From the Publishers
Paradise NEWS Volume 27 Number 5 • May 2021
We are on the “Ride of Our Lives”
PUBLISHERS Peter Roos | Marketing & Sales sales@paradisenewsfl.com Renee Roos | Creative Director info@paradisenewsfl.com
We met in government class at the Clearwater campus of St. Pete Junior College in 1970. Renee LaFountain, a ballerina, model, a Florida native from Tampa caught my eye right away.
EDITORIAL Nanette Wiser - Executive Editor wiser86@gmail.com Steve Traiman - Feature Editor traimancreativecopy@gmail.com
Having graduated high school in Ottawa two years before, I was a 19-year-old Canadian immigrant, living between Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs in a home at the campground dad decided to build on the banks of Lake Tarpon in 1969. Professor Freeman caught us passing notes and reminded us we were not in high school anymore. I soon learned the summers she had spent in Montreal had predisposed her to liking Canadians. Lucky me.
ART & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Janet Nummi ADVERTISING REPS Gigi Grimshaw Linda Motzenbecker
My mother’s father (our family’s most successful businessman), had advised me that if I ever found something rare, I should try to acquire it and hang onto it as long as possible. Native Floridians are still rare. August 15th is our Golden Anniversary.
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS Arts & Leisure | Events - Buddy Baker Art News - Caron Schwartz
Renee was a dance teacher in Tampa and Hillsborough County for over 10 years. She impacted the lives of hundreds of youngsters in Tampa and Brandon. I was a Publix man and U-Save grocer while in college, then a CPA and management consultant for a few years, before both of us, almost accidentally, became magazine publishers. We had been producing office guides to Florida and other publications in the mid-1980’s, when we moved to St. Pete Beach for our only child to attend high school at Admiral Farragut Academy. Renee was soon recruited to found and publish Grille Bits for the Pass-a-Grille community. Paradise NEWS began a few years later. Renee is a Leo and is full of ideas. It was her idea, for example, that St. Pete Beach should be named the “Sunset Capital of Florida,” and that Corey Avenue should have a Sunday market. In our half-century together Renee and I have worked together most of the time. We have also vacationed together, and I believe if you ask either of us, we’d be willing to do it all over again. We have been producing and sending some of you Paradise NEWS for over 26 years, more than half our married life. It’s been good for us, for our loyal advertisers and it has been good for countless readers – old and new. Sometimes, I wonder about and give thanks for the forces at work in the universe that brought these two soul mates together 50 years ago.
PHOTO BY JANET NUMMI
It seems to me, the same power brings us the people we need to publish Paradise NEWS, just when we need them. Our good friend and The Encouraging Word columnist, Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones, author of The Art Of Abundance, would counsel, “Have Faith. Live Boldly. The Ride of Your Life Does Not Begin Down the Road.” That was the credo of Zelda Troiano too, who tragically left us 10 days after turning in the update for our April 2021 Art and Leisure and Events columns. Thanks for five great years Zelda. We miss you already. See Zelda’s tributes on page 46.
Peter & Renee Roos
& All the Talented PN People 6
MAY 2021 | ParadiseNewsFL.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones | Sarah Lyons Michael Moses Jr. Ryan Baker, MD | Dr. Scot Trefz, DVM Tom Broderson, ESQ CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Janet Nummi | @AMGvisual Visit St. Pete-Clearwater | Visit Florida SUBMISSIONS - WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS Paradise News welcomes submissions. 727.363.6888 • info@paradisenewsfl.com DEADLINES - Advertising • Classified • Editorial 12th of the month, one month prior to print PRINT CIRCULATION Mailings audited by U.S. Postal Service Fall/Winter/Spring; (Monthly) Oct - May . 36,000+ Summer;(Bi-monthly) .J une/July & Aug/Sept 30,000+ DISTRIBUTION - Mailed on “Island Time” Downtown St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, Pass-a-Grille
Tierra Verde, Isla Del Sol, Pinellas Bayway, Harbourside, Pasadena Yacht & C.C., Gulfport (partial), Treasure Island, Yacht Club Estates, Causeway Isles,
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MEMBERSHIP AFFILIATIONS
Corey Area Business Association Greater Gulfport Chamber of Commerce 2007 “Business of the Year Award” Recipient Greater Treasure Island Club • Grand Central District Preserve The Burg • Skyway Marina District St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurial Academy Spring 2019 Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce 2008 “Small Business of the Year” Award 2013 “Woman-Owned Business of the Year” Tampa Bay Watch - Corporate Sponsor Treasure Island & Madeira Beach Chamber
PUBLISHED BY: Paradise News, LLC
P.O. Box 66385, St. Pete Beach, FL 33736
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