Tallahassee Magazine-January/February 2018

INSIDE TMH’S GALA / SUPER BOWL SNACKS / A PAIR WHO CUTS HAIR

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Morning, News & Night $3.95

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JAN-FEB 2018

A product of Rowland Publishing, Inc.

Tom Flanigan invites you to join the conversation

HEALTHCARE THAT KNOWS

NO BOUNDARIES

At Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, we’re pushing the boundaries because we believe there should be none. When it comes to highlyspecialized heart & vascular, neurosciences and cancer care, our patients travel hundreds of miles to receive the latest treatment options and participate in new research opportunities with our expert team.

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January–February 2018

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January–February 2018

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This makes natural gas virtually uninterruptible as a power source during or after a storm or other emergency that causes outages. Customers who want more than their continuously-operating natural gas water heaters or ranges to function during outages are adding natural gas-powered generators.

Your Own Natural Gas Utility will be at the 27th Annual North Florida Home Show, Friday-Sunday, February 9-11, 2018 ready to demonstrate how natural gas can change your lifestyle. Representatives from Rinnai and Noritz tankless water heaters will be on hand at the Civic Center to answer your toughest questions and we’ll have a generator kiosk courtesy of our 2018 Show partner Power On, a 10 of the Worst Power Outages in US History Tallahassee-based Generac dealer.

Take a moment to enter our raffle to win either a Rinnai or Noritz tankless water heater or a gas grill — 3 winners in all*. Adult passes $5 with coupon** and kids under 16 free.

* Winners of a tankless water heater must live within 100’ of City natural gas service and install the unit at this location. Drawings for the water heaters and grill to be held Sunday, Feb. 11th at 2 p.m. Winners will be notified if not present. ** Coupon available on Facebook at GetGasTally.

1. Northeast Blackout (1965) Human Error –30 million 2. New York City (1977) Lightning– Entire City 3. West Coast Blackout (1982) High Winds – 2 million 4. Western North America Blackout (1996) Heat-Related High Demand – 4 million 5. North Central US (1998) Lightning Storm – 30 million 6. Northeast Blackout (2003) Software Bug – 45 million 7. Southwest Blackout (2011) Human Error – 2.7 million 8. Derecho Blackout (2012) Derecho Storm – 4.2 million 9. Hurricane Sandy (2012) Hurricane – 8 million 10. Hurricane Irma (2017) Hurricane – 6 million

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January–February 2018

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Natural Gas. Energy You Can Depend On.

Natural Gas For ! e f i L

For information on rebates, energy efficiency programs and how to save on energy costs, call us at 891-5112 or visit us on Facebook at GetGasTally. For all city services visit Talgov.com.

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January–February 2018

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January–February 2018

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Contents

JAN/FEB 2018

Michelle “Marva” Johnson beams after being named Miss FAMU in the first event of 2017 Homecoming Week.

FEATURES

84

88

Revered for his local reporting, Flanigan mainly wants citizens to listen to each other.

Homecoming pageantry is only the beginning for the university’s royal courts.

TOM FLANIGAN

by LAURA CASSELS

photography by JOHNSTON ROBERTS

MISS FAMU

by ERIN HOOVER

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January–February 2018

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Contents

JAN/FEB 2018

95 DESTINATIONS

107 GETAWAY Historic

Tarpon Springs, built on sponge-diving, is Greek to everyone.

41 23 CHARACTERS

Everything’s coming up roses for Annette McGuffey.

28 RELATIONSHIPS

Glenda and Archie have been cutting it close for 47 years.

32 CHAMPIONS

Female inmates send love by the basketful to mothers and their newborns.

36 GREAT OUTDOORS

Editor and angler Steve Bornhoft explains the lure of groupers.

A new generation of leather bags is hot in offices.

46 WHAT’S IN STORE

Something old, something new, something indulgent

GASTRO & GUSTO

49 DINING IN Make-ahead sliders are super snacks for Superbowl parties.

52 DESSERTS There’s

Nothing Bundt sweet goodness at this new cake shop.

38 PETS

Here are the treats to choose when you want to spoil your Good Boy.

PANACHE

41 CITIZEN OF STYLE

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44 HIS & HERS

Model, actor and educator Ruth Hobbs dresses to impress.

January–February 2018

70 Local book publishers bring gems to light.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

56 LIBATIONS

Bartender Dana DeToro is Midtown’s Lady Liberty.

EXPRESSION 57 STAGE

Hey, Tallahassee, why are you laughing?

62 ART Artist O.L.

Samuels has gone to his promised land, but he left some of his soul here.

66 MUSIC Blue Tavern

is new mecca for local musicians and music-lovers.

70 BOOKS Local book publishers have a way with words.

ABODES

95 INTERIORS Top

98 EXTERIORS Palm

tips from nursery designers on setting up a sweet crib.

128, the Monticello Opera House enters a new age of music and theater.

IN EVERY ISSUE 16 18 127 154 157 162

PUBLISHER’S LETTER DIRECTOR’S COLUMN SOCIAL STUDIES AGENDA DINING GUIDE POSTSCRIPT

INSIDE TMH’S GALA / SUPER BOWL SNACKS / A PAIR WHO CUTS HAIR

trees: How to bring their tropical elegance to your landscape.

100 GARDENING

Prune crape myrtles now for floral abundance this summer.

+

Clubs serve aspiring comics as proving grounds for their material

Morning, News & Night Tom Flanigan invites you to join the conversation

ON THE COVER:

WFSU newsman Tom Flanigan is a ubiquitous presence, on the air and at Tallahassee gatherings.

See page 84 to learn about the man behind the microphone.

Photo by Dave Barfield

PHOTOS BY ALICIA OSBORNE (41), SAIGE ROBERTS (95, 70) AND JAMES STEFIUK (49)

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January–February 2018

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Contents

PROMOTION

JAN/FEB 2018

SPECIAL SECTIONS AND PROMOTIONS

138 ↑ BEST OF TALLAHASSEE

A crowd at first apprehensive and later celebratory gathered at the Hangar at Million Air FBO in Tallahassee to learn who would be named category winners in Tallahassee Magazine’s annual reader’s poll. We offer you a recap of the evening’s events.

102 DEAL ESTATE

New to the market is an opulent, fivebedroom SouthWood estate with a library, patios and bowling alley; a St. George Island getaway overlooks Apalachicola Bay.

115 ↗ FORGOTTEN COAST MAP

↑ OPENING NIGHTS Maceo Parker fibbed as a boy when he told James Brown he owned a baritone saxophone. But Brown forgave the lie. He saw in Parker a musician in the making and, it turns out, he was right.

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TMH GOLDEN GALA

Months of planning lead up to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s signature fundraising event of the year.

NEXT ISSUE 12

We orient you to one of the most picturesque and pristine stretches the Gulf Coast has to offer — its merchants, attractions and more.

116

Consult our events calendar for an impressive list of things to see, do, savor and celebrate in Tallahassee and environs.

Springtime Tallahassee

January–February 2018

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

CALENDAR



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TMH FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER TMH is a

premier health care provider making an impact in the community through innovative research, fundraising events, constant support and continued awareness.

2018 Northwest Florida Weddings

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON (138) AND COURTESY OF OPENING NIGHTS (74)

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January–February 2018

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES/EDITOR Steve Bornhoft MANAGING EDITOR Laura Cassels ASSISTANT TO DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL SERVICES Kim Harris Thacker STAFF WRITERS Hannah Burke, Erin Hoover CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marina Brown, Steve Dollar, Rosanne Dunkelberger, Chay Baxley Hughes, Audrey Post, Rob Rushin, Sara Santora

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SALES, MARKETING AND EVENTS VICE PRESIDENT/CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS Daniel Parisi ADVERTISING SERVICES COORDINATOR Tracy Mulligan, Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Darla Harrison, Anthony Lopez, Rhonda Murray, Dan Parker, Linda Powell, Sarah Scott, Lori Magee Yeaton EVENTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Mandy Chapman INTEGRATED MARKETING MANAGER Rachel Smith CLIENT SERVICES COORDINATOR Joslym Alcala SALES AND EVENTS ASSOCIATE Mackenzie Ligas

OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES/HUMAN RESOURCE COORDINATOR Marah Rhone CORPORATE CLIENT LIAISON Sara Goldfarb CLIENT SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE/PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan STAFF ACCOUNTANT Jackie Burns ACCOUNTANT ASSISTANT Daphne Laurie RECEPTIONISTS Eliza Holtom, Christie Valentin-Bati TALLAHASSEE MAGAZINE tallahasseemagazine.com facebook.com/tallahasseemag twitter.com/tallahasseemag instagram.com/tallahasseemag pinterest.com/tallahasseemag youtube.com/user/tallahasseemag ROWLAND PUBLISHING rowlandpublishing.com

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Single copies are $3.95. Purchase at Barnes & Noble, Costco, Books-A-Million, Walgreens and at our Miccosukee Road office.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & SUBMISSIONS Tallahassee Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. Tallahassee Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor.

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Copyright January 2018 Tallahassee Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.

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January–February 2018

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from the publisher

Whenever one year gives way to another and we look forward and back, I reflect on my beginnings in the publishing business.

Rowland Publishing has come a long way since the days when it was me and a Macintosh computer. These days, RPI employs more than 40 publishing professionals, and we produce more than 25 titles, including both our proprietary magazines and the publications of others.

However challenging it may have been from time to time, the road to RPI’s success has been a gratifying and rewarding one for me and I am indebted to scores of people who have helped make my small business bigger and, in many ways, better than I would have imagined.

Whenever I am asked what I do for a living, I self-identify as an entrepreneur.

I am proud to be in a league with people who have established and nurtured businesses and adapted to ever-changing conditions that are frequently beyond their control. Those changes may take the form of technological advances, the emergence of new competitors or whatever the whims of government officials and regulators produce next.

Tallahassee is rich in people who committed to pursuing dreams, assumed risks, ignored the conservative advice of others and forged ahead by founding enterprises, creating jobs and meeting the needs and wishes of consumers. I relate closely to the stories of Karen Moore, for example, who left behind the security of state employment to begin her communications business, first in a tiny cabin at Lake Ella. Or the story of Virginia Glass,

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January–February 2018

a Realtor who traded a salaried position in a real estate office to enter the highly competitive world of buying and selling homes and land and commercial properties and became, eventually, the undisputed dean of Realtors in our town.

I came up on the sales side of the publishing business — at one time, I sold advertising for the Gadsden County Times — and I know what it’s like to have to rely on commissions as a means to make ends meet. But, like the editor who loves to write or the coach who still yearns to play ball, I like nothing better than to don an “Account Executive” hat and pursue business. Creating “adtacular” media deals for me will never get old.

But so much is new. Especially in the communication and publishing arenas, the pace of change has accelerated dramatically in recent decades, given the advent of the internet and various social media platforms. There is a real sense today in which everyone is — or least can become overnight — a publisher, a comentator, a columnist, an influencer. But despite all of those disrupting advances, we succeed at RPI by remaining true to core principles and doing what we do best. That is, providing high-quality content that is available nowhere else and, in the case of our community/lifestyle magazines, provides abundant reminders of why we are fortunate to live where we do.

Once each year, we conduct an event at which runners and runners-up in our annual Best of Tallahassee readers’ poll gather to receive their honors. That event gives me an opportunity to meet, congratulate and chat with lots of folks

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

SCOTT HOLSTEIN

LAUNCH, NURTURE, ADAPT Looking forward to the new year in business

whose time, talents and fortunes are tied to owner-operated businesses. In the year ahead, I plan to make a concerted effort to circulate in our town, meet with lots of businesspeople one on one and better understand how RPI can best be helpful to them. Because, even in this post-modern world of ours, there really is no substitute for face-to-face communication.

Happy New Year to all my friends, employees, customers, readers and anyone who happens upon this column (either online or in print). And, I say especially to my colleagues in entrepreneurship: Know that it’s true when people say that small business is the backbone of any community. May the year ahead be a prosperous and fulfilling one for each of you.

Best,

BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com

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January–February 2018

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director’s column

TIME FOR A SHE CHANGE I wasn’t sure how he had tracked down my number, but the voice on the line was unmistakably that of Clyde Bellecourt, a co-founder of the American Indian Movement.

He caught me at home early one morning and encouraged me to attend a meeting later that day on the Bad River Reservation, home to the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians and part of the Ojibwe Indian nation.

I was a reporter at the time for the daily newspaper in Ashland, Wisconsin, and my responsibilities included coverage of Native American affairs. Bellecourt was not content merely to leave a message for me at the newspaper office. He wasn’t one for intermediaries. I liked that about him.

Bad River had been overtaken by divisive politics. Sitting tribal council members were seen by a rival faction as corrupt. Office-holders had been accused of diverting Bureau of Indian Affairs funds received by the tribe from intended purposes to their own pockets. Improvements promised the tribe had not materialized and, meanwhile, where was the money?

Bellecourt convened a meeting of the aggrieved. He was impressive in his thenblack ponytail, his trademark tinted glasses and his intricate ribbon shirt. I don’t remember how the matter of bad blood on Bad River was resolved or even if it was, but I do remember what Bellecourt said when the chants and drums subsided and he commenced speaking.

He began by praising women — as lifegivers, as nurturers and enrichers of the human experience, as tenders of home fires, as the foundation and backbone of the tribe.

Bellecourt’s tribute was stirring and, I believe, wholly sincere. I was moved to reflect on my own mother, who had died just months before.

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January–February 2018

I thought back to Bellecourt’s remarks in the midst of the recent spate of sexual harassment (and worse) allegations made by women and involving Harvey Weinstein, Roy Moore, Louis C.K., Brett Ratner, Michael Orestes, Hamilton Fish, Mark Halperin, Jack Latvala, Al Franken, Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor and the list goes on.

Collectively, the testimonies of the accusers attest to the need for a cultural she change and an embrace by all of Bellecourt’s and the Ojibwe culture’s outlook on the status and contributions of women. We have a long way to go.

Given the nature of my career, one devoted to writing, editing and public relations, I have worked with primarily women. (My bosses, significantly, have with one exception been men.) As a product of my experience, I learned long ago not to generalize about women or to presume that all are of like sensibilities.

I once worked for a man who promoted me from a mid-level management position to a job as a department head and who, in so doing, advised me that if ever I had to have a woman reporting to me, I was to let him know and he would transfer her to another department to minimize the conflict.

And that was not so long ago.

The woman for whom I worked once arranged for a stripper to perform for me on my birthday. Posing as a job applicant, the woman peeled down in my office as co-workers who were in on the joke looked on.

And that was not so long ago.

I worked for a bank whose board of directors included but one woman, a physician whose duties prevented her from attending some meetings. It was remarkable how greatly the tenor of the meetings at which she was present differed from those when she was absent.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

SAIGE ROBERTS

Tolerance for the intolerable should be retired

Women have challenged me, humbled me and inspired me. They have served me as teachers and leaders and, on occasion, they have properly set me straight, even chewed me out …

Mary Annette Pember, like Bellecourt an Ojibwe Indian, has written that “Ojibwe men are easily identified by the notorious flatness of their rear ends.

According to my mother, those butts got that way because of the enthusiastic verbal skills of Ojibwe women. She didn’t mean this as a criticism but rather as recognition of our women’s tenacity in keeping our families together and defending the land and water against all threats, both inside and out.”

I have worked with women who were warriors, but I believe there would be fewer wars if there were more female heads of state.

I believe the environment would be healthier if there were more female captains of industry.

I believe that women, far more so than men, are inclined and capable of promoting a spirit of inclusiveness versus divisiveness.

A woman harassed is all too often a woman suppressed and, invariably, potential lost.

Respectfully,

STEVE BORNHOFT sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com

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Check out Tallahasseemagazine.com/Events for our full calendar of the area’s top fundraisers, concerts, food and drink tastings, art shows, sporting events and more. You can submit your own event for free, as well!

Winners are selected randomly and will be contacted. Tallahassee Magazine does not nor will not sell your email address or cell phone number. Text message rates may apply.

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January–February 2018

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JAN/FEB 2018

PROFILING THE PURSUITS, PASSIONS AND PERSONALITIES AMONG US

THE

CHARACTERS

No ‘Garden Variety’ Gal Fifth-generation Tallahasseean talks flowers and family

by KIM HARRIS THACKER

RELATIONSHIPS

Two Barbers, Many Stories

photography by CHARLOTTE FRISTOE PHOTOGRAPHY

|| CHAMPIONS

The Moses Basket Project

|| PETS

Cloud K9

|| GREAT OUTDOORS

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

State Groupers

January–February 2018

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THE

323 FLORIOGRAPHY:

The Secret Language of Flowers The Victorian Era was a time when manners ruled and convention triumphed over conversation.

When a man hoped to court a young lady, he took her a “tussiemussie” — a small bouquet of flowers, each of which had a special, specific meaning. Today, the meanings associated with most flowers have been forgotten. In an effort to remedy this sad state of affairs and in hopes of filling Tallahassee with floral love letters this Valentine’s Day, Tallahassee Magazine and A Country Rose present readers with the following short list of romantic flowers and their meanings.

1 HYDRANGEA The hydrangea signifies heartfelt emotions.

←

Annette McGuffey runs on flower power in her floral shop and all-in-one wedding planning business. hair and makeup by BELLES FEMMES

2 IRIS The iris represents faith, hope, adoration, courage and wisdom.

3 SUNFLOWERS Sunflowers are a symbol of adoration, loyalty and longevity.

4 RED ROSE A red rose signifies deep emotions, such as love, longing or desire.

5 GERBERA Gerbera daisies signify innocence, purity and cheerfulness. They are available year-round and come in an assortment of vibrant colors.

6 VIRGINIA STOCK FLOWER A symbol of a happy life, the stock flower is also known as the gillyflower. Its scent is sweet and heady, and blooms are typically white, pink, red, lilac or purple.

4

3

A

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2 6 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAIGE ROBERTS



nnette McGuffey has more than 30 years of experience in the floral industry, 22 of them spent running her Tallahassee business, A Country Rose. She knows her flowers. But in conversation, McGuffey spends as much time talking about her family as she does botanical families.

“I think gardening is genetic,” she says. “Both of my grandmothers were home gardeners, and my father and grandfather grew vegetables. When I was a little girl, I loved to pick wildflowers. Other girls’ moms would say, ‘I A COUNTRY ROSE don’t want those weeds in my house,’ but my mom 250 E. 6th Ave., would put them in a vase on the kitchen table.”

Tallahassee Monday–Friday, McGuffey’s family taught her her about garden8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m; ing when she was young and also gave her an eduSaturday, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. cation in hard work and entrepreneurship.

(850) 877-8294 acountryrose@ “I was raised by entrepreneurs,” McGuffey excomcast.net plains. “My grandparents ran a small grocery store acountryrose.com on Tharpe Street. My dad, Curtis Barineau, ››

1

photography by CHARLOTTE FRISTOE PHOTOGRAPHY

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January–February 2018

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29 years in business

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owned Big Bend Roof Trusses, and my mom, Ann, had her own salon, Betty Ann’s. They taught me to work hard.”

After graduating from high school, McGuffey took floral arranging classes at Lively Technical Center. She enjoyed it so much that she took a job in a floral shop, followed by jobs in plant nurseries. At the age of 21, she decided to follow the example of her parents and grandparents and open her own floral shop, Annette’s Rainbow of Flowers, in the same building on Tharpe Street in which her grandparents had run their grocery store.

McGuffey quickly learned that entrepreneurship, while filled with rewards, also has it struggles.

“Flowers are a luxury item, so when the economy takes a downward turn, sales can go down, too,” she says. “People think that flowers don’t last; but the truth is, flowers convey feelings, and those feelings — and the memories of those feelings — do last.”

Annette’s Rainbow of Flowers prospered, and after seven years, McGuffey was able to sell the shop so she could spend time at home with her children. Then, in 1990, she bought a small shop in Havana that she named “A Country Rose.” Two years later, “People think that she moved her shop to Mahan flowers don’t last; Drive in Tallahassee, where it but the truth is, thrived for 20 years.

Around two years ago, she flowers convey moved the business into a feelings, and quaint, gambrel-roofed home those feelings — on Sixth Street, where she also opened an all-in-one wedding and the memories planning site, The Wedding of those feelings Suite. It makes sense that — do last.” – Annette McGuffey would want a homey McGuffey atmosphere for her businesses, because she really thinks of her employees as family members.

“They’re all invested in their work,” McGuffey says, “and we share a vision. We don’t want our flowers to be a cookie-cutter design; we want them to be creative and fresh. We especially love it when our customers let us design a customized bouquet and we can pull out all the stops.”

That desire to customize floral arrangements led McGuffey to open her own flower farm in Wakulla County three years ago. There she grows irises, zinnias, marigolds, yarrow, sunflowers, hydrangea, ornamental kale and cabbage, gerbera and much more.

The farm is a new undertaking, and 2017 was its first really productive year, but McGuffey hopes that soon she will be able to use all homegrown blooms in her arrangements — proof, perhaps, that the passage of time and the comings and goings of generations won’t change the fact that Annette McGuffey is, in her heart, still just a girl who likes to pick flowers. TM

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RELATIONSHIPS

‘NEXT’

A pair of barbers has been cutting hair and trading barbs for 47 years

by STEVE BORNHOFT

A

n old timey pin-up calendar, one featuring the art of Alberto Vargas, would not be out of place among the mounted largemouth bass, the marlin tail, the framed map that locates cities with NFL franchises and the clock fashioned from a varnished slice of cypress wood, all of which festoon the walls at the University Styles barber shop on Thomasville Road.

And, the truth is, Glenda Langston wouldn’t object. Far from seeing the calendar as somehow contributing to the creation of a hostile workplace, she would dismiss it as simply Archie Hamilton being Archie Hamilton.

Langston and Hamilton have been cutting hair together for 47 years, first at a shop leased by another barber, Larry Black, on Tennessee Street.

Neither admits to playing second chair to the other.

“We get along because he does what I tell him to do,” Langston asserted, albeit with a wink, and then, as if caused by retaliatory energy sent by Hamilton, a tower of miscellany stacked behind Langston’s desk in a corner of the shop tumbled to the floor.

“Oh, Glenda,” Hamilton chided Langston. “What now?”

The random assortment of items behind the desk includes a can of SPAM, a zip-lock bag full of Chex cereal, knitting supplies, a stress ball, card files, a Payday candy bar, hand lotion, eight rolls of Scotch tape, Clubman talcum

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↑ After more than 40 years spent working with Archie Hamilton, Glenda Langston is satisfied

that he will do whatever she tells him to do. Hamilton is content to let her believe that, even if it isn’t quite true.

powder and a telephone from the 1990s.

Perhaps inadvertently, an experiment that may one day determine the half-life of a cinnamon roll is underway.

“Archie and I are like brother and sister,” Langston reclaimed her train of thought. “He picks on me all the time, but I can take it.” She, after all, has seniority. Hamilton is 66; Langston is 67.

Black purchased the shop on Thomasville Road in 1983 and Hamilton bought it from him in 2002. Today, the shop’s clientele is mostly white-haired and almost exclusively male. Chatter runs from football to fishing, restaurant reviews, dogs that are jumpers versus diggers, inane state regulations, current events, Viagra and surgeries.

A customer who sustained a compression fracture in his back in picking up a large bag of dog food described the surgery that was performed on his L4 vertebra.

Hamilton, in turn, talked about the work, performed on his C7, that was necessitated by an auto accident. He’s

been sleeping on his side with a pillow between his legs ever since.

Another customer talks about his ongoing recovery from bypass surgery.

That is one eventuality that Hamilton claims he doesn’t have to worry about.

“I don’t have a heart,” he said. “I’ve got a thumping gizzard.”

At the shop, banter cements relationships and unifies all who stop by.

Regarding the little blue pill, a retired attorney commented, “If I ever had one that lasted more than four hours, I wouldn’t call my doctor. I’d call the neighbors and tell them all about it.”

Langston has lived in Tallahassee all of her life. She was born at Tallahassee Memorial, graduated from Rickards High School, thought about a career in nursing, but then, like Hamilton, instead went to Tallahassee Barber College. She has nine siblings.

“Daddy was a carpenter,” Langston said. “He built babies.”

Hamilton grew up on a peanut/corn farm near Sneads in Jackson County. ›› photography by BRUCE PALMER

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↑ Barber Glenda Langston works her way through an appointment at the University Styles Barber Shop, which is appointed with mounted largemouth bass contributed by customers.

For him, barbering provided an escape from work that was “hot, hard, dusty and nasty.”

“I had cousins who were barbers in Chattahoochee,” Hamilton said. “I thought I might like cutting hair because I like people and I like to talk. I probably could have been a politician, but I would have wound up in federal prison. I’ll take a bribe now.”

Hamilton has cut the hair of lots of Tallahassee notables.

He nodded toward a waiting customer and said, “For example, there’s Ross Morrell, who was the director of the state Division of Archives for a long time. I’ve been cutting his hair for 40 years. It wasn’t always white like it is now.

“And, I had the chance to cut Bob Martinez’s hair when he was governor.”

(Hamilton had an in. A customer’s wife was the head of housekeeping at the Governor’s Mansion at the time.)

“But,” said Hamilton, “when I found out he wouldn’t come to me, that I was going to have to go to his place, I passed on the deal. Too much of a production.”

Asked to offer up something few people know about Langston, Hamilton volunteered, “She’s actually redheaded,” and the shop, even the retired archaeologist, erupted in good-natured laughter.

“I do try to keep that covered up,” Langston said. “I would give you something about Archie, but he would probably kill me if he ever saw it in print.”

The key to being a successful barber, Langston said, is to “listen to the customer and give them what they want.”

“But sometimes, people need to listen to their hair,” Hamilton added. “They come in here and want a particular style and we can use enough spray and gel to make it happen, but a day later, it’s gone and they can’t put it back.

“They want somethin’ that their hair just can’t do.”

Langston, for now, has no plans to retire. Hamilton kidded that he and Langston have entered the “drop program. We’re gonna drop dead right behind our chairs.”

Hamilton paused, then added, “Seriously, I’ll give it another couple of years. Fifty-two years will have been enough, I think.” TM

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Volunteers Joanie Dufek (left) and Barbara Hudson, with a finished Moses Basket full of baby items.

CHAMPIONS

The Moses Basket Project A needed service from a surprising source

by KIM HARRIS THACKER

I

n 1937, 65 out of every 1,000 babies in Finland did not survive infancy, often because of co-sleeping with parents or siblings. In 1938, the Finnish government began sending each of the country’s expectant mothers a 28-inch-long box containing baby supplies and a small mattress that fit into the base of the box. After the government started giving out these boxbassinets — thereby enabling families to maintain separate sleeping arrangements for their newborns — the mortality rate dropped to 3.4 per 1,000.

By 2006, the rate had dropped further, to 2.8; but 5,000 miles away, in Gadsden County, Florida, the infant mortality rate was a disturbing 10.6 per thousand.

When Tallahassee resident and former attorney Sheila Callahan learned about this alarming statistic, she and two friends decided to do something about it. At the

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time, Callahan’s mother was involved in a program in Manatee County that was similar to the Finnish program in most ways, but different in others.

While both programs supplied baby beds, the Manatee program volunteers called theirs “Moses baskets,” after the Hebrew prophet who, as an infant, was placed in a basket and set adrift on the Nile. Also, while both the baskets and boxes came with mattresses, there was something unique about the Moses basket mattresses: They were made by inmates of Manatee County’s prison.

Callahan had represented indigent criminal defendants as an appellate attorney for several years, and the idea of asking inmates to help with her own Moses Basket Project appealed to her. She and her friends asked officials at the Gadsden Correctional Facility (GCF) if the prison’s female

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

inmates could help to make the mattresses if the volunteers provided the materials and taught the women to sew by hand.

The officials agreed. The inmates, however, had other ideas.

“They didn’t want to stop with making mattresses,” Callahan says. They wanted to make it all: mattresses, fitted mattress pads and sheets, receiving blankets, fleece blankets, quilts and crocheted hats, all tucked into sturdy, plastic laundry baskets — the Moses Basket Project’s version of Finland’s cardboard boxes.

The inmates also used leftover scraps of fabric to create bibs, washcloths, toys and more.

Since the program’s inception in 2006, inmates and volunteers have completed 535 Moses baskets and 820 additional “tummy-time” quilts, for a total of 1,355 baby quilts. Each basket and quilt was ›› photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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→ FAQ Q: I know of someone who needs a Moses basket. What should I do?

A: Contact your local Healthy Start program or The Brehon Institute for Family Services.

↑ Inmates who create items for Moses baskets often add personal touches such as delicate embroidery and one-of-a-kind toys.

distributed to a needy family in the Big Bend by partnering social service agencies, including Healthy Start, The Brehon Institute for Family Services, A Women’s Pregnancy Center and the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) Outreach Ministry.

Today, Callahan and three other volunteers, Judie Chester, Joanie Dufek and Barbara Hudson, meet in GCF’s recreation hall on Wednesdays and every other Saturday to support and assist the inmates in creating Moses baskets. Numerous other individuals and organizations have also contributed to the program over the years.

About 60 inmates at a time work on the baskets as part of a six-month class, and there is a wait-list to get into the program. Some of them knew how to sew before they got in, but at least half didn’t.

At orientation, each participant receives written instructions that test her sewing and reading skills. This test has led Callahan to refer several to the prison’s literacy program.

She also slips in some basic math lessons when she can. It’s something she learned from her grandmother, who taught her to sew.

Like her grandmother, “Miss Sheila,” as most of the inmates call Callahan, has made a profound impact on the women she serves, as have all the volunteers.

“All my life, I never felt like I belonged anywhere,” says Cindy, an inmate whose

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deteriorating vision forces her to sew mostly by feel. “These ladies help me feel like I belong.

‘Moses’ is a big thing to me. It takes me out of here for a while and gives me peace of mind.”

Cindy has been incarcerated for five years and has 11 months to go. That’s enough time, she says, to learn a few more sewing skills, which she plans to take with her into “the free world.”

“The Moses “Even if I don’t get a job sewing, I’m project is a big going to get a group thing to me. It of ladies together, takes me out of and we’re going to sew and send what we here for a while make to Miss Sheila,” and gives me she says. peace of mind.”

According to the — Cindy, an inmate Florida Departat Gadsden ment of Corrections, Correctional Facility around 25 percent of Florida’s ex-offenders end up back in the system. Callahan is proud to say that several Moses Basket Project graduates who left GCF now have jobs with upholstery and alteration businesses, and, as far as she is aware, only two program graduates have returned to prison.

The Moses Basket Project volunteers are confident that the skills and principles the inmates learn in the program are going to be useful to them no matter where they go. TM

Q: About how much does it cost to make a complete Moses basket?

A: The materials cost about $50. The cost for each baby quilt is around $15. In order to meet their goal of making 60 complete baskets and 80 additional quilts in 2018, the program will need $4,200.

Q: What can I do to help?

A: Monetary donations are welcome, as are sewing and baby supplies. If you don’t know what to make or buy, consult the wish list on the “Moses Basket Project” Facebook page. If you’d like to volunteer but don’t sew, knit or crochet, you can still work with the inmates, sort and cut fabric or make deliveries.

Contact Sheila Callahan at (850) 508-0565 for more information. photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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↘

Among groupers that frequent the northern Gulf of Mexico, red groupers most often land on restaurant plates. The massive goliath grouper is not currently subject to harvest, but Florida is considering a limited open season.

Scamp Grouper

Red Grouper

Black Grouper

Goliath Grouper

GREAT OUTDOORS

STATE GROUPERS

Tasty predators patrol the depths

by STEVE BORNHOFT

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T

hey lie in wait along underwater highways, and whenever prey fish fail to maintain a minimum speed, they have their lunch. Like a gator lazing on a bank or a largemouth bass slowly finning to maintain its position beneath a stand of lily pads, groupers can appear lethargic, but they explode from their hiding places with maws wide open as soon as opportunity presents itself.

Groupers inhabit waters off the whole of Florida, but in the northern gulf, three species — gag (or black), red and scamp predominate. Area waters grow giant goliath grouper, too, fat boys that frequently hang out near jetties or sunken bridge spans.

Bottom fishermen often favor red snapper to groupers, but that’s a matter of color, not taste. (When is the last time you saw a blackened snapper sandwich on a menu?) The delicate, flaky flesh of groupers is almost too good to fry. It doesn’t require much. Salt, pepper, butter and a little Cavender’s will do.

Bert Davis, a manager at Water Street Seafood in Apalachicola, said red groupers are more abundant than gags or scamp, making them less expensive. And he said, reds have “more of a bloodline,” which can make their flesh a bit darker.

Davis most prefers a yellow-edge grouper, a deepwater species harvested by longliners, and, in his estimation, the sweetest of them all.

The goliath grouper doesn’t figure in the dinner-table conversation; it is protected from harvest in both state and federal waters and ranges in size to more than 700 pounds.

Bold is the fisherman who sends a large, frisky live bait to the bottom; he just might tie into more than he bargained for. TM illustration by JOHN RUSSO

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PETS

CLOUD K9

Fido will jump over the moon for these pet treats

by SARA SANTORA

Valentine Truffies Gift Box

→

local products, they had been shipped in from out-of-state companies.

“We tried finding someone local who made treats,” said storeowner Basil Cousins, “and we found one woman, but she made organic treats that required refrigeration and had a short shelf-life, and unfortunately, that doesn’t work for us.”

Other pet store owners in the area agreed that the shelf-life issue is an impediment to stocking treats fresh from local bakeries. (Is the half-life of a dog treat somehow shorter than that of a Krispy Kreme doughnut? It seems so.)

“We are interested in finding someone locally who could make us treats, but it just hasn’t worked out,” said Cousins.

Buying from a display case of goodies like the one at Naturally Healthy Pet remains a great way to treat your pet and support your local pet store.

Manufacturers including Claudia’s K9 Cuisine and Pawsitively Gourmet create treats with your furry friend (as well as your Instagram account) in mind. From lattes to burgers, your pet will be on Cloud K9. And, as a bonus, the store carries cake mix and ice cream mix from a brand called Puppy Cake, so your pet can indulge in sweets with you.

But in Tallahassee, it’s not just pet

CLAUDIA’S CANINE BAKERY

↑ Emma Jordan’s Chloe, one second before devouring a pupcake from Lucy & Leo’s.

stores that provide tasty treats for our canine companions. Are you a coffee lover and a dog owner? You’re in luck. The Powerplant Café Energized by Catalina Café has partnered with The Edison restaurant to bring your dog homemade dog biscuits. So the next time you go for coffee and pastries with friends, be sure to include man’s best friend.

For those pet owners who just have to spoil their dogs with sugary sweets, Lucy & Leo’s Cupcakery on Thomasville Road gives locals the option to custom order specialty “pupcakes.” These delectable doggy treats come in a standard cupcake size for larger dogs as well as bite-size morsels for smaller dogs. Call, email or stop into the store to place your order 24 hours before you need the pupcakes.

And, don’t forget to get a photo of your dog’s face as it lights up with excitement at the sight of its sugary surprise. TM

These scrumptious “chocolates” are actually cookies dipped in canine-friendly carob and yogurt coatings.

Some observers find that people pay closer attention to their dog’s diet than their own. claudiascaninebakery.com

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF LUCY & LEO’S AND CLAUDIA’S CANINE BAKERY

T

hey cuddle with us when we’re sad, give us kisses after a long day at work and, in return, they don’t ask for much. Often, it appears that they are content with the bare necessities. But there comes a time when we must assuage our guilt, demonstrate our appreciation with more than a belly rub. We’re anthropomorphic enough to believe that Fido would enjoy being pampered on occasion.

We’ve been cautioned, of course, to avoid giving dogs too much human food.

Chocolate, especially, is said to be best avoided. But we need not limit ourselves to the kind of dog foods that come in 50-pound bags. We’ve got options, including many made available by local pet stores. Finding locally produced treats, however, is a little bit tricky.

Upon entering Naturally Healthy Pet on Thomasville Road in Tallahassee, I was immediately drawn to a display case filled with intricately designed dog biscuits shaped like pizzas, hotdogs and other people foods. I was overtaken by a desire to adopt a dog, just to have the opportunity to feed it these cute little treats. But, while I thought they might be

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panache JAN/FEB 2018

REGARDING MATTERS OF ALL THINGS STYLISH

CITIZEN OF STYLE

THAT CERTAIN LOOK

Where style is concerned, Ruth Hobbs acts the part

by ERIN HOOVER

HIS & HERS Totes and Satchels by Local Artisans || WHAT’S IN STORE Something Old, Something New, Something Sweet photography by ALICIA OSBORNE

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panache

↘ Ruth Hobbs works as a model and background actor.

She retired from the Leon County School District in 2008.

B

ackground acting is a second career for Ruth Hobbs and her husband, Wilbert. Trained at Florida A&M University as an educator, Hobbs worked as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and then district administrator for Leon County before she retired in 2008 and moved with her husband to Auburn, a suburb of Atlanta. In Atlanta, she saw an advertisement for an acting program and decided to enroll in a year’s worth of training. She and Wilbert have since been cast in over 100 productions in the city that has come to be known as “Hollywood of the South.”

“Selma was a favorite of mine,” Hobbs said. “You can actually see me in one scene, right there in front of Oprah Winfrey.”

Other castings include two of the three Hunger Games movies, the Insurgent series, The Quad and Greenleaf. Hobbs has also done some print modeling for Macy’s, Scholastic and resorts in Georgia and South Carolina.

Wilbert and Ruth Hobbs travel to

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Tallahassee often, about eight times a year. They made a few trips this summer to see their grandson play trombone at the FAMU Marching 100 Summer Band Camp. And made one to join in the 50th high school reunion for Wilbert’s class at Old Lincoln High.

People often comment on Hobbs’ look.

“Recently I was in the background on set when Kenny G made an appearance. He kept smiling at me and waving! I smiled back, but then later on, the pianist told me that Kenny thought I was Dionne Warwick,” she laughed.

Hobbs first developed her sense of style by watching her mother. “My mother was a teacher back in the day when teachers really dressed for work, in hose, dresses, nice heels. She went to work looking immaculate. I emulated her — I always wanted that certain look when I left the house.” Another style icon, sorority sister Freddie Groomes-McLendon, is conscientious about her look, Hobbs said.

“She’s influential to me in a lot of aspects

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

of my life, but first and foremost in style.

She’s the total ladylike package.”

Hobbs’ go-to item of clothing is the little black dress, most recently a “cold shoulder” version, because the LBL is easy to layer and accessorize. “I love the off-theshoulder look,” she said. “Also the flowing look in tops and dresses.” She noted that her daughter Veronnica keeps her “fresh” by letting her know if her outfits are on point.

Putting together her look is work, but it’s also Hobbs’ favorite recreational activity. She finds the components of her distinctive style “everywhere,” from online retailers to big box stores like Marshalls, Stein Mart, and T.J. Maxx, as well as Macy’s and Nordstrom.

For Hobbs, style is a way of life. “When I trained young teachers, I told them that first impressions were important. Ninety percent of that is based on what you have on. So dress appropriately at all times,” she said. “Even when I go to the gym, I put together my outfit, everything matching.” TM photography by ALICIA OSBORNE

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panache The Man Carry Briefcase by Sturdy Brothers has four exterior pockets, an interior divider for electronic devices, and copper rivets.

HIS & HERS

CARRY IT WELL

A new generation of leather bags makes stylish statements

I

n the 14th and 15th centuries, the handbag was nothing more than a fanny pack.

Made of leather, burlap and silk, these bags served as a means for carrying money, flint and spices. As we’ve evolved, so has the handbag. What was a once a tool of necessity has become a statement accessory.

While bags are often associated with the modern woman, bags in the workplace are becoming an increasingly more important piece for men, too. Functional and stylish, a good bag will be large enough to fit your important workplace gear, while also aiding in helping you look clean-cut and professional.

Many businesspeople are hunting for their perfect work bag on the internet, directly through their favorite online stores or through

The Paxton Small Horween Natural Dublin Leather Tote

by Sturdy Brothers is a stylish bag made of superior leather and named after Thomasville’s historic Paxton House.

popular shopping websites such as Amazon or Ebay. While this process is relatively easy and convenient, the surest way to know if this important accessory has the right fit and feel for you is to touch it before buying.

For shoppers in and near Tallahassee, highquality bags can be found nearby.

With stores in Tallahassee and in downtown Thomasville, Georgia, managing partners Jason Little and Kathleen Kelly stock a variety of medium- and high-end bags of assorted types for men and for women. Kevin’s carries labels such as Patagonia, Orvis, Filson and its own. From popular messenger bags to executive-level briefcases, men can choose their professional look.

As a bonus, Little mentions, the store carries several different shell bags so that men and women can appear sporty and neat while out hunting or at the shooting range.

While women’s handbags have evolved in shape, size and function, leather and burlap are still popular materials used for sturdy, stylish and long-lasting bags. With that in mind, Kevin’s carries handbags ranging from leather and hides to burlap and canvas, sometimes all

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January–February 2018

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

together on the same bag. While most of the offerings may be found at the store’s website, Little mentions that Kevin’s does do some extra buying for its in-store customers.

Sturdy Brothers, also in downtown Thomasville, specializes in handmade leather and waxed-canvas products, including totes, briefcases, device cases and duffle bags. Made in store, Sturdy Brothers bags and other products are nothing short of pieces of art.

Co-founder Ben Young said the shop utilizes local and regional materials and prioritizes craftsmanship.

“For the most part, all of our fabric is Georgia-made. … We cut and sew all the bags here in house. All of the leather is cut by hand,” Young said, adding that each bag takes around two and a half hours to make. “We have a great team here that is always working on stuff.”

The shop uses locally produced beeswax on its canvas products, lending a fragrance that discerning customers like. Young explained, “Most people use petroleum-based waxes, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t smell so good, so we use beeswax.” TM

Sturdy Brothers, cofounded by brothers Benjamin and Spencer Young, initially specialized in functional leather aprons for baristas, woodworkers and others who work with their hands. They added tool rolls, then wallets, belts and carry bags. Every item is made by hand in Thomasville in the spirit of the brothers’ motto, “Rekindling American Craftmanship.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHANDLERBONDURANT.COM (THE MAN CARRY BRIEFCASE) AND STURDY BROTHERS (THE PAXTON LEATHER TOTE)

by SARA SANTORA

get happy! +

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Visit the Coton Colors Tallahassee Flagship Store for all your gifting and celebrating needs.

1355 Market Street | (850) 668-0149 | coton-colors.com P E R S O N A L I Z E D G I F T S | TA B L E T O P | B R I D A L R E G I S T R Y | H O M E | C O L L E G I A T E | O R N A M E N T S | H A P P Y E V E R Y T H I N G ! T M

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Mark Ice, Owner (850) 251-4931 817 W. BREVARD ST. | (850) 224-8522 | OPEN TUESDAY–SATURDAY

www.markice.net TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January–February 2018

45

panache

 WHAT’S IN STORE? A roundup of retail happenings throughout Tallahassee

A new year brings new trends, but vintage will always be in style. While some T-shirt retailers focus on recreating old band tees, Local Vyntage brings a unique product to the table with vintage tees designed specifically for citizens of Tallahassee. Designs include Mutt & Jeff’s Drive-In and Seminole “Spear-It” designs from the ’90s. “We want to preserve memories,” says creator Chet Winnicki. Local Vyntage T-shirts are available at Olde Fields, Spriggs and online.

HAPPY TRAILS

Comfort and fit are important considerations as you embark on your 2018 wellness goals.

CAPITAL CITY RUNNERS has a gait analysis setup, which allows employees to look at a runner/walker’s foot strike and degree of pronation and supination. With this information at hand, employees can help customers find the most comfortable shoe to meet their walking and running needs.

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A TASTE OF PARIS While it’s

important to stay committed to your fitness goals, it’s OK to indulge on occasion, especially when the occasion is Valentine’s Day. Spoil your sweetheart (and yourself) with delectable chocolates, pastries or cakes from Tallahassee’s very own French bakery AU PECHE MIGNON. With so many delicacies to choose from, we’re betting you won’t leave with just one.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

SAFE CYCLING

BIRD LEGS BICYCLES offers products that will get you excited about meeting your exercise goals, while keeping you safe in the process. For cycling safety, Bird Legs recommends its daytime running lights, said to reduce chances of daytime biking accidents by 30 percent. With so many urban, rural and mountain trails for bikes in Tallahassee, Bird Legs and other bike shops urge you to gear up and get out there.

SHOWERS OF FLOWERS

Around Valentine’s Day, we all know that flowers are chocolate’s best friend. But if you must pass on the candy, double up on the flowers!

HILLY FIELDS FLORIST & GIFTS will arrange beautiful, bountiful bouquets for your valentine. From red roses to tulips and lilies, Hilly Fields will be there to help you and yours make sweetly scented memories this Valentine’s Day.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LOCAL VYNTAGE, CAPITAL CITY RUNNERS AND TREK BICYCLE CORPORATION (BIRD LEGS BICYCLE)

by SARA SANTORA

Bridal Registry Stationery and Gifts Home Accessories Follow us @shopmft ShopMFT.com 850-681-2824 · 800-983-2266 1410 Market Street , C3 · Tallahassee, Florida

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

January–February 2018

47

DISCOVER TALLAHASSEE’S BEST CHOICE IN SENIOR LIVING

Enjoy a variety of residential and supportive options at Westminster Oaks to meet your changing needs.

Choose from a wide variety of spacious choices in villa homes and garden apartments, all maintenancefree and enriched by access to beautiful campus amenities with services like dining and housekeeping. For those who need a little extra help we offer assisted living, with services including medication management and support with daily living activities. We can also get you back on your feet and doing the things you love with short-term nursing care and rehabilitation.

Learn all there is to smile about at Westminster Oaks

— Call us today at (850) 878-1136 or visit our new website at WestminsterOaksFL.org Westminster Oaks

4449 Meandering Way, Tallahassee

Ac t ive Liv i ng | Assisted Liv i ng | Sk i l led Nu rsi ng | Rehabi l itat ion 48

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TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

gastro&gusto JAN/FEB 2018

FROM THE SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE TO THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE

CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS

PERFECT TURKEY & CHEESE SLIDERS

ROAST BEEF & HORSERADISH CHEESE BAKED SLIDERS

DINING IN

Super Sliders

Make-ahead mini-sandwiches satisfy crowds and let you watch the game

by ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

DESSERTS photography by JAMES STEFIUK

Meet the Bundtlets

|| LIBATIONS

Creative Spirits at Liberty

|| DINING GUIDE

See Page 157

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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gastro & gusto

Roast Beef & Horseradish Cheese Baked Sliders From realhousemoms.com INGREDIENTS ➸ 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced ➸ 2 tablespoons butter, divided ➸ 1 tablespoon brown sugar ➸ 1 teaspoon salt ➸ 1 2 Kings Hawaiian Rolls ➸ 1 2 slices of horseradish

cheddar cheese

➸ 1 2 slices of roast beef deli meat ➸¼ teaspoon dried oregano

W

hile football, the halftime show and commercials are supposedly the main attractions of any Super Bowl get-together, it’s the food that really gets the party started.

With at least four and a half hours of party time — and that’s not including pre-gaming — it takes lots of chow to keep ravening hordes happy. Thedailymeal.com ranks pizza, chili and chicken wings as the top three Super Bowl food choices, but if you’re looking for an easy, surefire crowd pleaser, consider the slider.

While the itty-bitty burger is the best-known iteration, pretty much anything you can put between two slices of bread can be downsized into a little, baked three-bite sandwich.

Sliders are infinitely less messy than wings and other party foods.

They’re also “super” easy to prep, heat and serve, so you won’t be stuck in the kitchen and miss a TD or JT. (Justin Timberlake is the halftime performer.)

The base for sliders is a package of stuck-together dinner rolls.

Most recipes specify a 12-count pack of King’s Hawaiian rolls, and the brand’s website has a huge selection of slider and other recipes (kingshawaiian.com/recipes).

Generally, the rolls are cut in half while still attached to each other, the sandwich fixings are layered on the bottoms and then topped with the other half. A brush with melted butter and a special garnish — poppy seeds, parmesan cheese, sesame seeds and such — and the pan is popped in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Then, just cut the rolls apart and the sliders are hot and ready to serve.

While a simple meat-and-cheese slider tastes great, it’s fun to introduce other flavors and condiments into the mix — horseradish cheese on a roast beef slider or honey mustard mixed into the butter on a turkey roll, for example. Follow these recipes, or create a personal take on your Super Bowl samitch. TM

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Cheeseburger  Sliders INGREDIENTS ➸ 2 tablespoons extra-virgin

olive oil

➸ 1 onion, finely diced ➸ 1 pound ground beef ➸ 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

salt and pepper

➸ 1 2 dinner rolls ➸ 1 2 slices cheddar cheese ➸4 tablespoons melted butter ➸¼ teaspoon garlic powder ➸ 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and cook onions until soft and fragrant. Set aside. Mix ground beef with salt and pepper to taste. Press meat into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan and cook until brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the pan and blot any liquid with a paper towel. Slice rolls and place the bottom half into a different pan and spread with mustard. Place burger on the rolls and sprinkle cooked onions on top. Layer on cheddar slices and finish with top halves of the buns. Brush tops of the buns with melted butter.

Sprinkle garlic powder and sesame seeds on top. Bake until the cheese melts and the buns are warmed through, about 15-20 minutes. Use a sharp knife to cut into individual rolls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium low heat.

Add in onion, brown sugar and salt; stir and cook until onions are softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Place the bottom of the rolls in a baking dish and lay 6 slices of cheese on them. Cover each roll with a slice of roast beef. Spoon onions over the meat and top with the remaining 6 slices of cheese.

Put tops of the rolls on top and brush remaining melted butter on them. Sprinkle with oregano.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese melts.

Hint: If you can’t find horseradish cheese, spread creamy horseradish on the buns and use regular cheddar cheese.

Perfect Turkey & Cheese Sliders Makes 24 sliders INGREDIENTS ➸ 2 (1 dozen) packages of

Hawaiian Original Sweet Rolls

➸ 1 pound turkey breast, shaved ➸ 1 2 slices provolone cheese ➸ 1 stick butter ➸4 tablespoons Dijon honey

mustard

➸ 3 tablespoons sugar

poppy seeds

Slice the rolls horizontally and arrange bottom of rolls in a 9-by13-inch baking dish. Layer turkey and cheese on top of rolls and place tops on. Cut in between rolls with a knife to separate.

Melt butter and mix with honey mustard and sugar until well blended. Brush mixture on rolls to cover tops and allow it to drip between rolls. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. photography by JAMES STEFIUK

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gastro & gusto

DESSERTS

NO IFS ANDS OR ‘BUNDTS’ ABOUT IT

This is the place for a sweet bakery treat

by ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

T

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↖

Abby Gregoire frosts “Bundtinis” at Nothing Bundt Cakes.

The business features the fabulous fragrance of fresh-baked cakes as well as party supplies and cards, and giftables from companies such as Tallahasseebased Coton Colors, Kate Spade and Mud Pie. “We are kind of a one-stop shop if you need to pick up your balloons and packages of serving supplies and your card, maybe a small gift … we offer it all,” she says.

While one might think the classic sculpted cake is an import from the Old Country, the signature bundt cake pan actually was created in the U.S. in 1950, reports foodandwine.com. A Hadassah Society wanted to recreate a traditional kuglehopf, a ring-shaped cake, and asked David Dalquist, who owned the Nordic Ware, to design a pan. Demand grew slowly over the years, but took off in 1966 when a bundt — the “Tunnel of Fudge” cake — won second place in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. According to the site, more than 70 million households have a bundt pan.

Many languish in the cupboard, unused by cooks who aren’t confident their cakes won’t stick to the pan’s nooks and crannies. Nelson can relate — and promises her cakes are flawless. “We eat a lot of cake if it doesn’t come out right,” she says. “We believe wholeheartedly that everything that goes out of here has to absolutely look perfect.” TM



NOTHING BUNDT CAKES

346 Magnolia Drive #1, Tallahassee, Florida, (850) 765-5188 nothingbundtcakes.com/bakery/fl/tallahassee Open Monday‒Friday, 9 a.m.‒6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; closed Sunday

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NOTHING BUNDT CAKES

o hear Marty Nelson tell it, nothing says “Happy Birthday” or “I Love You” or “It’s a Girl” or “Welcome to the Neighborhood” like a bundt cake.

Lucky for you, she offers the perfect way to deliciously pass on any of these greetings — and dozens of others — via her business, Nothing Bundt Cakes.

“I think it gives the impression of a homemade gift,” says Nelson, the owner/operator of the franchise operation. “It’s a ‘my-house-to-your-house’ thing.”

Like the business’s name implies, bundt cakes are the only baked goods on the menu. “We keep it simple,” she explains. “We do one thing.”

The storefront and bakery on Magnolia Drive near Apalachee Parkway has perfected the bundt, offering 10 fresh-baked flavors in a variety of sizes.

There are lighter cakes, like the Classic Vanilla and Lemon, as well as decadently rich options including Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Red Velvet and Carrot. There’s also a special flavor each season.

For Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras in February, it’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl.

All feature a cream cheese butter frosting generously applied in a unique “petal” design or a lighter drizzle. The 8-inch size serves eight to 10 people while the bigger 10-inch cake will satisfy a crowd of 18 to 20. There are single-serving “Bundtlets” and bite-sized “Bundtinis” sold by the dozen.

The top four flavors are always available for graband-go from the case, but with a short wait, any cake can be “frosted up fresh,” says Nelson. For the fastest service, she suggests ordering a day ahead by phone or online. Delivery service is also available.

To make the cake extra-special, you can also choose a handmade decorative topper. Nothing Bundt Cakes offers 40 unique designs for just about any special occasion you can think of, many of them with greetings featuring groaner bundtrelated puns like “From the ‘Hole’ Office,” and “Happy ‘Bundt’ Day.”

Out of Town...Up the Street Thomasvillega.com TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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gastro & gusto

LIBATIONS

Taking a few liberties Bar eschews big sign and chicken wings

by LAURA CASSELS

T

he mood at Liberty Bar is part festive, part contemplative. Friends talk sports over craft beers at a roomy table. At the bar, a young professional works on her laptop, a briefcase at her feet and a cocktail at her elbow. Businessmen deep in conversation sip bourbon.

Bartender Dana DeToro holds court at a gleaming, copper-top bar. With the deftness of a magician, she measures, pours, adds dashes and splashes, shakes, conveys her creation to a glass, adds garnish, slides the libation forward and smiles.

“I think you’ll love this,” she says. “The grapefruit is fresh from Florida, and the honey is smoked wildflower honey from Full Moon Apiary (in Monticello) that we smoked here.” The bourbon is Florida Double Cask, distilled in St. Augustine, evidence of Liberty Bar’s preference for local and regional artisanal ingredients.

Garnished with a wedge of grapefruit, the concoction is a Brown Derby, one of the classic cocktails featured in Liberty Bar’s winter menu.

Gone is the berry-infused summertime cocktail menu with its cucumber and watermelon juice.

Winter offerings feature bourbon and flavors of the season: cranberry, chestnut, ginger, cinnamon, coconut, nutmeg and amaro, a bittersweet Italian liqueur.

Each season’s menu results from careful consideration.

“We have three meetings before we put the menus out,” DeToro said. “The bartenders get together and talk about the ingredients and flavors. They each have various interests (rum drinks, garnishes,

 54

LIBERTY BAR & RESTAURANT January–February 2018

Mexican flavors, Caribbean flavors) and they have returning customers who come in just for them.”

Liberty ingredients include syrups, tinctures and infusions made in-house. The food menu includes select dishes, modestly priced, for brunch, lunch and dinner. Burgers, yes. Wings, no. Grouper tacos and duck confit mac ’n’ cheese? Yes. Attention to detail wins customers over.

DeToro’s sociology degree comes in handy, too.

She puts it to good use with her customers and the Liberty Bar team and, of late, in establishing a Tallahassee chapter of the U.S. Bartenders Guild whose meetings give bartenders opportunities to learn about brands and trends and to brainstorm together. A transplant from Fort Lauderdale, DeToro and her colleague Richard deMontmollin applaud Tallahassee’s culture of collaboration.

“At first, we didn’t know if we’d be supported, really,” deMontmollin said. “People thought we were crazy — no chicken wings, no Bud Light, no giant sign …”

Four years later, with a partner restaurant The Hawthorn newly open next door, they like the way the ingredients are coming together.

“It lets us think bigger and put our hearts into it, express ourselves,” DeToro said.

Cheers to that. TM

1307 N. Monroe Street, in Midtown; LibertyTLH.com, 284-7966; open daily 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.; 11 a.m.–2 p.m., 5 p.m.–2 a.m. on weekends

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

↑ Dana DeToro, preparing a Brown Derby (below), says Liberty’s winter cocktails reflect flavors of the season such as cranberry, chestnut and warming bourbon.

Classic Brown Derby

➸ 1.5 oz. Florida Double Cask bourbon ➸ 1 oz. fresh Florida grapefruit juice ➸ Half-ounce of smoked honey syrup (half honey, half water) Shake ingredients with ice to chill. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with a dehydrated wedge or fresh twist of grapefruit. photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

W E D R E A M O F A D AY W H E N

Every Pet is Wanted

Ending Pet Overpopulation is possible with Spay & Neuter

You Can Help

by Donating Gently Used Items or Shopping at The Fix Thrift Shop If you’re looking to make a difference in 2018 or just planning to clean out some unwanted items around your home to start the New Year off right, The Fix Thrift Shop can help you meet your goals. Donate your gently used items or shop hundreds of gently used items that are sure to make your tail wag and help us end pet overpopulation in our community. All proceeds fund spay and neuter vouchers through Be The Solution.

The Fix

THRIFT SHOP Supporting Be The Solution, Inc.

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RESULTS: Unwanted pets don’t end up in shelters,abandoned on the streets or euthanized.

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM LEARN MORE OR DONATE AT: WWW.BETHESOLUTION.US

January–February 2018

55

Family Concert 2018

BACH & future An orchestral time travel adventure!

Sunday, March 4, 2018 s 2:30 p.m.

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall “Bach to the Future” is a show with orchestra for kids aged 2-12. The purpose is to introduce all of the instruments of the orchestra in an engaging, fun experience. In addition, the story of time-travel will take advantage to “meet” composers from different eras, such as Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky, and will introduce various aspects of music making such as dynamics, articulation and the concept of orchestral families. Above all, this is a production designed to engage both kids and adults, and as such, bring new audiences to orchestras.

www.tallahasseesymphony.org

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expression

JAN/FEB 2018

KEEPING TABS ON ALL THAT MUSES INSPIRE

STAGE

DYING IS EASY; COMEDY IS HARD

↗

Comedian Lil’ Man blows up the laughs at Junction at Monroe’s Comedy Cove.

Rookies and vets stand up to make us LOL 

PHOTO COURTESY OF GADSDEN ARTS CENTER & MUSEUM

by ROB RUSHIN

ART

A Piece of the Soul

photography by PHIL SEARS

|| MUSIC

Beers and Cheers at Blue Tavern

|| BOOKS

Local Publishers Have a Way with Words

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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expression

↓ Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your comedy night: ➺ Plan to get what you pay for.

No cover charge means watching newbies working out delivery and persona. Lots of fun, but be prepared to endure the occasional disaster.

Not that those aren’t funny, too.

O

↑ n the last evening of summer, a take us on another rolling wave of Comedian Caleb C. few hundred of us gathered at laughter, groaning and head shaking.

Thomas performs The Moon. We plunked down This guy wasn’t dying. He was killing. during a Comedy Night showcase at Bird’s. our hard-earned beans for admisA quick dash across town later that sion and a drink or four at the bar. We evening, to Club Downunder, finds ansettled in. Entertain us, we said. Make us laugh. other rising star bringing the funny to a crowd of Go on. Whatcha got? several dozen FSU students. Joe List has broken After an opening act that was polished to within through to the late-night and cable strata, with apan inch of its life, Christopher Titus took the stage, pearances on Conan and Letterman and as a finalist and for 90-some minutes, he delivered exactly on “Last Comic Standing.” Subdued and dry where what we craved.

Titus is an in-your-face force of nature, List takes Titus is at the top of his game, with six cable the crowd where he wants them. And right where specials to his name. He writes a new 90-minute they want to be. show every time he takes to the road; no golden Titus and List represent the top tiers of the food oldies, nothing tried and true. chain — the tip of the comedic iceberg. But take With a scrawled and crumpled cheat sheet close a closer look around Tallahassee, and you can find at hand — and rarely looked at — Titus riffed his the rest of that iceberg just below the surface. way through a combination of life-observation huEvery Thursday night at the Junction @ Monmor and sharp social and political satire. His wellroe — known to regulars as the J@M — owners aimed volleys at a certain president were sprinkled Russ and Josie Pangratz host The Comedy Cove. with the kinds of cultural observations that are The J@M taps into a national network of comedimeant to keep all of us — liberals and conservaans, ranging from the just-getting-started to bona tives alike — from getting too smug. fide road warriors with impressive late night and Every once in a while, he would veer off tangent, cable credits. Since they began presenting standup usually because he was picking on the people in June 2017, J@M has presented several dozen nasitting in the front or bantering with hecklers — tional-level acts, such as Mike Ivy, Steve Sabo and or worse, laying into some guy who was taking JB Ball, alongside a wide smattering of established video of the show. (I wouldn’t trade places with local jokers like Mike Pantzer and Austin Mann. that jamoke for all the gold in Quincy.) Then The national acts are often very good — hungry he would come up short and confess, “Ah hell, strivers nipping at the heels of guys like Chris I forgot what comes next,” and turn to his cheat Titus and Joe List. One pair of performers drove sheet and laugh a little and mutter “oh yeah” and 14 hours to get to Tallahassee, did their sets and ››

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➺ Be generous.

Anyone who has climbed onstage knows how hard it is. If you are suffering, you can bet the performer feels even worse. ➺ Join in.

Good comics love repartee.

Remember: Material. Timing.

Delivery. If you speak up, do it well. ➺ Be careful where you sit. If you sit in the front rows, you run the risk of being picked on from the stage.

This can be a ton of fun, but if you are uncomfortable with, say, having your clothes or body shape mocked, you might want to sit in the back. ➺ Be careful about sitting in the back.

You might get picked on from the stage. ➺ If you have a problem with “adult language,” it may be best to stay home and watch “Little House” re-runs.

You’ve been warned.

photography by PHIL SEARS

TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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become the next Chris Rock or George Carlin. (Ask your parents.) Here’s a safe bet: Check out the Comedy Cove and in a few years you’ll catch people like this on Kimmel and say, “I saw ‘em when.”

Every show features a local Master of Ceremonies and offers a couple of homegrown aspirants a chance to test material and hone their timing. To say that some of these cats are not quite ready for primetime would be generous, but even with that, there is a certain fascination with watching a newbie trying to juggle the sacred trinity of Material, Timing and Delivery. When one of them clicks — even for a moment — it’s like a giant flashbulb has gone off in the room. Even the performer can look surprised.

I’ve only seen one guy get the hook before he was done, and that was a clear case of mercy killing. Almost everyone manages at least a few laughs (aside from the guy with the hook around his neck), and watching the greenhorns struggle only enhances our appreciation for the folks who have put in the time, the miles and the on-stage deaths to get to where they are today.

Our MC, who goes by the moniker, Comedian Lil’ Man, is generous with everybody who fronts-up to the prospect of public ridicule. His career began a couple of decades ago when, as a young man with absolutely zero stage experience, he was asked to open a show for Rudy Ray Moore.

(That’s MISTER Dolomite to you.) Lil’ Man has paid his dues and made his bones on the road. And he’s got the chops to show for it.

Tallahassee boasts several venues that “bring on the funny” on a regular basis. Bird’s Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack hosts comedy every Wednesday night. Krewe de Gras in Midtown presents a monthly comedy night, promising a mix of national and local talent. Club Downunder hosts a monthly open mic night for aspiring funny folk from the campus and community. And if you want snacks with your giggles, check out LOL Nachos. This West Pensacola munchie nirvana also hosts regular comedy events.

All these joints keep a current Facebook calendar. You want laughs? Tallahassee’s got ’em. All you need to do is turn off Comedy Central and get out of the house. TM

PHOTO BY PHIL SEARS

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ART

A PIECE OF THE SOUL

←

The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum includes several pieces by Tallahassee artist O.L. Samuels, including “Firefly.”

Community mourns legendary self-taught artist

by ERIN HOOVER

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said, “There was no more audience in Moultrie. We who were buying were here.”

Regardless of the reason for the move, Samuels would later produce thousands of pieces from his home studio in Tallahassee.

Roche praised Samuels for being candid about the relationship between his work and his life. “O. L. didn’t do harmless work.

He would do something specifically about a subject, and he’d tell you what it was, why it was there, the story behind it and everything to do with it. I really liked that.”

Writers, artists and documentarians have come from far and wide to Tallahassee to see Samuels work and talk to him about his art. In 2013, the State of Florida presented Samuels with a Florida Folk Heritage Award. Gladys displays the glass award in her living room, next to a large photo of her husband accepting the honor. He appears in the photo, as always, impeccably dressed.

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Fame never changed Samuels’ personality or his work, said those who knew him well. When asked what she felt was most important to know about the art of O. L. Samuels, Gladys responded, “how sincere he was.”

The Florida Folk Heritage Award topped off a lifetime of accolades for Samuels.

By the time he received it, his sculptures and statues had been exhibited at the White House and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Arkansas Art Center, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the Harriet Tubman Museum in Macon, Ga. And, as mentioned earlier, the Gadsden Arts Center.

Ted Turner and Jimmy Buffett are among the famous collectors to own pieces by Samuels. Su and Steve Ecenia, Calynne and Lou Hill, and Carlene and Terry Prince contributed pieces to the Gadsden Art Center exhibit. ››

PHOTO COURTESY OF GADSDEN ARTS CENTER & MUSEUM

A

t the time of his death this past July, he was one of the most recognized vernacular artists in the American South. But Ossie Lee Samuels — better known as O. L. — didn’t always consider himself an artist.

Samuels’ sculptures began attracting attention decades ago, when he lived in Moultrie, Georgia, and asked to borrow $50 from Jane Simpson, the visual arts director of the Colquitt County Arts Center.

Instead of lending him money, Simpson was able to sell one of the many carvings Samuels had produced in his home to a law firm in Moultrie, earning $700, according to an article announcing his death in the Moultrie Observer.

Vernacular artists are self-taught and use non-traditional or “found” materials to create artwork about their lives and surroundings, and the genre is primarily associated with southern states like Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

“The expressive power of the work and the unique style of the artist makes the art powerful,” said Grace Robinson, the executive director of Gadsden Arts Center in Quincy, which produced a tribute exhibition for Samuels in 2016.

Samuels was born in 1931 and was raised in Wilcox County, Georgia. He lived in New York and Moultrie before moving to Tallahassee in the ’90s. None of his friends or contemporaries could say, definitively, why he moved here. Samuels’ wife, Gladys, said he received a monetary award. Fellow artist Jim Roche, who has collected several pieces made by Samuels,

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SAMUELS’ “RUBY”

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fish, human figures, fantastic cars and supernatural beasts.

An obituary published in Raw Vision, the magazine devoted to promoting the work of untrained artists (called “outsider art” by the publication), praised the “imaginative hybridity” of Samuels’ sculptures, in which physical features from two or more animals were conjoined in a single sculpture.

The artist, who was colorblind, often finished his carvings with a “secret formula” of sawdust, glue and vibrant paint, or clear varnish and small objects such as faux jewels or marbles. Later in life, he developed a “dotting” technique to decorate large surface areas.

“A person cannot decide to be a folk artist,” explained Kronsnoble. “It’s not just about not having training, but about the ‘self’ in self-taught art. The style of the artist is innate. Often the artist begins making art after some kind of accident or tragedy.”

Gladys said that Samuels had carved his own toys as a child, but he started making sculptures in earnest later in life. At age 50, he was working as a tree surgeon in Georgia when a work accident left him partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound for close to four years.

“When he started to carve, he would find something in the wood that inspired him,” Kronsnoble said, describing Samuels’ process. “Sometimes he’d start carving an animal, and the wood would tell him to make something else. ‘It started out to be a woodpecker, but it turned out to be a hummingbird,’ he’d say.”

Among the assortment of dangerous jobs he worked before finding his purpose as an artist, Samuels competed as a

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↑ O.L. Samuels talks about his masterpiece, Godzilla, during the Vernacular Art from the Hill Collection exhibition at the Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, 2009.

boxer in New York and hunted bounties across the country.

Upon hearing that Samuels could predict winning lottery numbers in his dreams, his landlady in New York hired him to tell fortunes while dressed in a gown and bonnet — a job he kept until one of the men whose fortunes he told learned from O.L. that his wife was unfaithful and stabbed her.

An ordained minister who was often invited to speak or sing at church, Samuels made work that was inspired by God, said his wife. “Whenever he was doing his art, he’d be over in the corner working. Heat waves, or whatever it was — I decided it was the Spirit — would be right beside him, like they were having a conversation.”

Visionary artist Mary Proctor displays her work in the American Folk Art Museum and Gallery, located on the second floor of the Center of Tallahassee. She revised her initial impression that some of

Samuels’ figures were “weird” after realizing that they had a spiritual component.

“It’s like calling God weird, because God made weirdlooking animals. God made everything. It was O. L.’s way of showing what he wanted to bring to the world — to show us the monsters.”

O. L. Samuels is survived by his wife, a brother, two sons and their wives, and Ms. Samuels’ children and their families, as well as countless people in Tallahassee and across the world who appreciate his art in museums or treasure it in their homes.

Gladys remembers that O. L. had a special affinity for birds. He often dreamt of flying, according to his wife, and birds would flock to him in the parking lot when the couple went out to eat.

“Every time he made a bird or an eagle, before the paint was dry, people would want to buy it,” she said. TM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GADSDEN ARTS CENTER & MUSEUM

Gladys remembered that Buffett traveled to Tallahassee to meet with Samuels in his home workshop. Samuels felt connected to each of his creations and liked to speak with buyers personally, often telling comedic stories about his life or going into the reasoning behind the shape of a particular piece.

For the film, Woodchanger, director Jimmy Joe Roche filmed Samuels using a chainsaw one-handed to carve an alligator. Later in the film, Samuels visits with finished pieces, lovingly petting them as if his sculptures were alive.

“Everything he made was one of a kind,” said Jeanne Kronsnoble, who owns Main Street Gallery in Clayton, Georgia, where several pieces of Samuels’ work are available for sale. “When you have a piece of his work, you have a piece of his soul.”

The gallery owner visited Samuels in Tallahassee several times a year to purchase pieces. “He had this innate ability to make things that were very much his own,” she said. “His sculptures were sometimes scary, sometimes funny and sometimes touching.”

An O. L. Samuels sculpture is distinctive and nearly impossible to describe adequately. Over Samuels’ lifetime, he produced hundreds of carvings representing animals,

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Strings rule the night, with (from left) Charlie Engstrom and Carrie Hamby, aka Belmont & Jones; Jim Crozier, playing bass; and Dick Kraft on guitar.

MUSIC

FROM RIO TO THE DELTA Blue Tavern gets its blues, folk and world music jam on

by STEVE DOLLAR

B

arely inches away from their eager audience, five or six musicians form a circle on the stage, playing a potluck of instruments: flute, trumpet, violin, the tambourine-like pandeiro, guitar and the cavaquinho, which resembles a ukelele. There’s also a piano handy, and the orbit can swell to accommodate even more instruments — an extra flute, a clarinet or set of strings. Someone could get up to sing. There’s always room for one more.

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The lilting melodies are packed with notes that dance quickly in the air, the rhythms sure and seductive, suffused with a bit of melancholy and nostalgic yearning.

That’s the soul of choro — which translates to “I cry” in English — a traditional form of Brazilian bar music that was popular in the early years of the 20th century, long before the country became known for the samba and the bossa nova. The choro was rediscovered in the 1950s and continues to cast its allure. It’s a magnetic draw each week at Tallahassee’s Blue Tavern, a music venue that has become a hub for local blues, folk and world music fans in its first year of business.

The modest bar and listening room sits on a nondescript strip of storefronts on North Monroe Street, a couple of blocks south of Liberty Tavern and around the corner from Ology Brewing Company, two of the newer businesses that are reanimating nightlife in a neighborhood overshadowed by the adjacent cluster of bars

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

and restaurants in Midtown. Blue Tavern had, for the three years prior to its 2016 launch, been the Midtown Speakeasy, a dingy, smoke-filled dive-bar known for its copious draft beer selection and late-night punk shows. The transition has been as if someone twirled the knob on an old AM radio, leaping mid-tune from the crunch of a power chord on a cheap amplifier to the flatted fifths of an acoustic guitar and the sweet high lament of a Delta blues ballad, keening off a pre-war Victrola.

After Maggie McKeown and her partner Charlie Engstrom, a beloved Tallahassee musician, acquired the space, they gave it a makeover. The walls, covered in fauxbrick wallpaper, now resemble a Mount Rushmore of blues legends, with portraits of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Memphis Minnie, painted by local artist Jabare. The booths have been ripped out in favor of tables. The old wooden bar, built by the previous owner, still stands, notably inlaid with river rocks, but the new clientele ›› photography by JOHNSTON ROBERTS

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Frank Lindamood and Gary Thomas

seems to drink as much wine as beer. The pool table’s gone, making room for dancers and overflow crowds on big nights.

This may seem like an unusual place to find McKeown, a congenial former nurse and midwife who came back to Tallahassee, her former home, in 2014 after a long stint in New Orleans.

“Like delivering babies in the middle of the night prepares you to open a music venue?” She asks the rhetorical question one evening, as we share a table by the bar’s entrance. As we talk, the young bluegrass duo Jam ’n’ Jelly has begun to play, the melody of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely?” sounding fleet and airy on mandolin.

Well, it turns out McKeown also ran

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one of the Crescent City’s cultural gems, McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music, for nine years before she decided to leave the faltering retail book business behind. When she closed the store, a staple on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Uptown neighborhood, the New Orleans Times–Picayune published a lament. In addition to the books, she also hosted a far-reaching array of concerts.

“McKeown’s edgy musical taste made her store a preferred venue for well-regarded improvisers,” the paper enthused, noting in particular her ear for adventurous jazz and fervent support for local musicians.

“Running a bookstore was infinitely easier,” McKeown says, than dealing with the obligations of a six-night-a-week venue

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where there’s more staff, more people, health inspections and all the inventory coming and going. “If only the books had turned over that quick!”

Blue Tavern’s bookings are overseen by Tallahassee musician Carrie Hamby, who joins Engstrom as the “antique music” duo Belmont & Jones for the bar’s Lost Mondays shows. (She’s “Hepzibah Jones.”

He’s “Walter Belmont.”)

“I love it when people come into town — maybe on business — and walk in out of curiosity,” says Hamby, who brought the weekly session over from The Warehouse when the tavern opened last fall. “They usually end up staying for the rest of the night.”

Hamby recalls a young man from Memphis who, she says, “accidentally” came to a show. “He said, ‘Where else am I going to find this kind of bar and this kind of music in Tallahassee?’ Answer: Uhhh.”

Certainly, nowhere else hosts marathons of pre-World War I Brazilian music.

“I love this place, it’s one of my favorite venues in Tallahassee,” says Alexis Finet, who leads Tuesday’s “Roda Vibe” choro sessions, also known as the informal weekly gathering of the Tallahassee Choro Society.

“It’s one of the only American bars I’ve seen without a TV. That creates a social interaction that’s amazing.”

The choro slots right into the spirit of this place. It sparks flights of improvisation, like jazz, and communicates powerful emotions in wordless rushes of feeling, like the blues. Finet loves it, too, because it lets him “explore the limits of technique,” he says. “And it makes people happy.”

Live music venues are supposed to be disappearing. The kind of idiosyncratic small bars that once were the ecosystem of cultural life in cities like New York have died off in recent years, or they’ve staved off the inevitable with crowd-funding campaigns, even as prices go higher. McKeown hopes to buck the trend and turn on Tallahassee’s curious ears in the process.

“My goal is that you wouldn’t even have to look at the schedule,” she says, “because you know if it’s here, we’re curating good music.” TM photography by JOHNSTON ROBERTS

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BOOKS

SOMETIMES THEY’LL EVEN SAY ‘YES’ Conversations with four local book publishers

by KIM HARRIS THACKER

Y

ou did it. You finally finished writing, revising and editing your magnum opus. Your beta readers love it (even the ones who aren’t related to you), which means it’s time to find a publisher.

Your book has a regional flavor and a niche market, so you decide to publish with a small, local press.

Now the question is, which one?

In this article, you will find brief introductions to four Tallahassee publishing companies, each of which is open to book submissions. This is, by no means, an all-inclusive list, but it’s a good place to get started.

And get started you must. For in the words of Terri H. Gerrell, publisher at Southern Yellow Pine Publishing, “If you’ve written a book, submit it somewhere. The worst a publisher can do is say ‘no,’ but maybe they’ll tell you why. Sometimes they’ll even say ‘yes.’”

non-fiction, added fiction seven or eight years ago and opened our children’s imprint, SYP Kids, in 2017.

➺ How did your publishing company get started? My late husband, Pete Gerrell, wrote a non-fiction book that we wanted to self-publish. We learned a lot in the process, so we decided to open our own publishing company.

We started out doing

➺ What services do you offer? We offer editing services, formatting, illustrating and cover design. We also form a team with each of our authors to promote their books. Worldwide, more than 3,000 books are published every day;

January–February 2018

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

the way you make your book stand out is through marketing. We also connect our authors to each other. Each of them has unique talents and knowledge, so when we put them together, they start helping each other. ➺ What characterizes one of your books?

The book is timely but not overdone. With kids’ books, we look for an edu-

cational component. We also like it when an author writes with a clear flavor for a region or culture. ➺ What are a few of your books? The Blue Line series by William Mark; the Fly on the Wall series by Linda Smigaj with illustrations by Mark W. Adams; The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee by Tayla Tate Boerner; and Lisbeth by Marina Brown. ››



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Q&A with Terri H. Gerrell, Publisher

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photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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expression Q&A with Robert Holladay, Managing Editor

Q&A with Leland Raymond, Publisher ➺ How did your publishing company get started? My wife, Juanita, wrote a book that we wanted to self-publish. We bought a lot of equipment, hardware and software on the road to self-publication, and we decided to use it and our expertise to help others self-publish. We started CyPress Publications in 1995. Today, we publish under three models: selfpublishing, cooperative publishing and traditional publishing. ➺ What services do you offer? CyPress Publications offers whatever services authors require to turn their manuscripts into professionally published books and/ or e-books. We provide the editing, proofreading and design/layout for interior text and book covers and the conversion services for e-books. For books published under the CyPress Publications imprint, we also provide distribution services. ➺ What characterizes one of your books? Quality and professionalism are what distinguish our titles from others in the industry. We take the time to do it right the first time. ➺ What are a few of your bestselling books? Hear My Faint Cry by T.W. Simmons; Carole Hair Moore’s children’s books, all illustrated by Michael Harrell; and The Other Side of Courage: The Saga of Elizabeth Blackwell

by Robert Nordmeyer.

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CYPRESS PUBLICATIONS

P.O. Box 2636 | Tallahassee | (850) 576-8820 cypresspublications.com

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➺ What services do you offer? Sentry Press is what is known in the trade as a “subvention” press. The author (or his or her sponsor) pays the printing and design cost. We supply qualified readers, edit, market

and oversee the entire production process. ➺ What characterizes one of your books? A Sentry Press publication is academically rigorous, physically attractive and often on a subject related to Florida, Georgia or Southern History. Our books tend to be a combination of local subject matter and academic rigor. ➺ What are a few of your best-selling books? Upon the Face of the Waters: A Brief

History of Wakulla Springs by Tracy J. Revels, Whispers of Verdura: The Lost Legacy of Benjamin Chaires by Sharyn Heiland Shields and The Grove: A Florida Home Through Seven Generations by Jane Aurell Menton.

 SENTRY PRESS 424 E. Call Street | (850) 212-7730 | facebook.com/Sentrypress

Q&A with Lance Coalson, President ➺ Father & Son Publishing’s History: We began by publishing non-fiction books in 1982 and expanded rapidly into historical fiction books, especially those with stories set in Florida. Later, we added a line of cookbooks, books for children and older youth, inspirational books, DVDs and CDs. ➺ What services do you offer? We offer book design, editing, packaging and complete manufacturing services.

We have extensive experience, and we feel that we package

the best design for the target market and genre of each of the books we publish. ➺ What characterizes one of your books?

We create high quality products that represent some of the best reading in the market categories and genres we serve. ➺ What are a few of your best-selling books? The Three Day Promise by Donald Chung, Buffy the Burrowing Owl by Betty Gilbert, Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell’s Story by Betty R. James, and

these cookbook titles, which have sold over 200,000 units: The Magnolia Collection, Perennials: A Southern Celebration of Foods and Flavors, Grandma’s Favorite Recipes, Beach Cuisine : A Collection of Fine Recipes from the Atlantic Coast and Lean Beach Cuisine: A Collection of Healthy Coastal Recipes.

 FATHER & SON PUBLISHING 4909 N Monroe St. | (850) 562-2712 | fatherson.com

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➺ How did your publishing company get started?

Dr. William Warren Rogers, history professor at Florida State University, started Sentry Press in 1972.

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PROMOTION

TO RAY WITH LOVE Maceo Parker

M

aceo Parker grew up with church music, but he didn’t stick with it. As a kindergartner, he figured out how to play “Yield Not to Temptation,” but as a teenager, he faltered.

Parker went on to play saxophone with legends James Brown, Ray Charles and Prince. Especially in Europe, Parker is as well known as those headliners.

In a tribute to Ray Charles, who spent his early childhood years in North Florida, Parker will perform in Tallahassee on Feb. 5 with the Ray Charles Orchestra & The Raelettes in an Opening Nights performance titled “To Ray With Love.”

Parker’s first instrument was the family piano.

But when, during a parade, a high-school marching band won his heart, he switched to saxophone.

Maceo Parker

“I knew I was on the right track. I knew I had something special inside me,” Parker said from his hometown of Kinston, North Carolina.

The godfather of soul apparently picked up on that, too.

James Brown, hanging out at a club after a performance, heard Parker’s brother Melvin playing drums and said he would have a job for him after he finished high school.

“Sure enough, James Brown comes back to North Carolina,” recalled Maceo. “He’s playing in Greensboro at the Coliseum, so we decide to ride around until we see his limo, and we end up right behind it. My brother goes up to James and says, ‘I’m Melvin Parker, and I’m not in school now.’ ” Melvin introduced Maceo, a tenor sax player, and Brown asked if he played baritone sax.

“I’m thinking, I cannot say no, I gotta say yes.

So I said, ‘Uh, yes sir.’ And his second question was, ‘Do you own a baritone sax?’ And I said, ‘Uh, yes sir.’ But he could tell I didn’t have one.

He says, ‘If you can get a baritone sax, you can have a job, too.’ ” The brothers raced to the local music store hoping to make the owner believe he should make them a deal on a baritone sax so they could join James Brown’s band. They succeeded, and Maceo Parker went on to become one of the world’s best saxophone players.

Those killer sax riffs in “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” that’s him.

After getting drafted and serving in the Army, Parker rejoined Brown and performed with him

in Vietnam entertaining the troops. By then, he and Brown had fans all over the world including celebrities Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, George Clinton and Chris Tucker.

Another fan was Prince, who would later recruit Parker to tour with him.

In 1993, Parker saw a dream come true — opening for Ray Charles at home and abroad and then touring the world for several years with the Ray Charles Orchestra.

After Charles died in 2004, Parker continued on his own. In 2016, he reunited the orchestra and The Raelettes to keep the maestro’s music alive.

Born on Valentine’s Day, Parker says he’s all about love. He’s horrified by all the gun violence in the United States. He wants people to stop yelling at each other and listen more. Returning to childhood teachings, he entreats, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

In his concerts saluting beloved Southern soulman Ray Charles, he plans to put his heart into it. He says he’ll love it if people get up, sing out and dance ’til they feel better.

Want to catch Maceo Parker on stage?

The performance will be at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, February 5, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

For information on other performances, visit openingnights.fsu.edu/events.

Tickets to “To Ray With Love” are priced from $25–$65. To get yours, visit openingnights.fsu.edu or call (850) 644-6500.

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PHOTOS BY INES KAISER (TOP) AND PHILLIP DUCAP (BOTTOM LEFT)

Presented by Opening Nights at Florida State University

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Dressed to the nines, the 1,500 people who attended the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) Foundation’s 34th annual Golden Gala encountered a venue that was also fittingly dressed, festooned with white roses and lilies. Animated conversation was heard, champagne bubbled and lights twinkled; the stage was set for an occasion that would be at once formal, festive and, most importantly, formidable in terms of its impact on the community. And, behind the glitz and glam was a dedicated team committed to delivering cocktails, canapés and world-class entertainment as reflections of TMH’s gratitude for its supporters.

Highlighted by a performance by country megastar Brad Paisley, the Golden Gala, held April 12, 2017, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, proved to be an energizing — and immaculate — one for all involved. Nothing had been left to chance by the many volunteers, colleagues, vendors and others, all of whom made invaluable contributions to ensuring that the gala was an unqualified success.

For Mickey Moore, the 34th annual Golden Gala was the first he experienced as the TMH Foundation’s chief advancement officer and president.

“The Tallahassee Memorial Foundation is focused on connecting and participating with the community and there is no greater example of this commitment than the Golden Gala,” Moore said. “It truly takes a team to inspire

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an unforgettable evening. From securing top-tier talent and curating a culinary experience to handcrafting floral displays and steaming linen, countless hours go into creating the desired look and feel and turning that vision into reality.”

Nine months of planning are devoted to only a few hours of festivities, but the ways in which the Golden Gala enhances community health are widespread.

“As the lights went on for Brad Paisley, a light also was shined on health in our community,” Moore said.

“Families across the Big Bend region reap the benefits of an event so many come together for. Words cannot express my gratitude for the foundation staff, hospital colleagues and community volunteers for bringing this incredible night to life.”

Through the TMH Foundation, individuals, businesses and organizations combine to equip the hospital with new medical technology, expand patient- and family-centered care and provide for the continuing education of TMH’s medical team — all in the interest of extending exceptional healthcare to the region.

As the 35th Golden Gala approaches, momentum is already building toward another wildly successful event.

And to a man and a woman, every gala volunteer would agree that the time and effort invested in the event translates to a vastly important investment in the community.

PHOTO BY JEB MACVITTIE

Months of preparation lead up to hospital’s signature event

SPONSORED REPORT

Country-western megastar Brad Paisley performs at the 2017 Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Golden Gala.

Paisley brought to the event the same stage he uses at the largest venues he plays.

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1 TMH Foundation president and chief advancement officer Mickey Moore appropriately donned a cowboy hat for a Golden Gala launch party. He was flanked by Brian Rowland, left, and TMH President & CEO Mark O’Bryant. 2 Bart Mitchell of The Mitchells agency presents graphic design proofs consistent with the look and feel of the gala developed by John Gandy Events. Mickey Moore inspected the work along with his assistant, Jessica Zeigler. 3 Danielle Buchanan, director of marketing and communications for TMH, reviews design concepts. 4 David Esher, chief carpenter/ supervisor for TMH, goes over construction plans for custom lattice work called for by the design comps. Mickey Moore and Jessica Ziegler look on. 5 Dr. Mark Bonn, right, of the Dedman School of Hospitality at FSU, presided over a wine selection event hosted by Adam Corey and The Edison Restaurant at Cascades Park. 6 Levy Houston, James Cochran and Kevin Campbell combined to

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PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON (1), BRIAN ROWLAND AND DAVID ESHER (10, 11, 12) AND COURTESY OF TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION (STORYOARD)

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produce lattice work, floral boxes and a Golden Gala shadow box for the event. 7 Wines were pared down to a few finalists. 8 At the wine selection event, from left: Rick Carroll and his wife, Mary, along with Dr. Bonn. 9 A truck arrived at the gala venue, the Tucker Civic Center. Set-up began on Sunday for the event, which was held on Wednesday. 10 The facilities team unloads the truck with care. 11 A prominent fixture at the event was the giant Golden Gala logo in three dimensions. 12 Facilities team members were prepared to deck the hall from floor to ceiling.

13 With preparations underway, Mickey Moore, at left, checked in with Gala Fundraising Committee members Ed Canup, Greg Jaap and William Smith. 14 Set components were put in place.

15 Facilities team members turned set installers took on a big project. 16 John Gandy of John Gandy Events and community volunteer Flecia Braswell saw to the last detail as the event neared.

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1 Flooring at the Civic Center was polished to a high sheen. 2 Tables were put in place in anticipation of the large gala crowd. 3 With the hanging of drapes, the event venue begins to come alive. 4 A facilities member gets the tables set. 5 Polishing silverware and glassware required a team effort. 6 Civic Center executive chef Robert Binder lends his expertise to food preparation. A tasting event that included TMH Foundation trustees, hospital staff and other special guests was held months prior to the gala, itself. 7 Preparing food for a gathering of 1,500 people presents special challenges. 8 John Gandy supervises the work of creating an archway with 4,000 calla lilies that were shipped from South America. 9 A facilities team

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member lends a hand. 10 Roses were used to create a large Golden Gala logo. Missy Gunnels and her daughter, Ellie, made it happen. 11 Early on the day of the event, Brad Paisley’s fleet of buses and trucks arrived at the Civic Center. 12 Producing a Brad Paisley performance requires lots of electronic wizardry. 13 In terms of staging, the Paisley performance was the largest ever hosted by the Civic Center. 14 A massive collection of monitors, sound boards and other electronics lies behind the scenes.

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1 At the cocktail reception that preceded dinner, impersonators did their best Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Tim McGraw impressions. 2 Messages awaited gala attendees. 3 TMH CEO Mark O’Bryant welcomed the gala crowd. 4 Happiness is pulling off an event without a hitch. 5 Mildred and A.J. Bricker, MD, with Zan and Wayne Batchelor, MD 6 Gold accents gave the event a regal feel. 7 Limos arrived as the event was about to begin. 8 Guests enjoyed conversation over cocktails during the reception. 9 Gentle and Alma Littles, MD

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PHOTOS BY JEB MACVITTIE AND COURTESY OF TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION (5, 9, 10 AND CONTRACTS)

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10 Brian and Cherie Rowland greet Brad Paisley. The Rowlands served as honorary co-chairs of the 2017 Golden Gala. 11 Brad Paisley in concert. 12 The spectacular Brad Paisley show made for a memorable evening for all who attended.

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TOM FLANIGAN THE VOICE OF TALLAHASSEE story by LAURA CASSELS // photography by DAVE BARFIELD

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Surrounded by radios at WFSU headquarters in Red Barber Plaza, newsman Tom Flanigan says radio has long been a powerful tool to promote understanding or provoke rancor. Daily on WFSU 88.9 FM, he broadcasts local programs intended to inform, entertain and surprise listeners. His affection for the community is evident on air and off.

or years, the familiar voice of Tom Flanigan has commanded the attention of his radio audience. In a media environment more fractured than ever before, listeners have learned that Flanigan’s reports are evenhanded, sincere and valuable.

Via the airwaves of WFSU-FM and its sister stations, Flanigan reaches 70,000 people in North Florida and South Georgia. He dissects election returns, conveys hurricane advisories, interviews VIPs and ordinary citizens, profiles new businesses, publicizes nonprofit events and reports news from the Florida Capitol.

And he listens.

“It’s so important for us as a community to interact, to communicate with each other so that all the voices are heard,” said Flanigan, interviewed in his office at WFSU headquarters on Red Barber Plaza, where he is program director for news.

To that end, he introduces every episode of Sound bytes “Perspectives,” his weekly live show, with an invitation: from TOM “You are always welcome to be part of the conversation.”

FLANIGAN Listeners say Flanigan democratizes the local ON FAKE NEWS: airwaves and promotes civil conversations about “If a faceless guy in Moscow can enlist your important subjects. Some call it extraordinary. worst angels to turn “I think Tom is a community treasure. When I hear you against people you would probably that resonant voice on the radio, I know it will be a be friends with, how is program worth listening to,” said Marjorie Turnbull, that a good thing?” a listener whose years of service as a state legislator and Leon County commissioner also put her in front HIS OWN OUTLOOK: “There will always of many microphones. “He doesn’t choose who to be bad news. We interview based on who is the most important. He need a Good People Doing Good Things chooses voices in the community that need to be heard, Department.” even if it’s a small voice.”

Natasha Hartsfield, director of education at ON NOT JUDGING: Tallahassee Museum and a small business owner, said “I have never met – though I’m sure they she learns about the community from WFSU-FM and are there — a person who convinced me appreciates being able to add her voice to the mix. they are totally evil. I “Tom’s everywhere with his microphone. He’s at have only met people who made terrible Market Days (a Tallahassee Museum event). He’s at mistakes in their life, the French Town Heritage Hub. He’s at City Hall and and that includes me.”

Cascades Park and the Capitol. Everywhere I go, I see him, and he recognizes me, too,” Hartsfield said.

ON DEMOCRACY: “It’s so easy to Flanigan has interviewed Hartsfield on “Perspectives” manipulate this several times, given her wealth of information about local medium. We have to be mindful. Democracy is wildlife, science for children, workshops on sustainability hard work.” practices, and more.

“He has a huge interest in building the social capital of our city,” Hartsfield said, praising his efforts to broadcast local candidate debates, public-affairs forums such as Economic Club of Florida, Capital Tiger Bay Club, and To The Village Square, and, of course, “Perspectives.”

Flanigan has an agenda: to promote useful conversation.

“In the early 1970s, I was a small-town DJ at a station that just had a 1000-watt tower and a coffee pot. But the radio station was an integral part of that community,” he said. “An area depends on its radio stations.”

In Frostberg, Maryland, Flanigan’s father was a conductor on a small rail line, the Cumberland & Pennsylvania (C&P). Flanigan calls him his hero, a gentleman who treated others with respect. (continued on page 142) TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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TRADI The 111th Miss FAMU carries on the university’s legacy of student service

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The university community gathered to crown Michelle “Marva” Johnson as Miss Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in the first event of the 2017 Homecoming Week. In the same ceremony, Jordan Sealey was also crowned Mister Florida A&M University.

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HE STAGE CURTAINS WERE LOWERED AS STUDENTS FILED INTO LEE AUDITORIUM AT FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY ONE WARM SUNDAY NIGHT IN OCTOBER 2017. BEHIND THEM, WITH THE LIGHTS DOWN, ROYAL COURT ATTENDANTS AND THE EVENING’S PERFORMERS HURRIED PAST A RAISED PLATFORM WHERE TWO WHITE, HIGHBACKED ARMCHAIRS GLOWED IN THE DIM LIGHT — THE THRONES WHERE THE NEW MISS AND MISTER FAMU WOULD SOON SIT. In the auditorium vestibule, the directors of the evening’s Coronation Ceremony, in suits and headsets, lined up the Royal Ambassadors to the Court — dozens of students from FAMU’s various colleges, schools and student organizations who must be seated in order to salute the new Miss and Mister later in the program.

The 110th Miss FAMU, Amberly Williams, also stood outside, elegant in a bright red dress with a floor-length hem, making small talk with the 17th Mister FAMU, Randall Griffin.

For the past year, the pair had almost always been on display.

They appeared to wear the responsibility of always being looked at lightly, to smile easily, to seem genuinely thrilled to meet anyone who approached. Although the new Miss and Mister FAMU had already begun to fulfill their job duties, tonight would serve as the official handoff of the positions.

Outside the tiny green room, where, behind the door, the royal escorts were helping the 18th Mister FAMU to dress, Ariston Ackerman waited with his father. Ariston had been cast as one of four attendants who would soon carry the official crowns and scepters, called the Royal Adornments. Although he was a small child, made to stand still, and he had been dressed in a miniature white, three-piece suit and tiny white dress shoes, Ariston didn’t complain. By all appearances, his clothes barely concerned him.

Ariston wore the same expression as the two little girls in white who helped the attendants who dressed the 111th Miss FAMU in another green room. Children develop this look — a wide-eyed curiosity and barely suppressed grin — when they know something big is about to happen. ← Amberly Williams and Randall Griffin served as last year’s reigning Miss and Mister FAMU and participated in this year’s passing of the ceremonial titles.

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A face to represent the university Roger Walker, now a faculty advisor to the Royal Court, was a member of the court as an undergraduate student at FAMU in the ’90s.

“I’ve been involved with advising Royal Courts ever since I started teaching,” he said, and noted that FAMU’s Developmental Research School, where he also works, has a royal court.

“When we look at what Miss FAMU is, in terms of the institution, it’s a tradition that evolved out of pageantry and the need to have a face that represents the university,” Walker said.

The Royal Court tradition is old — generations of women have now been called Miss FAMU. Richie Belle Stewart, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 100, was crowned the first “Miss FAMCEE” in 1929. The college president at the time, J.R.E. Lee, presided over a great period of physical expansion and reorganization at FAMU (1924–44) with the goal of making the institution “second to none” in the South. Lee had been born a slave.

In the early days, the Royal Court was comprised of two female attendants from the junior and senior classes. FAMU’s student government created the positions for the rest of the

↑ Attendants representing each undergraduate class at FAMU, the King and Queen of Orange and Green, and a graduate attendant and escort serve on the Royal Court. ↓ One of several child Rattlers to carry adornments on stage, Ariston Ackerman was excited to participate in the evening’s coronation.

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court later on: attendants from the freshman and sophomore classes as well as a graduate attendant, and then the King and Queen of Orange and Green to rally student spirit by leading chants and dances at football games and other events.

The student body president escorted Miss FAMU until a position was created for Mister FAMU 18 years ago. Most positions on the Royal Court are elected, except the men who escort the attendants from each class, chosen by Mister FAMU through an application process.

Most Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a court that represents the university at official events, to assist with recruitment and engage with alumni, said Andre Green, who serves as associate director of new student orientation and advises the Royal Court.

A position on the court also offers student leaders the chance to connect with their counterparts on other HBCU campuses.

Miss and Mister FAMU and the King and Queen of Orange and Green attend the annual HBCU Leadership Conference prior to the start of their academic year term. The magazine EBONY holds an HBCU Campus Queens Contest each year, which pits Miss FAMU against queens from some 60 other HBCUs, including Howard University, North Carolina A&T, Spelman College and Xavier University of Louisiana.

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“It’s a job. Like the student body president who works for the students, Miss and Mister FAMU work for the students,” Green said. “We pay for their clothing, their hotels, their meals. We provide housing and a meal plan.”

Professional businesspeople with close ties to FAMU come to the school to train Royal Court members at the start of the new school year.

“When the president of the university asks the Royal Court to meet with alumni or a corporation to fundraise, they need to know how to carry themselves,” Green said. “We do an etiquette seminar, teach them how you sit down when you get to the dinner table, how to make dinner conversation, what fork and knife to use.

“A lot of times, they’ll be out at football games where they’ll be sweaty, so we talk about how curls work in heat. We learn that true ladies never swear, never gossip. … The men learn how to tie bow ties, Windsor knots, the length of hair and how it should be cut, different dress styles.”

Miss and Mister FAMU lead recruitment efforts locally and on campus, and the entire Royal Court travels with FAMU’s sports teams to talk to prospective students at away games, recruiting from the hubs of Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and Atlanta.

“They tell their stories, they share their experiences and they really encourage students to consider FAMU — to make it their choice — through the way they present themselves,” Walker said.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF INDIVIDUALS (SENIORS AND JOHNSON)

↑ “FAMU, this crown is your crown and this reign is your reign,” Johnson told the crowd. ↗ FAMU’s Mahogany Dance Theatre performed a dance of salutation. ↓ Trenice Dessaray Seniors reigned as Miss FAMU in 19891990, winning first runner-up at the 1989 Competition of Black College Queens. In recent years, Seniors has advised the Royal Court.

Cadet Jordan Sealey ran for Mister FAMU on a platform of service to country, community and campus.

Be an example “At the end of the day, you’re a representative of the students, but you also want to feel as if you are one of the students,” said Fred Johnson, the 12th Mister FAMU, serving from 2011–2012.

Johnson has lived in Los Angeles for the past two years. He now works for Studio71, a digital media company, managing YouTube and Instagram stars; but he is better known for starring on the 13th season of The Bachelorette, among other reality television work.

He’s famous at FAMU for another reason: Johnson is the brother of the 111th Miss FAMU, Michelle Johnson, and the son of the 75th Miss FAMU, Vivian Bradley Johnson. Because of his mother, he said, “being Mister FAMU was always in the back of my mind. I knew what the position did — it’s been in my family.”

The group dynamic of being part of a larger unit — the Royal Court — can be stressful, Johnson remembered.

“I think we did our best to be seen as a cohesive unit. But behind the closed doors, you’ve got to wake up at a certain time … maybe people are in the bathroom for too long — that, people don’t see. Someone may be mad at somebody, but try to straighten up.”

He added that that he told his sister, “Be an example, so that people can see you’re not just turning a switch on or off — that you’re someone who is that person all of the time.”

“I think that the position (of Miss FAMU) is very profound,” said Trenice Desseray Seniors, the 83rd Miss FAMU. For the last 20 years, Seniors has owned Celebrity Hair Design in Tallahassee. For her, Miss FAMU was a turning point.

Seniors described transforming herself as a young woman to

→ Family ties: Vivian Johnson (pictured) reigned as Miss FAMU in 1981-1982.

A daughter and son have each served as FAMU royalty: Michelle Johnson, the current Miss FAMU; and Fred Johnson, Mister FAMU, 2011-2012. Another daughter, Erika Johnson, is a freshman at FAMU.

fit the role: “The standards you hold for yourself may not be what they need to be, but when you see Miss FAMU, how she carries herself, how she speaks, you say, ‘OK, the bar I’m using to measure myself — maybe I need to reevaluate that.’”

Seniors, who served as an advisor to the Royal Court during the time when Fred Johnson was Mister FAMU, remembered a stricter standard being in place during her reign.

“The administrators had a heavy hand, then, in what I did as Miss FAMU. I literally couldn’t go anywhere without people recognizing me, and a lot of people were old fashioned. I couldn’t have a boyfriend that they knew of.”

Seniors recalled an important shift in her conception of the role: “The man who was my boyfriend — he’s now my husband — we were at a basketball game, one of the big games they have at the end of the football season. We were walking up the stairs, holding hands, and someone said, ‘No, Miss (continued on page 146) FAMU, no!’”

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TRENDS FROM FLOOR TO CEILING, FRONT TO BACK

AD

INTERIORS

A Stylish Crib

Smart tips for decorating a nursery, from local experts

by ERIN HOOVER

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EXTERIORS photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

Caring for Palms

|| GARDENING

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One-year-old Copeland and a dog named A.J. confront one another in a nursery designed by Copeland’s mom, Brittany Dean of Harper Hill Kids Boutique. The room features a bright neutral decor with a hint of woodland flair.

Seamstress Jane Johnson with Hip Chicks Designs supplied the bedding and recovered the chair.

How to Prune Crape Myrtles

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→ A bright and airy nursery outfitted for the 1-year-old daughter of Brittany Dean includes an overseeing unicorn from Harper Hills Kids Boutique.

BRITTANY DEAN OWNER, HARPER HILL KIDS BOUTIQUE COLORS: Neutral tones — whites, creams and tans, with a pop of color in the form of artwork or a patterned quilt THEMES: Woodlandthemed nurseries (for boys and girls), nautical themes and mermaids HOT TIP: “I’ve seen wallpaper coming back in, where people wallpaper one wall behind the crib.”

KESHYA LEE CO-OWNER, BABY BARGAINS BOUTIQUE

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s rooms go, the nursery’s function is straightsure it’s not recalled.” Cribs and car seats have exforward: The baby sleeps there. On the other piration dates, she said, so Baby Bargains Boutique hand, outfitting this particular room is almost doesn’t offer these items used. never simple.

Cribs, dressers and rocker-gliders are the must“It’s not like it used to be, where you’d just put have items for nurseries, said Lenzy Borden at Our something together,” said Brittany Dean, owner of New Baby! Inc., a family owned and operated fullHarper Hill Kids’ Boutique, a specialty baby and line baby story in Dothan, Alabama. Parents are children’s boutique in Tallahassee. “You can go crazy looking for these items to last a while, too. decorating a nursery.”

“People want something they can use throughout All rooms are subject to décor trends. However, the years,” she said. “Most cribs now will convert unlike a living room or a kitchen, the role of the to a full-size bed.” (Some retailers call this furniture nursery changes relatively quickly. trend “crib to college.”)

“If people haven’t had kids before, they’ll have Colors, patterns and accents are all subject to yearly these eclectic nurseries, but they aren’t practical. trends. Bold patterns? Soft pastels? Monochrome?

As the baby grows, you have to move everything House-frame beds? Wall murals? Marquees with your around,” Dean said. child’s name spelled out in three-foot-high letters?

New parents may not know what they need. Baby The family’s new addition won’t notice how his or her Bargains Boutique’s Keshya Lee sees parents beparents decked out the room, but if the number of come frustrated when the items they’ve bought for websites dedicated to nurseries is any indication, detheir nursery can’t be used for long. sign matters to parents. Dean recommended seeking “Some things you’ll want to buy used,” said Lee, the inspiration from Instagram sites like Project Nursery, co-owner of this Tallahassee store, which Little Unicorn Official and Loved Baby. offers new and resale children’s items.

Pregnancy is a nine-month waiting game, “Some things only last through the newand decorating the nursery can be a fun born phase, and a bassinet is one of them.” way for expecting parents to express their Lee continued, “We suggest you buy a excitement. Ultimately though, the most Consumer Product play-yard, like Graco’s Pack ’N’ Play, with important part of the nursery — and all Safety Commission a bassinet. Just check the Consumer Prodanyone really sees — will come home with CPSC.gov uct Safety Commission website to make his or her parents from the hospital. TM

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BABY BARGAINS BOUTIQUE 2901 E. Park Avenue, Suite 2300, babybargainsboutique.com | HARPER HILL KIDS BOUTIQUE 1350 Market St #105, harperhillkidsboutique.com OUR NEW BABY!, INC. 3119 Ross Clark Circle (Dothan, AL), ournewbabyinc.com

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THEMES: Disney Princesses (Ariel, Jasmine) instead of “Classic Disney” (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck) FURNITURE: Sets that include a matching crib and dresser/changing table; 4-in-1 convertible cribs HOT TIP: “Most people don’t realize this, but cribs and car seats have expiration dates. Even if you’re buying a crib that’s inexpensive, you’ll want to get it new.”

LENZY BORDEN NURSERY SPECIALIST, OUR NEW BABY! INC. THEMES: Floral for girls, stripes for boys; for boys, colored linens in neutral colors, like brown, gray, white or flax FURNITURE: The “farmhouse look” — distressed white furniture accented with iron pulldrawers and iron cribs HOT TIP: “Rugs are really popular. We carry the brand, Lorena Canals.

You can finger paint on it and then throw it in the washing machine.”

Bereber Beige, lorenacanals.us

photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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↘ While most often associated with tropical climes, palm trees can be remarkably hardy.

ICONIC FLORIDA FLORA Palms are us

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they can have indirect exposure to sunlight. During the winter months, keep non-native palms inside.

Roop says that “palms need plenty of water to get established,” but aside from that, they are easy to care for and grow. Another point in their favor, according to Prosser, is that palms are “fairly insect and disease resistant, especially the native ones.”

Prosser notes that while the native palms are easiest to care for, this doesn’t prevent other non-native species from thriving. Roop names the Washington Palm as a palm that does well in Tallahassee, but he also jokes that they are not “people friendly,” because they have big thorns.

Of course, these are just a few of the several varieties of palms that homeowners can incorporate into their landscaping. To learn about more species or to find out how you can raise palms in Tallahassee, call or visit Tallahassee Nurseries or Native Nurseries. TM

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alm trees swaying in the ocean breeze is an image that comes to the minds of many when they think of Florida, and for good reason.

“There are over 50 varieties of palms that will grow in Florida, from Miami over to Pensacola,” says Nate Prosser of Tallahassee Nurseries.

Unfortunately, only 12 or so of those varieties are suited to Tallahassee’s climate, which is less moderate than that of other regions of Florida. In the winter, temperatures dip into the 10s and 20s, and many palms fight to survive.

Florida’s state tree, the Sabal Palm — otherwise known as a Cabbage Palm — is the species of palm that grows best in the Tallahassee area. According to Prosser and to Timothy Roop of Native Nurseries, the Sabal Palm can be found naturally near the Wakulla River.

Another species of palm that grows well in Tallahassee is the Needle Palm, which can be found near the Apalachicola River and Torreya State Park. Because Needle Palms can grow to be 70–80 feet tall, Roop advises homeowners not to plant them too close to a home.

Some temperature-sensitive palms can be kept on a screen porch or indoors during the winter, and Prosser recommends the Rhapis Palm, or Lady Palm, for this environment. Of course, porch-kept palms are more suited for the hot, humid climate of southern Florida; but with the right care, especially during the winter, these palms can thrive in North Florida.

What does it take to care for a palm? During the spring and summer months, make sure that nonnative species are kept inside a screened porch where

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Hours Monday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday, closed regularly, but open during the holiday season

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GARDENING

HOW TO PRUNE CRAPE MYRTLES

BY AUDREY POST, MS. GROW-IT-ALL

®

Lagerstroemia indica is a classic southern small tree or shrub that is a popular substitute for northern lilacs here in the Deep South. It’s often the victim of “crape murder,” a severe topping of the tree that is supposed to increase blooming, but does real damage to the overall health of the tree. It’s important to prune your crape myrtle correctly, in February, while it is dormant.

particularly small branches that are growing back into the plant, to allow air to better circulate.

➸ Plant pre-chilled bulbs early in the month.

➸ Plant bare-root roses this month. Containergrown roses can be planted anytime.

DO THIS

FEBRUARY

➸ Prune roses. Remove

Correct Pruning Branches To Trim Incorrect Pruning

3 The University of Florida’s

Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences recommends pruning the tips of branches to remove old flowers that remain from last summer’s bloom.

If old blooms are removed, a second blooming may occur.

4 If your crape myrtle was the

victim of “crape murder,” you have two options. First one: Pick the two or three strongest sprouts from each

NOT THIS

stub and remove the rest, nurturing the survivors for the next couple of seasons and removing other sprouts as they emerge. Or, while the tree is dormant, cut it back to within one to two inches of the ground. Two or three weeks later, select three to five of the most vigorous new shoots on each trunk and remove all others. Remove any new shoots that emerge later. Within three to five years, you will again have a natural-looking crape myrtle.

dead or damaged canes back to the ground.

Remove crossed or rubbing canes. Take care not to remove more than one-third of the canes on the shrub. Cut back overall size by no more than one-third. Repeat over the next two years to rejuvenate overgrown rose bushes. ➸ Plant potatoes.

Local nurseries will have seed potatoes that do well in our area, along with instructions on how to plant them. ➸ Give your citrus trees their first dose of fertilizer for the year.

Witch’s Horse If you’ve ever encountered the Two-Striped Walking Stick, you’ll probably remember it. Anisomorpha buprestoides emits a strong milky substance when threatened that can cause painful irritation to the eyes and mucus membranes. Fortunately, copious amounts of cool water will ease the irritation, and symptoms should disappear within a few days. The Two-striped walking stick is a member of the stick insect family. It is also known by more exotic names including devil’s riding horse, prairie alligator, witch’s horse, musk mare and devil’s darning needle. It can be found TWO-STRIPED WALKING STICK throughout Florida and the Gulf Coast, as well as in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. Like all stick insects, it feeds on the leaves of shrubs and trees. It is particularly fond of azaleas, crape myrtles and roses. Wear gloves to pick them off and put them in a plastic newspaper bag to smother them. Make sure you wear protective eyewear to thwart the spray.

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PESKY PESTS

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©2018 PostScript Publishing LLC, all rights reserved.

Audrey Post is a certified Advanced Master Gardener volunteer with the University of Florida/ IFAS Extension in Leon County. Email her at Questions@ MsGrowItAll.com or visit her website at msgrowitall.com.

Ms. Grow-It-All® is a registered trademark of PostScript Publishing. illustration by SAIGE ROBERTS

PHOTOS BY SMITT (BABY TREES) AND HYRMA (POTATO) / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS AND COURTESY OF BUGENSTEIN AT ENGLISH WIKIPEDIA, CC BY-SA 3.0 (WALKING STICK)

2 Thin out small twiggy growth,

JANUARY

➸ Plant trees this month, making sure to consider the tree’s size at maturity when selecting a site.

WHETHER YOU SPELL IT “CREPE MYRTLE” OR “CRAPE MYRTLE,”

1 Remove suckers from the bottom of the plant. Remove any damaged and diseased branches. Remove branches that are crossing or rubbing against each other, trimming the weaker of the two limbs.

Your Monthly Garden Chores

Rootedin in Tallahasee Tallahassee for Rooted For

Years

1938 - 2018

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PROMOTION

DEAL ESTATE

JUST LISTED

An Escape From the Everyday

Spacious, opulent playground in SouthWood also has bowling lane

by RACHEL SMITH

This exquisite estate is in a premium location on more than an acre of land in picturesque SouthWood community, overlooking the SouthWood golf course and 60-acre preserve. From its numerous custom features to resort-style amenities, this three-story masterpiece is perfect for entertaining and sure to impress.

LIST PRICE: $1,295,000 ADDRESS: 3621 Mossy Creek Lane, Tallahassee SQUARE FOOTAGE: 7,400 BEDROOMS: 5 BATHROOMS: 5.5 YEAR BUILT: 2008

REALTOR SAYS: “Elegantly appointed inside and out, this home features everything you need or want for athome entertainment. With countless custom touches and features, you won’t find another home like it!”

CONTACT INFORMATION: Josh Kasper, Realtor® joshkasper@comcast.net, 850-528-1898 The Naumann Group Real Estate, Inc.

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF NAUMANN GROUP REAL ESTATE, INC.

FEATURES: Extensive custom molding and trim work, walnut clad library/ office, coffered ceilings with walnut inlays, vaulted ceiling with custom walnut beams in family room, beautiful granite countertops, gourmet chef’s kitchen, gorgeous hand-carved travertine fireplace, resort style pool, numerous water features, private bowling lane, ornate landscaping, spacious rooms, several bonus spaces, multiple balconies and patios, fire pit, stunning hardwood floors and wet bar

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GUEST HOUSE • The Mediterranean-inspired design features custom decorative finishes throughout and beautiful outdoor living spaces • Upon entry, you are are greeted with a breathtaking two-story foyer with gleaming marble floors perfect for displaying artwork • Property showcases over 10,000 square feet of living space that blends luxury and comfort • Located on Lake Diane and the 18th green of Golden Eagle golf course (designed by Tom Fazio)

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FOYER IS AN ART ENTHUSIAST’S DREAM • Professional grade kitchen, full catering kitchen, butler’s pantry, a wine cellar, home theater & multiple bars make entertaining a breeze • Sprawling master retreat includes a private foyer, sitting room, breakfast bar, powder room, bedroom, his and hers wash rooms, expansive walk-in closets and private laundry room • 3BR/2BA Guest House with vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and open floor plan

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PROMOTION

DEAL ESTATE SECOND HOME

Island Views

Multi-level getaway on St. George Island has a private pool

by RACHEL SMITH

Large enough to host another family, but cozy enough for two to feel right at home. With five bedrooms — two with king beds — everyone can have their own space and their own views! What makes this home even more attractive is the private pool and grill park, as well as access to the Sunset Beach Clubhouse with community pool and tennis courts. It’s the ideal getaway all year long.

LIST PRICE: $760,000 ADDRESS: 830 Sunset Drive on St. George Island SQUARE FOOTAGE: 2,880 BEDROOMS: 5 BATHROOMS: 4 YEAR BUILT: 2003

REALTOR QUOTE: There is a huge screened porch on the top floor overlooking the beautiful Apalachicola Bay, and is accommodated with two large dining tables for outdoor dining or family fun time. The first level boasts four more bedrooms; the two master suites face the Bay with access to the large covered porch and each have substantial master bathrooms, one with a large jacuzzi tub. The other beach-side bedrooms have their own balconies with great views of the Gulf.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Team of Mason and Marilyn Bean, Century 21 Collins Realty; (850) 653-6733 Marilyn; marilyn@century21collinsrealty.com; (850) 653-6734 Mason; century21collinsrealty.com

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF TEAM OF MASON AND MARILYN BEAN, CENTURY 21 COLLINS REALTY

FEATURES: Gatedcommunity with community pool, tennis court and clubhouse. Multiple TVs, DVD player, well-equipped kitchen, tile floors throughout, carpet in bedrooms, gas fireplace, outdoor enclosed hot/cold shower, under-house concrete parking. Private pool, Gulf views, boardwalk directly across the street with easy access to the beach. BBQ pit/grill, balcony, covered/ screened and open decks, fenced backyard, landscaped.

Open floor plan on top floor with large kitchen, dining and living room with fireplace.

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Sunday: Noon–4 p.m.

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GETAWAY

Tarpon Springs

|| QUICK TRIP

The Monticello Opera House

destinations

JAN/FEB 2018

VISITING NOTEWORTHY PLACES NEAR AND FAR

GETAWAY

PHOTO COURTESY OF JILL BAZELY (CC BY-NC 2.0)

GOING GREEK Tarpon Springs has made name for itself as the nation’s largest Greek community

by CHAY BAXLEY HUGHES

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I

’ve occasionally fallen into the trap of wishing I were Greek.

Growing up an hour north of Tarpon Springs, it was an easy thing to do. The culture and the town’s ongoing festivals called to me like the rotating gyro displays called to my now-husband.

Years ago, we rendezvoused near the city’s sponge docks for our first date (a Mini Cooper rally) so I should make it clear that my ties to the small fishing community are stronger than most.

But seriously, who wouldn’t want to be Greek? Food, history, beaches, architecture, philosophy, the Olympics — whatever you’re thing is, the Greeks → An array of local sponges festoon a bicycle.

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PHOTOS BY LITTLENY, CSFOTOIMAGES AND CSFOTOIMAGES / ISTOCK EDITORIAL / GETTY IMAGES PLUS ISTOCK (DOWNTOWN, GREEK RESTAURANTS AND BIKE), DOUGLASCRAIG ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (SPONGES) AND COURTESY OF FLORIDA SEA GRANT (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

←↑ The sun sets over downtown Tarpon Springs, which includes open-air markets that peddle sponges, starfish and clothing. The historic coastal town is home to the nation’s highest percentage of Greek Americans.

likely did it first, and can make a strong argument that they did it best.

My culture envy had never been so strong though, as it was after I spent an afternoon with Tarpon Springs’ own Michael John Targakis, of Native Tours.

“It’s a village, not a city,” his booming voice corrected me as we began our walk through the village’s two distinct districts.

Tarpon Springs is the kind of place where it wouldn’t take long to memorize everyone’s face — and Targakis is the kind of man who never forgets a name.

During our hybrid walking and driving tour, he often gave me directions and other commentary mid-intersection.

“This is Tarpon Springs,” he shrugged, “what’s that kid in such a hurry for?”

An hour later, as we were walking through Mama’s Greek Cuisine, Targakis called out to one of the busboys.

“Yo Nico, was that you driving your dad’s white truck like a maniac?”

“No sir, must’ve been my brother. I’ve been here.”

“Well, tell him he can’t drive.”

“Yeah, he can’t see over the steering wheel either.”

“Listen to you!”

A noogie didn’t follow — but it easily could have.

Tarpon Springs, the northernmost city in Pinellas County along Florida’s Gulf Coast, was established in 1876 by farmers

↑ Residents and tourists enjoy a sunny day at the sponge docks, where the restaurants and stores are unmistakably Greek.

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destinations ← A boat brings its fresh cargo to the sponge docks while another vessel departs, carrying a Florida Sea Grant team from Gainesville out to view historical diving practices.

WHEN IN TARPON SPRINGS

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in Pittsburg or wherever, can get funding to keep their culture and history going as well.”

Today, Tarpon Springs is a mix of old families and new, quirky tourists. Nearly every weekend city streets are closed for festivals and art shows.

Of the two districts — the sponge docks and downtown — the docks are where things start to feel truly Greek.

On one side, the winding waterfront road is lined by shrimp boats and commemorative statues paying homage to the first spongers, who dove wearing suits weighing upwards of 170 pounds.

Opposite, charmingly flashy Greek restaurants and sponge shops flow one into the next.

If you like Greek food, all of the dining options will impress, though Dimitri’s On The Water and Hella’s Restaurant and Bakery often get the most fanfare. A few Cuban cigar establishments have also set up shop along Dodecanese Boulevard, a happy accident due to high rents in nearby Ybor City.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

“This is just a great vacation spot,” said Targakis. “It’s like Europe without the Euro.”

With no high rises competing for sunset views, Tarpon Springs varies wildly from neighboring communities, including Clearwater and St. Pete Beach.

If visitors arrive expecting the extravagance of The Don CeSar, located 30 miles south, they’ll be disappointed. But, if Old Florida meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding entices, then please — pack your things.

Perhaps Tarpons Springs’ biggest allure is that it’s a destination that locals adore, too.

Even leaders for other cities can’t deny its pulls.

“Tarpon Springs is my home town,” said Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos. “It’s that kind of place that you can always come back to and feel like you’re at home.

“It’s just a unique village. It gives you something you cannot and will not experience anywhere else in the country.” TM

Clearwater Jolly Trolley ClearwaterJolleyTrolley.com Mutiple Pick-up Sites (727) 445-1200 Court of Two Sisters Antiques and Collectibles Facebook.com/CourtofTwoSistersandTheUpperCourt 153 E. Tarpon Ave (727) 934-9255 Dimitri’s On The Water DimitrisOnTheWater.com 698 Dodecanese Blvd.

(727) 945-9400 GETAGURU GetAGuru.com 777 Dodecanese Blvd.

(727) 937-8193 Hellas Restaurant HellasBakery.com 785 Dodecanese Blvd.

(727) 943-2400 Spongeorama Cruise Lines SpongeoramaCruiseLines.com 510 Dodecanse Blvd.

(727) 943-2164 Native Tours of Tarpon Springs NativeTours.us (727) 485-3539

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLORIDA SEA GRANT (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

who quickly realized the region’s swampy bayou-fed marshlands didn’t suit their business model well. By the 1890s, focus shifted to the area’s waterways as others with more knowledge of coastal living migrated to the tropical climate.

Once the Greeks arrived, hailing largely from the Dodecanese Islands, everything changed.

“From 1900 to 1943, we were the sponge capital of the world,” said Targakis.

A series of unfortunate events, namely red tide, cut Tarpon Spring’s fortunes short — but the inhabitants never forgot how their beloved village got its start.

“Tarpon Springs was the first place in the country to be placed on the National Historic Registry not only based on architecture, but based on existing working culture — the sponge docks.

The structures from the 1930s and ’40s are gone, but the government has sanctioned the history and industry as something truly unique. Now other areas, much like the Polish or Germans

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QUICK TRIP

The Monticello Opera House Yesterday, today and tomorrow, by ghost!

(Oops … by gosh!) by MARINA BROWN

N

estled like a dowager aunt — refined and tasteful, if seemingly a bit out of place — the Monticello Opera House sits shoulder by hip with a Marathon service station and a bait store, all circling the gloriously restored pastiche of the Jefferson County Courthouse in the center of the city of Monticello.

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Here, magnolias abound, and century oaks arc, even as they share turf with a few pairs of palms.

Luckily, the accelerating engines of passing heavy trucks can’t be heard inside the Opera House. Instead, the MOH seems to ignore the noise and the somewhat hard scrabble of its surroundings and lifts its hoary chin as it proceeds into its 128th year.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

↑ A vintage sign welcomes guests to the Opera House.

Beautiful details in the 128-year-old building are stained glass windows, vintage chandeliers and original staircases. photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

Now, coupled with the heavy Romanesque-Revival edifice, there comes an enthusiastic and new executive director, Michael Herrin. A Florida native hailing from Quincy, Herrin brings a local perspective and non-profit experience. As an actor appearing at many community theaters (including the Opera House), Herrin is taking on new roles in choosing and booking theatrical productions, conducting group tours, organizing weddings, receptions and meetings, and overseeing expansive renovations begun two years ago. Though he says he’s still learning the history of the building, Herrin is excited by the prospect of what the Opera House is yet to become Perhaps the term, opera house, is misleading. In the South of the late 19th century, there were many “opera houses,” but you wouldn’t have heard Verdi or Wagner there. Instead, minstrel shows, variety shows, and later, vaudeville or burlesque were popular on the theatrical circuit. From the 1890s to around 1900, the Monticello Opera House had its heyday, a time when wealthy Northern visitors would winter on nearby hunting reserves and needed some let-your-hair-down entertainment.

Yet, over the next 10 to 15 years, other distractions began to interrupt the crowds — the First World War, the arrival of moving pictures, and especially the railroad’s shift. They all took their toll. By 1920, the shows had stopped and the building was for a time turned into a movie house. Still later, it was boarded up and for all purposes, abandoned. The thought of the stately grande dame with two-by-fours across her doors feels tragic, but Herrin says its developer had always had plans for the building to be more than just a theatrical venue. And a visit to the sprawling street level galleries are evidence of what Dr. John H. Perkins and architect, W.R. Gunn had in mind.

Perkins had not only an aesthetic sense, but an entrepreneurial spirit, as well.

In addition to a world-class performing venue upstairs, he would have shops and businesses in the spaces below. Over time, a butcher shop, a hardware store, an A & P grocery, and later, the town post office all did business out of the Monticello Opera

↑ The theater, on the second floor, includes elaborately decorated Moorishinfluence box seats, remnants of the original gas footlights, and a stage equipped with a trap door.

Performers say it has near-perfect acoustics. ← The new executive director, Michael Herrin, says the cherished historical landmark is “living and breathing” with stage performances and events.

House. After all, Monticello, at the time of the MOH’s building was on an active railroad line, it had a booming turpentine industry, and think of it, it was once the Watermelon Seed Capital of the World.

It needed stores and Perkins thought it also needed an Opera House. Sadly, Perkins would learn what many other developers have — you can’t predict the future. When the railroad was rerouted toward Jacksonville, the wealthy Northern vacationers shifted their allegiance.

“The building is powerfully built,” says Herrin admiringly. Constructed of iron and brick, even the Corinthianstyle columns found inside and out are of

iron, a “modern” construction material of the age. “Inside, the wood is heart-pine.

It is so hard that it’s difficult to drive a nail through.” Awed by the strength of the building, the director says that the renovations, begun in 1972 after the MOH was scheduled to be razed but saved by the community which raised over $1 million to purchase it, demonstrate the structural integrity of the Opera House.

It is “something to be cherished.”

But of course, it’s the upstairs theatre itself that is the draw. Unlike more ornate European houses, the MOH could be considered plain. The walls are a pale manila, while the wainscoting and

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destinations balcony are darkly stained. Overhead, three mirrored and painted chandeliers, which once held gas fixtures, and two stage-flanking boxes that somewhat incongruously appear to be capped with Moorish metal cupolas straight out of Scheherazade give the theatre a sense of the dramatic that must have thrilled early patrons. More importantly, the acoustics are near perfect. Owing to few actually straight lines in its contours and lots and lots of resonating wood, musicians love performing here, many choosing to perform acoustically without amplification.

But what is an opera house without its lore? It is said that the balcony’s pewlike seating was once used to sequester members of racial minorities, who were only allowed to enter through a side staircase tucked in a wall. That trap door in the middle of the stage was called the “hell door” because plays often called for actors to descend to demonic depths.

“And some say Dr. Perkins likes to sit in the box seat to the stage-left of the orchestra pit,” Herrin notes. What? Perkins hasn’t been around for going on 100 years.

So, he enjoys watching plays in his noncorporeal state?

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Officials at the MOH don’t really like focusing on the “ghost” factor, although Monticello has been written about as “One of the Most Haunted Cities in the U.S.” Yet, when pressed, Herrin acknowledges that in the very small backstage area of the ladies’ dressing room, a tiny figure is from time to time said to “materialize” at the window. It’s a miniscule space, its walls sprinkled with graffiti a hundred years old.

With its period costumes, dimly lighted mirror, brick walls and one towering window, it seems there may still be space for an ephemeral presence.

“We’ve had unusual problems with our phones and computers, but I don’t think we can attribute them to ghosts,” Herrin jokes. “Yes, I’ve heard the stories —banging sounds, lights going on at odd times, a possible glimpse of a moving curtain, and a person at the window. But ghosts are not our featured attraction.” What is important to him now is the “living and breathing” that is taking place in the opera house today.

And it’s a great deal. The new metal roof is complete and Herrin says it will last for decades. Next will be the renovated garden behind the MOH. Always known as an elegant wedding venue, the roomy garden with its gazebo and circling plants is planned to be a magical setting. The stained-glass windows and the banquet hall renovation are also on the renovations list.

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

And Herrin, adjusting to his new role, is in awe at the generosity in time and treasure provided by the MOH’s founding benefactors, grantors, volunteers and the state.

“It takes a tremendous amount of support to maintain this historic landmark,” he says.

The Garden Club of Monticello, the Division of Historical Resources of the Department of State, Farmers and Merchants Bank, the Foundation that supports all of the efforts, and the many private donors, including the Adris, Parker, Poe, Williams, Bassett, and Langford families are all valued at the MOH. In the meantime, the Opera House Stage Company, the Monticello Acting and Dance Company, as well as concert artists, dinner shows, large-scale holiday celebrations, and shows designed for children will continue to bring quality theatre to Monticello and the greater Tallahassee area.

And don’t worry if one evening as the curtain goes up, a theatre seat with nobody in it seems to sag beside you. Everybody, maybe even those with no bodies at all, love going to the Monticello Opera House. TM 

↑ Renovations dating to 1972 preserved the stately staircase and backstage rooms used during performances since 1890. The building was designed by architect W.R. Gunn and built

by Monticello businessman John H. Perkins for use as a mercantile center with an opera house.

↑ The banquet hall, which will be renovated, is adjacent to an elegant garden, a charming place for weddings.

MONTICELLO OPERA HOUSE 185 W. Washington Street, Monticello, Florida, (850) 997-4242, monticellooperahouse.org

photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

Serving for over 20 years!

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VISIT THE

Forgotten Coast PLAY • SHOP • DINE • STAY

2

LIVE OAK POINT

PANACEA

W

inter on the Forgotten Coast has a lot to offer anyone wanting LANARK VILLAGE to escape city life for a day, a CARRABELLE weekend or longer. Along the bays, beaches 1 Dog Island and byways there are many opportunities EASTPOINT to slow down and take it easy.

APALACHICOLA While there, we recommend Apalachicola Bay visiting the following locations: St. George

Apalachee Bay

BALD POINT ALLIGATOR POINT

Island

DINING 1

San Blas Bay

HOLE IN THE WALL

Seafood market and raw bar. Family owned and operated. Serving fresh locally caught seafood.

Open Tuesday through Saturday.

(850) 653-3222 23 Avenue D, Apalachicola

Bob Sikes Cut Cape St. George

DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM TALLAHASSEE

ATTRACTION 2

GULF SPECIMEN AQUARIUM

A unique experience to get up close with sharks, sea turtles, starfish, octopus and other sea life from the Gulf of Mexico. One of the largest touch tanks exhibits in the U.S. (850) 984-5297 gulfspecimen.org

Head south on South Monroe Street toward Apalachee Parkway.

Turn right onto East Orange Avenue, then take the first left onto South Adams Street and continue onto Crawfordville Road.

Turn right onto US-319 South and explore the next 50 miles.

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PROMOTION

Zeus and his person, Jackie Estrada, at the 13th Pets & Their People event

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calendar PROMOTION

MARCH 17

PETS & THEIR PEOPLE

All pets (and their people) are invited to Tallahassee Magazine’s 14th annual event at Proctor Subaru on Capital Circle NE. Experience puppy yoga, take a family picture with your furry friend and enjoy a day filled with pets and fellow pet lovers. Puppy yoga starts at 9 a.m. The event will officially kick off at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and is free to the public.



PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS (PETS & THIER PEOPLE), WADE BISHOP (FILM FESTIVAL), TOM DOMS (OPENING NIGHTS), DENNYTHURSTONPHOTOGRAPHY / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (ARROW) AND COURTESY OF TALLAHASSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SAVE THE DATE

Tickets for the optional brunch are available at tallahasseemagazine.com/Pets-and- Their-People or at the event.

REGIONAL

FEBRUARY 23-25

11TH ANNUAL STONE AGE & PRIMITIVE ART FESTIVAL

→ Gather at Ochlockonee River State Park in

Wakulla County to gain insight into how early man lived and worked. Visitors will be allowed to participate in demonstrations of flint knapping; projectile point fashioning; deer hide brain tanning; and bone, wood and antler carving. The cost to enter the park is $4 per vehicle for up to eight occupants. Additional occupants are $2 per person.

Visit knapfest.com for more details.

JAN/FEB 2018 For more events in Tallahassee, visit TallahasseeMagazine.com. compiled by KIM HARRIS THACKER

JANUARY 20

RING WITHOUT WORDS

→ The Ring — An Orchestral Adventure is a musical tour de force that takes Richard Wagner’s epic 17-hour opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, and condenses it into 75 minutes of sheer orchestral beauty. Performed without vocalists, this arrangement shows Wagner’s skill in writing for the orchestra. For this concert, the TSO has commissioned a series of tableaux inspired by Japanese animation to illustrate the story the orchestra tells, to be shown on screens inside the concert hall. Tickets to this event, which starts at 8 p.m., are $25-$60.

To learn more, visit tallahasseesymphony.org

JANUARY 26-27

Tally Shorts Film Festival → The 6th annual Tally Shorts Film Festival will take place at the Challenger Learning Center. Audience members will enjoy short films from every genre and will witness a dazzling variety of talent and unique perspectives. It’s like going to a buffet for film, and the audience will even get to vote on which films they like best. There will also be free kids events, a panel discussion on the importance of short films, networking opportunities, Q&A sessions and after parties. Be inspired by unique cinema from around the world and right here in your backyard.

Learn more at tallyshorts.com

FEBRUARY 22

OPENING NIGHTS — RAY CHEN → Winner of the Queen Elisabeth (2009) and Yehudi Menuhin Competitions (2008), Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today, and he’s coming to the Opperman Music Hall at Florida State University on February 22 at 7:30 p.m. for Opening Nights. Following the success of his three critically acclaimed albums, Chen was profiled by “The Strad” and “Gramophone” magazines as “the one to watch.” He is dedicated to expanding the reach of classical music through education and social media, and he can be found on Instagram (raychenviolin), Facebook (raychenviolinist) and Twitter (raychenviolin).

Read more and buy tickets at openingnights.fsu.edu/events/ray-chen-violin TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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ING T EA CR IONS 96 VIS CE 19 SIN

• Mirrors & furniture tops

PROMOTION REGIONAL

FEBRUARY 22-25

Annual Thomasville Antiques Show

• Quick turnaround on residential insulated glass replacement

→ The 29th Annual Thomasville Antiques Show will present 30 of the country’s most prestigious antiques exhibitors who will offer casual and serious collectors the opportunity to purchase exquisite antiques, including furniture, paintings, rugs, jewelry, tableware, accessories and collectables. Guests will enjoy lectures and events by renowned guest speakers Bobby McAlpine, Eddie Ross, Beth Webb and Ashley Woodson Bailey.

For more information, visit ThomasvilleAntiquesShow.com

• Custom shower enclosures

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SWAMP FOREST TRAIL MARATHON, HALF MARATHON AND 6.5-MILE RUN JAN. 6 Follow the beautiful rolling terrain of Swamp Forest Trail in Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park. Trails include Swamp Forest, Coon Bottom, and Oak Hammock Loops. Proceeds from the event benefit the Tallahassee Friends of Our Parks Foundation, Inc. facebook.com/events/130715797678937

FIND YOUR FITNESS EXPO JAN. 20 Premier Health and Fitness Center presents a fully interactive fitness expo held at The Pavilion at The Centre of Tallahassee. The event includes a one-mile run around Cascades Park, guidance in finding the right ways to reach your fitness goals and a children’s area with an inflatable obstacle course. fitnessproinc.com/home

REBELUTION JAN. 24 Billboard charting reggae band Rebelution is bringing some sunshine to The Moon. With 13 years and five full-length records under their belt, this show is sure to be one full of high-energy, sun-drenched fun. tallahassee.moonevents.com

MLK DARE TO DREAM FESTIVAL JAN. 15 This daylong festival honors the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the MLK Memorial March, followed by historical exhibits, musical and theatrical performances, dancing and children’s attractions.

THURSDAYS @ 10:30 PM

mlkdare2dream.com

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TALLAHASSEE FITNESS AND FOOD FESTIVAL JAN. 27 Join over 150 local and national exhibitors in celebrating and educating the community in health and wellness. This festival, which is in its ninth year, features free health screenings, a cooking stage, a Zumba competition, an obstacle

PHOTOS BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN (RED HILLS) AND ANDREYKRAV / ISTOCK EDITORIAL / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (MLK) AND COURTESY OF THOMASVILLE ANTIQUES SHOW

• Screen repair & replacement

JAN/FEB 2018

course, exercise classes and a children’s activity zone. tallyfitnessfest.com

TALLAHASSEE MARATHON AND HALF-MARATHON FEB. 4 The Tallahassee Marathon and Half-Marathon, hosted for all ages by Gulf Winds Track Club, celebrates its 43rd year.

Marathoners experience the history and culture of Tallahassee on a scenic, engaging course.

The full marathon is a certified, qualifying race for the Boston Marathon. tallahasseemarathon.com

TALLAHASSEE AIDS WALK FEB. 17 Now in its 27th year, the AIDS Walk includes a memorial walk around Cascades Park, a festival of live music, testimonials, food, free rapid HIV testing and opportunities to learn more about HIV/AIDS. Pledges will go to Big Bend Cares. bigbendcaresaidswalk.org

153RD ANNIVERSARY AND 41ST REENACTMENT OF THE BATTLE OF NATURAL BRIDGE MARCH 2–4 It’s a case of history repeating itself: The 41st reenactment of

the second largest Civil War battle in Florida lasts for two days and takes place at Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park. Visitors experience medical, military and living history demonstrations as well as educational presentations.

Period merchants are also on site. facebook.com/events/1969688336633133

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS MARCH 6 An independent insurance agency with multiple resources. We work hard to find you the right coverage at the best price.

The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters, known for their one-of-a-kind family entertainment, bring their 2018 World Tour to the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, where they take on their long-time adversaries, the Washington Generals. eventticketscenter.com/artist?pid=2222

TALLAHASSEE FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-25 In its 11 year, Tallahassee Film Festival screens scores of select films from prestigious film festivals, presentations by filmmakers, educational seminars, competitions for emerging filmmakers, and opportunities for the community to engage. The festival has featured Oscar-winning directors – before they won their Oscars.

TallahasseeFilmFestival.com

RED HILLS INTERNATIONAL HORSE TRIALS MARCH 8–11 Grab your saddle and giddy on up to this four-day equestrian event, where performers show off their skills in dressage, show jumping or cross-country riding. There’s also room to hop on the fence and see the beauty of horse/rider companionship. rhht.org

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LOCAL TICKETS. ONE PLACE. 850Tix is your source for local events across Northwest Florida. From the same trusted award-winning team that has published Tallahassee Magazine for more than 37 years, our goal is to promote the community our readers know and love. From festivals to tours and sports to the arts, the event choices in Northwest Florida are endless and all on 850Tix.com.

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Launching early 2018 Visit 850Tix.com for more information.

TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE

FOUNDATION Meet THE BALOGS

Getting a headache isn’t out of the ordinary – getting the worst headache of your life, however, can be. For Katherine Balog, who was taking care of her daughter Asher who had the flu while her husband, Scott, was out of town, slowing down wasn’t quite an option – not even when she experienced a headache one Saturday night that felt like an ice pick had gone through her brain. Despite being nauseous, and having the same headache come and go, Katherine kept pushing on, convinced she was just coming down with the flu like her daughter.

Neuro Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at TMH and prepped for emergency surgery.

“There were times, mostly in the beginning of the day, when everything was fuzzy. But for the most part, I was completely conscious and aware of what was going on,” said Katherine. “I remember getting ready for surgery and saying a prayer – just praying that I could have my life back and continue to be a mother and wife.”

Within hours T. Adam Oliver, MD, endovascular neurosurgeon at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, performed surgery on Katherine’s brain. Using a catheter that is inserted through a vein near the groin, Dr. Oliver was able to perform an aneurysm coiling – where he identified the specific location of the hemorrhage, coiled it, stabilized the aneurysm and ruled out other sources of bleeding.

On Wednesday morning, just four days after that initial splitting headache, Katherine went to work and started what would be one of the longest days of her life.

“I was drinking a cup of tea and all of a sudden the cup just fell out of my hand.

I had no control over it, ” said Katherine.

“I remember looking at my co-workers and they were staring at me and looked confused. I tried to talk to them, but I could tell they didn’t understand what I was saying. I knew something wasn’t right.”

Not knowing exactly what was wrong, Katherine’s coworkers rushed her to the Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) and alerted her husband Scott. After being examined by Christopher Shaw, MD and Sam Ashoo, MD, a CT scan confirmed Katherine had a ruptured aneurysm – she was having a hemorrhagic stroke. In less than an hour, she was admitted to the Vogter

Brain aneurysm ruptures like Katherine’s occur often in the U.S. and across the region. One in 50 people across the U.S. have an unruptured brain aneurysm, and a brain aneurysm rupture occurs somewhere in the country every 18 minutes.

Of those hemorrhages, nearly 40 percent are fatal – and of those who survive, around two-thirds suffer from permanent neurological deficits. As in Katherine’s case, prior to the worst headache she ever experienced in her life, there are often no warning signs.

had a ruptured aneurysm in her middle “ Katherine cerebral artery that we were able to treat quickly, A ruptured aneurysm is typically a devastating event. Katherine is incredibly fortunate.

-Adam Oliver, MD Advertorial

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Because of the quick actions of Katherine’s co-workers, coupled with the specialized surgeons and state-of-the-art treatment and medical technology offered at TMH, Katherine is functioning today without any neurological deficits. After the surgery, Katherine spent just 14 days recovering and being monitored in the Vogter Neuro ICU, and then was able to return back to work just two months later in August.

Looking back at what their family went through just months ago, Katherine and Scott can’t help but feel grateful for their second chance at life.

“We are so thankful for God’s abundant grace and many blessings, including the gift of life for Katherine so that she can continue to be a loving mother and wife and share her story with others,” said Scott. “We are thankful for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, for their vision in establishing world-class, state-of-the-art emergency and neurosurgery centers in our community; for the physicians who utilize their skills and talents to save lives every day; for the care and attention provided by nurses, patient care assistants and housekeeping staff to patients and their loved ones; for volunteers in programs like animal therapy for their invaluable service in providing comfort; and for the chaplains who bring uplifting spiritual support and counsel to the patient bedside.”

Through their experience, Katherine and Scott Balog feel not only immensely grateful, but also a sense of responsibility to support the continued advancement of neurological treatment at TMH. “I used to always be in a rush, but now I’ve learned to slow down and realize how much of a blessing it is to be here — to be alive,” said Katherine. “I’ve found myself asking how much good can I do since I’m still here? How do I give back to the community and help others?”

In an effort to help support the Tallahassee Memorial Neuroscience Program, the Balogs have created the Balog Family Fund for Stroke and Aneurysm Education & Patient Care – a fund that will bring awareness and education to aneurysms and strokes.

“I think if people understood the prevalence of aneurysms and strokes, then they would have a better sense of urgency,” said Scott. “Not ignoring any unusual symptoms, listening to your body, and taking actions immediately are all key things for people to know. And we really want to help spread that message.”

To learn more about the Balog Family Fund for Stroke and Aneurysm Education & Patient Care, please contact the TMH Foundation at TMHFoundation.ORG or call 850-431-5389.

I used to always be in a rush, “ but now I’ve learned to slow down and realize how much of a blessing it is to be here — to be alive.

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ANIMAL THERAPY

Animals not only help us to live happier lives, but also healthier lives. The Tallahassee Memorial Animal Therapy program is the only of its kind in the Big Bend and has been fostering therapeutic bonds between people and animals since 2005. With more than 150 teams, the animals and their handlers that make up the program visit nearly 50 different facilities a year, making a powerful impact on the community.

In efforts to help keep this program strong and growing, the Tallahassee Memorial Animal Therapy team – coupled with volunteers, the TMH Foundation and community partners – hosts multiple events throughout the year to help generate awareness and share this service with those in need.

One of the most memorable members of this program is Rikki Mitchell, the late golden retriever who was a groundbreaker in animal therapy. While Rikki is gone, she is not forgotten – her spirit and legacy lives on through many Animal Therapy programs.

This past September, Rikki was once again honored during the unveiling ceremony of a bronze sculpted bust of the golden retriever, which lives on display outside of the Tallahassee Memorial Rehabilitation Center. This symbolic gesture was made possible thanks to the combined efforts of many people – including the TMH Foundation who helped raise the funds, Sandy Proctor who sculpted the bust, Chuck and Patty Mitchell who were Rikki’s owners, and of course all of the donors and volunteers of Animal Therapy.

Rikki” event a success. Hosted by Hearth & Soul, the local store selected TMH’s Animal Therapy program as their “NotFor-Profit” partner for October, and not only donated the proceeds from the sale of their fall candle, but also matched the amount raised.

“We were honored to have this incredible program as one of our Nonprofit Partners and appreciate the wonderful volunteers and fur babies who bring comfort to so many,” said Susie Transou, owner of Hearth & Soul and former board member for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. “We applaud the positive impact Tallahassee Memorial’s Animal Therapy program brings to our community.”

To help Rikki’s legacy live on and ensure that the Animal Therapy program has sustainability in the years to come, Chuck and Patty Mitchell worked with the TMH Foundation to set up an endowment in Rikki’s name – the Friends of Rikki Endowment. To learn more about how you can support or get involved with Animal Therapy, please visit TMH.ORG/AnimalTherapy or contact the TMH Foundation at 850-431-5931.

In October, the community extended another helping hand as many came together to make the “Friends of TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE AND ITS FOUNDATION SALUTE AND HONOR THE

24th Annual Tee Off for Tots Par-Tee & Raffle and Golf Tournament Donors whose generous support benefits the Proctor Endowment for Children with Diabetes and the Tallahassee Memorial Children’s Center MEDICAL SPONSORS

GOODIE BAG SPONSOR

BREAKFAST SPONSOR

BROADCAST SPONSOR

GOLF BALL SPONSOR

LUNCH SPONSOR

PUBLICATION SPONSOR

COURSE BEVERAGE SPONSOR

PRINTING SPONSOR

PAR-TEE DESSERT SPONSOR

TOWEL SPONSOR

TM

AWARD SPONSOR

SIGN SPONSOR

GOLF CART SPONSOR

Randy Guemple GREATER GOOD SPONSORS & DONORS CDW Sam & Vickie Childers Garcia Hamilton & Associates Gresham, Smith and Partners Refreshment Services Pepsi Tallahassee Coca-Cola TMH Facilities Tri-Eagle Sales

GOLD TEAM SPONSORS - $2,000 Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC Merrill Lynch The Mitchells Agency Pediatrix Medical Group Periodontal Associates of North Florida SunTrust Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare TEAM SPONSORS - $1,200 BB&T Landrum Yeager Big Bend Hospice Capital Health Plan Carpet Studio CDW Clemons, Rutherford & Associates, Inc. Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Ghost Controls Golden Eagle Country Club Healthcare Performance Group Hi-Tech Systems Associates, Inc.

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Special Thanks to our Presenting Sponsor & Sponsor of Automobile

Inspired Technologies, Inc. Mad Dog Construction MMHP Investment Advisors NAI TALCOR Nic’s Toggery Refreshment Services Pepsi Residential Elevators RT Electric, LLC Southern Medical Group, P.A. Summit Realty Group Tallahassee Coca-Cola

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Welcome

New Board Officers The Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) Foundation welcomes the newly appointed officers of the 20172018 Board of Trustees. Members of the TMH Foundation’s Board of Trustees are community leaders charged with developing philanthropic support for TMH and generating a high level of community understanding and involvement in TMH’s vision, mission, goals and objectives. From assisting the TMH Foundation team with fundraising initiatives to providing oversight for policies and procedures, board members and officers alike have a helping hand in TMH’s vision of leading the community to be the healthiest in the nation.

Sam Lester

Ed Canup

Rhonda Saint

Chair

Chair-Elect

Secretary

Deborah Minnis

Kathleen Brothers

Roger Champion

Treasurer

Assistant Treasurer

Immediate Past Chair

The initial trustee term is three years and trustees may be eligible for additional three year terms. In addition to helping with oversight of the Foundation initiatives, trustees serve on at least one committee — governance and nominations, finance or development. For more information on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees or how to get involved, please visit TMHFoundation.ORG or contact the Foundation at 850-431-5389 or Foundation@TMH.ORG. TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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FOUNDATION FOCUS 2017 in Review – Plans for 2018

As my first full fiscal year came to a close recently at the TMH Foundation (TMHF), I couldn’t help but look around to my teammates and say, “Whew, that was fast!” They agreed.

Mickey S. Moore, TMH Foundation President

Recognizing many things happened in 2017 that haven’t before – mostly positive, but not perfect – and realizing the urgent pace at which we worked daily, we have taken a few moments to pause in celebration of a great year of helping donors meet their charitable goals and in bringing needed investments to TMH’s mission and vision. In that light, here are some highlights from 2017 and a few plans for 2018:

In my first article of 2017, I emphasized our goals to focus on team building and culture right out of the gate, and we did. Kudos to the TMHF team for dedicating positive time and energy to process reviews, to critical conversations on individual/group activities, and to taking risks in order to reap rewards. Together, we have clarified roles, developed strategies and objectives and solidified relationships on the team. Today, we are clicking on all cylinders when it comes to engaging our community, but we know opportunities for improvement always exist and we value input from each other and our partners in that growth discussion.

Additionally mentioned in that first article was our goal of hosting a board & staff retreat for purposes of creating a strategic plan. During the summer of 2017, we embarked on the planning journey in partnership with Tolnay Team Solutions (Becky Tolnay, CPF) and we mapped an aggressive schedule to complete our first-ever strategic plan at the TMH Foundation by the end of the year. From the group session through the many meetings thereafter, we cemented our mission & vision, established specific objectives and activities, and created buy-in at both the staff level and the trustee level. In November, we all were excited to have the final draft approved at our annual meeting. There were many more happenings, of course, for 2017 – e.g. Golden Gala XXXIV success, new trustees joining the board, exceeding fundraising goals, increase in TMH colleague giving, establishment of giving societies and more. For a successful 2017 - thank you to our team, our volunteers, our TMH leadership and colleagues, our partners/vendors, and most

of all, thanks to our generous donors/investors putting their time, talent and treasure toward our organization’s mission of “Transforming Care. Advancing Health. Improving Lives.”

As we look ahead to 2018, we are continuing the momentum and are tackling those “to-do’s” from our two year strategic plan – many of them earmarked for completion in 2018. One of the most important organizational strategies/objectives is the complete review and update of our by-laws. Being as exciting as governance is in the land of nonprofits, we know expectations of all involved start with the language in those documents. Clarity and accountability are paramount to our success - our by-laws provide the structure within which to accomplish both, consistently and transparently.

While we attempt to reach the TMH Foundation’s vision of “Connecting & Participating Toward a Culture of Philanthropy,” our day-to-day efforts will always align with our mission of bringing philanthropic support to TMH. The initiatives for 2018-2019 deserve attention and focus – e.g. executing an RFP for our investment portfolio, creating a council of past chairs, training for trustees on development practices and finalizing our development/outreach plan for the year – and we recognize the time and energy it will take for them to be completed successfully. Mission creep is always lurking in the gray areas, but our living, breathing strategic plan will keep us on track.

Cheers to all for a great 2018!

The TMH Foundation Update is produced by the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation 1331 East Sixth Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32303 | 850-431-5389 | Foundation@TMH.ORG

To make a secure online donation, we invite you to visit TMHFoundation.ORG.

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PROMOTION

SOCIAL STUDIES Dr. Bass Golf Tournament

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SEPT. 18 Players enjoyed a beautiful day of golf at Golden Eagle Country Club to benefit Big Bend Hospice’s unfunded programs.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEMS HAMILTON PHOTOGRAPHY

1 Joe Burtoft, Dr. Glenn Bass, Ron Tate and Jack Connell 2 Mark Goldman, Steve Keller, Alan Long and Joe Kelly 3 Roberto Aguayo, Kevin Collins, Brooke Hallock, Ron Brafford

Distinguished Leadership Awards SEPT. 28 Leadership Tallahassee, a program of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, announced the 2017 winners of the Distinguished Leadership Awards presented by Centennial Bank. More than 400 community and business leaders attended the sold-out event recognizing the best in community leadership. The winners are: Steve Evans for Lifetime Leadership, JR Harding for Servant Leadership, Audra Pittman for Leadership Pacesetter and Andy Miller for Leader of the Year. All proceeds from the event benefit the Youth Leadership Tallahassee program for high school juniors.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA JONES

1 Steve Evans, JR Harding, Audra Pittman and Andy Miller 2 Martha Olive-Hall and Pam Forrester 3 Sam Rogers, Laura Rogers, Elizabeth Hirst and Taylor Dickerson

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SOCIAL STUDIES Oktoberfest

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OCT. 6 During a packed weekend of local activities, Tallahassee’s own Oktoberfest returned for its 19th year with much fanfare and an impressive turnout of patrons. The muchanticipated festival was held at the Pavilion at the Centre of Tallahassee and featured some exciting activities that kept everyone entertained.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DON HAYES CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

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1 Don Hinkle, Mimi Graham and David Frank 2 Melanie Lee, Jessica Lee and Katherine Davis 3 Carolyn Bibler and Andrea Jones 4 Stephen H. and Faye Grimes

FAMU Homecoming Gala

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OCT. 13 Florida A&M University recently celebrated 130 years of “Excellence With Caring” with the President’s Masquerade Gala. Proceeds from the event benefit need-based scholarships for students.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM V.L. TAYLOR

1 Tallahassee Nights Live 2 Interim President Larry and First Lady Sharon Robinson

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3 Kathy Times, Executive Associate Director of Communications; Cheval Breggins, Gala CoChair; Valencia Matthews, Ph.D., Dean, College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities 4 T’Keyah Crystal Keymah, FAMU’s W.K. Kellogg Theatre Artist-in-Residence, served as host, and music was provided by the ensemble Tallahassee Nights Live!

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Florida Cancer Specialists by the Numbers: 10

TALLAHASSEE 10

95

75

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OCALA

1.8 Million Patient visits last year 219

ORLANDO 4

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Physicians specializing in cancer

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Cancer centers in Tallahassee

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SOCIAL STUDIES Cards For A Cure

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The Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation’s 12th annual Cards for a Cure, benefiting the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center and cancer programs, was attended by more than 525 people. Breast cancer survivor Lea Lane was this year’s honoree.

OCT. 14

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUSS BACKES/PHOTO FUN BOOTH AND KRISHNA SINGH/UNIQUE CREATIVE VIDEO

1 Aaron Kinnon, Ida Thompson, Janet R. Borneman, Jessica Zeigler, Judi Wills and Wil Varn 2 Darcy Cavell (Decorating Chair) and Kathy Brooks (Event Chair)

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3 Lea Lane (Honoree) and husband, Randy Lane 4 Don and Karen Russell, M.D. 5 Sonia Lee, Dean Watson, M.D., Andrea Rossetto and Raj Bendre, M.D 6 Jimmy and Coleen Minor, owners of Electrotech, Title Sponsor 7 Janice Lawson, M.D., Lea Lane, Honoree, and Jeannine Silberman, M.D 8 Lea Lane and Tim Broeseker, M.D.

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PROMOTION

SOCIAL STUDIES Wine & Dine for the love of Canines OCT. 19 Voices of Chance Animal League, Inc. (VOCAL) hosted dinner and cocktails at Georgio’s while guests perused wonderful silent auction items. All proceeds supported VOCAL’s Breaking the Chains Program, which provides free fencing and doghouses to furry friends in need.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: CRYSTAL CROWELL

1 Carlynn and Anthony Battle 2 Cheryl and Greg Shine 3 VOCAL Board Members Crystal and Dustin Crowell 4 Huston and Vickey Usry 5 VOCAL Founders Rob and Angie Wyche with Al Basford of Synovus Bank

Friends of Rikki OCT. 26 Hearth & Soul hosted an event to honor Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s Animal Therapy program as the nonprofit partner for October. TMH’s Animal Therapy teams of dogs and volunteers along with community friends and supporters were in attendance to honor Rikki Mitchell, the late golden retriever and TMH Animal Therapy member, and the work she did with her partner parents Chuck & Patty Mitchell. Funds raised by the sale of a designated candle and individual donations went to the “Friends of Rikki” endowment to perpetuate animal therapy in our community.

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PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED COURTESY OF TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE

1 Patty Gladden, Ida Thompson and Stephanie Perkins 2 Andrea Diamantis, Ann Gabor and Linda Grady 3 Susie Busch Transou, Rocky Hanna, Stephanie Jansen, Tim Jansen, Patty Mitchell, Chuck Mitchell, Susan Parmalee, Jennifer Langford, Darlene Harvell and Ida Thompson

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9th annual

JANUARY 12-15 175

artists including

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EMMYLOU HARRIS STEVE EARLE ANN WILSON OF HEART THE ZOMBIES PATTY GRIFFIN NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS LEE ANN WOMACK CHARLES KELLY OF LADY ANTEBELLUM EMILY SALIERS OF INDIGO GIRLS, WITH HER BAND SHAWN MULLINS NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME MEMBERS MIKE REID & CRAIG WISEMAN JAMES MCMURTRY ED ROLAND OF COLLECTIVE SOUL

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PROMOTION

SOCIAL STUDIES Florida Jazz & Blues Festival

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OCT. 28–29 World-class jazz and blues musicians delivered funky blues, dazzling horns and lift-your-feet jazz at the Florida Jazz & Blues Festival at Cascades Park.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED COURTESY OF FLORIDA JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL

1 Carmen Bradford and Scotty Barnhart 2 Mr. Sipp The Mississippi Blues Child

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Uniting the Community Tallahassee Magazine’s Best of Tallahassee Event Celebrates Top Businesses

allahassee Magazine’s 19th annual celebration of excellence, The Best of Tallahassee, brought together winners ranging from plumbers and pizzerias to caterers and child care providers, haberdashers and hairstylists.

The top two finishers in each of the Best of Tallahassee competition’s 128 categories, joined by members of the community who love to share in a good time, arrived on Nov. 1 at Hangar 40 at Million Air FBO. There, overall winners would soon be revealed, based on the tabulation by the accounting firm of Thomas Howell Ferguson of votes cast by Tallahassee Magazine readers.

Arrivals walked a red carpet to the hangar, ran a friendly media gauntlet of personalities from “Live in Tallahassee” and “AM Break” and inspected magnificent rides supplied by Capital Eurocars — even as a setting sun painted the sky with pinks and purples. Inside, the setting was no less spectacular thanks to the efforts of venue design sponsor John Gandy Events, who bedecked the space with gorgeous area rugs and high-tops, larger tables and lounge furniture.

Music vendor Tom and the Cats made feet happy, and bartenders supplied by beverage sponsor GVO (Good Vibes Only) helped relax nerves while food sponsor The Edison restaurant sated appetites for more substantial fare.

“Boy, what a great event,” enthused Ed Canup, executive vice president and co-chief operating officer with presenting sponsor Capital City Bank. “There must be 800 people here!”

Canup, quoting Godfrey Smith, who served Capital City Bank as its president for decades beginning in 1940, commented, “A strong community makes for a strong bank,” then added, “Businesses and community are of paramount importance to us. Capital City Bank is proud to sponsor Best of Tallahassee for a third year. The event gives us a chance to celebrate the many great businesses we have here in Tallahassee. I offer our congratulations to all the finalists.”

Winners in the Services categories were the first to be announced via a video played on jumbo screens supplied by American Audio Visual.

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This was no sedate awards banquet where honorees come forward to receive plaques to polite applause. At B.O.T., winner reveals prompted hugs, cheers, screams and tears. Later came announcements of winners in the Food/Beverage, Shopping, Entertainment and Online Voting categories.

Winners included Narcissus, who won in three categories: Women’s Accessories, Women’s Clothing and Women’s Shoes.

“We love what we do at Narcissus,” said buyer/manager Juli Downs. “Our customers are so important to us. It’s amazing to be recognized at the Best of Tallahassee event. It is such an honor to win.”

Lena Shields, the manager at Pure Barre, the winner in the Fitness Studio category, offered similar sentiments: “Best of Tallahassee is an event we look forward to every year. Being among the best of the best is always inspiring, and we love celebrating everyone’s hard work and success. Tom and the Cats really bring the party. We can’t wait for next year.”

Representatives of the Florida Lottery, an event sponsor, were on hand and were pleased to find that a high percentage of winners have connections to the Bright Futures scholarship program that the lottery supports.

Additional sponsors included Comcast Business and Demont Insurance Agency, whose president, Graham Demont, commented, “Best of Tallahassee recognizes stellar performance in the Tallahassee business community. These businesses comprise both our current and future clients, which makes our support of the event an investment in growing our business.”

Prominent Tallahasseans who stopped by B.O.T. included Marsha Doll of Marsha Doll Models. She summed up the evening as well as anybody when she said, “Tallahassee Magazine does such a marvelous job bringing our community together by celebrating all the fabulous businesses that make our community so special. Tallahassee Magazine is like family.”

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

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To see all the images, video highlights and the complete list of winners visit TALLAHASSEEMAGAZINE.COM/BESTOFTALLY2017RECAP sponsors

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“Dad never met a stranger. He was a people person,” Flanigan said. “My mother was barely 5 feet tall and help you create a strategy for goals like skinny as a rail, but she was a dynamo.”

Flanigan said his parents’ enthusiastic, carpe diem retirement, estate planning and leaving a legacy.

3520 ThomasvilleARd, d uSte l t100 Ch i l d r e n Preschool approach to life is part of his DNA. Let’s put your money to work. Call me today tonosy,” he said. “I have been fortunate to keep a Tallahassee, FL 32309 “I’m +1 850 422-8707 childhood sense of wonder. If you ask, without making set up an appointment. people feel attacked, they will tell you things.” stephen.huggins@morganstanley.

Flanigan has interviewed Gulf Coast oystermen, com “Chopped Champion” Shacafrica Simmons, www.morganstanley.com/fa/ Tallahassee’s “Chef Shac,” Apalachicola River Trek oil watercolor acrylic drawing mixed media stephen.huggins paddlers, youth mentors in the region, physicists, opera cartooning fashion illustration home-school singers, beekeepers, and Guardian Ad Litem advocates custom framing birthday parties for minors involved in the court system.

Flanigan, characteristically, is quick to share credit Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors do not provide with the WFSU news team, especially news director tax or legal advice. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax Lynn Hatter and senior producer/assignment editor planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters.

CALL ME ABOUT INVESTMENT PROPERTIES! Regan McCarthy. © 2013 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC588469 (12/12) CS 7338805 “I MAR013A have had03/13 the privilege of working with incredible people over the years,” he said, adding tips of his hat to former colleagues including Rick Flagg and James Call.

In these confusing times when “media” can mean anything from preposterous Facebook memes to professional journalism, Flanigan says he strives, as always, to be fair and truthful, especially when tough ® questions must be asked. He says accurate local reporting can “be the salvation of our country.”

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Listeners praise him for refusing to steer guests in one direction or another.

“Tom allows the organic story to be told. He doesn’t steer a conversation or an interview. He facilitates an objective conversation where things can unfold, like journalism is meant to be,” Hartsfield said.

“He’s fair and non-partisan,” Turnbull said. “When people listen to Tom’s interviews, they don’t know what the outcome will be.”

FREEDOM Learning to sort fact from fallacy is more important to democracy than ever, Flanigan said, because propaganda is powerful and divides communities into factions.

“Diversity of sources is the key,” Flanigan advised.

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consistently reliable and information-based sources.

Look across the spectrum; that has never been easier.”

People, Flanigan said, should avoid relying on just one source of information, even if they fit it especially consistent with their point of view.

“If anyone says, ‘I am the only one who will tell you the truth,’ run. And always ask, ‘What’s the evidence?’ ” Flanigan said. “That gets us away from tribalism and helps us get back to, ‘How can we work this out?’ ” Mayor Andrew Gillum is one of Flanigan’s fans. He has been a guest on “Perspectives” and has called upon WFSU-FM to distribute public-safety information.

“Throughout his entire career, Tom has been a trusted, consistent source of information for our community,” Gillum said in a statement. “From events like The Longest Table, to natural disasters like hurricanes Hermine and Irma, we have counted on Tom to keep us informed, and he has always delivered.”

LISTEN Likewise, Audra Pittman, TO THIS executive director of the Council Some of Flanigan’s favorite NPR programs on Culture and Arts, said WFSU MARKETPLACE and Flanigan, in particular, have A magazine approach been invaluable in developing arts to radio, full of economic news in a and cultural pursuits. Lending lively format. his microphone to people who WAIT, WAIT, DON’T TELL ME The funniest bring music, theater and arts to news and newsiest Tallahassee, Leon County and comedy on air. north Florida makes the region a TED TALKS They make some of the most better place to live, she said. esoteric and complex subjects totally “For so many years, Tom’s understandable. interviews on WFSU have 1A Host Joshua communicated the hard work Johnson explores First Amendment and strong spirit of our arts and issues in the news. cultural organizations,” Pittman RADIO LAB said. “Every time listeners hear his The production is amazing! The voice introducing a radio segment, pace and sound effects are geared they know that they are going to be toward a younger told an incredible story.” demographic, and they’re listening.

Flanigan is modest in the face of such accolades. He says the fun of capturing and broadcasting sound is still one of the best things about his job.

When School Superintendent Rocky Hanna, then principal at Leon High School, agreed to jump out of a plane in response to a fundraising challenge, Flanigan was there.

“We were at the Havana airport. He’s talking as he’s getting prepared to go skydiving, and he’s terrified but determined. There were the sounds of the plane, the gear, people talking.

“All of that SOUND in just 2½ minutes,” Flanigan said, beaming. “I love being able to let people experience such a thing over the radio. And ultimately, I’m always hoping that what I do will give people more to think about and more reason to talk together. I’m always hoping to hear people react by saying, ‘I didn’t know that!’” TM

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(continued from page 93) The university community gathered to crown Michelle “Marva” Johnson as Miss Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in the first event of the 2017 Homecoming Week. In the same ceremony, Jordan Sealey was also crowned Mister Florida A&M University.

ARegal

TRADI TION The 111th Miss FAMU carries on the university’s legacy of student service

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story by ERIN HOOVER // photography by JOHNSTON ROBERTS

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She paused. “I said (to my boyfriend), ‘Let my hand go.’ From that point on, I realized I had a charge. The administration looks at you, the city, the student body.”

Today’s Miss and Mister FAMU develop platforms — charitable causes they plan to work on over the course of their reign. That’s all new, Seniors said.

“They’re mixing it up now because Miss FAMU has to be more progressive in her thinking. Back then, the university pretty much managed that position. They (the students) have their own minds now.”

Introducing: This year’s Miss and Mister “Everyone is passionate about what they want at our university,” explained the 2017–2018 reigning Miss FAMU, Michelle “Marva” Johnson, at a cafe near campus. “It’s go big or go home.”

The third-generation Rattler hopes one day to form a production company with her family, including her brother, Fred. Raised near Dallas, Texas, Johnson is a double major, studying business administration and theatre and performing arts, and she belongs to several student organizations on campus.

Unlike many of her predecessors in the office, Johnson didn’t serve on the Royal Court before deciding to run.

“Even when I was younger, when I was in church, people would say, ‘Hey, Miss FAMU!’ — and I hadn’t even come here yet,” she said.

Despite the family history — the reigns of her mother and brother — she wanted to make sure she could do more than fulfill a legacy.

Johnson prayed, and she began to see signs.

“I’m the 111th Miss FAMU. I’d see that number in the price of gas or the score of a basketball game,” she said.

Creating a legacy is important to Jordan Alexander Sealey, the 2017–2018 Mister FAMU, who followed Johnson’s story by telling his own. He said that his mother moved from Guyana to Brooklyn, New York, as a young child, and then he moved from New York to Florida at about the same age.

“She has such a rich heritage — a rich legacy,” he said, speaking of his mother. “I’m trying to make my own legacy.”

Cadet Sealey has served his country since the age of 17 as a United States Army Reservist. He now studies

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construction, engineering and technology; minors in military science leadership; and is an active leader in FAMU’s ROTC, while finding time for many other campus memberships and activities.

A few years ago, a member of the Royal Court suggested that Sealey apply to be an attendant escort because he dresses and speaks well, he said. He soon found himself in the position to escort the graduate attendant, although he was a sophomore at the time.

“Last year’s Mister and Miss, they sort of handpicked me,” Sealey said. “Once I saw that they saw me in that light, it opened my eyes. When those people who are actually doing the jobs see you possess the right qualities, it holds more weight.”

He decided to run, he said, because, “I thought I could do more for the university in this role.”

Johnson and Sealey lit up when talking about the campaigning they’d done for their jobs.

“The hardest part was campaign week,” Johnson said.

After two dead days following the Sunday when students declare their candidacy, campaign week always begins at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday (last year, it was in March).

“There used to be people who would hold your spot overnight,” Sealey said, explaining that there are approved spots on campus to hang posters. “You have someone putting their hand on a spot for you from five to seven in the morning. Those are your people, ride or die.”

“I did that for two different people,” Johnson said.

During the campaign, Johnson and Sealey each promoted to students the platform of individual goals they hoped to achieve during their term. Johnson started a Miss FAMU scholarship on campus with funds donated by former Miss FAMUs, and she wants to raise donations to put together care packages for FAMU athletes.

“The other thing I want to do is a Fallen Rattler Memorial,” she says, “for Rattlers who have passed away too soon or who made a large impact on the university.”

“I ran on service — to your country, your community, your campus,” Sealey said. He said that he is now leading a clothing drive for a homeless shelter and has started a Mister FAMU Enrichment Program. He also spoke with excitement about the royal escort program that he wants to begin in partnership with five Leon County High Schools.

“They’ll walk around the field like we do. It will serve as recruitment,” he said.

On Sunday of campaign week, everyone running for a Royal Court position competes in a pageant in Lee Hall, which features a greeting, a dance routine, a business walk, a model walk, a formal wear competition and a talent competition.

“Even if you don’t care about FAMU politics, you go,” Sealey said.

After the pageant, candidates sometimes travel to FAMU’s law school in Orlando to meet briefly with law students. Then, on Tuesday, the student body votes.

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“The president and senators were all running at the same time as us,” Sealey said. “It was mayhem.”

“The running isn’t pretty,” Johnson added. “You have to keep the faith.”

Sealey nodded. “You have to know you can’t please everyone.”

At last, the Coronation The processional began with Williams and Griffin, the departing Miss and Mister, and continued with the attendants in ascending order. Each time a new member of the Royal Court appeared at the doorway at the back of Lee Auditorium, loud applause and the gleeful shouts of students momentarily blocked the recorded sound of Pachelbel’s Canon.

As the Royal Court members walked, one by one, down the long length of the room, announcers read each student’s achievements — often to a wall of screams. Following a command to “Bring in the Royal Adornments,” Ariston Ackerman and the other children joined the attendants on stage. A color guard and honor guard stood at attention.

The 111th Miss FAMU entered in a white ball gown with a tulle skirt and a long train, taking the hand of the 18th Mr. FAMU as she ascended to the stage. Johnson had bought the dress in Texas when schools were closed for Hurricane Irma, she said.

Later in the program, Sealey would thank his mother, who had come to Tallahassee to watch this moment, echoing what he had said earlier, at the café: “Everything I do is a return of her investment.”

Performers would entertain the new Mister and Miss with a song of dedication and a dance of salutation.

The interim president of FAMU, Dr. Larry Robinson, would ascend the stage to address the gathered students and to tell Sealey and Johnson: “I want you to understand the gravity of the roles you now hold. You will always be Mister and Miss FAMU.” But now, the 110th Miss FAMU was pinning an eight-inch crown to Michelle Johnson’s head. A shout of “Marva, you look good!” erupted from the back of the room. When Johnson began to cry, Sealey handed her a tissue.

She began her speech by saying that it hadn’t been easy to attain the role of Miss FAMU, but that it was love that brought her through — love from friends, from mentees, from sisters and a love for the university.

“It’s our flaws that make us real,” she said.

She also thanked her classmates for “seeing the difference” in her. “What you saw is in my walk, it’s in my talk. It’s FAMU. She’s all of me, and baby, I am ALL of her. Every student, every personality, every up and every down. That is what makes a Miss FAMU. She isn’t the best of what the university has to offer; she is all of what the school has to offer. When she cries, I cry; when she smiles, I smile. When she wins … I win.” TM

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Right Move Led to Bright Futures

W

ith their daughters in mind, Tara and Dale Rhone decided to leave Pennsylvania and move to Florida.

Neither had a job when they arrived in the Leesburg area, but still they were confident they were in the right state. They knew that Florida offered affordable post-secondary educational opportunities that Pennsylvania did not.

Tara and Dale would find work as a teacher and an office manager, respectively, and provide daughters Marah and Morgan with an incentive to study hard in high school: Good grades would translate to scholarships. Both girls achieved their goal and were Bright Futures scholarship recipients.

Today, Morgan is a student in her sophomore year at the University of Florida and is studying nursing. Marah attended Florida State University and earned bachelor’s degrees in human resources and management in just three years.

“Financial assistance from Bright Futures meant that I didn’t have to work as many hours while I was in school and I was able to earn my degrees more quickly,” Marah said.

Following graduation, she soon found work as a human resources director for a Tallahassee publishing company.

“At 22, I’m a year into my career and I am indebted to the scholarship program for that,” Marah said. “My future is limitless.”

Meanwhile, Tara and Dale’s outlook on their decision to relocate to Florida is easily reduced to two words: “Good move.”

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agenda APPOINTED BY GOV. SCOTT ▪ Gov. Rick Scott recently announced four reappointments and six appointments to the Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee. Dr. John Bailey, 58, of Tallahassee, is a psychiatrist at John Bailey, D.O., LLC. Dr. Bailey received his doctor of osteopathy from the Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is reappointed for a term ending June 30, 2019.

▪ Richard Myhre, 38, of Crawfordville; Rodney MacKinnon, 41, of Tallahassee; and Elizabeth Moya, 36, of Tallahassee, were appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Committee on Early Grade Success.

Myhre is the Executive Director of Just Read, Florida! within the Department of Education. MacKinnon is the Executive Director of the Office of Early Learning. Moya is the Legislative Affairs Director in the Office of Early Learning.

Doss

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

Folsom

▪ Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet inducted 20 individuals into the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame this year. The Florida Veterans’

Hall of Fame recognizes and honors those military veterans who, through their works and lives during or after military service, Host have made a significant contribution to the state of Florida through civic, business, public service or other pursuits. This year’s inductees were honored at the Hall of Fame Ceremony Thrasher and Reception that was held on Nov. 27 and include the following individuals, all residents of Tallahassee: Capt. Dale W. Doss, U.S. Navy; John P. Folsom, U.S. Navy; Col. Bruce J. Host, U.S. Air Force; and John E. Thrasher, U.S. Army.

▪ The 2017 Best of Tallahassee awards in 128 categories were announced at The Hangar at Million Air FBO on Nov. 1. Winners are listed online at TallahasseeMagazine.com.

▪ Brian Hickey, former sports marketing director at Visit Tallahassee, has been selected to direct the Florida Afterschool Network. Hickey was with Visit Tallahassee

Hickey

for 12 years and grew Leon County’s sports programs by 90 percent. Hickey brings to his new statewide role a strong background in economic development, event management, grant development, fundraising and other experience beneficial to FAN’s school-age initiatives.

▪ Proof Brewing Companyº “Warpath DIPA” was recently ranked No. 7 out of 176 by taste-testers who participated in a blind tasting sponsored by Paste Magazine.

▪ Nan Baughman, a domestic violence counselor with Jefferson County Outreach, received the President’s Award at the Monticello Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner and Election of Officers/Directors.

NEW & NOTABLE ▪ FLY Mouthwash, an online company founded by FSU alumni Nick Telford and Michael Bracciale, will officially open in January. The founders participated in business incubator Domi Station’s “Get Started Program.”

▪ A new car dealership and servicing center, Capital City Mitsubishi, recently opened at 3106 W. Tennessee Street.

▪ SōDOUGH, a new bakery serving gourmet doughnuts, quiches and more, opened its doors in Midtown at 1306 Thomasville Road, the former location of Lenny’s Subs.

▪ Tallahassee Community College renamed the auditorium and one of the nursing labs at the Ghazvini Center for Healthcare Education in honor of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. The new names are Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Auditorium and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Nursing Lab. ▪ The Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce kicked off a new fiscal year on Oct. 3 and named Heidi Otway its 2017-18 Board Chair.

Otway, APR, CPRC, is vice president for public relations and media at SalterMitchell.

▪ Commercial real estate and insurance company Beck Partners announced the opening of a new office at 930 Thomasville Road, Suite 106, in Midtown. “Expansion in

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Tallahassee has called for new faces and new spaces,” said Justin Beck, CEO of Beck Partners.

▪ First Florida Credit Union celebrated the groundbreaking of its new Bannerman Crossing branch, located at 3339 Breech Ridge Court. The new branch is the sixth location to open in Tallahassee and the 14th to open in the state.

HAPPENINGS

PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD (CRUMP) AND COURTESY OF INDIVIDUALS

▪ Tallahassee-Leon County was one of five metropolitan areas in Florida selected to host showcase tours for the 8th Americas Competitiveness Exchange, or ACE 8, for 50 highlevel decision-makers visiting from the Americas and other parts of the world. Also chosen for the tour in December were Gainesville/Alachua County, Orlando/Orange County, St. Augustine/St. Johns County and the Space Coast. The tour showcased facilities such as Leon County-Tallahassee’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Danfoss Turbocor and the Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion. It was arranged by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. Department of State.

▪ First Commerce Credit Union’s Power Forward Speaker Series will feature Chip Conley, speaking about his role with hospitality Conley industry disruptor Airbnb.

Conley, entrepreneur and business rebel, is a leader at the forefront of the sharing economy. He was head of Airbnb Global Hospitality and Strategy. Past speakers have included NFL legend and entrepreneur Jim Kelly; Randi Zuckerberg from the Facebook startup team; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc.; and Barbara Corcoran of the entrepreneurial hit “Shark Tank.” Established as Tallahassee’s largest annual business event, Power Forward 2017 with Airbnb’s Chip Conley will be held on Jan. 31 at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. Tickets are available at tickets.fsu.edu.

▪ The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in the Florida State University College of Business is accepting applications for its Small Business Executive Program (SBEP) Class VIII. “The program is designed to assist CEOs in becoming more efficient and think a little differently in running their businesses,” said Mike Campbell, director of the institute’s North Florida operations. Businesses that have been in operation for three years or more and have three or more employees are eligible to apply at jmi.fsu.edu (click on “Programs”). The application deadline is Jan. 30, and the first session starts Feb. 21 and runs through May 16.

▪ Tallahassee Junior League hosted a “Little Black Dress Initiative” in November to raise awareness that 22 percent of residents in Leon County live in poverty. League members wore the same black dress/outfit for five consecutive days to illustrate how povery restricts access to resources, confidence and professional opportunities. Funds raised during the campaign go directly to local community projects to improve lives.

Beautiful

Protecting a Lifetime of

▪ Tallahassee-based civil-rights attorney Ben Crump hosted a debut screening of the feature film “Marshall,” in which he has a cameo role, as a Crump fundraiser for minority law students at Florida State University and Florida A&M University.

The movie is about a case early in the career of the late Thurgood Marshall, who became the first African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Crump became known nationally by representing survivors of Trayvon Martin, killed in Sanford, Florida, in 2012 by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted on a stand-your-ground defense. The screening/fundraiser was attended by numerous attorneys, judges and criminal-justice authorities.

▪ Florida State University football player Mavin Saunders was named to the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team for tutoring and mentoring children at John G. Riley Elementary School weekly for the past two years. Derrick Coles, director of Student-Athlete Development and Community Service, and Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna joined with Allstate agent Tom Paterson to present Saunders with a trophy at a surprise celebration at the school. The Good Works Team is comprised of a head coach and 22 athletes selected from around the nation. Allstate also donated new books and FSU football memorabilia to the Tallahassee school.

▪ A mentorship program with Jim Moran Institute students and Tallahassee Community College Veterans was launched in mid-November. A launch event, VEThursday, was brought to the public by the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Florida State University and was hosted by the TCC Center for Innovation. It consisted of entrepreneurial sessions, an exhibitor space and networking opportunities.

The goal was to connect local veterans with entrepreneurial resources and to help build a “vetrepreneur” network in Tallahassee.

▪ Skate Inn, located on Blountstown Highway across from Tallahassee Community College, recently closed its doors after 45 years of business in the area.

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William T. Baldock, DDS, MS 2621 Mitcham Drive, Suite 101 · Tallahassee 850.942.8111 • capitalperio.com

— COMPILED BY KIM HARRIS THACKER TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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BUY FRESH BUY WILD BUY SOUTHERN WE’RE THE BEST PLACE FOR ALL YOUR SEAFOOD NEEDS. 1415 TIMBERLANE ROAD in Market Square

850.893.7301 | SOUTHERNSEAFOODMARKET.COM

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3.8125" x 2.3125" (1/8 page)

dining guide AMERICAN ANDREW’S CAPITAL GRILL AND BAR

After 40 years, Andrew’s is still an energetic, casual, see-and-be-seen spot.

House favorites include a popular lunch buffet, hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and pasta dishes. Downtown delivery.

Mon-Thurs 11:30 am-10 pm, Fri-Sat 11:30 am-11 pm, Sun 10:30 am-9 pm.

228 S. Adams St. (850) 222-3444/Fax, (850) 222-2433. $$ B L D

AVENUE EAT & DRINK

This downtown restaurant offers a melting pot of flavors fresh from the South, served in scrumptious dining presentations. Sunday brunch is a not-to-be-missed treat. Mon-Fri 11 am-10 pm, Sat 9:30 am-10 pm, Sun 9:30 am-9 pm. 115 E. Park Ave. (850) 224-0115. $$$ B L D

BURGERFI

BurgerFi uses all-natural, free-range beef and is dedicated to sustainable practices. Tallahassee Magazine’s Best of 2015 winner among hamburger joints, their menu is packed full of tasty, savory and creative hamburger and hotdog creations as well as fresh-cut french fries and gigantic onion rings.

Vegetarian options, frozen custard, beer and wine are also available. Sun-

Thurs 11 am-10 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-11 pm.

1817 Thomasville Rd., #7. (850) 629‑4333. $L D

CORNER POCKET BAR & GRILL ★

This locally owned and operated sports bar serves a wide variety of beers, ciders and microbrews, along with wings, burgers, wraps, hot sandwiches and homemade potato salad. Plus lots of huge TVs, games and a stage that features top local bands on weekends.

Mon-Sun 11 am-2 am. 2475 Apalachee Pkwy #201. (850) 574-2724. $$ L D

CYPRESS RESTAURANT ★

To make a special evening a cut above the rest, bring the celebration to Cypress. Known for its sophisticated take on Southern cuisine, this restaurant won readers’ votes in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as Best Celebration/ Special Occasion and Best Fine Dining restaurant. Mon-Thurs 5-9:30 pm, Fri-Sat 5-10 pm, Sun Closed. 320 E. Tennessee St. (850) 513-1100. $$$ D

DOG ET AL ★

For the ultimate in comfort food, Dog Et Al offers hand-held deliciousness for the “down to earth” and “uppity” dogs in us all. Foot-long and veggie entrees alike grace this award-winning menu. If the entire family is down for the dog, be sure to ask about their incredibly valued family packs. Mon-Fri 10 am-7 pm, Sat

10 am-6 pm, Sun Closed. 1456 S. Monroe St. (850) 222-4099. $ L D

THE KEY ★2017 Best

of Tallahassee Winner

THE EDISON

A Tallahassee relaxed fine dining establishment, The Edison is so much more than just a pretty face. Equipped with a beer garden, wine cellar, casual café, open-air alternatives and a gorgeous view, this historic building and restaurant has quickly become a Tallahassee favorite.

Mon-Thurs 11 am-11 pm, Fri 11 ammidnight, Sat 10 am-midnight, Sun 10 am-11 pm. 470 Suwannee St. (850) 684-2117. $$/$$$

L D

Breakfast/ Brunch Lunch Dinner

ANGUS PRIME BEEF Gulf Seafood

Farm -to-Table

Full Bar, Fine Wine, Craft Beer

Family Owned & Operated 123 North Broad St • Thomasville, GA 31792 • P: (229) 236-2467

ChopHouseontheBricks.com

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD ★

The name says it all! This restaurant boasts a palate-pleasing combination of personalized service, eclectic ambiance and award-winning cuisine and is the Best Desserts winner for 2016.

Tues-Thurs 11 am-2:30 pm, 5:30-9 pm; Fri-Sat 11 am-2:30 pm, 5:30-9:30 pm; Sun 10 am-2:30 pm, 5:30-9 pm. 1950 Thomasville Rd. (850) 224-9974. $$ L D

HOPKINS’ EATERY ★

Hopkins’, a Best of 2016 winner, provides more than just your average sandwich. Favorites such as the Ultimate Turkey and the Linda Special, and a variety of salad meals keep customers coming back for more. And the food is healthy, too! Multiple locations. Hours vary. hopkinseatery.com $ L

ISLAND WING COMPANY ★

Get baked! Island Wing Company won’t serve you up greasy, fried wings; instead, they bake them and prepare them fresh. They don’t stop at wings, either: Try the mac ‘n cheese, burgers and tacos paired with a cold beer.

Mon-Thurs 11 am-12 am, Fri-Sat 11 am-2 am, Sun 11 am-12 am. 1370 Market St. (850) 692-3116. $/$$ L D

JUICY BLUE

Located in the Four Points by Sheraton Downtown, this cool lobby restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Unique dishes include tapas with a twist, such as the Georgia peaches with caramel. Sandwiches, salads and a nice variety of seafood, pasta and chicken dishes round out the menu. Mon-Fri 7 am-11 pm, Sat-Sun 7 am-midnight.

316 W. Tennessee St. (850) 422-0071.

$B

L D

KOOL BEANZ ★

Eclectic and edgy, both in menu and atmosphere, Kool Beanz delights in art present both on the walls and your plates.

This offbeat alternative won Best Casual Dining in Tallahassee. Dinner Mon-Sat 5:30-10 pm, lunch Mon-Fri 11 am-2:30 pm, brunch Sun 10:30 am2 pm. 921 Thomasville Rd. (850) 224-2466.

$$

L D

MADISON SOCIAL ★

Whether it’s for a social cocktail, a quick lunch or a place for alumni to gather before home football games, Madison Social offers something for

The restaurants that appear in this guide are included as a service to readers and not as recommendations of the Tallahassee Magazine editorial department, except where noted.

B

Serving Lunch 11am-2:30pm Dinner 5pm-til' Tuesday through Saturday

Outdoor Dining Live Music Bar/Lounge $ Inexpensive

$$ Moderately

Expensive

$$$ Expensive

FROM THE FARM NOT THE LAB Our natural Angus beef is NEVER FROZEN AND FREE OF HORMONES, steroids and antibiotics. Free of the things that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

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1817 Thomasville Road, Ste 710 850.629.4333

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Everyday happy hour 4:30–7 SPECIALS ARE DINE IN ONLY 1650 N. Monroe St. | (850) 727-4183 | masatallahasee.com TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

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THE WINE LOFT WINE BAR

everyone. Madison Social earned Best Happy Hour honors in 2016. Mon-Fri 11:30 am-2 am, Sat-Sun 10 am-2 am.

College Town, 705 S. Woodward Ave. (850) 894‑6276. $$ B L D

Chosen as a Best of winner in 2017, Midtown’s Wine Loft offers a superb wine list, creative cocktails, quality beer and tasty tapas. Mon-Thurs 5 pm-2 am, Fri-Sat 4 pm-

PAISLEY CAFÉ

2 am, Sun Closed. 1240 Thomasville Rd., #100. (850) 222-9914. $$ D

SAGE RESTAURANT

Vertigo is home to some of the juiciest, funkiest burgers in town. The modern building provides a no-frills setting to enjoy such favorites as the Vertigo Burger — a beef patty served with a fried egg, applewood bacon, grilled jalapeños, sharp cheddar and Vertigo sauce. Mon-Sat 11 am-9 pm,

Guilt-free lunch has never been easier now that Paisley serves up food fresh from the bakery and a garden full of wholesome treats. Mon-Fri 11 am-3 pm, Sat-Sun 10 am-3 pm. 1123 Thomasville Rd. (850) 385‑7268. $$ L Sage’s menu masterfully melds regional influences, including Southern and French. The setting is gorgeous but cozy, and the outdoor patio sets a charming, romantic tone for a relaxed evening.

Mon Closed; Tues-Sat 11 am-3 pm, 6-10 pm; Sun 11 am-2:30 pm. 3534 Maclay Blvd.

(850) 270-9396. $$$ B L D

TABLE 23 ★

VERTIGO BURGERS AND FRIES ★

Sun 11 am-6 pm. 1395 E. Lafayette St. (850) 878‑2020. $$ L D

ASIAN BENTO ASIAN KITCHEN + SUSHI

This “Southern porch, table and bar” is cozied up among oak trees on one of Tallahassee’s favorite street corners. Serving lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch, fabulous cocktails and craft beers. Lucky Goat coffeerubbed ribeye and Schermer pecan-crusted chicken are among the regional-produce offerings. Mon-Tues 11 am-2 pm, 5 pm9 pm, Wed-Fri 11 am-2 pm, 5 pm-10 pm, Sat 5 pm-10 pm, Sun 10 am-3 pm. 1215 Thomasville Rd., (850) 329-2261. $$$ L D

Bento serves bold, flavorful pan-Asian fare, seasoned with sauces crafted inhouse with ingredients prepped daily.

Dishes are prepared by hand according to time-honored traditions but have fresh interpretations that give Bento its reputation for innovation. The lunch and dinner menus include sushi, wok-fired noodles, Asian salads, sweet boba teas and much more. Sun-Thurs 11:30 am10 pm, Fri 11;30 am-10:30 pm, Sat noon10:30 pm. (850) 765-3991, 1660 W. Tennessee St. $$ L D

UPTOWN CAFÉ ★

KIKU JAPANESE FUSION ★

Uptown Cafe and Catering, locally owned and operated for more than 30 years, is famous for its all-day brunch menu and lunch fare. Specialties at the bustling, family-run café include apricot-glazed smoked salmon, one-of-a-kind omelets, banana bread French toast and flavorful sandwiches. Mon-Sat 7 am3 pm, Sun 8 am-2 pm. 1325 Miccosukee Road (850) 219-9800. $ B L

From tempura to teriyaki and from sushi to sashimi, Kiku Japanese Fusion fuses vibrant flavors with fresh ingredients.

There’s a reason Kiku was voted Best Sushi in 2016. Mon-Sat 11 am-1 pm, Sun 12-11 pm.

800 Ocala Rd. (850) 575-5458. $$ L D

MASA ★

In 2016, Masa earned the title of Best Asian

in town — and with good reason. Their menu offers a creative blend of Eastern and Western cuisines. Mon-Fri 11 am-3 pm, 4:309:30 pm; Sat-Sun 12-3 pm, 4:30-9:30 pm. 1001 N. Monroe St. (850) 847-0003. $/$$ L D

OSAKA JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE AND SUSHI BAR ★

Rated Best Hibachi for 2016, Osaka provides dinner and a show, with the chefs seasoning and preparing your meal right in front of you. It’s a meal that’s sure to leave you satisfied as well as entertained. Sun-Thurs 11 am-10:15 pm, FriSat 11 am-10:45 pm. 1690 Raymond Diehl Rd. (850) 531-0222. $$$ D

SIAM SUSHI

Thai one on at this fine eatery and you will be left wanton more. An expansive menu includes starters, soups, salads, fried rice, noodles and a host of signature dishes — some ducky, some not — ranging from “Rock the Wok” to Chirashi Sumocombo, a substantial, edible work of art. Mon-Fri 11 am-10 pm, Sat-Sun 12-10 pm.

1700 N. Monroe St. (850) 391-9021. $$$ L D

BBQ SONNY’S REAL PIT BAR-B-Q ★

Nothing satisfies a rumblin’ stomach quite like a plateful of hot, savory barbeque; and if you’re looking for the tastiest grilled dishes, 2016 Best Barbecue winner Sonny’s has them in spades. Hours vary. Multiple locations. $ L D

goes all out on lunch favorites, too, including salads and steakburgers. MonSun 6:30 am-2:15 pm. Multiple locations.

(850) 668-6600. $ B L

THE EGG CAFÉ AND EATERY ★

When you’re looking for breakfast favorites, even if it’s lunchtime, The Egg is the place to be. Their made-to-order items use the finest ingredients, and they were voted Tallahassee’s best 15 times, including the 2016 award for Best Breakfast. Light breakfast fare is available at The Egg Express, a second downtown location in the R.A. Gray building. Tues-Sun 7 am-2 pm.

In Evening Rose at 3740 Austin Davis Ave. (850) 907-3447. $$ B L

CAJUN COOSH’S BAYOU ROUGE ★

This Best Cajun Restaurant winner for 2016 brings the best of the Bayou State right to your table. The menu is jam-packed with Louisiana-style dishes, including favorites like jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, po’boys and seafood gumbo. Not in a Cajun mood?

Coosh’s also offers classic hamburgers, salads and chicken wings. Mon-Tues 11 am-10 pm, Wed-Fri 7 am-10 pm, Sat 8 am-10 pm, Sun 8 am-9 pm. 6267 Old Water Oak Rd. (850) 894‑4110. $$ B L D

CATERING BREAKFAST/ BRUNCH/BAKERY CANOPY ROAD CAFÉ ★

Traditional breakfasts, fluffy omelets, skillets, French toast and sweet potato pancakes keep customers coming back.

Breakfast is the main event but Canopy

TASTEBUDZ CATERING ★

Their slogan is, “Holler if you need your taste buds tantalized.” Cases in point: Moroccan chicken with lemon spinach, beef tips with burgundy mushroom sauce, and Caribbean sweet potato and black bean salad. Serving lunch and dinner.

Open daily. 2655-12 Capital Circle NE. (850) 309‑7348. $$ L D

GET BAKED NOT FRIED GREAT FOOD AND DRINKS WITH EXCITING DAILY EVENTS IN A FAMILY SPORTS BAR ATMOSPHERE 81 Beer Taps, featuring local brewers | Full service bars inside and out Patio seating with comfortable lounges and fire pits | Over 40 TVs available to watch your favorite sports

1370 Market St, Tallahassee • (850) 692-3116 | islandwing.com

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SWING BY 7 DAYS A WEEK FROM 5-7 P.M. for $5 appetizers and 1/2 off on select wines, draft beers, and liquors like Tanqueray, Stoli, Buffalo Trace, and Corazon Tequila.

TheBluHalo.com I /TheBluHalo 3431 Bannerman Road, #102, Tallahassee, FL

S e r v in g B re ak fa s t, Br unch & Lu n c h

HOME OF THE

Every Night Happy Hour 4–9 p.m.

Thursday Night all wines 2 for 1 4–9 p.m.

Killearn Shopping Center • Ocala Corners WWW.KIKUFUSION.COM

The Egg Cafe & Eatery 3740 Austin Davis Ave. T – Sun 7 am – 2 pm (850) 765-0703 The Egg Express (R.A. Gray Building) 500 South Bronough, Room G-22 M - F 7:30 am - 3 pm | Sat 10 am - 3 pm (850) 907-EGGS (3447) Lite Breakfast Fare

Great Food Great Friends g Warm & Invitin Atmosphere Upscale Tastes ices at Affordable Pr

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THE BEST LITTLE STEAKHOUSE IN TALLAHASSEE

GREEK SAHARA GREEK & LEBANESE CAFÉ

Sahara’s fusion of Greek and Lebanese cuisines is unmatched in the area. A large menu and friendly staff cater to all tastes. And don’t forget to order the falafel! Mon-Wed 11 am-9 pm, ThursFri 11 am-10 pm, Sat 12-10 pm, Sun Closed. 1241 E. Lafayette St. (850) 656‑1800. $$

CHOP HOUSE ON THE BRICKS

This family-owned, upscale restaurant serves local organic and sustainable meats, seafood, poultry and produce.

Craft beers, fine wines and specialty drinks complement dishes such as the Bone-In Ribeye, Plantation Quail and Chop House Burger. Their Knob Creek Bourbon Bread Pudding is a dessert favorite. Tues-Sat 5-9:30 pm, Sun-Mon Closed. 123 N. Broad St., Thomasville, Ga. (229) 236-2467. $$ D

GEORGIO’S

ITALIAN/PIZZA BELLA BELLA ★

Take your taste buds to Italy with a trip to Bella Bella, voted Best Italian in 2015 and 2016. This locally owned and operated restaurant has a cozy atmosphere and serves all the classics to satisfy your pasta cravings. Mon-Fri 11 am-10 pm, Sat 4-10 pm,

Sun Closed. 123 E. 5th Ave. (850) 412-1114.

$$ L

D

MOMO’S ★

After devouring a slice “as big as your head” at this 2016 Best Pizza winner, chain pizza simply is not gonna cut it. From the black-and-white photos to the bathrooms decorated in album covers, the restaurant has an unmistakable and enjoyable “hole in the wall” vibe. Multiple locations. Hours vary. (850) 224‑9808. $ L D

MEXICAN EL JALISCO ★

In the mood for sizzling enchiladas and frozen margaritas? Make your way to the 2016 Best Mexican/Latin American Restaurant, El Jalisco, where they do Mexican cuisine to perfection. Multiple locations. Hours vary. $ L D

TACO REPUBLIK

Join us for lunch and dinner at our beautiful location on Apalachee Parkway.

Our steaks are not only the best in Tallahassee, but USDA choice Midwestern corn-fed beef, specially selected, aged to our specifications and cut daily. We also serve fresh jumbo shrimp and fish — grilled, blackened or fried.

So please join us for lunch and dinner or just meet up for drinks at our fully stocked bar.

F

MARIE LIVINGSTON’S STEAK HOUSE

2705 Apalachee Parkway | Tallahassee, FL (850) 270-9506

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An authentic taqueria, Taco Republik specializes in creating tacos and burritos in abstract and delicious ways. Located in the heart of Midtown, this restaurant is beloved for its bold flavor combinations and wallet-friendly prices. Mon-Thurs 11 am-9 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-10 pm, Sun Closed. 1122-8 Thomasville Rd. (850) 559‑5464. $ L D

SEAFOOD/STEAK THE BLU HALO ★

Blue Halo is a high-end culinary experience featuring dry-aged steaks and fresh seafood along with fine wines and a martini bar. The gourmet farm-to-table menu selections include a wide variety of small-plate appetizers and high-end chops. A private dining room for up to 20 guests is available.

Mon-Thurs 4-10 pm; Fri 4 pm-close; Sat 8 am-2 pm, 4 pm-close; Sun 8 am-2 pm, 4-10 pm. 3431 Bannerman Rd., #2 (850) 792-7884. $$$ L D

BONEFISH GRILL ★

Bonefish is devoted to serving great seafood including shrimp, oysters, snapper and swordfish in a vibrant setting, along with top-shelf cocktails and housemade infusions crafted by expert mixologists. Mon-Thurs 4 pm10:30 pm, Fri 4 pm-11:30 pm, Sat 11 am-11:30 pm, Sun 10 am-9 pm. 3491 Thomasville Road Ste. 7, (850) 297-0460.

$$

L D

If George Koikos is in the house, you can count on a visit from him to your table during your meal. His hands-on commitment to quality, food, service and a personal touch have kept his restaurants in business for more than 50 years. MonSat 4-10 pm, Sun Closed. 2971 Apalachee Pkwy. (850) 877-3211. $$$ D

HARRY’S SEAFOOD BAR & GRILL

Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille, established in 1987, serves Southern, cajun and creole flavors in classic and modern dishes. Full bar is available at each location and offers beer, wine, liquor and unique cocktails.

Sun-Thurs 11 am-10 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am-11 pm, and holiday hours. 301 S. Bronough St., in Kleman Plaza. (850) 222-3976. $$ L D

MARIE LIVINGSTON’S STEAKHOUSE ★

Dining at Marie Livingston’s is upscale yet comfortable and always a special treat. Not just a restaurant that serves up savory cuts of prime rib or marbled steaks, this 2016 Best Steakhouse winner is a Tallahassee tradition, and newcomers owe it to themselves to make it a priority to visit. Mon-Fri 11 am-2 pm, 5-9 pm; Sat 5-9 pm; Sun Closed. 2705 Apalachee Pkwy. (850) 562-2525. $$ L D

SALTWATER SEAFOOD COMPANY

Celebrate the spirit of historic Apalachicola Bay coastal lifestyle with fresh-caught seafood and a sensational, handmade cocktail all in the refined setting of Saltwater Seafood Company. They promise the fare doesn’t get fresher unless you catch it yourself. Mon – Sat 11 am – 10 pm, Sun 11am – 9 pm. 1926 Capital Circle NE. (850) 402-3014. $$ L D

SHULA’S 347

The legendary Miami Dolphins’ head coach brings the quest for perfection to the dining table at his namesake restaurant, located in Hotel Duval.

Keep it light and casual with a premium Black Angus beef burger or a gourmet salad, or opt for one of their signature entrées — a “Shula Cut” steak. Reservations are suggested. SunThurs 5-10 pm, Fri-Sat 5-11 pm. 415 N. Monroe St. (850) 224-6005. $$$ L D

SOUTHERN SEAFOOD ★

Whether you’re looking for fish, shrimp, oysters, scallops, crab or lobster, these guys have you covered.

The 2016 Best Seafood Market winner brings the ocean’s freshest choices to Tallahassee’s front door. Mon-Fri 10 am-7 pm, Sat 10 am-6 pm, Sun 12-6 pm.

1415 Timberlane Rd. (850) 668‑2203.

WHARF CASUAL SEAFOOD ★

The Wharf, a Tallahassee classic, serves Southern-style seafood in a casual setting in two Tallahassee locations.

Shrimp, crab claws and fish tacos are big favorites, along with fried green tomatoes and collard greens. Plus lovely salads packed with veggies and fruit. Mon-Sun 11 am-8:30 pm. 4036 Lagniappe Way #3. (850) 668-1966. $$ L D

Visit our comprehensive, searchable dining guide online at tallahasseemagazine.com/Restaurants.

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Capital Market Circle NE, 385-9992 North Monroe, 878-0800 Kerry Forest, 668-1002 Crawfordville, 926-4329 1370 St, Tallahassee • (850) 692-3116 | islandwing.com

IT ALL STARTED RIGHT HERE The very first Tropical Smoothie opened next to FSU in 1997 and has now grown to 43 states and over 615 locations!

Locally owned and operated with 10 locations in town!

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postscript ↓ Maj. Roy William Malone

(1918–2010) served in the U.S. Air Force for 27 years. Pictured here as 1st lieutenant, age 21, he was popular with his crewmen, one of whom gifted him with a set of original cartoons.

AN ANIMATED DISCOVERY Investigating a U.S. airman’s response to North Korean propaganda

by KIM HARRIS THACKER

I

n the 1950s — at the same time that Disney was making short, educational films for children that featured an accident-prone Donald Duck — Kim Ilsung, North Korea’s first dictator and the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, ordered North Korea’s state-run animation studio Scientific Educational Korea to begin airing nationalistic, anti-American cartoons, some of which remain popular to this day. One such cartoon is the graphically violent Squirrel and Hedgehog.

The heroes of this long-running series are uniform-wearing squirrels, hedgehogs and ducks, which represent North Korea’s military leadership, its soldiers and its navy. The antagonists in the cartoon are evil weasels, mice and wolves, who represent Japanese, South Korean and American soldiers, respectively. A benign and drunken bear — a heavily stereotyped Russian soldier — totters across the screen on occasion, too.

The characters in Squirrel and Hedgehog are as iconic to North Koreans as Donald Duck is to Americans, and knowledge

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of the cartoon was widespread across East Asian countries. As a young child, Tallahassee resident Dee Dee Malone lived in Okinawa, Japan, at the Kadena Air Force missile base, where her father, thenCapt. Roy William Malone (he retired as a Major in the United States Air Force), was a tactical command pilot.

“The threat of war was constant in the early ’60s, when we were there,” Malone says. “We learned all about the propaganda that was being distributed by the North Koreans. We were taught in school, on the base, to fear war. Every night I prayed, ‘Please, God, let us not have a war.’”

One young airman, who served under Malone’s father and who had fought in the Korean War just a few years earlier, was amused enough by the idea of guntoting forest animals to appropriate the North Korean cartoon characters and Americanize them. He created a series of comics that Malone discovered among her late-father’s possessions more than a halfcentury after her family left Okinawa.

“I was totally surprised when I found

TALLAHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM

them,” Malone says. “My father had never shared them with any of us. They brought back all of these memories, and they gave me insight into the dynamics between my father and his fellow servicemen.”

Malone’s interest in these relationships comes from the investment she has put into her own relationships with members of the military. In April 2016, Malone retired from the Veterans Administration office in Tallahassee, where she had served for 25 years.

“I’ve seen a lot of combat veterans return home and not be welcomed,” she says.

“They need friendship. It was my honor and my joy to work with these men. It was so important to me to try to make them smile. I’d greet them as they came into the V.A. office and sing to them, ‘It’s raining men! Hallalujah!,’ and they loved that. I lived every day to bring joy to their lives.”

Malone describes herself as an “independent patriot” with a great love for and pride in her country. “But,” she says, “I think that only those who have fought for freedom really know what it is.” TM photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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