Artistic Fields

sightings, each lasting about 14 minutes on average. Most sightings report seeing circles, lights or triangle shapes in the sky. Perhaps not surprisingly, California ranks number one, with more than 15,000 reported sightings. The town of Sanford, near Orlando, is the Sunshine State’s UFO hotspot with 51 reported sightings.

O A recent study that analyzed myriad factors (gathered from data from the Census Bureau, Small Business Administration, and Bureau of Labor Statistics) such as tax rates, startup survival rates, cost of living, loans, and consumer spending, determined that Florida is the second best state in the country to start a small business in 2023. Key findings in the study show 50.1% of Florida small businesses survive at least five years. Texas ranked number one.

O According to iSeeCars.com, the Jacksonville metro area has approximately one electric vehicle charging station for every 2,664 residents—which comes to about 17% below the national average. The state of Florida as a whole measured near the middle of the pack, with a total of some 7,700 charges, or one for every 2,911residents. The top three cities in the iSeeCars survey for most chargers per resident population are all in California: San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Rating “Least EV-Friendly” are St. Louis, Birmingham and Indianapolis.

O Renters in Jax have 91 more square feet of apartment space than the average American renter, says a recent report by RentCafe, who measured apartments sizes in the 100 largest U.S. cities. New apartments here measure 978 square feet, besting the national average of 887 square feet. At the state level, River City apartment sizes came up 4th after Orlando, Gainesville and Tallahassee.

In late March, a half-dozen artists were selected to produce a new collection of public art for the 125,000-square-foot Miller Electric Center, currently under construction adjacent to TIAA Bank Field. The facility will be the new home of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ football operations. A partnership between the team and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, the six artists were selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants and their pieces will include three sculptures and three murals.

Jacksonville’s own Aisling Millar McDonald will produce a 16-foot-tall steel sculpture to be located outside the team’s entry lobby. The other artists selected are Castro Solano from Spain (creator of the Jaguar sculpture pictured), Will DuBois of Missouri, Californian Timothy Smith, Arlin Graff of Ohio, and DAAS of North Carolina. “As Jacksonville’s leading arts and culture agency, we are honored to partner in igniting our creative economy through this dynamic project and seek to inspire other NFL teams to integrate the arts into their infrastructure and quality of life,” says Diana Donovan, Cultural Council executive director. u

Nature Calls

The Wild Amelia Nature Festival returns May 19 and 20, featuring numerous nature tours led by naturalists and park rangers, nature photography workshops taught by local pros, a nature-based business expo, and kids’ activities. Let’s get wild!

Write On!

The Florida Book Awards were recently announced and among this year’s honorees are local authors Jennifer Swanson ( Footprints Across the Planet ), Kim Bradley ( Spillway ), Tara Lynn Masih ( How We Disappear ), Tamatha Cain ( Song of the Chimney Sweep ), and Kate Stollenwerck ( Hello, Goodbye ). All were honored at an awards banquet in April.

PLAY BALL!

Baseball season is in full swing, and the Jumbo Shrimp play several home games this month. The May 13 and 27 games include fireworks shows following play. Plus, on the 27th, the first 2,000 fans get a free “Koozie Belt” that holds a six-pack of cold beverages. Perhaps beer?