SOUTHWEST ORANGE
Windermere, Horizon West, Dr. Phillips
Bridging a gap
Town of Windermere celebrates the installation of the new Ward Trail pedestrian bridge, a pivotal step in the completion of Phase 1 of the Windermere Ward Trail path. SEE PAGE 7A.
AMONG THE LAKES
Windermere’s Mary Fran Howard was raised in a time when citrus and wilderness ruled the area, children were taught in a tiny schoolhouse, and you could keep livestock in your backyard on the shores of Lake Down. STORY ON PAGE 4A.
The City of Winter Garden honored Juneteenth with a jubilant celebration Saturday, June 20.
YOUR
Photo by Amy Quesinberry Price
Mary Fran Howard has lived nearly all of her 83 years in Windermere. The home she shares with her husband, Jerry, overlooks Lake Down.
5FAST
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Ocoee mourns death of former commissioner
The city of Ocoee announced the death of former commissioner John Grogan, who died at age 64. Originally from Boston, Grogan moved to the city of Ocoee in 1998, and began volunteering for as many city boards as he was allowed to in 2002. What he thought would be simple volunteering work for the city he had moved to turned into a passion and devotion.
In 2013, Gary Hood, a former Ocoee commissioner, asked Grogan to run for commissioner, so he did.
“A dedicated public servant and cherished member of our community, Mr. Grogan served six years on the Ocoee City Commission from 2013 (to) 2019, leaving a lasting impact on our city and its future,” Ocoee officials said.
Grogan served on the city’s commission for nine years, and at some point, he also served as interim mayor and mayor, following the retirement of Scott Vandergrift. He served as the city’s mayor until
him,” city officials said. “His distinguished service and unwavering support for the citizens of Ocoee will always be remembered.”
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Ocoee Police explorers exceed at Law Enforcement Explorer Academy
The Ocoee Police Department recognized five teens from its Explorer Post 2909 for graduating from the Central Florida Law Enforcement Explorer Academy.
The Ocoee Police Department Explorer Post 2909 is a program designed for individuals ages 14 to 21 interested in law enforcement careers. Explorers receive handson training in police procedures, forensics, first aid, defensive tactics, traffic laws and more.
Recently, five OPD explorers attended the Central Florida Law Enforcement Explorer Academy and received hands-on training while developing leadership skills, discipline and professionalism.
different agencies in Central Florida.
“These awards reflect the hard work, dedication and commitment our explorers demonstrated throughout the academy,” OPD officials said.
3
Two Florida Highway Patrol troopers fired, face fraud charges
Two Florida Highway Patrol employees were fired after surrendering to the Osceola County jail Wednesday, June 17, on a warrant accusing them of stealing thousands of dollars and more.
FHP District 2 Capt. Lenita King had been with FHP for more than 20
Community Development District in Osceola and were billing the company for work they never completed.
Investigators tracked King’s vehicle to verify her location during her FHP and off-duty assignments and found inconsistencies with the billing report and the tracker.
She’s accused of defrauding to obtain property valued less than $5,000, larceny valued between $750 and less than $5,000, and document falsification.
She currently is out on a $30,000 bond.
Vilsaint billed the company more than $15,000 for 60 days of assignments but failed to file a
He’s accused of defrauding to obtain property valued less than $20,000, larceny valued between $10,000 and less than $20,000, official document falsification, and public or court record falsification. He currently is out on a $30,000 bond.
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Vivoli Il Gelato location planned for Horizon West Vivoli Il Gelato, an Italian gelateria, is coming to Horizon West.
Originally from Florence, Italy, the company opened its first location in the U.S. in 2013 in New York.
While that location has closed, the gelateria has been calling Disney Springs home since 2015 and serves as the only storefront in the country. Now, Vivoli Il Gelato is opening a second storefront in Horizon West, which will be located at 153 Sugar Belle Drive, Suite F, Winter Garden. An opening date has not been announced yet.
5
Oakland officials warn residents of scam Town of Oakland officials are warning residents of a circulating scam.
Residents are reporting having received an invoice from what appears to be the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which
“Our Planning and Zoning will not send out an invoice,” officials
ment. We do not have urgent time limits for
Courtesy photo
Five Ocoee Police Department explorers graduated from the Central Florida Law Enforcement Explorer Academy.
… Of thee I sing
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, hundreds of people gathered Saturday, June 20, in Hamlin for its first All-American Flag Parade.
The event featured a flagpole dedication, a 1-mile American flag walk and a time capsule burial to be opened during America’s 300th anniversary.
Attendees also heard from the Horizon West American Legion Post 419 and Daughters
of the American Revolution, with a special historic appearance from the American Revolution: Abigail Adams.
The patriotic ceremony attracted residents and visitors ready to celebrate America with positive attitudes, respect and stylish patriotic outfits.
Face-painting, caricatures, balloon artists, hopscotch, basketball and more were available to children.
MissingLink Entertain-
ment provided guests with live music and entertainment, and food trucks were available.
Attendees received T-shirts and American flags to take home.
Proceeds from the event benefit the Horizon West American Legion Post 419, supporting local veterans and patriotic programs in the community.
— LETICIA SILVA
CELEBRATE AMERICA 250
WINTER GARDEN
n “WINTER GARDEN
AMERICANA: A LOOK BACK”
Through Tuesday, June 30, at Winter Garden City Hall. The exhibit looks back at earlier years of Winter Garden from the lenses of photographer Peter Schreyer.
n GIANT BIRTHDAY CARD TO AMERICA Through Friday, July 31, at the Winter Garden Heritage Museum. Winter Garden residents are invited to add their names and heartfelt messages to a giant birthday card to America.
n “AMERICA 250: PATRIOTISM ON PLANT STREET”
Through Friday, July 31, at the Winter Garden Heritage Museum. Exhibit visitors will explore the origins of the country and how stories of America’s revolution have echoed in West Orange County.
n “CELEBRATING 250 YEARS OF AMERICAN RAILROADS” Tuesday, May 19, to Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Central Florida Railroad Museum. The exhibit will feature railroads through American history.
n “AMERICA 250: ART & IDENTITY” Through July 31, at SOBO Art Gallery. Art exhibit celebrating America’s 250th birthday through artwork exploring American history, identity and modern perspectives.
n RED, WHITE & BLUES ON THE PLAZA: AMERICA 250 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 3, at the Centennial Plaza. Big Ron Betts Trio will perform a free concert blending blues, rock, pop, funk and soul. There also will be patriotic decorations and photo opportunities.
n 22ND ANNUAL ALL AMERICAN KIDS PARADE & PANCAKES BREAKFAST: AMERICA 250 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 4, at the Winter Garden Masonic Lodge. The Masonic Lodge No. 165 will host a kids-eat-free pancake breakfast for children aged 12 and under, while supplies last, from 8 to 10 a.m. Winter Garden children and adults are invited to wear red, white and blue, and parade through historic downtown from 10 to 10:30 a.m.
n WINTER GARDEN FARMERS MARKET INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION: AMERICA 250 8 a.m. to 1 p.m Saturday, July 4, at the Downtown Pavilion. Residents will enjoy live music, $1 hot dogs, craft station for children, free snow cones and more.
n JULY 4TH CONCERT AT CENTENNIAL PLAZA
Noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at Centennial Plaza Gazebo. The city of Winter Garden is hosting a free, outdoor concert series featuring four live performances.
PARTY IN THE PARKS & FIREWORKS: AMERICA 250 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 4, at Newton Park. Residents will celebrate the 4th of July with live music by Dead Radio, familyfriendly activities and games, crafts, food and merchandise vendors. The fireworks will begin at 9:15 p.m. over Lake Apopka. n “PATRIOTISM ON PLANT: A MUSICAL JOURNEY
CELEBRATING AMERICA’S 250TH”
7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 25, and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 26, at the Garden Theatre. Opera Orlando leads a world-class performance tracing the American story through song and cinematic imagery. Audience members will experience America’s history while honoring veterans and active military members.
n LIBERTY TREE
DEDICATION: AMERICA 250
Opening Day of the new Tucker Ranch expansion in Winter Garden, in partnership with Bloom & Grow and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
OCOEE
n FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
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A time capsule was buried during the event. It will be opened in 50 years. Matteo Netto proudly showed off his American flag.
District 1 Youth Leadership Council members attended the event alongside Commissioner Nicole Wilson and State Rep. Leonard Spencer.
An American flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol was walked carefully to its new home in Hamlin.
Left: Heather Easterling, Austin Arthur, Daniel Webster, Melissa and John Ried, and Michael Eng proudly smiled in front of the new flagpole in Hamlin.
John, Rebecca and Harper Fletcher attended the event happily.
Marcea Oetting spoke to the crowd as Founding Mother Abigail Adams.
Left: Daniel, Nico and Paola Munera enjoyed each other’s company.
WAY BACK WHEN Mary Francis Fischer Howard
AMY QUESINBERRY PRICE
HISTORIAN
Editor’s note: Way Back When is an ongoing feature that records and preserves the stories and memories of lifelong West Orange and Southwest Orange residents.
Mary Frances Fischer
Howard’s childhood and adolescence were spent at a two-room schoolhouse in Windermere, in the orange groves of Southwest Orange County and on the Butler Chain of Lakes.
She was born to Edward E. and Mary Fischer in 1943 in Orlando, and she spent her first few years in Gotha. She, her parents and her older brother, Ernest, lived in a small, tworoom house built, her daddy told her, out of lumber from the first Lutheran church in Gotha.
The house was across from the current Gotha Post Office, and she said when she was a child an Army ammunitions base was on that property.
“I remember the trucks and jeeps going in and out of the entrance,” Howard said. “They would have days when they would emit black smoke into the air — to cover the whole base — in case the Germans came over and tried to bomb it.”
Her first home still stands today, owned by a paint company business.
The Fischers moved to the corner of Fourth Avenue and Magnolia Street in nearby Windermere when Howard was 3. She can remember getting together frequently with her cousins, Dick, Robert and Freddie Fischer, who lived down the street.
A CHILDHOOD OF FREE REIN
The Windermere of Howard’s childhood was sparse and surrounded by wilderness.
“One of my special things to do with my parents … was to get in our jeep and go out on a piece of property that we had out by Dr. Phillips and look for foxes, all kind of wild animals,” she said. “We would go … through the woods with our big spotlights, looking for any animals that we could find.”
Howard and her friends passed the time away wandering the dirt streets.
“As kids, for fun in Windermere in our early days, we all rode our bicycles all over town, and some of the whole blocks of property were citrus that somebody had set up, or sometimes it was a whole block of woods which we had fun playing in, playing forts and having wars,” Howard said. “About the only thing we had to throw at each other was sticks and stones.”
GETTING AN EDUCATION
Before kindergarten was commonplace, a group of parents in Windermere hired a woman to teach children the year preceding first grade. The kindergartners gathered at Windermere Town Hall.
When Howard entered first grade at Windermere Elementary School, it was a two-room schoolhouse built around 1926, with first, second and third grades in one room and fourth through sixth grades in the other. Her first teacher was Jessie Seidner. Memories of WES include being one of only two girls in her sixth-grade class and loving recess.
“We had a merry-go-round that you had to push … and as a small child we loved to ride on that and have the big boys or girls push us,” Howard said. “As we got older, we took over the job of pushing the smaller kids. That was a thrill ride.” Howard then attended and graduated in 1961 from Lakeview High School. Her husband, Jerry, was in the same class, but they didn’t start dating until they attended Orlando Junior College.
A PLACE FOR REFLECTION
As a teenager, Howard was partial to the water. She enjoyed climbing up the TV antenna on her house and admiring the beauty of the lake before her. She relished the time she and her brother spent on his boat and the alone time she spent in her own rowboat.
“The lakes were a big part of our life as we got to be older,” she said. “I learned to ski, drive a boat; I spent hours sometimes by myself out in my boat feeding the little wild birdies that would become tame enough to eat out of my hand and just exploring all … the little nooks and crannies in the chain of lakes.”
Some of the boys in Windermere created a boat race that lasted several years, and the winner was the driver who could navigate the Butler Chain of Lakes the fastest. Howard said when her brother went to college, she decided to enter and try to beat all the boys in their race.
In the event, she and her co-driver were in the lead early in the race and were on their way back, zipping through Lake Butler with only Wauseon Bay left to clear. When her co-driver was switching gas tanks, he flooded the engine.
“We’re sitting there, and eventually one, two, three, four mini boats start coming by us, laughing at us because we still cannot get the boat cranked,” Howard said. “The girl did not win the race after all; she became the laughingstock of the boys.”
LIFE IN WINDERMERE
“As a child I loved being outside, especially if I could be with my dad,” Howard said. “He had a small, nineacre grove just off Gotha Road, and in the summertime if it became too dry, I would go with him to lug and change irrigation pipes. The pipes were about six or eight inches in diameter and ran across the top of the ground. I would walk the top of the pipe trying not to fall off. During the winter, if there was going to be a real cold spell, we would lug old car tires and put them under the tree to keep the citrus warm.”
When Howard was about 9, her parents bought property off State Road 545 and set out orange groves on what is now Hartzog Road in the Avalon area. They built a small, twobedroom house, and that’s where the family stayed in the summers to keep an eye on the citrus. There was no power in that area at the time; the children spent their days exploring the outdoors and swimming in the nearby pond and their evenings reading by lantern light.
In 1953, Howard’s father bought two-and-one-half acres of land farther north on Magnolia, filled in the low land with dredging out of Lake Down and built a ranch-style home. Her family moved into this threebedroom house, and she lived there until she got married.
(Howard and her husband later moved into the ranch home when her father built a smaller house next door. The big house was demolished in 1999, and Howard and her husband continue to live in a new house built on this same piece of property.)
When Howard and her brother were teenagers, they joined a local 4-H program and raised dairy cows. To make it easier to keep up with
the project, their father put the two cows in the backyard with an electric fence, and they lived there between the house and Lake Down. When he began service on the Windermere Town Council, he thought it best to move the bovines out of town.
The cows were moved to the family property in Dr. Phillips, where they were bred. The Fischer siblings showed their animals at various local fairs for several years.
STORY AFTER STORY
Howard’s memories of Windermere and Gotha are varied and many, and she has been recording her stories both with the town of Windermere through its legacy project and in audio recordings on her phone.
She recalls the first police officer in the town, Mr. Knight.
“I’m sure he was a big threat to people passing through,” she said. “He had a Ford Falcon as a police car, and he was elderly, gray-headed, thin-boned. I don’t think he ever caught anyone or arrested anyone.”
She recalls when the train brought the northern snowbirds into town after World War II.
She remembers when squaredance caller Joe Johnson held lessons at Windermere Town Hall when she was in school.
“He got about four groups of us to be able to dance,” Howard said. “Everyone who danced in it loved having it. We even got good enough to do some exhibitions into other little towns. … That was a fun time in our lives. We loved doing that.”
She can recall the coconut palm tree in her grandparents’ yard and her brother and older cousins trying to knock the fruit off the tree.
“We would put on a jubilee dance if we got a coconut off, and then the next thing would be getting into it and drinking the milk out of it,” Howard said.
She remembers the taste of fresh, warm milk when her cousin Billy squirted it toward her when he milked his family’s cow.
Howard also remembers when Reams Road — now a Horizon West thoroughfare — was just a curvy dirt road with ditches on both sides. Her brother, whom she called a dirt hotrod specialist, loved to drive fast enough to make the car slide from side to side.
“He would slide from one curve into the next and onto the next curve and in and out, sliding all over the road,” she said. “I wondered if we were going to end up in the ditch. Fortunately, we never did.”
Howard’s own great-grandfather is the subject of local lore.
Editor and
/ Michael Eng, meng@OrangeObserver.com
Design Editor / Jessica Eng, jeng@OrangeObserver.com
Managing Editor / Liz Ramos, lramos@OrangeObserver.com
Historian / Amy Quesinberry Price, amyqhistory@OrangeObserver.com
Staff Writer / Megan Bruinsma, mbruinsma@OrangeObserver.com
Staff Writer / Leticia Silva, lsilva@OrangeObserver.com
Multimedia Sales Manager / Cyndi Gustafson, advertising@OrangeObserver.com
Multimedia Advertising Executive / Iggy Collazo, iggy@OrangeObserver.com
Graphic Designer / Sarah Santiago, ssantiago@OrangeObserver.com
Advertising Operations Manager / Allison Brunelle, abrunelle@OrangeObserver.com
Anton Mach, who came to America from Germany and settled in the Gotha area, operated an illegal still hidden in the woods. He hid the bottles of alcohol in a trap door in the floor of a neighbor’s house near Windermere Road.
“Because of the Depression and needing money just to put food on the table, people did whatever they had to do,” Howard said.
When the still was discovered by local officials, they arrested Mach and disassembled the still. Pieces of the boiler remain in that neighbor’s backyard today, Howard said.
LIVING HISTORY
The University of Florida sports programs have been a big part of the Howards’ lives. They had season tickets to the football games for many years, and she served on the Lady Gator Booster Board. When he retired, the couple started planning trips for the away games; they visited every SEC stadium in about eight years. They held tickets for basketball, tennis and softball and attended gymnastics meets too.
When they aren’t cheering on the Gators, they’re spending time with their three sons and three grandchildren.
Howard has been involved in a quilting group for about two decades. Members make quilts that are distributed around the United States and overseas following catastrophes.
Lately, she has been going through the decades of memories in her house trying to downsize her belongings; she has been donating historical items of interest to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation.
History always has played a significant role in Howard’s life. Her mother’s ancestors are the Jernigans, who came to Central Florida in the mid-1800s and established the first permanent settlement. They named it after themselves, calling it Jernigan; the name later was changed to Orlando.
Howard served on Windermere’s Historic Preservation Board from 2011-2025, and she used to give history tours of the 1887 Schoolhouse to Windermere Elementary School students.
The best part of growing up in Windermere?
“Feeling like you were free, not like you had to be afraid of riding your bike down the street,” Howard said. “We had free rein.”
There will never be another town quite like Windermere, Howard said.
“I couldn’t have lived anywhere else,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been happy.”
tions and achievements. To contact us, email to Michael Eng, meng@OrangeObserver.com.
WEST ORANGE TIMES
Clockwise from above:
Mary Francis Fischer Howard had her own low-hung clothesline so she could help her mother with the laundry.
The house in Gotha where siblings Mary Francis and Ernest Fischer spent their early years is still standing across the street from the Gotha Post Office.
Three generations of Mary Francis Fischer Howard’s family dressed up for a photo. With the little girl are her mother, Mary Fischer, right, and grandmother, Lenora Mach.
Courtesy photos
Ocoee to raise fire fee
The commission approved amending the city’s fire assessment fee to a flat 70% to mitigate potential property tax impacts.
MEGAN BRUINSMA STAFF WRITER
The Ocoee City Commission unanimously approved the first step toward increasing the city’s fire assessment fee Tuesday, June 16, amid the rising operational costs and the potential financial impact of the proposed statewide property tax legislation.
District 3 Commissioner Richard Firstner was absent.
The commission voted to establish a maximum assessment level equal to 70% of the fire department’s five-year average assessable budget and scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, Aug. 18, when a final rate will be set. The fee will be a flat rate of $597 per year for residential properties, 34 cents for commercial and institutional properties, and 22 cents per square foot for industrial and warehouse properties.
Every Ocoee property owner will receive a letter in the mail with the proposed new fire fee.
Assistant City Manager Mike Rumer said staff recommended the commission set the highest rate at 70%. When the commission returns for the public hearing, city staff will have upto-date data revenue projections from the property appraiser and “more than likely” will come back with a rate around 47%.
“What you’re seeing is the catchup from the possibility that this ballot initiative does pass in November and we have to protect ourselves now,” City Manager Craig Shadrix said. “You don’t get another opportunity. We recommend strongly that you put this into place now as proposed. When it repeats again, we would not be proposing you increase it to the full 70% this year, and if that doesn’t pass, then we’ll be back in front of you, talking about that and there would likely be a budget amendment.”
Shadrix said staff most likely will recommend increasing the fire fee to 47% next year, which would be $383 per year for residential properties, and have it increase again the following year, until it reaches the highest possible increase of 70%.
Shadrix said the proposal isn’t tied
IN OTHER NEWS
n Approval of an access easement agreement with Silverstri Investments of Florida Inc. for the Market Store at Prairie Lake was pulled from the consent agenda.
n The Ocoee City Commission approved the first reading of an ordinance creating a new framework for imposing and collecting special assessments for capital projects and municipal services under the Chapter 105 of the city code, “Master Capital Projects and Service Assessments.”
solely to the property tax proposal but rather a continuation of discussions that began a year ago following the rapid increase in the fire department’s fees.
District 2 Commissioner Rosemary Wilsen agreed the city ultimately had no choice but to increase the rate due to the possibility of losing funds from the vote in November.
TRASH TALK
Public Works Director Steve Krug said the contract with Ocoee’s current solid waste collector, Waste Connections, is expiring in April 2027, and the collector doesn’t wish to exercise its three-year contract extension.
The company has requested about an 8% increase in commercial collection rates because of changes in the solid waste market. He added that even with the increase, Ocoee’s rates still would be below those fees charged in neighboring communities.
The commissioners directed staff to seek bids for the city’s new residential waste collection contract because of displeasure with the service provided in Waste Connection’s seven years as a provider.
MICROMOBILITY REGULATION
The commission approved the first reading of an ordinance that would establish regulations on the use of electric bicycles, electric scooters and other micromobility devices throughout the city.
General operating requirements under the amendment are in compliance with state law for operation of all devices under Chapter 316, Florida statues; no person should use them in a reckless or unsafe manner; no device can carry more people than it’s designed for; users are required to provide an audible warning before they pass pedestrians on sidewalks or multi-use paths; and using the devices between sunset and sunrise requires a front white lamp, a red rear light and a real reflector.
While using the micromobility devices on a sidewalk or shared-use pathway, the speed cannot exceed 10 mph, and users should always yield to the right-of-way pedestrians.
Helmets will be required for all users under age 16, and no stunt riding, wheelies or racing are allowed on public property.
Christian Service Center to close Ocoee campus
After six years of trying to close a deficit to run the West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center, the nonprofit’s board of directors has decided to sell the facility.
LIZ RAMOS MANAGING EDITOR
An Ocoee resident held back tears as he shared how he drives in his truck the one block from his home to the West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless in Ocoee to not only have two hot meals every day but also socialize with others.
He said his doctor recommends he visits the center to get out of his home and be around people.
“The food part, I absolutely depend on 100%,” he said. “I’m not the only one. There are hundreds of us.”
Eric Gray, the executive director of the Christian Service Center, sat quietly and listened to the man and other Ocoee residents share the impact the center has had on the community since it opened 45 years ago.
Although he understood the impact the center has, Gray delivered unfortunate news to the more than a dozen residents sitting in the center on a gloomy afternoon Friday, June 19.
The West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless will be closing its doors Friday, July 31. The center will stop assistance including the food pantry, computer lab and SNAP foodstamps services Tuesday, June 30.
Gray said the decision to close has been looming for the past six years as the nonprofit has been running the facility at a budget deficit. The nonprofit’s board of directors decided to put the property, located at 300 W. Franklin St., up for sale Dec. 19, 2025. The property is listed for $1,995,000.
THE MISSION HAS CHANGED
When Gray became executive director in May 2020, he was tasked with operating three campuses: one in Winter Park, one in Parramore and the third in Ocoee.
He said upon his hiring, the board of directors decided to change the mission of the nonprofit from “help as many people as you can, as often as you can,” to now “end homelessness for as many people as you can, as often as you can.”
“It’s a subtle distinction, but that’s what we do; we get people out of homelessness in the process of meeting people and learning about them,” he said.
With that shift in mission, Gray said the direction of services has changed, as well.
In 2020, Gray said the Ocoee campus only had three-and-one-half staff positions, and with those staff positions, they were serving a free, daily hot lunch to about 100 to 125 people Mondays through Fridays. It also provided emergency food when requested.
There also were items in the thrift store in case of emergency.
He said the West Orange campus also has a robust volunteer program — more significant than the other two campuses.
“That was the only strength to this particular campus, because the
BY THE NUMBERS
$990,000
Christian Service Center’s budget in 2020
$300,000
Budget of West Orange campus in 2020
25
Employees on staff in 2020
3
Campuses in 2020
$6.2 million
Christian Service Center’s budget in 2026
$600,000
Budget of West Orange campus in 2026
$400,000
Deficit to run the West Orange campus
42 Employees on staff in 2026
2 Campuses in 2026
$1,995,000
Amount the facility is listed for sale
majority of our clients that we see are not homeless,” Gray said. “There are people who come here to this campus who are homeless, no question, but at our other campuses, 100% of the people we see were experiencing homelessness.”
The budget in 2020 was $990,000 with 25 total staff members, and about $300,000 of that was spent to run the West Orange campus at the time. The nonprofit was raising $250,000 from donors west of Hiawassee Road to the Gulf Coast.
In 2020, Christian Service Center rescued six adults and children who were living on the streets or in their car and placed them in apartments.
Last year, the nonprofit rescued 1,538 people experiencing homelessness.
“A good chunk of those came from the staff at this office, but the majority of the people that this office helped never stepped foot on this campus, because our programs don’t require you to come to the campus in all situations,” Gray said.
Now, Christian Service Center has a budget of $6.2 million with a staff of 42.
“Our primary objective is not to feed people every day; our primary objective is to not have to feed people every day,” Gray said.
CLOSING THE CAMPUS Since Gray came aboard, the nonprofit’s board decided to close the
Winter Park location because the nonprofit only was giving away emergency food at that location while paying rent at the church, which also was closing.
The budget for the Ocoee campus is $600,000 annually. The nonprofit owns the building and doesn’t have a mortgage. But the campus is costing the nonprofit money as it is running the facility at a nearly $400,000 annual deficit.
“We have cash flow; we are not in a crisis financially,” Gray said. “The challenge is that the cost to run this facility has gone up, which is mostly utilities and a lot of the paper goods we purchase for the meals … and the staff that operate here, but the donations have gone down.”
Gray said he failed to secure more donors in West Orange to support the Ocoee campus.
Since December, Gray said he has met with Ocoee’s mayor and city manager to share the decision to put the Ocoee campus on the real-estate market and discuss potential solutions to keep it running.
Gray said at first, the city considered purchasing the building and then leasing it to Christian Services Center for $1 per month, but with the potential impacts of property tax reform looming, he said the city couldn’t afford the purchase.
OUTCRY
COMMUNITY
Ocoee resident Stephanie Gontko, who volunteers at the West Orange campus, said she will be reaching out to churches in the area to see if donations can be made. She also intends to reach out to companies to donate paper goods.
Gray said although he appreciates the energy of the residents who love and support the nonprofit’s center in Ocoee, he is pessimistic about efforts to raise the funding necessary to sustain running the center.
He said the nonprofit would need a diversified group of donors who are committed to donating for multiple years.
Residents questioned why they were just hearing about the closure of the campus only about a month before its final day.
Gray said the nonprofit has been transparent about the closure, stating staff were notified of the facility being put on the market in December 2025. He said staff members could disclose the information to anyone. He said he never has disseminated a press release in his career, and he didn’t want to send one out for the closure because it would cause “crisis fundraising,” which he said the nonprofit refuses to do.
“We’ve been talking about the financial problems of this campus for decades,” he said. “This can’t be a surprise. Did you expect us to come and say, ‘Guys, we’re threatening to close it down unless you raise a ton of money?’ I am not that person, and we’re not that organization. … We don’t crisis fundraise because it’s bad, it’s wrong, it’s not Christian, it’s not who we are.”
Church DIRECTORY
BAPTIST
First Baptist Church
Pastor Jeremy Woods
125 E. Plant St, Winter Garden (407) 656-2352
Sundays: 8:00 AM Traditional 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM Contemporary
Starke Lake Baptist Church
Pastor Jeff Pritchard PO Box 520
METHODIST
First United Methodist www.fumcwg.org 125 N. Lakeview Ave., Winter Garden (407) 656-1135
Services: 9 AM Traditional 10:45 AM Contemporary Also viewable on YouTube
BeulahBaptistWG.org
Frontrunner for Florida governor meets with local faith leaders
MICHAEL ENG EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Just three days after he was on Fox News’ “Saturday in America” sharing his faith redemption story with host Kayleigh McEnany, Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds was doing the same in Winter Garden.
The frontrunner to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tallahassee met with faith leaders from throughout Central Florida Tuesday, June 16, at the West Orange Dream Center. During the hourlong discussion, Donalds not only shared his now-famous Cracker Barrel testimony but also fielded questions from leaders representing more than 20 different congregations and organizations.
It is not a wellness system. So when we talk to the hospitals, the insurance carriers, the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors, everybody’s in agreement it’s not working the way it should. … We want to lead on designing health care delivery in our state with a goal of actually lowering those costs.
“If you could address health care costs, property insurance, rental rates and what it costs to build a home, you’ve addressed the core essence of the affordability issues that are impacting Florida families,” Donalds said.
ON CHURCHES’ ROLES IN GOVERNMENT
“The vision of Florida is very simple: We are the best state in America; we have to keep it that way,” Donalds said. “But at its core, it’s going to be built around a number of things. First: Law and order is still going to remain the principle. Common sense is still the principle. Conservatism is still the principle. Those are going to remain.
STARKE LAKE BAPTIST CHURCH PO Box 520, 611 W Ave, Ocoee
Pastor Jeff Pritchard (407) 656-2351 www.starkelakebaptist.org
CHURCH OF GOD
OCOEE CHURCH OF GOD
Pastor Thomas Odom 1105 N. Lakewood Avenue, Ocoee 407-656-8011
EPISCOPAL
CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH
241 N. Main, Winter Garden Services: 8, 9:30, & 11am, 7pm www.churchofthemessiah.com
METHODIST
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 125 N. Lakeview Ave Winter Garden Service Times 9:00 AM and 11:15 AM Phone – 407-656-1135 Web: fumcwg.org
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WINDERMERE UNION CHURCH 10710 Park Ridge-Gotha Rd. Windermere, FL 34786 407-876-2112 Worship times: 9:00am Adult Sunday School 10:00am Worship www.windermereunion.org
“I want everybody to live the Florida dream,” he said. “I want every kid in our state to be able to build it for themselves. And I want the people who currently live in it to be able to still afford it going forward. We’re the best state. … But listen: Getting to No. 1 is hard. Staying at No. 1 is harder.”
ON AFFORDABILITY
Donalds said affordability is, by far, the most pressing concern among Floridians.
“We’re under this delusion, mostly from the left in America, that there’s some separation between church and state,” Donalds said. “That is not true. That is what Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists in order for the Danbury Baptists to feel comfortable that they could come to, at that time, the Colonies … because they were witnessing the fact that the kings were using the church for whatever the king wanted. And that’s why Jefferson was very clear, and the framers were clear, that there is not going to be a national church that the government ordains and essentially utilizes for governmental purposes.
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“It’s multifaceted,” he said. “First is just housing. … How we address housing costs is essentially (to speed) up the way local governments permit these jobs. ... The permitting process makes a construction job more expensive. … The longer government takes to permit that job, the more expensive the job is. ... And the developers and the contractors are not eating the cost. They pass that cost on to the end user.”
Beyond housing, insurance costs also are a major concern among Florida voters, Donalds said.
“But that thought process … assumes that the church is to be removed from the public square,” he said. “Not true. The church is essential and a part of the public square and of public discourse.”
ON ABORTION
Despite Florida’s six-week ban on abortion, Donalds said this remains an issue. However, he said the pro-life proponent’s battle now is for hearts and minds.
“A lot of legal battles that have been won in the last three or five years have been great,” Donalds said. “But now, it’s about helping that young lady who did get pregnant to realize there is a community and a resource there to help her bring that child into this world.
MIKE YOAKUM PASTOR P: 407.656.1520 C: 407.758.3570 MYOAKUM407@AOL.COM 1333 EAST CROWN POINT RD. OCOEE,
“Property insurance for homeowners has risen dramatically the last seven years,” he said. “The governor’s tort reform — we’re going to keep that in place. It is starting to show that the insurance (costs are) coming down. We’re seeing that already in auto insurance. … For property and casualty — homeowners insurance. We want to bring reforms to the regulatory system that sets the framework for how housing is rated and insured. We believe we can lower cost 20% in the state of Florida with some of the housing insurance reforms that we’re going to look at.”
The third piece, Donalds said, is up to voters.
“I also think that there’s a lot of education around this,” he said. “If you look at polling, younger Americans are more pro-life than … Americans who are my age (47) or my mother’s generation. … That’s a good thing. It took us 100 years as a country to get to this position. Truthfully … you’re not going to unwind that overnight. … But when you’re dealing with people from a political, cultural, moral standpoint, you now have to win them over with empathy — not just politics.
“That’s the governor’s property tax amendment,” he said. “Early numbers that I’ve seen is that for homeowners, it could cut their property tax bill — depending on the value of the home — almost unilaterally when it comes to non-school expenses. For some homeowners, if you have a higher-value home, it could be a 25% decrease in your property taxes. That’s real money in your pocket every single month that helps people make ends meet.”
And finally, Donalds’ administration would focus on health care costs and work to create an environment in which Floridians can shop for the lowest prices.
Park Blvd. #101, Winter Garden 407.905.9500 • 8am-4pm Mon - Fri • 8am-3pm Saturday
“As governor, we’re going to invest in pregnancy resource centers,” Donalds said. “We’re going to make sure that those centers are getting the care and the support and resources they need to be able to extend in those communities to help a young girl or to help a woman if they happen to end up pregnant and they don’t know what to do. And we want to be there to guide them, to help them in a direction that I believe they should go, which is bringing that child into the world, raising that child, and hopefully that young lady and the father can build a life together.”
PARTISAN POLITICS
ON
“I’m a Republican; I have no desire to help either party,” Donalds said.
“We want to post a real cash price for the top 20 medical services provided by every doctor’s office, every clinic and every hospital,” he said. “What we know about price transparency is that in any market where there (are) transparent prices, prices stabilize, and in some respects, prices come down, because everybody who is trying to get your business is trying to compete.
“We want to get rid of prior authorizations, which slow down the ability for people to get the health care they need,” Donalds said. “We want to break the in-network/out-of-network stuff — just because a doctor couldn’t negotiate with an insurance company.
“We also want to look at how we deliver health care in the state of Florida,” he said. “The system that we have today is a sick care system.
“When I do this job, it’s not to the betterment of the Republican Party or to the detriment of the Democrat Party. … For me, it’s about … making sure the right policy is being done that is based upon common sense, that’s based on economic sense, that’s based on constitutionalism and that’s based on Western civilization. If you accomplish those four things ... the people we all serve ... thrive. The parties at that point become irrelevant.
“As a Republican, half the time, when people don’t understand … where a Republican is coming from, it’s because they haven’t taken the time to engage that community — or just have a dialogue and have a conversation,” he said. “You have to engage people directly. They (have to) be able to see me, have a real conversation, talk about these issues in a much more detailed way — not just in a political talking point. And I think that’s actually what unites a community.”
Ward Trail bridge arrives in town of Windermere
LIZ RAMOS MANAGING EDITOR
As the new Ward Trail pedestrian bridge made its way down Main Street, it was a weight off Windermere Town Manager Robert Smith’s shoulders.
The Ward Trail project has been 10 years in the making, and when the bridge was delivered Monday, June 15, it was a pivotal moment in bringing the project to fruition.
“In this job, you really don’t get validated that much, and just seeing the bridge, it was like a sigh of relief, saying, ‘OK, I’ve accomplished something the residents can actually see, touch, feel and enjoy, because they don’t see what happens behind the scenes on just running the town itself,” Smith said. “This was a collective effort between council members, mayors, elected officials (and) staff. It took quite a while to get to this point.”
The Ward Trail is planned to be a multi-modal path wide enough to fit pedestrians, bike riders and golf cart travel. Its width made Smith nervous as the bridge was being delivered; he questioned whether it would be too wide to get down the roadway, but it successfully made its way to the canal.
The new 8-feet-tall, 14-feetwide, railroad-style bridge over the canal that connects Lake Down and Lake Butler will be large enough to allow two golf carts to pass each other, allowing for easier traffic passage compared to the old bridge in which people would have to take turns going up or down the narrow pathway if they’re coming in opposite directions.
The Ward Trail bridge will connect old downtown Windermere with newer sections of town, giving residents access to parks, boat ramps and other aspects of town.
The bridge will be instrumental in allowing Windermere Elementary School students and their families
travel to and from their homes to school.
Along the path, different types of greenery will be planted, including longleaf pines, firebushes, saw palmettos and Sabal palms.
Although the bridge initially was installed Tuesday, June 16, Smith said there still is work to be done, including having it balanced and ensuring it is connected properly.
“Right now, the north side is somewhat connected, but we still need to make sure these levels are OK for golf carts, ADA accessibility and whatnot,” he said.
There also will need to be sidewalk and fencing placements on the south end of the trail.
The goal of town staff is to have the project complete before school begins Tuesday, Aug. 11.
The completion of the project will be an accomplishment Smith has been waiting for since he started as town manager 15 years ago.
One of the goals of the town was to acquire the old railroad right-ofway from 12th Avenue to Windermere Road that Ken and Susan Ward purchased and put into a trust. Smith began negotiating with the Wards to buy the property, and Kimley-Horn conducted a safety study in 2015 to assess the roadways and sidewalks in the area.
Negotiations led to a stalemate until Ken and Susan Ward died in a house fire in 2017 and their sons assumed the trust and accepted the town’s $250,000 appraisal. The trail was named in honor of the Ward family.
Through property swaps, the town acquired the remaining land.
On March 13, 2018, Windermere Town Council finalized the purchase of the Wards’ property, and since then, town staff had been working on acquiring funding for the multimodal path.
The town secured $760,000 from a federal appropriations request through the Safe Routes to School
program and also secured $1 million from the Florida Legislature.
“It’s an accomplishment with a vision that pretty much happened before I got here, and to see it implemented, I think the town residents are going to see the benefit of what our taxpayer dollars goes toward,” Smith said. “This is really just the first step.”
Smith said once the bridge is open, residents will immediately see the benefits. It will connect residents to parks, civic centers and everything in downtown Windermere.
A driving factor also has been safety.
“If you go close to the canal on the dirt roads, that was usually a mud bog, and we usually have to scrape the sidewalk off because of the dirt and silt for kids walking to Windermere Elementary School,” Smith said.
Golf cart drivers also often would cross over the main bridge to drop off or pick up their children from Windermere Elementary School, whether the pedestrian bridge was congested.
Now the new Ward Trail pedestrian bridge will take golf carts off the main road, improving safety for drivers and golf cart drivers alike.
“Our intent is to make sure we had safe routes for not only school children but (also) our general public and connect the developments that are north of the bridge to the downtown core,” Smith said.
Smith said future phases of the Windermere Ward Trail multimodal path are unknown due to the potential impacts of voters passing the property tax reform in November. He said Public Works could “take a huge hit” if the reform passes.
Future plans for the project include Phase 2, from North Drive to Sixth Avenue; Phase 3, along Sixth Avenue from Main Street to Apopka-Vineland Road; and Phase 4, from Chase Road/12th Avenue to Sixth Avenue.
Courtesy photo
The new Ward Trail pedestrian bridge was delivered Monday, June 15. The bridge is large enough to allow two golf carts on the bridge simultaneously.
Love letter to the Garden Theatre 2026-27 SEASON
DNA Productions’ opening season at the Garden Theatre will feature programming paying homage to the theater’s roots.
MIA SCHAEPERKOETTER
STAFF INTERN
The Garden Theatre has announced its 2026-27 season programming, featuring beloved titles intended to draw audiences back to the downtown Winter Garden destination.
After the doors closed on regular live productions in 2024, the theater now has been revived with a full programming schedule. DNA Productions, a Winter-Garden based production company working with the city to manage the theater, plans to present a wide range of performances that reflect the heart of Winter Garden’s past and future.
Dennis Morgan, executive creative director for DNA Productions, described this first season of live programming as a love letter to the original theater that opened in 1935.
“The theater originally started as a cinema house; those are its roots,” Morgan said. “We wanted to celebrate the fact that it is now a cinema house and a live-events theater.”
The season’s theatrical series includes “Footloose: The Musical,” “Come What May: A Tribute to Moulin Rouge & Other Movie Musicals,” “The 39 Steps,” “Josie & Grace” and “9 to 5: The Musical.”
Alina Williams, executive producer of DNA Productions, said choosing well-known productions was a deliberate choice to bring audiences back and entice newcomers to the theater.
“What’s cool about the theming is that people might not have that whole
interest in theater, but they’ll know these titles,” Williams said. “They’ll know ‘Footloose.’ They may have seen the movie, and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m familiar with this piece,’ so hopefully that will encourage some new fans of the future.”
The season also includes a concert series, including “The Rocket Man Show,” “Rhinestone Cowgirls,” “Beatles to Bourbon Street” and “A1A: The Official + Original Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show.”
The Garden Theatre’s season also features special community-driven
OCPS addresses employee health care, school consolidation
LETICIA SILVA
STAFF WRITER
Orange County School Board members addressed topics such as health care costs, declining enrollment and school consolidation during a press conference Tuesday, June 16.
OCPS Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez said the school district currently is facing many challenges — lower birth rates, housing trends, changes in federal immigration policy and increased competition through taxpayer-funded vouchers and other school-choice initiatives. These factors led to the closure of seven schools due to enrollment decline.
“We are now taking a thoughtful pause to develop a long-term plan for under-enrolled schools while continuing to deliver a high-quality education for every student that walks through our doors,” Vazquez said. The plan is to repurpose the schools to meet operational, community and partnership needs while potentially using these facilities to enhance educational opportunities.
Vazquez said the district currently is expanding opportunities for families through the development of new school choice options including micro schools, such as the baseball/ softball academy for third- through sixth-graders, while also introducing new scholastic academies at the elementary and middle school levels.
Vazquez said no other schools are expected to close for the 2026-27 school year.
RISE IN EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE
Florida is experiencing some of the fastest increases in health care costs in the country. Today, the district contributes up to $10,555 per employee for health care, and that will increase to $11,611 next year.
While the district has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to offset rising health care costs, Vazquez said the current plan simply cannot be sustained.
Contract negotiations between the district and the teacher union, Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, broke down, and
Orange County School Board declared an impasse in April after negotiation attempts.
“This was not an adversarial step,” Vazquez said. “It’s a responsible and necessary process under Florida law to keep moving forward as deadlines approach related to health care decisions. Without an agreement, the district could be required to allocate up to $20 million per month just to maintain its current health care plan. That’s not sustainable, and it’s not an ideal outcome for anyone.”
Vazquez urged for decision-making as continued disagreements could impact funding available for teacher raises, classroom support and student programs.
“Because we are self-insured, failing to meet those costs could put our health care coverage at risk and force us to move into a more expensive forprofit model,” Vazquez said. “That’s not where we want to go.”
She said the district’s goal is to protect health care for employees while also protecting its investment in students, claiming future steps must be grounded in transparency and shared responsibility.
School Board members said transparency is key.
“We are committing to grounding our communications and conversation in facts and being transparent throughout this process,” board member Stephanie Vanos said.
However, Clinton McCracken, OCCTA president, said the district is not being transparent.
“Transparency means showing employees the data, the contracts, the decision-making process and the analysis behind the recommendations being made,” he said. “Transparency also means being willing to answer difficult questions when those answers may be uncomfortable. School Board members seem to think that putting on a scripted show (Tuesday, June 16) is enough.”
McCracken asked the district to release an un-redacted copy of the district’s contract with Cigna, explain what happened with CVS Caremark and why it insists on maintaining complete control over what insurance-related information is shared with employees.
announced its holiday programming, featuring “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.”
The members of DNA Productions emphasized the Plant Street community has played a major role in revitalizing the theater.
“Every time we have a show, you’re anticipating a full theater,” Williams said. “The spillover of that is, they’re going to go to dinner before the show, they’re going to go have a cocktail before the show, they’re going to grab coffee before the show. We want to see them spilling into the streets to support the restaurants, the stores, everything around the area.”
Morgan said the community’s response to the theater so far reflects a desire for a dedicated space to gather. He believes people are seeking meaningful opportunities to connect with family and friends in a unique and creative space.
The desire for connection through live performance is familiar to both Morgan and Williams.
events such as “Wild World of Animals,” “Haunted Illusions,” “Mutts Gone Nuts” and “Celtic Angels Ireland.”
Morgan said “Mutts Gone Nuts” is a performance with adoptable dogs from the Polka Dogz shelter.
“We want to help the shelter in our community,” Morgan said. “We want our productions to dig deeper and find those connections with components of our city where we really can make a difference, and ‘Mutts Gone Nuts’ is a really fun one.”
DNA Productions also has
Williams has an extensive theater background in Central Florida. She grew up in the area, studied theater at Dr. Phillips High School and the University of Central Florida, and worked with the Broadway series at the Bob Carr Theatre through the Florida Theatrical Association. Morgan graduated from the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and began touring regional productions across the country before joining Walt Disney World.
The duo spent years bringing entertainment to corporate events across the country. But with both having prominent theater backgrounds, Morgan and Williams decided sourcing talent and producing live performances felt like home to them.
“THE ROCKET MAN SHOW” Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026
“FOOTLOOSE: THE MUSICAL” Sept. 24-27, Oct. 1-4 and Oct. 8-11, 2026
“RHINESTONE COWGIRLS” Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2026
“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY”
Dec. 10-13 and Dec. 17-20, 2026
“THE 39 STEPS” Jan. 28-31, Feb. 4-7 and Feb. 11-14, 2027
“BEATLES TO BOURBON STREET” Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2027
“A1A: THE OFFICIAL + ORIGINAL JIMMY BUFFETT TRIBUTE SHOW” Friday, March 26, 2027
“9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL” April 15-18, 22-25, 29-30 and May 1-2, 2027
“As a lifelong resident of Central Florida, theater has always been a part of my story here in Winter Garden,” Williams said. “We felt it was very important to do whatever we could to be sure that the theater community thrived.”
As the season approaches, DNA Productions invites the community to embark on this next chapter.
“What we’re trying to provide for everyone is just this future-forward look at everything,” Morgan said. “We invite everyone to come join us on what we believe is going to be a really wonderful journey.”
On to the next phase
Orange County celebrated the groundbreaking of Horizon West Regional Park Phase 1B.
LIZ RAMOS MANAGING EDITOR
As the sun beat down, Orange County District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson asked everyone to close their eyes and imagine the spray of water from the soon-to-be splash pad hitting their skin cooling them down.
She pointed to the space filled with trees and greenery behind her at Horizon West Regional Park to show the dozens of people in attendance of the Phase 1B groundbreaking Thursday, June 18, where the splash pad will be constructed.
Horizon West Regional Park, located at 4715 Hamlin Groves Trail in Horizon West, opened in December 2010, when the property was limited to horseback riding and hiking.
Now, that 215-acre park has become home to the $15.6 million Phase 1A, which included an access road, utilities, an inclusive playground, restrooms, a segment of trail and a large pavilion with eight tables and two grills.
Orange County took the next step in the project with the groundbreaking of Phase 1B, which includes a splash pad, hook-ups for a farmer’s market, a kayak/canoe launch on Lake Hartley, parking and additional sidewalks to connect amenities.
The total budget for the phase
is $5,565,000, with construction expected to begin soon.
Kyle Kent, Orange County Parks and Recreation manager, said the contractor is planning to start on Phase 1B at the far end of the park, near the kayak/canoe launch area. That is where infrastructure such as power and water needs to be installed underground.
The splash pad will be worked on next, with crews removing the trees and greenery and bringing the ground up with fill material to level it with the surrounding area.
After the splash pad is complete, crews will move onto the parking lot next to the large pavilion that was completed in Phase 1A. The parking lot will be expanded to include stubs for a farmer’s market so vendors will have power and water.
Then, crews will conduct work at the lakefront to install a dock to serve as a kayak and canoe launch.
Kent said no one will be able to access any part of Phase 1B until the project is completed in its entirety. In the meantime, the playground, restroom and pavilion already constructed still will be accessible.
Once construction begins, Kent said the project could be completed in 180 days but is dependent on weather and other factors. He estimates the project could be complete by spring 2027 and said current Orange County commissioners have been instrumental in the park becoming a reality.
“This board and this mayor has been just so pivotal in all the growth that’s
happened with Parks and Recreation, and this is just another example of it,” Kent said.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the county is investing more than $21 million to transform the regional park into “a premier recreational facility for residents and visitors.”
“What we’re trying to do is increase the green space we have throughout Orange County,” he said.
Horizon West Regional Park is one of 114 parks, trails and facilities on nearly 15,000 acres the Orange County Parks and Recreation Division maintains.
The county conducted public outreach for the Horizon West Regional Park Master Plan from May 2019 through September 2020, and more than 1,900 people responded to the online surveys.
“I hope we have families out here that are hearing about this and thinking, ‘I remember doing the survey, that was the one (amenity) I picked,’” Wilson said. “I can’t wait to get back here for the opening so that we can actually say, ‘Yeah, you all chose it. We invested in it, and it’s here now.’” She said the regional park is a quality-of-life investment helping to make her dream of Horizon West being “synonymous with exceptional public spaces and recreational opportunities.”
“Parks are more than amenities; they’re places where neighbors become friends and children explore and play, and where families gather to make lifelong memories,” Wilson said. “I know that for years to come, visitors to this park will find joy, recreate (and) find deeper connection to their community and their natural environment.”
Photo by Liz Ramos Orange County District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson and Mayor Jerry Demings, center, celebrated the groundbreaking of Horizon West Regional Park Phase 1B.
Courtesy photo
“The Rocket Man Show” will serve as the Garden Theatre’s 2026-2027 opener.
West Orange Chamber of Commerce Celebrates Business
The West Orange Chamber recognizes and applauds our long-standing member businesses for their continued commitment to Advancing Community, Collaboration and Leadership. Congratulations on Membership Milestones to
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Polished by Omairis and the grand opening of Polished Artistry Co.
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Polished by Omairis and the grand opening of Polished Artistry Co. Located at 301 N Tubb St Ste 113 in downtown Oakland, Omairis Santiago, owner of Polished by Omairis and Polished Artistry Co, is building more than a nail salon — she’s building a movement. A place where luxury gel services, natural nail transformations, creativity, confidence, and community all collide. From clients walking in for self-care to rising nail artists building their own brands, every corner of this space was created to feel fun, empowering, welcoming, and full of life. This is the home where beauty grows, confidence rises, and everyone leaves feeling polished by her touch. To learn more and to book an appointment, visit https://Www.styleseat.com/omairis.
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the grand opening of MARC Imaging Group
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the grand opening of MARC Imaging Group. Located at 15528 W Colonial Dr Ste A in Winter Garden, MARC Imaging Group is a locally owned diagnostic imaging facility specializing in MRI and X-ray exams, with a focus on auto accident injuries. They offer affordable self-pay imaging without the delays and hassles of traditional insurance, allowing for fast same-day or nextday appointments.. To learn more, visit https://marcimagingfl.com/.
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the grand opening of BODY20 Dr. Phillips
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the grand opening of BODY20 Dr. Phillips. Located at 7541 W Sand Lake Rd Ste C in Dr. Phillips, BODY20 Dr. Phillips owned by Dr. Zeeshan Zafar is redefining fitness in Orlando through cutting-edge Electro-Muscle Stimulation technology that delivers a full-body workout in just 20 minutes. With 95 percent muscle activation, expert coaching, and measurable results, they empower their community to build strength, burn fat, and transform their health smarter, faster, and without impact. To learn more, visit https://www.body20.com/location/dr-phillips.
West
Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Gotha
Rural Settlement Association
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Gotha Rural Settlement Association. Meeting at the Gotha Community Center, 9561 Gotha Rd in Gotha, the Gotha Rural Settlement Association, Inc. is a dedicated non-profit organization focused on preserving and promoting the historical integrity of Gotha, Florida. They are committed to safeguarding the town’s unique character, cultural landmarks and historical preservation efforts. Through advocacy and revitalization projects, they aim to enhance public appreciation of Gotha’s heritage and ensure its historical assets are protected and enjoyed by future generations. Their work reflects a deep respect for the past and a strong commitment to the collective good of the community. To learn more, visit https://www. mygotha.org/.
THE WEST ORANGE CHAMBER OFFERS 4 NETWORKING GROUPS
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY - DR. PHILLIPS AND THURSDAY - HORIZON WEST
To learn more and to register for participation visit wochamber.com/ChamberGroups or call 407-656-1304
ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 1
BEGIN AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AS DEFINED IN TITLE II, CHAPTER 7 OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES, SAID CORNER BEING THE INTERSECTION OF THE RANGE LINE DIVIDING RANGES 26 EAST AND 27 EAST WITH THE TOWNSHIP LINE DIVIDING TOWNSHIPS 24 SOUTH AND 25 SOUTH; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID RANGE LINE DIVIDING RANGES 26 EAST AND 27 EAST AND ALONG THE WEST BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY, AS DEFINED IN TITLE II, CHAPTER 7 OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES, TO THE WATERS OF LAKE APOPKA; THENCE CONTINUING ALONG THE WEST BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY RUN NORTHERLY ACROSS THE WATERS OF LAKE APOPKA TO A POINT ON THE WEST SHORE OF SAID LAKE APOPKA; THENCE LEAVING AFOREMENTIONED RANGE LINE BUT CONTINUING ALONG THE WEST BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY, RUN NORTHEASTERLY, NORTHERLY AND NORTHWESTERLY ALONG THE WEST SHORE OF SAID LAKE APOPKA TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE RANGE LINE DIVIDING RANGES 26 EAST AND 27 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID RANGE LINES AND WEST BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE NORTH LINE OF THE SOUTH ¾ OF SECTION 1, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST; THENCE LEAVING SAID RANGE LINE AND WEST BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY RUN EASTERLY ACROSS THE WATERS OF LAKE APOPKA ALONG SAID PROJECTION AND NORTH LINE OF THE SOUTH ¾ OF SECTION 1, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST TO THE WEST LINE OF TRACT AA, WESTYN BAY PHASE 1, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 54, PAGES 29-36 OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID WEST LINE OF TRACT AA TO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF TRACT AA; THENCE CONTINUE SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG THE WATERS OF LAKE APOPKA TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTH 2/3 OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 1, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 27 EAST; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE TO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE NORTH 2/3 OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 1; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE WEST
SAID NORTH LINE OF TRACT A TO THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SAID TRACT A; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE WEST LINE OF SAID PARK AT 429 TO THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF ADDRESS 901 EAST CROWN POINT ROAD, AS RECORDED IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 20180473506, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF SAID PARCEL ADDRESS 901 EAST CROWN POINT ROAD AND WESTERLY PROJECTION TO THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST CROWN POINT ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST CROWN POINT ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST PLANT STREET; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST PLANT STREET TO A POINT ON THE WEST LINE OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID WEST LINE OF SECTION 18 AND THE WEST LINE OF SECTION 19, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 429; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 429 TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION WITH THE WEST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 31, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE SAID WEST LINE OF SAID NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 31 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF WINDERMERE ROAD AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROBERSON ROAD; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROBERSON ROAD TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EAST LINE OF LOT 58, BELMERE VILLAGE G2, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 48, PAGES 65-69, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION AND THE EAST LINE OF SAID BELMERE VILLAGE G2 TO A POINT ON THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF VIA ANDIAMO (PRIVATE RIGHT-OFWAY) FROM A SOUTHWESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE SOUTHEAST LINE OF LOT 77, BELMERE VILLAGE G2 TO SAID CENTERLINE; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF SAID VIA ANDIAMO TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF MAGUIRE ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SAID MAGUIRE ROAD TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE NORTHWESTERLY EXTENSION OF TRACT J, WINDSOR LANDING PHASE 1, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 46, PAGES 26-28, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG SAID NORTHWESTERLY PROJECTION ALONG THE WEST AND SOUTH LINES OF SAID TRACT J TO A EASTERLY PROJECTION OF THE SOUTH LINE OF TRACT J TO THE INTERSECTION OF THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF PARK RIDGE GOTHA ROAD; THENCE RUN NORTHEASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF PARK RIDGE GOTHA ROAD TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 5, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF SECTION 5 TO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG THE EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ AND NORTHWEST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST TO THE NORTH ¼ CORNER OF
SAID SECTION 32; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF THE NORTHEAST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 32 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF STATE ROAD 408; THENCE RUN NORTHEASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 408 TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF FOR WOODLAWN CEMETERY ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF WOODLAWN CEMETERY ROAD TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF WILKENING FARM ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY AND EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF WILKENING FARM ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION OF THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH APOPKA VINELAND ROAD;
THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF SOUTH APOPKA VINELAND ROAD TO THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF SECTION 11, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST AND THE WEST LINE OF SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, AND THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE WEST LINE OF LOT 12, CONROY CLUB, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 47, PAGES 86-88, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF SECTION 11, WEST LINE OF SECTION 12, AND SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF WEST LINE OF LOT 12, TO A POINT ON THE SOUTHERLY RIGHT-OFWAY OF AFORESAID FLORIDA TURNPIKE AND A POINT ON THE NORTHERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CONROY CLUB DRIVE (PRIVATE RIGHT-OF-WAY) OF SAID PLAT OF CONROY CLUB; THENCE RUN NORTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTHERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE, AND ALONG THE NORTHERLY, WESTERLY AND SOUTHERLY LINES OF SAID PLAT OF CONROY CLUB TO AN INTERSECTION WITH AFORESAID EAST LINE OF SECTION 11, WEST LINE OF SECTION 12, SAID WESTERLY LINE OF PLAT OF CONROY CLUB AND THE EASTERLY LINE OF WOODLANDS VILLAGE, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 13, PAGE 141, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF SECTION 11, WEST LINE OF SECTION 12, WESTERLY LINE OF PLAT OF CONROY CLUB AND EAST LINE OF WOODLANDS VILLAGE, TO AN INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF CONROY ROAD AND TURKEY LAKE ROAD, ALSO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 11, AND THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 12; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF TURKEY LAKE ROAD TO THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF WEST SAND LAKE ROAD; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF WEST SAND LAKE ROAD TO THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INTERSTATE 4 (ALSO KNOWN AS STATE ROAD 400); THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INTERSTATE 4 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE
SOUTH BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AS DESCRIBED IN FLORIDA STATUTE TITLE II, CHAPTER 7, SAID INTERSECTION ALSO BEING A POINT ON THE SOUTH LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY ALSO BEING THE TOWNSHIP LINE DIVIDING TOWNSHIPS 24 SOUTH AND 25 SOUTH TO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND THE POINT OF BEGINNING.
ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 2
BEGIN AT THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH APOPKA VINELAND ROAD WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF DRESSAGE DRIVE; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH APOPKA VINELAND ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF LAKE STANLEY ROAD; THENCE CONTINUE SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF LAKE STANLEY ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SILVER STAR ROAD; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SILVER STAR ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF GOOD HOMES ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF GOOD HOMES ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROSE LAKE SHORE LANE; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROSE LAKE SHORE LANE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE RUN NORTHWESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 408; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 408 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE; THENCE RUN NORTHWESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE TO THE NORTH LINE OF THE NORTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN WEST ALONG SAID NORTH LINE TO THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF CROSS CREEK OF OCOEE, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 33, PAGES 30-31, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, SAID POINT ALSO BEING THE NORTH ¼ CORNER OF SECTION 32, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE WEST LINE OF THE NORTHEAST ¼ AND SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 32 TO THE NORTH ¼ CORNER OF SECTION 5, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE CONTINUE SOUTHERLY ALONG THE WEST LINE OF THE NORTHEAST ¼ OF SAID SECTION 5 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF PARK RIDGE GOTHA ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF PARK RIDGE GOTHA ROAD TO A POINT ON THE EASTERLY EXTENSION OF THE SOUTHERLY LINE OF TRACT J, WINDSOR LANDING PHASE 1, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 46, PAGES 26-28, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY PROJECTION AND
SOUTHERLY AND WESTERLY LINES OF SAID TRACT J AND THE NORTHWESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE WEST LINE OF TRACT J TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF MAGUIRE ROAD (STATE ROAD 439); THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF MAGUIRE ROAD (STATE ROAD 439) TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF VIA ANDIAMO (PRIVATE RIGHT-OF-WAY); THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF VIA ANDIAMO TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE PROJECTION OF LOT 77, BELMORE VILLAGE G2, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 48, PAGE 65-67, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID PROJECTION OF LOT 77 AND THE EAST LINE OF SAID BELMORE VILLAGE G2 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF ROBERSON ROAD; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF ROBERSON ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF WINDERMERE ROAD ALSO BEING THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 31, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG THE WEST LINE OF SAID NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 31 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 429; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 429 TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION WITH THE WEST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 19, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG SAID WEST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 19 AND WEST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST PLANT STREET; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST PLANT STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF EAST CROWN POINT ROAD; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EAST CROWN POINT ROAD TO A POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE NORTH LINE OF ADDRESS 901 EAST CROWN POINT, AS RECORDED IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 20180473506, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN EAST ALONG THE WESTERLY PROJEC-
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2026
TION WITH THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE WESTERLY LINE OF LOTS 1-5, BLOCK F, REPLAT OLYMPIA HEIGHTS, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK N, PAGE 65, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION AND SAID WESTERLY LINE OF LOTS 1-5, BLOCK F, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OGLESBY AVENUE AND SOUTHERLY PROJECTION OF SAID WESTERLY LINE OF LOTS 1-5, BLOCK F; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OGLESBY AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF AFOREMENTIONED CLAY STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CLAY STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTH LINE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 29 EAST AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF MINNESOTA AVENUE; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼, AND SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF MINNESOTA AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF HAROLD AVENUE; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF HAROLD AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE SOUTH LINE OF LOT 26, BLOCK B, LAWNDALE ANNEX, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK J, PAGE 50, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID WESTERLY PROJECTION AND SAID SOUTH LINE OF LOT 26, BLOCK B, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY LINE OF DORIS PARK, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK S, PAGE 116, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID WESTERLY LINE OF DORIS PARK, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY LINE OF LOT 10, BLOCK A, OF SAID DORIS PARK; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTHERLY LINE OF LOT 10, BLOCK A, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EASTERLY PROJECTION OF SAID SOUTHERLY LINE AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF JACKSON AVENUE; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF JACKSON AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE COMMON LOT LINE LYING BETWEEN ADDRESS 750 JACKSON AVENUE (CONDOMINIUM), AS RECORDED IN OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 9189, PAGE 2481, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND ADDRESS 874 JACKSON AVENUE, AS RECORDED IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 20250411376, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF SAID COMMON LOT LINE BETWEEN 750 JACKSON AVENUE AND 874 JACKSON AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ARAGON AVENUE; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF LINE OF ARAGON AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NICOLET AVENUE; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NICOLET AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED SOUTH LINE OF NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 29 EAST AND AFOREMENTIONED CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF MINNESOTA AVENUE; THENCE RUN EAST ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE OF NORTHWEST ¼ AND SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF MINNESOTA AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EASTERLY LINE OF LAWNDALE, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK H, PAGES 118-119, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION AND SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LAWNDALE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY PROJECTION OF SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LAWNDALE AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INDIANA AVENUE; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INDIANA AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 11, BLOCK M, SAID LAWNDALE; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION AND SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 11, BLOCK M, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY LINE OF SAID LOT 11, BLOCK M; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTHERLY LINE LOT 11, BLOCK M AND ALONG THE SOUTHERLY LINE OF LOT 10, BLOCK M, SAID LAWNDALE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 16, BLOCK M, SAID LAWNDALE; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 16, BLOCK M, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY PROJECTION OF SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 16, BLOCK M AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF HARMON AVENUE; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF HARMON AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CLAY STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CLAY STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EASTERLY PROJECTION OF THE NORTHERLY LINE OF LOT 3, BLOCK A, THE PINES, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK H, PAGE 14, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY PROJECTION AND NORTHERLY LINE LOT 3, BLOCK A, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY LINE OF SAID LOT 3, BLOCK A, ALSO THE EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 5, BLOCK A, SAID THE PINES; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY AND WESTERLY LOT LINES TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY PROJECTION OF SAID LOT LINES AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF JEWELL AVENUE; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID CEN-
TERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF JEWELL AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE AFORESAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CLAY STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CLAY STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF CLAY AVENUE, ALSO THE NORTH LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 13, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 29 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF CLAY AVENUE THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH ORANGE AVENUE; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH ORANGE AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH MAGNOLIA AVENUE, ALSO EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 23, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 29 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH MAGNOLIA AVENUE AND SAID EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID SOUTHEAST ¼ AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF COLONIAL DRIVE (STATE ROAD 50); THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID SOUTHEAST ¼, AND SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF COLONIAL DRIVE (STATE ROAD 50) TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH PINE HILLS ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY AND EASTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF NORTH PINE HILLS ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 25, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, RANGE LINE DIVIDING RANGES 29 EAST AND 28 EAST, AND NORTHERLY PROJECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF ADDRESS 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD, AS RECORDED IN OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 6567, PAGE 4053, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼, SAID RANGE LINES, AND SAID NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EAST LINE OF 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE CONTINUE SOUTH ALONG SAID RANGE LINES, SAID EAST LINE OF 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD, AND AFORESAID EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 25, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE NORTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 36, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE CONTINUE SOUTH ALONG SAID RANGE LINES, SAID EAST LINE OF 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD, AND EAST LINE OF SAID NORTHEAST ¼ OF SECTION 36, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID 5800 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF LOT 13, LAKE HILL GROVES, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK J, PAGE 103, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF LOTS 8-13, SAID LAKE HILL GROVES, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SAID LOT 8, AND THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF LOT 4, BLOCK O, LAKE HILL, PLAT BOOK M, PAGE 9, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG THE WEST LINE OF SAID LOT 8 AND EAST LINE OF ADDRESS 5828 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD, AS RECORDED IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 20230703875, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY LINE OF SAID 5828 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD AND AFORESAID SOUTHERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID 5828 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD AND SAID SOUTHERLY RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SAID 5828 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD AND NORTHEAST CORNER OF ADDRESS 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET, LAKE HILL BAPTIST CHURCH, INC.; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG THE WEST LINE OF SAID 5828 OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD AND THE EAST LINE OF SAID 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH AFORESAID EAST LINE OF 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF SAID SOUTH LINE OF 301 SOUTH HUDSON STREET AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HUDSON STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HUDSON STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF THE NORTH LINE OF LOT 1, BLOCK K, OF AFORESAID LAKE HILL; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG SAID WESTERLY PROJECTION AND SAID NORTH LINE OF LOT 1, BLOCK K TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EASTERLY LINE OF LOTS 1-3, OF SAID BLOCK K, LAKE HILL; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY LINE OF LOTS 1-3, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY LINE OF SAID LOT 3; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID SOUTHERLY LINE OF LOT 3 AND WESTERLY PROJEC-
TION THEREOF TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE AFORESAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HUDSON STREET; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HUDSON STREET TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF DETROIT AVENUE; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF DETROIT AVENUE TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 11, BLOCK E, OF AFORESAID LAKE HILL; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG SAID SOUTHERLY PROJECTION AND EASTERLY LINE OF LOT 11, BLOCK E, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF SAID LOT 11, BLOCK E; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE NORTHERLY LINE OF LOTS 11-16, OF SAID BLOCK E, LAKE HILL TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼, OF THE NORTHEAST ¼, OF SECTION 36, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTH ¼, OF SAID SECTION 36, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST AND NORTHERLY LINE OF FOUNTAINS AT METRO WEST CONDOMINIUM, AS RECORDED IN OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 8594, PAGE 3449, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WEST ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTH ¼, OF SECTION 36, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HIAWASSEE ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTHEASTERLY ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH HIAWASSEE ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EASTERLY PROJECTION OF THE NORTHERLY LINE OF TRACT 16, METROWEST UNIT TWO, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 20, PAGES 142-145, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG SAID EASTERLY PROJECTION OF THE NORTHERLY LINE OF TRACT 16, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WEST LINE OF SAID TRACT 16, AND WEST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼ OF THE AFORESAID SECTION 36, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID WEST LINE OF THE SOUTHWEST ¼, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY LINE OF LOT 7, FAIRWAY COVE, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 21, PAGES 59-61, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN WESTERLY AND SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG THE NORTHWESTERLY LINE OF SAID FAIRWAY COVE, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WEST LINE OF THE EAST ½, OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼, OF SECTION 35, TOWNSHIP 22 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST AND WEST LINE OF SAID FAIRWAY COVE; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID WEST LINE OF THE EAST ½, AND SAID WEST LINE OF FAIRWAY COVE, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SAID EAST ½, OF THE SOUTHEAST ¼, OF SECTION 35; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG THE WEST LINE, OF THE NORTHEAST ¼, OF THE NORTHEAST ¼, OF SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHWESTERLY CORNER OF SAID FAIRWAY COVE, AND THE NORTHERLY LINE OF TRACT 19, OF THE AFOREMENTIONED METROWEST UNIT TWO; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY ALONG SAID NORTHERLY LINE OF TRACT 19, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHEASTERLY CORNER OF HAWKSNEST, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 21, PAGES 138-139, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN SOUTHWESTERLY AND WESTERLY ALONG THE NORTHERLY LINE OF SAID HAWKSNEST, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE WEST LINE OF THE NORTHEAST ¼, OF NORTHWEST ¼, OF AFORESAID SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST, AND WEST LINE OF SAID HAWKSNEST; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE WESTERLY PROJECTION OF SAID NORTHERLY LINE OF HAWKSNEST TO THE INTERSECTION WITH CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EDGEWOOD RANCH ROAD; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF EDGEWOOD RANCH ROAD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼, OF THE NORTHWEST ¼, OF SAID SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN WEST ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼, AND SOUTH LINE OF ADDRESS 7990 STEER LAKE ROAD, FLORIDA GAS AND TRANSMISSION COMPANY, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE EAST LINE OF METROWEST TRACT 23, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 20, PAGE30, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND WEST LINE OF SAID NORTHWEST ¼, OF SECTION 2, TOWNSHIP 23 SOUTH, RANGE 28 EAST; THENCE RUN NORTH ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF SAID METROWEST TRACT 23, AND SAID WEST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼, TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTHERLY PROJECTION OF THE EAST LINE OF METROWEST TRACT 23 AND CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STEER LAKE ROAD, AND THE POINT OF BEGINNING.
ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 8
BEGIN AT THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT OF WAY OF SOUTH JOHN YOUNG PARKWAY (STATE ROAD 423)WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT OF WAY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA PARKWAY; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA PARKWAY TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROCKET BOULEVARD; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF ROCKET BOULEVARD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS TO THE POINT
OF CURVATURE OF THE CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS; THENCE CONTINUE NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS AND THE ARC OF THE CURVE TO THE POINT OF TANGENCY OF THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS AND ALSO BEING THE EAST LINE OF SECTION 11, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH, PAGE 29
EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG SAID EAST LINE OF SAID SECTION 11 AND THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHTOF-WAY OF CSX SPUR RAILROAD TRACKS TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID SECTION 11 AND THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SECTION 13, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH RANGE 29 EAST AND NORTHEAST CORNER OF SECTION 14, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH, RANGE 29 EAST; THENCE RUN EAST ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF SAID SECTION 13, AND SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH, RANGE 30 EAST TO THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF SECTION 18, TOWNSHIP 24 SOUTH, RANGE 30
EAST; THENCE RUN SOUTH ALONG THE EAST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ OF THE NORTHWEST ¼ TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OUC RAILROAD TRACKS; THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF OUC RAILROAD TRACKS TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF OIA (ALSO KNOWN AS ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT) BYPASS CANAL, AS DESCRIBED IN OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 3762, PAGE 2733 AND OFFICIAL RECORD BOOK 3762, PAGE 2737, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY AND EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF OIA BYPASS CANAL TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF JEFF FUQUA BOULEVARD; THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF JEFF FUQUA BOULEVARD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE TO HEINTZELMAN BOULEVARD; THENCE RUN EASTERLY AND NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF HEINTZELMAN BOULEVARD TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF WAY OF STATE ROAD 528 (ALSO KNOWN AS THE BEACHLINE EXPRESSWAY); THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 528 (ALSO KNOWN AS THE BEACHLINE EXPRESSWAY) TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE THREAD OF THE ECONLOCKHATCHEE RIVER; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE THREAD OF SAID ECONLOCKHATCHEE RIVER TO ITS INTERSECTION WITH THE NORTH LINE OF TOWNSHIP 25 SOUTH, RANGE 34 EAST; THENCE RUN WESTERLY ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF SAID TOWNSHIP 25 SOUTH (ALSO BEING THE SOUTHERLY BOUNDARY OF ORANGE COUNTY AS DESCRIBED IN SAID FLORIDA STATUTES TITLE II, CHAPTER 7) TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INTERSTATE 4 (ALSO KNOWN AS STATE ROAD 400); THENCE RUN NORTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF INTERSTATE 4 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF STATE ROAD 528 (ALSO KNOWN AS THE BEACHLINE EXPRESSWAY); THENCE RUN EASTERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF STATE ROAD 528 TO THE INTERSECTION WITH THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OF SOUTH JOHN YOUNG PARKWAY; THENCE RUN SOUTHERLY ALONG THE CENTERLINE OF RIGHT-OFWAY OF SOUTH JOHN YOUNG PARKWAY TO THE POINT OF BEGINNING.
Anyone in doubt as to which County Commission District they reside in may either contact the office of the Supervisor of Elections at (407) 836-2070, or visit the County’s redistricting website at https://www.ocfl net/OpenGovernment/ Redistricting2025.aspx.
STATE OF FLORIDA §:
COUNTY OF ORANGE
THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the “Description of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners District Boundaries” prepared by the Orange County Data Center/GIS Department and adopted by the Board of County Commissioners at their regular meeting held October 14, 2025, which is on file in the office of the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereby set my hand and official seal of the Board of County Commissioners this 12th day of June 2026.
PHIL DIAMOND, COUNTY COMPTROLLER AS CLERK OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA
BY:__________________________
DEPUTY CLERK
Published: June 18 and 25, 2026
Certify: Description of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners District Boundaries adopted October 14, 2025
SPORTS
1Gymnastics USA’s Ori Reilly represented Team USA at the 2026 Junior Pan American Championships Thursday, June 18, to Sunday, June 20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reilly won a silver medal on junior’s high bars by scoring 12.533 and a bronze medal on junior’s parallel bars with a score of 12.733.
“Your hard work, dedication and determination continue to inspire the next generation of gymnasts,” Gymnastics USA officials wrote on social media.
“We couldn’t be more proud to see you competing on the international stage and bringing home hardware for Team USA.”
Team USA won the championships overall with a total team score of 224.394.
2
Orlando Area Rowing Society competed in USRowing Youth Nationals Thursday, June 11, through Sunday, June 14. It was OARS’ largest and final regatta of the 2026 season. Two boats placed in the top 10. Junior pair Anna and Maija Andert rowed for OARS’ WY2- boat and made it to the A Final before finishing fourth in the nation. Last year the pair finished seventh. They were .11 seconds out of a bronze medal and .53 seconds behind silver. OARS’ A WY4- boat, which has no coxswain so the boat seat rower steers it, also made it to the A Final and placed sixth. Olympia High junior Ellie Mae Matej, Windermere High junior Emily Schurr and Horizon High sophomore Sofia Johnson and senior Liv Johnson rowed the boat. Full OARS Results: WY2-: fourth, WY4- A: sixth, WY4- B: 23rd, WY4+: 15th, WU174x: 19th, MU178+: 20th, MY2V8+: 22nd, and MYV8+: 26th.
3
The Dr. Phillips Little League Senior All-Star team captured the championship of the District 14 Senior All-Star Tournament Thursday, June 18. DPLL defeated Windermere Little League 7-2 to earn the title. South Lake Little League and Windermere Little League hosted the district tournament. It included five teams — Apopka, Dr. Phillips, South Lake, Winter Garden and Windermere. DPLL’s next stop is sectionals.
4
Windermere Little League’s All-Stars 10U softball team won the District 14 Championship 14-4 over Dr. Phillips Little League Sunday, June 14. DPLL hosted the tournament. Windermere advanced to sectionals, which will be Saturday, June 27.
5Before the Winter Garden Squeeze’s starting lineup walked onto the ball field for the 7 p.m. pitch Saturday, June 20, players walked onto the field with their fathers, who threw the ceremonial opening pitch to their sons. In front of their families, the Squeeze dominated on its home field and pulled away with a 6-3 win over the Leesburg Lightning. With the win, the Squeeze finished the three-game series 2-1. Not only did the game honor fathers for the Father’s Day weekend, but also it was carefully decorated with cornhusks in honor of the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”
The Squeeze will host a golf tournament from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 27, at PopStroke Hamlin. Tickets begin at $40 per individual play and go up to $125 for a foursome.
TAYLOR -MADE
407Basketball’s Josiah Taylor is ranked No. 5 in Florida for the Class of 2032 players. His journey has been shaped through his role model, his father, Terrance Taylor.
MEGAN BRUINSMA STAFF WRITER
At the End of Summer Slam basketball tour nament in July 2025, head coach and 407Basketball’s Director of Operations Terrance Taylor watched his team trail against a competitive team.
He scanned the bench and saw his now 12-year-old son Josiah Taylor on the bench. Terrance Taylor told Josiah to check in. Josiah stepped onto the court as a different player. He came in, hit three 3-pointers, made stops on defense and dished the ball out to his teammates extremely well. The team came back to win the game.
Josiah’s determination to win the game came from more than his desire to win but also the watching eyes of his dad.
“It’s a self desire but you want to make me
Host families anchor summer baseball
Karen and Jerry Faye served as a host family for many years for the Winter Garden Squeeze players.
Coverage sponsored by:
MEGAN BRUINSMA STAFF WRITER
Over the four to six years as a host family for the Winter Garden Squeeze players, Windermere’s Karen and Jerry Faye never saw much of the busy collegiate baseball players who were running around town for games or training in the gym.
But when they were home, Jerry Faye always loved taking the boys out on their boat for a fishing day.
“One of their fathers owned a fish camp, so he loved fishing, and the other didn’t know one end of a fishing pole from the other,” Jerry Faye said. “He was the one (who) caught the most fish.”
They also occasionally played pool games together, running tournaments and creating lifelong memories.
The fond memories are why the Fayes still reach out to their former “children” on their birthdays or when they celebrate a new life accomplishment. They also are a reason the Fayes continued to host.
At one point over the years, the Fayes had three players staying in their home — the Texas boys. Two of the players took the two twin beds in the bedroom, while their friend frequently spent nights in the home.
They had another player from the Dominican Republic who was a wonderful cook and treated the Fayes with plantains, and another who despite his large stature was terrified of dogs.
Although they aren’t currently hosting due to frequent travel that limits them to a few days home per week, they would love to do it again once their summers open back up.
“We would highly recommend (hosting),” Karen Faye said. “I wish more people would do it and I wish
Karen Faye developed her deep love for baseball when she was about 10
Her father used to take a group of neighborhood kids down to the ball park two or three times per summer. They traveled by streetcar to Forbes Field and would sit out in right or left field and enjoy popcorn, Coca-Cola and the game attractions. Her father parked himself in a seat behind home
Throughout Karen Faye’s life, she continued to grow as a baseball fanatic — even going to Fenway Park with her family for her 70th birthday. Living in West Orange County was the perfect location to continue her support of
Karen Faye began following West Orange High’s baseball team, watching them grow throughout their years as a Warrior and watched them on the big screen as collegiate players in the College World Series. Jerry Faye never was a big baseball fan himself, but through Karen’s love, he, too, developed his own love for the game. When the Winter Garden Squeeze came to the area in 2014, it was a no-brainer for Karen Faye to begin
Giovanni Veloquio, a 10-year-old, won the state championship and other tournaments in his season with GGS Soccer Academy’s 2015 Boys Gold team. Page 2B.
Father-son duo Josiah Taylor and Terrance Taylor have been working together for years and developed Josiah into one of the most productive rising seventh-graders in Florida.
THE WEEK
Giovanni Veloquio
At 10 years old, Giovanni Veloquio has played a pivotal role on Ocoee’s Golden Goal Sports Soccer Academy’s U11 2015 Boys Gold team.
He has played soccer for seven years and celebrated an accomplished U11 season with a firstplace finish at the Region B Finals of the Commissioner’s Cup in March, which advanced the team to the statewide finals. The team went on to win the Commissioners Cup State Championship in a penalty shootout 6-5 Sunday, April 26.
After winning the state championship, the team won the Disney Memorial Day tournament Monday, May 25. Veloquio’s dedication to improve himself all season and his hunger to win was a huge part of the team’s overall success. He will continue to work on his craft as summer training occurs to return as an even more well-developed young soccer player.
“Every great team has players who inspire those around them, and Giovanni has been exactly that for our 2015 Boys Gold team,” said Marconi Machado, co-founder and director of operations. “His passion for the game, commitment to improving every day and desire to win have been instrumental in our path to the state championship. Beyond his goals and performances, it is his work
Age: 10 Grade: Fifth
Zellwood Elementary Club: GGS Soccer Academy
How would you describe yourself as a teammate?
Good, friendly and supportive.
What advice would you give someone who just joined soccer?
To never give up and keep your head up.
If you were a coach, what speech would you give the team?
To never give up, do your best and have fun.
What is your pre-game ritual?
(Saying) “Let’s go guys we can win this” and never give up. If you lose the ball, get it back.
If you could pick a different sport, what would it be? Why?
Basketball because my dad use to play it, and I play it sometimes with my brother and it is fun.
What is something new you’d like to learn?
How to become better at soccer.
Where would you want to live if
A different home plate
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
supporting their journey.
Karen Faye used to volunteer in the booster section at West Orange High for football games, which is where she and Winter Garden Squeeze General Manager Adam Bates met. He approached the Fayes with an offer to become a host family.
The Fayes jumped on it.
They were familiar with the concept of being a host family — Karen Faye’s sister used to have it up in North Carolina for the summer collegiate baseball program in the state. With the Fayes’ children out of the house and an extra bedroom, they had no problem welcoming a Squeeze player.
“They come from wherever they are,” Karen Faye said. “Then during College World Series time, we get to watch them, the teams that are still playing. … It’s fun to get to see what they’re doing.”
The players never were any trouble.
“For them just to pack up and move hundreds of miles to live with a family that they have no idea, living with (the family) is kind of a shot in the,” Jerry Faye said.
The Fayes gave the players their own keys, and only asked to know what time they would be home at night on non-game days. Players’ parents even would come down to watch games once in a while, and the Fayes got to know the players’ families, friends and girlfriends.
“One brought his girlfriend,” Karen Faye said. “He had to sleep on the couch while she slept in the bed-
room, because we weren’t allowing them together. I promised her mother that wasn’t going to happen, and he ended up marrying her.”
GOOD FOR THE COMMUNITY
Outside of hosting, the Fayes follow the Squeeze whenever they have the time. They have traveled to Leesburg once and also to DeLand. Karen Faye remembered when the Squeeze used to have a Squeeze Off between the kids, which was a fun challenge between innings to see which kid could squeeze the most oranges. Children used to scramble to chase after a ball a Squeeze player hit out of bounds, and whoever retrieved it first and brought it back to the concession stand would
Son follows in dad’s
hardwood footsteps
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
proud,” Terrance Taylor said to Josiah who nodded in agreement.
Inside the walls of 407Basketball’s facility in Ocoee, the pair have been working together as Josiah fine tunes his craft to work toward becoming a future professional.
Just like his dad, who played overseas for the Dominican Republic.
BECOMING AN ICON
In New York, everyone plays basketball, Terrance Taylor said. He grew up in that environment and picked up the ball when he was 13 years old and never put it back down. A neighborhood rival frequently outplayed him on the court. Rather than being discouraged, he used the losses as motivation.
“I would go home every day and work so hard on my skills that eventually I was able to beat him,” he said. “Once I was able to accomplish that, I fell in love with the game even more.”
His commitment carried him through high school basketball, four years of college basketball and eventually to playing professionally for the Dominican Republic for about four years. Playing overseas exposed Terrance Taylor to a higher level of competition and gave him a new perspective on the sport.
“It’s bigger than just playing a game,” he said. “You have to be committed beyond the sport. You can’t get homesick. You have to be all about it.”
Although his playing career eventually came to an end about 15 years ago, his desire to work within the sport and teach it grew — and so did his children.
Josiah began playing basketball competitively when he was 7 years old. He has been inspired by his dad’s pathway into the sport professionally and already has begun to think of how he can follow suit. His focus is on the years ahead and the tournaments that lie in his pathway.
The two share a similar competitive nature and displeasure with compliance.
Josiah already is ranked No. 5 in Florida for the Class of 2032 players.
“The game just comes to me,” he said.
While his ranking gives him confidence, it also reminds him of the work that’s left to do. Being No. 5 means there still are four players ahead of him, and he is determined for it to change. Josiah’s work ethic and ability to never be satisfied with the work he has put in is one of his most desirable qualities that sets him apart from others, Terrance Taylor said.
“He’s coachable,” Terrance Taylor said. “He has a great attitude. He’s an introvert … he’s a good kid and he shares with his (teammates). He doesn’t pull anyone down.”
SHAPING HIS DEVELOPMENT
Terrance Taylor began coaching for Windermere Basketball Academy before it transitioned to 407Basketball in January. There, he works to provide the young athletes with guidance he wishes he had received when he was in their shoes.
“I was self-taught,” he said.
“There are certain things that I wish I had when I was young. I want to give that back to the kids.”
Among the many athletes he sees on a daily basis at 407Basketball is Josiah, and Terrance Taylor has been able to translate his lessons to develop his son into the accomplished rising seventh-grade player he is.
Josiah already is competing on a team filled with players who are two grade levels older than him, which shows his strengths but also his weaknesses.
His biggest area for growth is decision-making, both Taylors said.
“The speed and strength forces him to think,” Terrance Taylor said of Josiah playing with older players. “His decision-making is iffy at
receive a candy bar or small treat.
The Fayes especially loved bringing their grandkids down to the ball park. Karen Faye remembered one time when the grandkids were really little and running up and down the ball park, Jerry Faye told them to be quiet and careful, but she reminded him “That’s what a ballpark is about.”
The Squeeze’s ballpark has been enriching the lives of the community members and shaping their experience during the summer since 2014.
“It’s good for the little kids to see what big kids have to go through whenever they’re playing ball because it’s a commitment,” Karen Faye said.
times, but I know it’s because he’s young and learning.”
When Terrance Taylor was coaching Josiah’s team, they’d spend between eight and 12 hours per week together and treated basketball almost as a part-time job. Josiah has intentionally been put into drills that challenge his way of thinking.
“I try to put him in fast, sped-up moments where he has to play really fast but still think,” Terrance Taylor said. “That’s when you’re going to make the most mistakes, when you’re going faster than you can process. So that’s what I try to put into those (drills) and then I also try to create obstacles when he’s training to know where his area is to make passes.”
407Basketball’s new facility in Ocoee has been a phenomenal place to help hone-in on Josiah’s development. He has access to turf training, sprint work, weight lifting and athletic testing, which has given him measurable and attainable results and goals.
STATISTICS AND LOGISTICS
In four months, Josiah’s vertical jump has improved from 26 inches to 33 inches. He also has cut down his 10-yard dash from 1.39 seconds to 1.25 seconds. Seeing the numbers improve have reinforced Josiah in the efforts of his training.
Josiah can’t pinpoint exactly why the sport calls to him over others, but he has a deep love for it. This summer has allowed him to branch out for the first time through 407Sports’ summer camps.
Terrance Taylor said Josiah’s participation in football and other sports camps such as soccer will help him to become a more complete athlete, and it’s another important part of his development.
But it also secured Josiah’s belief that basketball is his calling.
Besides his dad as a figure he looks up to, Josiah’s favorite player is the Golden State Warriors’ guard Steph Curry. Watching Curry’s games and other college or NBA games always is intentional.
The Taylors watch games together and frequently will pause them to analyze what the professionals are doing. Terrance Taylor breaks down the plays and decisions NBA players make to Josiah as an example of what to do in high-stake situations.
“I try to prepare him for it as much as I can because he’s young,” Terrance Taylor said. “I might show him this moment, but it might go in one ear and out the next. The more I keep repeating and being repetitive, he’ll eventually catch on again so that’s why I try to (show) any situation I see that he’s either seen it before or he’ll probably see it in the future.”
In the meantime, Josiah will work with his dad to becoming No. 1 in the state.
Photo by Megan Bruinsma
Karen and Jerry Faye were given a signed broken wooden baseball bat from one of the Winter Garden Squeeze players they hosted years ago.
Knightmares wrap up dream first season
The Ocoee club volleyball team had a successful first season and just competed in the AAU National Championships, the largest volleyball tournament in the country.
KNIGHTMARES
2026-2027 SEASON TRYOUTS
WHEN: 12U: 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 30; 13U: 7:45 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 30; 14U and makeups: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 7.
DETAILS: Players are based on age as of July 1, 2027. The tryouts include mini club and club season with no tryout fee. Club information will be discussed at tryouts and check-in is 15 minutes before each tryout.
INFORMATION: Club Director Alex Gonzalez at agonzalez@ocoee.com
MEGAN BRUINSMA STAFF WRITER
For the first time, the players of the Ocoee Knightmares 13U and 14U club volleyball teams stepped into the Orlando Convention Center for the largest court of their career: the AAU National Championships.
It is the world’s largest volleyball tournament held over 24 days. And unlike their other tournaments that have four to eight courts, AAU championships boasted more than 150 courts lined with spectator seating, dozens of vendors and high-level competition from around the country.
The teams competed in two waves, 13U in Classic from Tuesday, June 16, to Friday, June 19; and the 14U team in Club from Saturday, June 20, to Tuesday, June 23.
“They definitely lost to a lot of teams that they should have (beaten),” Club Director Alex Gonzalez said. “But it happens, but overall they competed for most of the games and I was proud of them. The games that they were able to compete in — even though they didn’t win (all of them) — the biggest thing is really just to show that you belong there. To show that you competed is the biggest thing.”
The 13U team finished nationals 3-9, while the 14U was 4-7. Gonzalez said rather than nerves, the girls experienced pure excitement playing on the biggest stage, especially the three 11-year-olds playing on the 12U team. They came ready to compete after seven months of club season before nationals. He
said the girls especially loved participating in the theme days. The first day was Camo Day, day two was Pink Drip Day, day three was Pajama Day, and day four was Live Aloha Day to send a sweet goodbye to the competition.
It was the perfect way to close out the Ocoee Knightmares’ first season.
The Ocoee Parks and Recreation Department created the team as an expansion of its rec volleyball, allowing the girls to experience the freedom and higher competition a club volleyball team brings in a local, family-based setting. It all began when Gonzalez saw the talent Ocoee’s rec teams had and wanted to give them the opportunity to fine tune their skills for a lower cost than traditional club teams.
Gonzalez used to work as an intern for AAU before working for Ocoee’s Parks and Recreation and saw firsthand how all of the registration worked. Now, he returned as a coach and coached the 13U team alone for the first day before being an assistant for the next three days.
“It’s cool to see both sides of it and now from a player and coach’s side, it’s really cool to see,” he said. “And I could see why everyone comes from across the (United States) to come to this tournament because for the girls I feel like this is something you’re always going to remember. (When) you are 30 years old, you could say, ‘OK, I played at the biggest tournament in the world that year.’”
Over the seven months of the Knightmares’ first season, the girls went through a drastic evolution. It was the girls’ first time playing club. They only were used to rec ball, which doesn’t run a 5-1 or a 6-2 rotation on the court, rather it’s focused on simply getting the ball over the net.
In the first few months, the girls worked to break that habit.
They learned how to run rotations and all of the basics, but now they knew exactly where they should be and were able to even tell their teammates where they should be on the court.
“The development was pretty crazy to see,” Gonzalez said. “It was a long
seven-month journey, but where they came from was almost a year ago to not even knowing what a 5-1 is to now, where I feel like if there was a new girl (who) came in, I can have any of my girls teach it to the new girl.”
The growth and success the two Knightmares teams had in their first year is why the club will be expanding to three teams — 12U, 13U and 14U — for the upcoming season.
Three of the players on the current 13U team only are 11 years old, meaning they could play on a 12U team next season, which is what led to the decision to make one.
There are a lot of younger talented girls in Ocoee’s rec program, and Gonzalez said if players begin with the Knightmares when they’re 12U then work up to 14U over the two years, they’ll have the best opportunity for their long-term development. It’ll also give the players extra motivation to work harder since they know there is a place for them in the future.
“A lot of the girls on the rec program, they see the Knightmares, they see the Instagram, they see the girls getting so much better and it draws a lot of interest from not only the players but the parents,” Gonzalez said. “The parents were like ‘Well you know it’s in Ocooe, it’s still part of pretty much the rec program’ so if you are going to go to a club, why not do one that treats the girls not like a number but actually a player and get to know the whole family.”
Photos by Gabriel Gonzalez | @gabriel gonzalezmedia Teammates came together to celebrate a point during one of the Ocoee Knightmares’ 13U team’s games from the four-day tournament. The team played 12 games over the week.
Ocoee Knightmares’ 14U team smiled on the court together for day two of AAU Nationals on Pink Drip themed day.
At
Artemis II represents new era of space travel
The moon isn’t the end goal but rather a checkpoint in humanity’s quest of interplanetary life.
In 1969, we sent humanity to the moon. For the first time, we had left our home planet and stepped onto a completely different world, and we did it with less technology than a smartphone. That one step from Neil Armstrong showed what years of human innovation, perseverance and creativity can do. The Apollo program was by far one of the most ambitious and impactful scientific programs of its time. Inspiring generations of scientists and astronauts to come.
Now, more than 50 years later, we’re trying to do it again, and unlike the Apollo program, Artemis aims to establish permanent human residence on our lunar neighbor. We aren’t just trying to go to the moon. We’re trying to use the moon as a base so that we can travel even farther into the universe.
Artemis II was a key part of that mission. It was the first crewed flight of the Artemis program, sending astronauts around the moon before returning to Earth. Although it didn’t land on the moon, it was a crucial mission to test necessary systems that will — eventually — send us to the moons surface once again.
The Artemis program also shows how much space exploration has grown and evolved. What used to be the effort of just one country is now an international collaboration between NASA, ESA and other agencies. It also uses the most advanced technology possible — way better than what we had during the Apollo era.
Artemis II represents a new era of space travel. We aren’t just trying to prove we can reach the moon anymore. We’re trying to live beyond Earth and explore entirely new planets.
For me, Artemis II genuinely has changed how I think about space and my future. I used to be fascinated by astrobiology and space exploration, but the demands of school and everyday life took over. Especially because, after the space shuttle program ended, it seemed like advancements in space travel suddenly stopped. Any interest I had in space slowly faded into the background. Seeing a completely new generation of lunar missions being planned and carried out reignited my love for space. It made me think seriously about human curiosity and how much of our universe there is to explore. Artemis II is part of a larger plan to land on the moon, build a base there and eventually reach all the way to Mars. In a way, Artemis II brought back the desire to see what’s beyond our home planet. Seeing new astronauts set records and reach milestones has inspired me to follow my own dreams when it comes to space.
Whether I end up pursuing astrobiology or even become an astronaut, this has reminded me that space exploration is still ongoing. There are so many plans and so much to discover. The moon isn’t the end goal. It isn’t the farthest we can reach. It’s a checkpoint to reach farther than we ever have before.
KATE RICHARDSON FOUNDATION ACADEMY
Courtesy of Frank Michaux | NASA
Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen stood in the white room on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at Kennedy Space Center.
Courtesy of NASA
The lunar surface fills the frame in sharp detail, as seen during the Artemis II lunar flyby, while a distant Earth sets in the background. This image was captured at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, just three minutes before the Orion went behind the moon.
SUMMER SCHOOL ZONE
RUNNING ON EMPTY: Why so many teens are burning out
EVELYN SCHORR
MONTVERDE ACADEMY
For numerous students, junior year has long been considered the most challenging chapter of high school. Between standardized tests, advanced coursework, leadership positions and college applications looming on the horizon, stress is expected. What myriad educators, parents and children are beginning to notice, however, is that exhaustion is no longer waiting until junior year to appear. Instead, it is arriving earlier.
Across high-achieving school districts, learners are reporting feelings of exhaustion, stress and emotional fatigue as early as freshman and sophomore year. What was once considered a temporary period of academic pressure has evolved into a chronic experience that multiple teenagers carry throughout their entire high school career.
The modern high school experience has changed dramatically over the past decade. Competitive university admissions, social media culture and increasing academic expectations have created an environment where kids often feel compelled to build impressive resumes long before they are old enough to drive.
Advanced Placement courses, dual-enrollment programs, leadership positions, volunteer hours, internships, athletic commitments and extracurricular activities are viewed frequently not as opportunities for exploration but rather as necessities for future success.
Although these experiences can be valuable, several academics undergo strain to participate in as countless as possible.
According to school counselors and education experts, this pressure can lead to burnout — a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.
Symptoms often include chronic fatigue, declining motivation, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, irritability and a loss of enjoyment in activities that once felt meaningful.
What makes teen burnout particularly concerning is it often goes unnoticed. Many kids continue to perform well academically while struggling internally. High grades and packed schedules can mask underlying stress, leading adults to assume children are managing fine when they might actually be overwhelmed.
Social media can intensify these
feelings. Platforms filled with acceptance announcements, application posts and carefully curated highlight reels can create the impression that everyone else is succeeding effortlessly. Students might begin comparing their accomplishments, grades or extracurricular involvement to peers, fueling a cycle of selfimposed tension.
“Modern-day social-media platforms that are aimed at highachieving high school students use extremely flashy and unrealistic videos to promote their own collegecounseling services, resulting in an increase in anxiety as well as unrealistic comparisons for young students,” said Samar Kaddoura, a Winter Garden resident and Montverde Academy student.
The culture surrounding achievement also has shifted. Rather than viewing high school as a duration for learning and personal growth, innumerable scholars describe feeling as though every decision must contribute to a future college application. Hobbies become resume builders. Free time becomes productivity time. Rest can feel undeserved.
Experts argue this mindset might be contributing to the rise in student fatigue. While ambition itself is not harmful, constantly operating under the belief that every moment must be productive can leave little room for recovery.
Teachers and counselors emphasize addressing collapse requires more than simply telling students to “stress less.” Instead, schools, families and communities must create environments where balance is encouraged and mental well-being is valued alongside academic success.
Some schools have begun expanding mental-health resources, offering wellness programs and encouraging healthier conversations about achievement. Others are working to challenge the idea that a student’s worth is defined solely by grades, test scores or college acceptances.
For learners, small changes also can make a difference. Setting realistic expectations, prioritizing sleep, maintaining interests outside of academics and allowing time for genuine rest can help reduce the effects of chronic stress.
Ultimately, the growing conversation around teen burnout highlights a larger question: What does success actually mean? For many students, the answer is beginning to evolve. While strong GPAs and future goals remain important, more teenagers are recognizing achievement should not come at the cost of their wellbeing.
As junior year approaches for another class of pupils, perhaps the goal should not be surviving the pressure but creating a culture where young people no longer feel crushed by it in the first place.
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Healthy West Orange rolls with second Summer Bike Parade
hildren toured Oakland while riding cus
for
Alexandra Balda showcased her handmade candles for Red Heart Candles.
Left; Taylor Mitchell and Everleigh Mitchell prepared Everleigh’s bike for the parade.
Declan and Amy Barrett enjoyed playing Connect 4 before the parade began.
Above: Ellie Grace, who is 2, was ready to go in her matching dress and bike colors.
Left: Nathaly Ruiz came prepared with books from the Orange County Library System.
Below: Emily Fryer shared the bread and pastries she makes with her mom for Sheri’s Sourdough N’Such.
Lucas Dicariello rode around the parade in style at 2 years old.
Winter Garden celebrates freedom at Juneteenth bash
the stage to dance as the Gerry Williams Band performed.
Despite the heat, residents came out to Charlie Mae Wilder Park to listen to music, participate in activities and hear inspirational words during the city’s annual Juneteenth Community Celebration Saturday, June 20.
Renee Jones and Dakota Jones attended the event for the first time, enjoying all it had to offer.
“We’ll be back,” Renee Jones said.
Winter Garden City Commissioner Chloe Johnson danced and encouraged others to do the same.
Right: Mary Morss identified Annie Morriss King on the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s board of photos of unnamed people.
Charlie Mae Wilder was decked out to celebrate Juneteenth.
The Seymore and Dorestant families were excited to join the festivities.
Linday Dyson-Smith listened to the Gerry Williams Band with her cousin Anthony Dyson.
Dakota Jones kept the hula hoop going for several minutes.
Left: Winter Garden’s Tifinie Boutot focused on painting flowers on Leah Minoso. “It looks so cute,” Minoso said of her face painting.
Amansion in the Keene’s Pointe community near Windermere topped all West Orange-area residential real-estate transactions from June 1 to 7.
The home at 9121 Tibet Pointe Circle, Windermere, sold June 5, for $13,200,000. Built in 2006, it has six bedrooms, nine baths, two halfbaths and 11,071 square feet of living area. Days on market: Five. The sellers were represented by Jay Martin, Corcoran Premier Realty. These are the highestselling homes in each community in West Orange.
DR. PHILLIPS
BAY HILL
The home at 6208 Donegal Drive, Orlando, sold June 2, for $5,050,000. Built in 2023, it has five bedrooms, five baths, three half-baths and 6,445 square feet of living area. Days on market: 111.
BAY LAKES AT GRANADA
The home at 9017 Esguerra Court, Orlando, sold June 3, for $555,000. Built in 1983, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,697 square feet of living area. Days on market: Three.
BELLA NOTTE AT VIZCAYA
The townhouse at 8407 Via Bella Notte, Orlando, sold June 1, for $590,000. Built in 2003, it has three bedrooms, two-and-onehalf baths and 2,010 square feet of living area. Days on market: Six.
BRENTWOOD CLUB
The home at 8719 Kenmure Cove, Orlando, sold June 2, for $810,000. Built in 1991, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 3,260 square feet of living area. Days on market: 334.
CYPRESS POINT
The home at 9017 Great Heron Circle, Orlando, sold June 5, for $1,425,000. Built in 1992, it has five bedrooms, five baths and 4,261 square feet of living area. Days on market: Three.
PARKVIEW RESERVE
The home at 10336 Parkview Reserve Lane, Orlando, sold June 3, for $1,230,000. Built in 2024, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 3,094 square feet of living area. Days on market: 267.
RUBY LAKE
The home at 10950 Lemon Lake Blvd., Orlando, sold June 1, for $1,361,500. Built in 2018, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 3,260 square feet of living area. Days on market: 32.
SAND LAKE HILLS
The home at 8124 Laurel Tree Drive, Orlando, sold June 4, for $745,950. Built in 1985, it has five bedrooms, three baths and 2,481 square feet of living area. Days on market: 97.
SANDPOINTE TOWNHOMES
The townhouse at 7516 Chapelhill Drive, Orlando, sold June 2, for $510,000. Built in 1989, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,758 square feet of living area. Days on market: Two.
SANDY SPRINGS
The home at 7834 Snowberry Circle, Orlando, sold June 5, for $660,000. Built in 1987, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,242 square feet of living area. Days on market: 12.
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OVERLOOK 2 AT HAMLIN
The home at 15524 Aviation Alley, Winter Garden, sold June 3, for $560,000. Built in 2015, it has three bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 2,414 square feet of living area. Days on market: 25.
SUMMERLAKE
The home at 14019 Snowy Owl Lane, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $564,900. Built in 2015, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,133 square feet of living area. Days on market: Two.
WATERLEIGH
The home at 8911 Sonoma Coast Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $940,000. Built in 2021, it has five bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 3,227 square feet of living area. Days on market: Three.
VIZCAYA HEIGHTS
The condo at 8767 The Esplanade, No. 44, Orlando, sold June 1, for $625,000. Built in 2002, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,328 square feet of living area. Days on market: 22.
WINGROVE ESTATES
The home at 8045 Landgrove Court, Orlando, sold June 5, for $765,000. Built in 1988, it has four bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 2,840 square feet of living area. Days on market: 22.
HORIZON WEST HAMLIN RESERVE
The home at 15518 Sunquat Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 2, for $607,000. Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 2,502 square feet of living area. Days on market: Four.
HIGHLAND RIDGE
The home at 12373 Bracco St., Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $485,000. Built in 2023, it has four bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 2,003 square feet of living area. Days on market: 156.
LAKE HANCOCK PRESERVE
The home at 8066 Bowery Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $569,000. Built in 2017, it has four bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 2,579 square feet of living area. Days on market: 72.
LAKES OF WINDERMERE
The home at 12915 Cragside Lane, Windermere, sold June 2, for $520,000. Built in 2005, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,151 square feet of living area.
NEWBURY PARK
The townhouse at 11733 Fitzgerald Butler Road, Orlando, sold June 5, for $355,000. Built in 2010, it has three bedrooms, two-and-onehalf baths and 1,696 square feet of living area. Days on market: Eight.
ORCHARD PARK AT STILLWATER CROSSING
The home at 3167 Winesap Way, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $550,000. Built in 2016, it has four bedrooms, two baths and 2,115 square feet of living area. Days on market: Eight.
The home at 16167 Hampton Crossing Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $699,500. Built in 2017, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 2,840 square feet of living area. Days on market: 33.
The home at 16136 Wind View Lane, Winter Garden, sold June 4, for $570,000. Built in 2016, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,291 square feet of living area. Days on market: 118.
WATERMARK
The home at 9256 Grand Island Way, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $745,000. Built in 2017, it has four bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 2,507 square feet of living area. Days on market: 25.
WEST LAKE HANCOCK ESTATES
The home at 14626 Black Quill Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $785,000. Built in 2016, it has four bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 2,907 square feet of living area. Days on market: 10.
WINCEY GROVES
The home at 5715 Orange Orchard Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $730,000. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,240 square feet of living area.
The home at 5367 Golden Apple Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $575,000. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,270 square feet of living area. Days on market: 49.
WINDERMERE TRAILS
The home at 11919 Gold Creek Trail, Windermere, sold June 2, for $753,000. Built in 2012, it has four bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 3,102 square feet. The home at 8648 Powder Ridge Trail, Windermere, sold June 4, for $475,000. Built in 2014, it has three bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 1,876 square feet of living area. Days on market: 112.
OCOEE CROSS CREEK
The home at 325 Longshadows Court, Ocoee, sold June 4, for $474,000. Built in 1996, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,870 square feet of living area. Days on market: Seven.
Victor Quintero
The home at 9121 Tibet Pointe Circle, Windermere, sold June 5, for $13,200,000. This estate showcases a resort-style pool complete with slide, waterfall, div-
ing rock, swim-up seating and a fireside lounge. The sellers were represented by Jay Martin, Corcoran Premier Realty.
the largest transaction in Ocoee from June 1 to
The sellers were represented by Matt McKee, Compass Florida LLC.
GLADES AT SYLVAN LAKE
The home at 2714 Plumberry Ave., Ocoee, sold June 5, for $540,000. Built in 2004, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 3,807 square feet of living area. Days on market: 46.
GREENS AT FOREST LAKE
The townhouse at 1045 Desert Candle Drive, Ocoee, sold June 1, for $335,000. Built in 2021, it has three bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 1,570 square feet of living area. Days on market: 75.
KENSINGTON MANOR
The home at 1730 Palmerston Circle, Ocoee, sold June 5, for $479,900. Built in 2006, it has five bedrooms, four baths and 2,944 square feet of living area. Days on market: 83.
LAKESIDE HEIGHTS
The home at 1079 N. Lakewood Ave., Ocoee, sold June 2, for $269,500. Built in 1990, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,314 square feet of living area. Days on market: 60.
NORTH OCOEE ADDITION
The home at 1637 N. Lakewood Ave., Ocoee, sold June 3, for $329,000. Built in 1994, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,300 square feet of living area. Days on market: Seven.
VILLAGES AT WESMERE
The townhouse at 2081 Leather Fern Drive, Ocoee, sold June 1, for $389,000. Built in 2012, it has three bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 1,906 square feet of living area. Days on market: 35.
WENTWORTH
The townhouse at 2227 Brancaster Circle, Ocoee, sold June 4, for $255,000. Built in 2004, it has two bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 1,251 square feet of living area. Days on market: 47.
WESTYN BAY
The home at 3127 Piccolo Court, Ocoee, sold June 1, for $675,000. Built in 2014, it has four bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 3,637 square feet of living area. Days on market: 109.
SOUTHWEST ORANGE
CYPRESS CHASE
The home at 9149 Pecky Cypress Way, Orlando, sold June 3, for $695,000. Built in 2004, it has four bedrooms, two-and-one-half baths and 2,969 square feet of living area. Days on market: 20.
ROYAL CYPRESS RESERVE
The home at 10475 Royal Cypress Way, Orlando, sold June 4, for $1,138,500. Built in 2020, it has four bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 3,970 square feet of living area. Days on market: 61.
WEST ORANGE
GLENMUIR
The home at 11208 Ledgement Lane, Windermere, sold June 1, for $970,000. Built in 2002, it has five bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 2,788 square feet of living area. Days on market: 131.
WINDERMERE
KEENE’S POINTE
The home at 9121 Tibet Pointe Circle, Windermere, sold June 5, for $13,200,000. Built in 2006, it has six bedrooms, nine baths, two halfbaths and 11,071 square feet of living area. Days on market: Five.
The home at 11334 Camden Loop Way, Windermere, sold June 1, for $1,200,000. Built in 2005, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 3,021 square feet. Days on market: 122.
TOWN OF WINDERMERE
The home at 4 Chase Road, Windermere, sold June 2, for $900,000. Built in 1971, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,386 square feet of living area. Days on market: 62.
WINTER GARDEN
AVALON RESERVE
The home at 1073 Vinsetta Circle, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $700,000. Built in 2014, it has five bedrooms, three-and-one-half baths and 3,568 square feet of living area. Days on market: 265.
BURCHSHIRE
The home at 636 S. Park Ave., Winter Garden, sold June 2, for $230,000. Built in 1953, it has four bedrooms, two baths and 1,272 square feet of living area. Days on market: Nine.
CANOPY OAKS
The home at 743 Canopy Estates Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $1,499,999. Built in 2018, it has five bedrooms, five baths, two halfbaths and 4,283 square feet of living area. Days on market: 14.
The home at 671 Canopy Estates Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $1,295,000. Built in 2019, it has five bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 4,490 square feet of living area. Days on market: 39.
CARRIAGE POINTE
The home at 1923 Jean Marie Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $570,000. Built in 2007, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,916 square feet. Days on market: 88.
COVINGTON PARK
The home at 312 Silverdale Ave., Winter Garden, sold June 2, for $535,000. Built in 2007, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,950 square feet. Days on market: 21.
EMERALD POINTE
The home at 15783 Tangerine Dream Court, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $2,100,000. Built in 2018, it has five bedrooms, four baths, two halfbaths and 4,478 square feet of living area. Days on market: 55.
G.T. SMITH SUBDIVISION
The home at 408 S. Boyd St., Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $750,000. Built in 1939, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 2,295 square feet of living area. Days on market: 49.
MECHANTS SUBDIVISION
The home at 515 Ninth St., Winter Garden, sold June 3, for $279,000. Built in 1951, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 770 square feet of living area. Days on market: 46.
REGAL POINTE
The home at 375 Regal Downs Circle, Winter Garden, sold June 3, for $340,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,464 square feet of living area. Days on market: 23.
STONEYBROOK WEST
The home at 13900 Fox Glove St., Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $669,000. Built in 2004, it has five bedrooms, three baths and 3,887 square feet of living area. Days on market: 41.
SUNSET LAKES
The home at 13393 Sunset Lakes Circle, Winter Garden, sold June 1, for $831,500. Built in 1994, it has four bedrooms, three baths and 2,186 square feet of living area. Days on market: Eight.
TRADITIONS
The home at 117 Steinbeck St., Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $580,000. Built in 2001, it has four bedrooms, two baths and 1,928 square feet of living area. Days on market: 17.
WINTER GROVE
The home at 318 Crystal Wood Drive, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $1,039,060. Built in 2026, it has five bedrooms, four-and-one-half baths and 3,643 square feet of living area.
realtor.com
The home at 6208 Donegal Drive, Orlando, sold June 2, for $5,050,000. It was the largest transaction in Dr. Phillips from June 1 to 7. The sellers were represented by Joe Newstreet, EXP Realty LLC.
realtor.com
The home at 15783 Tangerine Dream Court, Winter Garden, sold June 5, for $2,100,000. It was the largest transaction in Winter Garden from June 1 to 7. The sellers were represented by Denise Gregorie, Clock Tower Realty.
THE WAYS WE WERE FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION
1936: 90 years ago
Ben Hill Lawson hosted a scavenger hunt, and Jane Ruth Fairchild and Lester Austin were the winners. Some of the items that had to be brought in were a letter from China, a two-cent stamp, a black cat and a bicycle without brakes.
1951: 75 years ago
Trina Stanford accepted a position as director of youth in religious training in the Purity Presbyterian Church of Chester, South Carolina.
1966: 60 years ago
An old landmark was modernized. The John Radens operated a general store for 20 years on Highway 50 just west of the Winter Garden Inn. The property was remodeled and was to open as a Maryland Fried Chicken restaurant franchise.
1971: 55 years ago
Don Shaw, principal of Tildenville Elementary School, presented the seventh annual Annie C. Connell Award to sixth-grader Grady Burch, son of Betty and Joe Burch of Oakland. The award was given in honor of Tildenville’s former principal.
1976: 50 years ago
Downtown Winter Garden businesses were gearing up for the giant two-day garage sale along Plant Street. Modern Stationery was offering half price off picture frames, candles, desk toppers and costume jewelry. Leader Department Store was selling slacks for $4.97 and shoes for the whole family from $1 to $5. Ellis Inc. was advertising deals of GE air conditioners, refrigerators, Lazy Boy recliners and RCA color consoles. And Bernie’s Liquors had discount price tags on many of its bottles.
This 1954 photograph shows Plant Street in downtown Winter Garden with the Cappleman Building in the background. In the past, the Cappleman Building was known as the “clinic building” because many medical offices operated out of it. However, it was not only health care enterprises that called the place home. Other important tenants over the years include the Winter Garden Post Office, Florida Public Service Company and McCord’s Feed Store. Notably, the neon General Electric sign from Dickson’s Appliance store still works and can be seen on the exterior of the building today. Also visible is the railroad crossing sign for the Atlantic Coast Line tracks that once sat in the middle of Plant Street. Today, the West Orange Trail runs along the path of the former tracks. The trail opened in 1994 as part of the wider Rails-to-Trails movement. The tracks were not removed until 1999, so for a few years bikers were riding side-by-side with cargo trains!
The mission of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation is to preserve the heritage and architecture of Winter Garden while creating new cultural experiences. The Foundation also preserves the material culture of West Orange County, using it to educate the area’s youth on the community’s rich history.
1981: 45 years ago
The West Orange Debutantes were announced by the West Orange Junior Service League: Nancy Barber, Joyce Bullman, Heather Field, Wende Gladfelter, Kim Hodge, Sandy Holland, Molly Matheison, Lee Maxey, Karen Moberly, Lissa Munroe, Lisa Pinto, Lynn Robinson, Katrinka Van Deventer and Jenny Voss.
2006: 20 years ago
The town of Windermere settled a lawsuit between two groups of Lake Bessie lakefront residents and the town. The settlement allowed homeowners whose properties face the lake the right to build docks along the town right-of-way. All five Bray Ace Hardware stores celebrated the company’s 100th anniversary with live broadcasts on K-92 FM and WFTV Chan-
THROWBACK
THURSDAY
JULY 1, 1971
If you were having a Fourth of July party in the summer of 1971, your grocery list likely included chips, beans,
nel 9. Giveaways included a $1,500 Weber gas grill and three pairs of tickets to the Pepsi 400.
Jodie Felts Suggs donated to the Winter Garden Heritage Center the pink dress she wore as Homecoming queen at Lakeview High School in 1958.
West Orange 5 advertised its movies: “The Break-Up,” “Garfield 2,” “Fast & Furious 3,” “Cars,” “Click,” and “Superman Returns.”
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SPACE OUT by Zhouqin Burnikel, edited by Jared Goudsmit
By Luis Campos
West Orange Chamber of Commerce Celebrates Business
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the grand opening of AdventHealth Ocoee ER
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the grand opening of AdventHealth Ocoee ER. Located at 7480 W Colonial Dr in Orlando, AdventHealth is expanding access to high-quality, whole-person emergency care in west Orange County with the opening of the AdventHealth Ocoee ER, a new freestanding emergency room designed to care for the rapidly growing community. Rooted in AdventHealth’s mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ, the new emergency room brings trusted, compassionate care closer to where people live and work. The facility helps meet the growing need for timely emergency services. The ER is designed to provide fast, high-quality emergency care in a calm and supportive environment. The AdventHealth Ocoee ER includes Nine private patient rooms, including a pediatric-friendly room; Seven low-acuity treatment bays to support efficient patient flow; Respiratory therapy services; Advanced diagnostic imaging, including CT scans, X-ray and ultrasound; On-site full-service laboratory; and on-site pharmacy for patient convenience. The ER is staffed by a comprehensive clinical team, including board-certified emergency physicians and highly trained emergency nurses, supported by the broader AdventHealth network of specialists. To learn more, visit https://www.adventhealth.com/locations/ emergency-rooms/Ocoee.
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the grand opening of AdventHealth Medical Group Diabetes & Endocrinology
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the grand opening of AdventHealth Medical Group Diabetes & Endocrinology. Located at 1219 Daniels Rd in Winter Garden, the team of board-certified endocrinologists at AdventHealth Medical Group Diabetes & Endocrinology at Winter Garden specializes in metabolic health services including management of prediabetes, gestational diabetes, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In addition to clinical care, their team provides education programs that focus on lifestyle, nutrition and medication self-management. To learn more, visit https://www.adventhealth.com/locations/ practices/adventhealth-medical-group/diabetes.
West Orange Chamber of Commerce celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Wingman Payments
The West Orange Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Wingman Payments. Wingman Payments is a merchant services provider who makes it easy for small and mid-sized businesses to process payments with confidence. They help business owners simplify and accept payments confidently-with the right technology, transparent pricing, and real human support. To learn more, visit https://wingmanpayments.com/.
WEST ORANGE CHAMBER OFFERS 4 NETWORKING GROUPS TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY - DR. PHILLIPS AND THURSDAY - HORIZON WEST To learn more and to register for participation visit wochamber.com/ChamberGroups or call 407-656-1304