COME SEE FREE MOVIES ON THE SECOND FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH IN PLANT CITY

Plant City Mainstreet ofers many events in downtown Plant City. This includes a brand-new event, Friday Night Flix. The free outdoor movies are held on the second Friday of each month starting at about 7 p.m., but you are encouraged to come early and shop or browse about the downtown area.

Plant City Mainstreet ofers lots of events for the community. It has been hosting Last Friday in Plant City for several years. Now, it has a new event on the second Friday of each month called Friday Night Flix.

Plant City Mainstreet will set up a big screen in McCall Park (on Evers Street and J. Arden Mays Boulevard). Families and friends can bring a blanket and enjoy a fun, family-friendly movie.

Dawn Hyatt, executive director for Plant City Mainstreet, said, “This is a way for our downtown to reintroduce itself to our community. Our downtown merchants will stay open until 7 p.m. for shoppers to enjoy, and then the movie will play at 7 p.m.”

Hyatt added, “We wanted to create a fun family atmosphere while giving back to our entire community.”

Some of the merchants which will participate include Three Hands Mead Company, Roots, The Crafted Butterfly, Spirit Art Gallery, Aim Lighting, the Plant City Card Shop, The Side Quest, Rowan & Plum, Krazy Kup, Brick City Bricks, TubTreats and Plant City Community Bingo.

Over the next few months, the following

By Kathy L. Collins

movies are scheduled to be shown. In May, an anime movie will be shown. In June, you can see The Goonies. In July, come celebrate the birthday of The Boy Who Lived with a showing of one of the Harry Potter movies. In August, it will show Avengers In September, you can see Lord of the Rings. In October, get into the spooky spirit with a showing of Nightmare Before Christmas In November, you will not want to miss A Christmas Story. Finish out 2023 in December with a showing of Christmas classics. Hyatt said, “The mission of Plant City Main Street is to preserve, maintain and improve our historic downtown district and its quality of life by bringing our downtown into tomorrow without forgetting its yesterday. We accomplish this in many ways. Building strong relationships with our merchants, residents, property owners, city government and community is vital. Main Street is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and works of of a four-point approach: organization, design, economic vitality and promotion. The Main Street Approach helps guide us in revitalizing our downtown. We have many benefits to ofer.” For information, visit www.plantcitymainstreet.org.

Local commuters and residents wanting to keep their vehicles spotless have gained several new car wash options recently with multiple Woodie’s Wash Shack, ModWash and Tidal Wave Auto Spa locations opening, as well as even more planned to compete against established local operations such as Jules Car Wash. Many have been wondering why this area has seen such sudden and unexpected growth in the express carwash industry.

“We believe nearly a thousand new stores per year are being built in the U.S.,” said Eric Wulf, CEO of the International Carwash Association. “Over the past 20 years, consumer preferences have shifted from ‘do it yourself’ to ‘do it for me.’ Sunshine states have historically been popular for car wash services.”

From an investor’s perspective, the express car wash business model is a marathon, not a sprint; with the high initial cost of land and construction eventually ofset by leaving income moving forward going — hopefully — mainly towards profit. With minimal annual employee cost and expenses, including water, electricity, maintenance, insurance and taxes, it is about as close to passive income as can be found by investors in the massively lucrative automotive in-dustry.

Tampa Bay is especially appealing to developers in the car wash business due to our relatively low number of already existing locations, as well as the high carto-household ratio. With the influx of new residents moving into the area, most commuting longer distances, vehicles get dirtier faster. Add in construction dirt, pollen dust, salty air and the occasional lovebug invasion and the demand is here.

Valued at over $15B in 2022, projected growth for the industry is to remain between 4-5 percent through 2030 due to the focus of consumers toward vehicle maintenance. The most cited reasons for the explosion of the express car wash business model include the success of the subscription programs ofered, coupled with low operating and labor costs associated with conveyor-belt systems.

Express car washes, also known as

By Brian Bokor

tunnel washes or conveyer washes, are almost fully auto-mated, require very little labor and use conveyor or belt equipment to move vehicles through the car washing process. Most ofer doit-yourself vacuums, with some having optional detail-ing services. They are consistently the most profitable in the car wash sector in the U.S., where more than 72 percent of drivers use professional car wash services an average of 13 times per year.

“Thanks to the widespread digitization of money, it’s easier to get banks on board these days. Banks weren’t really favorable of the business model in the past because it was mostly a cash-run business, but with memberships paid digitally now responsible for 90 percent of the in-come and only 10 percent cash, lenders are more receptive when it comes to financing,” said Glen Stygar, partner/ vice president of operations for Woodie’s Wash Shack.

When asked about the saturation of car washes in close proximity, Stygar sees it another way. “We don’t look at competition, we have a market plan to build over 50 stores on the west coast of Florida,” Stygar said. Like Wulf, he believes the shift in consumer habits towards do-itfor-me parallels the growth of express oilchange business.

“I believe our competition is your driveway. We’re pulling people out of the driveway, just like we used to change our own oil,” Stygar said. “We see that happening in the car wash industry. You stay in your car and buzz through the tunnel in three minutes. Why use up to 120 gallons of your water when you get it done here using 30 gallons of ours? It’s a far more efcient use of water, and it’s quicker. Multiple locations near where you work, where you live and where you play give everyone the option of cleaning their ride whenever they find the time. We are also expanding into neighborhood developments with well-established tenants, such as Starbucks and Wawa, welcoming us as neighbors” due in part to the modern architecture used to design-ing Woodie’s

HILLSBOROUGH SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT PRESENTS AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND MINI GRANTS

By Kathy L. Collins

ton and her staf

Two scholarships were awarded as well. The Michael Hepburn Memorial Scholarship was presented to Madison Leiner, and the Ro Gene Davis Scholarship was given to Morgan Chancey.

On April 12, the Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District held a festive luncheon where it awarded several supporter awards, scholarships and mini grants. Funding for the scholarships and mini grants came from its annual Great Plant Auction held at the Hillsborough County Fair.

The Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District held a ceremony on April 12 at The Regent. At the luncheon, the Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District presented awards to several local agencies and organizations, two scholarships and 16 mini grants.

Betty Jo Tompkins, executive director, said, “The idea for the luncheon started in 2016. The luncheon and awards represent the very thing that the Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District stands for, and that is that conservation is everybody’s business. It is the responsibility of everyone to conserve and preserve nature.”

Several leaders of local agencies were recognized for their support. The Outstanding Supporter of the Year award was given to Hillsborough Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez and his staf. The Outstanding Project of the Year award went to the Hillsborough County Fair. The Outstanding Cooperative Partner award was awarded to Environmental Protection Commission executive director Janet Lur-

The mini grants are new for this year. The funding for the grants came as a result of the Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District’s Great Plant Auction held annually at the Hillsborough County Fair.

There were 16 mini grants in the amount of $250 awarded. Each mini grant project proposal required at least one adult and four students participating in the project. Tompkins said, “When we came up with the idea for the mini grants, we thought that we would give out 12, but there were so many great project proposals that we decided to give out 16.”

The grant recipients included Apollo Beach Elementary School, Brandon High School FFA Chapter, Cub Scout Pack 37, Boy Scout Troop 109, Dunbar Elementary Magnet School, Ryan Flugel’s Eagle Scout project, Girl Scout Troop 3518, Graham Elementary AGP Gardens, Hillsborough County 4-H, Lopez Agriculture Classes, Pizzo K-8 School Garden Club, Raise the Bar 4-H Club, SCUBAnauts International (Tampa Chapter), Springhead Elementary Fifth Grade Lunch Bunch/Tutoring Group, Temple Terrace Elementary School Green Team and Winthrop Arts.

For more information, please visit www. hillsboroughswcd.com.