Tallahassee Magazine - May/June 2011

Great Shots Photojournalist Mark Wallheiser Shares His Favorite Images From a 30-Year Career

INSIDE THE FORGOTTEN COAST, WHO IS HUNTER & HARP?, ‘BEST OF TALLAHASSEE’ BALLOT

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May/June 2011

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An Eye for News

Veteran photojournalist Mark Wallheiser has been shooting the highs and lows of life here for 30 years. We’re showing some of his best work, along with the stories behind the photographs.

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Forgotten Coast

Mapping the shipwrecks from centuries past, and other stories of our neighboring coastal counties.

82 Photo by scott holstein

Hunter & Harp Holdings

The investments of two young, local businessmen are redefining “what’s hot” in Tallahassee hotel and dining experiences.

But that’s just the tip of their entrepreneurial iceberg.

ON THE COVER

Much of the inspiration for Mark Wallheiser’s recent photographic work can be found near his Shell Point home. Here, he captured a beach volleyball game framed by a spectacular sunset.

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contents In Every Issue

36 ARTS & CULTURE

Sharing the pleasures of reading with book clubs.

13 From the Publisher 15 From the Editor 16 Letters to the Editor 162 The Last Word

42 PERSONALITY

The graphic life of artist Blake Kandzer.

Quick Reads

48 HISTORICITY

The life and death of Hardy Croom, first owner of Goodwood Plantation.

19 ONE TO WATCH

Meet the matchmaker between business and the environment.

Events

20 FIRST PERSON

53 SPOTLIGHT

North Florida’s underwater caves are the lure for Aletheia Lange.

Artopia moves to the Turnbull Center.

22 TEST DRIVE

Red Coach offers the comforts of home while riding the bus.

With Groupon, every day is a big deal.

Lacrosse catches on in the capital city.

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May–June 2011

132 HABITAT

A look at the buildup to the Parade of Homes.

Mind & Body 141 IN FOCUS

Don’t just toss or flush your old medicines.

Dining

We were there, how about you?

Living with Parkinson’s disease and the people who are meeting the challenge.

149 FIRST COURSE

» 53

Meet the two fresh, new faces on the Leon County Commission.

32 ON THE MOVE

When growing tomatoes, it helps to start small.

75 SOCIAL STUDIES

Take the short way home with new StarMetro transfers.

28 EDITOR’S CHOICE

131 CHECK IT OUT

142 HEALTH

26 Q&A

Departments

Home & Garden

55 CALENDAR

With so much to do, we double-dog dare you to be bored!

24 FYI

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It’s always the right time for Florida clams.

150 FLAVOR

Whether from the store, the stand or your own backyard, eating locally makes sense.

154 DINING GUIDE

Look here for the tastes of Tallahassee.

ALSO INSIDE 64 Best of Ballot 109 Pets and Their People 138 Spring Gift Guide

Photos by Scott Holstein

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May–June 2011

Vol. 33, No. 3

Publisher Brian E. Rowland Editor Rosanne Dunkelberger

designer Saige Roberts Staff Writer Jason Dehart Contributing Writers Lisa Carey, Gibby Conrad, Brandon Neasman, Virginia Newman, Erika D. Peterman, Lilly Rockwell STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Holstein

Editorial Interns Brittany Barriner, Holly Brooks, Carson Demont, Ana Goni-Lessan, Terrika Mitchell, Bianca Salvant, Janeen Talbott

traffic coordinators Caroline Conway, Lisa Sostre Sales Executives Lori Magee, Linda Powell, Chuck Simpson Online tallahasseemagazine.com twitter.com/tallahasseemag facebook.com/tallahasseemag

President Brian E. Rowland

Director of Lisa Carey Publishing operations

Creative Director Lawrence Davidson

Production DIRECTOR Melinda Lanigan

Director of Linda Kleindienst Editorial Services

Manager of Finance Angela Cundiff HR/Administration Client Service Caroline Conway Representative Manager of Daniel Parisi Integrated Sales

Administrator of McKenzie Burleigh Sales and Events Assistant Saige Roberts

Creative Director Art Director Tisha Keller Senior Editorial Designer Beth Nabi

Graphic Designers Marc Thomas, Daniel Vitter

magazine Ad Builder Patrick Patterson traffic coordinators Abayomi Bamiro, Lisa Sostre

Receptionist Amy Lewis

Network Administrator Daniel Vitter

Web Site rowlandpublishing.com

Tallahassee Magazine is published bimonthly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. 850/878-0554.

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. Copyright May 2011 Tallahassee Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Partners of Visit Tallahassee and Member, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and Florida Magazine Association.

one-year Subscription $30 (SIx issues) (850) 878-0554 Subscribe online at tallahasseemagazine.com or purchase Tallahassee Magazine at Borders Books, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Books-A-Million, Walgreens and at our Miccosukee Road office.

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May–June 2011

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From the Publisher

Time for a Last Look In Tallahassee’s pioneer days, there was a true cascade — a waterfall — in the area at the head of Gaines Street now being redeveloped into Cascade Park. With roadways and fences and buildings that have been there throughout my years in Tallahassee, I often wondered how beautiful and scenic that spot must have been originally to have inspired people to settle here.

With all the earth moving and construction fencing going on now, it’s hard for me to “see” what the future holds for Cascade Park, so I’m trusting that the vision of others will bring beauty back to a blighted area. And that this new, beautiful place will serve as an attraction for Tallahasseeans who have stuck close to home in the past.

Of course, the diamond-in-therough that is Railroad Square is chugging along. It’s the centerpiece of the monthly First Fridays and a place to embrace all things New Age and artistic.

I believe once these projects are complete, private development will step in to revive the dilapidated and underutilized spaces along the Gaines Street “entrance” to Tallahassee and make the city’s southwest a point of community pride.

So, plan a family field trip this month. Take some time on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to look at the massive construction project underway at Cascade Park and then drive down Gaines Street toward Doak Campbell Stadium. Capture a glimpse of the transformation that is on its way because soon it will forever be a memory.

Brian Rowland, Publisher

PHOTO by David eggleston

Most people are creatures of habit and generally have a basic routine to their day, their week and, often, their year. Of course, having such routines lend stability and a general predictability to life, often resulting in a higher level of happiness and peace.

But perhaps it’s time to mix up our day-to-day drill a little — and I have a suggestion for one way to make it happen.

Because of the composition of our mailing list, I know the majority of Tallahassee Magazine’s readers live on the north side of town. And I surmise that many stay in that “comfort zone” for their daily activities. As a result, they probably don’t often venture into the southwest side of town unless they’re headed to the airport, a football game, an event at the civic center or the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Sciences.

But now we have an incredible opportunity to see a community transformation in progress — a change to our landscape that will forever alter the way Tallahassee looks. Major developments — residential and commercial — are in the works that I believe will entice the overall population of our community to venture more frequently to the part of town that begins at the southwest corner of Monroe and Tennessee streets.

With some of its traditional-styled streetlamps and wide sidewalks already installed, we’re getting an inkling of what the “new” Gaines Street will look like once all the aggravating construction and rerouting are done. It looks to become an enticing and enjoyable promenade. We’ve been promised an 18hour downtown for decades now, but I think the artistic flavor of “G Street,” as well as the possibilities for residential and retail, bring us closer to that reality.

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From the Editor

One Picture …

PHOTO by David eggleston

My 32-year career started in newspapers. There were forays into public relations and retail sales and now the magazine business, but my training and first jobs were as a reporter. In those jobs, I worked with plenty of photojournalists.

There was an interesting love-hate thing that went on between the two positions in the newspaper trade.

Reporters pretty much thought photogs were prima donnas — always complaining and quick to take offense. I was once foolish enough to say something like “I’ll be there at one with my photographer,” while talking on the phone, and I got a verbal spanking along the lines of “Your photographer? I don’t belong to you and you don’t tell me what to do.”

They constantly bitched about their pay and work hours and the short shrift their photographs were getting in the paper. And woe be to the page designer who cropped or ran a word of type on top of their photo.

Of course, photojournalists had their (probably legitimate) complaints about reporters, most notably that they wouldn’t even consider using a quote or a story idea generated by a lowly photog. We are the word people, reporters would say, and photographers should stick to their pictures. (And oh, how they hated photographs to be called pictures.)

I met Mark Wallheiser, whose life’s work as a photojournalist is the subject of one of our feature stories in this issue, on my first day of work at the Tallahassee Democrat in June 1998. We rode down to Alligator Point together to cover the story of three guys who went missing during a fishing trip. It was a pretty awful scenario, witnessing the pain of family members who were losing hope by the hour, but Mark and I did our thing and headed home. (Just as the story was filed that evening, rescuers found one of the missing men alive and the body of one who died. The third was never found.)

On our way off the peninsula, after spying a scenic view, Mark pulled off to the side of the road to photograph it. To get the right angle, he stood on top of a tree trunk and proceeded to fall off and hurt his shoulder, which would ultimately require surgery to fix. (The camera survived unscathed.)

At the time, I guess I didn’t realize what a toll it took — physically and mentally — to be a photojournalist. But we are all in debt to photojournalists in general, and to Wallheiser in particular, for capturing three decades’ worth of images that inform us about the world around us — even when they’re not particularly enjoyable to look at.

I was also with Mark when he took the photo (page 95) of a man grieving for his fianceé, who had been killed in Valentine’s Day tornados that hit South Georgia. I can recall that terrible day — watching a woman break down over the body of a little kitten, seeing a mattress tangled in the wires atop a light pole, talking with the subdued coworkers of a woman who had died. I might just have written a thousand words, but when people think about that day, what tells the story best is … one picture.

Rosanne Dunkelberger rdunkelberger@rowlandpublishing.com tallahassee

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Letters to the Editor

Looking Good I have been remiss in writing to tell you that the Tallahassee Magazine article (“The Dream Team, March/April issue) was great — thank you — and I really have to tell you that the photography is wonderful. Molly and I never know how a picture will turn out and we both just love the cover shot. Thanks so much.

Best, Eric Barron President, Florida State University

A Howling Great Success On behalf of everyone at Be the Solution, I want to thank you for your support of the 2011 Tallahassee Top Dog Contest! It was because of partners like you that we raised over $40,000 for spay and neuter in Tallahassee. Your coverage in Tallahassee Magazine was a huge help getting the word out about the contest and we are so grateful! I look forward to working together again on Tally Top Dog 2012!

Caroline Fleischer Director of Public Relations Be the Solution Inc.

Top Salon is a Winner We can’t begin to thank you enough for all your help and support during the Top Salon competition! We had the time of our lives and are so honored to have been a part of such a fun and life-changing event.

Thank you!

Your Friends at Green Peridot Do you have something to say?

If you have a comment about or correction to Tallahassee Magazine, send a message to editorial@rowlandpublishing.com or 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308.

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QUICK READS people | items | places

Photo by Scott Holstein

One to watch

» Kathy Baughman McLeod

Attorney Kathy Baughman McLeod has racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles looking for ways her clients and the state of Florida can survive — and thrive — in the new low-carbon economy.

“There’s a new argument to be made about environment and energy and it’s viewed through the lens of economic opportunity,” said McLeod, 41, director of the Public Policy Group at Bryant Miller Olive and a member of the Florida Energy and Climate Commission. “The clean energy

economy is now, not in the future. My focus is helping business and technology build … and benefit from it.”

It’s easier said than done. The rules are changing fast these days and nations are clamoring over how to reduce, track and regulate the amount of carbon being created by human behavior. McLeod’s dual role as a private and public consultant is to provide her clients with choices and information.

“Part of my job is to sort out the layers.

I’m here to analyze opportunities,” she said.

“We go to international conferences to learn about the economic opportunities brought about by the changing rules.”

McLeod has a zeal for this kind of work that comes from the central work ethic of her personal and professional life.

“I want to innovate, evolve and improve the world at the same time,” she said. “I want to make a difference. I want to be on the front edge of opportunity, economic trends and I want to make my place better for having been here.” — Jason Dehart

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QUICK READS first person

Cave diving couple Aletheia and Andre Lange pose at Church Sink. Hidden from view, but very close to Crawfordville Road in Leon County, the sink is the entrance to a system of caves first surveyed in 1992. Jim Clark and Mat Bull (inset) swim through the caves.

Exploring Underwater Worlds

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xperienced divers from around the world come to North Florida to gain entrance to its enormous maze of underwater caves. In Tallahassee, for instance, the Leon Sinks cave system spans two counties and includes Wakulla Springs. Mississippi native Aletheia Lange and her German husband Andre moved to Tallahassee from Ft. Lauderdale this year solely because of the area’s reputation for great cave diving. Tallahassee Magazine writer Lilly Rockwell sat down with newcomer Lange, who is 37, to learn more about one of Tallahassee’s lesser-known environmental attractions.

I have always wanted to live in Tallahassee because of the caves. This is the central location of cave country. Most of the

caves are just west of Marianna and all the way to the Gainesville area. There are so many caves in this area it’s unbelievable. They are all along the rivers, in lakes — everywhere. There are over 450 sinkholes here, and I don’t know how many have caves in them. A lot of them are unexplored.

My father was a scuba diver and so I have been scuba diving since an early age. I got officially certified as a scuba diver in 1997.

I had watched films on cave diving and seen things in National Geographic and I said, “You know what, I want to do that.” You have to be advanced open-water certified first. Then there are different levels of cave diving.

There are not many of us. People are afraid of it and they don’t understand it. Actually only 1 percent of the world’s population dives 20

May–June 2011

to begin with. And only 1 percent of that 1 percent cave dives. Not that many women do it. Even fewer women can dive and teach, like I do. It’s very physical because you have such heavy tanks you have to carry around. Like yesterday, we were (carrying) five tanks with us. Two of them weighed 52 pounds apiece.

I love the beauty of it, the challenge. Not many people get to see what I see. Cave divers are pretty much conservationists. We like to keep everything as we found it. We don’t want to disturb anything so when we go into caves we are very careful. I teach my students to take only pictures and leave only bubbles, and kill nothing but time.

I was lost once during one of my training sessions, which was great.

My instructors were not lost, they did it to me to teach me a lesson.

And we do that to students. You train them not to get lost. You train them not to do “trust me” dives, where your buddy says “We are going to go here and here, do you trust me?” Your answer to that is always “No.” You are supposed to gradually learn the cave system.

There are so many caves out there, but certain caves are policed.

You go in and have to show your cards and what you are capable of. You also sign a release saying you and your family cannot sue should a death occur. There are a lot more landowners around here that could actually make a lot of money with the caves on their land if they would open them up. You could charge $10, $15 a person to gain entrance to the property. We also do surveying. We will go into the cave system, line it with permanent guide line and then we map it. We can give landowners a map of their cave.

I love to lay line in virgin caves. That is what cave divers love to find the most because it’s so untouched. No one else has been there.”

Photo by Scott Holstein, Inset photo courtesy Ben Martinez

Aletheia Lange Moved to ‘Cave Country’ to Feed Her Diving Habit

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QUICK READS test drive

The Luxe Bus

I

was 18 when I took my first bus trip. My mother was sure to warn me to watch out for my belongings and I managed to stay secluded in seats I only had to share with my carry-on items. The trip was intimidating and a little scary, but all in all, it was a painless, one-stop ride.

More recently, I found myself back on the bus, but put at mental and physical ease courtesy of RedCoach. The year-old bus line, modeled after a 50-year-old, energy-efficient ground transportation fleet in South America, is one of two motor coach lines servicing the Southeast region (the other is Greyhound). An accommodating staff makes for stress-free travel and RedCoach’s spacious luxury bus is full sized, but has just 27 seats (versus Greyhound’s 55), allowing for adequate legroom. Furthermore, the standard 110v power outlets helped meet all of my “business-oriented” needs.

But first things first.

I departed Tallahassee for Tampa on a seven-hour trip that began at 1:45 p.m. on Florida State’s campus. I’m no stranger to Tampa — it’s a four-hour drive I make at least twice a year. I prefer to leave in the mid morning, so I can arrive in Tampa in the afternoon, but this time I was at the mercy of RedCoach’s limited schedule. With nationwide service to more than 2,300 destinations and 13,000 daily departures, Greyhound satisfies more time and destination schedules — but there are infinitely more stops in between.

While driving myself is more convenient, skyrocketing gas prices make it a pretty significant expense. And a 24-minute airplane ride 22

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RedCoach Routes is way shorter, but the $477 average fare for Tallahassee flights is out of the question for my student budget.

So, while RedCoach’s midday pickup time and nighttime drop-offs weren’t ideal, the promptness, serenity and reasonable prices (round trip was $80) were incomparable.

Unfortunately, the company’s service does have some shortcomings.

A RedCoach survey says 20 percent of its passengers would normally fly, and 50 percent would drive themselves. None though, would be taking off from a half-paved, halfdirt parking lot like the one I found myself in at the Tallahassee “terminal,” which is actually just a pick-up spot. The Tennessee Street sign

is visible from the road, but I wasn’t certain where the bus would be until I saw it parked.

This setup might be confusing for first-time riders. (A second pick-up location has been in Tallahassee’s “Capital district.”)

Most passengers (including those we picked up in Gainesville) were students, as an estimated 25 percent of all passengers are. Students probably weren’t too fazed by the pick-up conditions, but business travelers might prefer the comfort of an airport or indoor terminal instead. With actual terminals (and not just terminal locations) you could avoid the confinement of the bus’ onboard lavatory. I prefer elbow room in the restroom, but wasn’t able to find a suitable one until we stopped for a connecting bus in Orlando.

From the Orlando terminal, passengers scurried to buses headed to Miami, back to Tallahassee and to my final destination, Tampa. These are just three of the 12 popular cities RedCoach has expanded to serve although routes from Tallahassee connect to only nine.

The lack of company-owned facilities and communication between terminals stifle the luxury line. On my return trip, I was directed to three different locations in Tampa’s airport.

I sat with another passenger who seemed as confused as me about getting on the bus. We wondered if the driver would call or how we’d know when to board.

Nevertheless, this bus trip was relatively as painless as my first. There were no security lines to negotiate, travels were safe and no baggage was lost in the process.

Photo and map Courtesy RedCoach

RedCoach Buses Make Downstate Travel Safe and Comfortable By Terrika Mitchell

QUICK READS fyi

Such a Deal!

Tallahasseeans by the Thousands Are Checking Out Groupon’s Daily Online Bargains By Lilly Rockwell

R

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How it Works has even expanded internationally into more than 300 cities.

Need more evidence the company has reached the business big leagues? Groupon recently rejected a $6 billion buyout offer from Google.

Competitors have watched Groupon’s success and are following closely on its heels.

LivingSocial launched its daily coupon deals in Tallahassee in February and has also amassed a large following.

Some local vendors that have already jumped on the Groupon bandwagon include Metro Deli, Tallahassee Photo, Capital City Runners and Lofty Pursuits.

In December, Grouponers were offered $24 worth of groceries for $12 at New Leaf Market.

As of February, it was the best-selling Groupon deal yet.

“We are always looking to reach new customers and at that time Groupon had a local email list of 32,000 people,” said Cristin Burns, the marketing manager for New Leaf Market. More than 2,400 people bought New Leaf’s Groupon, which far exceeded the store’s expectations.

Businesses get a 50 percent cut of what Groupon receives. “In essence, it is paying for direct advertising,” Burns said. “Even people who didn’t purchase it saw our name and read about it.”

1. Sign up to receive Groupon deals in your email inbox through groupon.com.

2. When you receive a Groupon deal that intrigues you, click on the link provided in the email that takes you to the online coupon.

3. Click “Buy.” Of course the deal is

only good if a certain number of people buy it, but that is almost never an issue.

Most deals expire within 24 hours.

You pay up front and print the coupon for later use. (Some smart phones also allow you to simply show the coupon to cashiers at check out). Here’s an example of how it works: If you paid $8 for $20 worth of sandwiches, present your Groupon when the cashier is ringing up your sale. If the total is $21.18, you only pay $1.18 on top of the $8 you spent buying the Groupon. You’ve saved $12. There’s one catch. There aren’t cash refunds if you spend under the amount of the Groupon, though the company offers full refunds if you are unsatisfied with your experience. So in the scenario above, if you only spend $18, you won’t get any change.

Photoillustration by saige roberts

ejoice, Tallahassee. Groupon has arrived.

Groupon is a popular website that works with local and national businesses to offer daily coupons to people living in specific cities. These aren’t your ordinary 15 or 20 percent off deals. Most Groupons offer discounts from 50 to 75 percent off.

For LeRoc Bistro waitress Amber Schulteis, Groupon has helped her save money. She checks Groupon deals through her iPhone and, since joining in January, has bought several deals. One that caught her eye was $40 for a facial, manicure and pedicure at the Impressions by Trena salon that ordinarily would have cost $89.

“I wouldn’t have paid for it had it been the full cost,” Schulteis said. “And it inspires you to try something different.” It also helps business owners bring in new customers.

The “group” part of Groupon comes from the premise that a certain number of people have to buy the coupon before it can be used. But it’s rare to see a Groupon deal that falls below the required number of people because the company offers such attractive deals.

The site is structured so that users have a strict deadline — usually 24 hours — to buy the Groupon, which forces instantaneous decision-making that probably yields more sales.

But, there is no immediate deadline to use the coupon, with most not expiring for months.

In Tallahassee, Groupon’s rapid success is undisputed. It launched in Tallahassee last November and by mid-February had 55,000 registered users in the city.

Part of Groupon’s success is its willingness to launch in cities large and small, from New York City to Billings, Mont. Founded in 2008, it

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QUICK READS q&a

Direct Destinations

StarMetro’s New System Makes Bus Riding More Convenient and High Tech Decentralized Route After Nova2010

B Centralized Route Before Nova2010 Nova2010 Transfers

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map not drawn to scale

C.K. Steele Plaza

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or years C.K. Steele Plaza has been the central hub for Tallahassee’s public transit empire. Every bus passenger in town shuttles through here to catch other buses. For some transit customers, it’s not exactly the quickest way to get around town. But now the efficiency experts at StarMetro have worked up a way to move riders directly to their destinations. StarMetro Executive Director Ron Garrison recently discussed the new route decentralization system with Tallahassee Magazine writer Jason Dehart. It’s called Nova2010, and it improves service at basically the same operational cost.

TM: What exactly is “route decentralization?”

RG: By decentralization we really mean, “spread out.” Right now all our transfers happen at the downtown-located C. K. Steele Plaza. This system was effective for a while but we really found that by conducting transfers through C. K. Steele, headways (the time/distance between buses) were longer and many customers were traveling out of their way. With Nova2010, we will have 41 different transfers, meaning shorter headways and more convenience.

TM: Why is this a significant step in public transit?

RG: What we’re doing is pretty revolutionary for several reasons.

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One, for the first time transit will match land use. Transit will go to the destinations where businesses are and where people want to go. Two, transit will go to more destinations.

Three, our best route in Nova2010 (on Tennessee Street between Appleyard Drive and Magnolia Drive) will have a bus come by every 10 minutes. More frequencies, more destinations mean greater convenience.

TM: Let’s say I live in the Northeast side of town and work in SouthWood. How is this going to help me?

RG: What route decentralization does is streamline the system.

With this new system, the Red Hills route will travel along

Capital Circle from Village Square to the Capital Circle Office Complex. This means no need to go downtown for those state workers — meaning they will spend less time on the bus. The StarMetro’s Red Hills route is similar to how one would drive there in their car. It will actually take them less time to get to work using StarMetro.

TM: Where will these transfer points be located?

RG: All over the city, wherever two routes intersect.

TM: When will Nova2010 start?

RG: It will launch on July 11.

Before then, StarMetro will inform and educate the public on the changes they can expect in the future.

TM: How will service change?

RG: The Nova2010 plan assumes that weekday service will run from about 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and night service will run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday service will run for 11 hours and Sunday service will run for six hours.

And the night and weekend routes will actually reach more destinations than before.

TM: What other new features can we expect from Nova2010?

RG: Our customers will now have the capability to plan trips online with our online trip planning software, use SMS texting to locate buses and routes, and purchase fares online.

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Editor’s Choice

Fresh Faces New commissioners Kristin Dozier and Nick Maddox — who unseated older, long-time incumbents — both pledge to make Leon County more attractive to young professionals like themselves.

Youth to Power

Dozier, Maddox Bring a New Generation’s Perspective to the Leon County Commission Introduction by Lilly Rockwell

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with Tallahassee Magazine to discuss their elections, agendas and the perspectives they bring as younger commissioners, albeit from different backgrounds.

Dozier is a Tallahassee-based homebuilder raised in the unconventional Miccosukee Land Co-op. Maddox is a former NFL football player (and former Seminole star) who worked for the Bowden Foundation for Ethical Leadership as a fundraiser before launching his political career.

Both acknowledge the area’s reputation as a great place to raise a family. But they also recognize that it gets knocked as a not-so-exciting place to spend your 20s.

They lament the fact that so many college students leave the city upon graduation for population centers like South Florida and the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Each wants

to see more businesses relocate to Tallahassee and expanded nightlife and dining opportunities downtown.

Kristin Dozier Promoting Progress With an Eye Toward Sustainability After reading the long list of accolades and accomplishments Kristin Dozier has accumulated over the years, one would never guess that the homebuilder-turnedcounty commissioner once had dreams of being a space shuttle commander.

Although she never quite reached the moon, Dozier always aimed for the stars. She co-founded Sustainable Tallahassee, taught religion at Florida State University and speaks to Girl Scouts and

Photo by Scott Holstein

T

his year, the seven-member Leon County Commission looks a little more fresh faced with three commissioners under age 40, two of them just elected last year.

Kristin Dozier, 36, and Nick Maddox, 30, surprised many voters when they defeated experienced political veterans about twice their age.

Their election marks a swing toward Tallahassee’s naturally young demographic. According to the U.S. Census, the median age in Leon County is 27.8, and a fifth of the county’s population falls between 20 to 24 years old (a group perhaps not well represented in the past because young people traditionally don’t vote in high numbers).

Dozier and Maddox recently sat down

grandmothers alike about the importance of being good to the environment.

Today she sits behind an impressive desk that belies her humble beginnings. As one of the first-generation children on the Miccosukee Land Co-op, her family lived simply — she didn’t have the luxury of air-conditioning until she was eight.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of money,” Kristin says, “… but it was incredibly enriching to live there.”

During her early childhood, her father co-founded Mad Dog Construction. And years later, Dozier would go on to become the onsite superintendent for the company and embrace green construction.

As a student at SAIL high school, Dozier participated in the Tallahassee Democrat’s Teen Democrat program, writing about what she and her peers were doing in the environmental magnet program. She didn’t know it then, but her love of the Earth would play a large part in how she approached issues affecting the county where she grew up.

After studying theater and film at Tallahassee Community College, Dozier, who calls herself “habitually single,” ended up graduating with a degree in religion at FSU, teaching what she learned shortly thereafter. It is through religion she has made a connection to politics.

“In retrospect, I really see that what I was most interested in was the motivation for making political and social choices,” Dozier said. “Brick walls come up so fast when we touch on some of these very personal social and moral issues. There must be a way to talk about these issues without offending one another.”

Dozier admits that although she is a fresh face and others may see her as a little green when it comes to experience, her skill for knowing how to approach others and talk about differences makes it easier to do her job.

After all, those qualities are what compelled people to encourage her to run in the first place. “I had conservatives and liberals coming to me and saying ‘you should really consider this because you’ve got a message and you can connect with people … that’s something we need on the commission,’” she said.

She doesn’t intend to let them down.

Dozier plans to bridge the gap between business interests and environmentalists by showing them that they’re all concerned about the same thing: sustainability.

It is merely a matter of “… meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to do the same,” Dozier explained. tallahassee

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Editor’s Choice She also applies herself to making sure she has the foundation necessary to make a difference. Reading past county commission meeting agenda books has become a frequent pastime. “I want to look at the source documents. How did we get to where we are?” she said. “Where do we want to go from here?”

She admits she is excited to see what will happen in the future and is determined to make the county better. “Of all the things that I have done, this feels the most right,” Dozier said. — Janeen Talbott

Nick Maddox A Team Player Supports Leon County’s Livability One might expect former NFL player Nick Maddox to decorate his office with football trophies and sports memorabilia.

Instead, the youngest African-American male elected to the Leon County Commission has opted for photos of past AfricanAmerican leaders in the county and African masks that represent serenity and strength.

Maddox was elected last fall at the age of 29 (he’s since turned 30) to an at-large seat on the Leon County Commission, unseating incumbent Cliff Thaell, who had held the job for 16 years. His election surprised some because of his youth and political inexperience.

His self-assuredness and manner give no hint of the troubled family life that marked his early years. Born the youngest of four in the small city of Shelby, N.C., he lived in a crowded home with no father figure, in a situation that became hurtful and traumatizing.

When he was seven, his mother found herself struggling to care for her children and two new additions to the family that came when both of his sisters became pregnant at the same time. His mother found solace in drugs and eventually left Maddox to care for himself.

“I was stuck in a situation where she had to decide whether she wanted to keep me or not. And she decided to let me go,” he said.

His aunt, Patricia Maddox, came to his rescue.

“My life changed from that point on. She has been a profound influence on my life, and we have a really special relationship.”

Patricia Maddox introduced him to the sport that helped shaped his life. “I remember her saying that she refused to allow me to just sit in the house,” he said.

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“She made me pick a sport. That is when football came into my life.”

Describing himself as an introvert, Maddox found it difficult to trust others. But once someone gained his trust, he viewed that person as his family, particularly those he met through football. “Although I didn’t call them Dad, my coaches became a father figure and my teammates became my brothers,” he explained.

Maddox came to Tallahassee, where he attended Florida State University, played football, joined Omega Psi Phi fraternity and worked toward bachelor’s degrees in business and real estate. He spent three years as a running back in the NFL, playing for the Cleveland Browns and the Carolina Panthers.

After an ankle injury, he decided to return to Tallahassee to finish his undergraduate degrees, a promise he made to his aunt. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed the anonymity of college life, away from the glare of the NFL spotlight. He is married and he and his wife, Tina, have an infant daughter.

Being a football player mentally prepared him, Maddox said, for the Leon County Commission seat.

“There are six other individuals on this commission who have opinions and thought processes and have to make a decision as well,” he said. “You can be biased while believing that you run everything — but that isn’t true. You have to learn to work with other people, as a team.”

Maddox has learned, through his time in Tallahassee, that this is one of the best cities to raise a family because “you don’t have to worry about your kids — they are safe here.”

Although he has plans that he would like to accomplish in his personal life, he feels he must put them on the back burner for now to focus on the people who voted for him.

Creating more jobs and encouraging businesses to relocate to Tallahassee are two of Maddox’s many goals.

As a relative youngster on the commission, Maddox admits the pressure is high but he is determined to prove his lack of experience won’t get in the way of improving Leon County.

“Any time a citizen votes for you, they’re taking a chance and with that chance they are expecting you to represent them well,” he said. “When the people voted for me, I believe they saw someone who had the passion to help people — someone who wanted change.” — Bianca Salvant n

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On The Move

LACROSSE SCHOOLING Young players practice their lacrosse techniques with interesting names such as “quick stick” and “V-cut.” Coaches such as former Boston College player Dorsey Hairston (opposite page) are introducing local youngsters to the game.

Lacrosse is Catching on in the Capital City America’s Oldest Sport Attracts Tallahassee’s New Generation of Athletes

I

n this game, hard hits, flashy passes and evasive maneuvers are a guarantee. Give-and-goes, zone defenses and pick-and-rolls are executed by players throughout the game. For 60 minutes, spectators are treated to two teams giving their all on the field in what some call “the fastest game on two feet.”

But there’s no pigskin involved in this sport, or free throws for fouling a shooter. No-hitters don’t exist and round balls are much better suited for this game than pucks. Although still a relatively unknown sport locally, lacrosse is starting to burst onto the scene in the capital city.

Originated in the northeastern United States by Native American tribes, lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America. The objective of the game is to outscore the 32

May–June 2011

other team by launching a rubber ball, slightly bigger than a tennis ball, into a net, past the other team’s goalie.

One aspect that attracts new fans is that lacrosse is similar to many more readily known sports.

A men’s lacrosse field is 110 yards long and 60 yards wide — 10 yards shorter in length than a football field (when you count the endzones) but almost 7 yards wider. Six-foot by 6-foot goals are positioned at both ends of the field. Ten yards are left behind each goal, allowing players to move behind the goal during play — much like hockey.

Also like hockey, the game begins with a face-off where two players battle to scoop the ball into their own stick or a teammate’s in order to gain possession.

Lacrosse is similar to football in the sense that they’re both full-contact sports. Yet, at the same time, lacrosse is also a game of finesse when it comes to maneuvering through defenders or throwing touch passes to a teammate.

“I would compare it to hockey and basketball,” says Dorsey Hairston, who gives private youth lacrosse lessons in Tallahassee. “It’s mainly like basketball, but you have a stick and you’re scoring on a goalie — that’s where it’s like hockey.”

Hairston, who played at Boston College, says because of its lack of prominence in Florida, most kids in Tallahassee don’t know about it and tend to gravitate toward the major sports.

“Lacrosse is the kind of sport we can teach anyone how to play, they just have

Photos by Scott Holstein

By Brandon Neasman

to be into it,” he says. “When you’re a kid and you see that everyone is into something, that’s what you want to be a part of.”

Hairston believes lacrosse has yet to catch on outside of the Northeast because there are no big names associated with the game.

“When it gets to the point in Florida where you have a premiere football player who’s willing to give lacrosse a shot, at that point Florida will quickly take over the national scene,” he says. “When you play football, you watch the games and … you say, ‘I want to be like Randy Moss’ or ‘I’m going to catch this ball just like Chad Johnson.’ If I say Gary Gait or Casey Powell or Ryan Boyle to anybody they’re not going to know them — even the kids I coach don’t know who they are.”

Over the last few years, however, lacrosse has started to gain some traction in Tallahassee. Charles Minter, head coach of the Maclay School varsity lacrosse team, says he’s seen interest in the sport increase over the last few years.

“My camp grows every year,” he says.

“Florida has come a long way and is on the verge of being one of the best states in lacrosse.”

Minter is also director of the Tallahassee Lacrosse Club, as well as a coach and assistant director for the Tallahassee Possums, which is part of a statewide youth program (Florida Fightin’ Possums). In addition to these community programs, several local schools offer lacrosse, including Holy Comforter’s middle school and Chiles, Lincoln, Maclay and Leon high schools.

“The younger kids are starting to get involved and start playing at a much younger age,” says Steve Lundeen, a senior captain of Florida State University’s lacrosse club team. “More people are getting interested in it and it’s really catching on.”

Lundeen, who’s been playing lacrosse for 10 years, was first introduced to the sport at his high school in Miami.

“It’s more of a freestyle sport and you

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May–June 2011

On The Move have more room to do whatever you want,” he says. “You’re not really assigned to a certain player or gap as in football.

You still experience the same contact, just on a bigger field.”

Besides the experience of trying a different sport, Hairston says many benefits come from playing the game. He says there are also great opportunities to play and go to college.

“You’re never going to get paid a million dollars to play lacrosse, but you will develop great relationships,” he says. “Those types of opportunities are … why lacrosse is a good thing to be involved with.” n

LAX: KNOW THE RULES » Lacrosse, or LAX for short,

is played with two 10-player teams.

A team’s on-field lineup consists of one goalkeeper, three defensemen who assist the goalie in defending the goal, three attackmen who attempt to score and three midfielders, who are free to travel the full length of the field playing both offense and defense.

» Each player carries a stick

with a netted pocket on the head to cradle, pass, shoot and intercept the ball —or to jar the ball out from the pocket of an opposing player’s stick. Referred to as “checking,” this technique involves making contact with the opposing player with either the body or stick.

» The length of a player’s stick

differs depending on what position they play. Attackmen carry the shortest sticks, which are easier to handle and better suited for shooting.

Defensemen carry long sticks with shafts about twice the length of short sticks. Long sticks make it easier for defensemen to intercept passes and check ball carriers. The goalie’s stick has a shorter shaft than the other sticks but a much wider head, which is used to catch the shots of opposing players and prevent goals.

Midfielders may use either a short or long stick. However, only one of the three middies may use a long one.

» Lacrosse uniforms consist of a helmet, shoulder pads, a jersey, shorts, padded gloves and cleats.

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Arts & Culture

On the Same Page Bibliophiles Share Reading Experiences in Local Book Clubs By Virginia Newman

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May–June 2011

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

— Mortimer J. Adler, American Philosopher and Educator assorted finger food delights are often just as memorable.

The phenomenon has become a near ubiquitous part of life today — and it’s clearly about more than reading.

Tamara Osterchuk is a 20-something who says she searched unsuccessfully for a book club in Tallahassee before finally deciding to just start one herself. Her “Women of Substance” book club has weekly meetings and is open to all women.

“There are no restrictions on the genres or types of books we read and suggestions are always welcome,” she says. “I say, ‘Let’s get reading, ladies!’”

It is apropos that she addresses her statements to ladies, as it seems the vast

majority of book clubs are composed of women. There are a few couples’ books clubs and some mixed men/women book clubs in town, but not many.

“There are just as many voracious men readers as women,” says librarian Kaleigh Clemons of the Leon County public library. “However, women like to get together to give their opinions, and discuss their feelings and ideas with each other.

Men tend to read a book, put it down and be done with it.”

According to the New York Times Book Review, some of the biggest sellers of recent years — “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett

Photo by Ana Goni-Lessan

F

or some readers, there’s nothing more enjoyable than curling up alone with a good book. But once they’re done, they yearn to find people to share insights about what they’ve just read.

And that’s where the book club comes in.

The clubs are a great way to make friends, engage in lively discussions and read more books. And though there is no central registry, Tallahassee is home to dozens.

There are clubs for young and old, men and women, and genres galore. Some clubs read a broad spectrum of books and others focus on definite genres, such as mysteries, fiction or nonfiction, detective, paranormal, religion — you name it. Public libraries, churches, country clubs, senior citizen groups, educational entities, neighborhoods, subdivisions, special interest organizations and many private groups host reading clubs.

While the selected book is at the heart of book club discussions, the libations, snacks, hors d’oeuvres, sweet treats and

special interest (left to right) Mary Middlebrooks, Pep Culpepper and Mary Lynn Wheeler peruse books about Florida at a meeting of the Governor’s Mansion Book Club.

— were propelled by word of mouth. Book clubs, blogs and customer reviews on Amazon.com all help foment a feeling that if you wanted to be part of the “it” culture, you should be reading these books.

Here are some clubs representative of those in this vicinity. Some are open to the public. Some are privately organized, and do not accept new members. One has been operating for just over a year, while another is approaching its 50th anniversary.

Governor’s Mansion Book Club In 2006, the Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation used private funds to construct a room specifically designed as a library in tribute to Gov. and Mrs. Jeb Bush’s commitment to literacy. This library primarily contains books about various topics related to Florida and/or written by Florida authors.

Under the guidance of Mansion Curator Carol Beck, docents who volunteer to conduct tours through the public rooms of the Mansion read one of the Mansion library books, then get together to hear the author or an expert on the subject speak about the book, followed by discussion.

In celebration of the Mansion’s 50th anniversary, a commemorative book about the Mansion is displayed in the library, “First Families in Residence: Life at the Florida Governor’s Mansion” by Coral Gables author and historian Ellen J. Uguccioni.

No Name, No Stress Book Club This group is so casual and laid back it doesn’t even have a name! Its 20 or so members meet monthly at Uptown Midtown Café for lunch to discuss books agreed upon by the club members.

About 20 years ago, four women got together to form the club, including Linda Jessen, who is still a member.

Kitty Hoffman, FSU professor emeriti of chemistry whose extraordinary relationship at FSU stretches seven decades from the Great Depression to the 21st century, is a member. Cora Ann Chapman has deep ties within the membership as do her longtime friends Nancy Sheridan and Bridget Chandler.

Another member, Erica Clark, is a local historian who has been involved with Goodwood in various roles, and who wrote “The Croom Family and Goodwood Plantation; Land, Litigation and Southern Lives” with historian William W. Rogers in 1999. tallahassee

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Arts & Culture Sheridan notes that the club has a couple of nice traditions: Mary Louise Bachman invites members to her home at Christmas time for homemade soup and Jimmy and Betty Lou Joanos invite them to their beach cottage in July.

Golden Eagle Book Club The Ladies Book Club of Golden Eagle (members must belong to the Golden Eagle Ladies Club) meets at noon on the fourth Thursday of the month for lunch in the Country Club Grille. They choose books to read every few months, making selections from recommendations that come from the membership and have been voted on by the entire group.

The club favors local authors and invites them to speak at the luncheon meetings.

Tallahassee author Mark Mustian was a recent guest speaker to present his book, “The Gendarme.”

SouthWood Book Club The SouthWood Book Club was organized approximately five years ago to encourage residents to get to know each other. About 10 to 15 women get together on the third Thursday of each month, and the group welcomes new members.

“I enjoy being in a book club because it allows me to read books that I might not select on my own,” says the group’s facilitator, Patsy Robshaw. She says the club selects books to read in the spring prior to starting each new book club year. At the same time, members sign up to host meetings, providing their home, wine and tea.

She said her favorite book this year was “A Land Remembered” by Patrick D. Smith. “Rather than e-books, I prefer a book in hand to read and I get all my books from the library, “she said.

3R’s Book Club 3 R’s stands for “Relaxed Retired Readers,” a crossection of 13 educators — retired principals, former school district employees and teachers from elementary, middle and high schools in Leon County — that has been meeting in each others’ homes for four years.

Marsha Walper, who retired from Godby High School, says this group likes to read serious books, just finishing “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

They are not bound by any restrictions and read fiction, nonfiction and memoirs.

Each year, they choose a classic book to read. This year’s selection was William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.”

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Our Book Club Dr. Frances Prevatt, professor of educational psychology at FSU, established this club in just over a year ago and a recent discussion was about “The Island” by Victoria Hislop, a story about the loves, lives and losses of four generations of Greeks from the fishing village of Plaka.

The club selects two books in advance.

They purchase books or borrow them from the library, with several choosing to download from Kindle or Nook. She says they get suggestions from NPR, the Internet, friends, the New York Times book list and each other. Her favorites the group has read are “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot and “Cleopatra: A Life” by Stacy Schiff.

The Last Word Book Club Forty nine years ago, a group of friends that included current member Walli Beall joined with Betty Lou Joanos and several other friends to form a book club with the goal of reading and discussing interesting, thought-provoking books. The new club was quickly expanded by still-current members Nella Schomberger, Jackie Harvey and Noanne Gwynne. Many of the members have been participating in the club for decades, including Pep Culpepper, who has been a member since 1970. Almena Pettit is the current president.

The program format is traditional, encompassing socializing, the book review of the month and discussion. “The discussions are lively,” according to Beall, “because our members read the books, then want to express diverse viewpoints. If a book isn’t liked, it’s voiced by the membership!” Most members usually read more than the designated book, and may have two or three books going at a time. A classic book is always included, along with current publications.

“Many of us have been friends for many years, since we were young mothers,” says Culpepper, “and we have seen many changes in our lives over time: deaths, divorces, family catastrophes. It has been a bonding experience that has brought us closely together over the years.”

First Christian Church Women’s Book Club Facilitator Sherry Hart leads this group of churchwomen and their friends, with members from ages 19 to 85. The club meets on the third Thursday each month tallahassee

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2010

Best Painter

Arts & Culture at 6:30 p.m. in members’ homes for a light supper, then the book club meeting.

Books for the programs are selected three months in advance. Most have a religious tone, such as “In the Company of Others” by Jan Karon, featuring Father Timothy Kavanagh, the moral center of the beloved Mitford series.

However, the group also reads books making statements with moral overtones, such as “The Help” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hossemi (“This last one made us happy we were married to our American husbands,” said Hart).

Most of their selections are fiction, but the group did read Denver Moore’s biography, “Same Kind of Different as Me.”

Djhuty Book Review Founded in 1997, Djhuty (taken from the name of the Ethiopian god of knowledge and learning) is a group of African American women readers. The group meets monthly “to discuss selected books and celebrate sisterhood.” Also, as an outreach program, the club has started a Djhuty Youth Reading Circle to instill a love for reading in younger children.

Leroy Collins Leon County Public Library Book Clubs The LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System sponsors a variety of book discussion groups which meet monthly, according to Library Director Cay Hohmeister. There are currently seven active groups, with more to be established when the Woodville and Eastside branches open.

Each book discussion group is open to the general public.

There are no formal membership requirements and readers are welcome to drop in and participate as regularly — or occasionally — as they like. Book selections for the month are listed in calendar entries on the Library’s website, along with the meeting times at each branch at leoncountyfl.gov/LIBRARY/calendars/ event.asp.

Collins Main Library club reads both fiction and non-fiction, meeting the first Monday of the month at 1:30 p.m.

Dr. B.L. Perry, Jr. Branch Library is a paranormal-oriented club, meeting the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

The club has been meeting for less than a year, sparked by current interest from young people in books such as Stephenie Meyer’s vampire “Twilight” series or Sherrilyn Kenyon’s “Dark Hunter.” Members

» »

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Book Club Made Easy Leon’s library system offers Traveling Book Club kits for checkout. The kits contain 10 copies of a book as well as discussion questions. It’s an easy (and free) way to get copies for everyone. Detailed information and the list of titles currently available in the Traveling Book Club kits can be found online at the library website.

are interested in science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, psychic, romance and other genres out of the norm.

Ft. Braden Branch Library group meets the last Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

They are currently reading “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” by Alan Bradley.

Lake Jackson Branch Library hosts two clubs. The Popular Author Book Club meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. The Adult Book Club meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

The Popular Author Club is currently reading the non-fiction humor book, “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” by A.J. Jacobs.

The Adult Club reads a variety of genres, and is currently perusing “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larrson.

Northeast Branch Library has two clubs, the Fiction/Nonfiction Book Club and the Mystery Book Club.

The Fiction/Non-Fiction Book Club meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. About a dozen members, both men and women, have been meeting for 10 years. They do not have a review as such, just discussion. “We don’t always agree, but diverse viewpoints make for lively and interesting meetings,” says discussion leader Pamela Lovell.

The Mystery Book Club meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. The club generally selects Florida authors. Interestingly, one of the most active members is Flynn Marsh Alam, a Tallahassee author who is herself a mystery writer. n

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Personality

Beware of Zombies Blake Kandzer put himself in the thick of the comic book action (left) in “Meat and Potatoes.” To illustrate his creative process, he shows the hand drawing (top) and inking (middle) as well as colorizing (bottom) done on the computer.

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May–June 2011

Photo by Scott Holstein, Art by Blake Kandzer

A Dork’s Life

Blake Kandzer Takes a DIY Approach to His Career as a Graphic Artist and Comic Book Creator

By Erika D. Peterman

E

ven if you didn’t know that Tallahassee artist Blake Kandzer illustrates comic books, a glance at his home studio would reveal that he likes the medium. A lot.

There’s a classic Batman illustration signed by none other than one of the Dark Knight’s creators, Bob Kane. Then there’s the Hellboy lunchbox autographed by Ron Perlman, who played the character on the big screen. And that’s without getting to the many graphic novels that line his bookshelves or the thousands of comics he’s stored away.

To put it simply, Kandzer, 40, is a professional geek — or as he puts it, dork. And he’s happy to explain the difference.

“Nerds are very into things like Dungeons and Dragons, and dorks are into video games and comics,” Kandzer said.

“Geeks are all programmers and web developers — and my friends who are programmers pick at me for using a Mac.” As a self-employed graphic artist, Kandzer has put his dork status to good use. He’s the man behind Kandzer Design LLC, and he has done illustrations, branding and art direction for clients nationally and as far away as the U.K. and Spain. He’s also been involved in a number of independent comic book projects, including his own self-published “RAZE,” the in-the-works zombietinged comic “Meat and Potatoes,” and the supernatural “Elysia.” Not bad for a guy who started collecting comics at 13 and can still remember the first time he laid eyes on “Uncanny X-Men.” “When I saw that, I said, ‘That’s what I wanna do.’”

The Artist as a Young Man The youngest of three children, Kandzer grew up in Winter Haven and shared a passion for drawing with his brother, Brett.

“He was an amazing artist in high school, but he stopped,” said Kandzer, who was raised by his educator father and sociologist/stay-at-home mother. “I just never stopped.” tallahassee

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Personality

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Given his size (Kandzer’s an athletic 6-foot, 5-inches tall), he was a shoo-in to play football. However, his mother nixed the idea because she didn’t want him to put his art in jeopardy by hurting his hands. He was voted “Most Talented” of his senior year, but the self-deprecating Kandzer said, “It was basically because I was in art class.”

With both parents fully supporting his plans to become a professional artist, Kandzer came to Tallahassee in 1988 to attend Florida State University, where he graduated in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a minor in art history. Evidence of his classical art training abounds in his Buck Lake home, where his original oil paintings share space with Star Wars action figures and science fiction posters.

After graduation, Kandzer went to work as a T-shirt designer at Russell Athletic Corp. in Alexander City, Ala. Though he stayed for five years, he never quite took to the surroundings.

“It was a city with a McDonald’s and a Walmart,” he said. “The (Russell) plant was their whole city.”

Armed with some lithograph prints in his portfolio, Kandzer returned to Tallahassee and landed a design job with the Tshirt business Mr. Tees. That was where he met his future friend and “Meat and Potatoes” collaborator Vince Labolito, who is now art director for T-Formation.

“When I first met Vince, he didn’t talk a lot,” Kandzer recalled. “Later, he said, ‘I knew you were cool when you walked in and you had a Wolverine shirt on the first day of work.’”

Going DIY Like many illustrators, Kandzer dreamed of working for one of the two big comic book publishers, DC or Marvel Comics, as an artist. But when that didn’t pan out — and with the do-it-yourself rise of the Internet — he decided to go the self-publishing route.

In 2001, he began writing and illustrating “RAZE,” which was inspired by a documentary about the brain and how it can be literally touched and manipulated.

The concept is that a villain named TenMan kidnaps five people and alters their brains to make them impervious to injury, and therefore invulnerable, for 24 hours.

After learning the truth, one victim sets out to bring down those responsible.

Though he no longer sells “RAZE,”

Get Your Geek On With four independently owned comic shops, Tallahassee is rich territory for lovers of comics, graphic novels and role-playing games.

The Bookshelf Comic books, graphic novels, collectibles, toys and apparel, as well as used paperbacks.

1303 S. Monroe St. (850) 224-269, bookshelf-tally.com Cosmic Cat Comic books, graphic novels and collectibles, plus an online comic bookstore and subscription service.

Store adjoins an art gallery.

625-A Industrial Drive (850) 224-5554, cosmiccatcomics.com Fallout Comics Comic books, graphic novels and games.

2312 Apalachee Parkway, Unit 9 (850) 298-4263 Secret Headquarters Comics and Games Comic books, graphic novels, collectibles, games and a kids’ area.

2418 N. Monroe St., Suite 210 (850) 385-2736, shqcomicsandgames.com

Kandzer learned plenty about creating a book from scratch. He can do it all, from writing to coloring, but inking is his favorite part of the process.

“I would say ‘RAZE’ also taught me how much it actually takes to make a comic book, especially when you are writing it, penciling it, inking it and coloring it,” said Kandzer, who has done signings of the comic at local comic book shop Cosmic Cat. “It was an awesome, very worthwhile adventure.”

Kandzer can create a comic from soup to nuts, including scriptwriting, illustration, inking and digital coloring. On a collaborative project like “Elysia,” he shows the rough sketches to the writer for approval before tightening the pencil work tallahassee

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Beatriz Ball • Home Source • Sferra Brothers • Down Town • Bunnies by the Bay • Lady Primrose

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The Gallery on Market Street (down from Hopkin’s & next to Nic’s Toggery)

(850) 893-1713

1495 Market St. Mon.–Sat. 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m.

Vera Bradley • Thymes • Crabtree & Evelyn • Trapp • Claire Burke • Peacock Alley • Matouk

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is Home!

May–June 2011

Beatriz Ball • Home Source • Sferra Brothers • Down Town • Bunnies by the Bay • Lady Primrose

Vera Bradley • Thymes • Crabtree & Evelyn • Trapp • Claire Burke • Peacock Alley • Matouk

Personality and inking the images by hand. He then scans the images into the computer and colors them digitally.

“There’s no coloring by brush, even though I could do that,” he said. “Even though you’re doing it on the computer, you’re still painting.”

He’s still working on the script for “Meat and Potatoes,” which he says will be a humorous comic set in Tallahassee and based on real experiences he and Labilito had while working together. “Elysia” takes place in a future where angels rule the land, and the project’s existence is a testament to the power of social networking. The writer, Serena Obrhai, lives in England, but she struck up a friendship with Kandzer via Twitter before asking him to collaborate with her on the comic book.

Some would call that a stroke of luck, but Kandzer, a devout Lutheran, often credits the divine for any professional and personal success. He puts it in simple, straightforward terms: “It was God.”

Family Man Kandzer’s local art career continued to move forward over the years, and he went on to become a senior designer for T-Formation and Compass Marketing and Consulting. Along the way, he did work for international clients such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, and he racked up regional and national Addy Awards. But in 2009, he made the decision to launch his own business, largely so he could spend more time with his 10-year-old daughter, Emma.

Kandzer, who is divorced, said working from home allows him to be an involved parent who can take her to school and extracurricular activities. Though she isn’t into comic books, his daughter shares his affection for all things Star Wars. On a table in Kandzer’s home, Emma has arranged a sizable collection of action figures into groups of good and bad — Jedi and Rebel Alliance on one side, Sith and Empire on the other.

Working from home took some getting used to, but his tweets (his Twitter handle is kandzerdesign), makes it abundantly clear that he loves his job. Kandzer’s days are filled with a variety of creative projects, meetings with clients, activities with his daughter and his church, comics and a whole lot of coffee.

“It was all about Emma,” Kandzer said of going the self-employment route. “I know I’m blessed, and we’re happy.” n

“We believe our clientele to be the best of the best and find Tallahassee Magazine to be the perfect medium to reach them.”

Crawford Atkins, Vice President & GM, Capital Eurocars

“MY CLIENTS ARE NOT LOOKING FOR THE DEAL OF THE DAY. They are looking for a great product with service to match. Brand marketing is vital. It is my opinion that our business strategy and style of advertising are greatly served by Tallahassee Magazine. The magazine delivers our message in a manner that no one else can. Over the last seven years that I have been in Tallahassee, we have experienced tremendous success and growth. I believe this is directly related to Tallahassee Magazine and I look forward to many years of accomplishments to come. We are confident of the success the relationship will bring.”��■

CURRENT • QUOTABLE • WELL-READ (850)�878-0554 • tallahasseemagazine.com

Historicity

The Life and Death of Hardy Bryan Croom

T

he steam packet Home buzzed with activity as the passengers and crew readied for departure from New York City bound for Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 7, 1837. It was only the Home’s fourth such voyage. There were concerns the vessel wasn’t designed for ocean passages, but as a result of her reputation for speedy trips, excellent accommodations and the high character of her commander, Captain White, she carried a full complement of almost 90 passengers in addition to her crew of 43. Among her passengers were some of the East Coast’s most prominent families, including Hardy Bryan Croom, his wife Frances and their three children.

The normal pre-voyage excitement and gaiety may have been tempered somewhat for the Crooms due to an ongoing disagreement between the couple about where they would live. Hardy and Frances both came from wealthy North Carolina families and had lived in New Bern, N.C., since their marriage.

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Frances divided her time between the social circles of New Bern, Saratoga, N.Y. and New York City, and their children were enrolled in the finest East Coast schools.

Frances was not interested in changing any of these things. However, Hardy had sold most of his interests in North Carolina and bought several large plantations in the newly opened Florida territory. He had already transported all of his equipment and slaves to his new holdings and was ready for his family to join him.

In an effort to entice his wife, Hardy was planning to build a grand manor house on one of his plantations, Goodwood, located just a few miles outside of Tallahassee, the new capital of Florida.

A number of old planter families from Virginia and the Carolinas had already established themselves in the area, but Frances was not convinced. To her, Florida was a wilderness full of wild Indians and ruffians and she had no desire to relocate her family there.

They had compromised on Charleston, S.C., where Hardy could be closer to his

plantations in Florida and Frances could participate in her East Coast lifestyle, but there was every indication Hardy still was planning to move his family to Goodwood.

As the Home steamed out of New York harbor that Saturday afternoon, Hardy and Frances Croom had no idea that their marital dispute over the family’s domicile would finally be decided by the Florida Supreme Court 20 years later.

Hardy Bryan Croom was educated at the University of North Carolina. He studied law and served for a short period in the state senate. His father was a wealthy planter who had started to invest in land around Tallahassee in the 1820s. When their father passed away unexpectedly, Hardy and his brother Bryan traveled to Florida to look after his estate. After they arrived, the brothers saw the value and potential in the rich red soil of the region, so they purchased additional land and established new plantations in Leon, Jefferson and Gadsden counties.

Sometime around 1832, Hardy Croom leased a plantation on the west bank of the

Photos by Scott Holstein and Courtesy Florida Archives

His Body Was Lost, But His Legacy Lives on in Goodwood and the Law By Gibby Conrad

Local History Hardy Bryan Croom (opposite page) began building the Goodwood House in the 1830s, but died in a shipwreck, along with his wife and children. The family is memorialized with an obelisk (right) that still stands at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Apalachicola River. The land directly across the river from this property was much different from the pine forests that covered so much of the Panhandle. Deep ravines cut through the high banks on the east side of the river and provided a unique ecosystem for many unusual species of plants.

Croom had a passion for botany, and while he was not formally trained, his interest and attention to detail led him to discover several new species. Among the species credited to Croom are the Croomia pauciflora, Baptisa simpliciflora, Taxus floridania and Torreya taxifloria. All were discovered in the cool, shaded ravines across the river from his plantation.

Croom began to be recognized as a promising new talent in the world of botany and had several papers published in the American Journal of Science.

The steamer Home’s fourth voyage to Charleston got off to an inauspicious start as the vessel ran aground just outside of the Narrows while leaving New York. She was able to free herself around 10 p.m. and, with no apparent damage, got underway again. The first day at sea was uneventful, but by Sunday night the wind had increased significantly out of the northeast and the boat began to labor in the rising seas.

Without any warning, the Home had encountered a tropical hurricane that would become known as Racer’s Storm. Monday morning Captain White spotted Hatteras and turned the vessel out to sea in order to round the cape. The situation aboard the Home turned from bad to worse as the steamer began taking on water at an alarming rate.

John D. Roland, one of the passengers, later described the scene this way, “All hands during the time were at the pumps, and all passengers, women included, were bailing with buckets, pails, pans, etc.; the leak, however, increased constantly.”

When Captain White felt he had finally cleared the Cape, he turned his vessel back towards shore. The Home was now in dire shape. As Roland described it, “… the water gained constantly. The boat worked and bent like a reed … and those best acquainted with her expected that she would break in two any moment — that she would go down and all on board would perish.”

By 6 p.m. Monday the rising water had reached the firebox and extinguished tallahassee

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Historicity the fires, causing the engine to stop. Captain White ordered the sails set; he knew the only chance of saving his passengers and crew was to run the Home up on the beach. At about 10 p.m., the steamer struck the bottom a quarter mile from the outer line of breakers and began to come apart almost immediately.

The Home only carried three small boats. One had been stove in by the storm, another was swamped alongside before it could be loaded and the third, filled with passengers, capsized in the surf. At the time, steamboats were not required to carry life preservers and only two passengers on board had their own. Of the approximately 130 people on board the Home that night, only 39 survived. The entire Croom family perished in the sea.

Hardy Bryan Croom’s body was never recovered and, despite a letter to his brother stating that he had left a will in New York, none was ever found.

Following the wreck, the seaworthiness of the Home and the competence of Captain White were both brought into question. However, the actual cause of the disaster was probably due to the lack of accurate weather forecasting. Had Captain White known of the hurricane, he would have undoubtedly delayed his departure.

The sinking of the Home with its tragic loss of life, combined with a growing number of steamboat disasters around the country, prompted Congress to pass the Steamboat Act of 1838, giving the federal government the right to inspect steamboats operating in the United States. The law was amended in 1852 to require, among other things, that these vessels carry a float or life preserver for every person on board.

Hardy Croom’s brother, Bryan, was waiting in Charleston where the Home was due to arrive from New York on October 10. Reports began to trickle in of a wreck up the coast, but it was not until the 19th that Bryan received confirmation that Hardy and his entire family had perished.

Because no will was ever found, Hardy was considered to have died intestate.

The settlement of his large estate was going to be a long and complicated affair.

Bryan Croom returned to Florida and, with the support of Hardy’s blood relatives, assumed the role of executor of his estate. Bryan took over the operation of Goodwood and completed the house his brother had started. He also had a monument erected in memory of Hardy Croom and his family at the southwest corner of 50

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Want to Know More?

There’s an entire book dedicated to Hardy Croom and his family, “The Croom Family and Goodwood Plantation: Land, Litigation, and Southern Lives” by local writers William Warren Rogers and Erica R. Clark. The trade paperback book is sold at the Goodwood Museum & Gardens gift shop.

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tallahassee.

Meanwhile, Frances Croom’s mother, Henrietta Smith, was made administratrix of Hardy Croom’s estate in North Carolina. The laws in Florida and North Carolina differed on the settlement of the estate of a person who died intestate, so the question of Hardy Croom’s domicile became the key to determining how his estate was to be divided. Mrs. Smith filed suit against the Croom family in Florida, contending that Hardy Croom’s domicile was, and always had been, New Bern, N.C., not Tallahassee.

North Carolina’s laws favored her and if she could prove that when Croom died he was still domiciled in that state, she would inherit the bulk of his estate. It took almost 20 years for the suit to be settled, but in the end the Florida Supreme Court found for Mrs. Smith. Ironically, the wreck of a steamboat named Home became the impetus for the landmark case in Florida law on determining domicile.

Croom’s memory lives on in the Tallahassee area in several ways. The marble obelisk memorializing the tragic loss of the Croom family still stands in the southwest corner of St. John’s church. The beautiful Goodwood house, built by Croom’s brother, is now surrounded by the city of Tallahassee and is open to the public.

And, most important of all, the unique ecosystems of the ravines on the east side of the Apalachicola River, with their rare and endangered plant species, are protected by the Torreya State Park and the Ravine Preserve. Modern day botanists and naturalists can walk in the footsteps of Hardy Bryan Croom and experience the same thrill of exploring such a beautiful and unique place. n tallahassee

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calendar | social studies | charity

Photo by Scott Holstein

SPOTLIGHT

» Art With a Heart

For 13 years, Big Bend Cares has brought the community together for an art-filled evening at Artopia, its annual fundraiser.

Local, regional and nationally recognized artists have donated their work (including Ron Yrabedra, whose signature palm tree motif is shown here) and most of the art will be available for bidding in a silent auction. A select group of works will be offered in a live auction.

All proceeds are used by Big Bend Cares to support its mission of education, services and support to those suffering from HIV/AIDS in

Leon and seven surrounding counties.

Last year’s show featured more than 300 different works ranging from oil and watercolor paintings to mixed media compilations, sculpture and handmade jewelry. This year, organizers are shaking things up a bit with the addition of on-site art demonstrations, where artists will create pieces live in addition to the musical entertainment.

The event will be held in the Turnbull Conference center at Florida State University June 25 from 6:30–10 p.m. “It’s a state-of-the-

art facility with ample room and the lighting and sound there are going to beautifully showcase the pieces that have been generously donated by our artists,” says Perry Snead, director of development and support services for Big Bend Cares.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the Big Bend Cares website. The Turnbull Conference Center is located on 555 W. Pensacola St. For more information, call Perry Snead at (850) 656-2437 ext. 225 or visit bigbendcares.org/ artopia11. — Janeen Talbott

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calendar May & June Compiled by Carson Demont and Terrika Mitchell

Through June 24 Baroque at the Brogan Because of a special agreement with the Italian government and Milan’s Pinacoteca Di Brera, Tallahasseans can see 50 Baroque masterpieces from the 16th and 17th century in exhibition at The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science. 350 S. Duval St. Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 1–5 p.m. thebrogan.org Through July 9 The Creative Process: Heather Parker Panama City artist Heather Parker exhibits at the Gadsden Art Center, showcasing her acrylic paintings focused on lines, shapes and other basic elements of visual communication. $1 donation. Members and children free. 13 N. Madison St. Quincy.

10 a.m.–5 p.m., Tue-Sat. (850) 875-4866, gadsdenarts.org Through Dec. 31 Florida Highwaymen Vividly depicted Florida landscapes painted by self-taught African-American artists that were sold by the roadside 50 years ago are now prized artworks. The Museum of Florida History is displaying the paintings of 23 of the 26 Highwaymen artists throughout the year. FREE. 500 S. Bronough St. Weekdays 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Sun and holidays noon–4:30 p.m. (850) 245-6400, museumoffloridahistory.com May 1 May Day Party Come out and celebrate May Day at Railroad Square Art Park with art, arts and crafts, vendors and more. FREE. Noon– 5 p.m. For more information contact Zan Bielec at (850) 224-6666 or email theothersidevintage@gmail.com May 6–8 and 13–15 ‘Curtains’ A musical comedy, “Curtains” unfolds backstage at Boston’s Colonial Theatre in 1959 at a pre-Broadway tryout of a new musical.

Tallahassee Little Theatre, 1861 Thomasville Road. Adults $16, students and seniors $14. Fri and Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m. (850) 224-8474, theatrealacarte.org tallahassee

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events calendar May 6 and June 3 First Friday Gallery Hop On the first Friday of every month there’s a gallery hop at Railroad Square where you’ll find live music, art and refreshments. FREE. 567 Industrial Drive.

6–9 p.m. firstfridaytallahassee.com May 7 10th Annual Kidsfest Youngsters, bring your parents to this family-oriented event and have fun! There’ll be hands-on activities, bounce houses, a water

best bet: May 13 & May 20 Relay for Life At Relay for Life, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. The overnight events last between 18 and 24 hours. Although each is different, certain traditions are common at all Relays. Each starts with a Survivors Lap, when those who have had cancer are invited to circle the track together and help celebrate the victories achieved over the disease.

After dark, they honor people who have been touched by cancer and remember loved ones lost to the disease. The May 13 Relay for Life will be held at Lawton Chiles High School, 7200 Lawton Chiles Lane, and the May 20 Relay will be held at the Leon Country Fairgrounds, 441 Paul Russell Road. The events start at 6 p.m. and last throughout the night. For more information contact Amanda May at Amanda.May@cancer.org.

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slide, pony rides, giveaways and live entertainment. Admission is $2 per person (minimum donation) to Kids Incorporated of the Big Bend, but all activities are free. North Florida Fairgrounds. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (850) 414-9800, kidsincorporated.org May 7–8 ‘Cinderella’ The Tallahassee Ballet interprets this classic tale of a special girl who finds her prince through beautiful sets and costumes that complement the exquisite ballet choreographed by Kathryn Karrh Cashin. $20–$35.

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, FSU Campus.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (children’s abbreviated performance) and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30.

(850) 224-6917, tallahasseeballet.org May 14 17th Annual Tour of Gardens A day dedicated to horticulture begins with a continental breakfast at Maclay Gardens as well as a plant sale and silent auction.

Participants are then given maps so they can enjoy a self-guided tour of eight of Tallahassee’s best private gardens. This year’s event, sponsored by the Friends of Maclay Gardens, features the reveal of the Tallahassee Garden Club’s Backyard Makeover. $25.

3540 Thomasville Road. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (850) 487-4115, friendsofmaclaygardens.com May 14 and June 11 Leon County Humane Society Dog Washes Calling all dirty dogs! To raise money for the Animal Medical Emergency Fund, an army of volunteers wants you to bring your pooch to the LCHS office for a wash — and a flea dip, if you’d like. Nail clipping is also available. Just remember, dogs must be on a leash. $8 for a wash, $8 for nail clipping.

413 Timberlane Road. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. (850) 224-9193, lchs.info May 15 Jazz for Justice Enjoy an evening of music at Chez Pierre at this annual event that supports Legal Services of North Florida. The event also includes a silent auction featuring fantasy trips, fine jewelry, gift certificates and more.

VIP patrons ($100) will be feted a champagne reception at 3 p.m. $15 (children under 12 free) 1215 Thomasville Road. 4–7 p.m. (850) 701-3313, jazzforjustice.org May 20 Emancipation Day Celebration The Knott House Museum annually commemorates the freeing of slaves in Florida in 1865 with a re-enactment of the tallahassee

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events calendar reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, period music and a picnic in Lewis Park.

11:30 a.m. FREE. 301 E. Park Ave. (850) 922-2459, museumoffloridahistory.com May 21 Pints for Paws Sponsored by the North Florida Brewers League, you can sample homebrewed craft beers to support the work of the Animal Shelter Foundation. More than 50 varieties will be available from some of the region’s best brewers, who will also be on hand to offer advice to those considering brewing their own. A $10 admission gets you six samples. Additional samples are available for $1 each. 4–8 p.m. Market Square Shopping Center Pavilion. pintsforpaws.org

best bet: May 21 Wakulla Springs 5K Grand Prix Get your running shoes laced up for the annual Wakulla Springs State Park wilderness experience. This year’s 5K run will serve as the first grand prix event, consisting of a 5K trail run, a 1-mile family run and a runners’ boat tour. All funds raised go toward park improvements. The race kicks off at 8 a.m. and the festivities end around noon. Registration begins at 7 a.m. on race day. Complimentary T-shirts will be given to the first 300 people to register by mail or online by May 11. 550 Wakulla Park Drive. For more information contact Cheryl Creel at (850) 509-7103 or visit wakullasprings.org.

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June 3 Downtown Nights On the first Friday of every month, downtown Thomasville shops and restaurants participate in special events, customer specials and other treats for visitors. FREE. Thomasville, Ga. 5–9 p.m. (229) 227-7020, downtownthomasville.com June 5 Cantatas, Cellos, & Coffee The Bach Parley baroque music ensemble concludes its season with a performance of two Bach cantatas as well as a duo performance by husband and wife cellists Evan and Kim Jones. Commentary on each piece will be provided. FREE (free childcare will be available). St. John Episcopal Church, 211 N. Monroe St. 3–4:30 p.m. (850) 224-8025, tallahasseebachparley.org June 9–12, 17–19 & 24–26, ‘Bedroom Farce’ The better and worse of marriage is depicted in this wickedly funny play about a chaotic couple enduring a shaky marriage.

Their comedic breakup and makeup drives the plot of this performance. $20 adults, $14 students and seniors. Tallahassee Little Theatre. Sunday performances begin at 2 p.m., all others begin at 8 p.m. (850) 224-8474, tallahasseelittletheatre.com June 10 and 11 6th Annual Ride for Hope Cyclists can support the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center in a two-day event including five courses ranging from a family ride/ walk to a 100-mile century through Tallahassee’s canopy roads. See the Hero of Hope presentation and more Friday and enjoy the family festival and health fair on Saturday. $15–$40 for cyclists. North Florida Fairgrounds. Friday 5–8 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m.– 1 p.m. (850) 431-5698, ride4hope.com June 11 11th Annual Tallahassee Police Ball Aid the initiatives of the Tallahassee Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association by attending a night of dinner, dining and musical selections from Tallahassee’s Pure Platinum Band. Drawings for a variety of gifts and dining activities will be held. $50.

FSU University Center Club (at Doak Campbell Stadium). 6:30–11 p.m. (850) 556-5347, tcpaaa.org June 18 Tallahassee Model Railroad Show & Sale For the 20th year, the Big Bend Model Railroad Association will host their annual tallahassee

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events calendar fundraising event where participants can look forward to admiring layouts and testing and buying model trains, themed paraphernalia and more. FREE admission for Boy and Girl Scouts in uniform and children 12 and under; 13 and older $5. North Florida Fairgrounds, Building 4. 9 a.m.– 4 p.m. Contact John Sullenberger at (850) 544-1870. bbmra.org June 25 Making and Canning Salsa Fresca Master gardener and living history interpreter Judith Stricklin shares her expertise in a session on salsa making. Guests can join Stricklin in combining peppers, tomatoes, onions and herbs to mix take-home jars of salsa. All materials will be provided. $10 members, $12 nonmembers. Tallahassee Museum, 3945 Museum Drive. 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

(850) 575-8684, tallahasseemuseum.org

best bet: June 3 ‘Sip and Savor’ Sunset Rotary presents an evening at the Hotel Duval dedicated to fine food and drink. There will be six beverage/food stations, including two wine stations as well as others featuring scotch, beer and vodka. Each station will offer three or four different drinks as well as a food that pairs well with the beverages’ flavors. Silent auction items include an autographed Buster Posey bat and golf and resort vacations in Florida. The event benefits the Rotary Youth Camp for the handicapped and other charitable causes. The event begins at 6 p.m. and tickets are $50.

For ticket purchase and sponsorship information, visit sunsetsipsavor.com. tallahassee

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events calendar July 4 Annual CNS Fourth of July Celebration & Fireworks CNS of Thomasville will host its annual Independence Day celebration with food, family fun and music. A firework showcase begins at nightfall. FREE. Remington Park, 1304 Remington Ave. Thomasville, Ga. 6:30–9:30 p.m. (229) 227-7001 n

best bet: July 4 Celebrate America The City of Tallahassee plans to light up the night for the Fourth of July with a spectacular fireworks display featuring the latest in high-tech pyrotechnics.

But that’s only the grand finale for a day full of summer fun at Tom Brown Park. The fun kicks off at 3:30 p.m. with continuous shows on the main stage and the Showmobile, including an as-yetundetermined headliner in the evening.

At this Tallahassee Independence Day tradition, you’ll find a children’s activity area, a Tallahassee Fire Department fire truck display, voter registration, a naturalization ceremony, exhibits, arts and crafts, and food vendors. Huge crowds usually attend, and there is limited parking at Tom Brown. Your best bet is to ride the free shuttle service that runs approximately every 15 minutes from the Koger Center.

When you’re heading out, pack your American flags, but leave the alcohol, grills and pets at home. They’re not allowed in the park or on the bus. For more information, visit talgov.com/parks.

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Tallahassee’s first

Signature Store NOW OPEN Market Plaza 1350 Market Street, Suite 100 668-4807

tallahassee

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2011

It’s time for you to be the judge.

Have you eaten at a really spectacular local restaurant recently? Done business with someone whose professionalism impressed you?

Thought to yourself, “These people should be recognized for the fantastic work they do!”?

Well, now’s your chance to let the world know.

Using our handy-dandy 2011 “Best of Tallahassee” ballot, you can show some love to your

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favorite local establishments and nominate them as the crème de la crème of Tallahassee’s restaurants, shops and service providers. It’s your opinion that counts, and an independent group will count the ballots and identify the winners in 100 different categories. Look in the September/ October issue of Tallahassee Magazine to see if your favorites are among the honorees.

2011 official best of tallahassee ballot brought to you by

THE RULES OK, get your pens ready, but first, please take note of our rules, which are designed to make the contest as fair as possible: • Only ballots printed on original magazine pages will be accepted — no copies (color or black-and-white) or facsimiles of the ballot.

• Ballots must have votes in at least 10 categories.

• All votes must be for Tallahassee-area businesses (except the weekend getaway category).

• Only one ballot per envelope is permitted.

• All ballots must be mailed directly to The Junior League of Tallahassee, a third-party organization that will process the ballots: Best of Tallahassee The Junior League of Tallahassee Post Office Box 13428 Tallahassee, Florida 32317 • Ballots must be received by May 31, 2011.

• Obvious attempts at ballot stuffing will be disqualified.

ONCE BALLOTS ARE COUNTED, ALL TABULATIONS ARE FINAL.

Food & Beverage Appetizer_ ____________________________ Asian Restaurant________________________ Bakery________________________________ Bar___________________________________ Barbecue______________________________ Breakfast______________________________ Brunch________________________________ Cajun Restaurant_ ______________________ Carryout/Gourmet to Go_________________ Casual Dining_ _________________________

Dessert_ ______________________________ Family Friendly Restaurant________________ Fast Food_ ____________________________ Fine Dining Restaurant___________________ Hamburger_ ___________________________ Happy Hour____________________________ Hibachi _______________________________ Italian Restaurant_ ______________________ Locally Owned Restaurant________________ Lunch_ _______________________________ Mexican/Latin American Restaurant________ Outdoor Dining_________________________

Catering_______________________________

Pizza_ ________________________________

Celebration/Special Occasion Restaurant____

Seafood Market_________________________

_____________________________________

Seafood Restaurant_ ____________________

Cocktail/Martini_ _______________________

Sports Bar_____________________________

Coffee Shop_ __________________________

Steakhouse____________________________

Deli_ _________________________________

Sushi_________________________________

t TALLAHASSEE allahassee

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Wine List______________________________

Pest Control Service_____________________

Wings_ _______________________________

Photographer__________________________

Service Providers

Plumbing Service_ ______________________ Real Estate Agency/Agent________________

Accounting Services_____________________

Roofing Repair/Services__________________

Air Conditioning/Heating_________________

Security System_ _______________________

Alterations_____________________________

Surgical Physician_______________________

Assisted Living Facility___________________

Tanning Salon__________________________

Auto Repair____________________________

Tree Service____________________________

Automobile Dealer______________________

Veterinary Clinic________________________

Barber Shop_ __________________________

Weight Loss/Control Program_____________

Carpet Cleaner_ ________________________ Cell Phone Service_ _____________________ Chiropractor___________________________ Computer Repair/Services________________ Dance Studio__________________________ Day Spa_______________________________ Dentist Office_ _________________________ Dermatologist Practice___________________ Dry Cleaner____________________________ Electrician_____________________________ Embroidery____________________________ Family Physician________________________ Financial Institution______________________ Flooring (carpet/tile/etc)_________________ Florist_ _______________________________

Shopping Antique Shop_ _________________________ Furniture Store_________________________ Gift Store______________________________ Jewelry Store_ _________________________ Kids Clothing___________________________ Locally Owned Shop____________________ Mens Clothing__________________________ Nursery/Garden Center_ _________________ Optometry/Eyeglass Store________________ Women’s Accessories/Shoes______________ Womens Clothing_______________________

Gym/Health Club_ ______________________

Entertainment

Hair Salon_ ____________________________

Art Gallery/Museum_____________________

Hotel_________________________________

Community Event_______________________

Insurance Agency_______________________

Golf Course____________________________

Interior Design Firm_ ____________________

Live Music/Entertainment Venue___________

Landscaping/Lawn Services_ _____________

Place to be Seen________________________

Limo Service___________________________

Place to Take the Kids____________________

Moving Company_______________________

Weekend Getaway______________________

Nail Salon_ ____________________________ Obstetric/Gynecological Practice_ _________

Local

Painter________________________________

Best New Business*_ ____________________

Pediatric Physician______________________

Local Charity/Not-for-Profit_______________ *Must have opened on or after May 1, 2010

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M AY a y –– JJ UNE u n e 22 00 11 11 M

May / June 2011

THE SIXTH ANNUAL RIDE FOR HOPE SUPPORTS

“Cancer Care Close to Home” at the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center Southeastern Dermatology is Presenting Sponsor

Southeastern Dermatology has entered a three-year philanthropic partnership with the TMH Foundation as the Ride for Hope’s presenting sponsor. According to Michael J. Ford, M.D., “Partnering with the Ride for Hope to promote healthy, active lifestyles, and to support the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center, makes good sense. We are proud to be the presenting sponsor for the Ride for Hope and honored to be a part of what the community is doing to support quality cancer care at TMH.” All proceeds from the Ride for Hope benet the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center and the patients it serves.

The Ride for Hope celebrates the life of its founder, Lou Farrah, who passed away in November 2006. He is survived by wife Jenny and sons Jason Farrah, M.D. and Jeffery Farrah, D.C. While ghting cancer, Lou shared his vision of an event to inspire other cancer Riders jockey for starting position at the 2010 Ride for Hope. patients, to reach out to the community and to embrace life. With the help of friends, family, volunteers, the TMH Foundation, and sponsors, the inaugural Ride for Hope was held on June 3, 2006. “Lou was such an inspiration to me. He had a wonderful outlook on life and was a positive inuence to anyone he met. Lou made you feel special, like he was talking just to you in a room full of hundreds. I think of Lou everyday and am honored to carry on the Ride for Hope,” said Tina Darnell of Tallahassee State Bank and the 2011 Ride for Hope Director.

This year, nearly 1,000 people are expected to participate in the Ride’s associated Vendor Expo, Health Fair and Family Fun Festival – with about 600 of those cycling in the main event. Cyclists of all ages and experience, from novice to expert, participate in one of ve different courses from a 100-mile Century ride to a family fun ride/walk. The Ride for Hope and the other events will be held at the North Florida Fairgrounds – all cycling courses will begin and end there.

The fun-lled weekend will kick off Friday evening, June 10, from 5:00 to 8:00 with the Ride for Hope Vendor Expo, Early Registration and Hero of Hope Award Ceremony. The Friday night festivities also include live music, buffet dinner, vendor expositions and demonstrations, many “give-a-ways” and much excitement as riders gear up for the next day.

Michael J. Ford, M.D. Owner, Southeastern Dermatology Presenting Sponsor of the 2011 Ride for Hope

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David Fonvielle, 2011 RFH Honorary Chair, with granddaughters at the 2010 RFH Family Fun Festival.

Children of all ages enjoy the Family Fun Ride/Walk during the 2010 Ride for Hope at the North Florida Fairgrounds.

On Saturday morning, June 11, cyclists will gather at the Fairgrounds to ride 100, 68, 40, or 13 miles on specially designed courses through Tallahassee’s unique canopy roads, challenging rolling hills, and beautiful countryside. The 100-mile “Century” has an early morning start at 6:30, followed by the 68-mile “Metric Century” at 7:00, 40-mile at 7:30, and 13-mile at 8:30. The Fun Ride/Walk for children of all ages will begin at 10:00 and will be limited to the connes of the Fairgrounds.

David Fonvielle, of the law rm Fonvielle Lewis Foote & Messer, has participated in and supported the Ride for Hope for several years and has been named the 2011 Ride for Hope Honorary Chair. “Because he is an inspirational and inuential member of the cycling and local community, David has provided invaluable insight not only for the event itself, but he has also expanded the horizons of the event’s fund-raising potential – and he has only just begun,” said Aaron Kinnon, Director of Community Outreach for the TMH Foundation. “David, his wife Debby, and his law partners all have a commitment to the success of the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center – it’s more than just a philanthropic interest, it’s a personal commitment to the people in our community and it shows in their word and deed.”

From 9:00 through lunchtime, there will be a Ride for Hope Health Fair with basic health screenings and a Family Fun Festival featuring face painting, balloons, bike decorating stations and treats. The Health Fair and the Family Fun Festival are complimentary and open to the public. Thanks to the generosity of Gordos Cuban Cuisine and Bandidos Burritos Company, a delicious lunch will be served to the public for a minimal charge. Lunch is complimentary for registered cyclists.

You can Ride for Hope or just go out to enjoy the festivities – mark your calendars now for June 10 and 11. For early registration or to learn more about Ride for Hope and its sponsorship opportunities, please visit www.ride4hope.com or call the TMH Foundation at 850.431.5389.

Golden Gala XXVIII Tallahassee Memorial’s Golden Gala continues to hold its place as the region’s premier charitable and social event.

Over its remarkable twenty-eight year history, Golden Gala has generated millions of dollars for Tallahassee Memorial, its patients and their families. Please see the July/August issue of this magazine for highlights and photographs from Golden Gala XXVIII that was held on April 6 to support the acquisition of an Interactive Patient CommunicationEducation-Entertainment System.

ay–June 2011 68 |Mtallahassee memorial healthcare foundation ADVERTORIAL

Team Type 1, The Cake Shop, the Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center and the TMH Foundation “Team Up” with Rotary International – Rotarian Action Group for Diabetes and Sweat Therapy Fitness

Helping Children with Diabetes Team Type l, The Cake Shop, the TMH Diabetes Center, the TMH Foundation, the Rotarian Action Group for Diabetes, and Sweat Therapy Fitness “teamed up” on World Diabetes Day for an all-day indoor cycling marathon to promote diabetes awareness and exercise as a way of taking control of diabetes and obesity. Twelve thousand dollars was raised for the benet of children with diabetes both here in the Tallahassee region and in Rwanda through the International Diabetes Federation Life for a Child Program. “Team Type 1 (www.teamtype1.org) is a global athletics organization. Its mission is to instill hope Pictured from Left to Right, Dr. Larry Deeb, Dawn Smith, Joanna Southerland, Linda Richards, and to inspire people with diabetes,” C. Wayne Edwards, Paula Fortunas and Judi Taber explained Joanna Southerland, mother of Team Type 1 founder Phil Southerland.

Phil, a graduate of Leon High School, was born at TMH in 1982 and was events – Linda Richards of The Cake Shop, April Hambrecht, Kim and Brian diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes that same year. “Phil is a remarkable young Bibeau of Sweat Therapy Fitness, Abby Reynolds, Alexis Gaston, Jen Bricker, man,” said Larry Deeb, M.D., a medical director of the Tallahassee Memorial Athena Gill, Rocky Hanna, Leon High School, Larry Deeb, M.D., Nancy Diabetes Center. “His Team Type 1’s six professional cyclists, all with Type Wright, M.D., Wayne Edwards, the Rotary Club of Tallahassee, Florida State 1 diabetes, participated in the Tour of Rwanda stage race, delivering insulin University, Florida A & M University, MidTown Merchants, The Wright Bike Shop, Team Type 1 Mom Squad, Just Get Fit, the Honeytree, Fermentation Lounge, Red Elephant, Chez Pierre and Don and and diabetic supplies to the diabetes center in Rwanda.” Nancy Wright, M.D. Kristie May. According to Dawn Smith, Director of the Tallahassee Memorial who is also a medical director of the Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center, Diabetes Center, the funds raised will fund diabetes camp scholarships for added, “There is much more here than simply raising money. This event, up to fteen local area children and will provide diabetes supplies, mainly and others like it, underscores the crucial role that exercise plays in diabetes test strips, for children in Rwanda. “A mutual goal is served – diabetes control.” education to decrease complications from this disease.” Speaking for all, Dr. Tallahassee Memorial salutes and profoundly thanks the organizers and Deeb concluded, “I have been touched to see how our community has come donors to the Team Up for Type 1 cycling marathon and the associated special together to reach out to children with diabetes here at home and around the

“You can have your cake and eat it, too,” Team Type 1 says, “and EXERCISE if you do.”

tallahassee memorial healthcare foundation ADVERTORIAL | 

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare

and its Foundation Salute and Honor the Donors, Sponsors and Volunteers Who Made Possible the 2011 USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger USTA TALLAHASSEE A USTA Pro Circuit Event

Benefiting the D. Mark Vogter, M.D. Memorial Endowment for Neuro Intensive Care at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital

Benefiting the D. Mark Vogter, M.D. Neuro-Intensive Care Unit at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare

Presenting Sponsor Comcast Grand Slam Sponsors City of Tallahassee Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Affairs 850-The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida Tallahassee Democrat USTA Pro Circuit WCTV Wimbledon Sponsors Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation The Florida Lottery French Open Sponsors Coca-Cola Refreshments Greenberg Traurig Australian Open Sponsors Cabot LodgeThomasville Road Carrabba’s Italian Grill Chick-fil-A In-Tents Events My 107.1 Pro Web Communications/ Everett Teague Sodexo Tallahassee Furniture Direct Tallahassee Neurological Clinic Tallahassee Surgical Associates Tallahassee Woman Magazine Tri-Eagle Sales University Sales and Service & Champion Chevrolet USTA Florida Visit Tallahassee

US Open Sponsors ALSCO Anesthesiology Associates/ Brence Sell, M.D. Barefoot Wines Drs. Glenn & Marci Beck Big Top Manufacturing Brightway Insurance/ Young McConnell Dr. Walter E. Colón, Periodontal Associates of North Florida Core Institute The Cottage Collection at The Grey Fox Mark Cuffe, M.D. Dermatology Associates Leaf & Petal LLC/Suzi Faulk Susan Everhart McAlister McLean Tennis Michael Loo North Florida Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Clinic The Pelham Law Firm SunTrust Bank Tallahassee Nurseries Tallahassee Tennis Association Anny, Karen, Jamie & Jordan Vogter Mark Webb/Merrill Lynch Court Sponsors Alice Abbitt & Ralph Zimmerman Ausley McMullen Dr. & Mrs. Wm. Tyler Baldock Baselineshots.com/ Mike Olivella Bass Sox & Mercer Candace Beauvais Jann & Ray Bellamy Libby & Sid Bigham Katie Brennan (4 Kids Foundation) Maryanne & H. Logan Brooks, M.D.

Butler Pappas Weihmuller Katz Craig LLC Frances C. Chaney, DMD, PA Erica & Ron Clark Jenny & Michael Crowley Kathy & Jim Dahl Anne Davis & Barbara Davidson Dean Development (Wilson Dean) Sandy & Tom DeLopez Carol & Tim Edmond Debra & George English Pam Arthur & Dr. Gery Florek Forms Management Florida United Businesses Association (FUBA) Gem Collection Debbie Hall & Douglas Brandt Carolyn & Rich Henry, M.D. Carol & Ed Herndon James D.A. Holley & Co./ Matt Gilbert K-Swiss Nan Nagy & Ken Kato, M.D. Cathy & Roby Kendall Dr. Farhat & Kristine Khairallah Beth & Lawton Langford Jimmie & Fred Lindsey Karen & Jim MacFarland Mattice & Mattice Real Estate, Lori Mattice, Broker/Owner Becky & Ken McAlpine Patty & Kevin McAlpine Guyte & Beverly McCord Alex Meng & Yi Zhu Corbin & Murray Moore Carol & Ed Moore Motorola/Lee Moreno Performance Video (Jeff Swain) Wanda & John Peterson, M.D. Jill & David Quadagno Kevin & Susan Ragsdale Ted & Sara Rodrigue

Shaw’s Athletics Southern Specialty Group Partnership Stevens Orthodontics (Dr. Lucas & Valorie Stevens) Tallahassee Plastic Surgery Tasty Pastry Bakery Tennis Courture Ida & Bill Thompson Trow Engineering Consultants Mary & Hugh VanLandingham, M.D. Darlene Horton & Roger Wagner Mary & Kevin Warner Tanya & Tony Weaver, M.D. Kathy & Jack Weiss Katrina & Chris Wilhoit, M.D. Tanya & David Wilkins Maria, Mark & Carson Yealdhall Judy Zorn Special Thanks Kathy & Matt Andrews Lyn Baggett Carol Bahorski & the VIP Tent Volunteers Joyce Baker Nancy Beach Kathy Beggs Blue Abaco Blue Bell Ice Cream Trish Boyd John Brooks/Chunk It Jennifer Britt Lori Cartwright Robert Contreras Nancy Crawford Kim Damron Elaine Daughtry Kim Cox-Dennis/Forgotten Coast Productions Joshua DeSha Robin Dye Jo Eldridge

ay–June 2011 70 |Mtallahassee memorial healthcare foundation ADVERTORIAL

LeeAnn & Jim Feiertag & the Ball Kid Volunteers Wanda & David Foulk Linda Frazier The Golden Boys Judy Greenwald Alison Harte Charlie Harvey Kathie & Randy Hock Hopkins Eatery Glen Howe, Steve Leroy, Terry Brown, Jimbo, Pops, Staff of Forestmeadows & The Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Affairs Department Rufus Jefferson Susan Jefferson Anna Johnson Pamela Johnson Dom Lausic Sandy Layne John Lewis Maria Long Golden Eagle Women’s Tennis Association Karen MacFarland Rebecca MacKay Joan Macmillan Diane Marsh Kathy Maus Mel McCarthy Lauryn McCreadie Jean McCully Danny McQuirter Mike’s Beer Barn Roberta Mitchell Margaret Mooney North Florida/South Georgia Women’s Tennis Teams Old Town Café Osceola Supplies Lisa Kirkland O’Steen, Ketcham Realty Group Billie Padgett Stephanie Pichard PODS Premier Health & Fitness Center

Prime South Properties (Dennis Kelley) Eunice Rowe Roly Poly Chandler Russell Heidi Sieloff The Silver Belles Paul Skelton Linda Slade Else Smith Stewart Title Company of Tallahassee Sandra Stovall Patty Sudduth Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare & Foundation Staff TMH NeuroScience/Vogter Neuro-Intensive Care Staff Tallahassee Tennis Association Board & Volunteers Kelly Tucker United States Professional Tennis Association USTA Pro Circuit National Staff USTA Florida Sandi Varn Laurie & Claude Walker Maye & John Walker Jan Waller Tanya Weaver Blue Whitaker Denise Imbler Whitlock Stuart Williams Lori & Eric Willyoung Julie Zins Jon Zolin/USPTA AND All the Ball Kids, Babes & Dudes, Tournament Volunteers, Transportation Drivers, & Housing Sponsors

TMH Human Resources Team Recognized with Prestigious American Business Award Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s Division of Human Resources won the 2010 American Business Awards “Stevie Award” for Human Resources Team of the Year. TMH was recognized for its colleague activities and for its reward and recognition programs. The award was accepted at a New York City ceremony

by TMH Chief Human Resource Ofcer Steve Adriaanse.

“To receive national recognition such as this, along with the leading corporations of America such as Apple Computer and Ford Motor Company, is humbling. It is a huge honor to receive this award on behalf of the staff of TMH’s Division of Human Resources,” said Adriaanse. “I’m so proud of the HR team and its dedication to the colleagues of TMH. Developing and implementing HR initiatives at TMH is recognized, supported and enthusiastically encouraged by our CEO, Mark O’Bryant. This has yielded improved morale, enhanced productivity and contributed to the family atmosphere we enjoy at TMH.”

Steve Adriaanse and the TMH Human Resources Division team deliver best practice services to the 3500 colleagues of TMH. Front row, left to right: Zandra Johnston, Karen Janson, Maellen Langlois, Kiesha Farrell, Chris McCumber, Renee Legree, Felicia Polk, George Bruno, Marya McDonald, Suzanne Hudson. Back row, left to right: Phil Bondi, Laural Arnaldo, Patty Pizzuto, Melissa Davis, Leslie Turner, Steve Adriaanse.

The Stevie Awards recognize outstanding performance in workplaces worldwide. They were created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people, according to ABA President Michael Gallagher.

“Beginning with The American Business Awards in 2002, the International Business Awards in 2003, and the Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service in 2006, our mission has been to raise the prole of exemplary organizations and individuals among the press, the business community and the general public,” Gallagher explained. “In short order, the Stevie has become one of the world’s most coveted business awards.”

The American Business Awards are governed by a Board of distinguished judges and advisors – the ranks of those individuals include many of the leading gures in American business. There are dozens of categories to honor individuals, companies, teams, products, advertising and other forms of corporate media. The competition is structured so that entrants compete only against other rms of a similar size, and in a specic industry. Smaller businesses have as great an opportunity to win a coveted Stevie as do enterprise giants.

Stevie is taken from the name Stephen -- derived from the Greek word for “crowned.” Each Stevie is approximately 16 inches tall, and is hand-cast and nished in 24-karat gold. The crystal pyramid held aloft by Stevie represents the hierarchy of human needs, a system often represented as a pyramid that was developed in the 1960s by psychologist Abraham Maslow, who observed that after their basic needs are met, human beings seek the esteem of their peers.

CARDS FOR A CURE

OCTOBER 1, 2011 - PLEASE SAVE THE DATE to Benefit Cancer Care and Treatment at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare 2011 Title Sponsor

The Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation and the Cards for a Cure committee are pleased to announce that the Sixth Annual Cards for a Cure event will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2011, at the Tallahassee Car Museum.

t a l l a h a s s e e |71 tallahassee memorial healthcare foundation ADVERTORIAL 

Protocols for Philanthropy - Memorial and Tribute Gifts Memorial and Tribute Gifts provide the opportunity to associate a family name or the name of a respected friend or colleague with a project or program of enduring worth at Tallahassee Memorial. Remembering and honoring an individual in this way afrms your abiding admiration, your personal values and priorities.

Memorial and Tribute Gifts can establish a permanent link with the past and lay a rm foundation for the future as TMH marches toward the reality of its vision “Recognized World Class Health Care.”

Memorial and Tribute Gifts can be made to support medical, nursing and allied health scholarships, medical, scientic and technical equipment, capital improvements, specic patient care units or other hospital initiatives.

Paula S. Fortunas President/CEO TMH Foundation

Memorial and Tribute Gifts can be made for immediate use — in the name of the honoree — or placed in an endowment — named for the honoree. In the instance of an endowment, the principal is never invaded. The endowment’s annual payout is used to fund, in perpetuity, the donor-designated TMH program or project.

Memorial and Tribute Gifts can take the form of cash, securities, real estate, life insurance, retirement plan assets or other chosen assets and can be made either outright or deferred under the donor’s estate plan.

Memorial and Tribute Gifts can be funded within the framework of either a charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity — gifts such as these are known as “life income gifts” because they are structured to provide an income (for life or other designated period) to the donor and/or to someone named by the donor.

Memorial and Tribute Gifts are an important tradition for many people and offer exceptional recognition opportunities. The TMH Foundation will be happy to work with you, your family and your professional advisors to help determine the best donation approach within your personal circumstances.

To learn more about Tallahassee Memorial and gift planning for its benet, please contact the TMH Foundation. The contents of this article and any materials provided are general in nature and are not intended as legal or nancial advice. Please consult your own qualied advisor(s) before making a nal decision to proceed with any gift arrangements. Thank you very much for your consideration of Tallahassee Memorial and the patients and families it serves.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation 1331 East Sixth Avenue Tallahassee, Florida 32303 Telephone: 850.431.5389 Facsimile: 850.431.4483 E-Mail: paula.fortunas@tmh.org Website: www.tmhfoundation.org

To Make a Secure On Line Donation: Please go to www.tmhfoundation.org. Click on Make a Donation, and then click on Secure Credit Card Donation.

Tallahassee Fraternity Strikes Again for the Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center The members of Florida A&M University’s Beta Lambda Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., are helping once more to raise money for the Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center. The fraternity is hosting its Fourth Annual Bowling for Diabetes fundraiser on Wednesday June 15, 2011. The event will take place at Capital Lanes, 820 Capital Circle North East, Tallahassee, from 6:00 p.m. through 9:00 p.m.

The annual fundraiser is part of the Social Action initiatives of the Beta Lambda Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., seeking to raise funds for and bring awareness to the community about the Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center and the services it provides. Each year, proceeds from Bowling Tallahassee Memorial Diabetes Center Director Dawn for Diabetes are designated for scholarships for children to attend Diabetes Camp.

Smith and the Diabetes Center Bowling Team.

Last summer, Phi Beta Sigma brothers visited the camp and enjoyed dinner with the children who received the 2010 scholarships.

Participating TMH Department teams include: Pharmacy, Surgery Center and Diabetes Center. The goal for the 2011 event is to completely ll the bowling alley with teams from Tallahassee Memorial, FAMU Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and the local community. Please contact Judi Taber, TMH Foundation Annual Fund Ofcer at 850.431.5904, judi.taber@tmh.org to learn how you can participate.

tallahassee

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Your Low Price Honda Source Ta l l a h a sse e, F L 74

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Children’s Home Society Chef Sampler: 1. Sean Pittman, Audra Pittman, Jane Marks and Mayor John Marks 2. Dennis Stapleton, Robin Stapleton, Mark Wilson and Denise Wilson 3. Clydie Lu Conway, Cathy Benton, Alice Diestelhorst, Jack Diestelhorst and Linda Heiberger 4. Kris Dake, Katie Dake, Kristen Barstow and Donny Barstow 5. Steve Adams and Pam Bauer 6. Jimbo Fisher and Candi Fisher; Single Mingle: 7. Joloyn Garner and John Stampelos 8. Cheryl Jennings, Beverly Glover, Betty Lendway and Kermit Daywalt 9. Betty Hair, Dr. Bob Soni and Virgil Ninuffx [Photos by Caroline Conway and McKenzie Burleigh] TALLAHASSEE

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American Heart Association Heart Ball: 1. Jim Hunt and Deborah Hunt 2. Gaye Webster Sachs and Ron Sachs 3. Paul Hallock, Brooke Hallock, Bill Moor and Mary Moor [Photos by Caroline Conway]

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Red Hills Horse Trials Sponsor Party: 1. Crawford Atkins, Teresa Atkins, Robin Rollins, Rene Rollins, Maria Yealdhall and Mark Yealdhall 2. Tom Barron, Terry Daniels and Lee Daniels 3. Brooke Lochore, Christie Sirmans, Virginia Dailey, John Dailey, David Loveless and Gail Loveless 4. Marvin Mayer, Jane Barron and Terrie Brooks 5. John Gandy, Troy Rentz and Ricky Radford 6. William Smith, Brooke Wilson Hallock, Sophie Patent and Paula P. Smith; Black History Month Honoree Big Bend Hospice: 7. Dr. Jacqueline Beck and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll [Photos by Caroline Conway and courtesy Big Bend Hospice] TALLAHASSEE

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9th Annual Florida Wine Festival: 1. Cissy Stewart and Proctor Stewart 2. Alberto Martinez, Sarah Maryinez, Jack Greacen, Narayan Raghupathi and Vani Ungapen 3. Amy Wheeler, Kara Palmer Smith, Robin Kinsey, Alicia Tookes and Janelle Baker 4. Mindy Londot and Julanne Long 5. Ryan Barber and Kendall Spell 6. Rebekah Smith, Tucker Mackie, Caroline Conway, McKenzie Burleigh and Haley Frazee [Photos by Bianca Salvant] 78

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Florida State Film School’s A Night at the Oscars: 1. Paul Cohen, Jeff “The Dude” Dowd and Frank Patterson 2. Ginny Chander, Bill Rayner and Loyal Horsely 3. Allison Rayboun, Renee Herring, Connie Hiatt and Meryl Warren 4. Paul Cohen, Jenna Davis, Brittany Soriano, Alexis Camarda, Allison Sheppe and Alexis Kaplan; Tallahassee Ballet’s Sisterhood of the Costume Closet: 5. Shannon Grooters and Rian Meadows 6. Betsy Couch, Laurie Hartsfield, Alison Faris, Melissa Lombard, Tina Campbell and Caroline Campbell 7. Laurie Molina and Ann Todd 8. Janet Pichard and Agatha Muse Salters 9. Alison Voorhees and Michelle Torregrosa [Photos by Caroline Conway, Yenna Colvin and Rebekah Dorn] TALLAHASSEE

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Priya Kumar, M.D.

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r. Sivapriya (Priya) Kumar received a medical degree at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences & Research in India.

Upon completion of her education, She joined Family Medicine Residency at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare and certiďŹ ed in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.

She started her primary care practice in 2008 at Madison Memorial Hospital, Madison and then joined North Florida Medical Center at Quincy and provided primary health care for individuals as well as families.

Since December 2010 she has been accepting new patients to her practice at the Patients First North Monroe location. As a Primary Care physician, her focus and medical interests include Preventive Care, treatement of acute and chronic illnesses, Women’s Health, diabetes, hypertension, as well as Pediatric Care.

SPONSORED ARTICLE TALLAHASSEE

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Hunter & Harp The Business of Remaking a City

View from the top J.T. Burnette and Chad Kittrell electrified Tallahassee’s downtown vibe with a $15 million renovation of Hotel Duval that has made it a hot spot for local young professionals like themselves.

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Young Financiers are the Developers of Hotel Duval and Backers of Many Tallahassee Businesses

By Lilly Rockwell | PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

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t had the town talking for days.

On opening night in October 2009, Tallahassee’s Hotel Duval, which had undergone a major $15 million renovation, transformed itself into Cirque du Soleil.

There were drummers hanging from the hotel’s carport ceiling accompanied by ear-splitting music. Exotically dressed contortionists in silver body paint draped themselves around the hotel lobby and meeting rooms. And there was a fireworks display that could be viewed from the hotel’s swanky rooftop lounge.

The 1,000-person guest list was a veritable who’s who list of Tallahassee notables.

That memorable grand opening party marked the beginning of Hotel Duval’s unprecedented popularity. It has become the go-to spot for events in Tallahassee and its South Beach-inspired rooftop lounge is a favorite destination among young professionals.

Not a bad start for two young men in their early 30s with no college degrees and no experience running hotels. What Hotel Duval developers James “Chad” Kittrell, 32, and John Thomas “J.T.” Burnette, 34, did have going for them was a hunger and willingness to bet big, an uncanny ability to recognize and deliver what their hometown lacks, and the capacity to finance an ambitious multi-million dollar project in the middle of a severe recession.

Friends and business partners, Kittrell and Burnette teamed up with a third partner, Frank Whitley, on the development of Hotel Duval. Many of Kittrell and Burnette’s real estate development projects are done under the name of Hunter & Harp Holdings, though they do business under many other names, such as Capital City Partners.

Quietly, over a span of a half-dozen years, Kittrell and Burnette have become a driving force behind many new development projects and businesses in the city, with ownership in companies employing more than 600 people.

Besides Hotel Duval, this under-the-radar company owns trendy restaurant Midtown Filling Station, and before that the Winery and Tapas restaurant in the same location. They opened Genghis Grill on Apalachee Parkway last year. They own Tallahassee-based Ol’ Man Treestands, which makes and sells hunting equipment.

Burnette is also a part-owner in the IT company Brandt Information Services.

What most people don’t realize is that the bread and butter of their business is actually federal contracting work done under the name SheltonDean. Dating back to 2005, according to a federal database of contractors, SheltonDean received more than $64 million to repair and maintain federal buildings.

“Our core business is federal contracting,” Burnette said. “Everything you see and touch is really just an investment. It is funny that everybody thinks of us as Hotel Duval.”

Nevertheless, their success at Hotel Duval opened doors for them to do other major development projects that have the potential to revive overlooked parts of Tallahassee.

One is a mixed-use project near Gaines Street that envisions a three-story restaurant and bar on the corner of Woodward and Madison that the Tallahassee Democrat said will have a top-floor glass-bottom pool extending over the sidewalk. The other is a mixed-use office and retail project at the corner of Tennessee and Monroe streets.

Both are in limbo as Hunter & Harp works to obtain financing.

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A VEGAS-STYLE OPENING Hotel Duval opened with an extravaganza of food and entertainment. Guests were treated to the panoramic view of the city seen from the hotel’s newly built rooftop lounge, Level 8.

“They are visionary, you’ve got give them that,” said Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, who met with Kittrell before hotel renovations were complete. “I like people who have vision and can see the potential in something. I don’t know that anybody would have thought that (Hotel Duval) would be able to transform into what it is today.”

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Youn g E n t re pre n e urs Hunter & Harp’s offices are located off South Monroe, near dingy car repair shops and modest strip malls. Their 13,000-square foot offices are renovated and modern.

Kittrell has a stubbled chin and the good looks of a tanned baseball player. He wears a suit with no tie. Interviewed by phone, Burnette is confident, with a relaxed Southern drawl.

Both Kittrell and Burnette grew up in modest, middle-class homes and shared an early entrepreneurial drive that continues to this day.

Kittrell’s parents divorced when he was young and his mother lived in a tiny 800-square-foot home across from Kate Sullivan elementary, which he also shared with two brothers.

His mother worked in state government and his father owned a fence-building company. Kittrell said he split his time between both of his parents.

Up the road in Monticello, Burnette’s mother was a nurse and his father was an accountant. Early on, Burnette had entrepreneurial leanings, with his first job raising chickens at age 14. A few years later, he started an IT temp staffing business and also began working as a contractor and later got his roofing license.

“At 16, when Burnette Construction originally started, I got a $200,000 contract in Quincy to rehab HUD housing,” Burnette said. Then he got a series of lucky breaks. One of his first roofing assignments was in Panama City just after a hurricane blew through. A $40,000 assignment turned into $1 million worth of repair work.

“Luck has a lot to do with it,” Burnette said.

Meanwhile, at Leon High School, Kittrell played on the baseball team and was hopeful he might be able to parlay that into a career.

After high school, he went to Tallahassee Community College and played for their baseball team.

“I lived in a house with four guys and my Dad paid all my expenses,” Kittrell said. “It was a very easy life, and there wasn’t a whole lot to worry about.”

Kittrell decided he want to quit baseball and “party” instead, he said. So his father cut him off financially, explaining that he had made a grown-up decision with grown-up consequences. Kittrell called up old baseball coaches to inquire about job opportunities.

He landed a part-time job making minimum wage at the Department of Revenue, and continued going to school at TCC. Not long after, he learned of an opening for an administrative assistant position in the marketing department at SunTrust Bank.

There was only one catch — it was full time. With bills to pay, Kittrell jumped at the chance to make a full salary. A few months later SunTrust announced it was consolidating its marketing department. Kittrell was told to move to Orlando, or seek employment elsewhere. Kittrell, who was then 19 or 20, reached out to Jimmy Alford, who was working in a SunTrust office that catered toward highly paid doctors and surgeons.

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“He had a position come open where I would be underneath him and he would serve as my mentor,” Kittrell said. On his first day, he was asked to amortize a 30-year mortgage.

By hand. No calculator allowed.

“I had no banking experience,” Kittrell said. “I had worked in the marketing department, I understood a little bit, but not enough to be dangerous.”

It took him several tries, but eventually he learned how to do it.

“He taught me from the ground up and then that grew into how the banking industry works and how banks worked,” Kittrell said.

“He served as a great mentor to me.”

Early on, Alford said Kittrell had a knack for mixing in the world of SunTrust’s wealthy clientele. “The thing I remember most about Chad was how well-liked he was,” Alford said.

“How well he got along with other people.

Everyone at the bank liked him, he was good at nurturing relationships with customers and at that time we were doing a private banking function for the medical community; these were high-end people.”

“Both of us went to a couple years of college and dropped out,” Kittrell said.

The two became friends and one day decided to become business partners. “He and I formed a company,” Kittrell said. At first, it had a different name, but eventually they settled on Hunter & Harp – their mothers’ maiden names.

The men were involved in one project to build condominiums in Alabama that went bust and taught them a big lesson, though Burnette said their involvement in it was minimal.

“During the boom … anybody can get financing, it was a lot easier for projects like that,” Kittrell said. By contrast, Kittrell said,

Money to play wi th Soon Kittrell rose to the position of vice president and moved to Wakulla Bank, where he was vice president of commercial lending at age 24. Kittrell learned, just as he had at SunTrust, that banking wasn’t just number crunching. “It was about building relationships,” Kittrell said.

Because of his youth, he was entrusted with many clients under age 40 who had found similar success at a young age.

Kittrell was making what he called “decent money” for his age. Perhaps it was his exposure to financially savvy bankers, but Kittrell chose not to spend it on a nice car, clothes or nights out with friends. Instead, he pooled his money with some of his similarly financially blessed friends from high school and became a landlord.

“I bought my first house when I was 20 or 21,” Kittrell said. Records show in March of 2000, Kittrell bought one side of a duplex in Richview Park Circle, near Park and Capital Circle for $68,000. Three years later, in 2003, he bought the other side of that duplex for $86,000. Records show Kittrell sold both in 2005 for $150,000 each, a profit of $146,000.

“We were able to gain some cash and some assets and we were doing OK, and then we had our real jobs, too,” Kittrell said. “So we were in good shape.”

Through his work at Wakulla Bank, Kittrell met Burnette, who by then had done very well with his construction company and was starting to pick up more federal contracts.

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Teaming up for success Chad Kittrell and J.T. Burnette with their local business partners. Shown are (left to right) Jamie Langley (Genghis Grill), Marc Bauer (Hotel Duval), Burnett, Kittrell, Richard Wise (Brandt Information Services), Alex Beltrami (Midtown Filling Station).

now if “a bunch of 25-year-olds” tried to get a multi-million loan to build a condominium “they would throw you out the door.”

E ar ly Success at Mi dtown Though they were doing well from SheltonDean contracting work, Kittrell and Burnette were looking for investment opportunities.

They started small, such as purchasing a warehouse with a tenant or a small office building. The idea was to generate cash flow to sustain them while they searched for bigger projects with more payoff.

The first project that garnered media attention was The Winery and Tapas restaurant in Midtown. Opened in 2007, it helped lure young professionals to Midtown.

Jon Gardner, a wine aficionado, was brought in to run the bar and restaurant.

The Winery, with its extensive wine list and modern décor, quickly became a favorite happy hour spot and the Tapas restaurant got rave reviews for its food.

“We saw a desire of young professionals to have somewhere to go where they didn’t have to go down to Tennessee Street and socialize with 19-year-olds,” Kittrell said. “The entire Midtown district really made a lot of sense to us.”

Soon after, the sleepy Midtown district became a dining and shopping destination, with new neighboring businesses including clothing boutique Cole Couture, rival wine bar The Wine Loft and cupcake shop Lucy and Leo’s Cupcakery, which was featured on the Food Network.

“We’d go anywhere and we knew what we were good at, which was financing,” Kittrell said.

He insists their expertise in financing doesn’t only come from his banking background. “I learned a great deal from my mentors on how to navigate the system, but the real juice on what we do now we learned on our own.”

Kittrell and Burnette spent a lot of time figuring out how to secure big bank loans when banks were reluctant to loan money. They eventually began using a combination of U.S. Small Business Administration and conventional loans.

For instance, the SBA gave Hunter & Harp, under the name Duval Partners, a total of $5.25 million in loans to develop Hotel Duval. “A lot of that stuff we know (about SBA loans) are the keys to the kingdom, so we don’t really give that information out,” Kittrell said. “It has cost us a lot of money to learn those lessons.”

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

G oi n g bout i que Hotel Duval was first built in 1951 and later became an FSU dormitory and offices. In the 1980s it was bought by Radisson and later became a Park Plaza hotel.

Hunter & Harp bought the hotel as a “real estate play,” Burnette said.

“Hotel Duval took on a life of its own,” Burnette said. “In the middle of that purchase you had a market that took a turn in the wrong direction. At that point you have to rethink your decision. We knew the hotel had to be the best of breed.”

Before construction even began, Kittrell and Burnette hired Marc Bauer, who had gone to Florida State and had experience opening new hotels.

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Redefining Midtown The Winery and Tapas restaurant were some of the early tenants of Manor@Midtown. The space has since evolved into the popular Midtown Filling Station restaurant, featuring bar food with a gourmet twist.

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The owners of Hunter & Harp are seen as the men with the Midas touch, able to transform buildings or even entire parts of town into something hip and trendy.

“Before that project we kind of flew under the radar,” Kittrell said. “We didn’t really want to be out there. And we are still not those type of guys.”

Re staurat e urs Hunter & Harp is increasingly moving into the restaurant business. The Winery and Tapas restaurant has been transformed into the Midtown Filling Station. It is run by managing partner Alex Beltrami, who used to own Fusion and Tantra Lounge.

Beltrami said he was about to leave Tallahassee and move to Austin when he was persuaded by Kittrell and Burnette to stay and open a new restaurant.

The Filling Station became an instant hit, with a garage theme and bar food done in a gourmet style. For instance, they have tater tots smothered in a three-cheese fondue and bacon. “A good CEO can’t wear all the hats and do everything, but they recognize talent and put it in the right spot, it’s been a great relationship,” Beltrami said.

Jamie Langley is another restaurateur who ended up in business with Hunter & Harp.

The owner of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s franchises in Tallahassee was working on opening a Genghis Grill in Tallahassee last year.

Genghis is a restaurant franchise offering build-your-own Mongolian stir fry. Langley was told by his business partners one morning by e-mail that they were not interested in investing in Genghis.

TALLAHASSEE MAGAZINE FILE PHOTO

“I was incredibly impressed by their knowledge and business acumen at their age,” Bauer said. “They are sharp and entrepreneurial.”

Though Kittrell and Burnette had spent most of their lives here, they had a good sense of what Tallahassee lacked. “We go out and listen to the market. We do a lot of listening,” Kittrell said. Many people in their 20s told him they would like to stay in Tallahassee, but felt there weren’t enough jobs and entertainment choices.

They set out to research other hip boutique hotels, traveling to New York and Miami’s South Beach hotels, especially taking a liking to the sleek Gansevoort Hotel in New York. “A lot of our concept and our vision came from New York,” Kittrell said.

Catherine Baker, Burnette’s wife, is Hunter & Harp’s in-house interior designer and helped bring that vision to life, selecting the furniture, flooring and lighting.

The risk they were taking wasn’t lost on them, Kittrell said. “We were all at a point in our lives, where J.T. and I weren’t married, we didn’t have kids, so if we were going to take a risk like that, we were at a point to take it,” Kittrell said.

Two years later, the success of Hotel Duval is undisputed. It has simultaneously become a popular place for visitors to stay, but also a hotspot for locals with its rooftop lounge, ground-floor lunch and breakfast bistro and upscale Shula’s 347 restaurant.

Thirty percent of the hotel’s guests live within two hours of Tallahassee, and 45 percent of the hotel’s revenue comes from hotel bookings – meaning the majority of Hotel Duval’s income comes from its food and beverage services, Bauer said.

Sitting in a hotel room in Clearwater, Langley panicked. He had already told the Genghis Grill headquarters to green-light the project but he needed more than $1 million to get the Genghis Grill up and running in Tallahassee.

He racked his brain to see if he could think of someone with the cash and interest to help him out. He remembered a nice guy named J.T. who used to come to the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s on Thomasville Road and shoot the breeze with him about the restaurant business.

“I thought, ‘Hell this guy, maybe he has restaurants that I don’t even know about,’ ” Langley said. “I remembered he had a Hotel Duval hat on and I knew his initials were J.T.” He called Hotel Duval that morning and asked to speak with J.T. Langley spent 10 minutes explaining his dilemma. He told Burnette what the development costs would be and promised to use his own money first.

He was shocked when after only a few minutes Burnette told him: I’m in.

Did a stranger just agree to help finance a $1 million project?

“I said ‘Do you understand that this is a big deal?’ and he said ‘I get it, you just tell me how much stock you want and we’ll take the rest,’ ” Langley said.

Later, Burnette told Langley that he agreed to help finance the project because in his talks with him at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s he had seemed like a nice guy.

“We like to identify people with experience and determine what they are qualified to do and enable them to pursue their dreams,” Burnette explained. In that way, Hunter & Harp is closer to a venture capital firm that invests in start-ups.

“Genghis has gross sales in excess of $4 million,” Burnette said.

“Three to four stores will open this year and within a two-year time Genghis will have gross revenues in excess of $10 million.”

He said his decision wasn’t based on the Genghis concept.

“I only believed in Jamie,” Burnette said.

Fr om St ir Fry to Co mpu ters Hunter & Harp has other businesses that most Tallahasseans never interact with.

Burnette is also a part-owner in Brandt Information Services, which provides information technology services to governments.

For instance, Brandt has found a niche providing labor market research and mobile solutions to the state of Florida and the federal government.

Richard Wise, 34, and John Thomas, bought Brandt Information Services in 2007 from Nolia and Bill Brandt. They now own it in partnership with Burnette and employ more than 100 people. “John Thomas and I are the day-to-day operators and J.T. Burnette is our third partner that helps us at the 30,000foot level,” Wise said. “He is a great entrepreneur and a great financier … . J.T. is a guy that has the big idea and understands technology and business and can keep us pushed toward growing and new markets.”

Wise said he is impressed with Hunter & Harp’s efforts to revive Tallahassee. “(Hotel Duval) was something the city definitely needed,” Wise said. When he recruits people to come work at Brandt, he said having amenities like Hotel Duval and the Midtown area helps.

K i t t re ll an d B urn e t t e Businesses » SheltonDean (federal contracting work) » Hotel Duval (hotel) » Midtown Filling Station (restaurant) » Genghis Grill (restaurant) » Ol’ Man Treestands (hunting supplies) » Brandt Information Services (information technology)* Proposed Projects » Development at Tennessee and Monroe – retail and offices » Restoration and renovation of four buildings in downtown Jacksonville *—Only Burnette is a co-owner

“Everything we do is about bringing something new to Tallahassee, or something new to the market,” Kittrell said. “If it’s a new experience, people take hold of that.”

What Hunter & Harp invest in may seem like a mixed bag, but Burnette said there are lessons learned at each business that can be applied to the other.

“I’ve owned over 14 businesses,” Burnette said. “What happens when you own 14 is you get to see this full spectrum across all these different industries and all the similarities.”

Though they did not disclose the company’s revenue or profit, it’s clear Kittrell and Burnette have had enormous success. But both take pains to behave modestly.

Property records indicate Kittrell doesn’t even own a house. Burnette’s wife is listed as the owner of a home purchased for $1.5 million in 2009.

“I’ve never in my life spent more than 10 percent of my income to live off,” Burnette said. When asked why he chose to use his money to make investments, he said the answer was simple.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, if it costs you only $100,000 to live, what in the world are you going to do with the rest of it?” Burnette said. “This is what makes the most sense to me — enabling people to meet that goal of ‘We are going to produce something.’ ” To that end, Burnette said they are now working with Florida State University to help them commercialize some of their solar energy technology, a direction he’s excited about taking and the reason for a recent trip to China to conduct research.

Kittrell said he appreciates the unique capacity Hunter & Harp has to make Tallahassee a better place to live.

“Right now we’ve got a reputation of being the capital, driven by state government and Florida State University and FAMU and TCC,” Kittrell said. “If I had an overall vision, hopefully we build a city that one day can hold the talent that we produce — and that is when the city will grow.” n

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A Life Through the Lens

Camera-to-Eye, Photojournalist Mark Wallheiser Captures and Catalogs 30 Years of History

H

e’s shot U.S. presidents and drooling babies. Society ladies and pregnant crack heads. Lots of happy people — and others in the depths of despair on the worst day of their lives.

Hurricanes — 16 in all. Parades. People working and playing. Seminole football games. Inaugurations and funerals and guys mowing the lawn. Cops, accidents, buildings, Klansmen, graveyards … and so much more.

It was all in a day’s work — or should we say 30 years worth of a day’s work — for Mark Wallheiser. Now a freelance photographer, the 57-year-old spent the lion’s share of those years as

a photojournalist for the Tallahassee Democrat, oftentimes shooting four or five assignments a day.

Eight thousand of the images he captured can be found on his website, tallahasseestock.com. But Wallheiser estimates he has 50,000 — maybe even 100,000 — more on negatives filed in cabinets stored in a climate-controlled warehouse, just waiting for him to find the time to unearth the snippets of local history he has chronicled through the lens of his camera.

Usually, photojournalists who work for news outlets give up the rights to their photographs. But a policy born out of Continued on Page 105

RIGHT Wallheiser worked for eight months in 1988 on his “crack project” which was the scourge of the black communities in and around Tallahassee at the time, taking photos of users in Jefferson County and spending time with law enforcement officers in Tallahassee who were trying to catch crack dealers.

MARK Wallheiser COMMENTS ON HIS MEMORABLE IMAGES, Pages 92-103.

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Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

By ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

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A Life Through the Lens

Politics

Wallheiser photographed George Wallace at the start of his career in Alabama, but says he never did enjoy covering politics.

He and the other Democrat photographers avoided the Capitol fray by leaving the day-in, day-out coverage to Mark Foley of the Associated Press. The high point for him — and pretty much every reporter in Tallahassee — was what he calls “the 2000 presidential election situation.” Said Wallheiser of the photo on the opposite page, “Obama came through on the campaign trail in March of 2007. He was working a room off of Kleman Plaza and the place was packed, mostly with media. As I was shooting, I was stooped over and walking backwards and the media folks refused to yield as I followed Obama. It was a tough room to work but I never was much of one to give up, so I stuck with it and got this shot of him with Mayor John Marks.” ▶ BELOW “In July of 2000, Gov. Jeb Bush did a stint in the dunk tank in a Lowe’s parking lot in Tallahassee, but I don’t remember for what cause. I do remember it was certainly earlier on Saturday morning than I wanted to be working. Apparently he had some accurate baseball throwers, because the water made his eyes really red.”

ABOVE “This picture is from Charlie Crist’s second inauguration in January 2007. I got stuck on what the still and video photographers call the side riser, or cutaway riser.

It’s ... not the prime location. Mike Ewen, another Democrat photographer, had the front riser to shoot from, which is where most of the photos that get play come from. You don’t get as many photos from the cutaway but I got a nice frame from there.”

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Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

RIGHT Chris Paulette walks along a 5-foot in diameter oak tree that split the house he rented in half as Tropical Storm Jeanne passed through Tallahassee in the early morning hours of Sept.

27, 2004. “The dude, he was in his bed and it was under the tree and his roommate came over, dug him out in the dark and got him out from under the tree.”

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Disasters

Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

▶

While covering tornadoes that left a path of devastation in the South Georgia communities of Cairo and Camilla on Valentine’s Day 2000, Wallheiser happened upon a state ranger comforting a distraught man whose fiancée had been killed, capturing a compelling, painful moment (opposite bottom). “To me, my strongest work over the years were the (photos) that got the most complaints. And not from the person in the picture, I considered those complaints legitimate, but photos like this, that would draw emotion from the readers. They didn’t like that with their breakfast. When they would call and complain … that told me I’d done what I was supposed to do because I wanted them to see that. This is reality.”

A Life Through the Lens

ABOVE This photo was shot as Hurricane Kate made its way through the Apalachicola boat basin in November 1985. As Wallheiser was interviewing the missionaries who were trying to save the vessel, the water rose, covering the walkway to shore. “I didn’t know where the walkway was. I had my cameras in plastic bags … jumped out and crawled all the way to shore in the dark. I will never do that again. There were 13 boats in that boat basin. There were three left after the hurricane. They were one of them.”

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A Life Through the Lens

People

ABOVE The Klan was recruiting in 1990, starting with a daytime rally in Tallahassee. Later in the evening, the group would travel to a secluded area in Gadsden County for a cross burning. “As dark fell, I’ve got a picture of them putting the kerosene on the torches. Then they light the cross — and it’s so engulfed you can’t tell it’s a cross — and doing more of their thing. Then, when the cross is over and done I go up to the Grand Wizard — this is the grand pooh-bah, the big cheese — and say, ‘Hey I’d like to get a picture of you.’ They stood there and let me take pictures.”

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Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

The young hunter holding the duck is Wallheiser’s 21-yearold son, Justin Wallheiser. “I went duck hunting with him one day. I hadn’t been hunting in years and years and years.

He shot (at) about 12 ducks and didn’t hit any. I said ‘Gimme that gun.’ A duck flew by — one duck, not a bunch. I shot one time, killed (the) duck, gave him back his gun and said, ‘That’s how it’s done.’ He’ll remember that and tell it all of his life. Because I had the same thing happen to me with my dad.

Floating down a river, he shot a squirrel with a pistol.” ▶

LEFT This photo illustrated a story about a married couple in Monticello who were creating sculptures for FSU’s legacy walk. “It was just a regular daily story. I shot there all day. They were nice people, both of them artists.

They did these sculptures (in the background) but they also did sculptures of each other — she did his and he did hers. You’re just looking for creative ways to tell a story.”

OPPOSITE PAGE Wallheiser calls this photo of what appears to be an offended nun “a found thing on the street” that he saw while walking with his wife, Jeannie, in New York City. “She’s waiting on a bus, is what she’s doing. This is something I’ve done at the newspaper a thousand times. You sit there and when they wipe their face or drop their head, you’re shooting. So much of photojournalism is luck, but it’s less than you would think. You put yourself in the right place at the right time, expecting things. But then you’re just lucky that she bowed her head. That means you’ve got to have the camera up to your eye the whole day.

The only thing better would have been if she was in there digging through the underwear.”

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▶

This photograph of linebacker Kirk Carruthers was taken in the moments after the infamous “wide right” field goal kick that cost the Seminoles a shot at their first national championship in 1991. “The picture I’m more famous for is the kicker walking off the field with tears in his eyes. But to me this is the better picture. One of the reasons it’s my favorite is it’s on the field. The score’s in the background and you don’t normally see football players cry.

There was a lot of emotion. That cost them a national championship that year. (Carruthers) lives here. I run into him every now and then.”

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A Life Through the Lens

Sports

Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

LEFT Before he left Alabama to come to Tallahassee in 1981, Wallheiser was photographing renowned coach Bear Bryant. “When I got here, I was like ‘Aw, this is so bad.’ …. People were still playing Florida State for their homecoming,” he says. But as the years passed, he would find himself chronicling the career of another coaching legend. Although it looks like the product of much planning and special lighting, this portrait of Florida State University Head Coach Bobby Bowden at the 2009 Garnet and Gold game was one of Wallheiser’s “lucky” shots. At 6-feet, 6-inches tall, Wallheiser often had a unique high perspective when he was taking photographs, but he also spent a lot of time on his knees looking for a lower angle. “(Bowden) is lit only by camera flash. I dropped to my knees as he was walking past. At that moment he is hollering at another photographer.”

ABOVE Wallheiser now lives in Shell Point and many of his post-Democrat photos are taken there. In this one, he happened across a group of beach volleyball players as he was tooling around in his golf cart. “I go to the beach every day we have a good sunset. This is one that is retouched. If you look at the original, the ball is black. I got a volleyball, photographed it in my living room and put it where this ball was, so I’d have a little bit of light on it. This is not a journalism photo, this was in an art show at the airport. (But) very, very, very few pictures on my site aren’t as I found them because of my journalism background. I had to take a Photoshop course at TCC … because we couldn’t use (Photoshop at the Democrat). Nowadays I have to do it to compete.”

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A Life Through the Lens

Places

▶ Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

The St. Mark’s Lighthouse is a popular subject for Wallheiser’s art photography. This photo is actually more than 30 exposures “stacked” atop each other. Wallheiser carefully placed the camera with the star Polaris behind the top of the lighthouse so the other stars appeared to be swirling as they moved across the night sky. “This is the culmination of four night shoots all night …. It is a series of two-minute exposures over the course of several hours. I go around and shine my flashlight on the buildings, trees, … but I also put strobes on the ground with blue gels — basically I paint (with light) what I want to show up.

That’s all trial and error. I’ve got to go back when there is no moon. This is a lot harder than I thought and taking a lot more reshoots. I’ll go back a little further and use a wider lens so I can get the top of the circle and the star trails reflected in the water.”

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A Life Through the Lens

News

W

allheiser worked for eight months in 1988 on his “crack project,” inspired by a coworker whose husband was addicted to the drug, which was the scourge of the black communities in and around Tallahassee at the time. He took photos of users in Jefferson County, then spent time with law enforcement officers in Tallahassee who were trying to catch crack dealers. “(At the time) we’d never heard of crack cocaine. The cops knew it well. It was the first time in my career that the reporters followed the photographer. I led the project … and that was so cool. I’d hang out with them all day. I’d shoot assignments in the morning and then home and change into scruffy clothes, get my cooler, buy a bunch of Milwaukee’s Best, OPPOSITE PAGE “This is my truck. He pulls up, he’s ice it down, buy three packs of cigarettes, wanting to see the rocks. When the flash went off I he was going to detach a retina. He was runand go hang out, sit on the tailgate of my thought ning like a scalded dog and they caught him three or truck smoking cigarettes and they would four blocks away. They had to find him and arrest him for us to use the photos.” slowly start coming over. They thought I was the cops. I was a white dude. Didn’t matter if I had long hair. It took me four months to make the first exposure. Four months of the Democrat letting me do that, four months of me coming back to (Photo Editor) Chris Norman saying ‘Chris, it isn’t happening.’ And he would say, ‘Stay with it, Mark. Stay with it.’ ” ▶

ABOVE Wallheiser had a unique perspective on the launch of the space shuttle Discovery on July 26, 2005. It was the only time he ever photographed a shuttle launch, which resulted in two pictures he sent to Reuters news service. “I never could decide which I liked better,” he says. “This picture is me transmitting to Singapore — that’s where Reuters circulated out of — from a kayak during the shuttle launch. I am sending pictures on my cellphone, which is probably laying in my lap.”

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Tallahassee

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Photos Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

Our guests enjoy the premier resort amenities of Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, including championship golf, tennis, spa, beach access, marina and much more.

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In Action Wallheiser captures a post-game celebration.

A Life Through the Lens

necessity at the Democrat allowed photo staff members to, after three years, get back the copyright and the negatives. “Because they only had one filing cabinet,” Wallheiser explains. When a photographer’s drawer filled up, the letter-sized envelopes were transferred to a box on a high shelf and ultimately moved out of the photo studio completely. Even after the newspaper embraced digital technology and began saving photos on discs, the policy continued.

For the first two years, Wallheiser gave his negatives to the state archives “because that’s the only people I could think of that would have long-term interest in documenting the city,” he said. “Then, I realized there’s some value here for me before they ultimately end up in the collection — because they’ll end up there — so I started keeping ’em.”

In the three years since he left the newspaper, Wallheiser has created his website and uploaded the digital images from the latter part of his career. Now, he’s going back to the old envelopes from his earliest days on the Democrat staff — containing the photo negatives, a printout of the assignment and his handwritten notes — and working his way to the present day.

The task is daunting — and tedious. He has to scan each negative, “tone” the image, write a caption, create keywords and upload the photo to the site. Wallheiser estimates he works 30 or 40 minutes on each image, usually in the evening when there’s nothing interesting on TV. While he hopes to make a living off of photography assignments and his stock art site, Wallheiser says “the purpose of tallahasseestock.com is to support my photography habit …. my newer stuff supports the historical stuff.

“Certainly a lot of the old stuff I’m scanning now I don’t make a dime off of, but it’s part of history and it’s better seen than not seen,” he says.

It’s a labor that brings back decades of memories for the Shelbyville native, whose deep voice still retains a Tennessee twang.

Although his work has brought him “a truckload” of awards, including being named Florida’s News Photographer of the Year in 1988 and a team Pulitzer for his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Wallheiser is basically self taught. He took a few photography classes while attending Western Kentucky University in the ’70s, but “I really couldn’t grasp” the methods for using the non-automatic equipment of the day. “F stops … it was so confusing … it was very mathematical. I hated being in the darkroom.”

After college, he was first hired as a reporter, but quickly moved to photographing Tennessee Walking Horse shows. He then worked as a photographer for the Montgomery Alabama Advertiser Journal for three years. “I made a lot of mistakes when I was young,” he recalls. “I stayed on the s--- list pretty much for most of that three years. But I got a lot of my mistakes done.”

Reviewing his work from the early ’80s has given him a few “if-I-knew-thenwhat-I-know-now” moments. “I can track the progress. If I was editing another young photographer, I’d be telling him how to progress past that point,”

Photo Courtesy Mark Wallheiser, tallahasseestock.com

Continued

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May–June 2011

Wallheiser says. “Early in the Democrat (years), what really helped my career was we had the ability to fail and not get into trouble. That is a big thing for growth.”

He recalled one lesson learned after his arrest — one of four during his career — at an accident scene. His then-editor Walker Lundy bailed him out of jail and asked for his photo of the accident. “I told him I don’t have any … (the police) came over and started messing with me” before he could take one. His boss’ reaction? “You were right to be where you were, but if you don’t have a picture, they win, you lose.

Always get the picture.”

He waxed philosophical about his role as a photojournalist in the newsgathering process: “It is my job to make people stop,” he says. “Eye track studies … say the first entry point for the page is the photo. They’re going to go to the photo first, headline second and the story’s the last thing they look at. So if I can stop them and make them look (at) a cool picture, they’re going to start reading the story.”

Wallheiser speaks about his years behind the lens as a vocation.

“If a person is meant to be a photojournalist — if it’s truly meant to be — they’ll find a way,” he says. “A true photojournalist, they leave being a medical doctor and start shooting. They’ve got no choice.”

But the calling has a profound downside.

Three decades of lugging around heavy equipment and the contortions sometimes required for on-the-spot photography led to shoulder surgery, two back surgeries and knees that are pretty much shot after years of getting down on them to take photographs. “It’s hard to get workers comp.

They say, ‘What date was he injured?’

How about the 1980s?,” he says. “But, whatever, I was doing what I loved.”

There’s another darker side that has to do with the long hours and photographing grim subjects that Wallheiser refers to as “the underbelly” that can ruin relationships and lead to destructive behavior, like his three-pack-a-day smoking habit. “Living and photographing the underbelly will drive you to worse things than smoking,” says Wallheiser, who has now cut down to about a pack a day.

“Looking back, what a great gig. It was a great ride. What I got to do, the presidents I got to see … but I spent a lot of years on the shrink’s couch because of the underbelly side.” n

TO SEE MORE OF MARK Wallheiser’S IMAGES, VISIT TALLAHASSEESTOCK.COM Tallahassee

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PHOTO COURTESY TERRI SMITH PHOTO

Pets

Tallahassee Magazine Presents

It wasn’t hot, but it was definitely dog (and cat and other critter) days at Proctor Subaru March 5 for Tallahassee Magazine’s Pets and Their People Extravaganza. Everybody got a free 5-by-7-inch photo with their pet at the event, which also included adoptable animals, demonstrations, food, gift bags, nail clipping and low-priced microchipping and spay/neuter vouchers. Special thanks to: Leon County Humane Society, Tallahassee K9 Unit and Search and Rescue, Petco, Lucy & Leos Cupcakery and Proctor Subaru. Photos by Jeb McVittie, USA Photo

... And Their People!

Overall Winner All Christine Kellejian needs is Peace (note the T-shirt) because Marley has definitely got the Dog Love covered with a big kiss.

Most Handsome

The girls will go wild for Jordi’s smile and big, brown eyes. He’s out on the town with his wingman, Brian Taylor.

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Presenting Sponsor

Dressed to Play

Sasha is ready for summer in her sundress, along with her human pal Vikki Henderson.

Winning Smile

Grins all around with Cocoa and friends Brooke and Cassie Lanigan.

Tallahassee

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Pets

... And Their People!

Mesmerizing Eyes

“You are getting sleeeeepy. You want to bring me a bone.” So says the hypnotizing Trevor, with his lovely assistant Susan Wickman.

Too Cute The squee factor is off the charts for little

Teetee, who’s snuggling up to owner Jackie Gabbard.

Look Alike Yes, blondes do have more fun. Just ask Cooper and human companion Pat Register.

Part of the Gang

Dallas leads a rowdy bunch, which includes Kyle, Jennifer and Caitlin Holliday.

Tallahassee

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Pets

... And Their People!

Most Huggable

Who needs a teddy bear when you’ve got Dutch?, say Mike Ent and Carrie Beth.

Spunkiest Lily is rarin’ to go, but man-

aged to stay still for this portrait with owners Susan and Martin Proctor.

All in the Family We think we notice the resemblance

between Sophie and her human kinfolk Lee (top right), Kristine (center), Emily (bottom right) and Sarah Kissell (bottom left) and even family friend Kelsey Mann (top left).

Full of Fluff

Trust Amy Matlock-Brown, there is a dog under there somewhere, who goes by the name of Bailey.

Good Listener

“I’m all ears,” says Kali, who’s pictured with Nic and Reagan Barrett.

Tallahassee

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Adventure Awaits!

The tall tales are real, and so is the hospitality, on the Forgotten Coast Enchanting Wakulla Springs Lodge Page 5

Amazing Lost Ships of Dog Island Page 7

Riding High on the Beach Page 8

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The Greening of Sopchoppy Small Town’s Environment Helps With Economic Development

By Darlyn Finch

Photo By Scott Holstein

I

t doesn’t surprise Sopchoppy businessman Robert Seidler that his quirky corner of the world has been discovered by bestselling novelists. The little burg is a part of the “old” Florida that’s in great demand these days, and he’s in the business of getting the word out.

Seidler has been in business since 1984 in this one-and-a-half square-mile town, located about 45 minutes from Tallahassee. His Seidler Productions focuses on educational and instructional films and DVDs, including three series for public television.

Two were nature-based exploring ecosystems and habitats, while the other delved into innovations and solutions for bicyclists, another of his passions.

Seidler isn’t the only entrepreneur drawn to a town poised for progress. He finds the majority of people interested in moving to Sopchoppy are looking for stability, as well a healthy environment with natural assets.

Most arrive from Central and South Florida, or come down from Atlanta.

“Historically, Atlanta people visited or had second homes here,” he said. “Adventure travelers, cyclists and hikers will dominate the future.”

Herb Hiller, travel-writing guru and author of “A1A: Florida on the Edge,” works with Seidler on the Florida Bicycle Association-endorsed Capital City to the Sea Loop, a Greenways Rails-to-Trails bike/walk trail modeled after the St. Johns River to the Sea Loop in Northeast Florida.

Hiller said, “I first came [to Sopchoppy] for a bicycle advocacy meeting, maybe 25 years ago. A woman had set up a bed and breakfast in her house, where we all met …. The little downtown (had) a couple other storefronts going. Liked it all; all very place-y.”

Seidler said the merchants in Sopchoppy are special.

“Sopchoppy is a walk back in time and a walk into the future, with local businesses run by people who care,” he said. “There’s good food and ambiance in the restaurants.

Sopchoppy is a microcosm of what community is.”

Dr. Howard Kessler, a Wakulla County

A sign in downtown Sopchoppy helps visitors get their bearings. commissioner, likes the warm feeling of the town when he and his wife go there to buy chicken feed. “Sopchoppy has a ‘downhome’ flavor to it,” he said. “The restaurants are great. The IGA grocery store is a hidden treasure. The Worm Grunting Festival and the Fourth of July parade and fireworks are not to be missed. It feels like a small town should feel.”

However, Kessler said there is a slight clash of cultures between the old residents and the new folks who would rather go hiking and biking than hunting and fishing.

“They’re both positive groups enjoying the area’s natural beauty, but each causes anxiety in the other,” he said.

Many of Sopchoppy’s approximately 500 residents work in the downtown restaurants and shops like Backwoods Bistro, Sally’s Restaurant, Posh, Scratch Cakes Bakery, Sisters Antiques and Uniques, Chloe Farms Nursery, Roddenberry Professional Land

Surveyors and Mappers, C&L Automotive, Colleen’s Cleaning Service, Sopchoppy Tire & Auto, Crescent Moon Organic Farms, Sopchoppy Hardware Store, Senior Citizen’s Thrift Store and George Griffin’s Pottery Studio. Revell Realty helps visitors become residents. Some residents work in the seafood industry at Sanders and Sons or Nichols and Sons, or provide bait, like those world-famous, multi-hearted Sopchoppy earthworms, to Lou’s Bait and Tackle. Other families continue to grind sugar cane and make syrup as they’ve done for generations.

Another special Sopchoppy destination is Salli Squitieri and Gabriel Butterfield’s Frog and the Hummingbird, a showcase for artists and craftspeople, and their Butterfield’s Roadhouse, a family-friendly (no alcohol, no smoking) venue for local and national musicians, poets and eclectic performers. n Forgotten coast 2011

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Wakulla Lodge: A Blast from the Past Legions of Visitors Have Marveled at This Forgotten Coast Gem

By Michael Peltier

Photo by Scott Holstein

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he Wakulla Springs Lodge remains a throwback to a time when simple pleasures like swimming in a crystalclear spring, taking a boat ride and enjoying the region’s natural beauty were enough to attract visitors from all walks of life. Most guests find their way there by word of mouth, and the lodge hosts about 12,000 people a year.

The 25-room hotel, built in 1937 by entrepreneur and kingmaker Edward Ball, has stayed true to its roots and remains an elegantly simple retreat. Today the Spanishstyle hotel is a part of the state park system.

“I think Wakulla Springs has survived precisely because it hasn’t changed much — it’s consistently itself,” said Lu Vickers, a Tallahassee-based author and frequent visitor.

Passengers on the park’s fabled boat tours see what visitors saw when the lodge first opened for business: A slice of “real Florida” that avoided becoming a glitzy tourist trap.

The lodge was renovated in 2001 and continues to draw tourists, business guests and others. They hold meetings or family reunions and get married in either the facility’s conference rooms or its outdoor pavilion. Between 50 and 80 employees work at the lodge, depending on the season, with summer being the peak.

Speculators and developers were attracted to the spring in the early 1800s. But the spring’s remote location proved too much for even the most determined promoter.

Efforts to make the spring a tourist attraction languished for decades as the property along the Wakulla River changed hands, at times for as little as $10 cash.

Edward Ball would change all that. Ball came to Northwest Florida in the 1920s and began buying huge tracts of timber-rich land, which ultimately led to the creation of the St. Joe Paper Co. in 1936. During his travels for St. Joe, Ball would often purchase tracts himself that the company’s board of directors would not. In June 1934, Ball formed Wakulla Springs Inc. and began buying land along the Wakulla River.

Ball became trustee of the wealthy du Pont estate when his brother-in-law Alfred

Despite modern trends, the Wakulla Springs Lodge maintains its 1930s charm and remains a naturalist haven for domestic and international visitors alike. du Pont died in 1935, leaving an estate worth $34 million. Ball immediately turned his attention to Wakulla Springs and the construction of a vacation lodge.

Ball spared little expense. The Moorishinspired building, said to have cost more than $75,000 to build, was made of stucco and roofed in red tile. Ball imported marble from around the world but relied most heavily on Tennessee marble, the pink tones of which still grace the floors, stairs, guestrooms and public changing rooms surrounding the spring.

Other amenities included a 70-foot marble countertop in the lodge’s gift shop and soda fountain. An Art Deco elevator still scoots guests to the second floor. The hotel was opened to guests in September 1937.

The lodge quickly became the place to be for celebrities and was used for a series of “Tarzan” movies and Army training exercises during the 1940s. The springs and lodge would continue to be the Hollywood of Northwest Florida in the 1950s. It served as the underwater backdrop for such films

as “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and two sequels.

The lodge’s high-beamed lobby continues to showcase Aztec and Toltec designs first commissioned from a German painter living in Wakulla County who was said to have done work for Kaiser Wilhelm. An enclosed porch facing the spring was roofed in cypress and also remains unchanged.

Following Ball’s death in 1981, the property was transferred to the Nemours Foundation, formed after the death of Alfred du Pont to operate children’s health facilities in Florida. Board members quickly discovered that the property was not a profit-making venture, even with the lodge. In 1986, the state of Florida purchased the site and other Wakulla River acreage from the foundation for $7.15 million and has been operating the lodge ever since.

Unfortunately, state budget cuts may force the popular park to close, unless a private vendor can be found to run the concessions. But as of April no final decision had been made about the park’s future. n Forgotten coast 2011

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Franklin County

Franklin County has a lot to offer anyone who just wants to get away from it all. Along the bays, beaches and byways there are many opportunities to slow down and take it easy.

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Shipwrecks of Dog Island A New Breed of Adventurers Chart Sunken History in the Waters Around This Private Island

By Karen Cox-Dennis

Disabled ships languish on Dog Island after being driven aground by the hurricane of 1899.

Photo courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida

W

hen you think of the word “shipwreck,” it’s hard not to imagine disasters at sea, terrible hardships, man against the elements and castaways on deserted islands. It’s a popular cultural theme throughout literature and movies, much of it grounded in truth. This inherent sense of adventure is so alluring that more than 250,000 visitors come to Key West’s Mel Fisher Maritime Museum each year to see treasure raised from shipwrecks such as the Spanish treasure galleon, Atocha.

There are more than 500 wrecks recorded between Key West and the Dry Tortugas, but there are no less than 118 lost vessels in the waters surrounding the Forgotten Coast’s Dog Island. This sparsely populated island is 7 miles long mile and is located just off the coast of Carrabelle, 21 miles east of Apalachicola. Its waters are notable for their shallow depths and the little island’s ever-changing geography. Hurricanes, tide and wind constantly reshape its beaches, dunes, marshes and hardwood flats.

While numerous, the wrecks of North Florida do not share the same celebrity or notoriety as, say, the Spanish treasure fleet that went down near Cape Canaveral in 1715, claimed a thousand lives and consigned some 3 million silver coins to the depths. This is because the unexcavated wrecks off places like Dog Island have yet to yield enigmatic treasure, and also because the histories of these vessels seem to have been swept under the carpet of history.

A dedicated crew of underwater archeologists is making sure they are not totally forgotten by mapping their location and uncovering their secrets. They’ve found a treasure trove of ships that weave a tapestry of history from the time of the Spanish on up to the present day.

“No matter how mundane the vessel, each ship wrecking has its special story,” said filmmaker and photographer Don Kincaid, the first diver to retrieve treasure from the Atocha in 1971.

Underwater archaeologist Chuck Meide, director of the Lighthouse Archaeological

Maritime Program in St. Augustine, spent years surveying the Dog Island Sound.

Thanks to his dedicated research, many of the vessels resting in the shallow waters were recorded before the quickly shifting landscape and the elements etched them further into the distant past.

Meide and a team of student archaeologists conducted a shipwreck survey from 1999 to 2000. Using magnetometers and side-scan sonar, they scanned the waters of Dog Island and St. George Island sounds searching for underwater anomalies. His field data is extensive, thorough and dense.

Ten years later, Meide decided to return to the Forgotten Coast to record how the wrecks had fared against the ravages of time and tide.

Meide discovered two ships in particular had not handled their watery graves well.

The Vale, a 500-ton Norwegian lumber bark, and the Priscilla, a Maine-built fishing smack owned by a Pensacola seafood company, continued on pg. 10 Forgotten coast 2011

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Gulf County Hospitality I

’ve visited the Forgotten Coast many times as a writer for Rowland Publishing, and it’s always great to be on the water, where the folks are friendly, courteous and always glad to see you.

My wife, Patricia, and I recently had a chance to sample this hospitality again when we took a weekend trip to Gulf County. No matter the time of year, there are a variety of things to do. But to keep things simple and relaxed, on this trip we only planned for two main activities — fishing in St. Joseph Bay and horseback riding on the beach along Indian Pass.

Our trip started at the Turtle Beach Inn, a bed-and-breakfast just south of the Indian Pass Raw Bar, a state-certified Green Lodging establishment nestled between

Patricia Dehart holds up a hard-fought black dru m (right) in St. Joseph Bay. The author and his wife enjoy a leisurely horseback ride along the beaches of Indian Pass (below).

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the palms and pines on a remote beach that is actually a turtle nesting area. The inn’s owner, Trish Petrie, a retired schoolteacher, was very gracious — even though we got a late start out of Tallahassee Friday night and arrived well after dark, she left our room key in an envelope taped to the office door. Our room was on the top floor of the towering beachfront cottage facing the Gulf and we promptly fell asleep while listening to the sound of the surf.

The inn actually consists of three separate beach cottages. The main house, where we stayed, is the one closest to

the beach and features a sundeck patio with lounge chairs and a boardwalk that takes guests straight to the water. Sand Dollar Cottage has two bedrooms and a cozy screened-in back porch with rocking chairs and a swing, and Turtle Tower has two separate one-bedroom units featuring open and screened porches complete with views of the Gulf of Mexico and Indian Lagoon.

Saturday morning’s sunrise found us driving up Highway 30-A to Frank Pate Park and the public boat ramp in Port St. Joe. Our first adventure of the weekend was a fishing tour of St. Joseph Bay. Friendly, knowledgeable charter boat captain Charlene Burke of About Fun Charters welcomed us aboard her 22-foot, centerconsole Mako, the Saint Misbehavin’. A marine biologist by training, Capt. Charlene grew up on the Mississippi coast and said she’s probably the only female charter captain in Port St. Joe. She has a “six-pack” license (for up to six people) and a four-hour fishing trip costs $325.

Like other charters, she supplies the bait, tackle and fishing licenses.

At 64 degrees, the water was just a tad bit below the 69 degrees favorable for fishing, so we crisscrossed the bay looking for warmer waters. On the verge of being skunked, we high-tailed it for “the cut,” the Port St. Joe canal leading to the Intracoastal Waterway. There, near the entrance, groups of seabirds and ospreys were fetching fish near the channel markers, so we dropped anchor nearby, put three lines in the water and soon the reels were squealing. We had chanced on a school of black drum, a sturdy and somewhat feisty fish related to the prized redfish. We came away with three nice-sized samples in the 5- and 6-pound range, and, content with our catch, headed back to the dock.

We drove up to the Port St. Joe Marina and the Dockside Café, which cooks your catch. Cooler in tow, we walked inside and the general manager, Rick Carrie, told us they don’t ordinarily clean the catch before cooking it, but he graciously agreed to fillet one and cook it to order. He even invited

Photos Courtesy Jason Dehart

There’s No Such Thing as a Stranger Here By Jason Dehart

Port(s) of Call About Fun Charters 130 Atlantic St. Port St. Joe (850) 340-1035 aboutfuncharters.com Broke-A-Toe Horseback Riding on the Beach Cape San Blas (850) 899-7433 brokeatoe.com

The Peacemaker, a tall ship belonging to the Twelve Tribes, takes on a manifest of tourists in Port St. Joe while a trio of skiffs make gardening an art on the grounds of Turtle Beach Inn. us to leave the cooler, promising that when things slowed down in the kitchen the other two drum would be filleted, bagged up, iced down and set outside for us to pick up the next morning. We took him up on his offer.

We had two nice fillets — one grilled and the other fried — presented over a bed of salad greens and surrounded by hushpuppies and lemons. Add an order of coleslaw for each of us, and the lunch for two cost only $17. Rick didn’t charge us for the filleting and even turned down a considerable tip. He didn’t know us from Adam’s house cat … but that’s Forgotten Coast hospitality for you. Trish noted that Rick and staff made us feel like we’d dined with them a million times before — like family.

After lunch we checked out the shops along Reid Avenue, but when the sun and wind got the better of us we trucked back to the Turtle Beach Inn for a nap before coming back to downtown Port St. Joe for supper at Provisions, an upscale and award-winning surf-and-turf restaurant that moved here from Miami in 2005.

Here we enjoyed the house sangria, along

with some juicy flank steak, roasted potatoes and shrimp.

On Sunday morning we availed ourselves of our hostess’ breakfast offerings of coffee, juice, fruit and French toast in the Green Turtle Inn’s dining room downstairs. After that early morning repast, we went back up to Port St. Joe and enjoyed brunch at the Thirsty Goat Bar & Grill inside the 100-year-old Port Inn. Next, we were scheduled to go horseback riding on the beach, but along the way decided to make one unplanned side trip to see a tall ship parked down at the docks. The Peacemaker is a 150-foot barquentine and “Flagship of the Twelve Tribes.” According to their pamphlet, the “tribes” are small farm communes located in 12 different locations around the world.

We didn’t get a chance to talk to any of the ship’s crew, but their goal is to live in peace and harmony while passing along the art of sailing tall ships.

After visiting and photographing the Peacemaker, Trish and I drove on over to Salinas Park at Indian Pass Beach to meet with Kelly Smith, owner of Broke-A-Toe, an ecotourism group that has offered horse-

Dockside Café & Raw Bar 340 Marina Drive Port St. Joe (850) 229-5200 docksidecafe.net Provisions Restaurant & Catering 222 Reid Ave. Port St. Joe (850) 229-9200 provisionsfl.com Barquentine Peacemaker peacemakermarine.com twelvetribes.org The Thirsty Goat Bar & Grill Located inside the Port Inn 501 Monument Ave. Port St. Joe (850) 229-7678 thethirstygoat.com Turtle Beach Inn Trish Petrie, Innkeeper 140 Painted Pony Road Port St. Joe (850) 229-9366 turtlebeachinn.com Go to visitgulf.com for more information on shops, accommodations, restaurants and parks.

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continues From pg. 7

were lost along with many other vessels during a hurricane in 1899. In fact, the storm caused the largest recorded shipwrecking in North Florida’s history.

In the space of a decade, the Vale’s exposed keelson has all but disintegrated, leaving behind an iron knee rider (a deck support structure) that just emerged from the water. The hull of the Priscilla, which had previously been completely exposed, was now lost from view. Salt air, tide and time had moved quickly over the bodies of the vessels and stripped away the evidence.

There are much older wrecks around Dog Island. The French merchant vessel, Le Tigre, foundered here in 1766 on its way to New Orleans from Haiti. Its tale weaves a wicked narrative of suffering, cannibalism and survival that went on for 81 days. It is only the second French shipwreck to have been discovered in America, and the only one dating to the 18th century, according to Meide’s records.

Thirty-three years later, in 1799, the British warship HMS Fox ran aground and broke up near the eastern tip of St. George Island. Its claim to fame? Onboard was the nefarious soldier-of-fortune William Augustus Bowles, who was being returned

to Florida by the British. Historians continue to debate the value of the “treasure” onboard the 150-ton schooner. Since it lies in shark-infested waters, the mystery of whether or not “gold” treasure was onboard is still unknown. It is known that this schooner went down with at least 14 cannon, plus trade goods, personal items and military supplies.

It is likely that many seafarers passed this way over the centuries and used the island for fishing and fresh water, or for riding out bad weather. Some may have been blown off course and landed there by accident. It’s also very likely that Dog Island played host to the illicit trading and raiding of pirates and smugglers.

“This pattern is seen with the 1766 wrecking of Le Tigre and the wrecks associated with the 1899 hurricane,” Meide said.

It’s not know what treasure lies off Dog Island, but we do know there is a treasure trove of history, woven by centuries of triumph and tragedy at sea, waiting silently to be told.

Karen Cox-Dennis is a local writer and producer. She and her family split their time between homes in Tallahassee and Apalachicola. n

A crystal-clear spring day on the coast ends with a picture-perfect sunset, as viewed from the Turtle Beach Inn. back rides on the beach since 1995. The Broke-A-Toe guides are experienced and certified, and the horses are well trained and great with riders of all ages. And, as it turns out, Gulf County has one of only three beaches in Florida where you can ride horses.

Kelly introduced us to our mounts, Shelley and Little Bit. The fact that both had mild dispositions helped calm my nerves since this was the first time in some 30 years that I “sat a horse.” When I was a kid I was involved in a minor accident, but it was enough to scare me away for many years. Kelly understood and said she often has clients who are just as skittish. She put Trish and I at ease, and soon we were saddled up and clip-clopping over the dunes and onto the beach.

Both animals were accustomed to the beach ride and acted like they were on autopilot — which was just fine with me — so we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. Rocking gently along the sugarwhite sands, gazing over the calm, glittering blue-green waters, I could have fallen asleep in the saddle. Kelly walked along side us, using my camera to take snapshots. By the end of the hour-long ride, my phobia was sufficiently exorcised and I felt proud to have finally conquered it.

All in all, the whole trip was fantastic, and we look forward to going back to experience more Forgotten Coast hospitality. n

If You Go Port St. Joe is about a two-hour drive from Tallahassee. Take U.S. Highway 319 south to U.S. Highway 98 and go west.

To get to Indian Pass, turn left at State Road 30-A and turn left on Indian Pass Road (at the Indian Pass Raw Bar). To get to Cape San Blas, take State Road 30-A and turn left on County Road 30-E (Cape San Blas Road).

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Buyer’s Paradise The Forgotten Coast’s Low Home Prices Are Really Getting Attention

By Brittany Barriner

Photo by Scott Holstein

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he future of Florida’s Forgotten Coast real estate market looks brighter, as increased activity and continued low prices appear to benefit both buyers and sellers.

“It is still 1,000 percent a buyer’s market.

Anytime interest rates are at an all-time low, and prices have come down 69 to 70 percent, it’s always going to be a buyer’s market,” said Jason Naumann of the Tallahassee-based Naumann Real Estate Group.

For the first time, buyers are able to demand price negotiations because there are many comparable properties to choose from, according to William “Jay” Rish, owner of Century 21 Gulf Coast Realty in Port St. Joe. “If one seller will not take their offer then they can simply choose … similar inventory,” he said.

Buyers, however, aren’t the only beneficiaries of low prices. The market is helping local realtors once again experience an uptick in sales along the Forgotten Coast.

“Last quarter I had the best in real estate sales that I had since 2005. What we are finding is that buyers have come back to St. George Island, and people are getting fantastic bargains compared to a few years ago,” said Helen Spohrer of Prudential Resort Realty on St. George Island.

Some prices have dropped as much as 90 percent, and realtors have noticed the market’s adjusted prices are permitting people to purchase homes they once couldn’t afford.

“A SummerCamp Beach home used to sell for $300,000 and today we are able to offer a beach cottage on a lot for $259,000 for the whole package,” Naumann said. “This has done two things: allowed more people to invest in second homes and allowed sellers to put products on the rental market.”

As Rish puts it, it’s a hobby for some buyers to see what they can “steal” a property for. And, for the first time in 10 years, he is seeing good quality Gulf-front lots selling for less than $200,000 and homes of good quality selling for under $500,000.

“First-tier Gulf-view and Gulf-side are consistently below $100,000. These numbers are at about a 75 percent discount off their all-time highs,” Rish said. “These prices should be common for the marketplace for the near term and then trend upward as

St. George Island Sales Trends

Prices shown are the sales price of property sold per year from the lowest price to the highest price.

PLANTATION HOMES Gulf Front 2009: $900,000 4BR/4BA 2170SF to $1,899,000 4BR/4.5BA 4128 SF 2010: $699,900 4BR/3BA 2064SF to $1,550,000 5BR/3.5BA 3821SF Bay Front 2008: $1,220,000 5BR/4BA 2688SF 2009: $336,000 3BR/2BA 1580 SF to $1,200,000 5BR/4.5BA 3543SF EAST END HOMES Gulf Front 2009: $1,080,000 4BR/4BA 2924SF to $1,300,000 5BR/5BA 3680SF 2010: $860,000 3BR/2BA 2247SF Gulf Front (All 300 Ocean Mile Townhomes) 2009: $248,200 2BR/2.5BA 1470SF to $310,000 3BR/3BA 1566SF 2010: $166,100 1 BR/1BA 800SF to $315,000 2BR/2.5BA 1400SF Bay Front 2009: $245,000 3BR/2BA 1550SF to $699,000 5 BR/4BA 2925SF 2010: $260,000 2BR/2BA 1964SF to $1,150,000 5BR/5.5BA 3604SF Figures courtesy of CENTURY 21 Collins Realty, Inc.

demand eventually outpaces inventories.”

The increased demand for vacation homes has trickled its way down to St. George Island as well.

“We have a lot of families back buying for personal use, which is always a positive

thing. People are buying second homes and also vacation homes,” Spohrer said.

Even as more homes become accessible for buyers, there are still a sizeable amount of foreclosed and short sale homes on St. George Island. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of foreclosures are closing, while only a third of the short sales are finalizing.

A “short sale” is when the mortgage value exceeds the worth of the property. A buyer makes an offer to the seller, and the seller and the lender settle the terms of the agreement. The process can take up to six months to a year.

A “foreclosed” or “bank owned” property is one where the bank has taken possession. The process requires little to no waiting period. Buyers provide proof of funds to the lender or a pre-approval letter, and purchase the property as-is.

Rish said the criteria for a short sale is more arbitrary than a foreclosure. “A short sale is a negotiation between the owner and the bank and may or may not happen, depending on the evolving circumstances of the owner,” Rish said. “The foreclosure is an end process for the bank to legally and forcibly take the title and possession of the property.”

While the real estate market seems to be settled for now, market experts say buyers should not get too comfortable with distressed prices. They predict the increased demand for homes will eventually exceed inventory and bring prices back up. n Forgotten coast 2011

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Calendar of events compiled by Terrika Mitchell May 6–7 19TH ANNUAL HISTORIC APALACHICOLA HOME & GARDEN TOUR Tour the “coastal cottages” featured in Trinity Episcopal Church’s tour of homes. Kicks off with Friday Evensong, followed by a reception and free lecture. Visit the featured 1900 Queen Anne-style Trinity Church Rectory, enjoy lunch and participate in a silent auction on Saturday.

Pre-sold tickets are $15 and day-of tickets will be $20. Trinity Episcopal Church. Evensong begins 5:30 p.m. Tour from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. (850) 653-9505, apalachicolahistorichometour.org May 7 37TH ANNUAL BLUE CRAB FESTIVAL Woolley Park on Dickerson Bay in Panacea is the scene for one of the Gulf Coast’s largest festivals and best-loved traditions. Waterfront fun and unlimited seafood from vendors. Traditional event parade down U.S. Highway 98 starts at 10 a.m. (850) 985-2722, bluecrabfest.com May 7 APALACHICOLA ART WALK/WINE FESTIVAL Downtown Apalachicola will be decorated with the works of local artists. Viewing starts at noon.

A wine tasting follows at 6 p.m. (850) 653-9419 May 13–22 6TH ANNUAL FLORIDA’S FORGOTTEN COAST PLEIN AIR INVITATIONAL The Forgotten Coast Cultural Coalition hosts 10 days of open-air art with six exhibits featuring the natural on-site paintings of several artists. Daily artist demonstrations, workshops, art sales and public receptions. A family activity concludes the event on May 22. (800) 378-8419, pleinairfl.com May 21 ANNUAL TUPELO HONEY FESTIVAL Come celebrate the locally produced sweet Tupelo honey. Lots of kids crafts, vendors, music, dancing and, of course, honey. FREE. 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Lake Alice Park in Wewahitchka. (850) 639-2605 June 3–4 BLUEWATER OUTRIGGERS CHARITY OFFSHORE CLASSIC Bluewater Outriggers promotes this offshore fishing tournament at the Port St. Joe Marina.

The weekend begins with a captains’ party catered by Salt Lick Sausage at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Four first-place winners will receive $2,500 and four second-places winners will receive $500. Prize drawing, vending, raffles and live music. The popular Panhandle Kingfish Slam will leave the winning boat with $5,000 or more in cash and prizes. bluewatercharityclassic.com June 18–20 BIG BEND SALTWATER CLASSIC FISHING TOURNAMENT More than dads can have a great time this Father’s Day weekend at this famous event. The opening Captains’ Dinner at the Carrabelle Boat Club will feature music, food and fellowship. The first lines go in the water at 5:30 a.m. Friday and end with an award ceremony Sunday after Sat-

urday’s weigh-ins. Registration $65 online, $75 in person. Carrabelle Boat Club. (850) 216-2272, saltwaterclassic.com July 4 INDEPENDENCE ON THE COAST Make the most of your Fourth of July holiday in downtown Port St. Joe. Daytime activities will include sidewalk sales and festival fun for the entire family. Experience a breathtaking firework show in the evening. FREE. Frank Pate Park, U.S. Highway 98. Contact the Port St. Joe Chamber of Commerce at (850) 227-1223 July 4 BEST BLAST ON THE BEACH Celebrate America’s birthday with the family on Mexico Beach. The fun begins with a 5K run for parents and children, with a free youth fishing tournament and evening firework show. Food, drinks, awards and fun are guaranteed. Walk/run at Under the Palms Park on Seventh Street. (850) 648-8196, mexicobeach.com July 29–30 7TH ANNUAL MARQUARDT’S MARINA OFFSHORE CLASSIC This tournament supports reef building along the Forgotten Coast as part of a three-tournament series. It promises fun-filled competition with place prizes given out in three categories — Dolphin, Wahoo and King. Mexico Beach. (850) 648-8900, mbara.org August 6–7 19TH ANNUAL SCALLOP FESTIVAL Visit Port St. Joe’s waterfront for this annual festival where you can find crafts, entertainment, food and scallops. The festivities also include an art preview party and kids’ zone. $5 for 18 and up. 11 a.m.

Sand Hill Pond Park, Port St. Joe. (850) 227-1223 August 26–27 15TH ANNUAL MBARA KINGFISH TOURNAMENT Hosted by the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association. Register for a fun-filled weekend beginning Friday with the Captains’ Dinner, offering food, drinks and door prizes. The tournament begins at 5 a.m. CST on Saturday with weighin at 5 p.m. CST at Marquardt’s Marina. Enjoy a musical evening Saturday night at Toucan’s with a live band. $150 per boat. Marquardt’s Marina, Mexico Beach. Captains’ dinner at El Governor Motel begins 5 p.m. CST. Contact MBARA president Bob Cox at rcox@mchsi.com September 1–29 MUSIC IN THE PARK Every Friday in September, Mexico Beach welcomes residents and visitors to an evening of soothing sounds. FREE. Sunset Park, Mexico Beach. 6 p.m. CST. September 10 FALL BEACH BLAST TRIATHLON & DUATHLON Tour the beautiful beaches and forests of the Forgotten Coast in this four-race event. Compete in the Olympic or sprint distance race and enjoy an awards ceremony with gift certificates, pizza, hot dogs and shrimp immediately after. $60– $180. Beacon Hill Park, Mexico Beach. Packet pick-up Friday at 5 p.m. CST and first race begins Saturday at 7 a.m. beachblasttriathlon.com October 14–13 BLAST ON THE BAY SONGWRITER’S FESTIVAL For the third year some of Nashville’s top songwriters will visit Port St. Joe. The lineup of performers include last year’s crowd favorites like Jillia Jackson and Thom Shepherd, who will also participate in an open discussion work-

shop for novice musicians. Performances will be held at several venues along the coast. Proceeds will go to the Educational Foundation of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Gulf Alliance for Local Arts. FREE. (850) 229-7678, blastonthebay.com Oct. 29 Crooked River Lighthouse Park Lantern Fest Experience an enchanted blend of history, science, theatre, music and awe as more than 100 lanterns illuminate the story of the historic 1895 lighthouse. Live music, good food, children’s activities and nighttime tower climbing. Funded in part by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council. 1975 U.S. Highway 98 West. 4–10 p.m.

(850) 697-2732. crookedriverlighthouse.org.

October 31 GHOSTS ON THE COAST Ghosts and goblins will envelop downtown Port St. Joe for a safe Halloween celebration with costume contests, storytelling and trick-or-treating.

Hosted by the area’s Chamber of Commerce.

FREE. 5 p.m. Reid Street, Downtown, Port St. Joe. (850) 227-1223, gulfchamber.org December 4 MEXICO BEACH CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION OF LIGHTS The 3rd annual Tree Lighting celebration features caroling by candlelight, refreshments, a visit from Santa and the annual golf cart parade.

FREE. 5 p.m. CST. Sunset Park, Mexico Beach.

December 3 and 10 CHRISTMAS ON THE COAST Port St. Joe rings in the holidays with the spirit of fun. Residents can enjoy the annual 5K Reindeer Run/Walk, prizes and photos with Santa on Dec. 3. The following Saturday, gather to watch the Lighted Boat Parade. FREE. Port St. Joe. (850) 227-1223 December 31 CELEBRATE SAFE, CELEBRATE TWICE NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION Ring in the New Year twice in one night. Enjoy live entertainment and festivities at Port St. Joe Beach then Mexico Beach, where you can do it all over again an hour later. Shuttles will offer free rides to and from the beaches. Port St. Joe and n Mexico Beach. (850) 227-1223

FORGOTTEN Coast

Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian E. Rowland Managing Editor . . . . . . . . Rosanne Dunkelberger Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Dehart Creative Director . . . . . . . . . . Lawrence Davidson Graphic Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Nabi Account Executives . . . . . . . . . . . . Chuck Simpson Contributing Writers �������������Brittany Barriner Karen Cox-Dennis, Jason Dehart, Darlyn Finch, Terrika Mitchell, Michael Peltier Reprinted from Tallahassee Magazine, a publication of Rowland Publishing, Inc. d.b.a. Forgotten Coast Magazine. All rights reserved © 2011. Volume XiIi.

Cover image by Jason Dehart

The Peacemaker, a barquentine based in Brunswick, Ga., visited Port St. Joe this spring. Owned and crewed by members of the Twelve Tribes, an international religious group, the ship is used to “bring people into peace with their Creator and with one another.”

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Forgotten coast 2011

home&

GARDEN

Photo Courtesy Mad Dog Construction

CHECK IT OUT

» A Bite-Sized Beginning

Do it yourself isn’t just for home improvement projects. You can be the DIY master of your plate by growing your vegetables.

The perfect, and easiest, veggie for beginners may be the bite-sized cherry tomato.

Avoid the hassle of plowing and planting by purchasing already seeded transplant pots from a local nursery and planting them in containers. But don’t think too small, advises Lilly Anderson, tomato workshop instructor at Native Nurseries.

“For indeterminate tomatoes, like most

cherry ones are, you need 7-gallon pots or larger. The transplant pot in the 4-inch container can easily be put into the ground or a larger container,” she says.

Matt’s Wild Cherry, Sun Gold and Lemon Drop tomato varieties are more resistant to disease and heat, and they tend to flourish even in Florida.

Tomatoes need regular watering based on soil type and an average of four to six hours of sun a day, says Anderson. Pots with foam or fiberglass limit root evaporation and hold

design | tips

moisture your soil will need. She also recommends Tomato Tone organic fertilizer.

Anderson says June is the latest to plant cherry tomato crops but that home gardeners can plan a second planting in August.

Within a month, you should be able to begin harvesting tomatoes. Aside from a firm, even-toned tomato, there are other indications it’s ready for the salad bowl. “When there’s a little give to the fruit and it’s easily plucked, the tomato is probably ripe for picking,” she says. — Terrika Mitchell

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A Tough

Deadline Parade of Homes Builders Scramble to Finish Dozens of Homes Each Spring By Lilly Rockwell

F

or Tallahassee homebuilders, the springtime Parade of Homes is their Academy Awards. And it’s an annual challenge to make sure those homes are red-carpet ready.

The Parade of Homes, hosted by the Tallahassee Builder’s Association, is an annual open-house event that encourages the public to walk through dozens of gleaming new homes throughout the 132

May–June 2011

greater Tallahassee area. This year, there will be 21 homes on display, with prices ranging from $139,990 to $599,000.

These homes are also judged by local homebuilding experts, such as Realtors, interior decorators and appraisers, and awarded prizes within different price ranges.

Often, people who visit these stylishly decorated homes are not homebuyers, but nosy looky-loos who want to see whether

granite countertops and stainless steel appliances are still in vogue or are mulling over remodeling plans.

Just like the Oscars, a lot happens behind the scenes that many Parade of Homes visitors never get to see. There’s last-minute scrambling to finish landscaping and add slivers of crown molding.

There’s the careful choreography of trying to find experienced subcontractors during this busy season of home building.

“It seems like no matter when we start, it always works out to where we’ll be out there ‘til midnight the night before putting the finishing touches on,” said Jason Meadows, the president of White Oak

Photos by scott holstein

Hard at work This SouthWood model is one of two Parade entries by Foundation Homes. Co-owner Steve Byrd (below) expects it to have a lived-in look with furniture and an established lawn when the Parade begins May 7.

Construction. As the deadline gets closer, Meadows said he puts in longer hours, sometimes staying himself until the wee hours of the morning.

Some builders say the process for preparing for the Parade of Homes begins a year in advance. “We try to plan one right after the Parade of Homes from the previous year,” Meadows said. White Oak prefers to highlight a home they’re constructing for a customer, rather than building “on spec,” as other homebuilders do.

Other homebuilders say they begin constructing Parade homes in December or January.

“If you do your job correctly, you start Dec. 1,” said Steve Byrd, one of the owners of Foundation Homes. Byrd said Foundation tries to secure financing and design the house in December and is ready to build by the end of the month. “It’s about a 90-day build on homes nowadays,” Byrd

said. By the time March rolls round, more than a dozen homebuilders are scrambling to finish their homes at the same time.

“You can build a nice, high-quality house in three or four months,” said Matt McHaffie, the owner of GBGH Construction. Last year he encountered every builder’s worst nightmare: an unfinished house. McHaffie was juggling several residential remodeling projects while building his Parade home and opening Fuzions frozen yogurt in Midtown.

By the time May rolled around, his Dellwood area house had no touch-up paint or yard landscaping, the countertops weren’t set in, the kitchen had no backsplash and the floors didn’t have their final coat of finishing. “I got caught with

my pants down,” McHaffie said. “I was so embarrassed.” He refused to allow the judges to see the house.

This year, McHaffie vowed to learn from his mistakes.

Parade of Homes May 7–8, May 14–15 Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Sundays noon to 6 p.m.

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His 2011 Parade house sits in Midtown, directly across the street from his personal residence. And he promises this time he’ll wow the judges and public.

“This year I’ve got my trim, drywall and exterior done, and I’m putting in landscaping this week,” McHaffie said in midFebruary. McHaffie said he only builds about one home a year and focuses more on home remodeling and renovations.

Though the Parade of Homes takes place over two weekends in mid-May, builders usually have to get their homes ready by the end of April because judges preview the homes before they are open to the public.

The biggest challenge, homebuilders say, is finding subcontractors, such as plumbers, electricians, cabinetmakers and flooring experts, in March and April.

“There are several homebuilders all hollering for stuff at the same time,” Meadows said. “The (subcontractors) get really stressed out, it’s a little taxing on everybody.”

The most experienced and trustworthy subcontractors are fought over. “A lot of builders use the same subcontractors, which ties them up,” Byrd said. “That’s what gets bottled up at the end.” Byrd said it’s the builder’s responsibility to foresee these problems.

The 10 days before the Parade are the most stressful, Byrd said. He said the trick is to make a new home look not-so-new. The grass has to be put in a few weeks ahead of time, and Byrd hires home stagers to bring in furniture to give it a lived-in look.

Byrd said he’s on the job sites every day, and often they work Saturdays as well.

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Photo by scott holstein

Still for sale Builder Sulu Demirpolat stands in front of the Parade home he built three years ago that has yet to find a buyer.

If You Build It, Will it Sell?

H

omebuilders typically enter a home in the Parade because they want exposure and to meet potential clients. Occasionally builders have already sold the house they are building, but most are built “on spec,” which means the homebuilder hopes to sell it during or after the Parade.

Sometimes this gamble doesn’t pay off. A review of homes sold in Parade of Homes for the past three years indicates that some take months to sell.

One 3,800-square-foot home on Shannon Lakes Drive featured in the 2008 Parade of Homes is still on the market, nearly three years later. This fourbedroom home near Killearn Acres was built by S&K Ventures, which is owned by Sulu Demirpolat.

Originally listed at $639,000, the home is now priced at $549,000. Keller Williams Realtor Terance Keenan is the listing agent. He said the home regularly gets showings, but struggles because of the competitive price point, busy street and modest neighborhood. “We go through cycles, where we have a lot of interest in it and then it goes away,” Keenan said. “We’ve had four showings in the past two weeks.”

Owner Demirpolat said the home received a lot of attention when it debuted in the Parade of Homes three years ago.

“People were coming nonstop and there were no parking spots to accommodate all the people,” he said. “But 99 percent of them were just looking.”

Demirpolat had one contract with a prospective buyer in 2008, but it fell through due to the buyer’s financing troubles. Since then, Demirpolat has received no offers.

“I don’t have a 100 percent loan on the house, so the bank is not so much an issue with me,” he said. Demirpolat said he is waiting for an offer that will allow him to “minimize my loss.” But he certainly isn’t the only builder whose Parade of Homes dwelling took a long time to sell. A home on Breton Ridge Drive in Bull Run took two years to sell. It was also in the 2008 Parade of Homes, listed at $699,000.

It finally sold in June 2010 for $550,000.

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Habitat

Homes That Took Six Months or Longer to Sell Parade of Homes 2010 8658 Shire Ridge Loop Built by Hartsfield Construction Listed for $229,000. Sold for $214,900 in December 2010 Parade of Homes 2009 398 Terrace Street Built by Quail Valley Homes Listed for $415,000. Sold for $399,000 in November 2009 Parade of Homes 2008 1329 Preakness Point Built by Ertl Custom Homes Listed for $795,000. Sold for $570,000 in January 2009

But, for the builders, the stress of finishing before a hard deadline is worth it.

Last year, Foundation Homes sold six other homes after showcasing only two of them in the Parade. This year, Byrd is putting two SouthWood homes in the Parade.

In recent years, homebuilders have reacted to the recession by building smaller homes. Gone are the five- and sixbedroom mini-mansions. In this year’s Parade, you’ll find a plethora of homes from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet in the $219,000 to $295,000 price range.

These homes are geared toward secondtime homebuyers. Byrd, with Foundation Homes, said last year’s $8,000 tax credit convinced most first-time buyers to purchase a home, leaving little demand for the 1,600- to 1,800-square-foot homes popular with first-timers.

The Parade of Homes has struggled in recent years as the number of homebuilders has shrunk. In 2007, the Parade had more than 90 entries. This year, it’s dropped more than 75 percent from that number.

Some homebuilders say they prefer the smaller size.

“When the market hits the bottom, everybody is ditching it,” McHaffie said. “I like how it separates the people who were in and out of the industry to the people who are going to be here a long time.” n TALLAHASSEE

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spring gift guide

good ideas for gift giving

Tempt taste buds with the new Junior League of Tallahassee (JLT) cookbook, “A Thyme to Celebrate” ($27.50). A perfect gift for the busy mom, hardworking dad, college graduate or entertainer on your list, “A Thyme to Celebrate” offers a fresh selection of 230 delicious recipes that are simple enough to whip up after a day in the office, yet tasty enough to impress at a dinner party.

An added bonus: Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit JLT and its community projects. Helping others never tasted so good.

Available by calling the JLT office or by visiting the website.

Give a 2011–2012 Gold Season Subscription Package from Florida State University’s School of Theatre, a gift of entertainment that lasts all year. See tomorrow’s rising stars today. The subscription offers 20 percent off regular ticket prices to six great shows, additional single ticket purchases at subscriber rates, easy ticket exchanges and replacements, guaranteed seating, VIP treatment, flexibility and convenience. $98. Call or visit the website for package details.

The School of Theatre at Florida State Fine Arts Ticket Office, 239 Fine Arts Building, FSU (850) 644-6500, tickets.fsu.edu

Junior League of Tallahassee 404 E. 6th Avenue, (850) 224-9161, jltallahassee.org

Spring on into The Cake Shop, where you’ll find something to satisfy everyone’s taste buds —including homemade cookies, pastries, cupcakes and an array of specialty cakes. Stop in to discover your favorite sweet treat. Shown here: 8-inch vanilla two-layer cake, $21.

Complete her summer outfit right down to her toes with Stephen Bonanno Sandals. Personalize your style, leather color, lacing color, heel type … or make it ultra personal with monogramming. There are 10 styles to choose from, and 65 leather swatches. Founded in the 1960s, the Bonanno family business took off when Jackie Kennedy became a regular customer. It’s your turn to find out why so many say “It’s Bonannos or barefoot!”

The Cake Shop 1908 Capital Circle N.E., Unit 6, (850) 386-2253 tallycakeshop.com

The Cottage Collection @ The Grey Fox 20-6 E. Sixth Avenue (corner of Monroe and Sixth) (850) 576-8372

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Special Advertising Section

Moms, Dads, Grads and More … ’Tis the season of celebration, full of days to honor our parents, graduates and couples tying the knot. We have pages of possibilities for sureto-please gifts for friends and loved ones. Happy shopping!

The change of seasons is a reminder to refresh and renew.

Embrace the summer with a personal pampering session at the SPA at Southeastern Plastic Surgery. The SPA features highly trained, licensed aestheticians, who skillfully combine spa luxury with best-in-class technology. Treat yourself or someone you care about. Our aestheticians can provide a variety of options for customized skin care programs for all skin types, including relaxing facials. Give the gift of beauty with a SPA gift certificate.

The SPA at Southeastern Plastic Surgery 2030 Fleischmann Road (850) 219-2000, se-plasticsurgery.com

For Mom’s perfect gift, Blue Abaco offers Tallahassee’s best selection of accessories, including Spartina handbags, Lug Parasail Cosmetic Cases, Sorrelli “juicy fruit” necklaces, slap watches, “Life is Good” recycled T-shirts and so much more!

Prices range from $19.95 to $210.

Blue Abaco 1690 Raymond Diehl Road, (850) 422- 1857

Come and experience the difference at Cabello’s full-service salon and spa located in Midtown. Indulge in high-fashion hair coloring or the latest cuts and styles for the entire family. Soothing aromatherapy massages, facials and body treatments with microdermabrasion packages will rejeuvenate your skin. Get ready for summer with a spray tan, bikini wax and a healing pedicure.

New Orleans Building on Thomasville Road and Sixth Avenue.

Diamonds are a simple, yet elegant way to give your mom or grad a memorable gift that will last a lifetime. With the largest selection of diamond stud earrings and diamond pendants in town, Tallahassee Diamond Center is sure to have exactly what you’re looking for. Prices range from $199 to $28,000.

Cabello’s 1240 Thomasville Road, Suite 201 (850) 575-7529, cabellostudio.com

Tallahassee Diamond Center 1355 Market Street, Suite A-2 (850) 906- 9213, tallahasseediamonds.com

Special Advertising Section

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mind&

BODY

In Focus

your life | well-being

» Say ‘Goodbye’ to Old Medicine

When sickness strikes, some of us take prescription drugs to get better. As time passes, we grow strong — eventually forgetting about the medicine we took to make us healthy again.

The leftovers take up residence in our medicine cabinets until they’re rediscovered eons later.

Chances are they won’t be needed again.

That’s when we’re faced with a dilemma: How do I get rid of this stuff?

While some may throw bottles with remaining medicine in the trash, others might flush pills or liquids in the toilet or rinse them down their sinks.

Both options are pretty risky.

Throwing the medicine away as-is can be dangerous if it’s plucked from the trash and misused by children or consumed by pets. A better option is to crush pills and mix them with undesirable substances like cat litter or spoiled foods.

Some drug labels instruct people to flush leftover pills, but medicine may pose a threat to the environment by infiltrating the water supply. The FDA reports traces of pharmaceutical drugs are found in rivers, lakes and some community drinking-water supplies. Although

a percentage of that comes from bodily waste, some of it comes from directly disposing pills via toilet or sink.

There are no local drug take-back programs and city and county recycling services do not take unwanted medicines or syringes and other sharps. But Leon County’s Hazardous Waste department offers complete instructions on proper disposal. Visit leoncountyfl.gov and click on “Household Hazardous Waste Information Cards” to download the information.

— Janeen Talbott

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Health

Until There’s a Cure B

ob Pedler leans on his wife’s shoulder for support as he shuffles across the room. Vicky Hayse smiles as she gracefully takes her seat. Sitting opposite of Hayse is Steve Sandler, who appears to be perfectly normal, aside from the occasional shaking of his arm.

These are the faces of Parkinson’s disease (PD), and they can be male or female, old or young, shaky or still.

The world has become better acquainted with Parkinson’s through actor Michael J. Fox, who has had the disease for 20 years and started the Michael J. Fox Foundation to find a cure and ensure development of improved therapies for those living with the disease.

According to the foundation, at least a million people in the United States and more than five million worldwide have Parkinson’s. The disease was first studied extensively by English doctor James Parkinson in 1817, and today Parkinson’s is understood to be a disorder of the central nervous system that results from the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including the substantia nigra. These cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals within the brain that allow for coordination of movement. Loss of dopamine causes neurons to fire without normal control, leaving patients less able to direct or control their movement.

Motor symptoms of Parkinson’s include resting tremor, slowness of movement, balance problems, rigidity, gait problems and reduced facial expression. Non-motor symptoms range from memory and sleep difficulties to depression and anxiety. There is no definitive test for PD and, because its symptoms are similar to those of other neurological conditions, the misdiagnosis rate is significant.

Just ask Sandler, who was originally told he had a pinched nerve before the correct diagnosis of Parkinson’s was determined in 1999.

“I went to a local neurologist here, who did a nerve conduction test and told me that I had a pinched nerve in my neck,” Sandler said. “And I said, ‘Is there any way I could have Parkinson’s?’ because I began to suspect it by then because of the numbness and

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Advocacy and Research Provide Hope to Those Living with Parkinson’s Disease By Holly Brooks

the twitch. And he said, ‘You’re too young, and I don’t have time to explain it. Just trust me — you don’t have Parkinson’s.’”

Sandler remained unconvinced and made an appointment with a Jacksonville neurologist.

“He had me walk across the room, walk back, walk on my toes, do this, do this, touch your nose,” Sandler said. “He says, ‘You’ve got early stage Parkinson’s. You’ve got all five classic symptoms: slowness of movement, stiffness, flat aspect of your face — unusual smile, tremor, voice was whispery.’”

Vicky Hayse, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1998 and Lyme disease in 2005, is still mystified by her condition.

“I’m doing very well at the moment,” Hayse said. “I have tremors some … but I don’t know whether it’s Lyme or Parkinson’s.

I’ve been to Shands (Hospital in Gainesville) several times with the desire for them to check it off my list, but they continue to say that Parkinson’s affects people differently …. And so I haven’t had anything conclusive, to really tell me whether it is Lyme that is manifesting itself as Parkinson’s or whether it’s Parkinson’s disease. I could have either or both.”

Sandler said his first symptom was depression.

“I went through a pretty severe depression, and I blamed it on my job,” he said. “I wasn’t happy with my job, and I found out later it was because I didn’t have enough dopamine. It wasn’t the job’s fault, and after I was finally diagnosed properly, I started to take Sinemet. The depression went away, and for several years, I was virtually symptom-free.”

Sinemet is currently the gold standard drug prescribed for Parkinson’s. It has been recognized as the most effective treatment for motor symptoms, but it has its drawbacks. It has not been shown to slow disease progression and can cause dyskinesia — involuntary movements and tics — for some patients. And as PD symptoms progress, patients are put on elevating doses of Sinemet.

“Notice me — I’m wiggling around a lot — that’s not Parkinson’s,” Sandler said. “That’s dyskinesia from the Sinemet.”

Sandler takes a total of 13 different prescription drugs to treat his disease and the side effects of his medication.

Richard Hale, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1986,

Song as Therapy After working with Parkinson’s patients, FSU graduate student Olivia Swedberg says there’s a “really strong case for music as a treatment for Parkinson’s.”

“This is a disease that steals who people are. They’re still there, and they know who they are, unlike Alzheimer’s, but they’re still vital and responsible and involved people … .” — Pat Hunt, President

Photo by Scott Holstein

of North Florida Parkinson Awareness Group

said his first symptom was lack of arm swing.

“I went to a neurologist here in town, and he said, ‘Let’s give you an MRI just to check what it is,’” Hale said. “I came in and had an MRI and went back to him the next week, and he says, ‘You’ve either got Parkinson’s disease or a tumor in your brain.’

And they put me on Sinemet to eliminate one or the other. If Sinemet helped with the arm swing, then it’s Parkinson’s.”

Since there is no test that diagnoses Parkinson’s, many doctors will look for a patient’s responsiveness to PD medications, as in Hale’s case.

Despite medication, Hale’s symptoms became so severe he turned to deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. DBS uses a surgically implanted neurotransmitter to deliver electrical stimulation

to targeted areas in the brain that control movement, blocking abnormal nerve cells that cause some PD symptoms, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. But DBS is only for a lucky few.

“Only 10 to 12 percent of people who apply for the deep brain stimulator will qualify physically and mentally because there’re so many tests,” Hale said.

A local effort to combat Parkinson’s comes in the form of the North Florida Parkinson Awareness Group, Inc. (NFPAG), which was founded by patient Randy McCoy and is led by President Pat Hunt and Vice-President Janice Pedler. The group aims to provide support, information, education and advocacy for all people with the disease as well as their caregivers, family and friends.

“This is a disease that steals who people are,” said Hunt, whose husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2002 and died in 2008. “They’re still there, and they know who they are, unlike Alzheimer’s, but they’re still vital and responsible and involved people, but they can’t do what they used to do.”

Pedler’s husband, Bob, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2001. When Pedler was asked how having a family member with Parkinson’s has impacted her life, she was speechless for a moment as her eyes welled with tears, showing the toll PD takes on caregivers of patients.

“The first thing that happens is, you are in denial,” she responded. Because he had few visible symptoms, Bob Pedler dismissed his disease for about six years after he was diagnosed.

“And all of a sudden, it really hits you,” said Janice Pedler. “This is where you are, and I think, at that point, you really don’t tALLAHASSEE

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know what’s going to happen. Then, you enter reality, and that’s sort of where I am right now.”

It’s difficult to know how many people have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s in and around Tallahassee. Because of medical privacy laws, NFPAG must wait for a patient or his or her family to reach out to the group.

In the North Florida Parkinson Awareness Choir, a program of NFPAG, Parkinson’s patients exercise their voices by singing to the public. The choir formed in 2002 as an outreach of the neuroscience center at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and the Florida State University music therapy program, and it grew into a PD awareness choir. Olivia Swedberg leads the group as the music therapy coordinator and is collecting research for her FSU dissertation on the effects of music therapy on speech and balance in PD patients.

“There’s some really interesting research in Parkinson’s and neuroscience that shows that listening to music and singing increases dopamine production … and based on what we’ve seen as a group and some things that are scattered throughout the literature, there’s a really strong case for music as a treatment for Parkinson’s,” Swedberg said. “There are stories of people who’ve forgone medication or have decreased the amount of medication because listening to music or singing in their head during daily activities is helpful.”

Among therapies currently in development for Parkinson’s, cell replacement

Photo by Scott Holstein

Health

Outreach Members of the North Florida Parkinson Awareness Choir share information about the disease during a performance at Tallahassee Memorial Adult Day Care.

Reaching Out in Song While most of the songs in the North Florida Parkinson Awareness Choir’s repertoire are crowd-pleasing classics, its shows also include a couple of tunes that share information about the disease with the audience. This one was written by Steve Sandler, who has Parkinson’s disease.

Reaching for the Sky We’ve come to sing for you We could have stayed at home Sitting in our easy chairs Silent and alone If we could dance, we would Hey, maybe we could try Though we’re slow and shaky We’re all reaching for the sky Though we’re slow and shaky We’re all reaching for the sky Though our faces show no smiles We are smiling from within Smiling as we softly croon The melodies we spin We’ll sing our songs the best we can We’re glad you came to hear Our simple tunes and harmonies Help us speak loud and clear We’ve come to sing for you We could have stayed at home Sitting in our easy chairs Silent and alone Since we can dance, we should Hey, let’s give it a try Though we’re slow and shaky We’re all reaching for the sky We’re all a little shaky But we’re reaching for the sky

tALLAHASSEE

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Health

Walk, Run and Roll for Parkinson’s Disease For a second year, the North Florida Parkinson Awareness Group (NFPAG) is sponsoring the Tulip Trot 5K on Saturday, May 14 at Tom Brown Park. In addition to the race and a 50-yard “Victory Dash” honoring those with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers, the event will feature music by the NFPAG Choir and the Tuesday Bluegrass Jam Group. Proceeds benefit NFPAG and the NFPAG Choir. Pre-registration cost (postmarked before May 9) is $12 and includes a T-shirt. Race day registration is at Pavilions 1, 2 and 3 at Tom Brown and the cost is $15. Registration begins at 7 a.m., and the Victory Dash is set for 7:45 a.m. The race begins at 8 a.m.

Awards will be presented for overall, master and age groups. For more information, visit nfpag.com

therapy — designed to replace the neurons that degenerate in PD — is probably most widely known. Although there are a variety of different cell sources for this therapy, most work focuses on stem cells, which have the potential to differentiate into any cell type in the body, including healthy dopamine neurons. These healthy neurons can then be transplanted into the brain to replace the malfunctioning neurons. Government restrictions on stem cell research have led researchers to focus on other treatment options. These include the use of proteins and compounds to protect and regenerate healthy neurons in the brain.

A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease can elicit feelings ranging from fear and anger to relief at finally learning the cause of unexplained symptoms. Friends and family often share these emotions. While there is currently no cure for PD, new therapies and research offer hope for a brighter future. Advocacy groups like NFPAG provide support to patients and caregivers alike. Hunt said a long-term goal of the group is to raise enough money to create a “Parkinson’s house” that would serve as a one-stop shop for therapies, counseling, group meetings and classes.

“My faith is something that keeps me going and strong,” Hayse said. “But I have also enjoyed, first of all, the support group …. These guys are my family; we are a family together.” n 146

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dining

GUIDE

Photo courtesy the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

restaurants | food | atmospheres

first course

» FLORIDA CLAMS

Seafood lovers don’t have to wait for the cooler months to come around to enjoy a delightful shellfish.

While waiting for the winter season “R” months to return, clams are a healthy, tasty alternative to oysters.

Though clams may not possess the aphrodisiac powers attributed to oysters, they do contain added health benefits, such as high levels of iron, protein and the omega-3 fatty acids credited with improving heart health.

Clams and oysters have a similar sweet

and salty taste, but differ in texture. The oyster is silky and slimy, while the clam is firmer and chewier.

There are primarily two types of hard clams: the northern quahog, (Mercenaria mercenaria) typically found in Florida and along the East Coast, and the Southern quahog, (Mercenaria campechiensis) mostly seen from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico.

On land, hatcheries produce clam “seed” and then grow them larger until they are placed in mesh bags and “planted” in estuaries and

shallow coastal areas. Florida hard clams grow for between 15–18 months until they reach 2 inches and are harvested year round.

Clams are grown without chemicals and require good water quality. When buying fresh clams, they should be free of cracks, with the scent of a mild sea breeze.

If you are looking to dine in, steamed clams can be an effortless and appetizing meal. Or consider a classic Clams Casino appetizer. For recipes, visit fl-seafood.com.

— Brittany Barriner

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Small Farming Spring planting at Turkey Hill Farm on Baum Road should provide an abundance of fruits and vegetables throughout the summer, including heirloom tomatoes, blackberries, elephant garlic, shallots, summer squash, sweet basil, peppers, eggplant, figs, pears, Muscadine grapes and wild blueberries.

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Photo by Scott Holstein

Flavor

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From? Do You Care?

More People Are Looking for Locally Grown Products, and Some Are Finding Them in Their Own Backyard

By Rosanne Dunkelberger

S

ome people have decided to travel down the path of healthy eating. Others think it’s crazy to buy a bell pepper that’s been trucked in from Mexico when they can get one grown in Monticello or, better yet, pick it off a plant in the backyard.

Then there are the folks who like the idea of buying lettuce that has been harvested that morning, and putting their money into the hands of the person who picked it. Some, alarmed by climbing obesity rates, are hoping to redirect their kids from the Little Debbie cake to an orange.

Whatever their reasons, all roads seem to lead to the same place — as people become more conscious about what they eat, they’re looking for seasonal food that’s locally grown.

“There’s been a convergence of movements. They all seem to come together and be about food,” says Cristin Burns, marketing and project manager for New Leaf Market. “There’s definitely been an increase in the awareness of where food comes from.”

And as interest in local food grows, so do the methods for acquiring them. New Leaf has been selling local and organic foods for more than 35 years, and recently expanded to a supermarket-sized

9,000 square feet. A new Earth Fare “health supermarket” has opened right down the street on Apalachee Parkway, while Publix and other grocery stores are expanding their organic offerings.

It’s possible to find a farmer’s market in town — at Lake Ella, the Downtown Market, Killearn, Market Square, SouthWood and Lafayette Street — every day of the week.

There’s been a boom in small, local farms over the past five years, says Burns. “It’s really big. For years, Tallahassee felt kind of like this no mans’ land where there wasn’t really much going on in terms of production. We definitely had to rely on outside sources,” she says. To shine the spotlight on local farms, for the past three years, New Leaf has pulled together an Annual Farm Tour, allowing individuals to travel throughout the region to see farms — many not usually open to the public — in operation. More than 6,000 people took the self-guided tour last year, which featured 36 farms.

Burns says a similar number of farms are expected to sign up for the 2011 event, set for Oct. 15–16.

Nathan Ballentine is riding the locally produced wave by helping individuals, schools, churches and communities plant their own food gardens. Calling tALLAHASSEE

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Flavor

Eat Local, Tallahassee!

During the month of June, New Leaf Market challenges Tallahasseeans to add more locally produced foods to their diet.

“If you’re already aware and trying to eat locally, it challenges you to eat 80 percent of your meals using local ingredients for the month of June,” says Cristin Burns, New Leaf’s marketing and project manager. “If you’re new to the concept, then it asks you to incorporate local foods as much as you’re comfortable. Maybe three meals a week.”

They’ve created a brochure that offers suggestions for breakfast, lunch and dinner menus and will have signs in the store highlighting foods farmed in our area as well as sample recipes. To learn more, visit newleafmarket.coop. New Leaf also offers a month-by-month list of foods produced within a 200-mile radius of Tallahassee. Here’s what you should be able to find in June:

Bell pepper Blueberry Broccoli Cabbage Cantaloupe Carrot Cauliflower Celery Cucumber Eggplant Grapefruit Guava Lettuce Lime Mango Mushroom Onion Orange Papaya Peanut Potato Radish Snap bean Squash Strawberry Sweet corn Tangerine Tomato Watermelon

Farmers are selling their bounty just about every day of the week somewhere in Tallahassee. Here’s a sampling: Downtown Farmers’ and Produce Market

Lafayette Street Organic Growers’ Market

Monroe Street at Park Avenue in the Ponce de Leon Park

1105 E. Lafayette St. (in front of The Moon)

March through November Saturdays, 8 a.m.–2 p.m.

Year-round Thursdays, 3–7 p.m.

himself (and his business) “Man in Overalls,” he serves as a consultant to those who want to grow their own, including people who have never gardened before.

“A fair number of folks, they’re real interested, but they don’t know where to start,” Ballentine says. “They don’t know how to get from grass to garden.” He favors raised-bed gardens and can either offer instruction or build and plant a garden for you.

For those just starting out, Ballentine counsels them to keep it small.

“When folks start sometimes, they want to plant everything that they’ve ever heard of … and then they very easily get overwhelmed,” he says. “Start with a 4-by-4 raised bed and plant two to five different things in that bed so that you can really wrap your head around it.”

And don’t let fear of (crop) failure stop 152

May–June 2011

Sunshine Growers’ Market

The Grower’s Market

Tallahassee Farmers’ Market

Between 4025 and 4055 Esplanade Way, SouthWood

229 Lake Ella Drive

1415 Timberlane Road at Market Square; 1/4 mile north of Interstate Highway 10 off Thomasville Road (U.S. Highway 319)

Open-air market Year-round Mondays, except holidays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Open all year (rain or shine) Wednesdays, 3 p.m.–dusk

For More Information Here are some helpful websites about food from in and around Tallahassee: localharvest.org newleafmarket.coop maninoveralls.blogspot.com

you, Ballentine says. “The best gardeners in the world kill things on a regular basis,” he says. “When something dies, it’s not an indication of your ability or potential as a food gardener. It’s just part of the process.”

Year-round Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

The concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is gaining traction locally. Basically, farmers partner with people who buy for “shares,” at the beginning of the growing season to pay upfront costs such as seeds and labor. When the crops come in, the farmers divvy up the harvest, usually handing out weekly shares from a central location. It’s a bit of a gamble.

Shareholders never know exactly what’s going to be in their basket on any given week and if some sort of natural or pest disaster occurs on the farm, there could be nothing.

Louise Divine, who farms with Herman Holley at Turkey Hill Farm, has been operating a CSA for the past two years. They now have 30 shareholders (sorry, they’ve reached their limit and aren’t taking any more) and pass out the harvest at the Tallahassee Farmer’s Market in Market

Square. On a Tuesday in early April, the last of the winter crops were part of the share, including bunches of purple, green and variegated lettuces, broccoli, Swiss chard, salad turnips, arugula, and multicolored baby carrots.

“My favorite are the lettuces,” says Amy Crumpler, who was picking up her weekly bounty. “You can’t get ‘em anywhere that are this pretty.” She says she has been challenged to cook with some of the choices unfamiliar to her, including ginger and turmeric roots and a milder green garlic.

Recently she tried out Swiss chard. “It was just olive oil and garlic and I did lemon juice and white wine and served it with a little parmesan cheese grated over it,” she says. “It was the bomb.”

Also on hand was Terry White, owner of the nearby Sage, who was picking up a boxful of arugula for the restaurant’s next day’s meals. He’s soft spoken, but an ardent advocate for using local foods in his cooking, not only for the quality, but also to keep dollars circulating locally. “I could get on my little soapbox and go on, but that’s the way food should be treated,” White says. “We should stick with what grows here; we should keep it local.”

Another resource is Red Hills Online (localfoodmarketplace.com/redhills).

Many of the growers who participate in CSAs and sell at farmer’s markets are now offering their products online.

Customers have until Tuesday evening to pick from a listing of the week’s offerings, which include fruits, vegetables, baked goods, plants and more — pay, and then pick up their order from the Bread & Roses Food Coop in Railroad Square on Thursdays. Plans are in the works for home delivery, too.

For all the upsides of eating locally, there is one downside; You to eat what grows here when it’s available.

“We have all grown up with the ability to walk into a store and find whatever we want,” says New Leaf’s Burns. “Eating seasonally means you’re not going to have citrus … and your favorite foods year round. And that’s a big challenge for a lot of people to rethink how they eat, and rethink how they cook, and wait for that crop to come in before they go to buy something that came from across the country.” n

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dining guide 2010 Best of Tallahassee.........................

Breakfast/Brunch....................................

Lunch......................................................

Dinner.....................................................

Takeout Available...................................

Outdoor Dining......................................

Live Music..............................................

Bar/Lounge.............................................

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Up to $10............................................... $ $10 – $15................................................$$ $15 and up.......................................... $$$

Gourmet Specialty A LA PROVENCE $$$ French. A rich décor and graceful atmosphere create a memorable dining experience, offering FrenchMediterranean cuisine, including Crepes De Mer and Escargot de Bourgogne. A complimentary treat of amuse bouche, a bite-size appetizer, allows chefs to show off their culinary skills to guests. 1415 Timberlane Road. Lunch 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 329-6870 A.J. Sports Bar & Grill $ American. This hangout spot is known for its sandwiches, backyard burgers and flavored wings. Watch sports from one of their 50 flat screens, shoot some pool or play darts, or enjoy happy hour. 1800 W. Tennessee St. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Fri. and noon–2 a.m.

Sat.–Sun. (850) 681-0731 Andrew’s 228 $$$ American and Italian. A chic urban restaurant serving signature blends of creative American and Italian cuisine. Named one of the Top 20 Restaurants in Florida three years in a row by Florida Trend and “Best Romantic Restaurant” by Tallahassee Magazine in 2008. Private rooms are available for banquets and meetings. 228 S. Adams St. 6–10 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 6–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3444.

Andrew’s Capital Grill and Bar $$ American. Andrew’s, a Downtown landmark for 35 years, is an energetic, casual, see-and-be-seen spot.

House favorites include Capital Dip, hamburgers, chicken quesadillas, Mediterranean Pasta, Cedar Plank Salmon and Chicken Fiorentina. Downtown delivery. 228 S. Adams St. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon.– Thu., 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat.; Brunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-3444/Fax (850) 222-2433.

Another Broken Egg Café $$ American. Made-to-order items using the finest ingredients, cooked to your liking. Voted Tallahassee’s best seven times, including the 2010 award for “Best Breakfast and Best Brunch.” Tallahassee’s second location is now open in Evening Rose at 5740 Austin Davis Ave. 3500 Kinhega Drive.

7 a.m.–2 p.m. Tue.–Sun. (850) 907-3447.

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CHEZ PIERRE $$$ French. French and Southern hospitality converge at Chez Pierre, which offers gourmet cuisine sure to please when you want to make a good impression. From the signature Crepes Poulet to delicious grilled duck breast and fresh-ground Australian lamb burgers, the restaurant earned “Best Happy Hour” and Best Outdoor Dining” honors by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2010. Live music accompanies your meal most nights of the week. Sun.-Thurs.

11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. 1215 Thomasville Rd. (850) 222-0936.

Circa Sushi $$ Japanese. Enjoy delicious Japanese dishes in the fun, modern atmosphere of Tallahassee’s first conveyer belt sushi restaurant. Diners can opt for tableside service and menu selections such as Thai specialities tempura and noodle stir-fry, or they can sit beside the belt and partake of a rotating sushi feast.

Catering available. 2819 Mahan Dr. No. 106. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri.; Dinner 5–10 p.m. Sun.– Thurs., 5–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-4722.

Cypress Restaurant $$$ New Southern. Voted “Best Fine Dining” by Tallahassee Magazine readers in 2010. Sophisticated Southern regional dining in a contemporary, metropolitan setting. Menu features chef-cut fish and aged meats, fresh in-house preparations, comprehensive wine list and full bar. Valet parking available at night.

320 E. Tennessee St. Dinner only Tues.–Sat. Open at 5 p.m. (850) 513-1100.

Food Glorious Food $$$ American. Choose from several savory soups, nearly a dozen salads, and a great selection of sandwiches and pastas with hot entrées that represent a variety of world cuisines. Heavenly dessert concoctions — voted “Best Dessert” in 2010 by Tallahassee Magazine readers — will please even the most discriminating diner. 1950 Thomasville Road. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., Dinner 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Tues.–Thurs. and Sun., 5:30–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat., Closed Mon. for dinner. Sun. Brunch 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. (850) 224-9974.

Georgio’s $$$ American. If George Koikos is in the house, you can count on a visit to your table from him during your meal. His hands-on commitment to quality, food, service and a personal touch have kept his restaurants in business for 44 years. Now with two locations.

3425 Thomasville Road. Opens 5 p.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 893-4161 or 2971 Apalachee Parkway. 4–10 p.m.

Mon.-Sat. (850) 877-3211.

Kitcho Japanese Restaurant $$ Japanese. Its specialty, sushi, was named the best in Tallahassee in 2006. Step inside Kitcho’s Velvet Lounge for a sip or two of sake as you sit comfortably while waiting for your table. 1415 Timberlane Road. 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5:30–10 p.m. Tue.–Fri., 5:30–10 p.m. Sat., 5:30–9 p.m. Sun. (850) 893-7686.

Liam’s Restaurant $$$ American. Located in historic Downtown Thomasville, Ga., Liam’s serves delicious sustainably sourced, natural, organic foods. The menu changes based upon T A L L A H A S S EE

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what the owners find to be the best available ingredients from small artisanal producers. Look for a catch of the day along with great tasting beef and pork dishes. A large selection of cheeses is a specialty here. 113 E. Jackson St. Lunch 11a.m.–2 p.m. Tues.–Fri. Dinner 5:30 p.m.–close Thurs.–Sat. European Breakfast 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat. (229) 226-9944 Mockingbird Café $$ Fusion. Enjoy hand-cut steaks and Gulf seafood along with American regional, Mediterranean, Asian and Middle Eastern dishes in an upscale refined atmosphere. Food is fresh, locally purchased and seasonal, made from scratch by talented in-house chefs.

Diners will also enjoy delicious seasonal desserts, nightly food and drink specials and live music on weekends. 1225 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., dinner 5:30–10 p.m Mon.-Sat. Bar/ lounge 5:30 p.m.–2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. Brunch 11 a.m.– 2:30 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-4956.

Sushilicious $$ Japanese. Modern Japanese and Thai cooking makes Sushilicious the place to enjoy a culinary trip to the Orient. With a six-page menu of makimono, sashimi and special sushi rolls, sushi lovers have plenty of options. You can also enjoy the red and yellow Thai curries, the deep-fried crispy soft shell crab with tempura sauce or the house shrimp with honey-wasabi sauce. 2915 Kerry Forest Pkwy., Suite 604. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–10 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 5–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 906-0400.

VINTAGE BISTRO & BAR $$$ Fusion. Vintage Bistro & Bar has a new chef and a revamped menu. Its palate-pleasing menu offers selections featuring local and fresh ingredients. Relax and unwind with live entertainment, a cocktail, a fine cigar and, of course, a glass of wine from hundreds of selections. 1019 N. Monroe St. 5 p.m.– 2 a.m. Mon.–Sat. (850) 224-0322.

Specialty Anthony’s Wood Fire Grill $$ American and Italian. After 26 years in Betton Place, restaurateur Dick Anthony has returned in a new location with a new menu featuring grilled chicken, steak, fish and hamburgers. Italian favorites that made the original Anthony’s so popular have returned on the “First Loves Second Chances” portion of the dinner menu. 1355 Market St. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri., Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon.– Sun., Brunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Sun. (850) 224-1447, anthonyswoodfiregrilltallahassee.com AZu — a Lucy Ho’s restaurant $/$$ Asian. Serving Tallahassee since 1970, Lucy Ho’s offers Japanese style cooking with Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Peking and Taiwanese influences. After nearly four decades, Lucy Ho’s has moved back to the Apalachee Parkway, just east of Capital Circle Southeast, to better serve its customers. Diners will also find a full bar and the freshest sushi. 3220 Apalachee Parkway. Weekdays, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sat., noon– 10 p.m.; Sun., noon–9 p.m. (850) 893-4112.

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May–June 2011

atmospheres Bella Bella $$ Italian. Cozy home-like atmosphere and authentic homemade traditional Italian food make this a Midtown dining hotspot. Try their famous Bubble Bread and delicious pasta specials. Catering available. 123 E. 5th Ave. Lunch 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 5–10 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 412-1114.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill $$ Italian. The ambiance of the restaurant can romanticize any meal as you sip the best wines around and dine on fresh Italian cuisine. Voted “Best Italian” by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine again in 2010. 2752 Capital Circle NE. 4–10:30 p.m.

Mon.–Thurs., 4–11:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 3–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 297-1100.

The Crepevine $ French Fusion. Delicious signature crepes are stuffed with fillings that make them savory or sweet. You can order from the menu, or create your own. Try breakfast-style crepes that are served all day long. The menu at this casual bistro also includes salads and yogurt bowls. 2020 W. Pensacola St., (850) 562-7373; 1304 N. Monroe St., 3296754. thecrepevine.com EL JALISCO $$ Mexican. With two–for–one margaritas most nights of the week, where can you go wrong? And the food, named “Best Mexican/Latin American” in 2010, is great too. Endless chips and salsa complement any menu item; the chicken quesadillas and beef tamales will keep you coming back for more. Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–12 a.m. Sun. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 2022 N. Monroe St. (850) 878-0800. 2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy.

Hopkins’ Eatery $ American. Sandwiches, salads, delicious sweets and more. Once again voted the best place to have lunch by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine in 2010. 1660 N. Monroe St. and 1415 Market St. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. (850) 386-4258, (850) 668-0311.

Jonah’s Fish & Grits $$ American Southern. This Thomasville, Ga. restaurant serves good food made fresh daily in an alcoholfree, family friendly. Soups, salads, pastas and specialty sandwiches focused on fish and seafood with a Southern twist are featured at lunch and dinner.

Dinner also includes a more extensive selection from their wood-burning grill including their signature Gingersnap Salmon. Made-from-scratch Hush Puppies are a house specialty. Kids and low-fat menus are available. 109 East Jackson St. Lunch 11 a.m.– 2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5–9 p.m. Mon-Fri. Open Sat. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (229) 226-0508

Vintage Bistro & Bar The Cuisine: “Nouveau Americana” — updated classics incorporating fresh and local ingredients with a creative twist.

Signature dishes include the 18-ounce Bone-In Ribeye, NOLA BBQ Shrimp with Blue Cheese Grits, Lobster Ravioli topped with Pancetta Mascarpone Sauce and the handmade Southern Burger. Our restaurant features Tallahassee’s most extensive wine list and largest liquor selection.

The Design: In the dining room and adjacent Vintage Bar, guests experience a classic metropolitan space conceptualized from

“vintage” loft interiors found in New York City.

Adjacent to the Vintage Bar, the owners have created a similarly-styled, smaller Lounge Bar, and dining al fresco is available the outdoor patio, with both covered and open-air seating.

The onsite “Wine Cellar,” is a 1,500-squarefoot boutique shop carrying a vast selection of wines — 7,500 bottles — from around the world.

VINTAGE Bistro & Bar 1019 N. Monroe Street Tallahassee (850) 224-1175

ADVERTORIAL

Come Join us on May 5th for

Cinco de Mayo Authentic Mexican Restaurant

2010

TWO LOCATIONS

2022 N. Monroe St. (850) 878-0800 NEW LOCATION!

BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT

2915-301 Kerry Forest Pkwy.

(850) 668-1002

Kiku $$ Japanese Fusion. With a wide selection of sushi rolls and traditional Japanese dishes, Kiku caters to a variety of tastes. 3491 Thomasville Road Suite 12. Open Mon.– Thurs. 11–2:30pm, 4:30–10 p.m., Fri. 11–2:30 p.m., 4:30–10:30 p.m., Sat. 12-10:30 p.m. and Sun. 12–10.

(850) 222-5458.

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Dining Guide

Kool Beanz $$/$$$ Fusion. As winner of Tallahassee Magazine’s 2010 “Best Locally Owned” restaurant, this colorful and casual spot has been serving up gourmet dishes since 1996. Diners can expect delicious modern American cuisine, as well as dishes influenced by the worldwide travels of the kitchen staff. Menus change daily so guests can expect something new with each visit. 921 Thomasville Road. Lunch Mon.– Fri. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Dinner Mon.–Sat. 5:30–10 p.m.

(850) 224-2466.

LUNA’S ITALIAN FOOD $ Italian-American. Gourmet deli sandwiches and pasta dishes to take home. Large selection of imported wine, cheeses, sauces and Italian grocery items — plus Italian gelato. 1122 Thomasville Road. 10 a.m.– 7 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. (850) 421-5862.

Masa $–$$ Asian Fusion. This sister restaurant to Lucy Ho’s serves up a creative menu with items such as Chilean Sea Bass Wraps with mango salsa, Tropical Fruit Sweet and Sour Chicken and Japanese tiramisu. Voted “Best Asian” and “Best Sushi” in by Tallahassee Magazine readers in 2010. Enjoy an extensive selection of wine, beer and sake in a dark, original and casual dining setting. 1001 N. Monroe St. 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon.– Sat., Noon–10 p.m. Sunday. (850) 847-0003.

Southern Cuisine

with fresh, made from scratch entrées,vegetables and desserts.

The Melting Pot $$$ Fondue. This restaurant offers a variety of fondues including cheese and chocolate dessert. The Melting Pot earned two “Best of” awards in 2010, for “Best Romantic” and “Best Celebration/Special Occasion” restaurant. 2727 N. Monroe St. 5–11 p.m. Sun.–Thu., 5 p.m.–midnight Fri.–Sat. (850) 386-7440.

Old Town Café $$ American. Southern hospitality is embedded throughout this family-owned restaurant. Mom’s meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans makes you feel like you’re home, not to mention their world famous prime rib, which slowly roasts all day. Timberlane Road. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon. Thurs., 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. Fri. and 4-10 p.m. Sat. (850) 893-5741 Osaka Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar $$$ Japanese. Known for its sushi, but also serves a variety of dishes including chicken, steak and seafood.

1690 Raymond Diehl Road. Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m. (850) 531-0222. Private parties.

A Tallahassee tradition since 1985 Full Service Catering 3196 Merchants Row Blvd. Ste. 110 • 692-3491 • 692-3492 (SouthWood Town Center) Breakfast & Lunch 7 am–3 pm Mon–Fri Saturday and Sunday 8 am–1 pm (Breakfast only) 1812 S. Monroe st. • 224-7090 • (located inside Henry’s Meats) Breakfast & Lunch 6:30 am–2 pm Mon–Fri Saturday 7 am–noon • Sunday Closed 158

May–June 2011

Po’ Boys Creole Café $ Creole. Specializes in Po’Boy sandwiches, jambalaya and gumbo and named 2010 “Best Cajun” restaurant by the readers of Tallahassee Magazine. 224 E. College Ave. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Mon.–Thu., 11 a.m.–2 a.m.

Fri.–Sat., 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 224-5400 and 1944 W. Pensacola St. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 574-4144. 1425 Village Square Blvd. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 10 a.m.– 10 p.m. Sun. (850) 906-0020. Catering available.

Sakura $$$ Japanese. Sleek interior design mixed with amazing dishes equals a spectacular meal experience. This new and exciting Japanese cuisine rewards not only your taste buds but also your eyes with its beautifully

prepared dishes of sushi and other traditional Japanese fare. 1318 N. Monroe St. Lunch 11:30 a.m.– 3 p.m. Mon.–Sat. Dinner 5–10 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 5–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 4:30–10 p.m. Sun. (850) 222-9991.

come

eat

enjoy

THE WINE LOFT Wine Bar $$ American. Enjoy delicious items off the small plate menu and a vast selection of wines in a chic, sophisticated atmosphere downstairs or on the balcony overlooking Midtown. The Wine Loft boasts a generous array of more than 50 wines by the glass and more than 70 by the bottle that earned it “Best Wine List” honors in 2010. The Wine Loft has two full liquor bars and Tallahassee’s only balcony bar. 1240 Thomasville Road. Open 5 p.m. Mon– Thu., 4 p.m.–2 a.m. Fri. and Sat. (850) 222-9914. www.thewinelofttallahassee.net

Family five Guys BURGERS & Fries $ Burgers. A newcomer to the local dining scene, Five Guys was a quick hit with the readers of Tallahassee Magazine, who named its burgers the best in 2010.

Serving up made-to-order burgers and hot dogs with your choice of Cajun or home-style fries, it’s no wonder this restaurant has customers coming back for more. 1872 Thomasville Road. Mon.–Sun. 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. (850) 597-7514 Earley’s Kitchen $ American Southern. For 33 years, Earley’s has been dishing up “good ole Southern” country cooking for breakfast and lunch at its restaurant inside Henry’s Meats. A second location now open in SouthWood will be serving fried chicken, pork chops, made-fromscratch vegetables, desserts and more, as well as a few extra Savannah-style dishes like shrimp and grits. The SouthWood restaurant also serves a Sunday brunch buffet. At the 1812 S. Monroe St. location: Mon.–Fri., 6:30 a.m.–3 p.m.; Sat. (breakfast only) 7 a.m.–noon. (850) 224-7090. The SouthWood location at 3196 Merchant’s Row Blvd.: Mon.–Sat. 7 a.m.– 3 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.–1 p.m. (850) 692-3491.

a modern dining experience

2010

847.0003 | 1001 N. Monroe St.

Best Asian Restaurant/Sushi

MOMO’S $ Pizza. Boasting the largest pizza you’ll find in Tallahassee — and possibly the Southeast — Momos offers big flavor that’s gotten a “Best of” award in 2010 along with size. Fill yourself up with a slice for yourself or order a pie to share. Now with two different locations: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. 1410 Market St. (850) 412-0222 and 1416 W. Tennessee St. (850) 224-9808.

Red Elephant PIZZA AND GRILL $ American. Enjoy a fresh, fast and filling meal that will satisfy your taste buds and wallet. The casual atmosphere is perfect for social gatherings with friends and family. 2910 Kerry Forest Pkwy Suite C-3., Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.– 10 p.m. 1872 Thomasville Road Suite A., Sun.–Thu. 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Fri. Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Kerry Forest (850) 668-7492. Midtown (850) 222-7492.

Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q $ Barbecue. Enjoy Sonny’s “feel good” barbecue and special sauces. Voted “Best Barbecue” in 2010.

3101 Dick Wilson Blvd., 2707 N. Monroe St. and 1460 Timberlane Road. All locations 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

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food bites

Local restaurants shared sample bites of their signature dishes at the Children’s Home Society Chef’s Sampler earlier this year. Here are a few tasty tidbits we found:

LUNCH | Another Broken Egg

Force yourself to bypass all the delicious breakfast treats on ABE’s menu and choose the Grilled Tuna Wasabi salad. Sashimi-grade tuna is seared, sliced thin and served over a bed of mixed greens, cucumbers, red onion and Mandarin oranges. It’s tossed in an Oriental vinaigrette and drizzled with a (hot) wasabi sauce. $12.99 This food truck parks at the FAMU and FSU campuses. Check out the Cravings website (cravingstruck.com) for its schedule. An unusual take on the Belgian waffle is the Red Velvet. Yes, it’s red like the cake, and comes topped with a cream cheese glaze and chopped pecans.

Order as many as your tummy can handle. One for $3, two for $5.75, three for $8.25

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May–June 2011

ENTRÉE | Harry’s Seafood, Bar & Grille

Beef tenderloin gets the “French Quarter” treatment at Harry’s. Medallions of beef are topped with a delicious “butter” that includes baby Portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce and cracked pepper. Pick your side. We like the “smashed” potatoes, but we love the creamy sweet corn grits. $16.99

DESSERT | Bite of Your Life Sweet Studio

While this new shop on John Knox Road is known for its fancy sculpted cakes, they’ve always got two-bite Cake Lollipops in the display case. Made of your favorite flavors and dipped in chocolate, these mini cakes-on-astick are great for dieters or kids who need just a little something to satisfy their sweet cravings. $1.50

Photo by Scott Holstein

BREAKFAST | Cravings Mobile Diner

Another Broken Egg’s Grilled Tuna Wasabi Salad

Dining Guide

Sun.–Thu.,11a.m.–10p.m.Fri.Sat.DickWilsonBlvd.(850) 878-1185, N. Monroe St. (850) 385-2167, Timberlane Road. (850) 906-9996. Catering available.

Wing Stop $ Wings. Declaring themselves the “wing experts,” Wing Stop offers freshly made wings sauced and tossed in a choice of nine flavors. Savor something sweet with the Hawaiian sauce or something zesty with the Hickory Smoked BBQ. 1964 W. Tennessee Street, 3111 Mahan Drive, 6668 Thomasville Rd., All locations 11 a.m.– midnight Tennessee St. (850) 574-9464, Mahan Dr. (850) 942-9464, Thomasville Road (850) 219-9464.

VILLAGE PIZZA AND PASTA $$ Pizza/Pasta. Made-from-scratch New York-style pizza is a favorite at this casual Italian spot, but its mouthwatering pastas with secret marina sauce are close behind. One of its most popular choices, the Village Special, includes enough fresh toppings such as pepperoni, sausage, broccoli and mozzarella, to satisfy any pizza lover. Not to mention homemade garlic rolls. 1400-33 Village Square Boulevard. 11 a.m.– 6 p.m. Mon.–Sun. For catering call (850) 893-9001.

Steak/seafood BONEFISH GRILL $$$ Steak/Seafood. Although a chain, Bonefish works hard to make each restaurant—and each meal— unique with an array of seafood and sauces that can be mixed and matched to diners’ tastes. The restaurant earned 2010 “Best of Tallahassee” honors for its appetizers (Can you say Bang Bang Shrimp?) and the star of its menu, seafood. Mon.–Thurs. 4–10:30 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 4–11:30 p.m., Sun. 4–10 p.m. 3491 Thomasville Rd. (850) 297-0460.

Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grill $$ Cajun. A New Orleans dining experience you won’t soon forget! Delicious Creole cuisine, fresh seafood and steaks, rich pastas, sensational salads and more.

“Great Food, Great Service; Good Value, Good Times.”

301 S. Bronough St. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Thu.–Sun., 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Fri.–Sat. (850) 222-3976.

Marie Livingston’s Steakhouse $$$ Steak. This restaurant specializes in steak — named Tallahassee’s “Best Steakhouse” in 2010 — but also serves seafood such as shrimp and fish. Marie Livingston’s has moved to a new location with a sophisticated decor, but the quality and value remain the same. 2705 Apalachee Parkway. Lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Mon.–Fri. Dinner 5 p.m. daily (850) 562-2525.

Shula’s 347 $$$ Steak. The legendary Miami Dolphins’ head coach brings his philosophy for winning football games — the quest for perfection — to the dining table at his namesake restaurant, located in the newly refurbished Hotel Duval. Keep it light and casual with Premium Black Angus Beef burgers or a gourmet salad or opt for one of their signature entrées — “Shula Cut” filet, New York strip or Cowboy steaks. Reservations are suggested. Sun.,–Thurs., 5–10 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. 5–11 p.m. 415 N. Monroe St. (850) 224-6005 n

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The Last Word

Becoming Mom From Reluctant Sitter to Keeper of the ‘Kool-Aid’ House

H

ere’s my confession: I wasn’t much of a babysitter.

Dependable, responsible and punctual? Absolutely. But my thoughts on babysitting differed greatly from that of my charges, their parents and even my peers. While my girlfriends prattled on tenderly about the little ones they watched, I rolled my eyes. To me, babysitting was all business, baby.

I was the mean babysitter who put kids down to bed on time. Who threatened to call parents when the noise level hit seven. I had no interest in kiddie crafts, playing board games or being their party clown. It wasn’t that I hated kids, I just didn’t much care for them.

My job was to sit and watch, to keep the kids safe and the house from burning down. For a pre-negotiated fee.

While I did my homework.

As a young adult, I continued my apathy toward toddlers and young children. I wouldn’t let hostesses seat me next to potential screamers in restaurants. Christmas cards featuring smiling, gaptoothed six-year-olds did nothing for me. Some people don’t visit friends with bad dogs. I didn’t visit friends with bad kids.

Then I got married — and pregnant. And like the Grinch’s Christmas awakening, I felt my own heart grow three sizes that day.

When you slip on a new pair of glasses that you’ve needed badly for good year, a crisp awareness suddenly presents itself. Incredibly, cute and engaging children were everywhere and I couldn’t wait for my own. And now, two boys and many years later, I am a completely different woman.

With motherhood, I found the ability to forgive and even laugh at ridiculous unruliness. As little ones, my sons destroyed public restrooms. (We are so sorry, downtown library.) Cried in the grocery store.

Stripped at the beach. Built 6-foot catapults in our backyard.

And, along the way, generated a tremendous amount of joy in my heart.

The warmth and love I felt for my own boys grew exponentially over the years and I found myself compelled to save all lost and naughty boys. The young girl who didn’t like kids became a young woman who volunteered with the Junior League, taking charge of several programs to benefit children in our area. Who would have thought?

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May–June 2011

By Lisa Carey

Today I happily run the “Kool-Aid house” — that house in your neighborhood where the kids tend to gather. You’ll recognize it by the beat-up basketball hoop at the curb, the pile of shoes on the front porch and the bikes strewn across the front yard. At any given time, I can find three kids on the couch watching TV, three upstairs playing video games and a few in the backyard.

And only two of them will be mine. Sometimes I don’t know where they all come from, but I am oddly fond of every one.

I keep a basket of snacks on the kitchen table and a drawer in the refrigerator filled with juice boxes and cheese sticks. Kids help themselves and I feel a generosity toward these children that I never could have imagined. Parents call at dinnertime, looking for their kids, laughing and asking if their sons have already eaten with us. Kids cruise our house on Saturday mornings, scouting donuts and bumming rides to soccer games.

There are occasional transgressions that challenge my caring heart, but very few boys make it to my No Way List. As in, “Mom, can Richard come over?” No way. Bullying, anything mean-spirited or sneaking your girlfriend in will get you on The List. Spills, acts of pure stupidity and bad pre-teen jokes are overlooked. House rules for our visitors include good bathroom etiquette, no food upstairs and checking “the pile” on the way out. There are always stray shoes, jerseys and books by our front door. Motherhood has taught me that clear boundaries, plenty of laundry detergent and a tolerant spirit go a long way.

There is an American Indian prayer from the Ute tribe that asks for different virtues — “Earth, teach me caring,” for example — as mothers nurture their young. The opportunity to exercise great patience and tolerance with my children each day has been challenging, but I believe it has made me a better and kinder woman. I know the depth of my humor and my capacity to love has grown.

Today when I cross paths with a frazzled mom and her trainflinging toddler in the bookstore, they both get a smile and a wink from me.

Been there, loved that. n