representing 120 artists. He recalls, “It gave me everything I wanted and the space to do what I needed.”
From crimson sunsets to shimmering shoreline, St. Pete-Clearwater, Florida looks and feels like a work of art. So, it’s no wonder the destination has drawn creatives from far and wide, earning it the nickname The Arts Coast.
Duncan McClellan, an award-winning glass artist and founder of St. Pete’s Warehouse Arts District, always knew there was something special about St. Pete and saw potential in an old tomato packing plant in an underdeveloped area. There, he would go on to open the Duncan McClellan Gallery—a multifunctional space complete with a gallery, charity and hot shop
Once his vision became a reality, McClellan sought out other artists to join his growing community. As more makers moved in, the Warehouse Arts District was officially named one of St. Pete’s seven arts districts. From the eye-catching murals of the Edge District to the unique storytelling of the Uptown Arts District, each area offers a unique charm, personality and history, and McClellan wanted to be a part of that. “I just started calling it the Warehouse Arts District, and slowly but surely we were able to garner enough artists to put together a board and receive a city designation,” he says.
While each district is bonded by the arts, their social impacts are of equal importance. Take the vibrant Deuces Live District, an area that became a hub for St. Pete’s Black residents, businesses, places of worship and entertainment during segregation. Although the Deuces, named for its 22nd Street location, faced decades of disruption from the construction of Interstate 275, the heart of the community still beats with resiliency, creativity and pride. You can experience this energy for yourself at the annual Tampa Bay Collard Greens Festival,
THERE’S JUST SO MUCH TO DO HERE.
—DUNCAN MCCLELLAN, GALLERY OWNER “ ”
along the African American Heritage Trail, at The Woodson Museum, or over satisfying soul food, cocktails and jazz music.
In addition to these inspiring arts districts, you can’t talk about The Arts Coast without praising the area’s impressive offering of museums. From the breathtaking glass masterpieces of the Chihuly Collection and the Imagine Museum to the worldrenowned Salvador Dalí Museum which McClellan calls “the crown jewel” of St. Pete, art lovers and sunseekers alike will find endless ways to explore the arts through legendary collections and extraordinary exhibits.
While the Sunshine City is aptly named, a great deal of that shine comes from the burgeoning arts scene, where visitors can experience galleries, museums, public art installations, glasswork and so much more. Let’s shine.
Duncan McClellan
The Dalí Museum
Natural Attraction
This summer, Naples Botanical Garden’s exhibitions and attractions are a must-see for any nature enthusiast.
Take a stroll under brightly colored royal poincianas, wander around acres of ponds filled with water lilies, look out for myriad bird species perching in the trees and immerse yourself in the beauty of thousands of orchids blooming throughout Naples Botanical Garden. This tropical showcase, bursting with vibrant hues from bromeliads and begonias, decorated with mangos and bananas and shaded with coconut palms, is the perfect place to gain a deeper connection to the natural world through their world-class botanical exhibits, curated art, community programming and expert staff.
Personal Touch
The 170-acre grounds offer customized experiences for everyone, from the local habitue to the visiting ingenue. Daily expert-led tours are included with admission and can be reserved in advance on naplesgarden.org. Private group options, with a minimum of 15 guests, are also available via paid reservations. Walking tours are a great way to enhance your botanical knowledge, while guided group activities include a takeaway potted plant.
“These tours on curated subjects with an expert staff person to contextualize questions are a
great way to not only discover the Garden within a certain period of time but to get that specialized touch,” says Renée Waller, Director of Marketing and Communications, Naples Botanical Garden.
World of Wonder
Children are drawn to the curiosities of nature, whether it’s the fluttering of a Monarch butterfly’s wings as it sits on a marigold or the throaty croak of a bullfrog coming from the brackish waters of a stream. The Garden offers various family programming, including W.O.N.D.E.R., which stands for Walk, Observe, Navigate, Draw, Explore and Read; a child-friendly interactive experience. W.O.N.D.E.R. is offered in an on-site air-conditioned space Fridays through Mondays, all summer long.
“Every event, tour and program represents the Garden’s mission, not only through the sharing of facts, but through inspiration from action. Often, this action is inspired in the sharing of the Garden’s own conservation works on local beach dunes, saving endangered cacti from the Caribbean or preserving seeds from plants identified as the last remaining few,” Waller says. “Support can be as small as picking up a W.O.N.D.E.R. packet and encouraging children to
learn and love their surroundings or by purchasing a ticket, taking a stroll and getting inspired.”
Curious Creatures
Ever curious about the characteristics of the plants used in making mezcal and tequila? Or how to keep an orchid alive once you’ve brought it home? Dig Deeper is the Garden’s adult version of W.O.N.D.E.R., offering educational programing. For those forever learners who want to dig in at home, video tutorials on many of these topics and more are also available on naplesgarden.org.
In addition to environmental education, birding is another interactive way to maximize a day at the Garden, listed as a “birding hotspot” by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology eBird site with 220 documented species. Bring a notebook, and fill it with your own documentation of the endless sights, sounds and species.
Culture Club
Naples Botanical Garden also features exhibits throughout the year by international and local artists that speak to conservation issues, take inspiration from the vast botanical realm or simply act as an extension of the Garden’s environs.
“Naples is quite the cultural city, with artists like Clyde Butcher, Carmelo Blandino, Paul Arsenault, Ran Adler all having displayed their works in the Garden’s Kapnick Hall. Many of these works have been directly influenced by time spent in the Garden,” says Waller. “This inspiration translates not only to art, but to tours and programming that celebrate the space and activate its stories. Part of that is because of the Garden’s connection to precious local areas, such as the Everglades, and part is inspired by plant highlights from around the world.”
This summer, find awe, enlightenment and inspiration with a visit to Naples Botanical Garden. For updated scheduling and more information on these and other programs, visit naplesgarden.org
Different by design, Lake Nona Wave Hotel is Orland o’s most innovative luxury lifestyle destination. Discover the most advanced t echnology, world-class art, Michelinrecommended cuisine, and so much more. This is the anti-routine, and you are invited.
Smoky Mountain MUSE
This time of year, when many places in the Sunshine State can feel like a hair dryer on full blast, one needs a respite, something beyond what a dip in a backyard pool or a dive into the intracoastal can provide. One needs the chill of clean mountain air as a reminder of how to breathe deeply, the winding trails of a long hike to calm the mind, a cultural immersion in a folk-art festival or class to spark the imagination or just a change of scenery (and of pace) to reenergize the spirit. To find this little slice of solace, all Floridians need to do is head north into the Appalachians, to Cherokee County, North Carolina, to the towns of Andrews and Murphy.
Cherokee county in western North Carolina serves as the perfect summer respite for Floridians wanting to go off grid in the great outdoors and find a little culture, too.
reasons to set up basecamp for a weekend, or perhaps an entire summer, in Cherokee County.
WAYS TO UNWIND
It’s Cherokee County’s proximity to so many legendary spots that make it a good jumping off point for the outdoorsy type, from national parks to hiking trails to waterways.
In the far western reaches of North Carolina, where the state meets Tennessee and Georgia, there's a three-state crossroads where all the reasons to flock north in the summer intersect. From winding through the Great Smoky Mountains on a scenic day drive to soaking up culture at nearby art museums to indulging yourself at local restaurants or (no judgment) simply kicking back to enjoy the Instagram-worthy views from the porch of a charming cabin, we’ve narrowed down some of our top
The Appalachian Trail, a 2,190-mile footpath that traverses the East Coast, begins its journey just 45 minutes north of the center of Cherokee County at Springer Mountain. From that southernmost point, there are dozens of nearby spots to drop in for day hikes. Also nearby is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a haven for cyclists and hikers with 150 trails cutting through native wilderness. There are also plenty of outdoor activities in the surrounding area, especially in the city of Cherokee and the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary, the historical homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Hike within Cherokee County on the Piney Knob Trail System, which ranges from leisurely walks to challenging climbs. Downtown, the Murphy River Walk follows the gentle rapids of the Hiwassee River. Other outdoor points of interest for
hiking, biking or paddling can be found nearby. After a long hike, cool down in one of the multiple lakes and rivers in and around Cherokee County. Today, the Ocoee River (site of the 1996 Olympic slalom course) is home to several whitewater operations offering a variety of trips over the class three and class four rapids. For those looking for more family-friendly rafting experiences or to simply cast for trout from the riverbanks, the Nantahala River is situated on the other side of Cherokee County. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, with its historic locomotive steam engine, connects Bryson City to the Nantahala Gorge, offers open-air seating and is a great way to see the Appalachian Mountains on a road less traveled. Pedal a rail cart with Andrews Valley Rail Tours or ride an e-bike on Nantahala National Forest service roads with Nantahala Adventures.
AN INTERSECTION
OF ARTS AND THE OUTDOORSCherokee
County is known for its thriving creative community nestled in the mountains. The Cherokee County Arts Council and the Valley River Arts Guild offer year-round classes, events, dances and other activities that attract artists and art enthusiasts alike. The Murphy Art Center organizes an Art Walk on the first
Addyson Ward should earn her small engine license this summer at Western Carolina Regional Airport.
Friday of every month from May to December. The Valleytown Cultural Arts and Historical Center is home to the Andrews Art Museum and a historical society that works to provide a venue for performing and visual arts and preserve local history. Tucked in the hills about seven miles southeast of town, the John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in art, music and crafts and a long list of events open to the public, including yoga, tai chi, concerts and set-dancing lessons. Founded in 1925 and modeled after a 19th century Danish folk school, Campbell remains the oldest and largest folk school in the country, attracting visitors, well-known instructors and artists to Cherokee County to teach and take classes.
FLY ON OVER
Delia Turner is a basketry instructor and John C. Campbell Folk School student in pursuit of the handmade life.
It’s not uncommon in western North Carolina summers to see Florida tags on what feels like every other car. It’s like that, too, at the airports. While there are no commercial flights out of Cherokee County’s Western Carolina Regional Airport, Floridians with private planes fly here for their mountain adventures. In recent years, the airport has made improvements to add precision approach lights, self-service pumps and a courtesy car for incoming pilots. There's no restaurant, but drinks and snacks are available—with an honor system for payment.
THE CASINO IN THE VALLEY
The outdoor and art scenes may be the original draw to Cherokee County, but among the biggest attractions these days is the Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel. There's 75,000 square feet of gaming space, with 1,300 slots and 60 traditional game tables. Attached to it is The River Tower, a seven-story hotel with 300 rooms. A $275 million expansion is expected to be completed later this year, adding a 12-story hotel building and another 300 slot machines. There will also be a new 25,000-square-foot room dedicated to World Series of Poker games and a massive 12,000-square-foot rooftop restaurant as well as a spa. Afterward, hopefully with winnings in your pocket, you’ll be heading back out into the western North Carolina mountains of Cherokee County, where the casino, upgraded airport and rich art scene cross paths with the wilds of nature. To learn more, visit CherokeeCountyChamber.com
— summer 2024 — CONTENTS
FEATURES
56 INTO THE WILD BY
CRAIG PITTMAN
Wade into the heart of Florida’s state parks as we unearth the stories and people behind these Sunshine State sanctuaries. Much more than places to camp, hike and float down lazy rivers, each park offers a window into our state’s past and future. Don’t miss our poster by A.B. Newton and Company on page 64, featuring illustrations of all 175 parks.
66
CHAOS RAINS
BY STEVE DOLLAR
Hop in the truck with weather obsessed Mike Boylan and drive straight into a deadly storm, or hunker down in a parking garage with fearless data collector Logan Parham as a hurricane pummels from above. Meet four notable storm chasers with huge online audiences, and learn why these Floridians put themselves into perilous paths.
72
THE NOT-SOTOURISTY GUIDE TO ORLANDO BY
MADDY ZOLLO RUSBOSIN
In recent years, Orlando has shaken off its tourist-trap reputation and traded it in for a luxury glow-up. Get the scoop on the buzziest hoods, chicest hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, upscale shops and world-class entertainment, proving there’s more to O-Town than theme parks.
On the cover:
Climb over arched trees and scattered driftwood for miles on Boneyard Beach inside Big Talbot Island State Park.
Cover Photography by JOSH LETCHWORTH
This page: Paddle out off the coast of Little Talbot Island State Park.
Palmetto Bluff
DEPARTMENTS
page: Take in the
WADING IN
20 /// ONE-ON-ONE: Swim a lap with Olympic athlete Caeleb Dressel.
23 /// THE SPREAD: Put the lime in the coconut with two Miami rumrunners.
27 /// MADE IN FLA: How a Duval County designer keeps his head in the game
32 /// THE STUDIO: Have a laugh and Cuba libres with this Little Havana artist.
35 /// MY FLORIDA: Dive into Florida’s cave scene with Jennifer Adler.
41 /// DIVE BAR: Jacksonville’s JJ Grey riffs on his new album, “Olustee.”
44 /// JUST HATCHED: Twelve brand-new places to dink, dime and get down 50
COLUMNS
50 /// CAPITAL DAME: Bibliophile Diane Roberts gives in to her literary addiction.
83 /// PANHANDLING: Prissy Elrod goes on a stormy, and slightly suspect, anniversary road trip.
104 /// FLORIDA WILD: Summer is the season for Florida’s black bear. Carlton Ward Jr. tells us why. 87
ON THE FLY
89 /// GROVE STAND: The chef behind St. Augustine’s it noodle bar
97 /// DESIGN DISTRICT: Meet DuVäl Reynolds, the King of Kips Bay.
102 /// BIRD’S-EYE VIEW: Apalachicola is ready for her close-up, and here’s where to eat, stay and play.
107 /// THE TIDE: Concerts and cook-offs for the ultimate summer bucket list
112 /// FLORIDIANA: A long-lost message from the Mother of Miami
This
Orlando skyline at the Altira Pool + Lounge in the Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando.
nemacolin.com
844.873.1708
Better & Better
With reimagined hotels, fresh restaurants, and all-new experiences, Nemacolin resort has blossomed like never before — and the changes around the corner are even more exciting. Reserve your stay today, and get ready for a mountain of surprises.
EDITOR’S
INa sleepy Central Florida town, about 45 miles outside of Tampa, lies a 400-foot-deep freshwater cave system—the deepest known in the nation. Every day, 117 million gallons of 74-degree water bubble up from the subterranean aquifer into a limestone basin. This natural spring is also the only place on Earth where certified, real-life mermaids have been performing synchronized water ballet below 16 feet of crystal-clear water for the past 76 years.
One of my favorite family memories is making the pilgrimage in the summer of 2016 with my daughters, then 4 and 8, to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. The three of us sat in awe inside the chilly, 400-seat underground theater while the mermaids swished their purple tails, swirled in their iconic circle formation, sipped compressed air from hoses and even drank a Coke underwater as part of the show. Equal parts kitsch and geological phenomenon, this natural spring is on the National Register of Historic Places and a bucket-list experience for any Floridian. And while the mermaids are pure entertainment, they shine a light on one of Florida’s most precious resources and sources of drinking water that must continue to be protected.
Weeki Wachee Springs is one of Florida’s 175 state parks, which include historic
where will you go?
sites like the more than 1,000-year-old Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park, pristine shorelines like the driftwood strewn Boneyard Beach at Big Talbot Island State Park (on our cover) and geological wonders like the 120-foot-deep sinkhole at Devil’s Millhopper State Park. It’s easy to take state parks for granted, maybe because they are inexpensive and accessible, but the truth is, these are priceless preserves.
In the cover story of our Summer 2024 Adventure Issue, we unravel the natural curiosities, historical significance and even family dramas that gave rise to these Sunshine State sanctuaries. As a gift to readers, we also partnered with the design team at A.B. Newton and Company to create a pullout poster mapping all the parks and their signature characteristics. We hope this summer (or maybe the next five) you’ll use the map as a checklist to visit them all, from Perdido Key State Park in the northwest corner of Florida to Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys.
With the arrival of summer also comes hurricane season—a stark reality of life in Florida—and this year is predicted to be one of the most active in recent history. In the spirit of our Adventure Issue, we go into the proverbial eye of the hurricane with a cadre of storm chasers, including Mike Boylan of Mike’s Weather Page, who has become an oracle to his vast online audience hanging on his every data point.
Next, we take shelter from the storms to bring you an insider’s look at one of Florida’s greatest cities, often dismissed as the ultimate tourist trap. In our Orlando travel story, we debunk the stereotypes and share its hidden gems, high-end hangouts
and buzzworthy neighborhoods. Even if your summer plans don’t include a visit to the theme parks, we promise you’ll want to go to the not-so-touristy O-Town.
Finally, we venture over to the Gulf Coast to hunt for scallops and snorkel in the seagrass underneath Pasco County’s iconic stilt houses in an online exclusive published on flamingomag.com. Scan the QR code on page 18 to meet Capt. Mark Dillingham and dive into this classic summer pastime. Throughout this issue, we bring you conversations with extraordinary Floridians across the peninsula. We swim a lap with Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel, nosh on gourmet ramen with St. Augustine chef Barry Honan, delight in the colors of Little Havana with artist Tony Mendoza and wander the stacks of The Lynx bookstore with author and owner Lauren Groff. There’s an adventure in our pages for everyone, from the bibliophile to the backcountry explorer. In the process of creating Vol. 25, I learned a lot about our state—as I always do—but especially about Florida’s state parks. These recreational refuges are much more than places to hike, camp, surf or see a mermaid show. Drifting among the oak hammocks and the crystal spring waters are important lessons that reveal a window into our past and future. There’s something almost magical about spending time on these protected public lands. So, I challenge you to pick a spot you’ve never visited on our state parks map, right now. The question is: Where will you go?
Editor in Chief & Publisher
let us know what you think. Email me at jamie@flamingomag.com
FLORIDA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION LICENSE PLATE
Add a splash of adventure to your ride with the “Explore Our State Parks” specialty license plate from the Florida State Parks Foundation. These $33 plates depict a perfect paddle down a Florida waterway surrounded by cypress trees and a few locals, including an alligator, a turtle and a sandhill crane. With dollars going directly to the foundation, donning this ecofriendly tag is a no-brainer and makes it easy to roll up to one of the 175 state parks in style.
PRODUCTS + PROMOTIONS
THE SLICE
FREEHAND GOODS STATE PARKS COLLECTION
Wear your heart on your sleeve, or the front of your T-shirt, with this artfully designed ode to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. This Orlando-based apparel brand’s latest collection with artist and designer Veronica Steiner features lobsters, barracudas, pelicans, nurse sharks and other beloved wildlife known to live in the Florida Keys. Shop stickers, T-shirts and prints in support of the Florida State Parks Foundation. freehandgoods.com
PREPARATION: Combine ingredients in a shaker. Pour into a coupe glass, and garnish with an edible flower and dehydrated lime.
Paintings of Puerto Rico
A GLIMPSE OF PUERTO RICO FROM 1786 TO 1962 AND ITS ESTEEMED
BY EMILEE PERDUE
Asalty southern breeze drifts through the window, opening the shutters and carrying a lively mix of Spanish and English voices. Across the street, a bright orange flamboyán sways under a royal palm and the afternoon sun illuminates the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced. Enjoy the scene from painter Miguel Pou y Becerra’s studio in 1930s Ponce, Puerto Rico, in View from My Studio, Salud 58, Ponce / Vista desde mi estudio, Salud 58, Ponce and more at the Rollins Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibit, “Nostalgia for My Island: Puerto Rican Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce (1786–1962).”
Later this year, the Winter Park museum hosts this exclusive exhibition from Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce as it tours the United States. Divided into three themes—my home, my people and my island—the exhibition showcases significant Puerto Rican artists from the late 18th century to the mid-20th century. The curator, Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, has assembled an assortment of paintings including landscapes, still lifes and portraits, all capturing the island as it navigates a politically and socially tumultuous 200 years. Witness the painting Still Life / Naturaleza muerta
by notable artist Francisco Oller y Cestero. Known for his still lifes and landscapes, this piece by Oller displays a realistic depiction of citrus fruits, a wicker basket, three sweet potatoes and a green glass bottle. Also included in the exhibition is The Vision of Saint Philip Benizi / Visión de San Felipe Benicio by José Campeche y Jordán, a Europeanstyled oil painting of the 13th-century Italian St. Philip Benizi surrounded by God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in heaven.
Each of the 20 paintings in the exhibition gives museumgoers a personalized perspective into what makes the artists uniquely Puerto Rican—the food they eat, their jobs, their religious beliefs and the environment around them are all pieces in the mosaic of their identity. As Greater Orlando has amassed the largest Puerto Rican population outside of the island, “Nostalgia for My Island” bridges the distance and honors that deep connection to home.
“There was almost a sense of duty to capture and present what it meant to be Puerto Rican at the time, going from one imperial authority to what they saw as this new kind of colonial-type relationship and presence on the island,” says RMA curator Gisela Carbonell, Ph.D. Carbonell explains what makes up a cultural identity and how it
evolved over time in Puerto Rico as power shifted from the Spanish crown to the United States. Every facet, every change and every perspective was recorded by the island’s artists.
“They were there. They saw and they lived those transformations. Just like writers, just like poets,” says Carbonell. “In this case, these painters were really in tune with what was happening and with their role in that context.”
For a deeper look into the island of Puerto Rico, visit “Nostalgia for My Island: Puerto Rican Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce (1786–1962)” from Sept. 15, 2024, to Jan. 5, 2025. For more information, visit rollins.edu/rma.
Top: José Campeche y Jordán (1751-1809), Portrait of María Catalina de Urrutia / Retrato de María Catalina de Urrutia, 1788-1792. Oil on panel / óleo sobre panel, Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A Ferré Foundation, Inc. Center: Francisco Oller y Cestero (1833-1917), Still Life / Naturaleza muerta, c. 1900. Oil on panel / óleo sobre panel, Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Right: Miguel Pou y Becerra (1880-1968), View from My Studio, Salud 58, Ponce / Vista desde mi studio, Salud 58, Ponce, 1930-35. Oil on cardboard / óleo sobre cartón, Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. Gift of Jaime Pou.
CONTRIBUTORS
JOSH LETCHWORTH lives for adventure. As a Florida native with a strong connection to the outdoors, Letchworth always manages to combine his passions, like camping and being on the water, with his love for photography. He’s at his best capturing images of people doing what they love. Letchworth has traveled the globe photographing for companies like Yamaha, Columbia, Adidas, The North Face and more. In this issue, Letchworth’s photos appear on our cover and in our story on Florida State Parks, page 56, shot on location in Big Talbot Island and Little Talbot Island State Parks.
A.B. NEWTON AND COMPANY was founded by Andy Crabtree and Will Blaine 10 years ago with an illustrated map of their charming town, Winter Garden. They have since expanded their designs to highlight cities throughout the Sunshine State and beyond. Regardless of the destination, their thoughtfully curated products speak to local residents and visitors alike, with a mission to celebrate the things that make a place feel like home. In this issue, Flamingo partners with A.B. Newton to create an exclusive Florida State Parks poster on page 64
MADDY ZOLLO RUSBOSIN
or two about Orlando. In this issue, the lifelong resident (minus a 10-year stint in NYC) takes us on an insider’s tour of her hometown on page 72, dishing on her faves, from her go-to staycation resort, to the quaintest shopping district, to the downtown sushi spot you’d never find. In addition, she profiles streetwear brand, LaFavre (fingers crossed for an Orlando Magic collection) on page 27. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Seventeen, Orlando’s Playground and more.
JENNIFER ADLER is a conservation photographer, underwater photojournalist, trained freediver and cave diver. Her work has taken her all over the world to document science and conservation for the Pulitzer Center, The Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, HuffPost, Vox and others. Adler is a freelance photojournalist represented by National Geographic Image Collection. Look through her lens on page 35 as she shares her love for Florida’s natural springs.
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Contributing Designer Ellen Swandiak edit@flamingomag.com
Art Production Manager Kerri Rak
Senior Writer and Contributing Editor Eric Barton
Contributing Writers
Jennifer Adler, Steve Dollar, Prissy Elrod, Carrie Honaker, Craig Pittman, Melissa Puppo, Diane Roberts, Maddy Zollo Rusbosin, Nila Do Simon, Carlton Ward Jr.
Contributing Photographers & Illustrators
Jennifer Adler, Will Blaine, Leslie Chalfont, Andy Crabtree, Beth Gilbert, Mary Beth Koeth, Josh Letchworth, Stephen Lomazzo, Jules Ozaeta, Kristen Penoyer, Carlton Ward Jr.
Copy Editors & Fact-Checkers
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Editorial Interns
Sydney Boyd and Shyanne Wilson
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WADING IN
GULF COAST SCALLOPING
Jonesing for a scalloping hunt this season?
Don your mask and scan the QR code to read our feature story and go snorkeling in the seagrass beneath the stilt houses of Pasco County on flamingomag.com
IN FLA
Dive Bar
JJ Grey saved a seat on the dirtbag bus.
Just Hatched
New and notable
THE BEST PAIRINGS IN ST. LUCIE FOR EVERY TYPE OF TRAVELER
Twenty one miles of uncrowded beaches in South Florida sounds like an impossible dream, but the golden sands of St. Lucie make that utopia a reality. And, what’s more is that all of St. Lucie’s beaches are free—no admission or parking fees. Public preservation protects nearly half the coastline, boasting more public beach access per square mile than any other oceanfront community in Florida. A day spent with your toes in the sand gazing over azure waters is perfection, but soaking in all that vitamin D calls for some satisfying sustenance. What many beachgoers may not know about St. Lucie is that along with its pristine beaches, a burgeoning culinary scene has sprouted. Options abound from beloved open-air tiki restaurants, where sandy feet are welcome, to white tablecloth steakhouses, perfect for date nights. Sync up your beach vibe with these dining gems for the insider track on the best bites at the beach.
FOR THE NATURIST
No clothes, no problem at the only clothing-optional spot, blind creek beach. One of the most popular stretches of
sand, it remains tucked away with plenty of privacy. Amenities are absent along this strip, but from March to November, you just might share the almost two miles of golden sand with some special guests: nesting green and loggerhead sea turtles. Just 10 minutes up the road, on the edge bar & grill leans into the back-to-nature theme with its palapas, tiki bar and sandy area, where you can bury your feet and enjoy a fiery sunset over the Indian River Lagoon. The family-owned destination serves favorites like conch fritters, gator tail bites, Bavarian pretzels with housemade beer cheese and more. Grab one of their legendary rum cocktails and toast another day in paradise.
FOR THE PET LOVER
Everybody in the family wants to go to the beach, including our furry family members. The swathe of sand at walton Rocks Beach offers the perfect spot for dogs to chase balls or body surf the waves. There are picnic tables, pavilions, bathrooms and a hose to rinse off your pup after a good roll in the sand. There’s also a wealth of great shelling. Take a stroll and be on the lookout for large Florida whelks, lace
murexes, banded tulips and more to add to your collection. After a dog-day on the beach, head to archie’s seabreeze for an Old Florida feel. Archie’s, once a one-room military shack that served beer to soldiers during World War II, is now a canine-friendly restaurant bedecked with pink, purple and turquoise walls and furniture. They have cornhole, Archie the Pirate and the quintessential Florida beverage: the Miami Vice. This blend of 50% rum runner and 50% pina colada is 100% delicious at the end of a hot summer day. Grab an Archie burger or nachos and settle in where the motto is, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem.”
FOR THE CHILL SEEKER
Sometimes you just want to grab a good book, a blanket and find a quiet slice of sand. normandy beach has you covered. The cozy one-acre spot has eight paved parking spots and a pavilion. The secluded environs will make you feel like you have your own private escape.
Just up the way sits an equally isolated pizza joint that once was a neglected gas station with nothing in sight for miles.
piehole wood pizza serves
chicken wings and subs, but the real draw is the woodfired pizza with all the usual trimmings plus unexpected toppings, like fig, goat cheese, artichokes and grandma’s meatballs. Don’t miss the addictive garlic knots, and save room for their hand-fried zeppoles, Italian donut delights.
FOR THE AMENITY LOVER
waveland beach park has it all—lifeguards, showers, restrooms, a boardwalk over the dunes, the beginning of a 13.2mile bike path, hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants, all within walking distance.
kyle g’s prime seafood & steak sits right next door and offers a white linen tablecloth experience overlooking the ocean. They serve indulgent options like Russian osetra caviar, grouper with tropical black lentils, buttery coffee and cocoa-rubbed Wagyu filet mignon and more. What’s not on the menu? The eye-popping view: the best in St. Lucie. Stay the weekend and book a room next door at The Lucie, an oceanfront boutique hotel escape.
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From top: Alfresco afternoon at Archie’s Seabreeze; @mydogstink swimming at a St. Lucie Beach; Kyle G’s Prime Seafood and Steak offers upscale beach dining.
WADING IN:ONE-ON-ONE
CONVERSATIONS, INTERVIEWS, STORIES
By Kayla Byrd
GOLDEN BOY
Flamingo sat down with Floridian and Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
For most Floridians, swimming pools are synonymous with cannonball contests and the squeaky plastic of neon pool floats, but for Olympic swimmer and Green Cove Springs native Caeleb Dressel, chlorinated waters translated into a world of 5 a.m. wake-up calls, rigorous training regiments and the chance at Olympic gold. Dressel’s first experience with swimming started off like most people, by taking lessons as a safety precaution while living in a state surrounded by water, but the young athlete quickly gained a passion for the sport as his swim-cap-clad-head bobbed between the lane ropes. Today, Dressel, 27, has seven Olympic gold medals, 21 championship gold medals and four world records to his name. His impressive track record is only expected to grow as he gears up for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Before taking his place on the starting blocks in the Paris La Défense Arena, Dressel sat down with Flamingo to talk about what keeps him motivated, his impact in the swimming community and his new role as a father.
HOW DID GROWING UP IN NORTH FLORIDA SHAPE YOUR SWIMMING CAREER?
caeleb Dressel: I started with River City, right by my dad’s veterinary practice. We started out with summer league, only a couple months out of the year. What kept me in the sport and got me interested was the friendships I had at such an early age and then continuing to develop those. That’s where I met my wife (Megan). And then staying in Florida, going to college. The biggest thing is the people I’ve met and relationships along the way. It was a tight-knit group. If you swim or grew up in Florida, you know the same names.
IS THERE ANYONE FROM YOUR HOME STATE THAT IMPACTED YOUR EARLY SWIMMING CAREER?
CD: I remember I had rivals as a kid. Michael Fontenelle, Riley Springman, Alex Peña, Wesley Olmsted. A lot of kids that I grew up with at a young age, that I was racing at swim meets throughout the year in Florida, I always say that they impacted my early career for sure.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF YOUR SWIMMING CAREER?
CD: I don’t know. I think it’s a tough one. I don’t rate my moments on what made me
smile the hardest or what was the best. I think the thing I look forward to most is swim camp. That’s where the whole national team comes together and really becomes the national team. You get to know new faces. You get to see returning faces, faces I’ve seen since 2017. You just get to hang out. You swim around, get ready for the Olympics.
IS IT HARD TO MAINTAIN YOUR DRIVE AFTER SO MANY YEARS OF COMPETING?
CD: I think it changes. It does get harder at times to avoid complacency. But yeah, knowing why you’re in the sport, and for me, it’s not about medals or money or fame or anything like that. It’s just trying to see how far I can take it and how much I can push myself and the byproduct of that mindset is results. I’m constantly chasing, just trying to get better and faster and know myself more and figure
been a new challenge that I’ve accepted with open arms, becoming a father. It’s been a really challenging time but a very rewarding time with Megan. I welcome the new set of eyes that are on me and the pressure that comes with that.
HOW DO YOU USE YOUR PLATFORM TO INSPIRE OTHERS AND GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY?
CD: There’s nothing I love more than seeing people reach their goals and their dreams and fulfill their potential. So if I can use myself as an example to show little kids that it is possible and, you know, surprising yourself or surpassing what you thought your potential could be. Maybe it’s starting off or just making your bed for a week straight or picking up a piece of trash on the ground. It doesn’t have to be Olympic gold medals. I think whatever your goals are, if I can be an example to anybody, then I feel like I’ve completed my work here.
side. There’s so many different paths and variables to improve upon in this sport. I think that’s why I’ve maintained my drive. The medals only get you so far. The times only get you so far. But showing up every day and just training and compounding that over time, that’s what I really enjoy about it.
HOW HAS BECOMING A FATHER AFFECTED YOUR LIFE? DO YOU HOPE YOUR SON WILL BE A SWIMMER?
CD: I don’t care if he swims or not. I would like for him to play baseball, I think. I really like baseball. He’ll know how to swim. But if he wants to swim competitively, great. If he doesn’t, great. I’m not going to force him to do that. It’s
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED AND OVERCOME IN YOUR SWIMMING CAREER?
CD: I mean, plenty (chuckles). Every single day, every practice, there’s challenges that I’ve faced. You know, some bigger than others. Some bigger leading up to a swim meet, but that is why I love the sport. There’s always something to test myself on. It’s basically how many mountaintops, how many obstacles can you overcome and push through and learn a lot about yourself?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PRE-COMPETITION ROUTINES THAT YOU SWEAR BY?
CD: I don’t tuck my (swimsuit) strings in. Never have and never will.
Below: Dressel dominates freestyle and butterfly strokes in competitions.
WADING IN :THE SPREAD
FLORIDA-FRESH BITES & BEVS
By Eric Barton
COCONUT DREAMS
Two siblings from Miami Beach are building a rum empire off the coconuts smuggled in their suitcases.
Dani Zighelboim breezes into the restaurant in a white linen oversize shirt and matching pants. She’s got sunglasses propped—and possibly tangled—in her hair and a scrunchie on her arm. It’s like she just popped out of a cab in Cartagena, Colombia. She’s smiling and looking quite comfortable angling a chair in a tight spot at the bar at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami. She’s done this before,
making her way into a difficult spot.
“Daiquiri,” she tells the bartender, “with Coconut Cartel.” It arrives over ice, not straight up as she expected, and she shrugs. Hey, at least they used the right rum.
It is, after all, her rum—the company Dani and her brother, Mike, started by smuggling coconuts through customs. These days, their Miami-born rum is very much turning into a thing—
Curious George
MAKES ONE COCKTAIL
2 ounces Coconut Cartel
3/4 ounce lime juice
3/4 ounce banana puree
PREPARATION: Combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a coupe or rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with a lime wedge or dried banana chip.
We went from butkus to “oh my god” in such a short amount of time..
—DANI ZIGHELBOIM
quite possibly just as rum in general turns into a thing. The next whiskey, maybe, just in time for Coconut Cartel to blow up. In fact, just recently her future has finally looked good enough that Dani can close
“I would say I didn’t sleep for three or four years,” she says with a laugh and a tug
Dani, now 32, and her brother were
born in Miami Beach, where they lived until Dani was 9 years old. Back then, they called her jefita: the little boss. They moved to El Salvador for their dad’s job in the clothing business in 2001. After her parents divorced, Dani and her mom moved to Guatemala. Hers is a family of the displaced; they saw being different and overcoming the challenge of a foreign place as a superpower. She knew she’d follow them in that regard. “It was never put on my plate like, ‘Dani, go get a job like a
Which is why she ended up at Babson College in Massachusetts, known for its entrepreneurship program. She hadn’t even graduated yet when she started working the company with her brother. Mike had been
This page from left: The Curious George cocktail; Coconut Cartel Añejo Rum is made with coconut water from Guatemala.
golfing in 2012 with a friend in El Salvador when somebody sold them coconuts with straws sticking out of them.
“He called me, and he was like, ‘Dani, they’re everywhere. They’re like a natural juice box.’” He told her of his plan: he’d stuff suitcases full of them and sneak them through Miami International Airport.
“I was always bailing him out,” she says. “I was like, ‘No I’m not into it. I’m not down.’”
COCONUT CARTEL
— PHONE— (954) 749-3359
—EMAIL — INFO@COCONUTCARTEL.COM coconutcartel.com
But he brought them back anyway, and in 2012, Dani was helping him figure out how to sell the coconuts to hotels. They sold so well, soon Dani was arranging shipping containers and cargo planes and buying 9,000 fruits at a time. They stored them at their abuela’s house in Miami.
The hydrating husks sold themselves, Dani remembers, with hotel bars buying as many as they could supply. Hotels soon started asking how they could make cocktails out of them. Dani and Mike started to think about the drink you see everywhere in South America and the Caribbean: coconut water and rum over ice.
They raised $200,000 from investors who knew them from the coconut business. They went to Guatemala, picked out barrels of rum and shipped them home in December 2018. Typically, all spirits are cut with water
before bottling, but Dani and Mike would use coconut water. Mike figured they could just jump into bottling, but Dani hired a food scientist to make sure it would be shelf stable. The two of them started selling Coconut Cartel to bars in 2019 with no sales representatives and no support system—just bottles clinking around in their backpacks. It was hard, and a lot of people said no. “We were so naive, because with the coconuts, it was such an easy sell.”
When the pandemic closed the bars, the business nearly died. Dani, whose nickname has grown to la jefa, decided they needed to pivot to online retail and liquor store sales. They raised another $2.3 million in funding. They now do business in 19 states and countries from Canada to Slovakia. They hired a COO last year, which means Dani can finally sleep at night. “There were so many questions and answers I needed that I would work through my sleep. I would wake
PREPARATION: Combine ingredients and shake over ice. Strain and garnish with a pineapple wedge.
up with a to-do list, in a panic.”
As we spoke, Dani’s daiquiri went watery from neglect. She headed out as the restaurant began shifting from happy hour to dinner. I was left thinking about something she said: “We went from butkus to ‘oh my god’ in such a short amount of time.” That’s something they don’t teach you in entrepreneurship school.
Miami Bird MAKES ONE COCKTAIL
This page from left: Siblings Mike and Dani Zighelboim toast to their success; the Miami Bird cocktail
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From corduroy hats to snakeskin boots and crocheted hoodies, LaFavre’s bold styles pay homage to its Southern roots.
This page: The Jaguars Scratch Trucker and Bina’s Crocheted Hoodie by LaFavre
WADING IN :MADE IN FLA
There wasn’t a day in high school where I didn’t wear a hat,” says Kasey Faver, founder of Southern streetwear brand LaFavre. So, it only tracks that his company’s hero product is just that: a classic ball cap. Whether it’s a corduroy number with an orange blossom emblem or one adorned with a Southeastern Conference school logo, all of LaFavre’s styles pay homage to its Southern roots. “And at the end of the day, I’m just a kid who wants to make cool stuff that I would wear,” the Jacksonville native explains.
Although for Faver, spearheading a fashion company was never the original plan. He was in a radically different kind of design work—construction management—and after graduating from the University of Florida with a construction management degree, he began working at his father’s firm. “I then realized this isn’t what I want to do or who I am,” he says, explaining what prompted him to uproot his life and move to California in 2017 on a soul-searching mission.
During the year he lived in Los Angeles, he realized that fashion was his calling and
began applying for internships. Despite his inquiries going unanswered, Faver kept his focus, producing his first ever design that same year: a T-shirt printed with a picture of a basketball hoop from the local park where he played. “It was cool to finally get something out of my mind into something tangible,” he says. “Then I started the company—or in 2018, started the LLC and then moved home and continued to work in the construction industry—because at that point no one else was getting back to me, so I wasn’t going to work in the fashion industry out there. I figured I’d try and figure it out myself.”
For the next two years, Faver honed his fashion chops on the side, figuring out how to create graphics and logos, build relationships with local embroidery shops (many of which he still uses today) and ultimately produce
his first collection while in Jacksonville. In 2022, he finally quit his day job to focus on LaFavre full time. (Fun fact: LaFavre is a tribute to his family’s original surname before it was Americanized.)
One of the catalysts for focusing on the apparel business came through a partnership with his alma mater, UF. After meeting with the school’s licensing director, she was impressed but initially said she needed more of a marketing plan. Faver immediately brought out his samples and showed her a short film on LaFavre, highlighting his story from working in the corporate world to realizing his passion. “The whole conversation turned from that point, and she was like, ‘Okay, you know what? We’re going to give you a shot at this,’” he explains. “I remember I walked out of her office, sat in the stadium and just cried.”
With the Gators on board, other schools soon followed suit.
Above: The Orange Creamsicle Tourist Trucker by LaFavre
Left: University of North Florida baseball players wearing the North Florida Trucker by LaFavre
“The University of Florida was a massive one, because they’re notorious for being tough to get in with,” Faver says. “But I mean, even to this day, we’re still getting denied licenses on the regular.”
While their collegiate partnerships currently span from the Florida State Seminoles to the Ole Miss Rebels to the North Florida Ospreys, LaFavre has also teamed up with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. “They gave us a shot because a lot of their employees were wearing the hats we were making without the license,” he explains. Faver was asked to make hats for season-ticket member boxes. There was such a massive response afterwards they
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WADING IN :MADE IN FLA
wanted to buy the hats for the entire organization.
Part of the reason sports and fashion fans alike gravitate toward LaFavre is their attention to detail in terms of aesthetics and quality. “Our latest tagline is kind of ‘Southern Luxury,’” says Faver. Everything is cut and sewn in the South, and he is constantly inspired by his home state. “There are certain colors that speak to Florida, and it’s the pastel colors. I’ve always been someone that’s looked to the past for inspiration. When I looked in the past—the ’80s—there were corduroy hats. As I looked around the industry and the market, I was like, ‘Wow, no
At the end of the day, I’m just a kid who wants to make cool stuff I would wear.
—KASEY FAVER
one is doing corduroy hats anymore.’ I just think it’s such a durable fabric.”
LaFavre’s signature spin on market trends keeps their buzz going as well. In recent years, crocheted clothing has been having a moment. Faver asked his neighbor, who was skilled at crocheting kids’ toys, to make him a bucket hat, a ski mask and a few granny squares. He then fashioned the squares into a crocheted hoodie that you can add onto any jacket. “(The Jaguars) saw the product and they were like, ‘Congratulations on getting the licensing. We’re super excited to roll this out with you, but if there’s one item that we must have, it’s (the crocheted hoodie),’” he laughs. “I said, ‘Guys, my neighbor is knitting these by hand. I can’t drop this for the city of Jacksonville.’” But sure enough, in six months she had sewn them all.
That story is fitting, since at the end of the day, it’s the people who keep Faver inspired. Proof? When Flamingo talked to him this spring, he was about to embark on a trip to southern Peru to experience Machu Picchu. “I’m going to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but I don’t even want to leave,” Faver says. “One of my Seven Wonders is this tiny office with the people I work with every day.”
This page: The Florida State Trucker is a corduroy hat designed by LaFavre. The brand has also designed pieces for the University of Florida and the University of Mississippi.
WADING IN :THE STUDIO
FLORIDA ARTIST PROFILES
By Nila Do Simon
FINDING HILARITY in LITTLE HAVANA
Miami-based visual artist TONY MENDOZA paints a Cuban-American experience that he hopes will make you laugh.
Ask Tony Mendoza if he spoke English or Spanish last night, and chances are, he doesn’t remember. That’s because for this Miamibased visual artist, the American and Cuban cultures coexist in the same space, together, harmoniously and vividly.
The son of Cuban immigrants who left after its tumultuous revolution, Mendoza is the byproduct of a bilingual existence— one where his heritage’s viewpoints now lie
in a foreign land among a similarly mixed audience that is fortifying its own culture. Luckily for us, it’s a beautiful and punchy vision inspired by Little Havana.
Growing up in Union City, New Jersey—often referred to as “Havana on the Hudson” because of its large Cuban population—and then Miami, Mendoza lived among Cuban phrases. In Miami, where nearly two million Cuban Americans live, it was normal for Mendoza to read
street signs in Spanish and to speak Spanglish, a portmanteau of Spanish and English, with his community.
Idioms like cafe con leche and malas lenguas dotted his everyday life. Now, as an adult, he paints them. “I’m putting on canvas what it’s like growing up in a hyphenated culture among Latinos,” Mendoza says. “In my art, you will see different elements, products we see, jokes we tell, sayings that we tell.”
From left: Tony Mendoza’s paintings, “South Beach People” and “Coffee Tree”
The acrylic piece “Malas Lenguas (Evil Tongues)” features caricatures of two women sitting side by side with serpentlike creatures extending from their mouths in place of their tongues, spilling secrets.
Cuba’s robust coffee culture is often depicted in Mendoza’s work, including “My City Runs On Cafecitos,” which shows four massive stove-top coffee makers sitting atop the roofs of Miami buildings.
One could interpret Mendoza’s upbringing as growing up between two cultures, but perhaps a more accurate narrative is that he grew up in a unified one. As a child, Mendoza and his two siblings were encouraged to seek creative expression, spurred by a mother who would often sit with her children and draw.
“She would draw things from Cuba—a farmhouse, the farmer lady feeding the chickens, things like that,” Mendoza says.
Despite a deep connection to art, including majoring in commercial art (what he refers to as the pre-graphic design days) at Miami Dade College, Mendoza enjoyed a long career in transportation, including working as an inspector with Florida East Coast Railway in the ’80s and as a logistics manager with Navieras de Puerto Rico. But when Navieras de Puerto Rico closed in 2002, art was the natural next calling.
“I thought it would be a bridge until I got my next job,” Mendoza says of painting. “I thought that I could just do it and see what happened. Never did I expect it to
take off and be my second career.”
Mendoza, an admittedly frustrated architect who loves the discipline but hates the math, began painting a series of local Miami homes. Bungalows, Old Spanish-style buildings and art deco-inspired edifices covered his workspace. Trips to Miami’s Little Havana, a neighborhood known for its Cuban influences, resulted in paintings of homes from that historic area. For this Cuban American, these depictions of his community not only felt good, they felt right. “It was my way of connecting art and the neighborhood that I grew up in,” he says.
Since then, Mendoza’s art career has taken off, with various solo exhibits throughout Florida and commissions from viewers who appreciate the vitality of the hybrid culture he puts on canvas. Visually speaking, the bold colors and clean lines on the canvases offer a glimpse into Mendoza’s technical skills. A playful reflection of something as banal as a cup of coffee showcases the artist’s humor, but it’s the spirit of the local people and landmarks that he captures that give Mendoza’s work meaning.
“The best part of Miami is that it’s close to the United States, which is a joke,” Mendoza says, laughing. “It’s almost part
This page, clockwise: “Mentira,” a work in Mendoza’s series “What Cubans Drink,” depicts the ingredients for a Cuba libre cocktail; “Salsa at the Leslie,” an addition to Mendoza’s “Growing Up in Miami” series, shows a couple dancing in front of a South Beach hotel; Cuban-American artist Tony Mendoza’s upbringing in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood is felt throughout his work.
of the atmosphere here to continue living in a hyphenated culture. I partook in all the American culture in school, its history, on TV, but at the same time, I’m Cuban.”
Today, as he sits in his Bird Road Art District studio in Miami, Mendoza is reflective of his oeuvre, with a distinct perspective that can only be created by someone with the heart and soul of a Cuban American. Still, despite the origins of its maker, Mendoza has a more universal end goal to his work: for it to cause anyone, Cuban-American or otherwise, to smile. “I enjoy watching people take in my art, and especially if they laugh,” Mendoza says. “There’s joy in their viewing, and that makes me happy.”
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My Florida Diary of a Cave Diver
Dive into freshwater springs with ecologist and photographer JENNIFER
ADLER.
The sea and I met before I could walk. She’s in every memory.
As a kid, I didn’t think twice about spending hours swimming in the frigid Atlantic Ocean that turned my lips blue. Summer in northern Massachusetts meant no school but certainly not warm water. We didn’t care. The seaweed I now know as fucus, or rockweed, was, to us, mermaid’s hair. Periwinkles and mussels studded the
rocks, and hermit crabs scurried across the sandy bottom of Sand Dollar Cove. I never wanted to leave this salty world.
Growing up, I gave little thought to freshwater, only the ocean. As a marine biology major and competitive sailor at Brown University, unsalted water was only something I drank and showered in to regain body temperature after windy winter regattas. It wasn’t until I moved from New England
to Florida in 2011 that I gave freshwater any thought. And only by necessity.
After graduation, I took a job as a biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Southeast Ecological Science Center in Gainesville. In my mind, Gainesville would be similar to how I remembered the Sunshine State on my first visit in third grade: sunny, sandy beaches lined with palm trees. My sister and I collected shells in front of our
Story and Photography by Jennifer Adler
This page:
A freediver swims through fire water, which is when clear spring water mixes with the tannic acid released in the Santa Fe River.
My Florida
SUNSHINE STATE STORIES
flamingo motel on Clearwater Beach and swam on our bellies behind my mom as she cleared the way via stingray shuffle in the Gulf’s warm, brown waters. Unfortunately for me, Gainesville was upwards of an hour from both Gulf and Atlantic coast beaches and has more live oaks and pines than palm trees. Not quite the tropical southern paradise I had pictured.
This move to the center of Florida occurred in the dead of summer, so the lack of beaches was both disappointing and uncomfortable— especially for a marine biologist. I was miserably hot and homesick. A sympathetic coworker suggested I check out the springs—a desperate Google search led me to the most crowded and chaotic spring, but back then I only noticed the water, not the people. As I pulled my mask and snorkel over my head and immersed in the spring, the world went quiet. The visibility was endless, like swimming in air—it truly feels like you’re flying. I have since swam in the waters surrounding every continent, and nothing compares.
More than 1,000 freshwater springs dot
Florida’s karst landscape, each one a direct connection to the underlying aquifer. The limestone that makes up the aquifer used to be coral reefs, the base of a shallow sea millions of years ago. It’s porous, like Swiss cheese. The holes of the limestone, which range from tiny pores to mega tunnels large enough to fit a Boeing 747, hold freshwater, which makes up the aquifer. This is the main source of drinking water for more than 90 percent of Floridians, but the concept of an aquifer tends to be abstract and is out of sight, out of mind for most people, unless you’re a cave diver.
After about a year in Florida, a smiling, gray-bearded man named Harry Averill found me snorkeling over a wreck at Troy Spring State Park in about a foot of water. My parents had gifted me a book of Florida dive sites, and I was making my way through the list of freshwater spots, not realizing how much river levels dropped during the dry season. Turns out Averill was one of the OG cave divers in Florida and, instead of ignoring me as I snorkeled in water where I could easily stand,
he thought my tendencies for swimming in odd places would bode well for cave diving, so he introduced me to the winding passageways of the aquifer.
The caves are completely dark. In underwater photos, there are often upwards of 10 lights illuminating a passageway or cavern. During cave diver training, I quickly learned I had not experienced darkness until I swam in
Above: Photographer Jennifer Adler during a National Geographic production in 2018
Below: An early morning swim at Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park
My Florida is not the stereotypical one depicted on postcards or Disney vacations—it’s better
—JENNIFER ADLER
the limestone tunnels beneath Florida. In the caves, the beam of light atop your hand is the only thing that illuminates your path forward. Everything else is black. There are no cars, no phones, no planes, no wind, no stars, no streetlights, no distractions. The only sound is your own bubbles as you exhale. They escape up by your ears and form reflective pockets on the ceiling of the cave or filter through vertical
cracks, creating a thunder-like boom as they gently rise to the surface. Despite their dark and scary reputation, underwater caves are one of the most peaceful places on the planet.
The springs and caves were the reason I first picked up an underwater camera. Words couldn’t describe the feeling of being there, and my entire family lived 1,000 miles away, so I began swimming, scuba diving and
documenting the springs to share my wonder. At first, I took a ton of terrible photos, but over time, with hours, days, weeks, months and years of practice, as well as reading and research, my photos improved. At the same time, I immersed myself in the local freshwater conservation and research communities, which led me to pursue a Ph.D. studying the springs at the University of Florida in Gainesville,
where I had initially been so eager to escape.
In “A Sand County Almanac,” author Aldo Leopold describes being an ecologist as the most depressing profession. “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds,” he writes. “Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” I fell in love with the springs for their magic and beauty, but, as an ecologist, I soon enough learned that they’re threatened.
During the decade I spent in the state, Florida overtook New York to become the third most populous state in the nation. That population growth, along with over-pumping from the aquifer, pollution and flooding from massive hurricanes, altered the springs’ ecosystems—springs that were once full of water as clear as air and underwater meadows flowing with vibrant, green native grasses became brown and overrun by nuisance algae. I documented it all with my camera.
My Florida
SUNSHINE STATE STORIES
when the 72-degree water would steam on subfreezing north Florida mornings. Davis, and so many others in the springs community, are the reason I stayed in Florida for 10 years instead of 10 months.
The visual differences between the springs and ocean had another advantage—my
Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs became Florida’s 175th state park in 2017, but the previous owner, Kim Davis, used to give me and my friend Danielle the gate code so we could come in at sunrise to swim down the now-closed spring run, where the water flows from the spring basin out to the river, to photograph the native grasses and turtles. After hours of underwater exploration and photography, I would emerge like the Gill-man from the “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in my wetsuit and wrinkled fingers as bikini-clad tourists stared. Those are my favorite memories, especially in the winter
work as a new photographer stood out from those focused on coral reefs and charismatic megafauna. While the springs do have manatees in the winter, often the clear water mixing with the tannic river water was enough to catch an editor’s or funder’s eyes. At the time, I also learned to write from environmental journalist Cynthia Barnett, who was one of my Ph.D. advisers and my adopted Florida mom and mentor. She would leave the sweetest, deep red Florida-grown watermelons—my favorite food—on my doorstep during long days of writing and encourage me when I thought I would never finish my dissertation. She told me I would one day come to appreciate a good editor, and that day came the moment I left Gainesville and her guidance.
During graduate school, I blended science with journalism and communications and learned the power of photography to reach people in ways that statistics and science cannot: through emotions. It’s been seven years since I finished grad school—the day I submitted my dissertation, I became a freelance photojournalist and writer. I’ve traveled to every continent to report stories about science and conservation, but it all started with the springs and the brilliant scientists, storytellers, conservationists and artists they attract. Since I arrived in Florida in 2011, the springs have become increasingly popular and overcrowded. The locals’ secret is to go in the winter—the water is the same temperature year-round, although the air temperature does dip below freezing. The second secret is to always bring a mask or you’ll miss the magic. My Florida is not the stereotypical one depicted on postcards or Disney vacations—it’s better. To experience it, you just have to drive into the forest and jump in.
Above: Nuisance algae overtakes part of Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park after native grasses disappeared. Adler captured this series of images of the same location, from January 2017 (top), 2018 (middle) and 2019 (bottom).
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FLORIDA MUSICIANS ON THE RISE
By Steve Dollar
JJ Grey Unplugged
Southern rocker JJ Grey ON the release of his FIRST album IN nine YEARS, life on the road AND his love of a Rooster named Jim-Jim.
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His natural habitat is the Florida swampland that has inspired a career’s worth of blues- and R&B-inflected songs, but JJ Grey’s second home is the stage, where audiences across the country can see the Jacksonville singer-songwriter and guitarist and his 10-piece band, Mofro, on tour throughout the summer and into October (so far). Grey’s ninth studio album “Olustee” (Alligator Records) is his first since “Ol’ Glory” was released in 2015, a stretch marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant disruptions. Its 11 songs, including a cover of country music legend (and Apopka native) John Anderson’s classic “Seminole Wind,” spin like a compass of musical possibilities. Opening track “The Sea” is a fully orchestrated immersion into cosmic questions, evoking majesty and mystery through the eyes of a stargazing beachcomber: “Laying on the sand, feeling every grain / A billion points of light, along the Milky Way.”
Existential wonder gives way to immediate life-or-death concerns in the title track, an urgent rocker that references the Baker County town famous for an epic 1864 Civil War battle. The song, though, is about a series of devastating wildfires in 1998 that became collectively known as the Florida Firestorm. Elsewhere, there’s the horn-driven strut of “Top of the World” and “Free High,” the kind of surefire showstoppers that are a Mofro specialty. On his day off between tour stops, Grey, born John Higginbotham, hopped on Zoom for an hour to chat with Flamingo from his home in Jacksonville, where he enthusiastically discussed the joys of being back on the road, his love of Lynyrd Skynyrd and his fascination with chickens—evidenced by the rooster illustration, drawn by Grey himself, that adorns the cover of “Olustee.”
WE’VE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME SINCE YOUR LAST RECORD. WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON?
JJ Grey: I had the music done a long time ago. But I didn’t have the lyrics—exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to say it. I heard Gamble Rogers say once that life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans. I felt like this album happened while I was making other plans. But if you added up all the time that it actually took, working on the record probably took less time than some of the other albums. It was just all spread out. It’s also COVID. That was part of the reason why the album became “self-produced.” I throw up quotations (marks) only because the album kind of produced itself. I was just along for the ride.
THE SONGS SHIFT BETWEEN ROWDIER NUMBERS AND REFLECTIVE BALLADS, AND THERE’S A VIVID SENSE OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE IN NORTH FLORIDA, EXPERIENCING THE ELEMENTS. HOW DO YOU FIND THAT BALANCE?
JG: On the new record, there’s a song about the rub between the idea of you and the real you and that chasm, how big it can be and how small it can be. And all the way over to (the title track, about) running from a forest fire for your life. I don’t sit down and actually say I need this or I need that. Well, I might if I sat down and I’ve got 12 dance numbers. It’s actually usually
self-reflective songs, and man, I need to have some joy, some uplifting moments, too. Even though in their own way, those self-reflective cuts are kind of in a blues tradition even if they’re not a blues song at all but in that blues tradition. A song that almost sounds sad can be uplifting, you know? I want songs to be beautiful. I want to bring in women background singers, and I want to get a saxophone player in the horn section and get a percussionist to play on this record. Hell, I’ve been doing that since “Country Ghetto.” Every album has all those things on it. I just got a short memory, but my main thing was, I wanted things to be beautiful.
YOU GUYS ARE ALL OVER THE COUNTRY THIS SUMMER. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, HAVE YOU FOUND A SANE WAY TO TACKLE IT?
JG: This is going to almost sound oxymoronic, but my life at home is a lot more chaotic. The road is much more structured. So you would think that in order to make the road (feel) sane, you would need to introduce a little chaos. But it’s the opposite. The oxymoronic side of it is, I get even more of a routine that’s more “Groundhog Day”-ish that actually sort of grounds me. I’m not “Rain Man” bad. Like “Wapner at 5. Wapner at 5.” But I’ve pretty much got a schedule. I want to be able to work out. I want to do some sort of exercise and get outside in some way. Find
TOM DORGAN, JJ GREY
This page: JJ Grey & Mofro, an 11-member band including Grey, are currently touring the United States.
than the fare at home. I’ll drop 25 pounds (once) we started rehearsing. I go into a completely different mode—I only eat once a day. I don’t do that on purpose. It’s just always worked out that way.
ARE THERE RULES AFTER THE SHOW? I IMAGINE IN THE OLD DAYS EVERYONE WOULD GET DRUNK AND PILE ON THE BUS AT 3 A.M. AND WAKE UP WITH A HANGOVER AND START OVER AGAIN.
JG: We got two buses. One of them I call the Dirtbag Bus, and then one the Goody Two-Shoes Bus. But it’s not that goody two-shoes. Invariably, I’ll end up on the Dirtbag Bus, which is actually probably the cleaner, nicer bus. Talking over loud music, if people are partying and hanging out and if I get a drink or two in me, and then I start running my mouth and hollering and carrying on, as my dad would say, that destroys my voice. The talking. I avoid it, but I always tune in for a minute or two. Prior to a show, I like to bounce for about 10, 15 minutes before. I’ll do kumite foot drills—like martial arts, karate. It’s just like jumping rope and stuff, except for me that would be monotonous.
THERE’S SUCH A SOUTHERN ROCK LEGACY IN JACKSONVILLE, FROM THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND TO LYNYRD SKYNYRD. DO YOU REFLECT ON YOUR OWN PLACE WITHIN THAT TRADITION?
JG: I fit into it, because I’m from the same place, but I don’t fit into it because, to me, they’re the icons. If I sold a billion records and was as big as Elvis Presley, I still would never (fit in) … Funny enough, I flew home yesterday, and I saw Johnny (Van Zant) on the plane. I see him all the time. He’s a road dog. He sings for (Lynyrd) Skynyrd now. Johnny was the first artist I ever saw at a concert. He was opening up for Pat Travers in the Coliseum in Jacksonville … You can’t get anybody that would fit better to sing for Lynyrd Skynyrd than Johnny. They’re a huge influence on me. All of them.
IS THERE A SONG YOU HOLD CLOSE OR THINK TO YOURSELF, “IF I COULD WRITE SOMETHING HALF AS GOOD AS THAT?”
JG: When we were kids, we weren’t really allowed to listen to a bunch of rock stuff. A lot of kids weren’t. We were in a church, and they weren’t overbearing about it, but there are a lot of elements of rock music that are more adult, for sure. My
sister bought me “Gold & Platinum,” Skynyrd’s double album. And one of my favorite songs by Skynyrd ever is “Simple Man.” Funnily enough, (Skynyrd’s producer) Al Kooper wanted to produce a record with me—that was a while back. (Kooper) didn’t want (Skynyrd) to do that song. (According to Grey, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant lured Kooper outside the studio and then locked him out while the band recorded it.) “Simple Man” was a huge, huge one for me. There’s a song called “I Know A Little,” a real quick honky-tonk type tune. I love “Workin’ For MCA,” and everybody loves “Free Bird.” I love “Tuesday’s Gone,” it’s got those Mellotron strings on it. I wore all those records out. And then my sister had a pretty good collection of disco 45s—(The) Main Ingredient, all that ’70s stuff, which is probably a big influence on me. Those songs by Skynyrd stuck with me the most. That’s a tough one.
I READ THAT WHEN YOU WERE STARTING OUT, YOU PLAYED ROUGH JUKE JOINTS BEHIND CHICKEN WIRE—NOW, THERE’S A REMAKE OF “ROAD HOUSE” TO REMIND US OF THE GLORY—IS THAT TRUE?
JG: I played in a cover rock band. I was 17, 18 years old then, and they just let me in (the bar) because I sang in the band. We didn’t need the chicken wire. Some bands did. It’s almost a classic story of “Road House,” though in this sense that this guy’s got a bar called The Gazebo, and it’s out there off Normandy Boulevard, not far from Cecil Field, the Naval Air Station. Back then, it was still a Navy base. This is the (crowd) combo you’re working with: Clay Hill rednecks, which are mostly my family, they’re rough; outlaw bikers, mixed with other bikers, the real Outlaws (Motorcycle Club) back in the day; and then Navy guys, everyone called them Squids. Nobody came to see the band. They had chicken wire up, but nobody ever throwed nothing at it like you see in the movies. We knew what to play—you can just look at the room and see what to play. But everybody, all of them, loved Steppenwolf. You could play “Magic Carpet Ride,” you could play “Born To Be Wild,” and you immediately got everybody there to be your buddy. You could play any Southern rock. Depending on who’s there, you could have got away
This page: The cover artwork created by Grey for his latest album “Olustee” and his single, “The Sea”
with a Hank Jr. song. You don’t come in there and play the new Adam Ant song. There was one exception. There was a cover band called Brutal Poodle. The guitar player was about 6-foot-9. He was a monster, but the lady that sang, she dressed like Elvira, and she had a bullwhip and everything, and they didn’t need no chicken wire. She did whatever she wanted to, and they would snap to attention.
THE COVER YOU DESIGNED FOR “OLUSTEE” SHOWS A VIVIDLY COLORED ROOSTER IN FULL CROW. TELL US ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION TO CHICKENS.
JG: I grew up with 60,000 of them. It was at my grandparents’ house. Over weekends and a lot of the summers, I worked in chicken houses. When we moved here, we inherited the chicken coop (from the previous owners), maybe 16 or 17 chickens. There was a rooster, Jim-Jim—that’s what the song “Roosters” is about. (Laughs) I can get deep about chickens. They’re just like human beings. They have personalities. Some chickens are assholes, man. Straight up. You could tell they’re afraid of you, and the more afraid of you they are, the more they want to attack you. Jim-Jim wasn’t like that. He was fully in charge. I never saw him have to fight another rooster until he got beat by a big ole rooster that grew up under him … He was just a badass dude.
Know a band with Florida roots?
SCAN THE CODE AND TELL FLAMINGO!
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By The Editors
(NORTH)
THE STUDIO
ST. AUGUSTINE
Step inside this boutique yoga and wellness space situated a few blocks from the sands of St. Augustine Beach, where the scent of essential oils and the calming presence of owner and instructor Amy Commander invite you to breathe deeply and set your intentions for the day (or month). Commander, a certified yoga instructor, nutrition counselor and astrologer, designed The Studio for small-group classes and private retreats, with a range of class types including introspective yin, invigorating vinyasa and powerful pilates flow that cater to all levels. Beyond the yoga mat, rejuvenate in the infrared sauna, detox in the steam shower, shock your senses with a cold plunge or discover your destiny
with a personal astrology reading. facebook.com/ thestudiostaugustine
BLAKE DOYLE SKATEPARK
PENSACOLA
Skateboarding hurts. But according to Jon Shell, founder of Upward Intuition, a nonprofit dedicated to the creation of a public skatepark, the resilience the sport of skateboarding teaches—to get up and press on after every hard fall—is exactly the kind of persistence that was needed to make this dream a reality. Fueled by Pensacola’s outdated laws prohibiting skateboarding, the city’s lack of a skatepark and Shell’s belief that kids need safe places to hangout, he envisioned a space that would connect two halves of the city previously divided by an overpass. In May 2023, after eight years of fundraising,
advocating and building, the Blake Doyle Skatepark opened as a 25,000-square-foot, worldclass skatepark, featuring areas for all skill levels, two skate bowls and a multilevel skate plaza. Not only serving boarders, bladers and bikers, the $2.2 million renovation also includes features that unite the entire community with playgrounds, gardens, venues for live music, food trucks and more. upwardintuition.org
BEACH BOWL
JACKSONVILLE BEACH
Hold on to your bowling balls because this 60-year-old North Florida landmark is rising from the ashes after a fourand-a-half-year hiatus and a $7.5 million makeover by H&H Enterprises Inc. A retro neon sign with the iconic Beach Bowl logo and a tropical mural
by local artist BonoPaints punctuates this overhauled entertainment complex that combines classic 1960s kitsch with modern design. Not just about strikes and spares, this long-awaited reinvention also includes a two-story restaurant with casual rooftop dining and an over-the-top arcade. Open as of June, Beach Bowl invites guests to find their lane, play a game, savor a cocktail and soak in the sunset views in the heart of Jacksonville Beach.
beachbowljax.com
BISTROLOGY
MIRAMAR BEACH
Owners Jonatan Torres and Henry Guerrero poured their hearts, livelihoods and unique flavors into Miramar Beach’s latest innovative and deliciously eclectic eatery. From their industrial lighting and exposed brick to their 16-page menu and house coffee beans, the construction company owners turned kitchen masters wanted it to be like nothing else off U.S. Highway 98. Embark on a culinary expedition through Latin cuisine with huevos rotos, a Spanish dish of potatoes, eggs, parmesan and Serrano ham, or with Peruvian ceviche, which includes avocado, shrimp, spicy peppers and fried green plantain slices. While their plates deserve all the brunch buzz, their myriad drinks take the main stage, starting with the berry bonanza, a homemade raspberry, blackberry and strawberry soda with a pink sugar fruit popsicle floating on top, and ending with the affogato tiramisu, made of Italian mascarpone cream, lady fingers, vanilla ice cream and cocoa powder. bistrology.restaurant
Above: Jacksonville Beach bowling spot, Beach Bowl, recently underwent a $7.5 million renovation.
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THE RIDING ACADEMY OCALA
Mind the horse crossings, pass under the Georgian-styled archways and go slowly along the winding road to find the World Equestrian Center’s latest lodging addition: The Riding Academy Hotel. Welcoming guests since March 2024, the 390-room familyand pet-friendly hotel boasts similar design details as its more formal sister property, The Equestrian Hotel, with saddlebag-styled pillows, horse-patterned wallpaper and whimsy, as seen by the anthropomorphic dog portraits adorning the walls. Grab a
morning espresso or a latenight bite from The Tack Room, a beverage, snacks and sweets market, and read a book in one of the forest green leather armchairs next to a life-size bronze greyhound statue. Just a golf cart ride away from the horse show arenas and expo centers, The Riding Academy Hotel is for every member of the family, including the furry and hooved ones. ridingacademyhotel.com
CITRUS CLUB ORLANDO
Imagine sitting at a table blindfolded and then enjoying a three-course meal with
Above: An equestrian and their horse leap over a triple bar at the World Equestrian Center’s Grand Outdoor Arena.
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only your taste buds to guide you. Dining in the Dark is just one example of the roster of social events Orlando’s Citrus Club has up its sleeve. The Central Florida luxury social club’s innovative approach to creating bespoke events, member engagement and over-the-top experiences is why it has remained a fixture since 1971. Situated in the heart of downtown Orlando, the club recently revealed a stunning Florida-inspired refresh with chic tropical interiors for The Grove, a casual dining and bar
opens its doors to the public to share its zest for creating community.
SEA LOVE DUNEDIN
When Heather Feus walked into a small candle shop in Kennebunkport, Maine, she fell in love with its line of soybased, vegan candles free of carcinogens. Feus was aware of the harmful chemicals in everyday objects that worsened health conditions, like her mother’s cancer. In December 2023, Sea Love opened in
custom scents—Honeymoon Island is one of the most popular, with notes of citrus, coconut and rum to denote the dreamy allure of its state park namesake—but candle lovers can always come up with their own signature smell, like a s’mores reed diffuser with notes of marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker. sealovedunedin.com
TAMPA PICKLEBALL CREW YBOR CITY
Dink your way to domination at Tampa Pickleball Crew. This woman-owned business has given new meaning to “Friday night lights” with its 12
regulation indoor courts located inside a repurposed, open-air, steel manufacturing plant in Ybor City. Crew offers courts for all occasions, including pickleball 101 for beginners, power hours, live DJ open plays, leagues and more. Looking for some friendly competition? Sign up for a summer series tournament or register with the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating system to see how you stack up. With Crew’s social atmosphere and roster of events, such as pickleballand-pilates Wednesdays, your racquet game isn’t the only thing that will improve. tampapickleballcrew.com
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SKY COFFEE BUENOS AIRES
MIAMI
Typically, airplane travelers do their best to avoid staying grounded, but perhaps this is the one exception. Sky Coffee Buenos Aires recently landed in Miami’s trendy Brickell neighborhood, and unveiled an airplane-themed coffee shop tucked inside the front fuselage of a retired McDonnell Douglas MD-88 aircraft. Guests walk through a metal detector and then up the grand stairs to the luxury liner, where hand-brewed cortaditos, cappuccinos and dulce de leches are enjoyed along with artisanal baked goods and sweet treats, including Kamm vegan and CBD-infused chocolates. Owner Rosana Bentos has even introduced a passport-esque card for frequent fliers—er, customers—of her shop to rack up points with each visit. skycoffeebuenosaires.com
JONES ROAD
PALM BEACH
Over two decades ago, legendary makeup mogul Bobbi Brown’s name became synonymous with cosmetics, culminating with a globally recognized brand. These days, the entrepreneur and author is reintroducing herself to today’s modern audience with her latest makeup collection, Jones Road, a no-makeup makeup line filled with clean ingredients. In four short years, Jones Road (named after a road in the Hamptons) has built an impressive following thanks to its highperforming products, including the revolutionary What the Foundation and Miracle Balm. In February, she opened her fourth retail location and first Florida outpost in Palm Beach, a city where she has spent much
of her days since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The aesthetics of Jones Road is real, and it’s meant for real women,” Brown says. Stop by the Royal Poinciana Way location for a refreshing celebration of natural beauty. jonesroadbeauty.com
NOLITA
NAPLES
Change is good, as the Ritz-Carlton, Naples’s latest addition, indicates. The recently renovated seaside hotel welcomes Nolita, an indooroutdoor Italian-American restaurant that is an homage to New York’s famed culinary district (aka NoLita or North of Little Italy). Familiar Italian favorites dot the menu, including a robust cioppino and a refreshing panzanella salad. When thinking of the food, executive chef Satish
Yerramilli recommends the pizza. “Everyone has an opinion about the perfect crust, but the pizza at Nolita is a must,” he says. Manning the pizza kitchen is Chef Gabriele Candela, a third-generation culinarian who honed his talent inside his grandfather’s Palermo, Italybased pizzeria and continued sharpening his skills at the Michelin Guide-recognized L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Nolita also features Candela’s signature “light as air” focaccia, something that hasn’t changed and is a cherished family recipe. Che bonta. nolitanaples.com
SEREIA
MIAMI
It’s been said that if you linger outside Sereia long enough, the wafting scents of its bacalhau a Brás, a salted cod dish, will likely lure you in. Portuguese
for “mermaid,” Sereia is a culinary serenade newly opened within the Coconut Grove neighborhood. Helmed by Portugal’s celebrated chef Henrique Sá Pessoa, owner of the two-Michelin-starred Alma, Sereia is an amalgamation of Iberian classics with Pessoa’s fine techniques honed across the world. Known for its depth of flavors, as tasted in the cataplana fish stew, Sereia also features an omakase-style crudo bar. “I wanted to bring something different to Miami, considering there aren’t many Portuguese restaurants,” Pessoa says. “People will relate to some of our recipes, like salted cod, which Brazilians love.” Bring your appetite and your chicest crew to experience the sophisticated flavors and vibe of this bold new spot. sereia.miami
Above: Sereia’s Mermaid Margarita, made with strawberry tequila, dragonfruit, Aperol and lime.
Five Stars. A Few Miles from Home.
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· No Resort Fee
· Complimentary Kids’ & Teen Clubs*
· Kids 5 & Under Eat Free Throughout the Resort with the purchase of an adult entree (In-room dining and Angle excluded)
· Complimentary Dog Amenities (pet fee waived)
· Private beach access with complimentary use of beach chairs & umbrellas
· Complimentary bicycle rentals and use of non-motorized water sports
· Unlimited Access to 24-hour Fitness Center and complimentary Fitness classes (based on availability)
· Complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the resort
*Complimentary kids club from May 1, 2024 - September 30, 2024. Teens always complimentary.
— Unfiltered Fodder —
Capital Dame
volumes of vices
Give in to your bookish bad habits at these independent bookstores across the state.
BOOKSTORES ARE MY WEAKNESS—one of my weaknesses, anyway, along with pinot gris, “Fleabag” reruns and coconut cream pie. Leaving aside the credit card balance, which grows ever more dangerously with the inevitable purchase of more novels, more memoirs, more histories and more poetry, bookstores are way better for you than most vices—and not at all fattening. Walk through the door of a bookstore, and next thing you know, the gates of mysterious and beautiful
realms open, dangerous ideas present themselves and unimagined voices speak from crowded shelves. As John Cowper Powys (a splendidly weird English 20th-century novelist) said, “A bookshop is a powder-magazine, a dynamiteshed, a drugstore of poisons, a bar of intoxicants, a den of opiates, an island of sirens.”
Your favorite bookstore is like your favorite watering hole. You don’t go just for the “intoxicants” (booze-based or lit-based), you go for the community, the people you meet, the
bartender who makes you a special cocktail, the siren bookseller herself luring you to dive into an unknown sea of words. The store is the opposite of the internet—you encounter real people, not screens, and real objects of wonder, not virtual ones. Even in the largest of cities, it’s a kind of village square where you find fellow bibliophiles and word junkies. There simply cannot be too many bookstores. That’s why I was delighted to learn that Lauren Groff, bestselling author and
Above from left: Florida’s indie bookstores also house some serious cafes; the kids reading nook at The Lynx in Gainesville; a lynx statue watches over The Lynx.
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three-time National Book Award finalist, has opened The Lynx, a brand-new bookstore in Gainesville. That’s where she lives, of course, but it’s also a university town, home of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jack E. Davis, natural history author Cynthia Barnett, poet William Logan and novelists David Leavitt and Uwem Akpan (among others). She figured Gainesville could use a hub for writers, readers, anyone curious about the world—especially anyone craving stories disapproved by the powers that be in state government.
Groff decided to name her place The Lynx after she and her husband encountered what they thought was “the world’s largest housecat” one Florida night. The critter wasn’t, however, your run-of-the-mill kitty: it was one of our amber-furred, tufty-eared native bobcats. Groff says “lynx” is a “sexy” word; it can refer to the elegant feline of Florida’s forests, but also “links between past and present and between authors and readers.”
It’s not as if Groff lacks things to occupy her time. She’s on tour promoting her latest novel, “The Vaster Wilds,” and working on a new one. Nevertheless, in what she characterizes as a “dark era” of books banned from classrooms and libraries, and Florida’s “authoritarian chokehold on education” that forbids schools and colleges from teaching the real history of LGBTQ+ people and people of color, there called for a place where all stories are welcomed. She set up an Indiegogo crowd-funding account with clever perks for donors. If
Quatro and Groff herself. A J.D. Salinger first edition went for $600, but you could also snag a large coffee mug with The Lynx logo for a $30 contribution. “I wanted the community to feel like they own this store,” she says, “not just the community in Florida or Gainesville,
Bookstores
as places were holy to me.
— MITCHELL KAPLAN
but the whole literary community.”
The community was keen to invest: Within 30 days, The Lynx campaign had exceeded its $100,000 goal. Groff grew up hanging out at Augur’s Books in Cooperstown, New York—a place she describes as “heaven.” It was “full of books I hadn’t read yet, full of natural light and insulated from the rush of the street outside with its baseball tourists and traffic.”
Sally Bradshaw, proprietor of Midtown Reader in Tallahassee, found her childhood book paradise in the McCormick Book Inn in Greenville, Mississippi. She may have lived way out in the Delta, but, as she says, “In books, I could travel anywhere.”
Bradshaw gave up a high-powered political career, which included stints at the White House and in the administration of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, because she feels bookstores are essential spaces, especially for “people of different backgrounds and beliefs who
Left: Bestselling author Lauren Groff, along with her staff, cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of her bookstore The Lynx in Gainesville
Like fish to water.
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Bayside Inn Key Largo
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Three Waters Resort & Marina
Meet the new Florida Keys - a resort destination featuring island-inspired guestrooms, nine culinary experiences, and a world-class fishing fleet. 866-628-0553 threewatersresort.com
Hawks Cay Resort Island resort destination in the Florida Keys. 6 restaurants, 5 pools, saltwater lagoon, & marina. Find What Lures You. 844-640-8886 hawkscay.com
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)
Learn about the ocean and how you can make a difference! Join us for educational presentations, workshops and community socials. 305-852-0030 reef.org
Mitchell Kaplan.’” She did and so did Groff. Kaplan, who was brought up in Miami Beach, had intended to become a lawyer. “I noticed I was spending more time in bookstores than the law library,” Kaplan says about his time as a student in Washington, D.C. He came home to Florida and, in 1982, opened Books & Books. “As a kid, I understood the importance of books and bookstores,” Kaplan says. “Bookstores as places were holy to me.”
Wherever I find myself, I go looking for a bookstore. I used to teach at the University of Alabama and would often make a pilgrimage to Oxford, Mississippi, to visit the delicious Square Books, where I could get every text known to man (and woman) about William Faulkner but also discover work by new Southern writers I hadn’t even heard of. I was educated in the other Oxford—the one in England, a town teeming with bookstores, and spent hours in Blackwell’s, the university bookstore. The place— which with its staircases, nooks and crannies, looks like something out of “Alice in Wonderland,”—has four floors of everything from mystery novels to books dating back to Shakespeare’s heyday, scientific treatises and Ancient Greek philosophy—in Ancient Greek. My own great, good-book place was the Black Cat News in downtown Tallahassee, a slightly dusty, epically eclectic establishment frequented by academics, activists, lovers of Dungeons & Dragons, lawyers, legislators and old hippies. Karl Allen, the proprietor, was an eccentric fellow with a wry sense of humor who had studied political science and earned a Harvard master of business administration. He always informed customers he was not the boss: The bosses were the two black cats
Capital Dame
UNFILTERED FODDER
who lived among the books, perching on the shelves, tails swishing disdainfully.
Conventional business wisdom suggests opening a bookstore in the era of Amazon, e-readers and short attention spans might not be entirely rational. Bradshaw says the current owners of Story & Song Center for Arts and Culture in Fernandina Beach tried to talk her out of it while she attended their bookstore training group—not because they wanted to quash the competition, but because it’s a difficult leap of faith. “Finally, they said, ‘Yeah,
she’s crazy enough to do this,’” says Bradshaw, “and helped me figure out how to do it.” When Ann Patchett, the award-winning author of “Bel Canto” and owner of the beloved Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, heard about Groff’s plan for The Lynx, she exclaimed, “You fool!” Then she added, “I’m so proud of you.”
Yet independent bookstores are, weirdly enough, thriving. The New York Times reported 300 new bookstores opened between 2020 and 2022, many concentrating on an underserved audience hungry for books by queer people, people of color, Latinos or Asian Americans. “The ‘Age of Amazon’ is over,” says Kaplan. “Post-COVID, people have come to understand the importance of place.”
I don’t know what I’d do without these idea palaces, where you can discover voices you never imagined and stories you’d never otherwise know. Bookstores are a free space where inquiry, speculation, upsetting ideas, scary facts and uncomfortable truths thrive. Karl Marx and Adam Smith, Virginia Woolf and Angie Thomas, Toni Morrison and James Patterson all coexist on peaceful shelves. As Kaplan reminds us, “Bookstores are more than retail: There’s something soulful about walking into one. Online does not feed our souls.”
Roberts is an eighthgeneration Floridian, educated at Florida State University and Oxford University. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and the Tampa Bay Times. She has also authored four books, including “Dream State,” a historical memoir of Florida.
Diane
Above: Books & Books, founded by Mitchell Kaplan, has six locations including the original store in Coral Gables.
INTO THE wild
The legends, lore and politics behind Florida’s 175 state parks , from devilish sinkholes in the north to coral reef havens in the south.
By CRAIG PITTMAN
This page: Scramble over driftwood and bluffs at Big Talbot Island State Park.
Ona heavenly Saturday morning in early March, I entered an odd Florida State Park with a hellish name.
Many of Florida’s 175 state parks are located well away from the developed parts of the state, but not Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park. It’s smack dab in the suburbs of Gainesville. To reach the entrance, I drove past a grocery store, a hospital and an elementary school. But once I pulled through the gates, I was in another world.
Devil’s Millhopper may be the most unusual park in Florida’s award-winning state park system. It’s basically a massive hole in the ground—a sinkhole, that is. It’s 120 feet deep and 500 feet wide, and it has sprouted an ecosystem that’s very different from what’s on the level ground up above.
There’s a half-mile nature trail around the top of the sinkhole, but the real attraction is what’s visible from a 132-step boardwalk that leads down the side of the chasm. I joined a small tour group, and we began our slow descent.
NATURAL SPLENDOR AND QUIRKY KITSCH
“They’re an oasis in a desert of urban sprawl,” said Clay Henderson, author of “Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation.” “They’re relics of what Florida used to be.”
You can choose from parks, trails and historic sites spanning nearly 800,000 acres. You can camp, hike, bike, canoe, kayak or simply gaze in open-mouthed awe. At Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, you can even spelunk, should you so desire.
And people visit them all, flocking to the parks in droves.
More than 28 million visitors hit the parks every year, generating $3.6 billion (that’s billion with a B) in direct economic benefits to the surrounding local communities.
“We’re setting attendance records every year or coming pretty close,” said Tim Linafelt of the Florida State Parks Foundation, a coalition of nonprofit philanthropic park partners and volunteer groups. “The last couple of years, because of the COVID pandemic, attendance ticked up because everybody wanted to be outdoors.” (His most frequently visited park was Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, which is home to one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world.)
Florida’s state park system is one of the most wonderful and improbable glories of this place we call home. It’s full of beaches, swamps, forests, rivers and springs, many of which offer views
No matter what kind of outdoor experience you’re looking for, there’s a state park in Florida offering an adventure that will satisfy you (with the exception of mountain climbing, of course).
“The beaches are the No. 1 attraction, and the camps are considered the best campgrounds of any state park service,” said Eric Draper, a Florida native who served as director of the Florida Park Service from 2017 to 2021. “The other thing people said they liked was the variety of parks—springs, beaches, rivers, historical sites and culturally important places.”
Indeed, there’s an abundance of inspiring natural splendor—the soaring dunes of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park near Santa Rosa Beach, for instance, or the calming waters of Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland.
Draper’s favorite: Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park near Copeland, made famous by Susan Orlean’s book “The Orchid Thief.” It contains one of the largest and most diverse concentrations of native orchids in North America, including the elusive ghost orchid.
Florida’s parks also feature plenty of quirky kitsch. What other state can claim to have a park that employs professional mermaids like Weeki Wachee Springs State Park?
Many of the parks have their own history and culture. Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park near Miami was on the southern leg of the Underground Railroad and served as a departure point for escaped slaves to travel to the Bahamas. Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park in Flagler Beach marks the former location of a sugar plantation that was wiped out in 1836 during the Second Seminole War.
And then, there’s Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife
Below: Florida’s state park campgrounds, like this one at Anastasia State Park, are considered among the best of any state park service.
Right: The 132-step boardwalk at Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park, overlooking the sinkhole
State Park, a one-time roadside attraction that’s still the home of Lu the hippo, who was declared an official Florida citizen by a former governor. It’s also home to manatees and panthers.
The park system has won the National Gold Medal Award four times, which is three more times than any other state.
Yet most of the Florida State Park system isn’t even 100 years old yet, notes Henderson.
The oldest unit in the park system is at Olustee, the site of Florida’s largest Civil War battle. In 1899, the Florida Legislature approved the erection of a monument there. (It was supposed to honor the dead from both sides, but the United Daughters of the Confederacy refused to acknowledge the Union casualties.)
However, the first state parks that were built to preserve natural sites date back to the 1930s. They were not created out of some grand vision to attract tourists by highlighting Florida’s spectacular environment, Henderson pointed out. They were make-work projects for the Civilian Conservation Corps.
This was an agency that was a key part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to beat the Great Depression. The CCC put 50,000 unemployed Floridians to work on government construction projects. If it hadn’t been for the Depression, those first Florida parks might never have been built. One of them, Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring, even has a CCC museum to commemorate their accomplishments.
“Then Pearl Harbor came along, and they all put on different uniforms,” he said.
To plan out those first parks, Florida officials consulted with the top experts in the nation, Henderson said. That’s why they turned out so well. Highlands Hammock, Myakka River, Fort Clinch, Torreya, Hillsborough River and Mike Roess Gold Head Branch state parks “were all designed by the National Park Service,” he said.
Those parks were such a success that, in 1949, the state Legislature, at the behest of a young state senator named Thomas LeRoy Collins, created a Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials. The first chairman was a Miami newspaperman named John Pennekamp, who famously helped establish Everglades National Park by winning a poker game with some influential state legislators.
As parks board chair, Pennekamp successfully pushed for a 75-square-mile section of offshore Florida to become a permanent preserve. Collins, by now the governor, announced that this unusual underwater state park would be named for Pennekamp and officially became the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
The park system mushroomed when the state launched environmental land-buying programs such as the Land
Right now, the biggest threat to our public lands is all the development around them.
Marianne Gengenbach
This page: Honeymoon Island State Park was spared further development by local residents and remains a quiet preserve.
Acquisition Trust Fund, Conservation and Recreational Lands and Preservation 2000, adding new parks all over the state.
At times, there have been outright fights over the parks. In 2011, a pair of state legislators proposed allowing Jack Nicklaus to design and build golf courses in five of the parks, along with hotels to accommodate the eager golfers. Many people heaped scorn on the idea of the “Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail,” including Arnold Palmer, and they withdrew the proposal.
Then, in 2015, the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said he wanted the park system to start paying for itself. As a result, staffers proposed adding activities that previously had been banned, such as hunting, cattle grazing and timber harvesting. A backlash quickly forced a reconsideration.
Nevertheless, the pace of new park creation has slowed in recent years as the state has switched to buying the landdevelopment rights to environmentally sensitive lands instead of buying the ownership of the land, said Henderson. Still, those purchases help protect the current state parks.
“Right now, the biggest threat to our public lands is all the development around them,” said Marianne Gengenbach, a former employee of the Florida DEP’s Division of State Lands who’s now an analyst for the Florida House of Representatives. (She likes Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola for its beaches, and Myakka River State Park near Sarasota for its Old Florida vibe.)
For people who want to do more than just visit the parks, Linafelt said, there are 81 parks that have citizen support groups. Usually they have names like “Friends of the Suchand-So Park.”
“There are people who really care about these places,” he said.
For proof, look at what happened at Honeymoon Island State Park.
IF THE HONEYMOON IS OVER, I WANT A DIVORCE.
Honeymoon Island State Park near Dunedin has long been the most popular park in the Florida system, drawing more than one million people a year. They come to search for shells along the beach, catch fish from the gulf, hike through the slash pines and spot birds soaring overhead.
Prior to 1921, it was known as Hog Island, so named because it was owned by a man who supposedly raised them there—although there were rumors he was actually a rumrunner.
Then, in the 1930s, an entrepreneur named Clinton Washburn bought it and built 50 honeymoon cottages, along
with a recreational hall with a dance pavilion, a chapel, a water tower and a community house with toilets, showers and lavatories. He’s the one who came up with the park’s current name.
Only 164 honeymooning couples launched their marriages there, though, because love soon gave way to World War II. After that, only defense contractors used the place—one of them to test an amphibious vehicle for the war. Afterward, the romantic getaway was in shambles.
In the 1960s, a developer envisioned turning the island into a dredge-and-fill subdivision with housing for 16,000. Fortunately, his dredge plans ran into practical difficulties, his permit expired and in 1974, Florida began buying up the property and eventually opened the park in 1981.
Despite Honeymoon Island’s popularity as a park, it was only occupied during the day. When the sun went down, everyone had to leave. There was no overnight camping.
Thirteen years ago, Florida park officials proposed chang-
State Parks director at the time, “like graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.”
Environmental groups objected to the damage that such a change would cause, but the loudest cries of outrage came from Dunedin residents. Hundreds showed up for a public hearing, waving signs and banners that said, “Save the Park,” “Don’t Pave Paradise” and “If the Honeymoon Is Over, I Want a Divorce.”
Before the hearing started, the crowd began chanting, “Save our park!” During the hearing, not one speaker spoke in favor of what the DEP wanted to do. People cheered for one man who called for forming a human barricade against any RVs ever entering Honeymoon Island.
Scott, who had enthusiastically supported the DEP’s plans before the hearing, changed his tune and said no. Honeymoon remains closed to camping.
“The lesson for the DEP was the general public’s knowledge of their park resources and their desire to protect them,” Gengenbach, the former DEP official, said. “It was a sense of ownership: ‘We paid to protect this land for us and for future
one who cares so much about the parks they volunteer their
On our tour, Spiller pointed out the wide variety of wild life that frequents the park. A host of animal pawprints appeared in the mud at the bottom of the chasm, and a solitary turtle cruised back and forth. Meanwhile, he showed us where bobcats were building a den high up on one side, and he told us about encountering a bear near the top.
He also pointed out the small waterfalls that trickled down the sides of the sinkhole, and the stream that flows into a crevice at the bottom, meaning it runs into the aquifer.
When it comes to parks where you descend into wonder, Sandra Friend, who co-runs the “Florida Hikes!” website, said she much prefers the airy delights in Devil’s Millhopper to the darkness inside Florida Caverns State Park.
This place became a popular place for long-haired hippies to hang out. I was one of them.
Mark Spiller
Early settlers gave the sinkhole its unusual name because they found bones and teeth—including shark’s teeth—scattered at the bottom. Back then, a hopper was some thing used to funnel grain to a gristmill. The settlers claimed the bones were proof that this was a place where bodies were fed to the devil.
The curious came to gaze upon this marvel for almost 100 years before it became a state park in 1974. Gainesville native Tom Petty once told MTV that when he was in high school, Devil’s Millhopper was a popular makeout spot for local teens. Some less savory activities occurred there, too.
“In the 1970s, this place became a popular place for longhaired hippies to hang out,” said Spiller who lives nearby. Then he added, “I have to confess I was one of them.”
Spiller, who visits the park every day, doesn’t miss those days. Back then people slid down the sides any way they could, causing further erosion to the walls. When they were ready to leave, they would claw their way back to the top, often damag ing the plants that grew along the sides, he said.
Once it became a state park, the park staff built a wooden stairway for easier access, although the steps could be treach erous, especially when wet. Then Hurricane Irma hit, he said, dumping so much rain over the park that the water level rose at least 60 feet and wiped out the stairs. The staff rebuilt the stairs to be less steep and made them from a material that doesn’t rot and offers better traction.
However, the new staircase stops well short of reaching the bottom of the sinkhole. The reason? With the old stairs, people would jump the railing and pilfer fossils still visible in the mud, he said. Now, he pointed out, the stairs end at a platform that’s mostly surrounded by poison ivy, a natural deterrent for trespassers.
While leading his tour, Spiller always points out the more subtle aspects of the park, such as the fact that the sinkhole has its own thermal air currents that circle upward. They tend to attract migrating birds to circle overhead before continuing their journey.
He also tells his tour participants that gravity continues to exert its power. Spiller’s seen evidence that the ground beneath one of the observation decks built at the top of the stairs will, in a few years, start to slide down toward the bottom of the sinkhole.
The biggest problem facing Devil’s Millhopper, he said, is its neighbors. There are six other parks within walking distance, but there’s also lots of suburban growth creeping closer and closer.
“This used to be the epicenter for research on the dusky salamander,” he said.
University of Florida biologists would come to Devil’s Millhopper to study them, and that went on for years. “Then the first neighborhood was built next door in 1978, and by 1980 the dusky salamander had disappeared from here. They haven’t been seen here since.”
GILCHRIST OPENS THE GATES
A 30-minute drive northwest from Devil’s Millhopper, about 5 miles outside the town of High Springs, is Florida’s newest park, the Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park.
The park consists of a collection of remarkably clear springs and includes not just Gilchrist Blue Spring, which produces 44 million gallons of water per day, but also Little Blue Spring, Naked Spring, Kiefer Spring and Johnson Spring.
“Redbreast and spotted sunfish, largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish can be observed in waters with unparalleled visibility,” the park’s website boasts.
Visitors flock to the park to go snorkeling and swimming, or to picnic and relax on the slopes that lead down to the main spring. On weekends the parking lot fills up fast, and when they reach capacity, the staff closes the gate for the day.
Canoeists and kayakers love to venture down the quarter-mile spring run, which connects to the Santa Fe River. Where they meet, the tea-dark river water merges with the crystal-clear blue spring water.
Most of the visitors have no idea who Ruth Kirby was or how her name wound up on this park. It’s quite a story.
In the 1950s, the spring belonged to a St. Petersburg business mogul named Ed C. Wright. He owned some 20,000 acres spread across 20 counties. A short and solid man, he called himself a “speculator.” He’d made a fortune investing in municipal bonds, railroad stock and radio stations.
Above: Topsail Hill
Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach is known for its meandering boardwalk.
Right: Many of Florida’s state parks include pristine beaches, like this one at Little Talbot Island State Park.
Kirby was his secretary. Wright hired her from a secretarial pool for a day of filing papers. When he asked the young woman to take a letter, he was impressed by how quickly she worked and how meticulous she was. He hired her full time on the spot.
A reserved woman in a pageboy haircut, her duties included listening in on many of her boss’s phone calls and taking notes. Soon she was trading bonds and buying land as well. She did well enough that she kept a stable full of horses to ride and drove a gold Cadillac.
What few knew was that the pair were more than just boss and secretary. They were involved in a secret love affair.
According to Kirby’s family, Wright gave her the deed to Gilchrist Blue Springs as an engagement gift. Yet the couple never made it down the aisle. Every time they set a date, Wright got cold feet and found an excuse to avoid wedlock.
In 1969, a stumble on some stairs left Wright with a serious head injury. When he died, unmarried and childless at age 77, his will named her executor of his $50 million estate. She became one of Florida’s most powerful wheeler-dealers, negotiating land sales to major developers or to the state for property that she thought should be preserved.
Meanwhile, though, she hung onto tranquil Gilchrist Blue Springs. She built a diving dock and boardwalk, then charged the public a dime for admission. Gilchrist Blue Springs quickly became popular. People loved to walk to the end of the dock and, in the words of artist Margaret Tolbert, “jump off into wonderland.”
Kirby recruited her nephew to move his family there from Tampa and operate the attraction. After she died in 1989 at age 78, her family labored to keep the springs looking the way Great Aunt Ruth wanted them to, but when Kirby’s nephew and his wife both died, their children—who had worked there throughout their childhood—put the place up for sale. In 2017, Florida bought the 407-acre parcel for $5.25 million.
“Since then,” said Robert L. Knight of the Howard T.
Odum Florida Springs Institute, “the park service people are doing everything they can to make the spring a nice natural resource.” They tore out the boardwalk and diving platform, which he said had become decrepit, and are now working on the landscape around the springs, too.
Unfortunately, he said, consumption by a controversial water bottler is sucking lots of water from the same aquifer that supplies the springs. As a result, he said, “the springs have lost roughly a third of their flow.” Meanwhile, thanks to rampant fertilizer use in the region, “it has the highest nitrate level of any major spring on the Santa Fe River.”
Still, the park avoided a major disaster last year. A sinkhole (not unlike Devil’s Millhopper, but smaller) opened up under Gilchrist Blue Springs. Suddenly, the water level in the spring dropped about a foot and a half, and its treasured clarity disappeared.
“The whole spring went dirty, cloudy,” Knight said. “They didn’t know what was going on, and they chased all the
people out of the water.” But it cleared up over the next 12 hours, and as a result, the volume of the spring rose to its normal level.
Knight, who has studied springs for decades, said, “We’ve never seen anything like that before.”
The institute is still keeping a close eye on Gilchrist Blue Springs, as is its sister organization, the Florida Springs Council. With the permission of a neighboring landowner and financial help from the council, nature photographer John Moran has posted a series of Burma Shave-style signs along the entrance road to the park. They bear slogans such as, “Less Water Used/At Home and Farm/Protects Our Springs/From Further Harm” and “Love Our Springs?/Then Let’s Be Wise/Resist the Urge/To Fertilize.”
Then, at the last turn before entering the parking lot, there’s a small billboard that says, “Seeks Caring Relationship with Responsible Adults –Florida.” You could apply that sentiment to any park in the state, even the devilish ones.
map your AdventurE
From spelunking in Florida Caverns to shelling at caladesi island and snorkeling in John Pennekamp, Florida’s 175 State Parks are waiting for you.
TURN THE PAGE AND VISIT THEM ALL
Above: Surfers walk the beach at Little Talbot Island State Park.
Produced by A.B.Newton And Company for Flamingo magazine for Florida State parks Feature
Volume: 25 Summer 2024 adventure Issue
Photography by Josh Letchworth
Florida STATE PARKS
NORTH
01. Alfred B. Maclay Gardens
02. Amelia Island
03. Anastasia
04. Bald Point
05. Big Lagoon
06. Big Shoals
07. Big Talbot Island
08. Blackwater Heritage State Trail
09. Blackwater River
10. Bulow Creek
11. Bulow Plantation Ruins
12. Camp Helen
13. Constitution Convention Museum
14. Deer Lake
15. Devil’s Millhopper
16. Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island
17. Dunns Creek
18. Dudley Farm
19. Econfina River
20. Eden Gardens
21. Edward Ball Wakulla Springs
22. Falling Waters
23. Faver-Dykes
24. Fernandina Plaza
25. Florida Caverns
26. Forest Capital Museum
27. Fort Clinch
28. Fort George Island
29. Fort Mose
30. Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou
31. GainesvilleHawthorne State Trail
32. Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach
33. George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier
34. Grayton Beach
35. Haw Creek Preserve
36. Henderson Beach
37. Ichetucknee Springs
38. Ichetucknee Trace
39. John Gorrie Museum
40. Lafayette Blue Springs
41. Lake Jackson Mounds
42. Lake Talquin
43. Letchworth-Love Mounds
44. Little Talbot Island
45. Madison Blue Spring
46. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
47. Mike Roess Gold Head Branch
48. Natural Bridge Battlefield
49. Nature Coast State Trail
50. Ochlockonee River
51. O’Leno
52. Olustee Battlefield
53. Orman House
54. Palatka-to-Lake Butler State Trail
55. Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail
56. Paynes Prairie Preserve
57. Perdido Key
58. Ponce de Leon Springs
59. Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve
60. Ravine Gardens
61. River Rise Preserve
62. Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs
63. San Felasco Hammock Preserve
64. San Marcos de Apalache
65. St. Andrews
66. St. Marks River Preserve
67. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center
68. Suwannee River
69. Suwannee River Wilderness State Trail
70. T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula
71. Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail
72. Tarkiln Bayou Preserve
73. Three Rivers
74. Topsail Hill Preserve
75. Torreya
76. Troy Springs
77. Washington Oaks Gardens
78. Wes Skiles Peacock Springs
79. Yellow Bluff Fort
80. Yellow River Marsh Preserve
CENTRAL
81. Addison Blockhouse
82. Alafia River
83. Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve
84. Anclote Key Preserve
85. Blue Spring
86. Caladesi Island
87. Cedar Key Museum
88. Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve
89. Cockroach Bay Preserve
90. Colt Creek
91. Crystal River
92. Crystal River Preserve
93. Dade Battlefield
94. De León Springs
95. Egmont Key
96. Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs
97. Fanning Springs
98. Fort Cooper
99. General James A. Van Fleet State Trail
100. Hillsborough River
101. Honeymoon Island
102. Hontoon Island
103. Indian River Lagoon Preserve
104. Lake Griffin
105. Lake Kissimmee
106. Lake Louisa
107. Little Manatee River
108. Lower Wekiva River Preserve
109. Manatee Springs
110. Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway
111. North Peninsula
112. Price’s Scrub
113. Rainbow Springs
114. Rock Springs Run State Reserve
115. Sebastian Inlet
116. Silver Springs
117. Skyway Fishing Pier
118. St. Sebastian River Preserve
119. Tomoka
120. Waccasassa Bay Preserve
121. Weeki Wachee Springs
122. Wekiwa Springs
123. Werner-Boyce Salt Springs
124. Withlacoochee State Trail
125. Ybor City Museum
126. Yulee Sugar Mills Ruins
SOUTH
127. Atlantic Ridge Preserve
128. Avalon
129. Bahia Honda
130. Bill Baggs Cape Florida
131. Cayo Costa
132. Charlotte Harbor Preserve
133. Collier-Seminole
134. Curry Hammock
135. Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock
136. Delnor-Wiggins Pass
137. Don Pedro Island
138. Dr. Von D. MizellEula Johnson
139. Estero Bay Preserve
140. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve
141. Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail
142. Fort Pierce Inlet
143. Fort Zachary Taylor
144. Gasparilla Island
145. Highlands Hammock
146. Hugh Taylor Birch
147. Indian Key
148. John D. MacArthur Beach
149. John Pennekamp Coral Reef
150. Jonathan Dickinson
151. Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation
152. Kissimmee Prairie Preserve
153. Koreshan
154. Lake June-inWinter Scrub
155. Lake Manatee River
156. Lignumvitae Key
157. Long Key
158. Lovers Key
159. Madira Bickel Mound
160. Mound Key
161. Myakka River
162. Okeechobee Battlefield
163. Oleta River
164. Oscar Scherer
165. Paynes Creek
166. San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve
167. Savannas Preserve
168. Seabranch Preserve
169. South Fork
170. St. Lucie Inlet Preserve
171. Stump Pass Beach
172. Terra Ceia Preserve
173. The Barnacle
174. Windley Key Fossil Reef
175. Wingate Creek
As hurricane season bears down, we take a look at the most memorable meteorological moments and the driving forces behind Florida’s fearless storm chasers.
By STEVE DOLLAR
/ Illustrations by JULES OZAETA
Hunkered down inside a rented Ford sedan in a downtown Punta Gorda parking garage, two young men brave the elements as all hell breaks loose around them. It is Sept. 28, 2022, and Hurricane Ian is blasting against Charlotte Harbor amid a terrifying landfall. Within the tenuous shelter of the car, the perspective is reminiscent of a pair of socks in a washing machine churning at full slosh.
One of the men describes the experience to the host of a live cable news show, their feed monitored on a small screen. “The whole building is vibrating and buckling, and our car is being lifted and bounced on its suspension and tires.”
The newscaster asks what any sane person would ask: “Why do you do this work?”
Logan Parham answers. “This is my passion.”
A few moments later, Parham and his buddy Garrett begin to really contemplate their situation. They might be two desperadoes about to be flushed from their last hideout or grunts on a military expedition gone wrong, dug deep in a foxhole. Instead, they’re just these guys, doing it for fun—caught between the titanic force of nature and scarcely more than reinforced concrete, trying to keep their wits.
“There’s gonna be nothing left, dude. I don’t know how long we’re gonna be stuck here, but there’s going to be nothing left.”
“I kinda want to move.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“We need to say some prayers, man.”
Parham and his buddy survived, as viewers can see for themselves on the selfstyled storm chaser’s YouTube channel, where “PT. 3. Hurricane Ian. ‘The Storm from Hell’”—a 14-minute-and-18-second clip of Parham’s epic run-in with one of the mightiest hurricanes in immediate memory—commemorates a dangerous adventure and a rite of initiation.
“That was my first major hurricane,” Parham recalls. “I picked quite the doozy— it being pretty much Category 5 at landfall. I learned a lot of lessons that day. I mean going through both of those eye walls with the intense, massive vortices and winds approaching 200 mph, being in that eye where you go through absolute hell for 20, 30 minutes and then nothing but calm and clear skies. It was an experience, to say the least.”
The 22-year-old, who lives in Hastings, pours his time and resources into the meteorological escapades that fill his YouTube channel and Facebook feed. The videos boast dramatic headers common to the genre: “Violent Dust Devil Intercept,” “Mid June INSANITY!,” “Hurricane Idalia. Violent Inner Core,” and “The Most Extreme Weather in The World”—the last a 3-minute greatest hits compilation of breathtakingly apocalyptic moments.
Parham is only one of thousands of storm freaks chasing the wild wind, pedal to the metal, down nature’s own fury road, and almost all of them have some sort of
the road west out of Tallahassee and the hurricane’s predicted path. About 90 minutes later, I arrived in bucolic Holmes County and checked into a roadside motel, shades of “No Country for Old Men” (absent Anton Chigurh). I was anxious enough already, not to mention my sleepless night skipping among a dozen different YouTube channels where I success fully scared the bejesus out of myself. Luckily, Idalia wasn’t as strong upon landfall as expected—though still a fearsome Category 3—nor on a beeline to Florida’s capitol, meaning I could have stayed home. But now I was fixated: Who are these
Behind the Screens
Maybe one of these freaks is actually the mild-mannered, middle-aged dad next door. Mike Boylan is something like the OG of Florida storm chasers. In 2004, he launched his website Mike’s Weather Page (spaghettimodels.com) as an act of frus tration. “We had (Hurricane) Charley come in, and it was impossible to find graphics,” he says, chatting over Zoom from his home office in Oldsmar, the wall behind him filled with various plaques commemorating his work. Boylan applied his lessons from an HTML class at the University of South Florida to create what was only intended as a reference for himself and some friends. Two decades later and it still looks like some thing from the Myspace era, crowded with an intense array of weather satellite maps—screenful after screenful of them— that track everything from airport delays to global wind move ment and nationwide storm reports. Everything you wanted to
know about vertical wind shear but were too afraid to ask. There’s a lot going on, so it’s good that a video recap of “The Daily Brew,” Boylan’s thrice-weekly morning livestream, sits at the top of the page: a cordial welcome for any late arrivals to
people get excited for hurricanes. It’s a Culture.
py-tongued donkey. “We made that logo and sold a thousand shirts,” he says. “It was nuts.”
the storms come in. I would drive from Okeechobee to West Palm Beach to do my dialysis treatment. When I would come back, I’d have to cut through the Everglades, and that’s where
knocking on 300,000 miles.” Despite its mileage, “this truck knows when it’s go time,” Bozarth says. “Every storm I’ve ever gotten near, every hailstorm I’ve had to get out of, suddenly the truck is brand new off the lot.”
The warhorse may be put to a real test this summer and fall as the state is primed for a potentially historic hurricane season, due to rising water temperatures. Even as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law deleting the concept of climate change from state policy. But there will be lots of company. Bozarth is gaining experience at a time when there are more storm chasers than ever. Unfortunately, not all of them
where people are getting their content from.”
What could be an essential medium for life-or-death information becomes another casualty of the fake news phenomenon. Recently on TikTok, someone posted the false report that a rogue 50-foot wave was coming from Antarctica toward the United States.
“It was obviously a model that glitched,” Boylan says. “It was so bad that the (radar site) the (TikTok poster) was using had to come out with a statement saying, ‘No, we’re not getting invaded by UFOs. It’s not Godzilla.’ I mean, I’m still getting tagged.”
Boylan tries to counter the
Opposite page: Fort Lauderdale local Jeff Gammons became fascinated with storms when Hurricane Gilbert assaulted the Caribbean and Gulf Coast with 185 mph winds.
This page: Morgan Bozarth’s obsession with bad weather began at age 13 when she survived a tornado that came within two miles of her grandparents’s home in Piedmont, Alabama, destroying everything in its path.
The Guide To Orlando Not-SoTouristy
By
Our Orlando insider dishes on all the city’s best-kept secrets on where to eat, stay and plaY.
MADDY ZOLLO RUSBOSIN
Close your eyes and think of Orlando. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? For the majority of people, it’s visions of tourists donning Mickey Mouse T-shirts or Wizarding World of Harry Potter robes. While the attractions are intrinsically woven into the fabric of Central Florida, there are multiple facets to the area—more Michelin than Marvel and more cosmopolitan than comic book—that speak to a luxury experience one may not expect from such a bustling tourism hub.
Having been born and raised in Orlando, I can vouch that the city has had a serious rebrand over the last few decades. What started as a small cow town known for its orange groves has exploded into a sprawling metro with decidedly more discerning tastes, first-class theme parks included. Want an all-inone resort with award-winning restaurants, a kickass pool and elegant rooms? Check. How about an urban adventure where you can try all the foodie eats and craft cocktails your body can handle? Check, check. Or maybe you want an idyllic escape with Disney’s Main Street, U.S.A. vibes, yet shopping and dining on par with Miami or New York? Check, check, check. Forget Googling where to go ever again. We’ve got your cheat sheet for choosing your own authentic (and upscale) Orlando getaway. We’ll leave packing the mouse ears up to you.
The “I Want To Be Near the Parks but Not Feel Like It” Vacation
Stay
As an Orlando native, I understand my hometown’s park appeal (Even my high school prom was at Epcot!). If you want to hit up the attractions, it only makes sense to stay somewhere close. According to Visit Orlando, there are over 480 hotels, resorts and inns in the area, but as a local who has many stayca tions under her belt, there’s one that truly stands out among the rest: The Four Seasons Resort Orlando Disney World Resort.
The 26-acre property has impeccable accommodations, a world-class spa, highly-lauded dining, golf and a sprawling pool area with a splash zone, slides, a lazy river and an adultonly pool. The best part: It’s situated less than 10 minutes from the parks. Put simply, it has everything you can expect from a Four Seasons resort with a little extra Mickey magic sprinkled in.
While adults will appreciate the first-class service and dining
Previous spread clockwise: Four Seasons Resort Orlando; gallery wall at Lake Nona Wave Hotel; Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando; Four Seasons Resort Orlando pool; The Living Room Bar at Lake Nona Wave Hotel; dishes from Nami
This spread clockwise: Orlando’s food scene is hot; Four Seasons Resort Orlando; an old-fashioned from Nami; Lake Nona Wave Hotel; Judson’s Live; dish from Nami; Four Seasons Resort Orlando Spa; Ava MediterrAegean
options—just take the Michelin-starred Capa, a rooftop steakhouse known for its unparalleled Spanish-inspired cuisine and gorgeous views—the resort can really roll out the red carpet for families. In the spa, there’s a Magical Moments for Kids service where children are transformed into their favorite princess or a dashing knight. At Ravello, another one of the hotel’s on-site restaurants, there’s a Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy & His Pals on select days. Additionally on select nights, Ravello has a Pasta & Play program where after dinner, kids will be escorted to the nearby lawn by Kids For All Seasons team members for some supervised fun until 9 p.m., allowing parents to finish their meal or bottle of wine in peace. Talk about a true luxury.
The resort’s hands-on approach to hospitality also means there’s nothing you can’t make happen. Fable boutique, located on the resort’s lobby level, offers elevated gifting options and the chance to order a princess or space ranger
Clockwise: Floral necklaces by Stephanie Albertson at Be On Park; downtown Winter Park; assorted canapes from Victoria & Albert’s; The Alfond Inn at Rollins
tent with on-theme accessories to be set up in your room for little ones to play in. If you’re looking for a truly extravagant experience, you can rent out an entire floor of the hotel, Capa restaurant or even the spa. Private character meet-and-greets are also available upon request.
Dine + Drink
Explore beyond the hotel’s premises by resort-hopping over to Victoria & Albert’s. The opulent, Victorian-styled restaurant, located in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, has been a AAA Five Diamond Award winner each year since 2000 and recently earned its first Michelin star—a first for a Disney restaurant—along with the 2024 Michelin Guide Florida Service Award, won by sommelier Israel Perez. Victoria & Albert’s is known for its innovative tasting menu and pairings with fine wines, zero-proof options or other beverages from an exstensive drink list that includes an entire page dedicated to still water. Yes, it’s that posh.
Another option is the Bull & Bear, situated at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, which is an ode to the original Bull & Bear Prime Steakhouse in New York City. It’s worth a stop if you’re looking for a reinvented take on steakhouse staples without compromising on service. While they serve up perfectly executed pieces of meat and plates with just the right amount of creative flair, like the escargot and gnocchi or the veal oscar, the restaurant also has top notch tableside experiences—from a smoked old-fashioned served out of a bull decanter to a liquid nitrogen dessert.
To dine where the locals go, Sand Lake Road is a quick drive away. This stretch is a regular haunt for residents of the neighboring Windermere and Doctor Phillips communities. While there’s a restaurant for every craving, Kabooki Sushi is a standout with its lively atmosphere and Japanese fare.
And if you want to get competitive without breaking a sweat, head to Stadium Club in the Caribe Royale Resort. Not only does this immersive sports bar have electric energy and eats, but it also has pro-level sports simulators so you can swing, shoot, throw and kick without the humidity.
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First off, if going to the attractions is on the agenda, remove the stress of planning with guided VIP experiences at the Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida parks. Although if it were up to me, dip out
before the late-night crowds and head to a (slightly) less crazy tourist haven, Disney Springs. Besides having better food options than the parks (try Jaleo by José Andrés for delectable tapas), there’s plenty to do in this retail and dining hub from catching Cirque du Soleil’s “Drawn to Life” show (try booking their new Page To Stage Signature Experience for an intimate behind-thescenes look) or bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes. Don’t want to miss the fireworks? Easy. Book a nighttime Fireworks Cruise that lets you soak up the spectacle from the water sans having to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with countless others.
While there’s no shortage of shopping options, The Mall at Millenia is a notch above the rest. Its considerable concentration of luxury boutiques, ranging from Dior and Rolex to Hermès and Chanel, puts it on par with other luxe retail districts in Miami and Palm Beach. They even offer complimentary delivery to hotels and residences within a 40-mile radius, and as long as you plan ahead, you can reserve an appointment at their Personal Stylist Suite, where you work one-on-one with a personal stylist to edit and enhance your wardrobe.
Like the rest of Florida, Orlando is also known for its collection of premiere golf courses. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge is the most iconic thanks to its namesake golf legend, but you’re only able to play the greens if you’re a guest of a member or staying on property. Instead, try the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club course designed by Greg Norman. Not intimidated by driving a little further? Hit the road for a few hours to play a course with character at Cabot Citrus Farms or Streamsong Golf Resort.
Above: The Boathouse, Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar and Paddlefish overlook Village Lake at Disney Springs.
The “I Want To Explore a City” Vacation
Stay
What many people don’t realize is that Central Florida’s main tourism hub is a solid 20- to 30-minute drive from what’s considered true downtown Orlando. Dubbed “The City Beautiful,” its urban sprawl has a little bit of everything: topnotch food, craft cocktails, professional sports teams, a stateof-the-art performance center and plenty of swans.
After undergoing a recent $18 million renovation project, the Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando is the chicest place to rest your head. Its eye-catching art deco design paired with a striking color palette of black, white and rich jewel tones is woven into every aspect of the property, from the lobby to the guest and meeting rooms.
On the ground floor, the sounds of live music and lively conversation lure you into the Bösendorfer Lounge, named for the bar’s signature piano. It’s a watering hole for guests and locals alike. Across the hall is The Boheme, the property’s main restaurant with a menu dedicated to Europeaninspired cuisine, along with an all-encompassing Sunday Jazz Brunch spread. For a more Zen getaway, head a few stories up to the Poseidon Spa and the recently opened Altira Pool + Lounge, where you can take a dip while enjoying the views of the city skyline no matter the time of day.
Dine + Drink
One of the unique things about Orlando is that it’s made up of different districts, all of which are situated close to downtown. While there are plenty of eateries that are walkable within
downtown proper—from Artisan’s Table to Kres Chophouse—the true foodie finds are slightly outside the city center. Take Tori Tori and Moderne for example, two bar/restaurant hybrids that are as aesthetically pleasing as they are appetizing.
They’re located in Mills 50 district, a pocket of Orlando less than two miles from downtown and known for its standout Asian cuisine. While both bars garner a visit for the drinks alone, their similarities diverge from there when it comes to food. Tori Tori specializes in yakitori (skewered chicken) and inventive bar bites, while Moderne has a more expanded menu of shareables from tuna kobachi to Rangoon dip to fire roasted duck.
A few hundred feet from Tori Tori is Edoboy, but if you don’t know what to look for, you’ll miss it. The unassuming eight-person standing sushi bar is tucked in a parking lot, but with sushi so good, who needs a flashy street front? Within the hour time slot (reservations are released every Monday at noon), choose 12 pieces of nigiri or handrolls to be made directly in front of you.
Cap off the evening by heading to Mathers Social Gathering, a true Prohibition-era speakeasy. Sip meticulously crafted cocktails like the Bathtub Gin (served in an actual miniature bathtub) and snack on light bites such as the Prohibition milk and cookies which comes with a shot of bourbon. Then, visit their general store for absinthe shots and, on certain nights, enjoy live entertainment, such as burlesque performances, music and magic shows.
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Located across the street from the Grand Bohemian is the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
The state-of-the-art entertainment and cultural hub hosts Broadway musicals, concerts, stand-up comedy shows, ballets and more. Their latest music venue, Judson’s Live, is the perfect way to see what the Dr. Phillips Center is all about if you’re not in town during a major show. The intimate space has table seating, so you can sit back and enjoy a 50-minute performance while drinking and dining off a curated, scratchkitchen menu.
While the Orlando Magic NBA team may be the city’s most well-known professional sports organization, the Orlando City Soccer Club has one of the most devoted fanbases in town and have dubbed themselves the Ruckus. The Major League Soccer team plays in Inter&Co Stadium alongside the women’s team, the Orlando Pride. Join up with the Ruckus for a pregame tailgate behind Broken Strings Brewery or in their dedicated section in the stands, known as the Wall.
This page: Rollins Museum of Art houses a world-class permanent collection spanning centuries.
Opposite: Toro caviar from Edoboy in downtown Orlando
Foodie Crawl Through O-Town’s Districts
THORNTON PARK
Walkable from the city center, this homey neighborhood is situated around Lake Eola and home to a vast collection of brunch joints. You can’t go wrong with the mimosas and flavorful dishes at The Stubborn Mule or a Philly cheesesteak from Cavo’s Bar & Kitchen, known for some of the best sports bar grub in town.
BALDWIN PARK
There are a few gems tucked within this highly manicured residential community. One of the most indemand tables is at Camille, a French and Vietnamese fine dining experience that has already earned a Michelin star, despite being open less than a year. Or, for a cozy spot to chat and sip vino, grab a seat at Golden Hour Wine, an all-natural wine shop and bar.
MILK DISTRICT
Named after the T.G. Lee Dairy factory located in the area since 1925, the Milk District is a burgeoning conglomerate of trendy breweries and restaurants. Two personal favorites include Otto’s High Dive, a rum bar with Cuban bites,
chic tropical decor and Instagramable cocktails, and Stasio’s Italian Deli & Market, which arguably makes Orlando’s best Italian sub.
IVANHOE VILLAGE
Known for its mix of indie antique shops and gift stores like Washburn Imports, Dora Mae Jewelry and Yay! Tiny Shop, Ivanhoe Village offers plenty of places to satiate your inner foodie. The Pinery is an airy, Floridainspired kitchen, while Gnarly Barley is a go-to for craft beers, sandwiches and beer cheese, of course.
HOURGLASS DISTRICT
This stretch south of Orlando is home to Pizza Bruno, a Neapolitan-style pie shop with mouthwatering pizza,
A Day-Tripping Destination: LAKE NONA
Situated only 10 minutes from the Orlando International Airport, this idyllic community began as a hub for avid golfers, but it has evolved into one of the most innovative and fastest-growing places in Central Florida.
STAY:
The Wave Hotel: Technology meets luxury at this new Lake Nona gem. Treat yourself by booking a Well+ech by Wave guest room, outfitted with the latest sleep optimization features and self-care essentials.
DINE AND DRINK:
Bacán: A fresh spin on Latin American cuisine with an exhilarating tableside experience
Nami: Michelin-starred, modern Japanese cuisine, with a late-night DJ set, good vibes and a 10-person Chef’s Counter for a more personalized culinary journey.
garlic knots worthy of the pungent breath that follows and a surprisingly delicious kale salad. A more upscale palate pleaser is Papa Llama, a Peruvian eatery with a set dinner menu that begs to be paired with their selection of natural wines.
AUDUBON PARK
No Orlando food roundup is complete without Audubon Park and Domu Located inside East End Market, a food hall and retail hot spot, this ramen bar has been impressing noodles snobs for eight years. Top off the night with a scoop of Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream across the street. Try the cookie monster flavor, and you may or may not thank me later.
COLLEGE PARK
One of the city’s oldest areas, College Park has a Main-Street-U.S.A. feel thanks to its central drag and an abundance of local shops and eateries. For an old-world Italian meal, head to Adriatico Trattoria Italiana, known for its fresh pasta and seafood. Or, for a tasty, low-cal bite, Infusion Tea, serves loose-leaf teas and vegetarian fare.
Boxi Park: Dig into local eats at this outdoor food hall with yard games, live music and even a volleyball court.
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United States Tennis Association National Campus: Tennis enthusiasts and casual fans alike won’t want to leave the sprawling USTA compound, with nearly 100 courts where you can play, watch and learn.
Nona Adventure Park: Between an aqua park, wakeboarding, beach club, climbing tower and more, it’s the definition of fun for the whole family.
However, if loud chants, drums and general rowdiness aren’t appealing, opt for premium seating options, ranging from private suites to the Terrace, which boasts outdoor tables with complimentary food and beverage service.
If you need a way to wind down on Sunday, walk over to Orlando Farmers Market at Lake Eola Park
It’s one of the most enjoyable, low-key ways to spend a weekend, with a variety of local food and craft vendors. I personally recommend grabbing a fresh coconut to sip on while you stroll around and watch the swans glide on Lake Eola and if you’re really feeling adventurous (or want a leg workout), take a spin on one of the lake’s iconic swan paddleboats.
The “I Want a Charming Weekend
Away” Vacation
Stay
Winter Park was chartered in 1887 as a vacation destination for wealthy northerners who wanted a reprieve from cold weather, so it’s no wonder it has a distinct New England feel. While I may be partial to Winter Park’s quaint vibe, since I grew up here (and subsequently moved back after a decade away), it’s truly a place that doesn’t fit the Orlando stereotype.
Park Avenue, the brick street lined with boutiques and restaurants, anchors the city, so it’s fitting that the The Alfond Inn at Rollins is just a two-block jaunt away. It’s the brainchild of Rollins College, the neighboring liberal arts school that also happens to be the Sunshine State’s first recognized college. Since it opened in 2013, the hotel directs net operating income to support Rollins scholarships and has garnered a reputation as the premiere place to stay in Winter Park.
Part of its unique appeal is its dedication to the arts. The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art includes more than 600 pieces, spanning from paintings to mixed media to sculptures, with most showcased on the inn’s premises, highlighting both established and emerging contemporary artists. On the first Wednesday of each month, there’s even a happy hour art tour where you can grab a drink from the hotel’s restaurant, Hamilton’s Kitchen, and subsequently be guided around by a Rollins Museum of Art staff member.
Adding to its appeal is the hotel’s brand-new wing that opened last fall, featuring more guest rooms, a cafe and a long-awaited spa. The Spa is a 13,500-square-foot wellness oasis offering a comprehensive selection of treatments, many of which are named with Winter Park in mind, like the Mead Botanical Garden sculpting facial. There are also
saunas, aromatherapy steam rooms, experience showers, a fitness center and an amenity space with a new pool surrounded by lounge chairs and private cabanas.
Dine + Drink
AVA MediterrAegean is Park Avenue’s latest it girl in terms of dining and drinking. Its menu, an artful mix of Mediterranean-inspired dishes and wow-worthy cocktails (like their Smoke and Mirrors tableside experience where a server carefully smokes an old-fashioned-inspired cocktail in front of you), sets it apart from neighboring establishments. Throw in its sleek, airy interior and MM, a members-only venue downstairs, and it’s no wonder there’s rarely an open table available.
For an equally buzzy scene, walk a few blocks down the avenue to Prato. Its long, centrally located bar is a communal gathering place, while their kitchen puts a signature touch on Italian mainstays. Order a wood-fired pizza or their cult-favorite mustard spaghettini “cacio e pepe.”
Next time you’re craving a perfectly cooked steak, there’s only one place to go: Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster. With wood-paneled walls, white tablecloths and top-notch service, it’s the epitome of a classic steakhouse, which is why it’s no surprise it’s been a Winter Park fixture for 30 years.
This page: The Alfond Inn at Rollins; sports simulator at Stadium Club; Greeneda Court in Winter Park is lined with boutique shops.
Opposite: Play golf and more in Winter Park and Greater Orlando; Victoria & Albert’s located inside Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
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Along with dining, Winter Park is equally a shopping destination, and it’s easy to spend an afternoon wandering through Park Avenue’s countless boutiques with a Barnie’s Coffee & drink in hand. If you’re not sure what you’re on the Frank is a great place to start thanks to its elevated, yet expansive collection of gifts, from accessories and books to homeware and apothecary. Fine jewelry lovers will appreciate the curated selection of baubles at Be On Park that are begging to be worn, not tucked away in a jewelry box, and down the block, John Craig Clothier has everything the modern man needs to put his best-dressed-self forward. Other must-shops include the always adorable Tugboat & the Bird that’s part toyshop, part children’s boutique, and Siegel Clothing, a family-owned-and-operated Floridainspired outfitter that’s been a staple on Park Avenue for over three decades.
A short walk away is Hannibal Square, home to Rifle Paper Co., the flagship store for the iconic stationary brand, along with Monkee’s of Winter Park, a womenswear boutique bursting with fun, head-to-toe party looks. Then over on Pennsylvania Avenue is Clementine and The Grove: the former a one-stop shop for the perpetual hostess who appreciates beautiful yet unique entertaining essentials and the latter offering clothes, accessories and gifts that embody a distinctly sunny state of mind.
While there may not be any beachfront properties in town, there are plenty on the lakefront. The best way to see the beauty of the Winter Park chain of lakes is by hopping aboard the city’s Scenic Boat Tour. These guided, hourlong pontoon voyages are narrated by local captains who navigate the canals that connect three of Winter Park’s seven lakes while cheekily narrating the city’s history and lore. Private charters are also available.
There’s by no means a shortage of museums, so it’s easy to spend an afternoon getting cultured. The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art is home to the most comprehensive collection of Louis Comfort Tiffany glass in the world, displaying numerous exhibits dedicated to the famed artist, highlighting everything from his lamps to his chapel interior from 1893. To continue your enlightening museum crawl, venture over to the Rollins Museum of Art, followed by the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens
So now, when you close your eyes and envision a weekend in Orlando, trade the stereotypes for Michelin-starred menus, craft cocktails, designer shopping, boutique hotels, storied museums and world-class performing arts—oh, and the swans, don’t forget about the swans.
sunny dispatches from NW FLA —
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By Prissy Elrod • Illustration by Stephen Lomazzo
Road-Trip Roulette
FPrissy and Dale’s anniversary weekend turns into a tornado of a time.
illed with a spontaneous spirit, and in honor of our 24th wedding anniversary, my husband Dale and I packed our bags for a road trip from Tallahassee to South Florida. Yearning to escape the chilly January weather, I craved the warmth of the sun, sand and sea. Though Dale isn’t particularly fond of beach life, he agreed to indulge me but only if we traveled by car. They say compromise is the key to
a happy marriage. I say no good deed goes unpunished, so we traveled by car, not plane. I would choose a root canal over a car trip. At least the dentist would give me drugs.
So we buckled up for the journey to three separate five-star hotels—all in different parts of the state—which we booked using our hotel points. Of course, my previous dollars spent are what garnered the points. But when one pays for luxury accommodation with points
and not a credit card (cha-ching), the mind conveniently forgets just how those points were accumulated. One of my odd quirks—I’m told I have too many—is the habit of sampling hotels for one or two nights. A three-day stay is enough for me. So I booked one night here, three nights there and one or two yonder to savor a taste of each resort.
With Dale behind the wheel, we
raced down a packed Interstate 75. My anxiousness, coupled with the menacing drivers on the road, was palpable. The air crackled with determination, each driver pushing forward like warriors on a battlefield. Then, as is often the case when driving through Central Florida, clouds quickly rolled in, the sky opened and rain hammered down upon us. Cars slowed and activated their hazard lights as we motored through the sudden torrential storm, thunder and lightning snapping around us. Both our iPhones erupted in a cacophony of screeching alerts and flashing messages: Tornado Warning—Seek Shelter Immediately. Panic surged through us as we frantically searched for shelter, but there was nowhere to hide. With adrenaline pumping, we pressed on, dodging hailstones as they pelted our car. It felt like an eternity until we finally spotted the exit sign for a refuge: Orlando—our haven amid the storm where our hotel reservation awaited us.
Entering the lobby of The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, our nerves were soothed by the soft glow of golden hues, a stark contrast to the pandemonium we had just endured. After freshening up, we headed down to the hotel restaurant, eager to celebrate our survival and our actual anniversary night.
The setting was intimate with candlelit tables and a sense of tranquility. As we indulged in a gastronomic feast—seafood, steak and exquisite wine—we couldn’t help but marvel at the contrast between the chaos outside and the serenity within. Reality intruded on our musings in the form of the bill. It was a staggering sum, a testament to the extravagance of our delicious Titus Vineyards cabernet sauvignon. I sipped the last drop in my glass and signed the receipt, charging it to our room. After all, there are some things that are worth every penny—or should I say every point.
The sun peeked through the curtains as
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sunny dispatches from NW FLA
we stirred the next morning, eager for the day ahead. We were taking off for our next stop: a different resort in another town.
When I descended into the lobby, Dale was waiting in the car out front with our luggage. I stopped by the front desk to express my gratitude to the manager for the exceptional stay and to mention a minor issue with the bathroom sink drain. I assured him I only wanted to pay it forward for the next guest. In return he told me with a warm smile that he would take care of it. Back in
Something sinister was lurking within those walls, I won’t divulge the name of that resort.
the car, I tucked the unopened receipt from our stay into the passenger seat visor as we pulled back onto a now sunny I-75.
Hours later, we arrived at our next highly anticipated destination for a romantic three-night stay. The moment we crossed the threshold of our beachside suite, an overwhelming odor that defied description—and this is coming from a gal who can describe anything—assaulted us. It was a peculiar concoction of must and decay with the faint echo of a forgotten tuna sandwich. We pressed on and discovered a soaked carpet in the living room and both televisions in the living room and bedroom utterly useless as they had no connection equipment. Later we learned that the equipment was stolen from both televisions. Our bathroom proved to be another realm of horror with a putrid stench emanating from the sinks, while the bathtub was clogged with one could only wonder what. Summoning what remained of my
patience, we made our way to the front desk to voice our displeasure. However, our complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears until they asked for my room number. This prompted a hushed exchange among the staff, who cast secretive glances in our direction while murmuring about the departure of a certain earlier guest and our inexplicable occupancy of his former room.
“Room 314, you say?” the receptionist asked with wide eyes.
Frustrated, I asked for a new room. “The hotel is sold out,” she said unapologetically. “Then we are checking out,” I quipped. But before we could turn around, she offered a pristine suite that happened to materialize.
Sold out my wet foot! We returned to the foul, wet-carpeted suite to transfer our belongings and were met with a scene straight out of a crime thriller. Four burly men, their expressions grim and determined, were on their knees, tearing up the living room rug with a sense of urgency, muttering about the room being “uninhabitable.”
Aware that something sinister was lurking within those walls, I won’t divulge the name of that resort. I will say it is located in Hollywood Beach. I suppose it would be best to withhold the name of the earlier occupant, which I heard whispered by the staff. Further, I solemnly swear I did not see any evidence of whatever stealthy activity happened inside those walls, and I would never tell anyone, Mr. Cartel.
As I watched that troubled resort disappear in the rearview, it would seem that Murphy’s law had a hold on us. A few hours passed without incident as we drove north on the evil cousin of I-75—I-95. But as we neared Jacksonville, bedlam ensued, vehicles danced chaotically around us and I found myself murmuring a prayer for safety, trusting in divine protection. Rain poured down, and again, our phones shrieked with tornado warnings! Seeking refuge, we headed toward Amelia Island, scanning
the dark horizon for signs of danger amid the marshes. Panic set in. The whole island looked deserted as we approached the bridge. With adrenaline coursing through us, Dale drove toward a fire station, but we found it empty, the firefighters called away to confront the tornado. We parked as close as possible to the wide-open doors and sought shelter there, my heart racing with fear and his with exhilaration.
In the end, our improvised shelter proved effective, and we breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to have survived another misadventure. With the storm passed, we made our way to the resort for our last night, determined to salvage the rest of our trip.
That night we toasted to our resilience with belly laughs, sharing a large pizza and
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sunny dispatches from NW FLA
more than one bottle of wine. We bemoaned our quest for sun, sand and surf in the Sunshine State only to find no sun, closed beaches and dangerous waters, all thanks to the unexpected weather.
When we finally headed home from our anniversary trip the next day, I pulled down the passenger seat visor, and the receipt from the first hotel stay fell into my lap. A smile spread across my face when I saw that the manager had deducted the cost of our entire indulgent dinner from the final bill. Reflecting on our trip, I couldn’t help but feel a renewed sense of optimism—even after two tornado scares and a brush with the cartel. I looked over at Dale and thought about the journey in parallel to marriage. Like navigating storms, marriage can be
unpredictable and wild. The strength of a couple lies not in how many smooth roads you’ve traveled together, but how you handle the treacherous ones, too. Dale and I will continue our traditional anniversary trip, celebrating each mile of the year before. And whatever our mode of transportation turns out to be, it will be fueled with laughter, and we will be prepared for whatever calamity hitchhikes along with us.
Prissy Elrod is a professional speaker, artist and humorist, and the author of “Far Outside the Ordinary.” She was born and raised in Lake City and now lives in Tallahassee with her husband, Dale. She has authored two nonfiction books: “Far Outside the Ordinary” and “Chasing Ordinary,” the sequel.
thePlayingwaves in might haveto wait
When your days are filled with hands-on exhibits, out-of-this-world activities and immersive experiences in The Palm Beaches, that beach day might get pushed to tomorrow.
— favorites, flings & Finer things —
ON THE FLY
grove stand
At home with chef Honan
— DESIGN DISTRICT —
DuVäl Reynolds’s symphony of style
— BIRD’S-EYE VIEW —
Apalach is back.
— FLORIDA WILD —
Barking up the right tree
— THE TIDE —
Barbecues, boat shows and Jimmy Buffett
— FLORIDIANA —
A memo from the Mother of Miami
This page: The tide rolls in at Big Talbot Island State Park.
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LOUIS VUITTON
GUCCI
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
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FERRAGAMO
TIFFANY & CO.
ROLEX BOUTIQUE
DIOR AND OVER 150 MORE +
ENJOY COMPLIMENTARY PERSONAL STYLIST, PACKAGE PICK UP AND DELIVERY SERVICES.
the m all at millenia
ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND
SEASON’S EATINGS
By Eric Barton • Photography by Melissa Marcarelli
The Chef
Who Bet It All
Barry Honan, of Lotus Noodle Bar, had a nice life in St. Augustine before he risked everything to cook in the world’s best kitchens.
IFthere’s one moment Barry Honan looks back on from his time working at the country’s best restaurants, it’s the night Alec Baldwin walked in. “Oh, man,” Honan says. “The Alec Baldwin night.”
Honan was working as a line chef at Le Bernardin, which was ranked as the world’s best restaurant at the time. Baldwin ordered the fish, a dish Honan was responsible for that night. One by one, the entrees ordered by Baldwin’s guests landed on the expo station, where dishes stay hot before heading out. Except the fish. Honan needed more time.
“I just remember them yelling, ‘Barry, where’s the fish?’” he recalls now. “And then a minute later, ‘Where’s the fish, Barry?’”
Humbling is a word Honan, 41, uses a lot when talking about those early days cooking at Le Bernardin. Here he was, a mid-career chef who thought he knew how to cook, relearning everything about working in a kitchen.
This page: Lotus’s beet carpaccio and smoked salmon tartare
ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND
SEASON’S EATINGS
The fact that Honan was there at all is a career route almost nobody follows. Nowadays, Honan is the chef and owner of Lotus Noodle Bar back home in St. Augustine. But that New York night, the Alec Baldwin night, was a result of what some might describe as a reckless leap of faith. It started when Honan put everything—his young family, his friends, the life he’d known in Florida—on hold.
Until then, Honan had the kind of story familar to a lot of small-town chefs: a family where food is everything and working in restaurants from a young age, with the hope of one day becoming head chef. For Honan, it started in New Jersey, where his Italian mom taught him how to stir sauce and roll meatballs when he could barely reach the stove. Mom was a nurse, and Dad worked as an executive for a boat builder. At 16, he washed dishes at a breakfast joint, then flipped pancakes, bacon and eggs on the
line. A sushi place came next, a move to St. Augustine and a job at The Floridian, where he worked alongside chef and co-owner Genie McNally.
Honan spent six years at The Floridian. He met his partner Lauren Woinski, who worked as a server. They had a baby. They had a good life. It all might have continued like that if Honan hadn’t gone to Le Bernardin for his birthday in 2016. He emailed the restaurant and its legend of a chef, Eric Ripert, and asked for a job. They offered him a stage, essentially an unpaid internship. Imagine what it would take to make that kind of decision. He had a woman he loved, a baby, a good job. And he walked away from that
for an internship that paid nothing. “That was one of the hardest things of my life, just leaving everyone behind,” he remembers.
They break you down and they rebuild you, and it brought me to the chef I am today.
—Barry Honan
On the line at Le Bernardin, he worked alongside culinary school students still learning how restaurants operated. With years of experience, Honan had an advantage. But he also had to learn a regimented French brigade system with a military-style chain of command, of which Honan was now a grunt.
“I realized very quickly I didn’t know shit. They break you down and they rebuild you, and it brought me to the chef I am today,” Honan recalls. “Cooking at Le Bernardin was a whole new level. It was a new chapter in my life.”
Above: Steam buns made fresh daily in house then sprinkled with furikake and complemented with a sweet kimchi butter, sunny-side egg with chili crunch, toasted sesame seeds and cilantro; Chef Honan prepares a bowl of ramen; Lotus is located in the bottom floor of a quaint house in the heart of St. Augustine.
Chilled Chile
Sesame Noodle
Serves 2 to 4
1/2 cup gochujang
1/2 cup white miso
2 ounces water
1 tablespoon mirin
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 pound soba or ramen noodles
PREPARATION: Blend the gochujang, white miso, water, mirin, vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds in a blender until smooth, then refrigerate until cool. Cook noodles until al dente, shock in an ice bath until cool and drain until there is no excess water. Add the noodles and sauce to a mixing bowl and toss gently.
OPTIONAL: Garnish generously as desired with pickled cucumbers, watermelon radish, cilantro, toasted sesame seeds, shiso and cashews.
At the end of the stage, they offered Honan a job as sous chef, and he spent one year in that position. Honan cooked when Michelin inspectors were upstairs and celebrities had a seat at the table, including Oprah, Michelle Obama, and of course, Alec Baldwin. “He was the last one to get his meal, and it was my fault,” Honan recalls. Work weeks surpassed 70 hours. But on his days off, he’d stage at some of the best restaurants in New York. He also worked for free at ramen restaurants, an obsession of his, and he started dreaming of opening his own noodle place one day. It would be a “turn and burn” shop back home, making traditional Japanese ramen at a quick pace.
Then the pandemic hit, and Le Bernardin, like everywhere else in New York, closed. Honan returned home and became something he hadn’t been since he was a kid: unemployed. When restaurants opened back up, Honan dived even deeper into what he could learn. He went to Chicago to work for free at Alinea, then to California and The French Laundry, where they offered him a job on the line. Then his second child was on the way, and he chose to return to his life back in Florida.
In 2021, he started making ramen in his kitchen, and he’d drive around St. Augustine delivering it to 25 people or so. He started doing pop-ups around town, putting out seven-course tasting menus using the kind of techniques he’d picked up from those famous kitchens. The idea of a cheap ramen bar seemed behind him. He started looking for locations to make things permanent, and after a year renovation, Honan and Woinski opened Lotus Noodle Bar. Woinski runs the front of the house, and Honan takes what he learned from the French kitchen brigade system and the long list of famous chefs he worked for and turns it into something of his own. “I essentially live here,” Honan
This page: Chef Barry Honan’s chilled chile sesame noodle
ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND
SEASON’S EATINGS
says. “I’m the first person on the scene, the last person to go. We’re just getting started, and we’ve just scratched the surface of what we’re capable of doing.”
Beyond the techniques Honan uses, Lotus is defined by the ingredients he sources, like scallops from Hokkaido, Japan and prefecture and sweet potatoes from Okinawa, Japan. There’s an open kitchen so people can watch the cooks at work and a lot of tableside presentations,
where Honan comes into the dining room to explain the dishes and add finishing touches.
Honan’s goal now is beyond making Lotus widely known: he wants to do the same for St. Augustine, where he says a few chefs are working to create a dining scene beyond the touristy places that used to dominate.
“St. Augustine could become a Charleston. It’s not yet, but we’re on our way here.”
Now, it’s hard for him to consider what he would’ve done if he had said no eight years ago: if he hadn’t left everything for a chance at something better, that huge risk that so few of us take, the one that turned him into a great chef.
2 cups of crumbed leftover bread or Italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small white or yellow onion
4 ounces ground beef
6 ounces ground pork
2 eggs
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 ounces dried or finely chopped fresh oregano
4 ounces dried or finely chopped fresh basil
2 ounces dried or finely chopped fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups freshly grated ParmigianoReggiano
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
PREPARATION: In a large bowl, gently combine all ingredients until fully mixed and roll into two-inch balls. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through to ensure all sides brown evenly. Cook meatballs on stovetop in a simmering sauce for at least one hour.
FLORIDA NONPROFIT V FOR VICTORY CAPTURES THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY AS IT HELPS LOCAL CANCER WARRIORS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
BY EMILEE PERDUE
When a bright red "V" pops up in an undeveloped lot in Northeast Florida, the locals know what’s coming. The bold letter, which looks like it belongs on the chest of a comic book superhero, denotes the latest location of a V Pizza, the beloved local restaurant chain that started in Jacksonville.
To some, the “V” means a new, delicious pizzeria is coming to the neighborhood. But for others, it’s a beacon of hope.
V for Victory, a nonprofit organization, was formed in 2017 when the owner of V Pizza, Paul Scott, was faced with the cancer diagnosis of his 3-year-old son. Scott learned that when your entire world is flipped upside down, menial tasks like mowing the lawn or cooking dinner are no longer easy. “As they (Scott’s family) were navigating that cancer journey, they saw firsthand
the impact beyond just the medical diagnosis,” says Jacklyn Overby, the executive director of V for Victory. Overby gave insight into the hectic, stressful lives of families like Scott’s, including the difficulty they face in accomplishing minor yet necessary daily tasks like making dinner when a diagnosis, an upcoming procedure or a health insurance issue puts everything else on the back burner. Scott realized the families of cancer warriors needed help and hatched a plan.
“If everyone steps up and does one thing, working together we can support the community without being a burden on any one person’s back,” Overby explained as the idea behind V for Victory.
Harnessing his entrepreneurial spirit and pizzeria group, Scott created V for Victory to serve families fighting a cancer diagnosis
in the Greater Jacksonville area.
At each V Pizza location, stretching from Central Florida up to North Carolina, cancer warriors and their families can walk into a restaurant and receive a free dinner while other customers have the option of donating to V for Victory simply by noting an amount on their receipt, similar to how they would tip their server. V for Victory then began forming partnerships with other businesses in the area to provide a full range of support from lawn care and plumbing to guitar lessons and cleaning services, which would help to ensure the regular rhythms of life could continue. These businesses give a charitable discount for their goods and services, which V for Victory covers on behalf of the families.
say hands down that has been one of the best moves that we’ve made.”
Another popular program is Bricks of Love, which began when the Lego Group donated over 6,500 buildable brick sets in 2021. After receiving any cancer-related treatment at Nemours Children’s Health or Wolfson Children’s Hospital, both pediatric hospitals in Jacksonville, patients are gifted a Lego set of their choosing as a way to create a positive association with care and therapy. The Lego sets range from $20 to $900 in value, and some are larger than the kids themselves, including a functioning roller coaster and a baby grand piano.
One of their biggest partners is Big Chief Tire, an automobile care and tire service center, which promises to serve any V for Victory family at no cost to them.
“There hasn’t been a single family in the last year that we’ve had to deny a car repair for since partnering with Big Chief Tire. With their support, we’ve been able to help them (the families) all in getting back and forth to their treatment,” says Overby. “I would
Overby has high hopes to expand other programs in 2024. Inspired by a V for Victory family, she is amassing help to restart a tutoring program for children falling behind in school. “This is what it looks like for a lot of our families,” Overby says. She shared a story about a mother with two children, one of them battling cancer. For a long time, she was scared her son wasn’t going to survive. His older sister, living in a house deep in medical crisis for years, fell behind in school and started having her own academic
and mental health issues.
“(Cancer) has impacts on the other children in the household,” Overby says.
In an effort to serve the entire family, V for Victory provided tutoring services for the academic school year to children living in a household in which either a sibling or parent was fighting cancer. With the right financial resources and tutors in place, Overby aims to relaunch the program in the
coming year. V for Victory is also expanding outside the pizzeria and onto the kitchen table to provide precooked and healthy meals delivered directly to more than 700 families’ doors.
When North Florida residents drive by a bright V, they debate what it stands for. Some say, “very, very good pizza.” V Pizza tells guests it stands for veloce, the Italian word for fast. But to the families at V for Victory, it
represents an entire community supporting them during difficult times and celebrating the wins on the happiest of days. At the end of treatment, V for Victory gives a celebratory gift to each family. Ranging from painting houses and planning parties to family photoshoots, V for Victory utilizes local businesses and volunteers to make the families’ big day just a little brighter.
“Everyone can do a small part. It’s really about activating the community and helping your neighbor. It’s incredible. I feel privileged to see it every day,” Overby says. “It’s truly just local people helping local people.”
For more information on V for Victory or to find ways to help, visit vforvictory.org.
Opposite: Dan Wilcox, a Jacksonville local and three-and-a-half year brain cancer warrior who passed away in February 2024; Tuxedo Cat Lego set This page: The clam and garlic pizza from V Pizza; a Jacksonville cancer warrior supported by V for Victory
ON THE FLY: DESIGN DISTRICT
By Nila Do Simon
Room with a Viewpoint
Daring interior designer DuVäl Reynolds brings fresh ideas and a symphony of color, textures and fabrics to Palm Beach.
This page: DuVäl Reynolds's designs for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach
ON THE FLY: DESIGN DISTRICT
About 30 minutes into a conversation that began with one-liner jokes, introspective reveals and little-known stories from his childhood, DuVäl Reynolds tells me that he’s an introvert. Malarkey, I say.
“It’s true,” the interior designer replies. “As an introvert, it takes a lot out of me to do something that involves so many people, like at Kips Bay, where I was meeting 300 to 700 people every day.”
Turns out, if any introvert can handle the massive undertaking of the 2024 Kips Bay Decorator Show House, an annual event in Palm Beach that sees the country’s most celebrated designers and architects transform a local home plus meet an endless crowd of show attendees, it’s Reynolds. The interior designer, who has made a name for himself in his native Virginia, is venturing into the Palm Beach scene in the only way he knows how: with a bang.
Raised in the Southern town of Critz, Virginia, a community whose population hovers around 500, Reynolds says design and aesthetics were not common talking points in his childhood. “Nobody was talking about fabrics in Critz,” he says.
inefficient, and inefficiency kills me.”
Today, as founder and head designer of DuVäl Design, Reynolds has shown his appreciation of efficiency on a broader scale. His work is evident in homes across not only Virginia, but also New York, Atlanta and now Palm Beach. To break into the Palm Beach scene, specifically through a prestigious design event like
that people wanted to see in Palm Beach,” Reynolds says of being asked to design at Kips Bay. “It’s a lifestyle that they are known for that people want to have, being elite and accessible to a few. The aesthetic is so secure: Let’s be honest, pink and green are not going anywhere.”
What they were talking about were Reynolds’s drawings as a kid— intricate, detailed hand drawings of action figures that he would often sell to his fifth-grade classmates. When Reynolds stopped sharing a room with his older brother, Christopher, he designed his private bedroom with intent. He shifted the furnishings around a number of times until it felt spatially correct, a trait that he carries with him to this day. “I remember moving the bed several times because I can’t get to this one space fast enough, or I have to walk around the space to get there,” Reynolds says. “It’s
Kips Bay, is a feat that Reynolds speaks about with pride and humility. Because for him—someone with no familial childhood interior design influences who was on a short-lived track to attend medical school and then worked at California Closets as a receptionist and stayed on for 12 years to become a design and sales manager—the Kips Bay Decorator Show House was an unexpected notch in his career.
“It felt that I had a voice and perspective
For his Kips Bay interior space, Reynolds used a trademark DuVäl Design concept for showcases: “Everything all at once, all at the same time.” Using baseline colors of green, pink and gold in the room, Reynolds worked in a dreamy hand-painted wallpaper to cast a warm, moody glow. Light-colored fabrics meld into dark-colored ones, circular rattan chandeliers hang from a trellis-like ceiling pattern, art deco table lamps and furnishings are accented with Scottish-inspired ottomans and a Japanese tea set. Despite the varied pieces, “everything works and nothing takes away from the entire room,” Reynolds says. “I believe design should be one symphony, it’s one sound that comes out of a room.”
When asked how he went from becoming a full-time designer in 2017 to now being a sought-after interior expert seven years later, Reynolds says nothing about his hard skills, which he solidified by earning an interior design degree, but instead quietly references his soft ones, which he says include being easy to work with and someone you can trust to make a good impression. “We got picked up in House Beautiful and Architectural Digest, and it’s people like you who keep our industry relevant and fabulous,” he tells me. “Remember, we move furniture around and work in some rough conditions, but the press allows us to feel more special.”
For his part, Reynolds is paying
Above, from top: Reynolds speaks at the High Point Market in 2023; the designer started his career at California Closets.
This page, clockwise: "The Introverts Quarters," a project in Atlanta; Reynolds plays with pattern at a home in New York; ambient and functional lighting shine in a luxe garage; the hand-painted wallpaper sets the tone for Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach.
ON THE FLY: DESIGN DISTRICT
everything forward. As we speak on a Thursday morning, Reynolds is driving to High Point Market, a semiannual symposium that brings tens of thousands of the world’s premier designers together, where he is a panelist on three topics. Perhaps more importantly, he’s cochairing High Point Market Authority’s Diversity Advocacy Alliance. Raised by a Korean mother and Black father in the South (“I thought of myself as ‘Blackorean,’” he says, combining his Black and Korean identities), Reynolds brings a multifaceted point of view to interior design, one that he feels is ready to be seen.
“Our industry is shifting, and High Point Market is evolving,” he says. “The one thing that I want to do in our community is tell our
I felt that I had a voice and perspective that people wanted to see in Palm Beach.
—DUVÄL REYNOLDS
own story. Other people were telling the story of BIPOC people for years, but now the framework that we are described in and the frameworks that we are telling stories are frameworks created by us and not by someone else.”
For him, that could mean creating more space for BIPOC designers in professional settings or within their own firms (just like DuVäl Design’s own diverse staff of Latinx, white, Black and Asian members, including his wife, Sara).
Or, it could be featuring a BIPOC design in advertising or in a magazine. Whatever the case, for this Blackorean boy from a small Southern town, now is his time to show the design world just how beautiful and powerful color can be. “It’s a snowball effect,” Reynolds says. “Once more people see us in marketing, we won’t be considered second-rate anymore.”
Above: Reynolds is the co-chair for the High Point Market Authority's Diversity Advocacy Alliance and is passionate about bringing diversity and creating more space for BIPOC designers in the world.
Pick a cause. Any Cause.
What do you love most about the Florida outdoors? The incredible variety of wild species? The expansive waterways and unique landscapes? The endless recreational opportunities? Whatever it is, the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida is committed to helping you support it. Through our many partnerships with conservation and education programs statewide, we’ve raised and donated more than $45 million since 1994. The best part is, your donation goes to the cause of your choice. So pick a project. Choose a charity. Find a fund. And show some love to what you love most about Florida’s wildlife.
ON THE FLY :BIRD’S-EYE VIEW
A GUIDE TO OUR FAVORITE NEIGHBORHOODS
By Emilee Perdue • Illustration by Leslie Chalfont
Weekend in
Waterfront eateries, historic hotels,
Chic
01. THE GIBSON INN
A 19th-century lumber center turned charming inn, the crown jewel of Apalachicola is steeped in Old Florida history. Stay in one of their 45 guestrooms and sip an evening cocktail on the wraparound porch. 51 Ave. C
02. THE FRANKLIN CAFÉ
Tucked away inside The Gibson Inn, this eatery serves scratch-made biscuits, crab cakes and pasta with bay scallops. Grab one of their signature drinks, like the Captain’s Ghost, and stop by on the weekends for the best brunch in town. 51 Ave. C
03. DOWNTOWN BOOKS & PURL
This two-in-one store is all things cozy, filled to the brim with yarn and new books. Find a new beach read from a myriad of shelves, ranging from classics and mysteries to romance and fantasy. Then, check off any knitting needs by shopping for new needles or hanks in all colors. 67 Commerce St.
04. MARILYN BROGAN JEWELRY
Sustainability has always been at the forefront of Marilyn Brogan’s boutique jewelry store. Find pearl earrings, diamond engagement rings and custom necklaces, made with repurposed metals and ethically sourced gemstones. 236 Water St.
05. OWL CAFÉ
A downtown staple for over a century, this neighborhood restaurant prides itself on serving up the best dishes on the Forgotten Coast, like local BBQ shrimp, duck confit fries, crab dip and Southern fried oysters. 15 Ave. D
06. OYSTER CITY BREWING CO.
Whether it’s on a T-shirt, a bumper sticker or an aluminum can, this brewing company’s brand is all over the Sunshine State. Crack open a Hooter Brown, a dark ale made with local Tupelo honey, or the Apalach IPA in the town where it all started. 25 Ave. D
07. CAPE ST. GEORGE LIGHTHOUSE
Eight miles offshore stands a 77-foottall beacon that has called oystermen home for over 175 years. Built in 1848 and reconstructed in 2008, this landmark offers unparalleled views of sunsets and full-moon climbs. 2B E. Gulf Beach Drive
08. GRADY MARKET
Located in the former French consulate, this apparel and home goods store has everything from clothes to kitchen staples. Shop for an embroidered oyster ball cap, cologne, candles, drinkware and more. 76 Water St.
09. APALACHICOLA CHOCOLATE & COFFEE COMPANY
After a culinary career spanning the United States and the Virgin Islands, chocolatier Kirk Lynch settled down in Apalach to raise his son and foster his second baby: a chocolate and coffee store boasting sweets from around the world. 75 Market St.
shops & more in this revitalized Oyster town
10. THE TIN SHED NAUTICAL & ANTIQUES
Sift through vintage portholes, wooden wheels and maritime maps at this seafaring thrift store. Don’t worry, there’s always a place in your home to display a 15-pound brass scuba diving helmet. 41 Market St.
11. LAFAYETTE PARK
Soak in the views of Apalachicola Bay from under the cover of the gazebo or out on the pier of this neighborhood anchor. Located in the center of the historic home district, this park hosts parades, concerts and events like Porch Fest Apalach. 169 Ave. B
12. 13 MILE SEAFOOD MARKET
Catch the freshest fish in the Panhandle without leaving the shore at this local seafood market. Dine on scallops, shrimp, triple tail, smoked mullet and more. Looking to take it home? 13 Mile will box up your purchase and put it on ice to keep it cool for the ride home. 227 Water St.
13. LIVE OAK GALLERY
When owners Andrea Comstock and Brian O’Meara restored a 1930s-era house under a massive live oak tree, they knew it was meant to be an art gallery. Stop by for a local artist’s show or take part in a watercolor demonstration. 156 Market St.
14. HALF SHELL DOCKSIDE
Watch the boats go by while eating a grouper Reuben sandwich at this happening haunt. Take a photo in front of the iconic buoy wall covered in yellow, green, blue and pink buoys from top to bottom. 301 Market St.
15. OLD TIME SODA FOUNTAIN
Take a trip to the 1950s for a root beer float at this old-fashioned pop bar. Sit down on a revolving bar stool and order a banana split, a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream or a classic phosphate soda, then shop around for quirky souvenirs and witty stickers. 93 Ave. B
16. BEE INSPIRED TOO
It’s not a complete downtown shopping spree without stopping by this sunny, bespoke boutique. Choose from custom stationery and sea glass necklaces to painted wine glasses and hand-dyed silk scarfs. 56 Commerce St.
17. BATTERY PARK
Tucked under the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge, this bayside park is a hub for fishermen throwing lines off the pier or launching boats in the water during the early morning hours. Plus, it’s home to the annual Florida Seafood Festival. 1 Bay Ave.
18. BECASA
This chic shop has its own eponymous line of modern beach apparel designed by store owner Emily Raffield. Find unique gifts made by local artisans alongside other high-style clothing brands, accessories and home decor sure to elevate any wardrobe or abode. 115 Commerce St.
This spread from left: Cape St. George Lighthouse, Gibson Inn, Owl Café, Grady Market, Half Shell Dockside
ON THE FLY: FLORIDA WILD
PHOTOGRAPHS & FIELD NOTES
By Carlton Ward Jr.
Dancing With Bears
When you are in Florida bear country, you can see the signs. My friend, bear biologist Joseph Guthrie, taught me what to look for. Sometimes you can spot wide prints in sand or mud—if you are lucky enough to see them before a rainstorm erases the story. You can also learn to spot head-high claw marks, rubbed bark and bite marks on pine and cypress trees along bear trails.
When it is mating season, from spring to early summer, bears use straight-trunked trees to mark their territories and communicate with each other. A bear will walk up to a tree, stand on its hind legs and vigorously rub its back up and down on the bark, often reaching up above its head to claw and bite the trunk. When another bear comes by, it does the same thing, smelling who has been there and then adding its own mark.
NOTES
— HABITAT— NEAR BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE
— SEASON — SUMMER
Florida black bears rely on forests throughout the Florida Wildlife Corridor, spread across seven populations from Pensacola to Naples. There were once bears in every Florida county. Loss of forested habitat by development and roads has squeezed bears into the last remaining large forests. As development expands, these sub-populations are becoming more isolated. Florida’s biggest bear populations are around Apalachicola National Forest, Ocala National Forest and Big Cypress National Preserve, each with as many as 1,000 bears. The other four populations are much smaller, some with fewer than 100 bears. These populations are on their way to regional extinction. A main goal of the Florida Wildlife Corridor project is to connect and protect enough land so that all of Florida’s separate bear populations can be reunited as one.
— TIME OF DAY — 9:21 A.M.
— SUBJECT — BLACK BEAR POPULATION
I had an amazing opportunity to work with my team at Wildpath media on a blue-chip natural history film for National Geographic to raise awareness for Florida’s black bears. We spent a year using camera traps to film bears scratching on trees. First, we found a few trees with relatively fresh marks. Then, we set up cameras triggered by an invisible motion detector high on the tree. Finally, we waited. And waited. And waited. We set up in October not knowing that the bears would not come out of hibernation and look for mates until seven months later. By June, there were bears scratching on the trees weekly.
The tree in this photo is on a private ranch that borders the Big Cypress National Preserve. In addition to multiple video cameras pointed at the pine, I hid a second camera that was silently triggered by a motion detector. The bear in this photo is a female nicknamed Blondie for her lightly colored coat, common for the southernmost bears in America who don’t need coats as insulated as their cousins in Pennsylvania or Canada.
Blondie, who is a little over 5 feet tall, was a regular at this pine tree. She scratched so vigorously that she looked like she was dancing. Take note of the chewed and clawed bark two feet beyond her nose. That’s from an 8-foot-tall male bear who danced with the same tree, a hint that next summer Blondie might have a new litter of cubs in tow.
Even better than they could have ever imagined.
EXCITEMENT LIVES HERE. Everyone’s favorite classic toy comes to thrilling life at LEGOLAND® Florida Resort. Come enjoy two uniquely themed LEGOLAND® hotels built for kids just steps away from the front gate. Learn more at VisitCentralFlorida.com.
Couldn’t wait to see the smile on his face.
LEGOLAND® FLORIDA RESORT :: WINTER HAVEN, FL
Waited his whole life for this day.
GREATER JACKSONVILLE KINGFISH TOURNAMENT
JACKSONVILLE
July 10–20
Reel in a prize-winning catch at the largest kingfish tournament in the Southeast, and take a shot at one of the prizes, valued at more than $356,000. Fish from the dock, beach or offshore in five separate divisions and compete for the ultimate prize, a 28-foot center console Contender. kingfishtournament.com
TALLAHASSEE BEER FESTIVAL
TALLAHASSEE
Aug. 10
Raise a glass to the capital city’s beer-filled bicentennial with over 100 national, regional and local brewers offering more than 300 fermentations to taste. After a little liquid courage, try your hand at axe-throwing, play some cornhole or run in the Beer Mile fun run. tlhbeerfest.com
BULLS ON THE BEACH
PENSACOLA
Sept. 5–7
Swap your flip-flops for cowboy boots as the best professional bull riders across America take their talents to the soft white sand. Hosted by the Flora-Bama lounge, this rodeo showdown includes tie-down roping, live music and a mechanical bull. florabama.com
ON THE FLY :THE TIDE ROAD
TRIP–WORTHY EVENTS
(NORTH)
SING OUT LOUD FESTIVAL
ST. AUGUSTINE
Sept. 21–22
Sing along with abandon—and possibly off-key—in the Nation’s Oldest City with some of the higheststreamed musicians in the United States. Spanning across country, folk, alternative, pop and bluegrass genres, these 12 perfomers gather for one weekend in the open-air Francis Field to support the Live Wildly Foundation. This nonprofit organization combines entrepreneurship and conservation to find a sustainable, balanced way to protect the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Headliners include Eric Church, Noah Kahan, JJ Grey & Mofro, Norah Jones and more. singoutloudfestival.com
FLORIDA FIN FEST
JACKSONVILLE BEACH
Sept. 13–14
Wade into Jacksonville Beach’s free ocean conservation, education and music festival with a speaker series led by experts from Ocearch, an underwater virtual reality experience, several touch tanks, 10 food trucks and live music featuring Cimafunk, Shwayze, Honey Hounds and more. flfinfest.com
SMOKIN’ IN THE PINES BBQ FESTIVAL
PERRY
Sept. 20–21
Compete grill-to-grill at one of the most popular barbecue festivals in the South for over $15,000 in cash prizes. Pile up a plate with some of the best ribs, pulled pork, chicken and brisket in the state, jam to live Southern rock and sample from the Sauces of Honor Sauce Contest. smokininthepinesbbq.com
FOO FOO FESTIVAL
PENSACOLA
Oct. 31–Nov. 11
Kick back at this 12-day celebration of arts and culture, featuring myriad musical performances ranging from indie groups and classic jazz ensembles to soul singers and drag queens. Soak in art exhibitions, city-wide installations and the Pensacola Mural Festival. foofoofest.com
Above: Watch the stars of PBR in Pensacola at Bulls on the Beach.
Above: Headliner Maggie Rogers performed at 2023’s Sing Out Loud.
ON THE FLY :THE TIDE ROAD
TRIP–WORTHY EVENTS
(CENTRAL)
AMERICAN RANCH HORSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
OCALA
July 3-13
Cheer on ranch hands as they compete for gold in reining, riding and cow work. Witness these riders execute herding and horsemanship in celebration of the spirit of ranching heritage. americanranchhorse.net
SUNCOAST LADIES’ CLASSIC FISHING TOURNAMENT
ST. PETERSBURG
July 11-13
Face off with some of Florida’s fiercest fisherwomen and vie for up to $25,000 in
prizes at this offshore competition, benefiting Ready for Life, a nonprofit for former foster youth. suncoastladiesclassic.com
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
DAYTONA
Aug. 24
Hear the roar of V8-engines as they race around the 2.5mile track at the Daytona International Speedway. Meet the biggest names in NASCAR, sit front row at the grid and leave your mark by signing the starting line. daytonainternational speedway.com
Above: Monster Energy St. Pete Powerboat Grand Prix
SWEETFIELDS FARM
FALL FEST
BROOKSVILLE
Sept. 28–Nov. 3
Traverse the corn maze, cruise the hay ride, pick a pumpkin and soak up all the fall feels in this bucolic setting. Top off the action with a bag of kettle corn, a plate of Papa P’s BBQ and a mason jar of apple cider. sweetfieldsfarm.com
CYCLE MOUNT DORA
MOUNT DORA
Oct. 11-13
Attack off-road terrain on a 10mile master ride or pedal with novices down Highland Street
ON THE FLY :THE TIDE ROAD
TRIP–WORTHY EVENTS
(CENTRAL)
in celebration of 50 years of this two-wheeled fest, featuring a handful of courses and tracks with man-made jumps, flowing flats and burning uphill climbs. cyclemountdora.com
MONSTER ENERGY
ST. PETE POWERBOAT
GRAND PRIX
ST. PETERSBURG
Oct. 18-20
Post up at the new St. Pete Pier or from the streets of downtown St. Petersburg for a view of power and speed across Tampa Bay. Watch as Class One offshore 45-footlong power boats rev their
1,000-horsepower engines and some of the sport’s elite competitors, like Rich Wyatt of df Young/Good Boy Vodka, throttle for $130,000 in prizes. p1offshore.com
TAMPA PIG JIG
TAMPA
Oct. 19
Get barbecue sauced at this cook-off and music festival, where amateur smoke masters go head-to-head and national performers like Dierks Bentley and The Revivalists get their jig on. It’s all an effort to raise funds for a rare kidney disease. tampapigjig.com
XIMENEZ-FATIO HOUSE MUSEUM
Every room has a story
Discover 226+ Years of History!
Immerse yourself in the 19th-century lives that once thrived here through our captivating Guided and SelfGuided Audio Tours. With specialty events and everevolving exhibits, there's always something going on at the Ximenez-Fatio House!
Discover an array of captivating fall events awaiting you!
Join us this September for the St. Augustine Aviles Street Festival as we celebrate the 100 years relationship with our sister city, Aviles, Spain.
Above: Sweetfields Farm Fall Fest features a corn maze.
ON THE FLY :THE TIDE ROAD
TRIP–WORTHY EVENTS
(SOUTH)
KEY WEST MARLIN TOURNAMENT
KEY WEST
July 17-20
Hunt for a 500-pound marlin (and the $50,000 in prize money) or just get hooked watching the weigh-in at this world-class big game fishing tournament, taking place in conjunction with the annual Hemingway Days celebration. keywestmarlin.com
FEMALE BREW FEST
FORT LAUDERDALE
Sept. 14
Toast to the women of the craft beer industry and enjoy endless pours from local and national brewers, like Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Florida Avenue Brewing Co. and Ardent Craft Ales, during this annual event featuring tastings, workshops, creative collabs and more. femalebrewfest.com
ISLAND HOPPER SONGWRITER FEST
CAPTIVA ISLAND, FORT MYERS BEACH
Sept. 20–29
JUST A FEW FRIENDS KEY WEST
KEY WEST
Aug. 29–Sept. 2
Jam to 100 free performances by some of the top singersongwriters from Nashville, Tennessee, and beyond, unfolding across four intimate venues during the 10th annual festival with headliners Scotty McCreery and Jeffrey Steele. visitfortmyers.com
No other city could throw down for Jimmy Buffett like Key West, so it’s no surprise that it’s the location of the first annual, Just a Few Friends celebration. Spend Labor Day weekend honoring the legendary singer-songwriter who created an entire music genre inspired in part by the island’s bohemian culture. Immerse yourself in live music, a cheeseburger contest, margarita bar crawl and more, with the main event unfolding on the anniversary of Buffett’s death, Sept. 1. A lively second line procession will journey along iconic Duval Street and culminate in a concert on the Friends of Bubba stage. Proceeds from the weekend benefit the Bahama Village Music Program and Reef Relief. its5oclockinkeywest.com
18TH ANNUAL TREASURE
COAST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
FORT PIERCE, PORT ST. LUCIE
Oct. 16–20
Screens will light up with more than 45 independent films, live music and art. Audiences vote on their favorite flicks, which will compete in Best Feature Film and Best Documentary. tcifilmfest.org
NASCAR CUP SERIES RACE
HOMESTEAD
Oct. 27
NASCAR’s top drivers race 267 laps around the 1.5-mile track at speeds nearing 200 mph in this playoff series for a spot in the Championship 4. The only thing hotter is the party atmosphere. homesteadmiamispeedway.com
FORT LAUDERDALE
INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW
FORT LAUDERDALE
Oct. 30–Nov. 3
Walk the docks lined with more than 1,300 of the latest vessels, including national and global debuts, at the world’s largest inwater boat show. This sea soiree spans seven locations, including Bahia Mar Yachting Center, Las Olas Marina and Pier Sixty-Six Marina. flibs.com
Above: Spend 10 days on the beach at Island Hopper Songwriter Fest.
By Eric Barton • Photography by Mary Beth Koeth
A Telegram from Tuttle FLORIDIANA ALL THINGS VINTAGE
Read a 127-year-old message from Julia Tuttle, preserved in the Bramson Archive.
Married to the owner of a foundry in Cleveland, Ohio, Julia Tuttle may have been destined for the life of a highsociety matron, if not for her husband’s tuberculosis. When he died in 1886, Tuttle and her family were broke.
Many women in her position at that time would have lived a life of frugality for the rest of their days. Instead, Tuttle moved with her two children to Florida. She’d inherited land there from her parents at the southern end of the peninsula. Devoid of roads or even trails through the flooded land, she set out to found a city.
In modern-day Miami, not a lot of Tuttle’s correspondence exists. Seth Bramson believes he is the only person in MiamiDade in possession of a telegram sent by Tuttle. Bramson is an adjunct college
professor and historian who started the Bramson Archive, a collection that he says includes 1.5 million pieces of documents and memorabilia, most of which is related to Florida’s history and transportation systems.
Tuttle sent the telegram on April 22, 1897. It reads: “Mail alva wood papers today shall be away next week. Julia D Tuttle.” Bramson, 80, supposes Alva Wood must have owned land in Miami. At the time, Tuttle had been purchasing hundreds of acres that she planned to parcel off.
By 1897, Tuttle’s dream of developing South Florida swampland had the promise of today’s internet startups—an idea more than reality. For Bramson, he sees the 1897 telegram as one more step to understanding a historical Florida figure. It speaks of Tuttle the businesswoman, dealing in transactions, paperwork and legal proceedings at a time
when the phrase businesswoman was as barren as the Miami coast.
Tuttle died a year later in 1898 at 49 years old before she could see the city of Miami become a reality, and decades passed with her name lost to history. That changed when Interstate 195, built in 1959, was renamed the Julia Tuttle Causeway. And there’s the title now often used alongside her name: Mother of Miami.
What would she think of Miami today, with a GDP approaching a half-trillion yearly, the Wall Street of the South, the unofficial capital of the Americas? Once she shed the branding of destitute widow and, as a single mother, helped a city rise from the swamps, she wrote to a friend: “It may seem strange to you but it is the dream of my life to see this wilderness turned into a prosperous country.”
Above: Seth Bramson, founder of the Bramson Archive; a telegram from Julia Tuttle, sent in 1897
