookbook.

“I had a vision but had no idea it would go so far so fast, or that I was even capable of doing this,” she said. “It was a family effort and now it’s a family business.”

So in September 2011 with the help of her family, Harvey secluded herself and spent her days cooking and writing. By January, the compilation was sent to publication.

With her daughter Stephanie Bouwens MacLaverty acting as her publisher, and daughter Candice Bouwens as her manager, “The Elegant Gourmet” was released for public sale by February.

With five children, a grandchild and a husband working full-time in dentistry, her biggest struggle in her career is not having enough time in her hectic daily schedule.

“At 2 or 3 a.m., I’m usually still writing or working on pictures,” she said. “But I love it and I’m really self-motivated and driven. It’s a good obsession for me.”

Another struggle in writing the cookbook was figuring out the proper measurements for the recipes.

“When I cook I rarely measure what I put in, so trying to tell other people how much of something to put in was a challenge,” she said.

When Harvey is not inventing new recipes or writing new blog posts, she spends her free time gardening.

Her personal garden, visible from the bar window, flourishes with about 18 varieties of tomatoes,

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various herbs, nutmeg, sage and nine varieties of mint. Harvey incorporates her homegrown vegetables and herbs in her cooking as much as possible.

“We come up with some crazy mojito recipes,” she said with a chuckle.

Always striving to buy local meats and produce, she frequents

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Frankie Harvey and her staff of family members, husband Bob, daughter-in-law Anna Bouwens, and daughter Candace Bouwens. Bob served food and acted as sommelier, offering wines by Dorn’s Liquor and Wine Warehouse, who also contributed to the cause.

venues like farmers markets and avoids chain grocery stores. As expressed in her cookbook, a crucial part of cooking is making the recipes unique and individualized to cater to each family’s particular tastes, which involves the incorporation of unique flavoring. Among her favorite flavors and accents that she uses to add a personal twist on traditional meals are wines, liquors, herbs (she particularly recommends rosemary) and most importantly different varieties of salts.

“I have a dozen different salts,” she said. “Salting food allows the natural flavors to come out and enhances them. Seasoning your food properly is key.”

Using the freshest ingredients possible is what takes the flavor of the meal to the next level, she explained.

“I love the interaction of cooking and my goal with writing this cookbook is to inspire my readers to slow down and enjoy company,” she said. “I am usually a shy person

and coming together and talking loosens me up and allows me to let others into my world. It’s a form of self-expression and I have nothing but warmth and fun memories when it comes to cooking.”

Back in her kitchen, as she gingerly dabbed several drops of truffle oil onto a pan, the warmth and enthusiasm that went into preparing the wild mushroom tart brought Harvey’s mother, Ruth Poe, and grandson into the kitchen. Taking a front seat at the kitchen counter, Ethan expressed how much he looks forward to his grandmother’s cooking.

“She makes a delicious flan,” he said. “I’ll eat almost anything she makes, but my other favorites are meatloaf and foiegras.”

Poe reminisced as she watched Harvey in the kitchen.

“Frankie was a little rascal growing up,” she said. “When she first developed an interest in something, she always went above and beyond

www.VisitOurTowns.com

to learn everything about it and perfect it.”

Cooking became one of those interests very early on.

“She was around 12 or 13 when she made her first meal all on her own, which was a dinner for my husband and I,” Poe said. “She took a specific interest in learning to cook Lebanese food. Ever since then, she was hooked.”

Just above her stovetop and to the left, a Shakespeare quote clings to the wall that reads: “If music be the food of Love, play on.”

“I just hope I inspire people to take classic recipes and ingredients and make them unique,” Harvey said. “Taking time to make the day special brings everyone closer together. Cooking is about enjoying those close to you and appreciating the little things in life.”

That same love, passion and enjoyment is the most important ingredient in her elegant gourmet cooking. s

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So what exactly does “home care” encompass?

With National Home Care Month upon us, Morgan discussed the many facets of quality in-home care that Mederi Caretenders provides.

Nursing – Nurses care for wounds, give injections, reconcile and assess medication regime compliance and perform other medical care functions. They also assess the patient’s situation and educate relatives or caregivers. “When you have caregivers suddenly taking care of a family member, they don’t understand the disease process, they don’t understand all the medications,” said Morgan. “We can teach them how to take care of their family member and know what to expect.”

Physical and Occupational Therapy – Physical therapists help Seniors regain their strength and maximize their ability to move about, prevent falls 76 | Winter 2012

and improve balance. Occupational therapists help with everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing and preparing food. Many elderly patients are not easily able to travel to another therapy location, where their in-home environment is not always replicated.

“We can modify things that they can’t when they’re going to an outpatient facility or hospital,” Morgan explained. “We look at their home and, for example, explain how to negotiate stairs.”

Speech Therapy – Speech therapists assess and assist patients in regaining or improving communication and swallowing. They can also administer VitalStim, a therapy that uses electronic stimulation along with swallowing exercises to help the patient relearn how to swallow. Speech therapists also provide therapy to teach the patient and caregiver about foods to eat or avoid.

Home Health Aide – A home health aide can help a client perform basic tasks like bathing and grooming, making a light meal and changing linens.

Medical social workers – These professionals can identify resources and offer counseling and support to patients and caregivers.

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COLUMN >> DONNA BONNELL

Embracing Life I See the Moon

y journey to see the moon began about a year ago when Owen, my three-year-old grandson, discovered it for the first time. Ironically, this memorable event occurred in the middle of the afternoon.

He began jumping and stretching his arms up as high as possible. When he finally got the adults’ attention, Owen screamed, “Look! Look! I cannot reach it.”

Since then, our captivation with the moon has continued to grow. One of our favorite activities is to gaze into the night sky, count the stars, pray and repeat this ageless nursery rhyme:

M

I see the moon, And the moon sees me.

God bless the moon, And God bless me.

Owen’s lure to his lunar neighbor is certainly not anything new. Since ancient history, humans have found the power of the moon spellbinding. Its influence has affected human emotions across the gamut — from fear to romance.

In primeval times moonbeams horrified most people, especially during a full moon. During those eerie evenings, evil beings were free to roam the Earth.

Sleeping under a moonlit sky was equally spooky.

Those who took that chance were in danger of turning

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into a lunatic. Some civilizations feared lunar eclipses because of their reddish color (described as a Blood Moon or an Evil Moon). Fortunately, moonlight has not always been considered scary. Sometimes it has sparked strong passion.

From Shakespeare’s writings to Stephenie Meyer’s quotes in her Twilight series, authors, poets and songwriters have composed countless pieces about the many attributes and fairytales surrounding the heavenly bodies and romance. One of my favorites is a stanza from the song by Savage Garden, “To The Moon And Back:” “I would fly to the moon and back if you’ll be, if you’ll be my Baby.”

Probably the reason for my attraction to those lyrics is due to my nighttime ritual with Owen. I always tell him that Grammy loves him all the way to the moon and back. Of course, I did not create that expression.

It has been around for hundreds (if not thousands) of years and spoken in different languages.

In fact, many of the phrases we use today have evolved from celestial legends. Two of my favorites are: • Once in a Blue Moon — This is a common way of saying hardly ever or not too often. A blue moon is the second full moon to occur in a single calendar month.

• It must be a Full Moon — When events occur out of the ordinary, this statement seems almost automatic.

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most powerful stage when it illuminates the world with its silver light. Any spell cast under its power has a great chance of being successful.

Those who follow witchcraft are not the only ones who find the moon extraordinary. Religions and cultures have worshipped the moon since the beginning of time. Its prodigious powers control tides around the planet. In addition, many folks believe the moon has an enormous influence on our human emotions. Even Owen’s favorite nursery rhyme has unusual roots.

Typically this poem is printed at the end of a book of nursery rhymes.

The authors of “The Annotated Mother Goose” suggest that while “I See The Moon” is charming, the original reasons for reciting the rhyme may have been more sinister than what the charismatic verses lead us to believe. It possibly began as a spell to ward off the evil creatures that walked in the moonlight or for protection against dangers of exposure to the moon and the risk of lunacy. Could the prayer-like rhyme have begun as an incantation?

Typically this poem is printed at the end of a book of nursery rhymes. Therefore, I automatically believed it to be a goodnight prayer. Perhaps, I was wrong.

However, even though the nursery rhyme has a shady history, it will forever hold a special place in my heart.

I see the moon as a heavenly body — a source of spiritual illumination and strength. Owen and I will continue to embrace the benevolent sphere and consider it a blessing. We believe our astral friend only radiates love to the globe it orbits.

Will you join us in our quest? The next time you are out under the twinkling stars on a beautiful moonlit night, pray for peace. Can we collectively transform the negative dark perception of the moon? Who knows?

Maybe we can change the course of history. Stranger things have happened. s

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>> ENTERTAINMENT

Area Festivals A Short Drive for Holiday Fun

BY JENNIFER RIEK o those who live beyond state lines, Florida can be summed up in three simple terms; beaches, snow birds and long lines at Disney World.

But to those who live between the orange groves, those that know the truth, Florida is a place of beauty, culture and best of all, festivals.

Central Florida especially is home to several celebrations that visitors merely cut through Alabama and Georgia to attend. From Celtic tales to bluegrass tunes, Florida is more than warm sand and blue skies.

T

Palatka Bluegrass Festival (February 21-23, 2013) Tucked between the cafeteria

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and the concession stand at the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch in Palatka, the Bluegrass Festival offers an outdoor celebration beneath the convenience of a covered pavilion.

Festivalgoers will come from near and far with lawn chairs in tow to see live bands take the stage. Thursday, February 21 will provide music from performers such as the James King Band, the Bluegrass Brothers, Nothin’ Fancy, the Crowe Brothers and the Grascals. Friday, February 22 will bring the Marksmen, Alecia Nugent, Goldwing Express, the Gibson Brothers, the Seldom Scene and Dry Branch Fire Squad. Saturday, February 23 will round out the weekend with Tony Holt & the Wildwood Valley Boys, the Little Roy

& Lizzy Show, the Moron Brothers and much more. Performances will last from 11 a.m. to 9:15 p.m.

Thursday and Friday with a final close at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets are available now for reserve, promising prime seating in the first 18 to 30 rows in the four sections of the pavilion. After the deadline of January 15, visitors can still purchase tickets at the gate for $30 per day or $75 for both days.

Children below 6 are free but music lovers above are welcome to attend for $15 per day or $45 for three days. Tickets can also be reserved for the Fall Palatka Bluegrass Festival, held October 10 to 12, 2013.

Pine Castle Pioneer Days (February 23-24, 2013)

PHOTOS PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE PALATKA BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

Multi-award-winning country and bluegrass artist Ricky Skaggs, and award-winning songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist bluegrass singer Rhonda Lea Vincent are only two of the many performers who entertain the audience at the annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival that takes place in February. The Palatka Bluegrass Festival is held to benefit the Rodeheaver Boy’s Ranch in Palatka.

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In the early 1900s, a town sprung up between the modern cities of Edgewood and Belle Isle. Its name originated from the wooden walls of poet Will Harney’s “Pine Castle,” known to many back in the day as the most striking landmark between Orlando and Kissimmee. The structure brought together folks from all over, and in 1974, their descendants designed a festival to celebrate life in a simpler time.

Today, Pine Castle Pioneer Days provides a weekend-long opportunity for wholesome fun with educational activities and entertainment. Families can watch historical reenactments or area residents as they teach a wide range of traditional talents; how to weave a basket, tat lace, crank an ice cream maker, hook a rug, darn a sock and many other skills that once made up the day to day life of early 20th-century Floridians.

Bridled horses will trot up and down the town streets as attendants drift through arts and craft

booths, community booths, and food that spans the centuries.

Also marching the streets on Saturday morning is the annual community parade, passing by the site of Will Harney’s home, the original Pine Castle. This year’s theme is “Pine Castle Family Roots,” to commemorate the festival’s 40th anniversary. Awards will be bestowed upon those who best express the theme, the best use of recycled materials and the best expression of a civic group’s mission.

The festivities will occur on February 23 and 24, 2013. This event will include performances by artists such as Kate Carpenter, Ben DeHart, Lucky Mud, the Pursell Family Band, Jackson Creek String Band, Late for Dinner and more. Admission is $3 individual, $5 family (up to 2 adults and all accompanied children).

Florida Strawberry Festival (February 28- March 10, 2013) The name Plant City brings to mind visions of lush and fruitful

fields. It makes listeners think of plump blueberries and massive pumpkins, of tomatoes fresh from the vine. But like the state of Florida, Plant City is more than a luxurious name. It is home to the Florida Strawberry Festival, an event highly ranked among the Top 40 Fairs in North America. This community-oriented celebration features activities for all from February 28 to March 10.

The celebration hosts a plethora of contests for the competitive festivalgoer. In the food category, amateur chefs can contend in the Neighborhood Village, sponsored

by Kitchen Craft. Some of the finest culinary creations can be seen all 11 days of the festival, with categories ranging from cake decorating to food preservation. The building also houses the efforts of local artisans who have crafted home decoration items, jewelry, needlepoint, quilts, scrapbooks and toys.

Hillsborough County babies will go head to head in a contest

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for best-decorated diaper, best baby features and the diaper derby. Ambitious eaters can take part in the Strawberry Shortcake Eating Contest, and proud owners can show off their stock in the Lamb Breed, Beef Breed, Poultry Show, Rabbit Show, Dairy Show or Swine Show. Participants can even compete in a Shoebox Float Contest, with this year’s theme of “Our Masterpiece of Fun.” If thrills and excitement are more your speed, then the Midway at Belle City should be the destination of choice, with carnival rides, a Ferris wheel and obstacle courses for all ages. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are Ride-A-Thon days, where from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. guests can purchase a wristband to ride most rides for a reduced price. The bargain also applies on Fridays for Moonlight Magic from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the gate at $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 through 12.

Children ages 5 and under are free.

St. Augustine Celtic Music and Heritage Festival (March 9 and 10, 2013) Long before St. Patrick’s Day, before pinches and pints at pubs, the wearing of shamrocks was seen by most as an outright form of rebellion. In the eyes of 18thcentury England, it was a crime punishable by hanging, for Irish folklore holds that St. Patrick used the three-leafed symbol to explain the Christian Trinity to Irish polytheists. St. Patrick overcame his plight and helped to Christianize the Emerald Isle.

Now every year at Francis Field, festival-goers turn out in droves to celebrate St. Augustine’s Celtic heritage, to raise their glasses to the saint and experience the days of old.

This year, the air will be alive with the music of artists such as Albannach, Dublin City Ramblers, Tannahill Weavers, Rathkeltair, Scuttered the Bruce, Spade

McQuade and more. Visitors can watch or partake in seven Scottish highland athletic events. Wearing little more than kilts and confidence, competitors will rise to the challenge and test their hand at a range of heroic tasks. Novices to experts will participate in the Open Stone Put, 16 pounds of weight hurtled for distance in any style; the Braemar Stone Put, 22 pounds of weight thrown for distance in a stationary style; the 56-pound weight toss for distance; 28-pound weight for distance; the Caber Toss; the Sheaf Toss; and the jettison of a 56-pound weight for height. Awards and prizes will be presented to those that best perform.

Clans from throughout Scotland, Ireland and the rest of the Celtic world represent their people each year. They bring with them the culture, color and stories of their brave ancestors, and intermingle with other clans as they might not have centuries ago. Beneath the waving shadows of banners hoisted

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PHOTOS BY FRANK SERIO

The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, located just north of Live Oak, is a one-of-a-kind music park and campground. Nestled way down upon the Suwannee River in North Florida, the Spirit of the Suwannee hosts a variety of events throughout the year. In March, thousands of visitors will come to the park to enjoy the sounds of a many musical acts. In addition to this event, the park offers live music during the week in the Music Hall and a natural amphitheater for outdoor music festivals.

high, the festival brings about an air of brutish camaraderie — or ‘craic’ as the Irish would say — Celtic fun at its finest. Tickets: $5 general admission.

Suwannee Spring Festival (March 21-23, 2013) For 17 years, enthusiasts have gathered. Tents have ringed the fields of the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park and visitors have walked the banks of the river between sets. Here, Americana music has found a home on the sun-dappled shores of Live Oak.

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The branches of the forest know the sound of Roots Rock, Bluegrass & Newgrass, Acoustic Blues and Cajun/Zydeco.

This year the breeze will pick up the tune of Peter Rowan, Keller and the Keels, Leftover Salmon and Donna the Buffalo, of the Travelin’ McCourys, Jim Lauderdale and the Mosier Brothers. The cabins will fill with the verses of Elephant Revival and Red Baraat, the Spirit Family Reunion, Applebutter Express and the Whetherman. Guests will fall asleep beneath the stars

humming the Shane Pruitt Band and Grandpa’s Cough Medicine.

This gathering of performers features some of the world’s greatest in the Americana genre. In nearly two decades, Springfest has grown from an initial attendance of approximately 1,000 people to now hosting more than 7,000 music lovers.

Tickets can already be purchased for this event online, at $135 through December 28 and $150 from December 29 to February 10.

From February 11 until the opening of the gates, prices run at $165 and $180 upon walking in. s

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>> TRUE COLORS

Winter Fine Arts Fair Tioga Town Center’s Winter Fair Prepares for its 6th Year

BY CASSIE GANTER ix years ago, Helen Rucarean had a vision.

Her passion for art, as well as the cultural enrichment that comes along with it, were the inspiration for founding the Winter Fine Arts Fair @ Tioga Town Center eight years ago. Just as the Town of Tioga was starting to emerge and grow as a community, Rucarean approached town management with her proposal for the art fair.

With two years of planning art fairs already under her belt, she felt confident that with the help of her team of volunteers, she would be able to put on a successful winter art fair.

With the Town of Tioga’s approval,

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the Gainesville Fine Arts Association and a team of volunteers (mostly artists themselves) supporting her idea, the three-day-long fair will be returning for the sixth consecutive year February 15 through 17. One of these supporters in particular is Roz Miller, the vice president of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association and fellow art enthusiast.

Deemed the “most artist friendly art fair in Florida,” Miller said in a recent phone interview that the 2013 Winter Fine Art Fair can expect between 12 and 15 thousand art lovers, appreciators and collectors.

“One of the great things about our festival is that there is a bunch of great art pieces in one space,” Miller said. “People at the fair who may not be looking to buy art may

stop and have an ‘Aha!’ moment, and think ‘this is something I’ve been looking for,’ and will give the piece of art a new home.”

This year, the art fair will feature 100 artists from all over the state as well as out of state, displaying all mediums of art including painting, photography, fiber and textiles, wood, graphics, drawing, sculpture, glass, mixed media, ceramics and pottery and jewelry.

“The city of Gainesville needed a fun night fair, and the first year was such a success that we chose to continue,” Rucarean said in a telephone interview. “The art fair grew with the Town of Tioga and attracts more people each year.”

Perhaps one of the reasons this particular art fair has attracted so

PHOTOS BY ELLIOT TUCKER

Painter and Winter Art Fair committee member Lytha Nicholson takes a step back to see her artwork from a buyer’s perspective. With an expected attendance between 12 and 15 thousand people this year, the fair will be experiencing its busiest year to date. With 10 various art mediums on display, everyone from families to couples on a date can come by to enjoy and show appreciation for art in all its forms.

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Winter 2012 | 91

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PHOTO BY ELLIOT TUCKER

Tioga Winter Art Fair artist Jerry Peters looks on as a couple of fair goers admire his work.

many artists and attendees over the past six years is because of the factors that separate it from others in the area.

Firstly, the festival kicks off its weekend-long event with a nighttime fair on Friday evening from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The jumpstart to the fair weekend features the art in individual booths with the use of spotlights.

“Friday night of the festival is complete with live music, wine, pizza and even a playground complete with a bounce house for the kids. This night is fun for everyone — from families to couples on a date night,” Rucarean said.

Additionally, the fair is an invite-only event in terms of the artists’ attendance. Since there is

no application option for artists, the invitational show requires Rucarean’s invite and approval prior to displaying and selling art at the fair. Because of her affection for quality work, this requirement allows her to handpick pieces that people would be proud to display in their homes and offices, putting a more personal touch on the entire art fair.

Once accepted to the fair, the artists receive many perks, including a minimal entry fee ($110 for GFAA members and $140 for nonmembers) in comparison to other festivals.

Secondly, the price ranges for the mixed medium art is all over the board, Miller said.

“As independent businesspeople,

artists must sell their pieces to be invited back to the fair,” she said.

“The prices for any given piece can range from very affordable to upwards of $1,000. It just depends on the size of the art, the medium used and how much work went into creating it.”

Finally, the smaller size of the fair differentiates this art festival from others. Spanning from the Gainesville Health and Fitness in Tioga to the Blue Highway, and with 100 artists, the fair does not resemble some of the larger festivals that have recently become popular.

The fair stays true to its roots.

“Part of what sets the Winter Art Fair apart from others in the are is the smaller, more intimate feel,” Miller said.

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PHOTOS BY ELLIOT TUCKER

The Tioga Winter Art Fair caters the atmosphere and the art to create a family atmosphere. With the Tioga town center as the backdrop, visitors have many options for food and entertainment.

In addition to the select artists featured in the fair, the poster artist for the Winter Art Fair, Peter Carolin, is a part of Rucarean’s original team of volunteers and has served as the co-show director all six years.

Furthermore, the unique aspects of this art fair bring people to Tioga who otherwise may not travel to that particular part of town.

Consequently, the fair oftentimes introduces people to the town shopping center. Many of the businesses, which include various restaurants and stores, also act as sponsors for the event.

“People come from all over to visit this art fair,” Miller said. “We

were the first art fair in Tioga, so the fair is beneficial for both the artists and the businesses in town, especially since it is expected to bring between 12- and 15-thousand people this year.”

As both the Town of Tioga and the Winter Fine Arts Fair @ Tioga celebrate their sixth year, Rucarean and Miller pride themselves in the strides the festival has made.

“This art fair would not be possible without the help and passion of the volunteers,” Rucarean said. “We have all grown together through the years.”

In addition to the effects of the art fair on the artists and those working at the fair, the local and

surrounding community has the opportunity to enjoy art, live music, food, drinks, company, and the outdoors.

“The Winter Art Fair is a wonderful family activity and individual activity, but most importantly, it’s a great way of exposing attendees to art,” Miller said. “I am one who believes that art — no matter in what form — enriches our lives in ways we do not even know or recognize. To me, that is what the fair is all about.” s The 6th Annual Winter Fine Arts Fair will be held February 15 - 17 at Tioga Town Center, Newberry Road and SW 12th Street. (pet friendly). For more information visit www.tiogawinterartfair.org

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Welcome Home The Atrium at Gainesville gives seniors a place to call home

M

retirement communities often make their money from services. In the end, this provides residents with little choice on services or options when disagreements arise.

“It is a difficult subject, so a lot of times, people put it off. But there are a lot of misconceptions because they have not done their research,” Prem Paul Murrhee, director of sales and marketing at The Atrium, said.

On the other hand, retirement communities using the housing model offer all of the same services, with one key difference: choice. The Atrium at Gainesville is based on the housing model and features a wide array of services and businesses available on-site, such as a pharmacy, rehabilitation, home health care, chiropractors, a salon, etc. But the community does not directly make money from them nor are the residents forced to use them. In fact, with many more practices and services within a quarter mile of the community, The Atrium is in a unique location to offer competitive options.

oving from the comfort of a familiar home to a retirement community or nursing home is often a frightening step; however, it is never a step that should be taken lightly. With as many misconceptions about retirement homes as there are types of resident services, those considering retirement living should explore their choices.

As a Holiday Retirement senior independent living community, The Atrium at Gainesville regularly clarifies the many misconceptions and concerns from prospective residents, families and the community. By addressing these issues at the start, The Atrium strives to make residents feel at ease and at home before they even move.

In addition, The Atrium provides husband and wife teams who not only act as managers, but neighbors and residents.

One of the biggest differences between retirement communities is whether they are based on the medical model or the housing model, Murrhee said.

With a medical model, which is what most people are familiar with, a person moves from one stage in retirement living (i.e. independent living, assisted living, medical care) to another as needed. However, such progression is usually decided through community assessments and not by the resident. In addition, medical model

96 | Winter 2012

“When you have 237 residents concentrated in one area, you have a lot of business willing to go the extra mile,” Murrhee said.

“As a resident, they have the freedom of choice to use those services or choose someone close by.”

In reality, choice is the core misconception concerning retirement homes and the basis for The Atrium’s success. One of the most common misconceptions Murrhee hears from prospective residents is concern over losing their routine: Can they eat when they want? How long can their grandchildren stay? Is the community too active and noisy for an afternoon nap?

“It is not us dictating to the residents what we want them to do. It is the resident telling us what they want to do,” Murrhee said.

Although The Atrium provides three meals a day

for its residents in a dining room with servers, it doesn’t stop residents from taking food to go or having it delivered to their room. In between meals, The Atrium provides a coffee bar with refreshments and snacks. In one case, Murrhee recalls a resident who always had coffee and a muffin for breakfast at 10 a.m. As a resident at The Atrium, he still has this option, as well as other breakfast choices.

Built for seniors from the beginning, residency includes transportation, cleaning services and utilities. The Atrium also provides many safety features, such as concrete walls, floors and ceilings.

The construction even acts as a noise barrier, allowing for those afternoon naps.

may be interested in. From the start, The Atrium promotes a close knit community inside and out.

The community does not require a buy-in or a lease, it is month-to-month, yet many residents have chosen to live here for over 20 years. The Atrium’s methods work.

“The social connections and family feel at the Atrium is what sets us apart, it is why our residents stay with us for decades,” Murrhee said. “Let’s face it. You can hire a chauffeur, hire a chef and hire a maid, but you can never hire friends.”

In addition, The Atrium provides husband and wife teams who not only act as managers, but neighbors and residents. Fostering such relationships provides a friendly environment for residents from the start, and a familiar face to help during emergencies.

The Atrium encourages visits from family and friends from the start by allowing them to eat for free at the community during the first month of a new resident’s stay. Grandchildren are also welcome to visit and stay at the community. In one case, Murrhee remembers a resident hosting his great grandchild for a month--playing in the pool, doing crafts and spending quality time together.

The retirement community also hosts a welcome party in the community and invites other residents, as well as clubs and organizations the new resident

Gracious i Retirement i Living i i The Atrium at Gainesville features beautiful and spacious studio, one and two bedroom apartments. Your month-tomonth rent virtually includes all of your living expenses, with absolutely no long-term commitment or entrance fees.

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www.VisitOurTowns.com

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COLUMN >> DIANE E. SHEPARD

Mama Musings There’s Always Gifts to Give “…let it be said that of all who give gifts… Of all who give and receive gifts,… they are wisest. They are the Magi.” — O. Henry “Kids, we need to talk to you.”

“What is it, Mommy?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, Mommy?” Nicholas chimed in.

“Well,” I stammered, looking at their sweet, expectant faces, “This Christmas is going to be a little different than usual.”

“What do you mean, Mommy?” Elizabeth asked, her brow now wrinkled with concern.

“Well, times are tough right now, so...” I took a deep breath, bracing for what I knew would be coming. “So, we won’t have many presents this year.”

There, I said it. The world did not stop spinning on its axis. But I am reminded of “Little Women,” and one of my favorite literary heroines, Jo, grumbling, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” And her

sister, Meg, lamenting, “It’s so dreadful to be poor.”

“Oh, is that all?” Elizabeth said, in true “Beth-style,” sighing in relief. Beth is Jo and Meg’s younger, sentimental and selfless sister. “I don’t care how many gifts I get; I thought something was really wrong.”

Surprised, my husband, David, and I looked at each other and back at her.

“You’re not upset?” he asked.

Nicholas was. “What? No presents?”

Now that was more the reaction we expected.

I bent down to talk to him.

“Don’t worry, guys,” Elizabeth assured us, with a wisdom well beyond her eight and a half years. “We don’t have to buy any presents this year.”

I looked up at David. We nodded to each other, then to Elizabeth. Who are we to doubt our dear daughter?

This is the girl who gives all year; the girl who offers up her piggy bank to pay a bill (we always decline), or give to those less fortunate. This is the girl who sifts through her stuffed animals to share with others; the one who gives us handmade “just because” gifts, just because the mood strikes her.

On Christmas morning, as I look down at these cherished gifts of hers that she has given us, so carefully

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chosen — two of her most-loved stuffed dogs for her brother, and a handful of treasured gold pirate coins; and for me, a turtle necklace and a glitter heart necklace she made herself — I realize it’s not only these prized possessions that she has given of so selflessly. It is most especially those gifts of her time and effort, all through the year: painstakingly mending the hole in her brother’s beloved baby doll; patiently teaching him how to swing; gladly helping me put away laundry, unload the dishwasher, or saving me from frustration by untangling my necklaces. These are the gifts that are truly priceless.

Selfless giving is at the heart of one of my favorite Christmas stories, which features another of my favorite literary heroines, Della, in O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi.”

I had been saving this to read to her when she was old enough to understand this classic story of a young, married couple that each sacrificed their most prized possession to buy the other the one store-bought gift they desired most. For some, this is folly. For those who appreciate the fine art of giving gifts from the heart, it is love. O. Henry compares the couple’s selfless gifts to each other to that of the Magi who brought gifts that first Christmas long ago. I read the story to her that night.

My young daughter did not have to be visited by ghosts rattling chains and issuing warnings to learn how to keep Christmas; she has instinctively done it all her life. She is a gift giver for all seasons, all year long.

Elizabeth possesses a willingness to give, that is refreshing these days. She radiates a joy that is contagious. That’s her best gift. And she doesn’t even know she’s giving it.

My husband and I began this Christmas season worrying about money and the lack of gifts under our tree.

We need not have. We thought this Christmas would be bereft of “presents,” but it has turned out to be our most memorable, abundant in the presents that matter most.

Elizabeth reminded me that there are always presents at Christmas, always gifts you can give, even in the absence of store-bought “presents.” There are always gifts of self, selflessly given. Where there is someone who gives from the heart, there are always presents. You have only to look for them. s

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A Smile Is More Than Meets The Eye

A

s Dr. Paivi Samant mills about her office, a message left by a client is printed for her from her answering service. She reads the text and pauses before erupting in laughter: “Woo-hoo!” the message states. “She loves you guys because everything is wonderful. She is eating pistachio nuts!”

The message reflects what 100 | Winter 2012

Samant loves most about her job – her patients and the quality of life they enjoy when their teeth work as they should.

“It’s not only about looks,” said Samant, prosthodontist and owner of Samant Dental Group in Gainesville. “When you get someone who has had very poor function as well as teeth that aren’t very good looking, their self-esteem is affected by that. When they can finally eat

what they want and look good too, people feel much better.”

Samant Dental Group provides all types of restorative dental and prosthodontic care to its clients including crowns, veneers, implant supported restorations, dentures and full mouth rehabilitation.

She also helps patients with sleep apnea by designing and creating appliances to be worn overnight.

Samant and her colleagues and staff achieve this by combining the many skills required for specialty care with the latest developments in the field.

“Prosthodontists are really architects,” said Samant. “We

“Samant Dental Group provides all types of restorative dental and prosthodontic care.” create the design and then pull the team members in, whether you need an orthodontist, periodontist or oral surgeon to build a foundation on which you do the work. There are so many different materials available now, and we can create lifelike dentistry that lasts longer.”

Samant, who is from Finland, started as a speech therapist after earning her degree from the University of Helsinki. But when she moved with her husband to his home country of Canada, there was a slight issue with her chosen field. “I enjoyed the speech/ pathology field, but was disadvantaged with my accent!” she explained with a laugh.

She became interested in dentistry and, when the couple moved to the United States, she enrolled in dental school at the University of Tennessee. It was during those years that she discovered a love for her field of continued on next page

Dr. Paivi Samant M.A., D.D.S. Prosthodontist www.VisitOurTowns.com

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specialization and the technical, creative and interpersonal skills it requires.

“Dentistry is artistry,” said Samant. “I’ve always liked working with my hands. Being able to do a little bit of the handiwork and having the patient contact was something that interested me. And you can get as technical as you want. It’s like making little buildings; you can make (the prosthodontics) very intricate.

There’s a lot of physics involved, and even math in a way.”

After graduating from her specialization, Samant went on to become a professor at University of Tennessee

before moving to Gainesville.

These days in addition to her practice, she teaches ongoing educational programs and was recently named a board member of the Florida Prosthodontic Association.

Encouraged by the increase she has seen in women practicing dentistry, she hopes to start a local chapter of the American Association of Women Dentists sometime early next year.

But credentials and technology alone don’t fix teeth.

“Technology is an aid. It’s not something that replaces the operator,” said Samant. “No matter how fancy a machine is, it’s only as good as its user.

CONTACT US TODAY FOR YOUR COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION

SAMANT DENTAL GROUP, P.A. 2727 NW 43 rd Street, Suite 8 Thornebrook Complex 352.376.5120 visit at www.SamantDentalGroup.com | online 102 us Winter 2012

You have to have staff that is a reflection of what you practice and believe.”

What she believes is that the patients are the center of her practice. Her affection for them is made clear in everything from her quick smile and gentle wit to the inviting colors and artistic touches of her office décor.

Every year she holds a patient appreciation party where clients enjoy food, wine and sometimes a demonstration of the latest technology in dentistry.

And of course, you can hear how much she cares about them in her words.

“I love to take time with patients,” she said. “Every person is interesting. It’s fantastic to hear people’s stories and relate to them.

When the patient is in the chair I want them and their teeth to be the only focus at that very moment.”

Samant and her staff consider their role a crucial part of their patients’ overall systemic health.

“What we eat, that’s what we are. And when we cannot eat healthy we cannot be healthy,” said Samant.

“We’re living in a time when we have the materials and the technology it takes to fix people’s dentitions and get them back to functioning more ideally. People want to look good, but looking good does not mean much if the teeth don’t work. It means nothing.”

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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 - 2:30pm

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. 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. Located in beautiful Alachua, Brown’s is open 7 days per week. 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.

Southern Soul 15 NE 2nd Ave, High Springs, FL Mon 11:00am - 11:00pm •Thu 11:00am - 11:00pm Fri - Sat 11:00am - 12:00am • Sun 11:00am - 4:00pm

386-454-0429 SOUL FOOD — If you are looking for a true taste of down-home, comfort food then you will love Southern Soul Restaurant & Lounge now open in High Springs and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. All of our recipes are homemade and made from scratch. Rise and shine and stop in for one of our breakfast platters including flapjacks, pork chops, biscuits and gravy, or French toast, to name a few. For lunch and dinner our headliners include oxtails and yellow rice, pork chops, fried chicken, fresh mullet, catfish, and shrimp. Our sidelines are collard greens, mac and cheese, grits, mashed potatoes and many more! To top it all off, try our homemade desserts! Join us for live Jazz Friday and Saturday nights and live Blue’s every Thursday.

Newberry’s Backyard BBQ 25405 W Newberry Rd, Newberry Monday-Wednesday 11am-9pm • Thursday 11am-9:30pm Friday and Saturday 11am-Midnight • Sunday 11am-6pm

352.472.7260

newberrybbq.com

BBQ — Newberry’s Backyard BBQ is UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP, and to celebrate we are lowering our prices! Newberry’s Backyard Bar-B-Q 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.

104 | Winter 2012

Mason’s Tavern 16135 NW U.S. Hwy. 441 • Alachua, FL Open every day 11:00am – 11:00pm Just North of the intersection of I-75 and HWY 441

386-418-8078

www.masons-tavern.com

SPORTS BAR & GRILL — Mason’s Tavern is a family operated sports bar with hand-cut steaks, fresh seafood, hand-made burgers, pastas, wraps, salads and homemade wing sauces. With twenty TV’s there is always a place to watch your favorite team. The NFL Sunday Ticket and all of the Gator games makes us your football headquarters.

Video games for the kids make Mason’s fun for the entire family.

Live entertainment (call for schedule). Reservations and large parties welcome.

Granny’s Buffet 8877 SW US Highway 27, Fort White, FL Open Monday through Saturday Breakfast and Lunch hours 6:00am - 2:30pm

386-497-4703 SOUTHERN — Granny’s Buffet Restaurant is a traditional Southern style restaurant with the best recipes straight from Granny’s cookbook. Granny’s Buffet Restaurant is open Monday - Saturday serving breakfast and lunch with food made from scratch daily.

Granny’s offers a lunch buffet as well as menu items including Philly cheese steak, burgers, wings and an assortment of other sandwiches.

Granny welcomes you to come out and enjoy their friendly service, family atmosphere and of course, the food!

Saboré 13005 SW 1st Road, Tioga, FL 32669 (Tioga Town Center) Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: 11am – 10pm Fri. & Sat.: 11am – 11pm • Open Mondays for special events only

352-332-2727

www.saborerestaurant.com

FUSION — Saboré [sa-bohr-ay] is a world-fusion restaurant featuring a variety of European, South American, Mediterranean and Asian inspired tastes. Saboré’s namesake is from the word “sabor,” meaning “flavor.” Saboré’s menu features mouth-watering dishes that takes guests on a trip around the world, highlighting exotic flavors and ingredients from countries such as Argentina, Japan, Spain and Italy.

Be sure to try the custom plates, desserts and signature cocktails you won’t find anywhere else in Gainesville.

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

BAMBOO SALE Dec. through Feb. 2013 Times Vary GAINESVILLE – Kanapaha Gardens, 4700 Southwest 58th Drive.

Bamboo sale is being offered during Dec., Jan. and Feb. on a dug-to-order basis.

This year, 18 types are offered; most are clumping forms but a few are running bamboos — including the elegant black bamboo. For the first time ever, blue bamboo is being offered. Also, there is a buy one get one half off special for the Wong Chuk and Buddha’s Belly Bamboo. 352-372-4981.

www.kanapaha.org.

BARNYARD BUDDIES PROGRAM Every Wednesday 3:00pm GAINESVILLE Morningside Nature Center, 3540 E. University Ave. On this farm, youngsters, with an adult, can meet and greet farm animals by helping staff with afternoon feeding on the Living History Farm. This program is free, but the animals love donations of carrots, squash, apples, sweet potatoes and melons (please give these items to a staff member and not directly to the animals).

Jan. 4, Feb. 1 and March 1. 352-334-3326. www.

cityofgainesvilleparks.org.

106 | Winter 2012

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

TRASH FORMATIONS

Through Dec. 22 Times Vary

Through Dec. 31 5:30pm

GAINESVILLE - The Hippodrome, 25 SE Second Place. Join Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits and a host of Christmas ghosts for this holiday favorite.

Dazzling special effects, an original adaptation and a timeless message of goodwill have made “A Christmas Carol” one of the most popular Hippodrome productions of all time.

352-375-4477. www.

GAINESVILLE - Natural History Museum, Hull Road and Southwest 34th Street. Ever wonder how milk jugs morph into beautiful wading birds or how gears and gadgets become gigantic bugs?

See how middle school, high school and college students transform “waste” into creative works of art! 352-8462000. www.alachuacounty.us

thehipp.org.

WHITE CHRISTMAS Through Dec. 23 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Community Playhouse, 4039 NW 16th Blvd. Two ex-GIs, now famous stage performers, Bob and Phil, decide to help their old commanding general save his struggling winter resort by mounting a musical revue. 352-376-4949.

www.gcplayhouse.org.

A TUNA CHRISTMAS Through Dec. 23 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - The Hippodrome, 25 SE Second Place. Socialite Vera Carp hopes to win another consecutive victory, but she faces stiff competition from the crusty proprietor of Didi’s Used Weapons and from a pair of cowboy-loving Tastee Creme waitresses. 352375-4477. www.thehipp.org.

CHAMPIONSHIP SEASONS Through Jan. 5 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - The Thomas Center, 302 NE Sixth Ave. Featuring more than 50 of the paper’s finest photographs documenting the University of Florida’s three National Championship football seasons. Taken by the Gainesville Sun’s team of photojournalists, the work on display will convey the vast range of human emotion from the 1996, 2006 and 2008 football seasons.

352-393-8532. www.

gvlculturalaffairs.org.

CELEBRATE DESIGN Through Jan. 5 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Thomas Center, 302 NE Sixth Ave. This exhibition includes a selection of projects from the local AIA (American Institute

of Architects) chapter and the national AIA organization. AIA is professional association seeking to further the profession and public awareness. 352-3938532. www.gvlculturalaffairs.org.

THE MODERN IMPULSE Through Jan. 6 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Harn Museum, Southwest 34h Street and Hull Road. The Modern Impulse showcases more than 135 photographs, books, illustrated magazines and films drawn from four regions that were among the era’s most prominent centers of photographic innovation — France and the Czech Republic in Europe, and New York and California in the U.S. 352-392-9826.

www.harn.ufl.edu.

ATTRACT BIRDS TO YOUR YARD Tuesday, Dec. 18 2:30pm - 4:00PM GAINESVILLE - Senior Recreation Center, 5701 NW 34th St. Ron Robinson, a local bird expert, will feature photos about how to create a backyard habitat that appeals both to birds and humans. He will also show photos about the birds people may attract locally, as well as tips on how to control pesky squirrels and raccoons. 352-3678169. eldercare.ufandshands.org.

HISTORIC PARK TOUR Dates Vary 10:00am NEWBERRY - Dudley Farm, 18730 W. Newberry Road. Learn about a way of life post Civil War to mid-1940.

Discover an authentic working farm and learn about how this farm was operated by a Floridian family, the Dudleys. Jan. 12 and March 9. 352-472-1142.

www.floridastateparks.org.

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, ACT II Wednesday, Dec. 19 10:00am GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Gainesville Ballet Theatre proudly presents Act II of “The Little Match Girl,” an original ballet choreographed by Joni Messler adapted from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. In this act of the original story ballet, the Little Match Girl envisions dolls and stuffed animals from the toy store and sweets from the candy store as they come to life and dance just for her. 352-3729898. www.gainesville-ballet-

theatre.org

LIVING ON A FEW ACRES: TWELVE PART SERIES Thursday, Dec. 20 6:00pm to 8:00pm GAINESVILLE - Alachua County Extension Office, 2800 NE 39th Ave. This monthly program is designed as an introduction to basic production techniques on a wide variety of topics from pasture management and livestock production to growing vegetables and alternative enterprises.

Learn what is involved and get the resources

Downtown Countdown Monday, Dec 31 9:00pm - 12:30am GAINESVILLE - Bo Diddley Community Plaza, SE 1st St. and E. University Ave. New Year’s celebration. The free concert will begin at 9 p.m. and run until 12:30 a.m.

At the stroke of midnight, there will be showers of streamers and confetti along with the sounds of noisemakers passed out to the audience earlier in the evening.

Headlining the concert is the band Fast Lane. This six-piece band plays a blend of R&B, funk, soul, and rock and roll.

352-393-8746. www.gvlculturalaffairs.org.

The Little Match Girl December 21 and 22 Times vary GAINESVILLE – Phillips Center, UF. Gainesville Ballet Theatre’s original ballet. Two Performances: Friday, Dec. 21 at 8:00pm and Saturday, Dec. 22 at 2:30pm. 352-372-9898. www.gainesville-ballet-theatre.org

available to help one be successful. $10 for entire series of 12 classes. 352-955-2402.

alachua.ifas.ufl.edu.

ALIEN INVADERS Friday, Dec. 21 10:00am - 5:00PM GAINESVILLE - Museum of Natural History, Hull Road and Southwest 34th Street. Aliens aren’t just from outer space! Learn about the invasive species living in the backyard! 352-8462000. www.flmnh.ufl.edu.

PNINA BECHER Monday, Dec. 31 2:00pm and 5:00pm GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. World-renowned pianist Pnina Becher pays musical tribute to famous composer Domenico Scarlatti, as the audience follows his journey through the wine countries of his life. Scarlatti’s sonatas are played in five parts and the wines selected for this performance are paired perfectly

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with each piece Becher will play. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

FROGS AND FRIENDS FRIDAY First Fridays 2 p.m.

GAINESVILLE Morningside Nature Center, 3540 E. University Ave. Youngsters, with an adult, can join an animal caretaker for an exciting and educational program featuring live

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Live at Birdland Saturday, Feb. 16 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - University Auditorium, UF. Under the direction of world-renowned drummer Tommy Igoe, Live at Birdland recreates the ambience and experience of a night at Birdland Jazz Club. The Birdland Big Band — a dynamic new ensemble featuring some of New York City’s finest musicians — provides an unforgettable musical event. 352392-ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

amphibians and reptiles.

This is a free program.

Jan. 4, Feb. 1 and March 1. 352-334-3326. www.

cityofgainesvilleparks.org.

HIGH SPRINGS ART CO-OP Friday, Jan. 4 7:00pm – 9:00pm HIGH SPRINGS - 115 North Main Street. The co-op members host an open house for a different guest artist on the first Friday of each month until 9pm.

Mingle with artists and enjoy wine and cheese.

386-454-1808.

CAMELLIA SHOW Jan. 5 - Jan. 6 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Kanapaha Gardens, 4700 Southwest 58th Drive.

This two day event features prize-winning camellias of all sizes, shapes, and colors.

There will be judged exhibits of japonicas, reticulatas, hybrids, and species. In addition to their outstanding winter beauty, some

108 | Winter 2012

of the varieties are fragrant. This show is geared toward educating the public about the care, culture, and appreciation of camellias, both in the greenhouse and in the landscape. Regular admission price for non-members and members are admitted free of charge. 352-3724981. www.kanapaha.org

YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SHUT UP Jan. 8 - Jan. 12 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. This 80-minute tour de force offers a hilarious glimpse into a relationship seemingly doomed by opposing personalities from the start. The couple’s delightfully crazy lifestyle manages to keep their relationship intact, up-ending every idea about living “happily ever after.” 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

VENUS IN FUR Jan. 9 - Feb. 3 Times Vary GAINESVILLE Hippodrome Theatre, 25 SE Second Place.

Meet Vanda, an unusually talented young actress determined to land the lead in a new play based on the classic erotic novel, Venus in Furs. Vanda’s emotionally charged audition for the gifted but demanding playwright Thomas becomes an electrifying game of cat and mouse that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, seduction and power, love and sex.

352-375-4477. www.

thehipp.org.

GAINESVILLE’S HISTORIC EVERGREEN CEMETERY Jan. 11 - March 23 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - The Thomas Center, 302 NE Sixth Ave. Rare photographs, documents, multimedia exhibits and the

work of Gainesville’s leading artists will tell the story of the 156-year-old, 53-acre Evergreen Cemetery, one of Gainesville’s most historic and beautiful sites. Sponsored by LocalEdge, a Hearst Media Services Co. 352-334-ARTS.

www.gvlculturalaffairs.org.

THIRD ANNUAL LIONS CLUB PROM & WEDDING EXPO Saturday Jan. 12 1:00pm – 4:00pm HIGH SPRINGS - Fellowship Church, 16916 NW US HWY 441. Help make every girl’s prom dream come true. Raffle and door prizes. Must be present to win prizes.

Drawings every 30 min. for door prizes.

Featuring Cinderella’s Corner: previously worn prom and wedding dresses, shoes and other items for special occasions. Dresses to be offered to those who might not be able to afford a new dress for their special day.

Help by donating a dress. Drop it off at All Creations Salon.

Lions Club: 386-4544521 after 4pm. Kelly: 386-454-4550.

ELVIS LIVES Saturday, Jan. 12 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Elvis Lives is an unforgettable multimedia and live musical journey across Elvis’ life. Featuring finalists from Elvis Presley Enterprises’ worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest, as well as a tribute to AnnMargret, audiences “Can’t Help Falling In Love”® with this phenomenal theatrical concert experience.

352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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SWAMPCON Jan. 12 - Jan. 13 TIMES VARY GAINESVILLE - Reitz Union, UF. Swampcon is a second year multi-genre convention for all ages hosted by the University of Florida. It is a two-day, free convention that features a combination of anime, gaming and Sci-Fi events. info@swampcon.com.

www.swampcon.com.

trademark, highly physical routines and mesmerizing imagery in a unique interaction between film and live performance. The production delves into the majesty and savagery of water, a fundamental force in our lives, as seven dancers plunge into an ocean, wrestle a raging tide and slide on an avalanche to a frozen landscape of arctic beauty. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT Monday, Jan. 14 6:00pm GAINESVILLE - Library Headquarters, 401 E. University Ave. In this session Patricia Dilley, Esq., will discuss The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act: Just the Facts, No Politics.

This presentations will provide free legal information and suggestions for additional resources.

Free. 352-334-3909.

www.aclib.us.

THE STAR SPANGLED GIRL Jan. 18 - Feb. 3 Times Vary GAINESVILLE Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, 619 S. Main St. A comedy in which two young men who publish a radical newspaper encounter and fall madly and ridiculously in love with a flagwaving super patriot Olympic swimmer who moves in next door to them. 352-371-1234. acrosstown.org.

MOTIONHOUSE SCATTERED Saturday, Jan. 19 7:30pm GAINESVILLE Phillips Center, UF. Scattered combines the company’s

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SPECTICAST: FRANZ LEHAR’S DIE LUSTIGE WITWE Sunday, Jan. 20 3:00pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Commonly referred to as the “The Queen of Operettas,” Die Lustige Witwe centers on a wealthy widow and her countrymen’s efforts to match her with the right husband to keep her riches in the principality.

With familiar music, including “You’ll Find Me at Maxim’s” and “The Merry Widow Waltz,” this energetic, humorous staging bursts with color and sensuality. English subtitles. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

BLINDSIDED Monday, Jan. 21 7:00pm GAINESVILLE Hippodrome Theatre, 25 SE Second Place.

Ask Flash Productions announces a special preview presentation of Blindsided, an inspiring new solo show, written and performed by Jeannette Rizzi, directed by Rod Menzies. Blindsided is a personal journey

through Jeannette’s early life in Alachua, Florida, where she struggles to overcome the shocking suicide of her beloved friend, Katie. 352-375-4477.

www.thehipp.org.

BACK TO THE FUTURE GALA Tuesday, Jan. 22 7:00pm - 11:00pm GAINESVILLE - Museum of Natural History, Hull Road and Southwest 34th Street. Turn time circuits on and travel Back to the Future with the Florida Museum.

One will not need 1.21 gigawatts to enjoy the evening; just show up in the best 1950s or 1980s threads and have a blast. Transport back to Powell Hall at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

352-846-2000.

www.flmnh.ufl.edu.

MOMIX BOTANICA Thursday, Jan. 24 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. MOMIX returns to the Phillips Center to present Botanica, a production displaying dance at its most organic and inventive. With costumes, projections, custom-made props, puppetry and a score ranging from birdsong to Vivaldi, Botanica showcases the endlessly renewable energy of the company’s performers.

352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

STEVE WILSON & WILSONIAN’S GRAIN Friday, Jan. 25 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - University

Auditorium, UF. The quartet has been featured on NPR Live from the Kennedy Center and headlined at the 2011 Detroit Jazz Festival. Wilson’s multifaceted artistry is frequently recognized — he was nominated by the Jazz Journalists Association as best alto sax player in 2008, and for best soprano sax player in 2010. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

CHASING MANET Jan. 25 - Feb. 10 Times Vary GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Community Playhouse, 4039 NW 16th Blvd.

Inside the confining walls of Mount Airy Nursing Home, a rebellious painter from a distinguished family and an ebullient Jewish woman with a huge adoring family form an unlikely bond as the two plot an escape to Paris aboard the QE2.

But can they possibly pull it off amidst the chaos of their surroundings? 352-3764949. www.gcplayhouse.org.

BIG FUN ON THE BAYOU Saturday, Jan. 26 6:00pm - 11:00pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. The annual event is UFPA’s largest fundraiser and helps fund all of its programs, including outreach.

Signature cocktails and a gourmet dinner will be provided by Blue Water Bay, and decorations will be supplied by Keith Watson Productions.

Music, dancing and a silent auction will make for a memorable evening with a Bayou theme. Tickets at $200 each. 352-273-2480. bit.ly/PXapel.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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concerto debut as EMI Classics’ Young Artist of the Year 2010 garnered critical acclaim, and she received the Edison Klassiek Award, and was named 2011’s newcomer of the year at the 2011 ECHO Klassik Awards.

352-392-ARTS.

Bamboo Workshop Saturday, January 12 1:30pm - 4:30pm

performingarts.ufl.edu.

GAINESVILLE - Kanapaha Gardens, 4700 SW 58th Dr. Workshop to acquaint homeowners with the bamboos, including an introduction to Kanapaha’s bamboo collection and information on the cultivation, propagation, and landscape utilization of bamboo species in North Florida. The registration cost is $10 for individuals or $7 for members. Price also includes admission into the gardens.

352-372-4981. www.kanapaha.org.

HOGGETOWNE MEDIEVAL FAIRE Jan. 26 - Jan. 27, Feb. 1 - Feb. 3 10:00am - 6:00pm GAINESVILLE - Alachua County Fairgrounds, 3100 NE 39th Ave. Cheer for jousting knights as they battle for their ladies’ honor, and enjoy eight stages of entertainment, including gypsy dancing, human chess games and unbelievable magic acts. Wander the streets of Hoggetowne where a medieval marketplace awaits

with hundreds of talented artisans selling medieval wares.

352-334-ARTS. www.

gvlculturalaffairs.org.

SOUPER FUN SUNDAY Sunday, Jan. 27 1:00pm - 3:30pm GAINESVILLE - St. Francis Catholic High School, 4100 NW 115th Terrace. Souper Fun Sunday is Gainesville’s premier soup tasting competition. The 2013 event will feature soups from more than 30 local restaurants and caterers, local celebrity

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CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO AND MONTREAL GUITAR TRIO Friday, Feb. 1 7:30pm

judges, and an awards ceremony for Best Soups, People’s Choice and Best Decorated Table. www.souperfunsunday. com. becca.neville@gmail.com.

VILDE FRANG, VIOLIN Monday, Jan. 28 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. Recognized for her outstanding musical expression and virtuosity, Vilde Frang is steadily climbing the ranks as one of the leading violinists of her generation. Her

GAINESVILLE - University Auditorium, UF. Two world-renowned guitar trios combine for this unique experience featuring virtuosi from four countries — Japan, Canada, Belgium and the U.S. Inspired by their recent Canadian tour, the California Guitar Trio and Montreal Guitar Trio perform intricate original compositions as well as new arrangements of progressive rock, jazz, world and classical music. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

GOOD LOVELIES Saturday, Feb. 2 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. Part folk-roots, part western

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swing, the Torontobased trio offers threepart vocal harmonies, clever songs and witty banter that is drawn from their adventures on the road. Since their first show in Dec. 2006, Good Lovelies — Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore — has toured coast to coast, played countless concerts and released three albums. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART 5K Saturday, Feb. 2 8:00am GAINESVILLE - Northeast Park, 400 NE 16th Ave. The Gainesville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., in affiliation with the Delta Research and Education Foundation, will host the second Listen to Your Heart 5K. Proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Program. $25. Chip timing will be provided

by Start 2 Finish Race Management. gacdst@gmail. com. www.dstgac.com.

PLOW DAYS Feb. 8 - Feb. 9 10:00am - 2:00pm NEWBERRY - Dudley Farm, 18730 W. Newberry Road. View farming as

it was a century ago as draft horses plow the Dudley Farm crop fields.

A fun and educational experience for the entire family with “old time” music, demonstrations and more. Admission is $5 per vehicle, up to eight occupants.

352-472-1142. www.

friendsofdudleyfarm.org.

THE KING’S SINGERS AND SEÁN CURRAN COMPANY Friday, Feb. 8 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. The King’s Singers and Seán Curran Company combine talents for a project that will include music from acclaimed composer Joby Talbot.

Six members of The King’s Singers will provide vocals, while six dancers articulate Curran’s physical and conceptual exploration of landscape, horizon and time. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN Feb. 8 - March 3 HIGH SPRINGS - High Springs Community Theater, 130 NE First Ave. Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations of the life he has lived with his wife, his sons, and his

business associates, we discover how his quest for the “American Dream” kept him blind to the people who truly loved him.

386-454-3525. www.

highspringscommunitytheater.com.

TALES & TUTUS PERFORMANCE SERIES Sunday, Feb. 10 2:00pm GAINESVILLE Headquarters Library.

“The Romance of Ballet,” a varied program of dance with a special Valentine’s Day theme.

Performance is free and is appropriate for all ages. 352- 372-9898

THE CHIEFTAINS WITH PADDY MOLONEY Sunday, Feb. 10 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Formed in 1962 by Paddy Moloney from the ranks of the top folk musicians in Ireland, The Chieftains are celebrating their 50th anniversary in the music industry. The sixtime Grammy winners have been honored in their own country by officially being named Ireland’s Musical Ambassadors. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

JACQUELYN BROOKS DESIGNS’ RUNWAYS AND RESCUES Sunday, Feb. 10 3:00pm - 7:00PM GAINESVILLE - Haile Plantation Golf & Country Club, 9905 SW 44th Ave. An evening of fashion benefiting a wonderfully unique animal organization: The Gainesville Rabbit Rescue. Third Annual Fashion Show and Dinner with silent auction, raffles, best dressed pet contest, and “Runways and Rescues” 2011 and 2012 gallery. jbdrunwaysandrescues. eventbrite.com.

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR Wednesday, Feb. 13 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. With roots dating back to the 15th century, the Vienna Boys Choir sang exclusively for the imperial court, at mass, private concerts and on state occasions until 1918. Today, roughly 100 choir members between the ages of 10 and 14 make up four choirs that perform around 300 concerts per year worldwide, splitting time between performances and school. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

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INDIAN INK THEATRE COMPANY Feb. 14 - Feb. 16 7:30PM GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. The production tells the tale of a poor chaiwallah (tea seller) whose life is changed forever when a young girl is abandoned at a busy railway station and brings the place to a standstill with the beauty of her singing.

The contradictions of modern India with its iPhones and ancient gods form the backdrop to this story about the dangers of keeping the soul locked in a cage. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD Friday, Feb. 15 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Take a nostalgic journey through the most popular musicals of the last 50 years with Hooray for Hollywood.

The production features a cast of 14 singers and dancers, a six-piece band and more than 300 costumes. Enjoy film clips from classic movies, including “Singing in the Rain,” “The Glenn Miller Story,” “Grease,” “Dirty Dancing” and “Titanic.”

Hooray for Hollywood sings and dances its way through more than 30 songs. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

participate, and fun for all those who visit the show. Only nighttime art fair on Feb. 15, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Regular hours are Feb. 16 and Feb. 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. helenwheels0506@yahoo.com. tiogawinterartfair.org.

A SPRING SAVERS WORKSHOP Saturday, Feb. 16 9:00pam – 4:00pm HIGH SPRINGS – Poe Springs Park, CR 340. The Alachua County Environmental Department will offer a Springs Saver Landscaping Workshop at Poe Springs Park. Current Problems is working with the department to coordinate this free workshop. Space is limited, so be sure to sign up right away.

This is a workshop that includes handson activity as well as presentations about springs, rain gardens, low impact design and development, water conservation and springs, landscape planting for dry areas and water conservation.

Lunch provided.

Funding is provided by a Springs Protection Tag Grant administered by the Wildlife Foundation of Florida.

To register or to learn more: 352-264-6827.

www.tinyurl.com/agz9gx8.

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GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Filmed at the famed Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Kirov Opera performance features

TIMES VARY NEWBERRY - Tioga Town Center, 105 SW 128th St., Suite 200. This is a great opportunity for the artists who

Grammy-winning Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role. This forceful and evocative production breathes operatic life into the fearsome conqueror. Celebrated conductor Valery Gergiev brings forth a richly realized performance from the outstanding ensemble.

English subtitles. 352392-ARTS. performingarts.

ufl.edu.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER Tuesday, Feb. 19 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Let Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s gorgeous dancers lift spirits as they perform thrilling premieres and new productions plus beloved classics such as Revelations.

The New York Times called Ailey, “possibly the most successful modern dance company on the planet.” 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

WILL MUSCHAMP SCRAMBLE FOR KIDS Feb. 21 - Feb. 23 TIMES VARY GAINESVILLE - Mark Bostick Golf Course at The University of Florida, 2800 SW Second Ave. Will Muschamp Scramble for Kids is a hole-in-one for area charities. This two-day event benefits Children’s Home Society of Florida, Boys and Girls Club of Alachua County, and Girls Place. 352-3843205. www.designyour.org/

Muschamp-Scramble-for-Kids/ Home.aspx.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

DARK STAR ORCHESTRA Friday, Feb. 22 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Dark Star Orchestra performs Grateful Dead classics in the same way that an orchestra interprets music of classical composers. Touring nationwide for 12 years to the tune of nearly 2,000 shows, the band’s determined commitment to “raising the Dead” has drawn national media attention. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

FAIRYTALE WEDDING SHOW Sunday, Feb. 24 2:00pm GAINESVILLE - University Air Center, North Side of Gainesville Regional Airport. Introducing the Fairytale Wedding Show, a casual evening soiree where modern Cinderellas and their Prince Charmings can mingle with the best of the best in the wedding industry. The Fairytale Wedding Show will bring together venues, photographers, florists, cake designers, DJs and more from all over the region. www.eventbrite.com.

CREOLE CHOIR OF CUBA Tuesday, Feb. 26 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. This 10-member choir from Camagüey was founded in 1994 when the Cuban economy was in peril, food was short and homes and workplaces often lacked electricity.

Led by their director Emilia Díaz Chávez, the Creole Choir of Cuba nurtured the music passed down in their families since the early 19th century, gradually adding modern Haitian sounds and reviving old songs. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

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INTERPRETI VENEZIANI Tuesday, March 5 7:30pm

Harlem Globetrotters Thursday, March 7 7:30pm - 10:00pm

performingarts.ufl.edu.

GAINESVILLE - O’Connell Center, UF. The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. This event is perfect for the whole family. Come enjoy a night full of fun and laughter! www.oconnellcenter.ufl.edu.

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Friday, March 1 7:30pm

GAINESVILLE - Squitieri Studio Theatre, UF. Clarinetist José FranchBallester, violinist Bella Hristova and pianist Ran Dank form MiXt, a chamber group created in 2011 comprised of the brightest talent on the Young Concert Artists’ roster. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

GAINESVILLE - University Auditorium, UF. Since their debut release in 1997, the Ireland-based quintet, Lúnasa, has earned critical acclaim for their blend of acoustic and improvisational music forms to create breathtaking arrangements.

Comprised of some of the finest musicians in Ireland, Lúnasa’s members use distinctive wind and string instruments to expose the intricate rhythms of the Irish, jazz and bluegrass genres. 352-392-ARTS.

KODO Thursday, Feb. 28 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Derived from the Japanese word meaning “heartbeat,” Kodo explores the limitless possibilities of the taiko (Japanese drum).

The group strives to both preserve and reinterpret traditional Japanese performing arts. Kodo’s new tour brings the sound of the taiko to all corners of the globe, seeking to resonate with a myriad of cultures and ways of life. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

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GAINESVILLE - University Auditorium, UF. Specializing in Baroque music, the Italian string ensemble plays on original instruments, and their expertise as soloist and ensemble musicians has earned them an impeccable reputation around the world. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

RACE THE TORTOISE 5K Saturday, March 2 8:00am HIGH SPRINGS - O’Leno State Park, Southeast Oleno Park Road. This is a certified out and back race for runners and walkers along the park’s scenic, paved main road. It starts and finishes near the main parking area, which is

about 1.5 miles past the Ranger Station at the park’s entrance. This race is limited to the first 300 registrants.

There will be prize money and awards!

Age groups will be from 9 and under to 75-plus. 386-454-0723.

www.floridastateparks.org.

APOLLO’S FIRE — COME TO THE RIVER Sunday, March 3 2:00pm GAINESVILLE - University Auditorium, UF. Apollo’s Fire presents Come to the River, a musical voyage from the spiritual heights of an old American revival, to the driving rhythms of New England barn dances. Performed by four singer-actors, a hot-shot hammered dulcimer player, wooden flutes and a handful of early music artists, conductor Jeannette Sorrell and her crossover performers bring the rich tradition of sharp-note singing and southern harmony to life. 352-392-ARTS.

performingarts.ufl.edu.

SPECTICAST: GEORGES BIZET’S CARMEN Sunday, March 10 3:00pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Stage director Martin Kušej conceived this powerful, contemporary vision of the Bizet classic with conductor Daniel Barenboim for the Staatsoper Berlin.

Mezzo soprano Marina Domasheko plays the title role, singing famed arias that remain central to opera repertoire. English subtitles. 352-392ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu.

ACADEMY OF ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS Wednesday, March 13 7:30pm GAINESVILLE - Phillips Center, UF. Regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is known for its polished and refined sound, rooted in outstanding musicianship. Formed in 1958, the Academy now performs some 100 concerts each year and is the first and only orchestra to be honored with the Queen’s Award for Export. 352-392-ARTS. performingarts.ufl.edu. s

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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 All branches are closed Dec. 24, Dec. 25, Jan. 1 and Jan. 21. early closing on Jan. 31 at 5 p.m.

ALACHUA PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Preschool Storytime Thursdays - 11am Join for stories, songs and dance.

Teen Tech Week: Pintrest and Goodreads March 13 - 4pm Exploring the latest in technology and social networking.

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS

Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game Mondays - 4pm Friends meet to challenge each other over Yu-Gi-Oh.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program Dates and Times Vary The VITA Program offers free tax help for those with low- to moderate-income who cannot prepare tax returns. Certified volunteers sponsored by various organizations receive training to help prepare basic tax returns. Feb. 19 at 4 p.m., Feb. 23 at noon, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m., Feb. 26 at 4 p.m., March 2 at noon, March 5 at 4 p.m., March 11 at 4 p.m., March 12 at 4 p.m. Call 211 to schedule an appointment. 352-333-0841.

TAG: Teen Advisory Group First and Third Wednesdays - 4pm (December 2012); Second and Fourth Thursdays - 4pm (2013) Discuss upcoming teen events and books.

Computer Class Wednesdays - 11am Learn basic computer skills, from using a mouse and keyboard to email and word processing. Class seating is limited. Starting January 2013.

Tech for Middle School Students and Parents Fourth Thursdays 5:15pm 352-871-3901. Starting in January 2013.

Zumba Classes Mondays - 6pm Mix of body-sculpting movements with dance steps derived from Latin music.

Lego Club Tuesdays - 4pm (December 2012); Wednesdays - 3pm (2013) Ages 5 to 11. Meeting room A+B Pre-teen Book and Craft Club Wednesdays - 2pm (December 2012); Tuesdays - 3pm (2013)

PROGRAMS FOR TEENS

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Pilates Classes Wednesdays - 6pm Build strength without bulk. Improve flexibility and agility, and prevent injuries.

return preparation services free of charge from noon to 4 p.m.

Walk-ins only. Be sure to bring all tax documents.

Alachua Needlers Thursdays - 2pm Bring knitting, crochet, embroidery, crossstitch or any other craft that involves a needle!

PROGRAMS FOR ALL AGES

Poets and Writers Among Us Last Wednesdays of the Month - 4pm Poets and writers meet to inspire and be inspired.

Prenatal and Postpartum Yoga Sundays - 2pm Specific classes for new and expectant mother’s needs.

Stretch, strengthen, unwind and relax with a community of moms. December only.

Looking for a Job? Mon., Dec. 17 - 2pm This workshop will tell what services are available, help with a resume, and help connect with potential employers for anyone who is unemployed or on unemployment compensation.

352-244-5176.

AARP Tax-Aide Assistance Sat., March 9 - Noon IRS-certified volunteers from AARP will provide tax counseling and tax

Alachua Fit Club Tuesdays - 6pm (January/February); Thursdays - 6pm (March) Exercise to the Beach Body Training Video with Coach Ramos.

Have fun, exercise and commit to get fit. iPads and Tablets Sat., Jan. 12 - 2pm Covering iPads and tablets.

African American Read-In Sun., Feb. 10 - 2pm This long-held tradition weaves the spoken word with music and is celebrated by the entire community and Black History Month.

HIGH SPRINGS PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Mary’s Marvelous Story Time Tuesdays - 11am Stories, puppets, songs and dancing.

Ages 5 and under.

Afternoon at the Movies Last Three Thursdays, 3:30pm Watch favorite movies and new releases on

the big screen. Ages 5 to 18. December only.

Special session on Feb. 15 at 3 p.m.

Bears in Winter Tues., Jan. 8 - 3:30pm Become a bear and hibernate in a cave!

Awaken with the bears in the spring to sing, dance and play!

Bring along a bear to join in the fun with Mama Bear Raven Moondance.

Book to Movie for Kids Tues., Jan. 10 - 3pm Read “The Spiderwick Chronicles” by Tony DiTerlizzi and discuss it, then watch the movie and munch on snacks from the High Springs Friends of the Library.

Bingo Fri., Jan. 18 - 3pm School’s out so come on down to the library to check out a book, play bingo and win prizes!

Valentine’s Cards and Crafts Tues., Feb. 12 3:30pm Valentine’s Day is almost here! Make something special for someone special.

Book and a Blanket Mon., Feb. 25 - 11am Come sit out in the sunshine on a blanket and listen to books

by African-American authors.

Compost Kid Tues., March 12 3:30pm Come learn all about composting, both in nature and in a composting bin. Presented

by Alachua County’s Waste Management Office. 352-374-5213.

PROGRAMS FOR TEENS Holiday Origami Tues., Dec. 18 - 4pm Make cool paper art to hang on the tree, around the house or give to a friend.

Snacks and materials provided by the High Springs Friends of the Library.

Book to Movie Thurs., Jan. 17 - 4pm Read “Flipped” by Wendelin Van Draanen and discuss it.

Then watch the movie and enjoy snacks provided by the High Springs Friends of the Library.

The Year of the Snake Tues., Jan. 29 - 4pm Come get ready for the Chinese New Year by painting a snake or a Chinese Zodiac animal. Read a book by a Chinese author and discuss it while working on the masterpiece. For author suggestions ask the friendly librarian!

I <3 Books!

I <3 Cupcakes Thurs., Feb. 14 - 4pm Come discuss a book while decorating cupcakes.

Who am I? Tues., Feb. 19 - 4pm Come test knowledge of famous AfricanAmericans. Win prizes and munch on snacks provided by the High Springs Friends of the Library.

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS Computer Basics Second Saturdays 11am Learn how to use a computer in a relaxed setting at one’s own pace. Topics covered may include how to use a mouse, word processing, email and the Internet.

Crafter’s Circle Wednesdays - 1pm Embroidery, quilting, kniting or any other “non-messy” craft.

The Rug Bunch First and Third Wednesdays - 3pm Crochet a rag rug with a group of fellow enthusiasts. Beginners welcome. eBooks from your Library 4th Saturdays - 11am Want to learn how to get eBooks free from the library? Bring an eReader device and join this beginners class. Registration required. Register online at www.aclib. us or by calling 386454-2515.

Florida Works Mon., Dec. 17 - 10am A representative from FloridaWorks will help people with job applications, resumes, interview skills, etc.

352-244-5176 Mystery Reading Group Thurs., Dec. 20 6:30pm Join fellow readers for discussions of mystery novels. Bring any mysteries read that month to discuss.

Newcomers welcome.

Registration required.

Register online at www.aclib.us or by calling 386-454-2515.

Book to Movie Thurs., Jan. 24 - 5pm Read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, discuss it and then watch the movie while enjoying refreshments from the High Springs Friends of the Library.

High Springs Friends of the Library Mon., Jan. 28 10:30am Friends of the Library quarterly board meeting. 386-454-8616.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

An African-American History of High Springs Thurs., Feb. 7 6:30pm Come listen to African-American members of the community talk about what it was like growing up in High Springs. Refreshments provided by the High Springs Friends of the Library.

Child Support Fri., March 15 3:30pm The Alachua County Library District is partnering with the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association to present the “Law in the Library Series.” S. P. Stafford, Esq., Judicial Hearing Officer, will discuss “Child Support: Issues, Questions, and Procedures.”

This discussion will cover both traditional and current aspects of paternity and child support establishment, modification of child support, and enforcement through contempt. Questions will be welcomed and encouraged.

PROGRAMS FOR ALL AGES Mobile Outreach Clinic Mondays - 10am Primary Care Clinics are offered by the University of Florida College of Medicine Equal Access Clinic, Palm Medical and Alachua County Health Department.

No session on Dec. 17.

352-273-5329.

Four Shillings Short Musical Event Tues., Jan. 15 6:30pm Enjoy live world music for free at the library. Four Shillings Short perform original and traditional

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music with a repertoire ranging from the Celtic lands to the Americas, and from Medieval & Renaissance Europe to India.

Family-friendly.

NEWBERRY PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN Preschool Storytime Wednesdays - 11am Stories, songs and activities for the preschool set.

Midweek Movie Madness Wednesdays - 3pm Relax on Wednesday afternoons for a midweek movie on the big screen. Watch some of the latest movies and the best of some of the older ones. Ages 5 to 18.

Junior Panther Den First Tuesdays - 3pm Go wild after school.

Adventures and gaming await. Play sports and dance with Wii games, tune groove with karaoke or create a wacky craft. Turn meow into a roaring good time. Ages 9 to 12.

PROGRAMS FOR TEENS Senior Panther Den First Thursdays - 3pm Go wild after school.

Adventures and gaming await. Play sports and dance with Wii games, tune your groove with karaoke, or create a wacky craft. For teens from 13 to 18 years old.

Newberry Teen Advisory Group 2nd Thursdays - 4pm Plan teen events at the local library. Earn volunteer hours and add to college applications.

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Newberry Teen Book Club 3rd Thursdays - 4pm Read and discuss the latest and most popular books in this book club just for teens!

February and March only. 352-472-1135.

Teen Cooking Club First Tuesdays - 4pm Discuss putting together great meals.

Picking out recipes to cook at home and bring in to share.

Explore the world of delicious cuisines.

February and March only. 352-472-1135.

Teen Crocheting Class January 8 - 4pm Learn the basics of how to crochet, starting at the very beginning. Ages 5 to 18. 352-472-1135.

Teen Craft Club Tues., Jan. 10 - 4pm Create masterpieces with these fun crafts just for teens!

books, including books recommended by participants.

Newberry Walking Club Thursdays - 11am Tired of walking alone? Come build a network of walking friends. A nice 30- to 45-minute walk five days a week can boost brain power, help control weight, increase cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength. 352-472-1135.

Computers for Beginners Dates and Times Vary Learn how to use a computer in a relaxed setting at one’s own pace. Topics covered may include how to use a mouse, email and the Internet. Jan. 24 at 4 p.m., Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. and March 12 at 4 p.m. Call 352472-1135 for more information and to sign up in advance.

PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS

More than Basic Computer Skills Dates and Times Vary Those who have mastered the basics of computing can come learn more about setting up an email account, attaching files or photos, and searching the Internet.

This class will cover more on the Internet and is designed for people who already have basic computer skills. Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. Please call 352-472-1135 for more information and to sign up in advance.

Tempting Reads Book Club 4th Wednesdays, 6pm Book club discussions feature popular and recently published

AARP Foundation Tax Aide Assistance Sat., Feb. 23 - 10am Members of AARP assist senior adults with tax preparation.

Wild Buffalos, Wild Wheels?

Fri., Feb. 8 - 3:00pm What do Buffalo Soldiers and motorcycles have in common?

Come hear members of the Jacksonville Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club talk about the Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers. Hear stories about these honorable military men, the role they played in American history, and how the motorcycle club keeps their memory alive. Ages 5 to 18. 352472-1135

PROGRAMS FOR ALL AGES Money Smart First, Second and Fourth Tuesdays 2:30pm A series of training programs to help consumers enrich their money management skills and banking knowledge. A new topic will be covered each Tuesday the class is held. Starts in January. 352-332-1137.

Newberry Needlecrafters Tuesdays - 1:05pm (1pm in December) Have some fun with this crafting group. If one crochets, knits, embroiders, needlepoints, quilts, or enjoys doing any other “non-messy” craft, this is the group. Regular attendance is not mandatory. 352-4721135.

Gingerbread House Contest Wed., Dec. 19 - 1pm Build a gingerbread house this holiday season. The best gingerbread house will win a prize, and each attendee can eat or take home his/her own creation. 352472-1135.

Guest Speaker, Jamal Sowell Tues., Feb. 19 - 6pm Guest speaker is Jamal Sowell, President Machen’s special assistant. He is a former UF student-body president and served in Afghanistan as a Marine Corps officer.

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>> WHITE WEDDING

Cinderella’s Corner Prom and Wedding Expo

BY COURTNEY LINDWALL elly Deese likes things fancy.

She likes big dresses, up-dos and glamour shots. She wants done-up girls to have special nights, with slow dances, corsages and dates that come to the door.

Deese works hard to make sure every girl can have that prom night, fancy as ever — because she never had one of her own.

Deese is organizing the Third Annual Lions Club Prom and

K

Wedding Expo on Jan. 12, an event to bring together local vendors who will showcase products such as wedding cakes, jewelry, tuxes and flowers.

But for Deese, the most important part of the event will be the rack of donated prom and wedding dresses, free to girls who cannot afford one themselves. Already, Deese has collected more than 40 dresses, which will be displayed in “Cinderella’s Corner” at the event.

“They come up and give you a big ol’ hug,” Deese said. “They’re happy to find the perfect dress

because they didn’t have any money to get one.”

Deese, who did not attend her prom, said missing that experience has inspired her to help other girls make their day memorable.

The event is sponsored by the Lions Club of High Springs and All Creations Salon, which Deese runs.

It is being held at the Fellowship Church this year, a new and bigger venue that can hold up to 300 people. The first event brought out around 150.

For Deese, donating prom dresses

PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY DEESE and COURTNEY LINDWALL

TOP: A wedding party celebrates the special day, with polka dot bridesmaid dresses received from the expo.

OPPOSITE: Kelly Deese stands with one of this year’s new wedding dresses that is up for raffle. Other items for the raffle include a four-party bridal hair service and gift baskets.

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is a long-standing family tradition.

Her daughter, Crystal Castoral, went to prom three times — during her sophomore, junior and senior years with her then-boyfriend and current husband, Drew.

“My mom bought me my nice, expensive dress,” Castoral said.

Prom was an important rite of passage, Castoral said, like her wedding was, just a few years later.

“I didn’t just want to leave,” she said. “I wanted to stay the whole night.”

But back at the salon, girls would come in and say they could not afford to go, Deese said. Prom dresses usually cost at least $100. If they are

new and not on sale, they can easily cost up to $300, she said. That is not including shoes, makeup and hair — expenses that begin to add up.

So, Deese began loaning out her daughter’s old dresses to any girl who needed one.

“That dress must’ve been worn about 20 times,” Deese said.

Deese chose local vendors as a way to highlight small businesses and give back to her community, she said, especially when it is so hard to go up against Gainesville competition.

“They’re going to Gainesville because they can get anything at the mall,” she said.

She instead pulled vendors from small towns such as High Springs, Newberry, Lake Butler and Alachua.

She is only charging a fifth of what Gainesville wedding expos typically charge for a table, she said — $55 compared to typically $250 per booth.

“It’s much better to know you’re supporting where you are,” she said.

While most of the donated dresses are for proms, most of the vendors focus on weddings. While some vendors do get bookings at the event, it is mostly an opportunity to get names out to couples that are still planning.

Dees believes in having a wedding that is special, she said.

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Crystal Castoral, Karen Boling and Lisa Boling clad in donated dresses outside the All Creations Salon, which will be doing free makeup and hair tutorials during the Prom and Wedding Expo.

Back in 2001, Castoral, now 30, was still dating her high school sweetheart. They had plans for marriage, she said, but had not set a date. Drew was in the military at the time. Then, Sept. 11 happened.

Castoral knew that she would want to get married before he was deployed, but they were not sure how much time they had together.

Crystal was going to just have a civil ceremony — but Deese did not want her daughter to miss out on the traditional wedding. So they planned a small wedding in less than 30 days.

Castoral, then 19, got to ring the wedding bell at the church.

“What comes after prom is their wedding,” Castoral said. “It’s every girl’s fairy tale dream to

browse dresses.”

The event, which is free to the public, is a way to give back to the community — both to the girls who are taking home the dresses, and to the local businesses that need the support. It is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Two new wedding dresses will also be given as raffle prizes, among other things.

Dress donations can be made at any time up to the event at Deese’s

All Creations Salon in High Springs.

In particular, they would like more plus-sized donations. The High Springs Lions Club also provides a tax-deduction receipt to anyone who brings in a dress.

“Proms are just special,” Deese said, “and I want to make sure every little girl has one.” s The 3rd Annual Lions Club Prom and Wedding Expo will be held on January 12 at the Fellowship Church in High Springs

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COLUMN >> BY KENDRA SILER-MARSIGLIO

Healthy Edge

Childhood Depression?

oes your child exhibit increased irritability, anger, or hostility? Frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches and stomachaches? Or, major changes in sleeping or eating patterns? If so, your child may be depressed.

It’s not only adults who can experience clinical depression. This treatable illness can also affect kids of any age. About 5 out of every 100 children and adolescents have childhood depression, according to www.healthyplace.com (the largest consumer mental health website).

What childhood depression is: when persistent depression symptoms interfere with a child’s or an adolescent’s ability to function.

What childhood depression is not: when kids have typical tantrums, mood swings, and moving through developmental stages.

Many child psychiatrists and developmental psychologists — including Dr. Joan Luby, a professor of child psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, and Daniel Klein, a professor of clinical psychology at State University of New York at Stony Brook — agree that children as young as 2 or 3 can be clinically depressed. Dr. Klein’s research on preschool depression has shown him that the roots of adult depression “start very early.”

D

Could my child be depressed?

If your kid exhibits any of the following behaviors, please consider talking to your kid’s pediatrician about it: • Increased irritability, anger, or hostility • Decreased interest in activities; or inability to enjoy previously favorite activities • Hopelessness • Persistent boredom; low energy • Social isolation, poor communication • Low self esteem and guilt • Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure • Frequent sadness, tearfulness • Difficulty with relationships • Frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches and stomachaches • Frequent absences from school or poor performance in school • Poor concentration • Major changes in eating or sleeping patterns • Talk of or efforts to run away from home • Causing trouble at home or school • Thoughts or expressions of suicide or self destructive behavior

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What are the differences between childhood depression and adult depression?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) — the psychiatrists’ gold standard when it comes to diagnosing mental conditions — shows some differences in depression symptoms in kids and teens versus adults. One of the differences between adult and childhood depression is that depressed kids or teens won’t likely seem sad; they may seem more irritated than anything else. For this reason, parents and teachers may not recognize that a child is actually depressed. However, when asked directly, some children who are suffering from depression may say they’re unhappy or sad.

According to the Mayo Clinic, some other teenspecific depression symptoms include: • Disruptive, behavioral problems (often in boys) • Preoccupation with body image and performance (often in girls) • Anxiety (often in girls) • Poor school performance • School absenteeism • Talks about running away

Which children are most at risk for childhood depression?

If your kid or teen has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, substance abuse, or other behavioral problems, you may want to get them evaluated for depression. These conditions often co-occur.

If you have been diagnosed with depression, your biological child is two to three times as likely to have depression. Regardless, the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development asserts that most children of depressed parents don’t end up getting depressed.

How is childhood depression treated?

Early diagnosis and treatment is best. Professionals often recommend a comprehensive treatment that includes both individual and family therapy. Two types of therapy that are effective against childhood depression are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). Some children may benefit from antidepressant medication. However, please note that medications are sometimes accompanied by side effects.

Depression symptoms in kids and teens can have serious consequences. For instance, suicide is the second leading cause of death in teens. So, protect your kids and teens by understanding childhood depression and seeking professional help if you believe your child may be suffering. s

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>> A REAL GEM

Don Ricard From Gemology to Antiques and Collectibles

BY ELLIS AMBURN hether Don Ricard is selling spectacular gemstones to visiting royalty at Neiman Marcus in Houston, Texas, or offering affordable antiques and used furniture to ordinary folk at A Newberry Indoor Family Mall, his focus is on quality.

Ricard’s spacious air-conditioned emporium opened in September at 25040 W. Newberry Road.

“We decided to go for quality antiques,” he said during a recent interview on the premises. “We have some used furniture as well.”

Also in evidence were books, bibelots, housewares, appliances, local art, sporting goods, and homemade fudge.

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Museum-quality antiques greet the shopper at cabinet-maker/vendor Ron Stewart’s section, which in late November 2012 was displaying a 1910 quarter-sawn white oak arts-and-crafts sideboard with the original brass for $2,400.

“Yancy Sweet, who worked for NATO, just passed,” Ricard commented, pointing to an exquisite loveseat. “After the family chose what they wanted to take, Yancy told me, ‘I want these things to go to someone who’ll enjoy them as much as I have.’”

A set of six chairs that had been made especially for Sweet in Belgium was for sale with a 15 percent off. The same discount applied to the late Sweet’s inlaid desk, its tapestry-upholstered chair,

and a chest with a jewelry drawer accessible only via a hidden latch.

Other attractions at A Newberry Indoor Family Mall include Newberry “book lady” Sandy Jordan’s selection of adult and children’s titles. Debbie Keef, Bell, Florida’s “fudge lady,” was selling creamy pumpkin fudge at her table; and at an adjoining table, Newberry’s Teresa Arnold was promising “your facial lines will be gone in 45 minutes” with a $20 mask.

PHOTO BY ELLIS AMBURN

Vendor Ron Stewart (right) and mall owner Don Ricard displayed a 1910 arts-and-crafts oak sideboard in mint condition.

Born in Gainesville, Don Ricard ventured far afield in his career in retail, during one period of his life living in Houston for 12 years, and longing to work for “the smartest marketing man I’ve ever met, Stanley Marcus.” The famous luxury-department-store magnate’s

flagship operation, Neiman Marcus, is in Dallas, but eventually stores cropped up everywhere from Houston and Fort Worth to Beverly Hills. Today, Neiman Marcus boasts stores in 12 states, including Florida.

“When I first moved to Houston I worked for a jewelry company,”

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Ricard remarked, “but I was ambitious and decided I wanted to work for the finest jewelry company in the world — either Tiffany, Gumps, Fred’s, or Neiman Marcus.”

He prepared himself by working for 10 years as a gemologist and in management for Michael’s

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PHOTO BY ELLIS AMBURN

ABOVE: Nutcracker figurines and a variety of Santas are available at A Newberry Indoor Family Mall.

A rare Victorian wishbone chest was priced at $800 before a 30 percent discount. Mall president Don Ricard is reflected in the mirror.

Fine Jewelry in Houston. At last he decided he was ready to apply at Neiman Marcus’s store in The Galleria, Houston’s gargantuan retail complex, which houses 375 stores,

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50 restaurants, two Westin hotels, the Galleria Office Towers complex, a financial center, a gym, an iceskating rink, and a jogging track in its three million square feet.

Set beneath indoor glazed barrel vaults, the mall’s high-end tenants include — apart from Neiman’s — Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier, Yves Saint Laurent, Tiffany & Company, Versace, Hermes, Apple Store, Ralph Lauren, Coach, Fendi, Chanel, and Tesla Motors.

“A woman named Nancy interviewed me in Neiman Marcus’s human resources department,” Ricard said. “Right away I met Carl Lemmon, the manager of Neiman’s jewelry department, who had an opening. He told Nancy to move me in. “’No,’ she said. ‘You have to work a year in another department before being transferred to jewelry.

That’s our policy.’”

Ricard said that he never takes no for an answer.

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“I went in three times a week, had eight interviews,” he said. “Mr. Marcus came from Dallas to meet me but couldn’t, and interviewed me on the phone.”

Nancy came to Ricard and said, “You’re making history today. Mr. Marcus wants to hire you.”

“Straight into jewelry?”

She nodded yes.

“That’s how I got the job,” Ricard said. “Persistence.”

And what a job it was — no salary, but a commission starting at 8 percent on every gemstone he sold up to $700,000, and moving up a percentage point with each $100,000 sold thereafter.

“At a million you’re at 10 percent, not hard to do at Neiman’s,” Ricard said. “They give you a base for 90 days, and if you don’t do better than the base, you’re out.”

While on the job Ricard met royalty and presidents from foreign countries. One day Lloyd Bentsen, rancher, oilman, four-term U.S. Senator, and Treasury Secretary under

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President Clinton, came in to buy a ruby for his wife Beryl Ann. Bentsen had immortalized himself during the U.S. presidential election of 1988, which pitted G.H.W. Bush and Dan Quale against Michael Dukakis and Bentsen. During the vice-presidential TV debate, Quale made the mistake of comparing himself with JFK, to which Bentsen replied, “Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

“A vendor left a 1.10-carat, $70,000 ruby with me to show to Bentsen,” Ricard said. “I had a gut feeling. I told Bentsen, ‘I’ve never seen such beauty.

Let me fly to New York City and have the ruby looked at by the GIA.’” Ricard said that the Gemological Institute of America is very secure.

“They never invite you inside,” he said. “You hand the gem through a window.”

Making an exception in the case of the spectacular stone Ricard submitted, the GIA invited him to come back to its well-fortified inner sanctum.

“I hate to tell you,” an expert said, “but this is not real. Where did

you get this material?”

“I have the certificate,” Ricard replied, “but I had a feeling.”

“We want to find the cutter. He shouldn’t be on the loose. He’s too good.”

They called in the FBI, and Ricard returned to Houston and broke the news to Senator Bentsen, who thanked him and said, “I would have never known, Don.” He ended up buying his wife a present, “but it was not a ruby,” Ricard said, “because at the moment there wasn’t anything available in the quality he wanted.”

Shelley Winters entered the Houston Neiman’s in the 1980s accompanied by a man and a young woman. Ricard described the two-time Oscar winner (“The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Patch of Blue”) as “sweet. She was looking for a gift for someone and bought a necklace.”

A favorite customer was the middle-aged daughter of the president of an Asian country.

“The only name we knew her by

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was Minnie,” Ricard said in a telephone interview. “She was about 40 at the time, around 1979-1881.”

During an interview in his store, Ricard recalled that she ran 31 shipping companies by herself, supplying piping for oil rigs.

“She was loud,” he remembered.

“By the time she hit the door you knew she was there. You could hear her 120 feet from the entrance to the jewelry department. She knew I shopped for my wife and would go shopping with me in Galleria.”

One day she came in to celebrate after winning a multi-milliondollar court case “and bought a $78,000 diamond ring on which the diamonds flared out,” Ricard said. “I thought the world of her.”

“In 1980, the president of Mexico and his wife came in,” Ricard continued. “She loved emeralds, huge ones, and I sold her a complete set for $1.5 million — a 20-carat bracelet, 13-carat ring, and a necklace, everything matching, Columbian emeralds, beautiful color.”

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When asked to explain why he considered Stanley Marcus the world’s greatest marketing man, Ricard replied, “He had the least mark-up of anyone. Neiman Marcus got to be known as ‘Needless Mark-up.’”

For the right customer, Stanley Marcus would go to any length.

“A royal family came to Galleria for Christmas shopping,” Ricard related. “Stanley said, ‘We’ll deliver to the airport.’ Back home, one of the royals called and said, ‘I’m not upset, but you need to know all our gifts have no name tags.’ Stanley sent a crew of seven persons to unwrap the packages and redo them with tags.”

For Ricard, working at Neiman’s did not confine him to Galleria.

“France is the hub for jewelry shows, but one year around 1980 it was transferred to Hong Kong. It’s my favorite place and if I could move to anywhere in the world I wanted to, it would be Hong Kong before Great Britain turned it over to China.

“The people are workaholics — sweep the streets with brooms, happy all the time. Skyscrapers were going up everywhere with bamboo scaffolding built by generations of families.”

Retiring at last from Neiman’s, Ricard moved back to Florida and became interested in community service, establishing the Blessed Hope ministry in Newberry.

“It was founded to feed people, then grew into a [wider] charitable service for people in various kinds of emergencies.” He likened it to a “thrift store like Good Will and [Haven] Hospice Attic [Resale].”

Sadly, a crack addict broke in to the thrift-store center and stole church money, Ricard said, and then covered his tracks by burning the building down.

“I’m still involved but turned [the ministry] over to Evelyn McKoy five years ago,” he said. “It’s two blocks away from [the mall]. I still have a Blessed Hope section in the store. Whatever they sell goes to

food for people.”

Ricard said he was raised to help his fellow man.

“In the old days, neighbors came to help with barn raising,” he said.

“I want the store to employ people.

And they come in to sell their things when in economic trouble.”

He has three sons — two in high school in Trenton, one a senior, one a freshman, and the other an engineer at Akia Engineering in Newberry — and a daughter in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“My daughter blessed us with a grandbaby, now four years old,” he said.

And then there is his new 9,500-square-feet store, A Newberry Indoor Family Mall, which he thinks of as “a different kind of ministry.” s Auctions are held on the first Saturday of the month. Consignments accepted.

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>> HIVE MIND

Belle On Wheels The ACR Hunnies Help Roller Derby Grow in North Central Florida

BY JANICE C. KAPLAN qua Holic. Breeze Bayou.

Tier in Mier. No, these are not drinks at the newest nightclub. But they will knock you on your rear better than any tasty beverage.

The names are just three of many on the roster of the ACR Hunnies, a flat track roller derby team based in North Central Florida. Made up of nearly 30 athletes, trainers, referees and other volunteers, the Hunnies practice twice a week at the Skating Palace in Lake City and compete in roughly a dozen matches — called “bouts” — each year.

The group had a specific goal in mind when it was established in

A

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April of 2010.

“We had a vision of a competitive roller derby league that emphasized athleticism over the typical campy social group that happened to roller skate,” said Sara Ivins in a recent email. Sara is a founding member and vice president of the group who goes by the track name Salma Hectic. “With two-to-four-hour practices, team workouts and volunteer trainers, the Hunnies are more than a social group. We are a hard working, sweat-drenched group of skaters supported by passionate and dedicated volunteers.”

Despite the rigorous practices, the athletes still have an everpresent sense of fun in what they do. Track names and numbers are

often a whimsical reflection of the women’s interests (one has even given the track name “Nova Canine” to her dog) and they often dress up their uniforms with stickers, outlandish socks or even costume pieces.

While the athletes’ commitment to their sport is a common bond, their interests and backgrounds span a wide range. Members of the team include a doctoral candidate in biomedical science, an insurance claims representative, college students, a former speed skater, nurses and a water fitness instructor — team co-captain Misty Ann Ward, who is also the aforementioned Aqua Holic.

“Roller derby is one of those sports that is all-accepting,” Ward

PHOTO COURTESY THE ACR HUNNIES

“It’s like a family,” said Misty Ann Ward (middle row, right). “It’s so much fun and so empowering as a woman, to just feel accepted and to know that whatever it is you’re working hard to do, you can do it.”

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PHOTOS COURTESY THE ACR HUNNIES

Despite the combative nature of roller derby, the women forge friendships off the track with teammates and opponents alike. Said Misty Ann Ward (AKA Aqua Holic), “We’re really competitive on the track, but as soon as we’re done skating it’s like, ‘Oh hey, how are your kids?’ It’s a great feeling.”

said in a phone interview. “There is no one type of person that fits. It’s one giant family and that’s the best thing about it.”

It was that acceptance that initially got Ward hooked on roller derby. A childhood “rink rat” who spent hours every weekend at her local Skate Land, Ward rediscovered her love for skating in 2009 when a friend suggested they attend a roller derby match (called a “bout”) and possibly join the group. At the time she lived in North Dakota and had just given birth to her first child, so she had her doubts about the idea.

But she went to the bout and met the skaters at the afterparty, and despite their confident demeanor they proved to be a welcoming group.

“I was so intimidated by the self-confidence from the people who walked in there,” Ward said.

“I wasn’t scared of them but I was wondering, ‘Are they going to judge me?’ But they were awesome. Everyone was amazing.” She decided to join the Fargo Moorhead Derby Girls and was hooked from the first practice.

Ward and her family moved

144 | Winter 2012

to Branford in 2011, where she ultimately found her new roller derby home with the Hunnies. She now serves not only as co-captain but also coaches the team, and her preschool-age daughters are regular fixtures at their mother’s practices and bouts.

“I see them look up to skaters and see how well they skate and they think, ‘If they can do this, I can do this.’ Being role models for women, and being a role model in general to me, is one of the most important things,” she said. “It gives you such good self esteem, and then you add in the exercise part of it, and you become so much better of a person.”

Flat track roller derby is a sport that requires both athleticism and skill. Each team fields five skaters on the track at one time. A single point scoring skater, called a jammer, tries to lap as many opposing skaters as she can during a jam (a series of laps around the track).

Each time she passes an opposing team member, she scores a point for her own team.

The remaining skaters are called blockers, with one serving as the leader (called the pivot). The

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PHOTO COURTESY THE ACR HUNNIES

ACR Stingers members (left to right) Chica Fuega, Lightnin’ Bell and Doodle Bug. The Stingers are North Central Florida’s first junior derby league team.

of all ages. Families are regularly seen at bouts, which also include special events like 50/50 raffles (in which half the proceeds go to the raffle winner and half go to the team’s expenses). The group is so family-friendly, in fact, that they have a junior derby team — the ACR Stingers — open to girls, ages 8-17. Boys of the same age are also eligible to join as referees.

The Hunnies also plan to become more involved with their community in the coming year, as demonstrated by their recent Veteran’s Day bout in which

Volunteers (both male and female) are also gladly welcomed to fill such roles as non-skating officials, merchandising, setup/teardown and more. For more information, visit the Hunnies’ website at www.acrderby.org or send an email to info@ACRDerby.org.

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blockers work simultaneously on offense and defense to block the opposing team’s jammer and to clear a path for their own jammer.

Each bout consists of two 30-minute halves and has an unlimited number of jams. The maximum length of a jam is two minutes. There are 30 seconds between jams — if a player is not on the floor at the end of a break, the next jam will start without her and her team will play short of that player and her position.

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The Hunnies are always looking for new team members, and practice starts in January! Candidates must be female and at least 18 years of age for the Hunnies and between 8 and 17 years of age for the Stingers. No previous derby experience is required, but athletes must be willing to commit to several hours of practice per week. Additional hours are required as needed for bouts, fundraisers, meet-and-greets and other events. Practice and home bouts take place at the Skating Palace in Lake City; away bouts require travel to cities such as Ocala, Jacksonville and Fort Pierce.

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their raffle proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project.

When asked to name the best aspect of roller derby, Ivines finds it difficult to settle on just one.

“There are so many; it depends on what you are looking for,” she said. “For some, the best part is the physical exertion and fitness.

Others participate for the social connection with other awesome people. Personally, I love the personal journey embedded in the team development — seeing the personal growth of skills and assertion that shapes the overall personality of the team.”

Ward loves that despite the varying personalities on the rink floor, the Hunnies are one big happy family.

“There’s the fun aspect of getting to be your own person and dressing up, and then there are some people who just wear exercise pants and their jersey. It all depends on the person.

“But no matter who you are on the floor, you’re a derby girl. And it’s awesome.” s

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>> NO EXCUSES

Jen Blalock All Around Healthy, All Around Champion

BY ALLYSEN KERR en Blalock is serious about health and fitness. An athlete since her youth, Blalock (or “JB” as most people know her) played softball throughout high school and went on to play at the college level. Even today, the 44-year-old has continued her competitive streak by competing in triathlons and, most recently, karate tournaments.

Blalock was not even a black belt when she won the national championship under the United States USK Association last summer. Being fairly new to the sport, she only went there to figure out just how well she measured up to other women in her division.

The morning of the karate competition, Blalock, a well-seasoned athlete, found herself extremely nervous. She sparred two times before her final match. If she won

J

this match, she would win it all.

The competition took place in Miami and as it came toward the end, Blalock said the final moments reminded her very much of the movie “The Karate Kid.” “My dad was there, my son was there, and it was an amazing experience,” she said.

Having the reassurance of her father and 12-year-old son gave Blalock the confidence she needed to finish strong.

Her final opponent was at least a nine-year black belt from Illinois, Blalock said. She was fierce and way more experienced but Blalock was faster, focused and determined.

“It was a great experience,” Blalock said. “I’m very excited and I want to go to Vegas and compete in the world championships…[during] the last week in March.”

Blalock can thank her son, Donovan for this newfound love for karate. He asked his mother

about-two-and-a-half years ago if she would join karate with him and she said: “Sure, I’ll try it.”

Donovan is now a black belt.

“He got his black belt in the spring and I got mine in October,” Blalock said.

She can also thank her position at O2B Kids for her love of karate and triathlons.

“I don’t think I would have been able to do it if my facility didn’t offer it and my location,” she said.

Blalock is the facility director for the Alachua location of O2B Kids and teaches beginning karate to four and five-year-olds. She became involved in triathlons about six years ago when some of the owners, managers and supervisors got together and decided they wanted to complete the multi-stage competition.

“We got together, we picked one and I did my first one and I was hooked ever since,” she said.

Blalock does not claim to be the

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEN BLALOCK

In the 2009 Crystal River triathlon, Jen Blalock placed 4th. “I can tell you, all Crystal River triathlons are very, very hot,” she said.

150 | Winter 2012

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“You have to find a way to make it happen and never give yourself that opportunity to make an excuse.” fastest runner but when it comes to swimming, she excels.

“Most people who start triathlons are scared of swimming versus biking and running, but that was the part I was most confident about.”

Their group consisted of about 15 people and some of them are still doing it today.

The triathlon season runs from March to October. When it is active, Blalock competes in at least 10 races every season. Over the last two years, she has placed first, second or third in more than 20 races.

There is little doubt that Blalock takes her health and fitness very seriously. Training for triathlons and karate matches has put her in the best health of her life, she said.

152 | Winter 2012

“I’m a morning trainer so I train usually at 4 — 4:30 in the morning for my running and swimming.”

As far as karate, training starts around 6 p.m.

Blalock is the epitome of health.

She takes it seriously and encourages other women to do the same.

Her No. 1 piece of advice: A person has to want to change.

“They have to understand that their health is the most important thing next to everything else,” she said. “We all want to be healthy, we want to live a long time.”

Her second piece of advice: Don’t have any excuses to not get the job done.

“You have to find a way to make it happen and never give yourself

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEN BLALOCK

Jen Blalock began competing in triathlons six years ago and has since gone on to participate in many events. In 2011 (pictured above), she came in second in a triathlon in Jacksonville. She said it was an ocean swim, the bike ride was flat and the run was great.

that opportunity to make an excuse.

As soon as you say, ‘I can’t work out this week because…’ something should trigger inside of you and say, ‘I’m making an excuse.’”

Blalock admits that having this discipline is at times difficult, but it is worth it. s Between December and March, Jen Blalock will be preparing for the next big thing: competing on an international stage in Vegas for karate. Training for the competition is easy, getting there will be the challenge. Anyone interested in helping her get to Vegas can contact her at jb@o2bkids.com for more information.

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Winter 2012 | 153

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>> GREEN BUSINESS

Gardens from Garbage Compost Network Diverts Food Scraps Away From the Landfill

BY KELSEY GRENTZER hris Cano pedals his bike down the streets of downtown Gainesville with a trailer of food scraps in tow. At first glance, it’s garbage. But to Cano and a network of local gardeners, it’s treasure in the making.

Every week, Cano bikes around town collecting leftover vegetables, fruits, coffee grounds, eggshells and more from restaurants to use for composting, a process that breaks down food and other organic matter into valuable fertilizer.

Cano, a 25-year-old University of Florida graduate, started Gainesville Compost about a year ago as a way of turning local restaurants’ food scraps into useful fertilizer that he

C

154 | Winter 2012

distributes to local gardeners and uses to nourish urban gardens in the community.

“Our goal is to take something that would be trash and turn it into something valuable,” he said.

Along with the food scraps, Cano collects dead leaves from community members and curbsides to add into the mix. The compost he makes gives plants a chance to thrive even in Florida’s sandy, nutrient-depleted soil, he said.

Cano’s compost project started as an experiment. When he and his roommates started a garden behind their house, they looked to restaurant-owning friends for food scraps to use to create compost.

Collecting these food scraps made Cano realize just how much

was being thrown away at local restaurants, he said. He recognized the potential for a larger scale project that could put those scraps to good use.

It began with just five local businesses in September 2011: The Midnight Cafe & Bar, Karma Cream, Reggae Shack Cafe, The Jones Eastside and The Bull.

He bought a trailer from a friend and began pedaling his way around town to collect scraps at participating venues.

“It started with just me and my bicycle and my bicycle trailer,” he said.

But a year later, Cano said the project has grown into something bigger than he ever imagined. With the help of community members,

PHOTOS BY KELSEY GRENTZER

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Chris Cano, 24, examines plants at Gainesville Compostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garden at Tempo Bistro To Go in October.

Cano, owner of Gainesville Compost, bikes past the Hippodrome in downtown Gainesville, on his route to pick up food scraps from local restaurants.

Cano arrives at The Midnight in downtown Gainesville to collect the food scraps. His business started as an experiment when he and his roommates started a garden behind their house.

They looked to restaurant-owning friends for food scraps to use to create compost.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

Winter 2012 | 155

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PHOTOS BY KELSEY GRENTZER

TOP: Chris Cano bikes through downtown Gainesville towing a trailer with three 32-gallon compost bins and one 5-gallon bucket, containing the scraps he collects from local restaurants.

RIGHT: During a recent downtown Gainesville farmers market event, Cano talks with a visitor at his table about compost tea, a liquid form of compost.

he now collects about 240 gallons of food waste every week, and he is inspiring others to do the same. As of October, the initiative now works with 12 Gainesville businesses and six partners, and he is expecting those numbers to grow.

For Cano, who earned bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degrees in English and Sustainability from the University of Florida in 2010, sustainability is no new interest. In the past, he interned for Sustainable Alachua

156 | Winter 2012

County and has been a leader for UF student organization Gators for a Sustainable Campus. He made valuable connections through these organizations, many of which have been involved in his life again through Gainesville Compost, he said.

Cano was involved with more than sustainability in college, though. Before the iPhone was on the on the market, he created an Apple iPhone review website offering tips, Apple accessory product reviews and more.

Soon he built the site up to a

PHOTOS BY KELSEY GRENTZER

Chris Cano organizes compost buckets at the pit behind The Church of Holy Colors art gallery, one of Gainesville Compost’s community partners. A compost bin in front of the pit allows Gainesville residents to contribute food scraps to the compost network.

readership of 3,000 to 5,000 visitors per day. Through advertising and selling iPhone accessories on the site, the venture helped him pay his way through college.

When he graduated college, he was making a living from the website, but something was missing. When people asked him about his job, he found himself wishing he had a more fulfilling answer.

“I was making this income off of something that was completely disconnected from the community,” he said.

Now that he has started Gainesville Compost, things have changed. He takes pride in the fact that his initiative connects local businesses, community members and organizations.

“A large part of what’s fulfilling about this is that I’m doing something that’s rooted in the community,” he said.

Over time, Cano began to spend less time on his website and more time on building his composting

will become more profitable as it grows. Businesses pay a fee for the compost pickup, averaging around $27 per month for a large volume restaurant, he said. He is also working on implementing a membership program that will

“I think it’s amazing how inspirational it has been to other communities and to people in this community.” business by recruiting new restaurants and partners. It has become a full-time job, he said.

Most of the money generated through the program goes back into Gainesville Compost, Cano said, but he hopes the business

www.VisitOurTowns.com

allow Gainesville residents to purchase a share of the compost each month. At the downtown farmers market on Wednesdays, he sells compost by the bucket, as well as compost tea, a liquid form of plant nourishment.

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Cano said he has never had a traditional job, and he prefers it that way.

“I’d rather struggle a bit to get something off the ground that’s my own,” he said.

Recently, Cano completed a garden with edible plants at local restaurant Tempo Bistro To Go. The garden is Gainesville Compost’s first “full-circle” project. The restaurant’s food scraps are composted directly behind the restaurant, and the compost is used to nourish a garden of basil, peppers and eggplants that the restaurant is beginning to use in their meals. He plans to inspire more restaurants to use the compost created by their own food scraps, he said.

The garden utilizes reclaimed materials such as leftover buckets from businesses and rain gutters that are cut in half and mounted on the wall to hold plants.

Russell Anderson, a 27-year-old graduate of the Alachua County Master Gardener Program, helps

Cano maintain the garden at Tempo Bistro To Go. He offers Cano advice about the plants and helps identify potential issues with the garden.

He said the initiative is a great way to educate people about where their food comes from.

“I think it’s amazing how inspirational it has been to other communities and to people in this community,” Anderson said.

Indeed, Cano’s idea is beginning to catch on. Since Gainesville Compost was founded, Cano said he has been surprised by how many people have reached out to him for guidance and for ideas for composting on their own.

In September, Cano visited Los Angeles, California, where his business has inspired a similar operation: LA Compost.

Michael Martinez, a co-founder of LA Compost, met Cano while teaching for Teach For America in Miami.

He was inspired by Cano’s idea and by his ambition. It was more than just an idea, Martinez said.

“He actually did what he said he was going to do,” he said. “That really impressed me and inspired me to follow in his footsteps and do the same thing here in L.A.” LA Compost officially started in August and now exists in five California cities with plans to spread to four or five more in the same county by the end of the year.

When Cano visited, they brainstormed ideas and created a video about their efforts in “working from the East Coast to the West Coast to move America’s waste to food.”

Cano said his business is just getting started. He plans to create a structured model that other communities can follow to implement their own composting programs.

He also hopes to create an online database that could enable bicycle riders to log each gallon of food scraps that is collected.

“I’m really immersed in this,” he said. “Even when I go out for fun, I end up talking about Gainesville Compost.” s

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

LICENSED RETAILER FOR REDKEN AND BED HEAD PRODUCTS

ERS MARKET FARM of High Springs

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WORSHIP CENTERS If we have left out a church or have incomplete / incorrect information, please let us know! Send your corrections by faxing 352-373-9178 or emailing editor@towerpublications.com. We welcome your contributions and suggestions.

HIGH SPRINGS ALLEN CHAPEL A.M.E. CHURCH 386-454-3574 10 S.E. MLK Drive Pastor James McDaniel ANDERSON MEMORIAL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST 386-454-3433 935 SE Lincoln Ave. BETHLEHEM UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 386-454-1996 County Road 778 Pastor Clarence Desue CHRIST ANGLICAN FELLOWSHIP 386-454-1845 323 SW CR 778 Pastor Michael LaCagnina CHRISTIAN FAMILY WORSHIP CENTER 386-454-2367 220 NE 1ST Ave. Dr. Lloyd S. Williams CHURCH OF CHRIST 386-454-2930 520 NE Santa Fe Blvd.

CHURCH OF GOD

BY FAITH 386-454-1015 US Hwy 27 THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS 386-454-4282 24455 NW 174th Ave. Pres. Keith Brown HIGH SPRINGS CHURCH OF GOD 386-454-1757 210 NW 182 Ave. Pastor Terry W. Hull

162 | Winter 2012

FELLOWSHIP CHURCH 386-454-1700 16916 NW U.S. Hwy. 441 Pastor Jeff Powell FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 386-454-1505 20112 North US Hwy. 441 Pastor Derek Lambert FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 386-454-1037 205 North Main Street Pastor Glen A. Busby FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH of HIGH SPRINGS 386-454-1255 17405 NW US Hwy 441 Pastor Benton Mangueira

MT CARMEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 386-454-4568 1230 NW 1st Ave. Pastor Byran Williams

THE SUMMIT 352-575-0786 610 NE Santa Fe Blvd Pastor Rick Lawrence thesummitchurch.info

MT. PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH 14105 NW 298th Street 386-454-2161 Pastor Dan Howard

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 386-454-9812 1st Ave. (next to city hall) Rev. David Kidd

MOUNT OLIVE BAPTIST CHURCH 386-454-3447 948 SE Railroad Ave.

SPRING HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Located at High Springs exit 79 off I-75 North of Gainesville (on Old Bellamy Rd.) Pastor James Richardson

THE NORTH EAST CHURCH OF CHRIST 4330 NE County Road 340 nechurchofchrist.net

GRACE CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE 210 Santa Fe Blvd.

Pastor Preston Ponce

SAINT MADELEINE CATHOLIC CHURCH 386-454-2358 17155 NW Highway 441

HOLY TEMPLE CHURCH WITH GOD 386-454-0313 615 SE ML King Drive

SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH 386-454-2360 230 NW 1st Avenue Pastor Mark Swaisgood

IMPACT FAMILY CHURCH 386-454-1563 16710 NW US 441 Pastors Edwin & Angela Anderson JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES 386-454-3509 330 SE 7th Ave. MIRACLE TEMPLE CHURCH 386-454-4298 605 SE 1st Place THE MISSION CHURCH OF HIGH SPRINGS Meeting at the Seventh Day Adventist Building 230 NW 1st Ave. 352-870-0247 Pastor Keith Helsel

SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH 386-454-4978 Shiloh Church Rd. Pastor Earl Tuten SHILOH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 386-454-3126 1505 NW Main St. SPRING RIDGE FIRST CHURCH OF GOD 386-454-3600 5529 NE 52nd Place Pastor Todd L Wymer SPRINGRIDGE FIRST CHURCH OF GOD 386-454-4400 420 Spring Ave.

VISION TABERNACLE 352-339-4942 220 N.E. 1st Avenue Pastor Lawrence R. Haley

ALACHUA ALACHUA CHURCH OF CHRIST 386-462-3326 14505 NW 145th Avenue Minister Doug Frazier ANTIOCH BAPTIST CHURCH 386-497-3121 Jordan Road (Ft. White) BAHA’I FAITH 352-870-3097 Turkey Creek CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH 13920 NW Hwy 4141 386-462-2966 Pastor Marty D. Basinger calvarybaptistgainesville.org CHRIST CENTRAL ALACHUA 386-418-8185 14906 Main St. www.ccalachua.com

CHURCH OF GOD BY FAITH 386-462-2549 13220 NW 150th Ave.

GOD AND CHRIST 386-462-4891 1310 NW 155 Place Pastor R. L. Cooper

CRUSADERS FOR CHRIST, INC. 386-462-4811 NW 158th Ave.

NORTH PLEASANT GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-3317 25330 NW CR 239 Pastor Steve Hutcheson

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF ALACHUA 386-462-1337 14005 NW 146th Avenue Pastor Doug Felton FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF ALACHUA 386-462-2443 14805 NW 140th St. Pastor Lamar Albritton FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ALACHUA 386-462-1549 14623 NW 140th St. Rev. Virginia McDaniel FOREST GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-3921 22575 NW 94 Avenue GREATER NEW HOPE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-4617 15205 NW 278th Ave. HAGUE BAPTIST CHURCH 6725 NW 126th Ave Gainesville, Fl 32653 Pastor Sam Brown HARE KRISHNA TEMPLE 386-462-2017 17306 NW 112th Blvd.

LEGACY BAPTIST CHURCH 352-462-2150 13719 NW 146th St. Pastor John Jernigan LIVING COVENANT CHURCH 386-462-7375 Pastor Brian J. Coleman NEW OAK GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-3390 County Road 1491 Pastor Terry Elixson, Jr. NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH OF

NEW SAINT MARY BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-7129 13800 NW 158th Ave. PARADISE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF ALACHUA 386-462-0162 14889 MLK Blvd.

Pastor Rev. James D. Johnson, Sr. SANTA FE BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-7541 7505 NW CR 236 Pastor Richard Cason, II MT NEBO UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 386-418-1038 9975 NW 143rd St. Pastor Ricardo George Jr. NEW SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-2095 18610 NW CR 237 NEW ST MARY BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-7129 13800 NW 158th Ave. OLD SHILOH MISSIONARY BAPTIST 386-462-4894 16810 NW CR 239 RIVER OF LIFE ASSEMBLY OF GOD 352-870-7288 14200 NW 148th Place Pastor Greg Evans ST LUKE AME CHURCH 386-462-2732 US Highway 441 S. ST MATHEWS BAPTIST CHURCH 386-462-2205 15712 NW 140 Street Pastor Isaac Miles

TEMPLE OF THE UNIVERSE 386-462-7279 15808 NW 90 Street www.tou.org WESTSIDE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST 386-418-0649 15535 NW 141st St.

NEWBERRY ABIDING SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH 352-331-4409 9700 West Newberry Rd. BETHEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 352-474-6215 23530 NW 3rd Ave. Pastor Theodora Black CHURCH OF GOD BY FAITH 352-472-2739 610 NW 2nd St. Pastor: Jesse Hampton THE CHURCH AT STEEPLECHASE 352-472-6232 Meeting at Sun Country Sports Center 333 SW 140th Terrace (Jonesville) Pastor Buddy Hurlston FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF NEWBERRY 352-472-2351 25520 W. Newberry Rd. Rev. Jack Andrews GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH 352-472-9200 22405 W. Newberry Rd. Pastor Ty Keys JONESVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH 352-472-3835 17722 SW 15th Ave. Pastor Corey Cheramie JOURNEY CHURCH 352-281-0701 22405 W. Newberry Rd. Milam Funeral Home Chapel Dr. Michael O’Carroll, Pastor

www.VisitOurTowns.com

CHRISTIAN LIFE FELLOWSHIP 352-472-5433 Pastor Gary Bracewell MT ZURA FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH 352-472-4056 225 NW 2nd Ave. Pastor Natron Curtis NEW ST PAUL BAPTIST CHURCH 352-472-3836 215 NW 8TH Ave. Pastor Edward Welch NEWBERRY CHURCH OF CHRIST 352-472-4961 24045 W. Newberry Rd. Minister Batsell Spivy NEWBERRY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 352-472-4005 24845 W. Newberry Rd. Rev. Robert B. Roseberry, Pastor DESTINY COMMUNITY CHURCH 352-472-3284 420 SW 250th Street Pastor Rocky McKinley OAK DALE BAPTIST CHURCH 352-472-2992 Highway 26 and 241 S. PLEASANT PLAIN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 352-472-1863 1910 NW 166th St. Pastor Theo Jackson ST JOSEPH’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 352-472-2951 16921 W. Newberry Rd. Pastor Richard Pelkey TURNING POINT OF NEWBERRY, INC 5577 NW 290 Street 352-472-7770 Pastor Henry M. Rodgers UNION BAPTIST CHURCH 352-472-3845 6259 SE 75TH Ave Pastor Travis Moody

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COLUMN >> ALBERT ISAAC

Different Note Kin Flicks

hen I was but a wee lad, I wanted to be a filmmaker (among many other things, including astronaut, scientist and writer). These were the days before home video; indeed these were the days before sound film. For me, the early ‘70s were the silent film era.

I began saving my money. I got a paper route and I delivered a lot of newspapers on my bike to earn enough money to buy a movie camera. Fortunately, Mom and Dad gave their consent. An offer came via the World Book Encyclopedia and on April 15, 1972 I mail ordered a Bell & Howell Super-8 movie camera, projector and screen. I was to become the first and youngest filmmaker in my neighborhood.

And then I waited for its delivery. These were the days before I was spoiled by instant gratification; the days before I could go to the Internet, place an order and have a new toy in my hands the following day.

Same with photography. Up until Polaroid invented instant film, I had to wait to see the results of my photographic endeavors – sometimes up to two or three weeks. Film and developing were relatively expensive for a kid on a paper route budget, but truth be told, my folks indulged me and funded most of my early work.

Finally, the day came and my brand new movie equipment arrived. The camera was a silver and black beauty with a 3-1 zoom lens and automatic exposure. I immediately shot my first movie, a 3-minute 20-second

W

masterpiece comprised mostly of my siblings running around the yard. I still have that film (and the projector) 40 years later.

I dropped the cartridge of film off for developing and waited with great anticipation. In the meantime, I

I still have those little slices of history wound upon plastic reels waiting to come alive on the silver screen. screened (over and over) the 3-minute, black and white Abbott and Costello reel that came with the projector.

About a week later I had the privilege of viewing my very first home movie. This may not seem like much these days, but for me it was magical. The movie was clear, the colors were vibrant. However, the pickup reel did not always grab the film as it came out of the projector.

I called the 800 number and was instructed to try tightening the screw on the take-up reel. Looking back, this makes little sense. But I was 15, and certainly no smarter than the person on the phone who gave this sage advice. I tightened the screw and it snapped off. To this day I have to sit behind the projector and turn the

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take-up reel by hand.

Within a week I’d blown out the bulb. $7.50 for a new one — that was a lot of money in those days. But I continued making all kinds of ridiculous movies.

Family vacations. Neighborhood kids. Special effects.

Stop action. Bike wrecks. Fake fights. Real action. And actual scripted films.

And then sound film hit the market.

My buddy sold his car and bought a super-8 sound camera and projector. We began making talkies. I remember it costing about $2 per minute for film and developing. It was worth every cent.

I still have those little slices of history – mostly silent – wound upon plastic reels waiting to come alive on the silver screen. However, I dare not run these irreplaceable films through my old projector, which has a tendency to shred movies. So I recently had some of these 40-year-old films transferred to digital.

This is not the first time I’ve paid for such a service.

A few years back I had them transferred to videotape.

I’ve never been happy with the quality – unclear, dark, muddy-looking video. But now the technology has improved dramatically. And on the day before Thanksgiving, my newly digitized movies arrived (overnighted), just in time for a family gathering.

And they look better than I ever remember them.

The colors are vivid, the details clearly visible. I’m seeing things I had never noticed before – or had forgotten.

My inner moviemaking nerd rejoiced.

On Thanksgiving Day we gathered around the television — much like we had gathered before the silver screen so many years ago when I would hold my mandatory movie nights — and we watched the remarkable images of our family and friends, young and wild and alive, running, playing and acting silly.

Mom is particularly pleased that she and Dad had indulged my hobby. Now we have priceless moments in time preserved for future generations. I can’t imagine what kind of technology my great-great grandchildren might use to watch these historic images, but I think they’ll get a kick from observing an era before cell phones, home computers, iPods and instant gratification. s

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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 ................................. 81 Clyde’s Tire & Brake..................................... 94 Jim Doglas Sales & Service ...................... 88 L&S Auto Trim ..............................................138 Maaco Collision Repair & Painting ......... 56 Newberry Auto Repair ..............................166 RPM Automotive .........................................166 Sun City Auto Sales..................................... 58 Tuffy Tire & Auto Service .................. 2 (NB)

REAL ESTATE Atrium ............................................................... 96 Forrester Realty ............................................ 98 Horizon Realty ............................................... 67 PRO Realty ................................................... 160 Savannah Station ................. (HS), XX (NB) Spring Hill Village ........................................165

FINANCIAL / LAW ABC Easy Tax & Accounting ....................118 Allstate Insurance, Hugh Cain ................. 24 A+ Tax & Bookkeeping Center ...............128 Campus USA Credit Union ....................... 29 Ference Insurance Agency ......................159 H&R Block ......................................................103 ProActive Tax & Accounting .................... 48 State Farm - Tish Oleksy ...........................119 Stephen K. Miller Law Offices.................. 59 Sunshine State Insurance .......................... 89 SunState Federal Credit Union ......................................9, 38, 129 Three Rivers Insurance ..............................153

FITNESS and BEAUTY All Creations Salon ......................................161 Audrey’s Flair for Hair ............................... 137 Charisma for Hair ....................................... 130 Emerge ................................................................3 Florine Bush .................................................... 41 Hair & Nail Depot.........................................135 Jodie’s Beauty & Barber .......................... 160 Jonesville Traditional Barber ..................159 Massage Envy ...............................................123 Nails-N-Spa.....................................................118 Salon Eye Candy .......................................... 24 Shear Fusion ................................................... 15

PETS and VETS Affordable Vet Clinic..................................166 Animal Health Center ................................. 95 Bed & Biscuit Inn .......................................... 69 Dancin’ Dogs Boarding .............................166 Flying Fish Aquatics.................................. 160 Invisible Fence ..............................................146 Pampered Paws ............................................161 Pamper Your Pet ..........................................118 Springhill Equine ..........................................141 Susie’s Pet Sitting & Grooming ..............165 West End Animal Hospital ........................ 47

168 | Winter 2012

EDUCATION & CHILD CARE Alachua Learning Center ......................... 172 Forest Grove Academy .................................5 Gainesville Country Day School ............. 63 Millhopper Montessori School ................. 117

MISCELLANEOUS American Diversified .......................................

Cash for Cars ................................................. 47 Dollar General .....................................................

Janes Tower Garden.................................... 79 U.S. Casting .........................................................

MEDICAL / HEALTH 1st Choice Immediate Care ....................... 69 Affordable Dentures ................................. 140 Alachua Dental .............................................148 Altschuler Periodontic ............................... 67 Caretenders .................................................... 76 City Drugs ....................................................... 32 Clear Sound Audiology.............................. 43 Douglas Adel, DDS ...................................... 62 Gainesville Dermatology ........................... 45 Gainesville OB/GYN ..................................... 13 Hunter Family Dentistry ...........................159 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ................ 33 Samant Dental Group ............................... 100 Town & Country Eye Care ........................167 UF College of Dentistry ............................. 35 UF & Shands Family Medicine ................. 87 Vishnu Reddy, M.D. .........................................8

RETAIL / RECREATION Alachua Farm & Lumber ...........................131 Alachua Pawn & Jewelry ........................... 68 Amelia’s Things ........................................... 160 Auto Swap Meet ........................................... 78 Beacher’s Lodge........................................... 35 Bits & Spurs Tack.........................................126 Blue Springs ................................................... 117 Bouncin’ Big ..................................................167 Coin & Jewelry Gallery ............................... 79 Colleen’s Kloset............................................153 Cootie Coo Creations ................................. 89 Dance Alive! .................................................... 111 Dirty Bar .......................................................... 89 Family Jewels ...............................................159 Gainesville Cultural Affairs........................ 117 Gary’s Tackle Box ........................................138 Gator Fine Wine & Spirits .........................171 High Springs Farmers Market ................ 160 High Springs Pawn & Jewelry.....................7 Hippodrome State Theatre..................... 109 Jaws Enterprises .........................................153 Jewelry Designs by Donna ..................... 160 Klaus Fine Jewelry ........................................ 31 Lady Bug Florist ..........................................139 Lentz House of Time ................................... 112 Lifestyle Cruise & Travel ............................ 112 Liquor & Wine Shoppe ...............................171 Monsters & Munchkins...............................135 New Smyrna Beach ..................................... 25 Paddywhack.................................................. 127 Pawn Pro ........................................................149 Radio Shack ................................................. 140 Rum 138 ........................................................... 69 Sleep Center Superstore ........................... 93 Stephen Foster Cultural Center ..............114 Tioga Town Center........................................ 17 Valerie’s Loft Consignment ......................141

SERVICE Alachua County Big Blue ..........................114 Alachua County EPD ..................................141 A-1 Pest Control ............................................ 62 Chimney Sweeps of America................... 78 COX Business........................................ 99, 103 COX Communications ...............................170 Creekside Outdoor Improvements.....46, 118 Gainesville Regional Airport ....................131 Gonzalez Site Prep ......................................118 Grease Busters .............................................. 99 Growers Fertilizer ........................................147 Jack’s Small Engine Repair........................ 81 Lotus Studios Photography ...................... 18 Oliver & Dahlman ......................................... 99 Quality Cleaners ..........................................164 Southern Land & Lawn...............................80 Steeplechase Storage.................................113 Stitch In Time Embroidery .......................167

HOME IMPROVEMENT AHA Water.........................................................4 Al Mincey Site Prep ....................................126 Bloominghouse Nursery ...........................135 Cook’s Portable Buildings ......................... 88 Floor Store .....................................................167 H2Oasis Custom Pool & Spa .................... 84 Overhead Door ..............................................74 R&M Construction & Development ......136 Red Barn Home Center .............................158 Santa Fe Stone Works ...............................128 United Rent-All.............................................147 Whitfield Window & Door.........................50

RESTAURANT Brown’s Country Buffet ........................... 104 El Toro............................................................... 24 Granny’s Buffet ........................................... 105 Great Outdoors Restaurant .........................6 KB Kakes.......................................................... 34 Mason’s Tavern ....................................105, 123 Newberry Backyard BBQ ........................ 104 Pepperonis ......................................................161 Saboré ............................................................ 105 Southern Soul .............................................. 104 TCBY .................................................................. 15

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>> FLOWER POWER

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about that time of the year; that time when Camellias begin to offer their winter bloom, and time for the Gainesville Camellia Society to present its annual show at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.

This two-day event is geared toward educating the public about the care, culture, and appreciation of camellias.

www.VisitOurTowns.com

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McAfee® Family Protection: For best performance, use of Cox approved cable modem is recommended. McAfee Family Protection is included with Cox High Speed Internet and will automatically terminate upon termination of Cox High Speed Internet service. Cox cannot guarantee the intended results from the McAfee services or that the McAfee software will be error-free, free from interruptions or other failures. The McAfee services and features are subject to change. McAfee is a trademark of McAfee, Inc., and /or its affiliates. Uninterrupted or error-free Internet service, or the speed of service, is not guaranteed. Mobile Connect: Available for a free download via Android Market or Apple App Store for Android OS 1.5 or higher, iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 3.X+. Full features of the Mobile Connect app require subscriptions to Cox Advanced TV with DVR service, Cox Telephone, and Cox High Speed Internet with cox.net email address.

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170 | Winter 2012

the

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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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