The Coastal Star January 2025

Anglers

Coastal Star

Along the Coast

Bracing for greater flooding

Projects

aim to raise ground level, increase sea wall heights

By Jane Musgrave

A yellow sign, warning “Caution Street Flooded,” has become a fixture in a quiet neighborhood along the Intracoastal Waterway in Delray Beach.

For nearly a decade, rising seawater has been an ever-present fact of life for residents of Marine Way.

“It’s gone on for way too long,” Steve Conroy said as he walked his dog on a recent sunny afternoon along the street just south of Atlantic Avenue.

Conroy and his neighbors aren’t the only ones looking for relief from flooding.

From Lantana to Boca Raton, homeowners along with beach-goers, golfers, anglers and picnickers are seeing the impacts of the steady and

Birds already roosting at Bonefish Cove

By Mary Thurwachter

While snowbirds flock to airports and highways as part of an annual southerly migration, birds of the feathered variety have also been arriving locally — and many are landing on a new avian hot spot.

They’re homing in on Bonefish Cove, particularly its northern island, still under construction in

the Intracoastal Waterway north of Hypoluxo Island.

So says Mayra Ashton, senior environmental analyst for Palm Beach County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management.

“The birds can be seen on occasion taking advantage of the sand at the project site,” Ashton told The Coastal Star

“They are generally resting,

loafing and feeding in the area,” she says. “On the day we spotted them, we were able to read some of the bands on their legs and report our findings to birding websites dedicated to studying and tracking the different species.

“That is how we learned where the birds were originally banded, i.e. North Carolina, Virginia and throughout Florida. It is fantastic

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission since the arrest of a Code Enforcement officer in October has detailed a parade of horribles at meetings when it has come to that division.

Mayor Tom Carney said there is a perception that Code Enforcement targets certain neighborhoods over others.

Commissioner Rob Long said he learned officers are required to fill a quota of written complaints.

Commissioner Angela Burns said officers harass residents with frivolous matters, such as putting out trash cans.

And they have heard from residents and businesses who say they are fined even after remedying violations.

“We don’t know the scope of problems in the Code Enforcement Division but residents and business owners must have confidence that neighborhoods are not being arbitrarily targeted and that city employees are applying city rules fairly,” Carney wrote in his

American oystercatchers gather along the edge of a Bonefish Cove island. Photo provided by PBC Department of Environmental Resources Management

on a small flats boat make their way past the sea wall at South Inlet Park in Boca Raton. The wall is scheduled for replacement.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The

January 2025 Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach

Anglers fish along the Boynton Inlet at Ocean Inlet Park, where Palm Beach County plans to use thousands of truckloads of fill to raise the ground by up to three feet.

See FLOODING on page 22

Publisher Jerry Lower publisher@thecoastalstar.com

Executive Editor Mary Kate Leming editor@thecoastalstar.com

Editor Larry Barszewski larry@thecoastalstar.com

Managing Editors Steve Plunkett news@thecoastalstar.com Mary Thurwachter news@thecoastalstar.com

Advertising Director Chris Bellard sales@thecoastalstar.com

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Editor’s Note

So long, farewell, adieu (but not goodbye)

There’s a phrase I’ve been desiring to say for several years. Finally, I think I can.

I’m retired. Yep. There I said it.

As of Jan. 1, I turned the editorial reins of this newspaper over to the talented and competent people my husband and I have recruited and hired over the past 16 years — including many who have been with us since the beginning. I have no doubt readers of The Coastal Star will be in good hands.

Plus, Jerry Lower and Chris Bellard are still around and dedicated to each edition. So I’m the only one of the original crew taking a breather at this point, and feel comfortable doing so with the addition of our new editor, local news veteran Larry Barszewski, to shepherd the newspaper into print each month.

Although I’m stepping away from writing this monthly column in the new year, I’m excited that readers will hear from others at the newspaper in this space.

Still, don’t be surprised if a bee in my bonnet occasionally compels me to share my thoughts here. I have no plans to move away, and still care deeply about preserving the quality of life in the coastal communities we all love.

It’s been an honor to be such a vital part of informing the residents of this very special area. I’ve met such wonderful people and not one month has passed that I couldn’t find people and places worth featuring. The depth of history, beauty and generosity in our area is truly

inspiring.

If I’ve made even the slightest impact on preserving our way of life along the coast, this past decade and a half will have been worth the effort. I’m confident our newspaper will continue on this dedicated path. We all care deeply about the role of local journalism.

Another change to note is that I will no longer be the community’s funnel for all things poured into this newspaper. It’s been a lot. Especially from my friends in the public relations community. You folks are persistent!

In my absence, please keep at hand the list of contacts below. You’ll find each of these people to be professional and willing to talk you through what it takes to get your information into our hyper-local South County publication. And please note that it’s always helpful if you explain why what you’re pitching is important to coastal readers, and point out people who live and work within our delivery area.

Every inch of newsprint we give strives to reflect our string of coastal communities and provide value to our readers. That’s what makes The Coastal Star successful. That’s what every person below understands and will continue to provide to the community.

Coastal Star contacts:

Publisher : Jerry Lower, publisher@ thecoastalstar.com

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Advertising director: Chris Bellard, sales@thecoastalstar.com

Advertising managers: Peter Jackson, John W. Jones, Jay Nuszer, sales@thecoastalstar.com

Coastal Star Beach walker turns bottle caps into

By Ron Hayes

When she’s home in Colorado, Sally Willis walks the ski country’s hiking trails, picking up trash.

When she escapes to Gulf Stream every April and November, she walks the beach each morning, picking up seashells and glass.

That was the plan, anyway.

“When I was here in 2019, I was looking for shells and glass and not finding much, but I kept finding bottle tops and caps,” she says. “So, I kept them as my seashells.”

Five years later, Willis’s bottle cap collecting has become an annual tradition, and an art project.

That first year, she put the caps she’d found in a glass jar, posted a photo to Facebook, and invited her friends to guess the number of caps.

The winner guessed 577 caps. The answer was 578.

Just for fun.

A year later, the coronavirus pandemic kept her home in Colorado, but in November 2021 she was back on the beach, along with a king tide, which upped her bottle cap bounty quite a bit.

— Mary Kate Leming, Executive Editor

“I used them to make a Christmas tree mural in the sand by my house, took some pictures, and cleaned it up and threw everything away.”

By November 2022, she was friends with Joan Lorne, Joan’s daughter Jackie Kingston, and Darlene Duggan, turtle monitors with Kingston’s Sea Turtle Adventures.

Editorial/News

Editor: Larry Barszewski, larry@ thecoastalstar.com

Managing editor, Boca Raton/ Highland Beach: Steve Plunkett, news@thecoastalstar.com

Editorial/Features

Managing editor/Features: Mary Thurwachter, news@thecoastalstar. com

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR

Send a note to news@ thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

“We’re both out in the mornings,” Lorne says. “Sally would be getting trash off the beach while we were monitoring turtle nests, so we became friends. She’s just a super cool gal.”

With her new friends helping that year, they used the caps to create a sea turtle in the sand.

“I usually do the mural the Sunday after Thanksgiving somewhere in front of our house,” Willis says.

In 2023, they fashioned a mermaid mural.

“Everybody contributes,” Willis says. “We start to make the outline in the sand and everybody puts their two cents in. It’s not me saying this is how we’re going to do it. I explain my vision and we work around that.”

If you walk the Gulf Stream beach about 7 a.m. most days during her visits, you would spot Willis with her 5-gallon Home Depot bucket. Mornings she heads south from her home near the Gulf Stream Golf Club, evenings she turns north.

“It’s just amazing,” she says. “You put the bucket down and pick up five to seven caps in a pile of seaweed, all coming in from those cruise ships out on the Gulf Stream.”

On Dec. 1, Sally and her team of sea turtle monitors opted for an octopus, which they dubbed “Sandipi.”

“We didn’t have quite enough

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Editor: Greg Stepanich, gstepanich@pbartspaper.com

Columnists: Business announcements, health news: Christine Davis, cdavis9797@ gmail.com

Food/restaurants: Jan Norris, nativefla@gmail.com

Health: Jan Engoren, jengoren@ hotmail.com

art

caps to make it as dense as I would have liked,” she says, “but we made it work.”

Willis’s bottle cap art is still just for fun, not posterity.

“We usually pick it up within 24 hours, depending on the tide line,” she says. “If I think the high tide will take it away, we pick it up right after we have taken enough photos. If we can do it way up on the beach like we did this year, then we leave it for 24 hours. I don’t want those bottle caps to end up back in the ocean.”

And for the first time, the 1,751 bottle caps Willis and friends used to create Sandipi were not thrown away when she left for Colorado.

In addition to monitoring turtle nests, Joan Lorne is a teachers’ aide at St. Vincent Ferrer School in Delray Beach. Students there will use the caps to create an artwork for Earth Day, which is April 22.

In Colorado, the trash Willis collects in plastic bags winds up in trash bins.

In Gulf Stream, her 5-gallon bucket full of bottle caps that became art will become an educational project at the local Catholic school.

Driving back to Colorado in December, Willis carried a sense of satisfaction along, but not too much.

“I feel good that I can clean up some of the trash, but it’s just for fun,” she says. “We talk about what we’re going to do for a mural this year, and what are we going to find on the beach that we can incorporate.

“I know what we’re going to do next Thanksgiving,” she adds. “But I’m not going to tell you.” P

Outdoors/fishing: Steve Waters, steve33324@aol.com

Pets: Arden Moore, fourleg gedlife@gmail.com

Philanthropy/celebrations: Amy Woods, flamywoods@bellsouth.net

Religion/faith: Janis Fontaine, fontaine423@outlook.com

Tots & Teens: Faran Fagen, ffagen@ aol.com

Liza Thornton (l-r), Joan Lorne, Darlene Duggan, Ginny Cairo, Sally Willis and Lydia Weis spend hours on the beach collecting discarded bottle caps to turn into art, such as this octopus. Photos provided

Willis

Boca Raton

Bicyclist struck, killed on A1A;

driver charged with DUI

By Mary Hladky

A New Jersey man has been charged with DUI manslaughter in the Dec. 15 death of a bicyclist who was struck by the man’s Chevy Equinox on a stretch of State Road A1A next to Red Reef Park.

Felipe Soares De Moraes, 41, of suburban Boca Raton, was dead at the scene and his bicycle was embedded in the Equinox’s front bumper.

Vayianos told police he had “no idea” that he had hit a bicyclist.

Soares De Moraes was married and the father of a 6-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old, according to a GoFundMe created to provide his family with financial support and to cover funeral costs.

“He was a devoted family man, a beloved friend, and someone who radiated kindness and love wherever he went,” the

The northbound SUV, driven by Thomas Vayianos, 35, of Brick, New Jersey, struck Soares De Moraes from the rear, throwing him 65 feet before he rolled another 71 feet, according to the probable cause affidavit. A responding Boca Raton police officer found him face down within the northbound shoulder of the 1400 block of A1A.

GoFundMe webpage says. “His loss leaves an immeasurable void and a challenging future for those he most loved.”

The family lives in the Sandalfoot Cove neighborhood west of Florida’s Turnpike, according to county property records.

A witness to the crash who also was bicycling on A1A shortly after 7 a.m. told police the SUV passed so close to him that he could touch the vehicle. The vehicle was swerving on the roadway and repeatedly veered into the bicycle lane before it hit Soares De Moraes.

The affidavit said Vayianos was swaying and unsteady on his feet when questioned by an officer. He had to be asked

questions multiple times and did not answer or went off-topic.

Vayianos said he was “in rehab” that his parents were paying for, and was taking Adderall and Vyvanse, which treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Gabapentin, an anti-seizure medication.

Vayianos, who the officer said had pinpoint pupils, told him that he was “worried about the hotel people,” and seemed to think that the officers on the scene were “hotel people.”

He agreed to participate in sobriety exercises, and failed them, with the officer concluding that he was too impaired to operate a motor vehicle safely.

During a Dec. 16 court hearing, Palm Beach County Judge Ted Booras assigned Vayianos a public defender and set bail at $150,000.

The fatal crash is the most recent example of why Boca Raton bicyclists have pressed state and city officials for years to make A1A safer for them. A January 2024 crash injured six cyclists struck by an SUV in Gulf Stream.

At the site of the Dec. 15 crash, the bike and car lanes are next to each other with no barrier to separate them, which leaves no margin for error, said

Les Wilson, a Boca Raton cyclist and contributor to the BocaFirst blog. The bicycle lanes are four feet wide there.

“If there were more space, it gives everyone more time to react,” he said.

The Florida Department of Transportation plans a $7.3 million project that will improve the nearly 5-mile stretch of A1A that runs through Boca Raton. Work is expected to start in the fall of 2027.

One component of the project is adding 6-foot buffered bike lanes to better separate drivers and cyclists.

“What they plan to do would not have prevented the (Dec. 15) accident,” Wilson said.

BocaFirst has called the design inadequate and “dangerous by design.” In an April blog article, writers said painted lines between bike and car lanes offer inadequate protection for cyclists and that barriers should be constructed instead.

The city’s Citizens’ Pedestrian and Bikeway Advisory Board has proposed that when the bike lane approaches city parks along A1A, the lane should be routed into the parks. Such a routing through Red Reef Park, where the crash happened, could have prevented it, Wilson said. P

Ocean Ridge News

Mayor against staffers handling code enforcement — Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh warned that the town does not want unauthorized staffers acting like code enforcement officers — especially when it comes to ticky-tacky potential violations like a little mold at the corner of a roof.

“I just want to make sure that we are solid, that we are not driving around looking for something to code enforce for us, because that would put a knife right in the heart of this town,” said Pugh, without giving any specifics.

Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said it’s the “gotcha perception.” Pugh said staffers who know about serious code violations can tell the police or the new part-time code enforcement officer whom the town has hired.

The town was recently embarrassed when it forced a resident to trim his 16-foot hedges to 6 feet only to learn that there was no prohibition on the height of hedges in the Town Code.

$25,000 in Tupperware bowl handed over in suspected scam — Ocean Ridge Police Chief Scott McClure is warning residents it’s scam season. His department was able to return $25,000 to a resident who handed it over to a person promising internet security.

McClure said at the Dec. 9 Town Commission meeting that no arrests had been made.

“Fraud is on the rise, as everybody’s aware,” he said. “We’re going to homeowners associations next month to get the word out about the different types of fraud.”

He said a good rule of thumb is that nobody legitimate is going to ask for payment in Bitcoin, gift cards or gold.

“She handed over in a Tupperware bowl $25,000 cash to a person who walked up to her gate,” McClure said. “We were able to get her money back.”

He said the person was identified through private security cameras and a license plate reader.

McClure said residents shouldn’t allow themselves to be bullied or blackmailed through text or email.

— John Pacenti

Vayianos

Ocean Ridge Commissioners reject advice to settle with owner of dilapidated home

By John Pacenti

Ocean Ridge commissioners, in a particularly ornery mood at their Dec. 9 meeting, rejected the town attorney’s advice to settle outstanding code violations and pending litigation with the owner of a dilapidated home.

Town Attorney Christy Goddeau and her staff recommended that the commission accept a settlement where the owner of 23 Coconut Lane would pay $30,000 of $117,000 in outstanding fines and dismiss his lawsuit against Ocean Ridge.

There was little sympathy for James Cooksey, owner of the home. He said a sale fell through because of liens against the home and he needs a clean title to resurrect the deal.

“So instead of the buyer and the seller figuring out how to pay off that lien, you’re coming to the public to pay up that lien,” said Vice Mayor Steve Coz.

“They go for 509 days without doing the right thing. Then to come back and say, ‘Gee, it’s a lot of money,’” said Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. “If you would have done it when you were supposed to do it, you wouldn’t have had the big fines.”

Mayor Geoff Pugh called it disingenuous for Cooksey to seek relief after allowing the property to become not just an eyesore but unsafe for surrounding properties. He noted that the second-floor bedroom didn’t even have a door for a time.

“I’ve been watching birds fly in and out of that opening on the second floor for two years now. Enough is enough,” Pugh said.

Cooksey said that he spent $150,000 on interior work to try to save the home, which according to Zillow is worth $3.9 million. “It’s completely unlivable. The house has basically fallen apart. It had very, very bad settlement cracks,” he said.

Pugh said there were things Cooksey could have done, such as mow the grass.

Cooksey sued Ocean Ridge in 2023, claiming he was not properly notified of a hearing in front of the special magistrate on code violations at his home. The lawsuit was dismissed but Cooksey appealed the ruling.

Coz said he was amenable to maybe knocking $10,000 off the fines upon the sale of the property. Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said she didn’t want to set a bad precedent.

Cooksey said his attorney believes he has a valid case going forward. “We can litigate the thing for two more years, I don’t care if that’s what you guys want to do. Pay people $500 an hour rather than resolving it,” he said. P

Missing and broken windows and doors on the second floor are among violations at the home on Coconut Lane. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Town setting new rules for home construction in Core District

By Steve Plunkett

Future two-story homes along Gulf Stream’s signature Polo Drive and Gulfstream Road will have smaller second stories, while new one-story homes there will be able to be five feet closer to the street under new rules the town is considering.

After an ad hoc committee delivered its recommendations on how to limit large new residences that overpower their neighbors’ homes, the Town Commission declared a “zoning in progress” on Dec. 13 to stop building permits from being issued while it enacts the changes.

The overall recommendation was to create a zoning overlay district comprising the homes on the east side of Polo and the west side of Gulfstream to address massing in the Core District.

“We’re looking at relatively small footprints,” said Malcolm Murphy, chair of the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board and a member of the ad hoc committee.

“We went through many ideas, but the main, overriding theme was, let’s make this desirable, let’s encourage people to want to build a one-story home.”

The committee — Murphy, chair Paul Lyons, and members Gary Cantor, Michael Glennon, Bill Koch III and

Regulations would encourage single-story home construction on portions (highlighted in red) of Polo Drive and Gulfstream Road. Map provided by Town of Gulf Stream

Police sergeant who rescued drowning mother praised

By Steve Plunkett

For rescuing a woman pulled into the ocean by rip currents, veteran Gulf Stream Police Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell was handed a lifesaver award in an emotional presentation Dec. 13.

Tragically, he was unable to save the woman’s 15-yearold son, who went into the Atlantic at the county-operated Gulfstream Park with his

younger brother while his mother watched from the shore early Nov. 10. When the younger child signaled her for help, she jumped into the water.

“That day, the winds were 25 miles an hour out of the northeast and the surf was so extreme that the 20-plus bystanders who were on the beach were unable to assist,”

Police Chief Richard Jones told everyone assembled for the Town Commission’s monthly meeting. “So, had it not been for Sergeant O’Donnell, we would have lost the mother and a child.

“So we appreciate your heroic

actions. Thank you.”

O’Donnell, who is 59 and joined the town’s police force 12 years ago, had to take a few moments to compose himself before thanking the chief for providing good advice, Deputy Chief John Haseley for providing comfort and the townspeople for providing him the tools to do the rescue.

“You were able to provide the equipment and the training that also helped me that day. I had the equipment in the car that helped and if it wasn’t for that … I probably wouldn’t have been successful,” he said.

Switch in haulers to avert big increase, keep trash

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream is ending its decades-long contract with trash hauler Waste Management Inc. of Florida and shifting instead to Boca Raton-based Coastal Waste and Recycling Inc.

The move means monthly bills for picking up trash from residents’ back or side doors will drop slightly, from $47.82 to $46.

“Our residents aren’t going to see a lot of change,” said Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro, who spent most of 2024 negotiating the contract with help from Kessler Consulting.

But the switch also avoids Waste Management’s planned price change to $61.34, a 62%

rates steady

hike from the $37.86 it was charging as recently as last March.

“They really did not want to do backdoor service anymore,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said.

The Coastal Waste arrangement will have an initial 10-year term with an option to renew for two fiveyear extensions.

“So it’s a potential 20-year agreement,” said Nazzaro.

The contract wording also provides for annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, rather than the higher “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Water and Sewer and Trash Collection Services” that Waste Management had proposed.

Proposals were received from Waste Management, Coastal Waste and Waste Pro USA, with Coastal Waste receiving the top ranking.

Nazzaro said he will bring a final contract to the Town Commission in January.

Waste Management, the town’s trash hauler since at least 1997, had sought a fiveyear contract extension in 2019 at a 26% increase plus an annual cost adjustment tied to the water-sewer-trash index.

But the town negotiated a 6% increase for the five years with annual increases tied to the specialized index.

This time the company insisted on the 62% increase and rebuffed any talk of lowering the rate. P

All town police units have a rescue throw disk with 75 feet of rope, a lifeguard water rescue flotation device and a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.

Townsfolk did even more, O’Donnell said, singling out Elizabeth Ruth for putting out a call for contributions.

“As you know, funerals can be very costly,” he said. “I attended the funeral and presented the check there so the family didn’t have to have an additional burden. I’m very thankful for that and for the residents that contributed to it, and it made the healing process a lot better.”

O’Donnell said his boss helped the healing process.

Chief Jones “made a great point, you know. If I wasn’t able to get to the mother in time, she would have had three children grow up without a mother. And I didn’t think about that, but he provided a great point there.”

O’Donnell thanked his wife, Maria, who was invited to attend the presentation.

“When I, when we get off duty we go home to the family, if it wasn’t for my loving wife who lives there for me,” he said, breaking up again. “Thank you very much.” P

Gulf Stream News

Civic Association invites residents to centennial party The Gulf Stream Civic Association will host a centennial celebration of the town’s incorporation with “a casual event” at The Little Club on Feb. 22.

The group will also sponsor a beach cleanup and a “Gulf Stream Gives Back” day with a deserving nonprofit still to be selected. It also sold 96 commemorative belts and 70 coasters.

“If there’s demand we will offer additional orders on that,” said Kirsten Stanley, the association’s president.

The cost for attending the outdoor buffet, weather permitting, is $50 a person, and there will be a capacity of 220 people. Stanley thanked Suzanne Lanigan, Lisa Morgan and Jennifer Coulter for coordinating the effort.

“It will be a first-come, first-serve basis and we encourage and hope all residents are able to attend. We want it to be very inviting and very inclusive,” Stanley said.

Mayor Scott Morgan said he hopes residents will take part.

“This is our hundredth anniversary for the town, founded in 1925. So hopefully the word gets out and we have a great turnout,” he said.

— Steve Plunkett

O’Donnell

Delray Beach

Walking tours spotlight Delray coast’s rich history

By Hannah Spence

There are cities in the United States whose history is wellknown, especially to their residents. But despite its rich past, Delray Beach does not seem to get the same kind of attention. The Delray Beach Historical Society is helping change that by resuming walking tours that cover the historic coastline.

“It’s an assemblage of the history of the Delray Beach area going back hundreds of years,” said Tom Warnke, a local historian and the society’s archive coordinator. “We also talk about the natural history going back 10,000 years because that relates to the ocean environment, and a big part of the walk is about the coastal processes and why Delray is so unique.”

The walking tour takes attendees to landmarks such as the Sandoway Discovery Center and the Orange Grove House of Refuge — the first structure in Delray Beach, built when the city was called Linton. The first tour, on Dec. 14, was cut short due to rain. Guests received a rain check to a Jan. 18 tour. Another one will be held on Jan. 25. The society will list other tours online later this month.

Participants were educated on stories from the old days such as when, on a New Year’s Eve during Prohibition, a boat

If You Go

What: Historic walking tour of A1A in Delray Beach

When: 10 a.m.-noon Jan. 25

Where: Meet at the beach pavilion at Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Boulevard

Cost: $25 for Delray Beach

Historical Society members, $30 for others

Info: 561-274-9578; delraybeachhistory.org, under events

broke up and dozens of cases of rum washed up on the beach. Also provided is information on the Barefoot Mailman, a legendary South Florida symbol.

The historical society is resuming the tours that stopped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Warnke said the tours meet a demand.

“I would even say the majority of people who live here complain that there’s no history, but if they dig down a little bit, there really is a deep history

ABOVE: Walking tour participants pause at the site of the Orange Grove House of Refuge while local historian Tom Warnke (green cap) describes its history as the first building in the Delray Beach area. The shelter for shipwrecked sailors was built in 1876.

RIGHT: Participants meet at the Delray Beach Pavilion at the beginning of the tour.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

there,” Warnke said.

He said the misconception that Delray Beach does not have an interesting backstory developed because “it just doesn’t look old. If you’re from New England or most places in the country and you come here, the area doesn’t have the architecture that looks old. But even here on Atlantic Avenue, we’ve got structures that are over a hundred years old. A lot repurposed, but like the Colony hotel, it’s still the way it was 100

years ago.”

The walk is 2.7 miles long and typically scheduled on a Saturday. Participants follow Warnke through earpieces that enable them to hear from even 50 feet away. Breaks and snacks are incorporated into the event.

The chance to learn is why historical society member Tim Sharp decided to join the walk.

“I’m constantly trying to learn about Delray Beach, its history and what’s going on with the town,” said Sharp, who moved to the city from Boca Raton about three years ago. “I thought this tour sounded like a great opportunity to do that.”

Although Sharp admitted he

knew some of the information from reading signs on the beach and generally just being a history buff, he thought Warnke made the walk enjoyable.

“He was really good,” Sharp said. “Very knowledgeable and funny and a wealth of information.”

The tour has people walk right down to the water’s edge to connect with the ocean up close.

“When you connect people with it, they are more likely to want to save it,” said Warnke. “As more and more people move down here, they get to know a little bit more about how we came to be and how we continue to grow.” P

Palm Trail residents cheer vote to close street near Atlantic Crossing

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission voted to permanently close Northeast Seventh Avenue at First Street, to the delight of Palm Trail neighborhood residents who feared it would reopen once construction at the massive Atlantic Crossing complex is finished.

“It’s a big night for us tonight,” Jack Indekeu told commissioners at their Dec. 10 meeting. “This has been a priority for the neighborhood for many years, and we’ve had countless discussions with many of you, and we appreciate now that we get to this point.”

The commission agreed that there was no legal obstacle to closing the street, as it was outside the settlement agreement for Atlantic Crossing, which sued the city for $40 million in 2015 accusing officials of trying to stall the development.

Staff recommended to commissioners a gated structure on Seventh Avenue at Northeast First Street to allow access to emergency vehicles while preventing traffic.

Mayor Tom Carney and Commissioner Tom Markert attended a Palm Trail neighborhood meeting the night before and heard how adamant

the residents were about closing the road and not opening it to service Atlantic Crossing and its restaurants.

“We’ve put the residents through some harder times there. They talked about that last night. And I’m in support of this, so I think we should do this right away,” Markert said.

Palm Trail resident Gayle Clark, who lives on Northeast Seventh Avenue, said many drivers are still using the street, unaware that it is closed.

The commission directed staff to design and implement the permanent closure utilizing funds already allocated for this purpose in the Atlantic Crossing

settlement agreement.

The commission also asked staff to explore an alleyway situation related to the Seventh Avenue closure to ensure it does not create other traffic issues.

Palm Trail resident Joy Howell said closing Seventh Avenue fulfills another campaign promise by Carney.

She said not permanently closing the road would turn the neighborhood into a speedway.

“The bottom line is the neighborhood wanted to push this at this time because we have a pro-resident majority on the commission,” Howell said. “You know, political winds of change come most elections.” P

Ocean Ridge

Non-union employee vacation time at issue

By John Pacenti

One thing you can say for certain about Ocean Ridge Town Manager Lynne Ladner: She is fiercely loyal to her staff.

During budget season, she fought for pay increases for some non-union police employees while commissioners bristled. She succeeded in getting pay increases for some, including Police Chief Scott McClure.

Ladner has told the commissioners it is important for equitable compensation between non-union and union employees (police line officers) for morale and retention reasons.

At the commission’s Dec. 9 meeting, Ladner told commissioners that under the new police contract, union members earn more vacation time than non-union employees based on their time with the town. Past commissions routinely rectified this discrepancy, she said.

“I think it will show consistency and stability across the organization. It will also vastly simplify the calculation of vacation approvals within the payroll system and the accounting system to have just one set of accruals for all employees,” Ladner said.

McClure tried to explain to commissioners why having all employees on equal footing was a good idea.

“If I have a sergeant who is under the contract gaining more time than a lieutenant would, why would you want to get promoted and have a lesser benefit package,” he said.

The non-union police employees affected are the chief, lieutenant, dispatch manager and dispatchers.

As happened during the budget scuffle, the commissioners were not on board with Ladner’s proposal. Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. said the recent consultant’s report — which cost taxpayers $14,000 — found town salaries and compensation to be competitive. He said he was disappointed Ladner didn’t provide a competitive analysis — no easy lift.

“I don’t know why we would feel in any way that we should give everybody the same vacation,” he said.

Aijala then took a shot at the regular staff, saying police officers have demanding schedules. “If we let the police go home at 3 o’clock every day, and if we gave them every weekend off, then I would say you have parity.”

Ladner said that though Town Hall closes to the public at 3 p.m., administrative staff continues to work and puts in a 40hour week — including some weekends.

Vice Mayor Steve Coz then said new employees start at two weeks’ vacation, which is typical in the United States. “That sounds pretty good,” he said.

Ladner had a warning for commissioners. “I really hope you’re prepared for the potential that our employees will seek employment elsewhere,” she said.

Recently, a longtime police dispatcher — a position that is hard to train and fill — left the town to go work at Gulf Stream.

Coz then complained — similar to Aijala — that the material presented by Ladner to commissioners for the Dec. 9 meeting was scattered, incomplete, late and incorrect. “I wouldn’t get on my high horse about this,” he told the manager.

It wasn’t all Scrooge and humbug. The commission did approve allowing staff employees to work half days on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve — though a resident told commissioners to be aware of those shrewd employees who will try to take the whole day off and still get paid. P

Briny Breezes

By Steve Plunkett

The Briny Breezes Town Council has its third husbandand-wife team in 14 months, but with a difference — this time both spouses can vote.

Council members selected Holly Reitnauer to be an alderwoman, replacing Kathy Gross, at their Dec. 12 meeting. Reitnauer, who married Alderman Bill Birch in April 2022, immediately joined him

Officials perform opera for kids, helping town win reading award

By Mary Thurwachter

For the second consecutive year, Lantana has won first place among small municipalities in the Read for the Record competition sponsored by the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.

The book selection, Piper Chen Sings by Phillipa Soo and Maris Pasquale Doran and illustrated by Qin Leng, is a story about a young girl who loves to express herself through singing but is struck with selfdoubt and nervousness when asked to perform solo in front of an audience.

Kristine Kreidler, Lantana’s library director, came up with a creative way to tell the story by recruiting some of the town’s top leaders to stage a mini opera for the children in the library.

Using a book called A Soup Opera by Jim Gill, she had Police Chief Sean Scheller, Mayor Karen Lythgoe and Town Manager Brian Raducci improvise with her, belting out their parts as opera singers. The performances were caught on video and greeted with laughter when the animated performances were played during the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting.

The children at the library loved the show, Kreidler told council members.

“The kids in the audience couldn’t stop talking about it and asked for it again the next time we saw them,” Kreidler said. “We overheard one boy telling his dad excitedly how funny it was that the chief and mayor were actually singing with it (the book) in real life.”

Kristin Calder, CEO of the Literacy Coalition, mentioned the chief’s and mayor’s singing in opera voices as part of Lantana’s victory when she announced the winners. Read for the Record was held in schools and libraries through

Kreidler. Photo provided

the county on Oct. 24.

Winners were chosen based on a combination of how many children were read to, creative events on the day of the program, and fun/inventive marketing.

The town promoted Read for the Record with videos across various platforms, a StoryWalk in the Town Hall breezeway displaying Piper Chen Sings, allowing residents to read the book, and two library events.

Lantana recruited 41

Town Council sports another set of spouses

on the dais.

Gross, the wife of nonvoting Mayor Ted Gross, resigned her seat on Oct. 25, the day after the council’s monthly meeting. She gave no reason for leaving.

Reitnauer, 69, submitted a letter of interest in being appointed Seat 2 alderwoman shortly after the Briny Bugle posted news of the vacancy.

“I am familiar with the workings of the town because I previously held a seat on the board of directors (of Briny Breezes Inc.) for several years,” she wrote.

Reitnauer and Birch are the third married couple to sit on

the council in a short time. Then-Mayor Gene Adams and Council President Christina Adams resigned in October 2023 rather than disclose details of their personal finances as was going to be required by a new state law. A court later paused the requirement to file a Form 6 disclosure.

Replacing Gene Adams was Ted Gross, who often grumbles about his position lacking a vote and aldermen ignoring his views.

Kathy Gross joined the council in March 2018 as an unopposed newcomer and most recently was elected, again

without opposition, to another two-year term last March. The Grosses have been full-time residents of the town since 2014.

Reitnauer has lived on both sides of Briny Breezes’ stretch of State Road A1A, having bought a mobile home on west side Cardinal Drive in 2011, on east side Ruthmary Avenue in 2013 and on west side Flamingo Drive in 2016, according to Palm Beach County property records.

The only other resident who sent in a letter of interest for Seat 2 was Thomas Hickey, who bought his home on Bamboo Drive in March 2022, property

volunteer readers and read to 2,488 children at 21 sites.

The Village of Wellington was the winner of the large municipality category, and the Village of Palm Springs was the winner in mid-size municipalities.

Lantana won bragging rights and a large basket of children’s books.

The town won previously in 2013, 2015-2019, came in second when COVID came around in 2020, and started winning again in 2023. P

White

records show. Coming to the dais in March will be a new face for Seat 1, David Duncan White, who won automatic election when no one else filed to run for the seat during November’s qualifying period.

A newcomer to town politics, White, 66, bought his home on Lark Drive in February 2023. He spent the summer at his Colorado home and planned to return to Briny Breezes in January. P

During the Read for the Record competition, Lantana Police Chief Sean Scheller belts out a tune in the library as part of a mini opera, to the amusement of library staffer Jennifer Sweeten (left) and Director Kristine

Reitnauer

Delray Beach

A mangled and split Delray Beach fire truck lies along downtown railroad tracks after being struck near Atlantic Avenue by a Brightline train on Dec. 28. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Fire truck attempting to get around lowered gate struck by Brightline train

Crash will be ‘turning point’ for troubled department, chief says

By John Pacenti

In a dramatic collision that made national headlines, a Delray Beach Fire Rescue truck driving through a railroad crossing — despite the lowered gates — was struck by a Brightline train.

There were more questions than answers following the Dec. 28 crash at the Florida East Coast Railway crossing at Southeast First Street, a block south of busy East Atlantic Avenue. Three firefighters and a dozen train passengers were sent to the hospital.

“On behalf of Delray Beach Fire Rescue, our thoughts are with the passengers, Brightline team members, and everyone affected by this incident,” Fire Chief Ronald Martin said in a statement to the public released on Dec. 31.

“We are thankful there were no fatalities and remain committed to working diligently to implement improvements to prevent future incidents.”

Martin — who was just hired in October — said he intended to use the crash as a “turning point” for a department that has had a series of controversies, including a fire rescue officer mistakenly declaring a senior citizen dead and the firing of its last chief in May for mishandling resources — a move that has resulted in litigation.

But the act of maneuvering an aerial ladder fire truck — four times the length of an average vehicle — around lowered railroad gates was especially startling. The collision occurred at 10:45 a.m., leading to a daylong traffic backup downtown.

Both Southeast First Street and

Atlantic Avenue near the FEC tracks were blocked to traffic for hours.

Delray Beach spokeswoman Gina Carter said all three firefighters were still in the hospital on Dec. 30.

Delray Beach Fire Rescue leadership is working with investigators from the Police Department, Brightline, and the National Transportation Safety Board as they determine the facts of the events, Martin said.

He has asked Human Resources to assign an investigator, as well.

Brightline released its video of the collision the same day as the crash, and CNN and other media took the story national.

The truck was heading east toward Federal Highway but there has been no official word about where the crew was heading.

The video showed a southbound freight train had just cleared the crossing before the driver of the fire truck tried to work his way around the still-closed gates, where the oncoming Brightline train plowed into it. The fire truck was blasted into three pieces.

The train’s engine showed significant damage, as well, with a shattered windshield and a large hole left in the front’s center. It appeared the engineer had to use the escape hatch.

The replacement cost with a similar type of truck is $2.3 million, according to a separate email obtained by The Coastal Star on Dec. 31 from Martin to commissioners.

The chief, however, recommended purchasing a smaller replacement with a 75-foot aerial device for $1.365 million.

The total costs of the crash to taxpayers remain unknown — such as any pending litigation or equipment carried aboard the truck needing to be replaced. Martin said

insurance costs would go up because of the crash.

There is also going to be accountability, he said.

“Once causation is established, and if that causation demonstrates that there is a lack of regard for the safety of the public and disregard for public trust, I will be bringing forward the appropriate level of disciplinary action for your consideration,” Martin said.

All members involved in the crash were represented by the union, Martin told commissioners.

A request for an interview with Martin was pending at press time.

Delray Beach officials didn’t immediately respond on whether or how fire rescue service would be affected.

Questions remain about whether going around lowered gates was a matter of routine for the department or if some confusion unique to the railroad crossing occurred that morning en route to an emergency call.

The reality of the good fortune of no fatalities hit hard on Dec. 30 when Martin suspended the department’s ride-along Explorers program for city teenagers.

“Considering this weekend’s events, I would like to temporarily suspend all thirdparty ride-along and civilian observers, i.e. Explorers, until we have completed our investigation,” Martin wrote to City Manager Terrence Moore. Martin said a student observer was riding with an uninvolved fire rescue unit on the day of the crash.

“This crash is a sobering reminder that emergency responders must always balance the urgency inherent in their work with caution, ensuring that the safety of our community remains our guiding principle,” Martin said in his Dec. 31 statement. P

ABOVE: American oystercatchers mingle alongside construction equipment on the north island of Bonefish Cove. BELOW: Some of the other birds spotted there are (l-r) American avocet, black skimmer and royal tern. Photos provided by DERM

BIRDS

Continued from page 1

to see how the project is already providing habitat for these birds.”

The project, a partnership between the county and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was designed to create valuable habitat for flora and fauna that had otherwise been lost or degraded because of past dredge and fill activities, stormwater discharges and shoreline hardening.

Current plans call for two intertidal mangrove islands, each with a bird nesting mound. Both islands will have several intertidal oyster reefs to the

north and south.

The islands — named Bonefish Cove after a popular fish that recently returned to the area due to previous county restoration projects — are being formed using 320,000 cubic yards of sand from Peanut Island.

Although the plan has been

in the works for years, it took until mid-February for residents of Hypoluxo Island to get wind of it by way of a flyer sent to each of their homes.

Many of the residents are boaters who were concerned when they realized the project, about a half mile in length and directly north of Hypoluxo

A look at the birds

Here are some of the birds discovered on the north island of Bonefish Cove: Royal tern: Banded in July 2018 in Hampton City, Virginia.

Black skimmer: One banded in August in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina; another banded in July 2024 in Atlantic, North Carolina, and a third banded in either Martin County or Collier County.

American oystercatchers: 11 birds banded in Palm Beach County between 2021 and 2024, with an additional two banded in Martin and Brevard counties in 2020.

Island, would take away their traditional navigational access, known as La Renaissance channel, to the Intracoastal Waterway.

But after vociferous protests from residents, the plan was changed to include two islands, not three. The originally planned third (center) island would have blocked the boat passageway via La Renaissance channel.

The $15 million lagoon project is progressing, with the Army Corps finalizing the modification of the original design to leave the traditional boating route to the Intracoastal unaffected.

“The contractor working on

building the project continues to transport sand from Peanut Island’s dredge material management areas as the northernmost island continues to take shape,” Ashton says.

The northern island work should be complete in the next couple of months, with the southern island to follow. Completion is likely later this year.

The islands and oyster reefs will provide critical habitat for threatened shorebirds and protected native mangroves, while submerged sea grass and oysters will colonize, improving water quality. P

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South Palm Beach

Proposed crosswalk draws ‘no’ vote from council

By Brian Biggane

New South Palm Beach Town Council member Sandy Beckett wasted no time using her influence on the governing body, joining with Vice Mayor Monte Berendes and others to defeat a proposal designed to bring about a crosswalk just south of the town’s border with Lantana.

The proposal would have allocated $11,000 to have engineers put together a design for the crosswalk, which would have been located about 500 feet north of the corner of Ocean Avenue and South Ocean Boulevard, where a crosswalk and traffic light are located.

“I have reservations about doing it,” Berendes said. “I think it’s a waste of our money.

“If we’re going to do that, we

should maybe spend more and put it in the middle of the town somewhere.”

Beckett concurred. She was sworn in by Mayor Bonnie Fischer at the start of the meeting last month to become the fifth council member.

“That isn’t going to really solve the problems of safety,” Beckett said. “I’m not sure what good it would do.”

The vote was 4-1, with only Council member Ray McMillan supporting the proposal.

Fischer was once a supporter of the plan, too. “I was initially for it but realized even if we had a crosswalk, it would be treacherous for people to walk north from there because there’s no sidewalk. So, I voted against it,” she said.

The long-simmering debate about a crosswalk intensified

after resident Hatixhe Laiqi was killed while crossing State Road A1A in November 2023. Last January, Florida Department of Transportation official Jonathan Overton spoke before an overflow crowd at Town Hall and promised to address the issue as best he could.

FDOT subsequently lowered the town speed limit from 35 mph to 30 mph and installed signage urging caution, while Fischer and Town Manager Jamie Titcomb entered discussions with Lantana Town Manager Brian Raducci about pursuing a location for the crosswalk.

Since the town owns no land other than the Town Hall property, it was determined the only feasible site would be the north end of the Lantana public beach. But even there would require a sidewalk be built on the east side of the road, as FDOT requires a crosswalk to run to and from sidewalks on both sides of the road.

Fischer said one alternative is to have FDOT redesign the road and add a sidewalk on the east side, but that her conversations with Overton have led her to believe that wouldn’t take place for several years at least.

For now, that leaves the crosswalk at the corner where Ocean Avenue meets A1A as the closest to town, and both council members and residents insisted that corner is far from safe.

“Where that crosswalk is now is very dangerous,” Fischer said. “I’m sure we’ve all had a situation where you try to turn and people come in front of you. I’m surprised there haven’t been more accidents.”

Fischer recalled that when the building housing the Hawaiian Inn was up for sale the town had an opportunity to buy it and thus would have had the land to build a crosswalk. Instead, the building was bought and renovated and is now the 3550 Condominium. P

Elaine Lentz took on an unusual — and potentially difficult — task over the Christmas holiday: Flying to Kentucky to care for her seven grandchildren while her daughter and son-in-law headed off on a cruise.

“She was like, ‘Mom, are you sure?’ and I said, ‘I can handle it. It’s not my first rodeo.’”

Not when you grew up as one of 11 children, two of whom have joined Lentz in opening a high-end consignment store in Delray Beach named La Tea Da, which opened in June.

“Debbie was No. 3, I’m No. 4 and Liz is No. 7, and this has been brewing for six years,” said Lentz, 56, a Highland Beach resident. “One day Liz texted us and said, ‘OK, you guys ready?’ Her career had just ended, and I was ready because my kids were grown.”

The trio signed a twoyear lease at a storefront on northbound U.S. 1 at 398 NE Sixth Ave.

“If the name catches on, we’re going to do a high tea,” Lentz said. “We’re going to do sip ’n’ paint, we’ve done an art exhibit for a local artist, things like that.”

Sister Liz (Lebrecht) is an accountant by trade. Debbie (Davis) refinishes furniture she’s already bought. That leaves the clothing to Elaine, who until recently managed her husband’s medical office.

“I try to take in name-brand stuff,” she said. “I’m pretty picky with the stuff I pick. The consigners come in and meet me.”

Although business was slow the first few months, Lentz said it’s been picking up with the season upon us.

“I was happy we started when we did so we could get our footing,” she said, “because none of us had had our own business before.”

Lentz is married to Dr. Robert Lentz, an anesthesiologist who has his own practice in Greenacres. She has two daughters: Brittany lives in Wellington and is married to an Army major, while the aforementioned Jenna lives in Kentucky.

Asked if she has hobbies or other activities, Lentz replied, “I concentrate on my kids. That keeps me busy, and the shop keeps me super busy.”

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?

A: I grew up in Fort Lauderdale with 10 amazing siblings, each of us different and unique, but we are incredibly close. Our mother was an incredible role model — strong, loving, patient and hardworking. Growing up in a big family taught me the importance of family bonds, adaptability and collaboration.

MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Elaine Lentz

It’s where I learned to appreciate diversity in people’s personalities and perspectives, which has carried over into every aspect of my life and career.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?

A: I’ve worked in finance, insurance and health care. While each of these industries taught me valuable lessons, I’m most proud of raising two strong, beautiful daughters and helping to raise three stepchildren from a young age. It’s one thing to excel professionally, but raising good humans is the ultimate accomplishment. Recently, I’ve taken on a new adventure with my two sisters, Debbie and Liz, by opening our dream store. This project has been a culmination of our shared talents and passions, and seeing it thrive has been one of the most rewarding accomplishments of my life.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?

A: Be open to growth and change. Your career path won’t always be a straight line, and that’s OK. Take every opportunity to learn, and don’t be afraid to try something new. Also, never underestimate the value of building strong relationships — with mentors, peers and even competitors. People are often the key to opening new doors.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?

A: After our children had grown up, our house suddenly felt too big for just the two of us. We’ve always loved the beach and coastal living, and my husband’s passion for boating made Highland Beach the perfect choice. Weekends spent out on the water with friends and family seemed like a wonderful next chapter for us, and it truly has been.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?

A: The beach, of course! I’ve always felt drawn to the water, and living in a coastal town feels like a permanent vacation. There’s something magical about waking up to the sound of waves and knowing that a peaceful walk on the beach is just a few steps away.

Q: What book are you reading now?

A: The Zen Monkey and the Lotus Flower, by Tenpa Yeshe. It’s a refreshing and reflective

read that helps me find calm amid the chaos of daily life.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?

A: My music taste is all over the map. When I’m relaxing, I’ll listen to Sade, Amy Winehouse, or Fleetwood Mac. For inspiration, it’s Lana Del Rey’s hauntingly beautiful lyrics or the timeless country sounds of John Michael Montgomery. I’m always up for a good mash-up of genres.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?

A: One of the most important mentors in my life has been Dr. Sarah Knowlton. I worked for her many years ago, and she was kind, caring and taught me so much about bringing those qualities into our work in women’s health. She not only coached me professionally but has become one of my very best

friends in the world. Sarah grew up in many different countries and persevered through immense challenges. She left high school early to go straight to college and become a doctor, taking on significant loans that she paid off entirely on her own. She worked incredibly hard, breaking through the “good old boys club” to graduate from Vanderbilt and become a devoted OB/GYN. She later moved to Wellington, where she opened a female-focused practice in a region dominated by male counterparts. She has delivered over 2,000 babies and continues to be a trailblazer.

Above all, she is a Godfearing, kind and strong person, doctor, mother, daughter and my best friend. We’ve been blessed to share adventures together and support each other no matter where or what our lives were taking on. She has even been a part of one of life’s greatest joys by bringing some of my grandchildren into this world.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?

A: Sarah Jessica Parker. She has the perfect blend of humor, strength and style that I’d like to think I bring to life. Debbie would be played by Sandra Bullock because of her wit, charm and ability to be both funny and serious. Liz would be played by Julia Roberts for her warmth, heart and natural charisma. The movie could be called “When Life Gives You Sisters and Wine, Open a Store” — because that’s pretty much how it all began!

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?

A: My family. Growing up with 10 siblings, you’re constantly surrounded by humor and mischief. Even now, my siblings, kids and grandkids keep me laughing with their stories, antics and witty banter. There’s never a dull moment when you’re part of a big, loving family.

Elaine Lentz and two of her sisters recently opened La Tea Da, a high-end consignment store in Delray Beach. Lentz, who grew up as one of 11 children in Fort Lauderdale, is now a Highland Beach resident. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Delray

Beach News

Combining properties puts owner in a fix — The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office combined residential properties at 316 Andrews Ave. and 1137 Vista del Mar Drive North at their owner’s request, but Delray Beach regulations don’t allow for more than one principal residence per property in that residential zoning district.

The property owner has been seeking a certificate of occupancy for a newly built home on the southern portion of the combined property and said the other home would be used as a guest cottage and art studio. But the 1,432-square-foot cottage is more than double the size the city allows.

On a 3-2 vote, the commission agreed at its Dec. 17 meeting to a waiver. Mayor Tom Carney and Commissioners Rob Long and Angela Burns voted for the waiver, with Vice Mayor Juli Casale and Commissioner Tom Markert opposed, citing concern about setting a precedent.

— Larry Barszewski

Mayor gives update on public safety — Mayor Tom Carney recently updated the Beach Property Owners Association on its request for an increased police presence on the barrier island.

The request came after recent “crime trends, issues and concerns,” Carney wrote in a Dec. 14 email to BPOA President Hal Stern. The most notable incident occurred on June 21 near the Delray Beach Pavilion, where four dozen gunshots were fired at a popup party.

Carney, in the email to Stern, identified several steps being taken:

• Police have increased their visibility and have upped enforcement of traffic measures, such as cracking down on cars with loud mufflers, playing loud music and speeding.

• There is an ongoing conversation with the Community Redevelopment Agency to redirect the downtown Clean and Safe officer east of the Intracoastal Waterway. “This initiative will increase our police presence on the barrier island, specifically related to the Atlantic Avenue corridor up to A1A,” Carney wrote.

The CRA funding of the Clean and Safe police officer program includes safety ambassadors who patrol on foot, golf carts and bikes and interact with the homeless population. They respond to calls from police when homeless people are trespassing, panhandling or drinking in public.

Carney said the city’s community outreach team has also conducted beach sweeps where transient individuals have been identified.

$3 million from bond targeted for three facilities — About $3 million from the 2023 voter-approved $100 million public safety general obligation bond will be spent to make repairs to two city firehouses and its Ocean Rescue facility.

Fire Chief Ronald Martin says improvements are needed for the following facilities:

• Fire Station 112 at 35 Andrews Ave.; work includes concrete restoration, fire alarm system upgrades and weatherproofing.

• Fire Station 111, the department’s headquarters at 501 W. Atlantic Ave.; work includes painting, roof repairs and an interior design study.

• Ocean Rescue, 340 S. Ocean Blvd.; work includes exterior repair and possible storage and interior remodel.

City Manager Terrence Moore said the Public Works Department is working with Martin on the improvements while the Finance Department is working to get the money.

New city clerk is no surprise — Alexis Givings will be the new city clerk, City Manager Terrence Moore announced in his Dec. 13 newsletter.

Givings has served as interim clerk since September after serving as deputy city clerk. She replaces Katerri Johnson.

Givings’ work history includes administrative roles with Lauderdale Lakes and the Broward County Clerk of Court.

The duties of the clerk include maintaining official documents of the city, administrating municipal elections, and preparing and distributing agendas and minutes of city meetings.

John Pacenti

Boynton Beach News

Little League agreement reached — Boynton Beach city commissioners approved a five-year agreement Dec. 17 that will allow Boynton Beach Little League to use the city’s Little League Park facilities and will end the lawsuit the league filed against the city in January 2024.

The agreement, in exchange for the league having the suit dismissed, was approved without comment at the commission’s regular meeting following a closed-door session on the subject that same evening. It comes after the two sides had a meeting of the minds in August. The league is also known as East Boynton Beach Little League.

“This agreement emerges from a recent legal settlement and establishes clear operational guidelines for the organization’s use of the City’s ballfields and resolves all litigation and potential attorney’s fees and costs,” a city staff report said.

— Larry Barszewski

Continued from page 1

newsletter.

Vice Mayor Juli Casale has been the most vocal, pressing City Manager Terrence Moore for answers, asking him repeatedly in and outside of meetings if there is widespread corruption in the division. She has yet to get her answer.

Moore CODE

In a Dec. 19 email to Moore, Casale said Moore failed to inform an internal investigator that $11,250 in liens were removed from a property owned by the second in command over the division. As a result, a 12-page report failed to address her essential question.

“My concern is this was not an actual investigation,” Casale wrote.

Preferential treatment?

Casale met with Moore and Paul Weber, the city’s labor relations administrator who performed the investigation and wrote the Dec. 19 report to Moore.

“You felt the ‘investigation would be tainted’ had you given Mr. Weber this information,” Casale wrote to Moore in an email provided to The Coastal Star. “I was shocked that you would expect a thorough investigation without all the facts. But it seems you were not looking for a thorough investigation.”

The day after Casale sat down with Moore and Weber, the investigator interviewed Danise Cleckley, assistant neighborhood and community services director. Cleckley owns 624 SW Fourth St., the property whose liens for storing junk were relieved.

Weber, in an addendum report to Moore on Dec. 20, said three liens on the property were reduced to $100 in 2006. He said that the Clerk of Courts mistakenly dismissed only one of the liens at the time when all should have been dismissed.

City Attorney Lynn Gelin, however, in a Dec. 23 email obtained by The Coastal Star, pushed back on Weber’s conclusion.

“Sorry, Paul, my staff and I also reviewed this matter and I respectfully disagree with your conclusion concerning the liens,” Gelin wrote.

“While I am not aware of anyone accusing this employee of engaging in nefarious behavior — which, in my opinion, is a very strong allegation — the question is whether or not city policies and procedures were followed and whether or not the actions of this employee met the professional standards of the city.”

The purported data entry error should have been reviewed by the city’s code board, Gelin said.

Cleckley also faced a 2021 lawsuit claiming the home on Fourth Street was deeded to her by an owner who could not read or write.

The case settled on Feb. 16 and Cleckley kept the property. The same day, the City Attorney’s Office was presented with documents that released the liens on the property, according to Casale’s email to Moore.

Cleckley told Weber when being interviewed that the owners of the home — Charles and Carrie Clinton — were her son’s godparents. She told Weber that her family stepped up to help pay outstanding property taxes so the home was not foreclosed upon.

In an interview with The Coastal Star, Cleckley said she was unaware the city attorney alerted the commission to the liens.

“I didn’t know that someone was coming after me personally,” she said. “What I am saying is, it was a civil matter. We handled the civil matter.”

Division upheaval

The Code Enforcement Division started its public unraveling after police arrested Code Enforcement Officer Khatoya Markia

Wesley on Oct. 3 for allegedly threatening two residents with code violations unless they paid her personally. Moore then fired Wesley.

Wesley’s attorney has denied any wrongdoing by his client and prosecutors have so far declined to file charges in the case.

Then the director overseeing the division, Sam Walthour, resigned in November, though he will remain in the position through January.

And commission meetings in the last two months have been notable by the mayor, commissioner and residents painting the division as out of control.

Moore, in turn, has been adamant in commission meetings that he could get to the bottom of the issues with the division while Casale pressed him on answers.

At the Dec. 17 commission meeting, Casale reminded Moore that it was in February when the accusations about Wesley first surfaced.

“And you cannot tell us: Do we have a problem in this department? This mismanagement is — it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I cannot understand how you would come to this meeting without saying something to us about what’s going on.”

Carney admonished Casale for repeatedly criticizing the city manager on the issue, citing lack of decorum. “You can’t take the floor away from me for no reason,” Casale replied. “I am allowed to speak.”

After the arrest of Wesley, Gelin asked Palm Beach County’s Office of Inspector General to review the division but has yet to get an answer. The commission, tired of waiting, on Dec. 17 authorized a $22,000 independent investigation by the outside firm Calvin, Giordano & Associates.

Casale told The Coastal Star that, according to the contract, the firm’s mission is to optimize the performance of the department. “So, we are farther away from answers,” she said.

When asked for comment, Moore responded by email, putting faith in the external reviews.

“Delray Beach’s Human Resources Department recently conducted a thorough review of the city’s Code Enforcement Division,” he wrote.

“Their report highlights several opportunities for process and policy improvements. With the added expertise of Calvin, Giordano & Associates, alongside support from our internal team, I am confident we will identify possibilities for improvement and address any outstanding deficiencies within the division.”

Police stay mum

Commissioner Long suggested at the Dec. 10 meeting that the Police Department take over code enforcement, after he learned about the quota requirement for citations in a performance improvement plan.

“So we have a quota to violate people, which is the absolute opposite of how we should be running this department,” Long said. “I think the time for half measures is over.”

But the Police Department may have its own problem since prosecutors so far have declined to file official charges against Wesley.

When asked about the investigation, Police Chief Russ Mager said he refuses to speak to news reporters anymore. His public information officer did not respond to a question about whether there is an internal investigation into how the department handled the case against Wesley.

Despite the drama of it all, Carney says the city is moving in the right direction by having numerous eyes looking at the Code Enforcement Division.

“We look forward to the results of the audit and we trust that city officials will recommend any necessary reforms for commissioner approval,” he said. P

Wesley

Along the Coast Take-home cars gain traction as lure in hiring top police officers

By Rich Pollack

With local towns and cities struggling to one-up each other in the effort to hire qualified police officers, Highland Beach is raising the ante by buying 11 new vehicles and offering takehome police cars to its officers.

“This is going to help us retain and recruit the best possible police officers to preserve and protect our public safety,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “It’s a small cost.”

With police departments all fighting for the same small pool of applicants, chiefs throughout the region are looking to provide competitive benefits, hoping to keep up with — or sprint ahead of — their neighbors. Those that provide assigned vehicles score big points.

“We’re creating a better mobile office,” Labadie said.

Among those looking to hire the best candidates are the larger police departments in the area, which can offer benefits not available in smaller communities — such as assignments to specialized units and more opportunities for advancement.

“If small towns along the coast aren’t competitive with the bigger cities, we’re not going to be able to recruit the best possible people for the job,” said Manalapan Town Manager Eric Marmer.

Marmer said there have been initial discussions about providing assigned vehicles to the police officers in the town’s department, which has 12 fulltime sworn officers and four part-time officers.

Highland Beach’s Labadie believes that providing officers with take-home cars — which can be used only when officers are on duty or on the way to or from work — will lead to maintenance savings and add to the vehicles’ longevity.

“The cars now are constantly on the go,” he said.

As the area’s population grows, the demand for police officers will continue to increase, Labadie says, and his town needs to stay competitive.

With that in mind, Highland Beach in 2023 completed contract negotiations with the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, which represents its officers, and agreed to increase the starting salary and to change the salary structure so that officers can reach the new top pay of $95,200

The next edition of The Coastal Star will be delivered the weekend of Feb. 1

Keeping track

Does your town or city provide police with takehome cars?

Boca Raton: Yes

Boynton Beach: Yes

Briny Breezes: $5,400 annual stipend*

Delray Beach: Yes

Gulf Stream: No

Highland Beach: In process of acquiring Lantana: Yes

Manalapan: No

Ocean Ridge: $5,400 annual stipend

South Palm Beach: Yes**

*Briny Breezes contracts with Ocean Ridge for police services

**South Palm Beach contracts with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which provides its officers the benefit.

Source: Police agencies

more quickly.

Already, Labadie said, other departments in the region have made salary changes that make them more attractive than Highland Beach.

Labadie said the cost of going to assigned vehicles will be about $800,000 with the town buying 11 new vehicles, which will be added to the five patrol vehicles, two administrative vehicles and one pickup truck that currently make up the fleet.

Funding for the program will come from two sources, with the federal American Rescue Plan Act covering about 60% of the cost and the remainder coming from town reserves.

In Gulf Stream, Police Chief Richard Jones says that shared cars sometimes run 24 hours straight and that idle time can

reduce a vehicle’s usefulness even more than mileage.

He said that departments that offer take-home cars have found that the cars are better taken care of by the officers.

Gulf Stream does not offer an assigned vehicle program but has been talking about doing so, Jones said.

“You have to stay competitive as much as possible,” he said.

Even the region’s bigger cities need to remain competitive in order to attract and retain top quality police officers. In Boca Raton, which has 217 sworn officer positions, officers who complete the department’s field training program receive a take-home vehicle if they live in either Palm Beach or Broward county. Currently, 185 police department employees have take-home vehicles.

Highland Beach has contracted with Enterprise Fleet Management Solutions, which will manage the purchase of the vehicles and deliver them completely outfitted. The $15,000-a-year contract will include Enterprise’s letting Highland Beach know when to rotate vehicles.

In South Palm Beach, which contracts with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for police services, deputies have assigned take-home vehicles. Ocean Ridge does not offer take-home cars, but officers and sergeants receive a vehicle stipend of $5,400 every October.

Labadie says that the assigned vehicle program is part of Highland Beach’s movement to a “preferred employer standard” across the board.

“We want future employees to consider Highland Beach as a destination whether they’re police officers, paramedic firefighters, water plant operators or librarians,” he said. P

FLOODING

Continued from page 1

unrelenting march of the sea.

“It has certainly stopped us from using the park,” parttime Boynton Beach resident Robert Smith said of the regular flooding at Ocean Inlet Park at the Boynton Inlet between Ocean Ridge and Manalapan.

Millions to protect the coast

In the next several years, multimillion-dollar projects are planned to keep the sea at bay.

Palm Beach County’s proposed $15 million plan to replace sea walls, parking lots, picnic areas, restrooms and add roughly three feet of elevation to Ocean Inlet Park is among the most ambitious. But, there are others designed to protect both public and private land from rising waters:

• To stop flooding at South Inlet Park in Boca Raton, the county plans to replace a crumbling 38-year-old sea wall at an estimated cost of $3 million. County planners said rising seas accelerated the need to rebuild and increase the height of the 325-foot-long sea wall.

• Delray Beach in December received bids from firms interested in serving as construction managers for the long-awaited repairs along Marine Way. The $33.6 million project calls for the replacement of a 600-foot-long sea wall, drainage, roadwork and the construction of the city’s first stormwater pumping station west of the Intracoastal Waterway.

• An $11.75 million project is also planned in Delray Beach to replace a stormwater pumping station on Thomas Street west of State Road A1A just north of Atlantic Avenue. Calling it a “vital lifeline for 800 residents,” planners said the station was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and failed two years later, forcing the city to spend $300,000 in emergency repairs.

• Noting that Boynton Beach’s Jaycee, Intracoastal and Mangrove parks flood regularly during high tides and storms, city resiliency administrator Alannah Irwin said she is searching for money to fortify the shores of the parks along the Intracoastal Waterway. Mangroves, rocks, plants and other natural materials would stabilize the shorelines, she told city commissioners.

• Lantana has several ongoing projects to address sea level rise, including a multimillion-dollar plan to replace a 2,100-foot sea wall along the Intracoastal Waterway that protects Bicentennial Park along with adjacent homes and businesses along Ocean Avenue.

• The county has identified 16 sewage lift stations in flood hazard areas that need to be raised at a cost of nearly $11 million. “Flooding at lift stations throughout Palm Beach County has increased,” planners wrote. “The failure of these critical facilities … will result in serious health issues caused by wastewater overflows in homes and in the streets.”

The big-ticket projects are in addition to more routine expenditures, such as the $150,000 Delray Beach spends each year to shore up its dunes and the $2 million it spends annually to replace sea walls that are too low to protect land from rising tides.

Plans for Ocean Inlet Park

A planned sea wall project at Ocean Inlet Park prompted county officials to explore whether additional steps should be taken to protect the park, said Bob Hamilton, director of planning for the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

With environmental experts predicting that climate change could cause sea levels in South Florida to rise between 24 and 54 inches in the next 50 years, it was clear that any new sea walls would have to be much higher than the existing ones, Hamilton said. With that decision made, parks officials decided to address other problems that were preventing full use of the 11-acre park.

Parking lots along both the Boynton Inlet and the Intracoastal frequently flood. Planners analyzed various

options.

They estimated that if they did nothing at least $36 million would be spent over the next 40 years to repair damage caused by rising tides.

“Sunny day flooding of the parking lot and associated park facilities will increase over time, requiring constant renovation and eventually rendering the park unusable,” they wrote.

The best alternative, they decided, was to give the park a complete makeover by raising the level of the land.

Hamilton acknowledged that a lot of dirt will be needed. According to rough calculations, about 53,000 cubic yards enough to fill nearly 4,400 dump trucks would be required to raise the entire park between two and three feet.

Because the park slopes down toward the Intracoastal, the focus would be raising the lowlying land, Hamilton said.

Whether dredge material will be used, or the dirt barged in, will be determined by environmental studies, he said.

“We’ll be seeking the most cost-effective, but safe option,” Hamilton said in an email.

The project will be lengthy. Design and permitting will take about 18 months. Construction

is estimated to take three years.

The county is seeking a $7.5 million grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and will match it with county tax money. Nearly all of the multimillion-dollar projects proposed by local governments are being done with a combination of grants and local taxes.

The Florida agency ranked the Ocean Inlet project eighth among the 143 statewide seeking funding. That means there is a good chance the grant will be approved, Hamilton said.

Flooding issues worsen

Hamilton acknowledged that Ocean Inlet Park isn’t the only waterfront county park that has been inundated with water, particularly in the fall when full moons produce king tides. For instance, docks at Burt Reynolds Park in Jupiter were submerged during high tides in the fall and erosion has increased on Peanut Island in Riviera Beach, he said.

Janet Zimmerman, executive director of the 12-county Florida Inland Navigation District, said it is clear climate change is figuring into local government decision-making.

The Jupiter-based agency was established in 1927 to maintain

ABOVE LEFT: Avid angler Enrique Monroy photographed the flooding results of a king tide on the parking lot of Ocean Inlet Park on Nov. 18.

ABOVE RIGHT: Anglers and sightseers at the same parking lot and sea wall on a December afternoon with normal tide heights. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

LEFT: The recently upgraded sidewalk and dock space adjacent to the parking area are higher than before, giving a sense of what additional fill will mean to the park at the Boynton Inlet. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

the Intracoastal and improve access to it by providing grants for improvement projects.

While funding requests haven’t increased, Zimmerman said more local governments are requesting money to protect public land from rising tides.

“What we are seeing is, as these boating facilities reach the end of their original lifespan (20+ years), renovations and repairs that will occur are taking into account future sea level rise and storm strength/ frequency,” she said in an email.

Regulars to Ocean Inlet Park said steps should be taken to shore up the park. The sea wall is crumbling. On some days, the northern parking lot and picnic areas are underwater.

“It’s in rough shape,” said one visitor who declined to give his name. “What we’ve experienced is bad. Either someone is going to get hurt or you fix the park. How much is your life worth?”

Smith, who was having a picnic in a pavilion with his wife, agreed that renovations are needed.

“It seems like a lot of money. I don’t know if they can do it for $15 million,” he said. “But it certainly would be a much better park if the land was raised.” P

Uncertainties in resiliency plans create concerns in Briny

By Steve Plunkett

A public workshop on the town’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan filled the Briny Breezes Community Center on Dec. 4 with even more residents attending via Zoom.

But for some residents, at least, the workshop did not resolve questions they had concerning the impact of the planned construction projects, nor their concerns about the costs they could incur should the town not secure enough grant money for the work — or if the actual costs will increase while the work is in progress.

Workshop leader Alec Bogdanoff, principal of Brizaga consultancy, announced that his firm and fellow consultants Engenuity Group Inc. had reached the 30% completion point on the conceptual plans for upgrading the stormwater and wastewater infrastructure and building new sea walls.

Lisa Tropepe of Engenuity said scientists predict a 2-foot rise in sea level in 25 years. Briny Breezes already routinely

Delray Beach

Grants in the works for elevating homes

The state Division of Emergency Management has a new grant program, Elevate Florida, for people who would like to elevate their homes, Briny Breezes Town Manager Bill Thrasher announced Dec. 12.

“It does apply to mobile homes,” he said. “And they also have a grant program for elevator (boat) lifts in case that the dimensions of the lot are so small that it could not meet the slope requirements being made.” Details of how and when to apply were not yet available. Subscribe to receive communications by hitting “Sign Up” at www.FloridaDisaster.org/Subscription-Topics, submitting your email address and selecting Residential Mitigation Grant Communications.

floods during king tides and strong storms.

Bogdanoff also praised Briny Breezes and the town manager, Bill Thrasher, for being ahead of other municipalities in already securing $9.5 million in federal, state and county money of an expected $15 million needed to do the work.

Thrasher has promised he will find other grants so that residents pay nothing for the upgrades.

But the postmortem reviews of the workshop were mixed.

Susan Brannen, president of the board of Briny Breezes Inc.,

New home gets approval for 10-foot-high wall

By John Pacenti

When it comes to new construction on the barrier islands, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is requiring new houses to be elevated in response to climate change.

That means Delray Beach’s 6-foot height restriction on walls isn’t cutting it for the owners of some new coastal homes.

Jordan and Megan Dorfman, who are building a two-story home at 319 Andrews Ave., came before the City Commission on Dec. 17 seeking a waiver to build a 10-foot wall to accommodate their newly graded property.

“So, this is a kind of a unique situation that’s been happening over on the barrier island,” said Gary Eliopoulos, the architect of the home. “When you start talking about a 10-foot-high wall, it’s kind of extreme, but I think it goes back to site-specific and it goes back to the criteria people are having to deal with.”

While the commission approved the waiver, Mayor Tom Carney and Vice Mayor Juli Casale suggested that the city look into implementing a “zoning-in-progress” approach as an interim measure that would address the new reality of elevated homes on the barrier island.

Carney said he worried about the drainage issue for surrounding properties but acknowledged the city doesn’t have a rule for elevated homes.

“This is my old neighborhood,” he said. “The concept of a 10foot wall — I don’t want to look like Palm Beach.”

City Attorney Lynn Gelin indicated she would research the zoning-in-progress option and come back to the commission on how it could be applied.

Commissioner Rob Long said he tends to side with property rights and the city needs to encourage forward-looking construction like the Dorfmans’ future home.

“This is a very nebulous issue that we’ve been dealing with for a while, and we’re not going to figure it out tonight, and I don’t want to conflate what we’re allowing here with the ordinance or whatever that we’re going to end up passing,” Long said.

Development Services Director Anthea Gianniotes told the commission there needs to be a larger public discussion.

“How much fill is too much fill?” she said. “Or do we just understand we’re going to have to live with incompatibilities between properties for a while?” P

thanked the Town Council at its Dec. 12 meeting.

“I know the corporation was very pleased with the turnout. (It was) quite a few people for us to crowd into the Community Center,” she said. “I think your folks did a great job in trying to keep the audience engaged without getting out of control, if you will, because we’re known for that sometimes.”

Mayor Ted Gross had a different take. He said the workshop was an important step in moving the infrastructure project forward. But it also highlighted some significant

Gulf Stream

concerns and uncertainties among the stockholders, he said.

“It seemed no definitive answers could be given for the biggest questions stockholders wanted to know. And I’m saying no definitive, not because anybody failed, but we have 30% conceptual plans.

“The questions were, how high will the sea walls be — 5 feet? ‘Oh, that will be too high for me when I’m sitting in a chair on the ground. I won’t be able to see over it.’”

Other questions he included were: will some residents have to remove and rebuild their docks; how long will construction keep some residents from accessing their units; what happens if the money runs out before the sea walls are completed; will there possibly be an increased or special assessment; how loud will the pumps be, where will they be placed, and how much will it cost to maintain them; and do the projects require a vote from shareholders for a material change?

“These are all valid questions that I listened to as people asked. We weren’t able to give

them any answer,” Gross said.

The mayor, who does not have a vote in council decisions but can use his position as an influencer, urged the council to make the process more transparent and less confusing by creating a shared understanding among the town, the corporation, the board of directors and the stockholders.

“By fostering open communication, establishing clear priorities and ensuring that everyone is on the same page, Briny Breezes can move forward in a direction that is well supported by all stakeholders,” he said.

Gross added that he is “not against this project by any means.”

“What I’m concerned about is, I’m confused. And I find other people confused as to what’s happening,” Gross said.

But Council President Liz Loper said Briny residents do support the project. “I’ve heard more people for than against it,” she said.

“So I must be out of touch,” the mayor replied. P

Town unsure about club’s

plans to make golf course higher

By Steve Plunkett

What is The Little Club up to?

While the members-only organization won approval of a croquet amenity and maintenance building at the Gulf Stream Town Commission’s Dec. 13 meeting, of more interest was a neighbor’s mention of the club’s plan to elevate its golf course as soon as a year from now.

Bob Donhauser, who lives in a Polo Ridge condominium just east of the staging area for Gulf Stream’s massive drainage and road project in the Core area, was at the meeting mostly to complain about dust from the construction work.

“We’re all worried about our HVACs. … It’s been a problem,” he said.

But Donhauser, who spends his winters in Gulf Stream, also fretted about having to live next to a construction zone beyond 2025, the scheduled end of the project.

“The Little Club, as you guys know, is planning to rebuild their golf course in ’26, and you should have a letter seeing that they’re planning on lifting their golf course and spending $5 million,” he said.

He and his neighbors have consulted real estate agents

about the dust and the club’s plan.

“And so our concern … is that it could impact our values if this becomes a known construction site and we have this beeping and this constant thing going on forever and ever,” Donhauser said.

“What happens when The Little Club decides they want to raise their golf course and they want to have all this equipment over there and they want to put dirt — they need dirt, they need sand, they need all these things. Where else are they going to do it unless they leave it on site?” he asked.

Mayor Scott Morgan was quick to assure him that the end of the current construction is near.

“That’s a staging area for this project only. It’s not going to be permanent,” Morgan said.

Anthony Beltran, the town’s public works director, said The Little Club’s project would be self-contained.

“They’re going to have to do that on their site. They won’t be able to do it here,” Beltran said.

After the meeting, Town Manager Greg Dunham said although the club’s central portion often floods and club officials have spoken in vague terms about raising the course, they have not filed any plans to build with the town.

“We really don’t have a lot of information at this point,” Dunham said. “We don’t know if that’s one end to the other or just portions of it.”

In 2022, the town’s consulting engineers considered having the club enlarge one of the course’s lakes to trap more stormwater otherwise headed to Polo Drive.

But club officials balked, and the plan was revised to add exfiltration trenches along roads in the Core instead of rejiggering fairways to make the lake larger. P

Library employee receives top honor — Jennifer Sweeten has been working at the Lantana Public Library for less than a year but has made a big and wonderful impression on colleagues and regulars at the library.

Sweeten, who transferred from the town’s Development Services Department in February, was named the town’s Employee of the Year and received a plaque marking the occasion at the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting.

Never before has a library staff member become Lantana’s Employee of the Year — and no one could have been prouder to make that announcement than Library Director Kristine Kreidler. “She is one of the best, if not the best, customer service and problem-solving employees I have ever worked with,” Kreidler said. “She saved us during our summer reading program, as our statistics have continued to grow exponentially and the flow of traffic increases month over month. I don’t know how we would’ve done it without her.”

Kreidler called Sweeten a genuinely caring person “and everyone she interacts with walks away knowing Jen cares about them, illustrating a rare native emotional intelligence. One of our older patrons even asked Jen to be her power of attorney.”

Working in a public library in a community like Lantana means “you are part social worker, part mediator, part teacher, part tutor, part crime prevention, part mentor, part party planner, part friend, part community activist, part mom, part dad, and on and on. Jen wears them well,” Kreidler said.

Vote on Kmart development delayed — A special Town Council meeting was held on Dec. 10 to vote on amending the comprehensive plan to allow a change in the density from 15 to 25 dwellings per acre at Lantana Village (the former Kmart site), but voting was postponed until 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9.

Mayor Karen Lythgoe said the reason for the delay was that Town Attorney Max Lohman could not attend and the town needed a little more time to smooth out the details.

Since the December meeting had been advertised, town officials needed to convene, but a presentation on the development plans was not given. Public comment was allowed, but without having seen the PowerPoint, residents opted to wait until the next special meeting to make their comments.

— Mary Thurwachter

Lantana

Council adopts flood insurance norms despite mobile home concerns

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana signed off on flood management regulations to meet National Flood Insurance Program standards, which meant the town also had to revise its ordinance as it relates to mobile homes. On its first reading of the ordinance in November, the Town Council voted affirmatively, although not all members agreed.

“We wanted time to do some homework to be sure we knew what the implications were,” Mayor Karen Lythgoe said at the Dec. 9 meeting. But even with further discussion, the vote remained the same: 3-2 in favor of the changes.

Council members Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse and Christopher Castle cast the dissenting votes.

Development Services Director Nicole Dritz gave some background.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s revised flood insurance rate map became effective on Dec. 20.

“As a condition of eligibility in the National Flood Insurance Program, the town must adopt the flood plain management regulations to meet the standards set by the NFIP,” Dritz said. “In addition to the NFIP requirement that we must adopt, the ordinance also revises

language related to how we as a town regulate our mobile homes.”

That’s the part that concerned council members.

“The town has participated in a voluntary program called the Community Rating System for over 15 years,” Dritz said. “The voluntary program is meant to incentivize communities to implement flood plain management practices and procedures that exceed the minimum set by the NFIP.”

Communities earn points for various flood plain activities that reduce flooding risk or enhance resiliency, such as improving drainage systems or promoting public education, she said. As communities accumulate points, they can achieve different rating levels that can lower flood insurance rates for property owners.

Flood insurance premiums in town currently receive a 10% discount with its Class 8 rating.

“As a prerequisite, and for the town to retain that Class 8 rating, all manufactured homes installed or replaced in the special flood hazard area must be elevated to or above the base flood elevation outlined by the NFIP, by FEMA or one additional foot,” Dritz said.

While the new elevation requirements don’t apply to existing homes, they will apply to homes undergoing major renovations or repairs.

Annemarie Joyce, who lives in View Street, a mobile home park south of The Moorings on the Intracoastal Waterway, said she’s concerned “that the wording in here says that we can only do repairs (for damaged homes) up to 50% of our appraised valuation by the property appraiser’s office.”

“With inflation the way it is, this is going to leave people in the lurch by a great deal. Because the property appraiser’s valuation of our homes is not high enough that we would be able to do many repairs. I am extremely concerned about that.”

But that’s not the only worry for owners of mobile homes in a flood zone.

Moorhouse said those homes could be difficult to sell given

the new requirements. “I just think it’s totally unreasonable,” he said.

The reduction in the cost of insurance wouldn’t amount to much, perhaps as little as $50 a year for people in mobile homes, he said. “I’m not going to put somebody out of their home for $50 a year. I think it’s a burdening hardship.”

But Lythgoe said she would be voting in favor of the changes.

“I’m going to vote for this primarily because in 2027, Citizens Insurance is going to require all policy holders in Florida to have flood insurance, whether you’re in a flood plain or not. If we’re not in good standing in the program, we’re not going to be able to get flood insurance through the NFIP, and in that case when someone goes to purchase a home or if you have a mortgage that requires you to have windstorm insurance, you’re not going to be able to keep it.

“And if you have Citizens, which a lot of people do, you’re not going to be able to keep your insurance policy because you’re not going to get flood insurance. Very few insurance companies are writing flood insurance, you have to get it through the federal government.”

The special flood areas are all east of Dixie Highway, according to Dritz.

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Kem Mason said that while this vote was for him “heart-wrenching, there comes a time you have to think of the majority.”

He said insurance can get as high as $10,000 a year and a 10% reduction was a significant one.

Vice Mayor Mark Zeitler said he empathized with Joyce and other mobile home residents, but would join Mason and Lythgoe in voting for the revised language.

After the vote, Joyce told The Coastal Star she was one of those people who looks at both sides.

“I can understand that some people who can afford insurance stand to benefit,” she said. “My main concern is for people who don’t have unlimited resources.

“I don’t see any upside for them.” P

Boynton Beach News

Beach park treatment plant to be repaired — Boynton Beach city commissioners approved an agreement for upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant at Oceanfront Park to Close Construction Services, LLC, of Okeechobee, which bid $907,000 for the work, with an additional 10% contingency.

City staff reported the existing treatment system is more than 20 years old and “showing signs of wear and corrosion.” The work is mainly for rehabilitation of the rotating biological contactor system.

“Several events during 2018-2019 identified flows exceeding the permitted capacity, causing the plumbing fixtures in the park infrastructure to leak,” staff reported.

— Larry Barszewski

Sweeten

Ocean Ridge

Commission, under pressure, OKs repaving patchy section of A1A

By John Pacenti

Replacing a portion of Ocean Ridge’s water main running down State Road A1A turned out to be a delicate operation as the 70-year-old pipe proved especially brittle, causing numerous unexpected breaks.

This led to a hopscotch pattern of asphalt patches. Now the Florida Department of Transportation wants the town to repave the affected parts of A1A at a cost of up to $325,000.

“Because there were so many breaks and so many patches, they’re asking us to go above and beyond what our engineering plan showed,” Town Engineer Lisa Tropepe said at the Town Commission’s Dec. 9 meeting.

Initially, Mayor Geoff Pugh

was reluctant. “Why would we do that?” he said. “That’s a state road.”

Though FDOT will be repaving A1A in southern Delray Beach, there are no plans to continue northward, commissioners were told by contractor Foster Marine.

Tropepe and Foster Marine said FDOT has made unexpected demands after greenlighting the initial plans. “They approved it and they sat over here at the preconstruction meeting and didn’t say a word,” Tropepe said.

Commissioners authorized the money needed for the additional road work.

Pugh told Tropepe and Foster Marine he felt the repaving costs were a surprise. “We’re getting basically, you know, slapped in

the back of the head,” he said.

Commissioners were told the delay was getting information from FDOT on whether the state would resurface the road in the near future. They also approved a $45,000 emergency change order to shut off the old pipe for the last remaining residents using it. And there was also $101,000 approved for cost overruns due to field directives.

In all, the commission approved up to $471,000 in new spending on Dec. 9.

The cost coming into the meeting for that A1A leg of the water pipe replacement project was $2.58 million.

Replacing the A1A pipe from Island Drive to Inlet Cay Drive is just the first step. Tropepe provided a chart for the work for the rest of the town

Kayak trail could be coming to Ocean Ridge

There appears to be a bonus for residents in a $1 million-plus grant that reimburses Ocean Ridge for much of the purchase price of the submerged Priest property behind Town Hall.

The Florida Conservation Trust, as a condition of the grant, requires some type of public recreation, said Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy. The county owns the other submerged lands next to the Priest property — all of which is a pristine mangrove swamp teeming with marine life.

“We have been talking to the county, because the county owns several of those parcels, and

they’re going to work with us in kind of creating and marking a kayak trail,” Cassidy said. “We’re just in the beginning stages of talking about that.”

One of the decisions that needs to be made is where the kayaks will be rented and launched. When established, the kayak trail will give residents access to marine life.

“There’s a lot of wildlife back there,” Cassidy said. “I talked to some people that have been at Ocean Cay (just north of Town Hall) for a while and they’ve seen manatees. It’s really kind of a nice place.” — John Pacenti

broken up into seven phases estimating the cost would be $38.8 million over eight years. Not all is bad news, Tropepe said. The town has 3,600 linear feet of new pipe and 95% of the impacted residents are hooked up to the new main.

“We’re just so happy to get that pipe out of commission. And we need to do everything we can ... to get that type of pipe wherever it is in town, we need to get it out of here,” she said. P

Manalapan

Town considers if new Town Hall is needed

Manalapan will conduct a space utilization study to assess whether it needs a new Town Hall or if the current building can be renovated, Town Manager Eric Marmer said.

“A lot of people in the town and on the commission feel that this building doesn’t really represent the town anymore, and are potentially looking to update it,” Marmer said.

The selection committee to choose an architectural firm to do the study met on Dec. 20. The firm will present commissioners with options. Voters in March 2026 will most likely get to decide if they agree to what the commissioners decide — renovate or build anew, Marmer said.

The current Town Hall, built in 1981, is outdated and does not adequately accommodate the current size of town government, he said.

Palm Beach County has a stake in what Manalapan decides since its fire rescue department shares space in the current building. The county will pay up to 50% of the cost of the study, Marmer said.

— John Pacenti

The next edition of The Coastal Star will be delivered the weekend of Feb. 1

Obituaries

Mary Jo Pollock

HIGHLAND BEACH — Mary Jo (McCoy) Pollock died Dec. 3 after a lengthy illness. She was 69.

Born in Akron, Ohio, she was raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she eventually attended the university there and graduated with a degree in physical education. Professionally she worked in the insurance industry and taught physical education in Boardman, Ohio.

Throughout her life she has lived in Austintown, Ohio; Lisbon, Ohio; Hudson, Ohio; Red Bank, New Jersey; and for the past 18 years in Highland Beach.

Her greatest pleasures in life were her family, dance and travel. Married to and survived by her husband, Richard Pollock, she took great pleasure in calling herself “the Y wife” due to his career as a YMCA president and CEO. Other nicknames included MJ, Mama Jo, and her favorite, Grandma Jo. She was a member of the Delray Beach Club, the YMCA Alumni Association and the Heritage Club of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County. She was a founding member of the Jack and Bodhi Girard Youth Hockey Fan Club. She was predeceased by her first husband, Jack “Fozz” Mills, and her mother, Joan Barker McCoy. She is survived by her father, Robert McCoy; husband, Richard Pollock; daughter Shenley Mills Girard and her husband, Peter Girard; daughter Shelby Mills and her partner, John Lewer; siblings Barbara Cramer and husband, Danny; Dale McCoy and wife, Kris; Lynn Clancy and husband, Michael; brother and sister-in-law Dave and Anita Pollock; many nieces and nephews, members of the Mills family, and her beloved grandsons, Jack and Bodhi Girard.

A celebration of her life is planned for a future date. Contributions in her name may be made to the Boca Helping Hands organization in Boca Raton.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Louis M. Canter

By Mary Thurwachter

LANTANA — It’s been a decade since Louis M. Canter, aka Lantana Lou, made his final splash at the beach, emerging on Groundhog Day to predict “six weeks of sunny weather.” Wearing a jeweled crown and snazzy cape and carrying a trident and a large cutout fish, he was Lantana’s answer to Punxsutawney Phil every Feb. 2.

Mr. Canter hung up his eye-catching regalia in 2014, after a beloved 10-year stint as Lantana Lou.

On Dec. 6, 2024, Mr. Canter, 94, a former vice mayor of Lantana, died at his home surrounded by family and close friends.

“Mr. Canter has given much time and devotion to residents of Lantana and has earned the respect and admiration of the community at large for his wisdom and community spirit,” former Mayor Dave Stewart said at the time.

“As Lantana Lou, he brought favorable recognition to the town through television and newspapers and amused hundreds of residents over the years.”

Current Mayor Karen Lythgoe shared her admiration for Mr. Canter at December’s Town Council meeting and said she wanted the town to honor him with a plaque at the beach.

Twenty-year Council member Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse said Mr. Canter was an admired council member who encouraged him to run for office.

Palm Springs Village Manager Mike Bornstein, who was Lantana’s town manager when the concept of Lantana Lou was born, said organizers of the Groundhog Day celebration were looking for someone who looked like a retiree to play the part and Mr. Canter, who was on the Town Council, fit the bill.

“He was incredibly gracious and had fun with it,” Bornstein said. “Mr. Canter was always very direct. You always knew where you stood with Lou.”

Longtime friend Norbert McNamara, who made Lantana Lou’s cape and trident, admired his friend’s community service.

“You couldn’t have a better councilman,” McNamara said. “He was honest and fair.”

Mr. Canter was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Nancy Olian Canter, and his grandson Nathaniel Canter.

He is survived by his children Rebecca (Jon) Ryan, Edie Canter (Fred Wellisch), Marcia Canter, and Andrew Canter (Jane Fraser); his grandchildren Daniel Ryan (Alexis Scheer), Rachel Ryan, Leah Ryan, Julia Wellisch and Benjamin Canter; his brother Edward (Lynn) Canter; his sister Patricia McCue; and other relatives and friends.

He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1930, graduated from Boston University in 1951, and served in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953

Louis M. Canter, aka Lantana Lou, gained notoriety for donning a cape, a crown and carrying a colorful, cutout fish on Groundhog Day to predict Lantana’s next six weeks of weather. Photo provided

before starting his real estate career. First an agent and then a developer, he built hundreds of homes in the Boston suburbs.

Mr. Canter had a full and successful life, said his daughter Marcia, a Realtor herself. She will miss their weekly discussions on real estate. She said he did a lot of good things in life, but “wasn’t seeking accolades.” He just did what he thought was right.

Mr. Canter and Nancy married in 1955 and raised their four children in Framingham, Massachusetts, where he was involved in Temple Beth Am. He owned racehorses, flew a small plane, and played many games of gin rummy.  In 1986, the Canters moved to Lantana, where he enjoyed fishing in his boat.

He developed many close friendships in Lantana, his daughter Edie wrote in his obituary, “including fishing buddies, his regular lunch group at the Grumpy Grouper and The Hive, and people involved in town politics.”

He joined the Lantana zoning commission, then Town Council and eventually became vice mayor.

The Canters enjoyed domestic and international travel during their retirement. Mr. Canter’s most recent trip was a visit to Washington, D.C., through Southeast Florida Honor Flight for veterans.

Funeral services were on Dec. 17 at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel in Boynton Beach. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Canter’s memory can be made to Southeast Florida Honor Flight, www.honorflightsefl.org.

Obituaries

Mark Warren Vlasek

DELRAY BEACH — Mark Warren Vlasek, born in Lansing, Illinois, to William and Mary Vlasek, died Oct. 18 on his back porch surrounded by family, friends and nature. He was 75.

His legacy continues through his beloved wife, Gail Nardiello Vlasek, his two sons, Robert Brett Vlasek (Stephanie) and William Vance Vlasek (Patrick); his granddaughter, Charlotte Jeanne Vlasek; his three siblings, Bill, MaryAnn and Diane; his dear friends and his entourage of nieces, nephews and protégés.

A born athlete and trailblazer, Mr. Vlasek cut his teeth playing sports on Chicago’s South Side with anyone who would compete, regardless of race, color or creed — remarkable in the 1950s and 1960s.

He continued his love of sport playing basketball at Florida Atlantic University, a lifetime of recreational games and coaching multiple teams at Boca Raton Middle School and his own children’s leagues.

He was a teacher both professionally and personally, giving grounded guidance, attention and love to anyone under his wing. He lived love, giving it freely and teaching it by example.

As a young man he worked the Midwest steel mills, as did his father.

Realizing early that this path was not for him, he took an eyeopening pilgrimage out West with his friends, living and working in Colorado, then California. Afterward, he returned to Illinois briefly with fresh eyes, then quickly moved to Florida, a state that better suited how he wanted to live. Many of his loved ones followed.

He earned a degree in education at Florida Atlantic University and went on to teach physical education at Boca Raton Middle School. There he met the math teacher/model who would become the love of his life, Gail.

Their romance bloomed through adventures, honesty, shared values, play and devotion. They were wed in the summer of 1982. Their love manifested as their two sons, Brett and Vance. Mr. Vlasek wanted to provide as best he could for his growing family, so he transitioned to a career in real estate.

He eventually founded his own real estate brokerage and earned great success through hard work and sacrifice, all the while remaining devoted to his family life.

After retiring, he suffered through multiple spinal surgeries and chronic back pain. He had to give up his beloved athletics and live a more mellow life. Even through his intense pain, his joyful spirit blazed on. The playfulness that once existed in his body doubled in his mind.

Always there with a joke, Mr. Vlasek was a great source of laughter, strength and support for many. He touched their hearts and minds by living unapologetically in his authentic ways. His timeless spirit of joy, mischief, camaraderie, care, freedom, friendliness and love lives on through those privileged enough to experience them. He will be wildly missed, highly celebrated and never forgotten.

Please honor him by living in freedom, truth and love.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Along the Coast

Old Key Lime House workers shot, three dead after Lake Worth Beach party

By Steve Plunkett and Mary Thurwachter

Three Old Key Lime House workers have died following a shooting Dec. 10 in Lake Worth Beach after a company holiday party.

The men were among four of the Lantana restaurant’s employees who were shot in the incident. Two of the employees died soon after the shooting and another Dec. 28 in the hospital.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office identified the two initial deceased as Christopher Allen, 32, and Steven Stratis, 25.

Deputies charged Morey S. Pinard III, 23, of Delray Beach, with two counts of seconddegree murder with a firearm and two counts of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. Also charged was Michael B. Vititoe, 29, of Boynton Beach, with simple battery and accessory after the fact-homicide.

Almost three weeks after the incident, Reginald Gordon, 50, succumbed to his injuries, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The appropriate charges are forthcoming, the office said. Restaurant owner Ryan Cordero told television station WPTV-Ch. 5 that his employees

Gulf Stream

went to The Rock Irish Pub at 614 Lake Ave. after a company party at nearby Lilo’s Streetfood & Bar. Deputies were sent to the scene at 1 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office said.

“The preliminary investigation is believed that an altercation occurred inside the establishment resulting in the shooting,” PBSO said in a news release.

The dead men were a young military veteran, a barback, and the restaurant’s kitchen manager. The other man shot, Daquan Sigler, was a line cook.

Gordon’s nephew, who was at the pub, was punched in the face by Vititoe, according to the arrest report. Gordon stepped in and attempted to stop the fight and that’s when Pinard, who was with Vititoe, began shooting, the report said.

At the Dec. 10 Lantana Town Council meeting, Mayor Karen Lythgoe shared the news that it was employees of the restaurant who had been shot in the incident.

“I asked everyone to keep the victims, family and friends in their thoughts,” Lythgoe said.

Old Key Lime House held a fundraiser for the victims on Dec. 22. P

Place Au Soleil getting two new police cameras

By Steve Plunkett

Two surveillance cameras powered by artificial intelligence are being installed in Place Au Soleil to guard against thieves who walk into the community after dark.

Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones said it was primarily vehicle burglaries and one vehicle theft that had occurred there in the last year.

enter or whether it’s someone pushing a baby stroller who may live there — and we would then make a decision as to whether we needed to respond and check that or whether we thought that it was more than likely a resident and everything was fine.”

Flock will charge the town $6,250 for the first year’s use of the two cameras and the same amount each following year.

negotiations.

“I think it’s a great idea because you have all kinds of commercial activity right there,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.

Jones said he met with the homeowner association for input “on whether or not they felt the cameras would be intrusive or if residents would be concerned about having additional cameras.”

However, he told town commissioners at their Dec. 13 meeting that the criminal behavior there is different. Place Au Soleil is “not as isolated as the island side of Gulf Stream,” he said. “And because of that, they are more prone to pedestrian-related activity from nonresidents coming into the community during nighttime hours and then obviously committing these types of criminal behaviors and then going undetected because it’s very difficult for us to be at the right place at the right time and happen to see this pedestrian activity.”

Jones proposed using Condor cameras from Flock Safety, the same company that provides the town its license plate reader system.

Jones said the company initially wanted to collect $2,000 to install the cameras but dropped it to zero after several days of

“And we got completely the opposite — that it was very invited and that they would appreciate it,” he said. P

South Palm Beach News

New lift station delayed — Town Manager Jamie Titcomb reported that South Palm Beach fell short of receiving the required three bids for a new lift station, putting the long-delayed project on hold. Titcomb said the deadline will be reissued for a future date in order to meet the town’s request for qualification requirement. The bid packages that have been received will remain sealed until that yet-to-be-determined new deadline.

Architects remain on schedule — Joe Barry, representing the CPZ Architects firm contracted to build the new Town Hall, addressed the Town Council for the second straight month in December and said the project remains on schedule. Another round of meetings with council members regarding their design suggestions was scheduled for mid-December. Barry said he still expects town residents to be given an opportunity to provide their input at a meeting in February.

“We would kind of use the solution the same way we would license plate cameras and define what time frame during the nighttime hours we utilize the solution. And anytime a pedestrian either walking or cycling enters the community it would alert law enforcement to their presence and then a law enforcement officer would use the information that we see on the video — whether it’s someone wearing a hoodie, whether it’s someone trying to conceal themselves against the vegetation line when they

Piggyback contracts approved — The Town Council approved two motions to secure piggyback contracts with two Lake Worth Beach firms, B&B Underground Construction Inc. and Johnson-Davis Inc., for emergency services for water, wastewater and storm water. Titcomb and Vice Mayor Monte Berendes both gave high marks to B&B for an emergency repair it performed over the summer at Palm Beach Harbour Club.

Alternatives sought for garbage pickup — With the town’s 10-year contract with Waste Management for garbage pickup set to expire in September, Titcomb asked the council to discuss the possibility of bringing in new bidders and was given the goahead to do so. Berendes and Council member Sandy Beckett both said their buildings have had issues with trucks leaving “drippings” in driveways after pickups.

— Brian Biggane

Minnesota Vikings owners linked to $37 million purchase of Plaza del Mar

By John Pacenti

It remains to be seen if the beloved Ice Cream Club at Plaza del Mar will debut a flavor in honor of the Minnesota Vikings.

The family that co-owns the NFL team is linked to the $37 million purchase of the Manalapan shopping center, which was recorded Dec. 30 with Palm Beach County.

The fact that the plaza — essential to coastal communities around Manalapan — was being sold was one of the worst-kept secrets.

Tenants had heard rumors that billionaire Larry Ellison was purchasing the 21-unit center but instead, it was a corporation connected to the Wilf family, which built its fortune on owning shopping centers nationwide.

Ellison recently bought the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa across the street for $277.4 million and an estate in town in June 2022 for a state-record $173 million.

Records with the Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptroller’s Office show the property was sold to Manalapan Plaza del Mar LLC, a Delaware corporation. It has the same New Jersey

mailing address that is home to companies owned by the Wilf family, including Vikings Chairman Zygi Wilf, Vice Chairman Leonard Wilf and President Mark Wilf.

One of the companies at the address is K&K Developers, the company that had appeared on paperwork the plaza tenants received in December, they told The

sign documents on Dec. 17 “just confirming how many years our lease is, etc., etc. Just insignificant questions.”

What’s next?

“I think they are probably going to tear it down,” Drummond speculated. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. No idea. We’ll just sit tight and they’ll let us know eventually, I guess.”

Without the Publix, nearby residents along the coast would need to go over the bridge to Lantana Road for groceries.

ABOVE: Plaza del Mar with the Atlantic Ocean and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa at top, and Ocean Avenue on the left.

Photo provided by Katz and Associates LEFT: Businesses in the plaza include beauty salons, stores for jewelry and clothing, and restaurants. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

Coastal Star. The Short Hills, New Jersey, address is also home to Gardens Homes, the family development company founded by the fathers of the Wilf cousins who own the Vikings.

Company officials could not be reached for comment by phone at the New Jersey headquarters on Dec. 31.

Palm Beach connection

The Wilfs do have a connection in Palm Beach County.

Leonard Wilf has an active voter registration, listing the address of 900 N. Lake Way, Palm Beach — an address owned by a trust associated with him. Mark Wilf bought a townhouse in Palm Beach in 2016 and sold it for $7 million in 2020.

Plaza del Mar, which opened in 1982, is a 102,000-square-foot plaza known for its upscale shops, diverse dining and the closest Publix for residents along that part of the coast.

The property was owned by the investment entity MSKP Plaza del Mar and managed by Kitson & Partners. Kitson did not return phone calls seeking comment. MSKP Plaza del Mar bought the property at the height of the real estate bubble in 2006 for $37.7 million, according to property records, slightly more than its latest sale price.

Jeannie Drummond, owner of Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique, said she had been asked to

There is a Chabad, and an Evelyn & Arthur, a women’s clothing retailer, that holds charity events in the store as well as a fashion event across Ocean Avenue for residents in memory care at The Carlisle.

The Ice Cream Club is a local institution known for its unique flavors with fun names. “Garbage Can” — full of different kinds of candy bars — is an original. Insta Graham (as in Instagram) is a new flavor that is catching fire with dark chocolate and, of course, graham crackers.

Fran and Ed Guzile were enjoying eggs at John G’s Restaurant at the plaza recently.  “There is a lot of nice retail here,” Fran Guzile said. “People can walk here for their groceries.”

“The Jewish community, because they have to walk to the shul, you see them walking through here,” Ed Guzile added.

On the other side of the plaza sits Hedy McDonald’s Art Basil Restaurant. She was optimistic about the new owners.

“The idea of somebody that buys the plaza and wants to be a little more involved is extremely exciting. We’d be building for the next thing,” she said.

The plaza was built on submerged lands and has tension cables in its foundation, she said. McDonald learned this when a plumber refused to do work in her restaurant out of fear of snapping one of the cables.

She noted that the shopping center is easily accessible from Manalapan, South Palm Beach, Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach.

A friend of McDonald’s in Palm Beach was considering buying the property but said it was out of his price range.

“He’s like, it’s because that piece of dirt is awesome. There’s nothing like it around,” McDonald said. “It’s basically a plaza on the beach.”P

Sean Hannity purchases Ocean Boulevard estate in Manalapan

Manalapan has a new resident with a familiar face. In November, Fox News host Sean Hannity, who moved to Florida from New York a year ago, spent $23.5 million for an ocean-to-lake estate at 1840 S. Ocean Blvd.

Hannity already owns a Palm Beach townhouse that he bought in 2021 as a vacation home and declared as his primary residence in 2023.

The 20,106-totalsquare-foot Manalapan compound on 1.86 acres, built in 1990, was recently updated. The property is intersected by State Road A1A, with the ocean parcel and a guest house/cabana facing 150 feet of ocean frontage. The property also has 150 feet with a dock on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Details of the eightbedroom estate include a formal living room with a fireplace, formal dining room, wine room, two-island kitchen, a casual living room with a bar, a luxury primarybedroom wing, a rooftop observation terrace with a wet bar, and a resort-style pool and spa.

The property was originally

listed in February 2024 for $29 million and reduced to $25.95 million in October.

Douglas Elliman agents Gary Pohrer and Nick Malinosky represented the seller, with Vince Spadea, also a Douglas Elliman agent, representing the buyer.

1840 South Ocean LLC, which is linked to Tom Del Bosco, vice president at the hedge fund Smith Management, bought the estate in 2021 for $18 million.

Recently sold in Boca Raton: Three Jays Ltd., with Jamey Hargreaves and John Jason Hargreaves signing

as directors, parted with neighboring mansions along the Intracoastal Waterway for a combined $23.47 million.

The 8,222-square-foot, seven-bedroom home at 550 NE Fifth Ave., on 1.11 acres, sold for $19.025 million to the 550 NE 4th Land Trust, with 550 NE 4th LLC as trustee. The LLC is managed by Kim Berman in Pompano Beach. The Hargreaveses bought the property in 2000 for $5.875 million.

At the same time, the 5,011-square-foot home at 550 NE Fourth Lane sold to the same trust for $4.442 million. It last traded for $3.15

and “The Pink Retreat.” Campaigns that won bronze awards include “Entertainment Tonight in The Palm Beaches,” “Leisure Meets Luxury,” “Love the Palm Beaches,” “Record Breaking Video Series: Live Like a Local,” “Fashion Week NYC,” and “Conquering YouTube as the Nation’s Most Followed Destination.”

The Adrian Awards, in their 68th year, are presented in advertising, digital, PR/communications, and integrated campaign categories. These include awards for digital creators, reputation management, affiliate marketing, and broadcast integration.

million in 2022. The deal included $13.75 million in seller financing covering both homes. Jamey Hargreaves and John Jason Hargreaves are among the children of John Hargreaves, who founded the Matalan chain of stores in Great Britain in 1985.

Discover the Palm Beaches, the tourism marketing organization for Palm Beach County, will be honored for travel marketing excellence by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International at the annual Adrian Awards celebration in Manhattan on Feb. 18.

Discover the Palm Beaches campaigns that won gold awards include “Breaking Barriers: The Palm Beaches’ Commitment to Inclusive Marketing,” and “The Palm Beaches Collection.”

Campaigns that won silver awards include “A Pilot Influencer’s Sky High Adventures,” “Sea to Preserve,” “The Palm Beaches Welcomes Everyone,”

Thanks to grants from the cities of Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Miami Beach, along with help from its supporters, the nonprofit Institute for Regional Conservation, with 22 volunteer-led events throughout 2024, installed more than 1,500 plants representing 50-plus native species to repair ecosystem function and enhance native biodiversity and removed more than 5,000 pounds of invasive plants. For more information, visit www. regionalconservation.org/ircs/ Events.asp.

Andrea Keiser and Noah Hale were recently appointed to serve four-year terms as board members of the Delray Beach Housing Authority.

Fox News personality Sean Hannity bought this ocean-to-lake property in Manalapan for $23.5 million. Photo by Daniel Petroni Photography

Keiser Hale

Hannity

Keiser is the managing partner of Keiser Legal, PLLC, a Delray Beach firm specializing in the counsel and representation of property owners and real estate developers in land use and zoning. Hale is the managing director of development for Fairstead, a real estate firm headquartered in New York City with an office in Delray Beach. Fairstead builds sustainable communities nationally.

Duffy’s Sports Grill, a Lake Worth Beach-based restaurant group, recently made Joe Webb its chief executive officer. Webb had served as president for the past five years.

“I am honored to lead a company that values both its customers and employees,” Webb said. “I look forward to building on our legacy and maintaining our commitment to excellence that began four decades ago.”

Duffy’s Sports Grill, formerly Duffy’s Drafthouse, was founded in 1985 in Lake Park.

The Seagate Hotel in Delray Beach unveiled its multimillion-dollar, propertywide renovation in November, which included enhancements to its lobby, 157 guest rooms and suites, event spaces, pool, Beach Club and dining venues. These renovations

were led by the Brooklynbased interior design firm Watts & Dray and mark the first major upgrades to the property since it opened in 2009.

“Our vision for the reimagined Seagate was to create spaces that were structural, charming, worldly and art-filled, while being functional and comfortable for guests,” said Vanessa Watts, partner at Watts & Dray. “To achieve this design concept, we carefully selected world-class vendors to partner with to create custom and handcrafted accents and art pieces throughout the property. This approach allowed us to work with small vendors to create one-of-akind elements to elevate every corner of the resort.”

For example, Watts & Dray worked with Indiewalls for art and Marc Phillips for handmade rugs. The renovation of the hotel’s 18hole golf course was headed by architect J. Drew Rogers. Bourbon Steak Delray Beach, with Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina, is slated to open this month.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@ gmail.com.

Dining

Oceano Kitchen prepares tsunami of ’wow.’ Page AT6

Health & Harmony

The power of positivity for your well-being. Page AT24

On the Water

Sailfish are eager to leap for live bait. Page AT26

House of the Month Oceanfront estate in Highland Beach. Page AT31

Along the Coast

da Vinci Delving into

Unprecedented exhibition in Boynton Beach dedicated to the work of the famed artist

By Brian Biggane

“The thing that was given to me by the universe is the chance to question it.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

Perhaps no one in history has questioned the laws of the universe more often or more successfully than Leonardo da Vinci, a giant of the Renaissance whose life and works are celebrated in an exhibit titled Da Vinci — An Immersive Art Experience, running through April at the WLRN building in Boynton Beach. Da Vinci (1452-1519) is probably best known for his

painting of Mona Lisa that hangs in the Louvre in Paris, as well as his depiction of the Last Supper, in which he shows the multitude of emotions on the faces of the Apostles moments after Jesus said one of them was about to betray him.

But his intellect transcended being a painter. He was a sculptor, engineer, geophysicist, astronomer and much more. He was the first to conceptualize building a flying machine and did so, making a primitive airplane that stayed above ground for one kilometer more than 400 years

See DA VINCI on page AT8

Visitors to the PBS studios in Boynton Beach are immersed in and interact with The Last Supper, one of the classic Leonardo da Vinci works brought to life in Da Vinci — An Immersive Art Experience Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Profile of a Warrior in Helmet is one of dozens of works by da Vinci featured in the multimedia exhibit.

Pay It Forward

Stage set for Spady museum’s Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch

By Amy Woods

The largest and longestrunning benefit for the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

On Jan. 20, a cross-cultural crowd of 300 will congregate at Indian Spring Country Club in Boynton Beach for the Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch.

“We consider it a signature event because it is the epitome of what we as an organization love to do, which is bring people together around Black history,” said Charlene Farrington, the museum’s executive director.

The keynote speaker is Don Mizell, a lawyer in the entertainment industry whose résumé includes developing the marketing strategy that led to the creation of the King national holiday.

If You Go

What: Martin Luther King

Jr. Brunch

When: 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 20

Where: Indian Spring Country Club, 11501 El Clair Ranch Road, Boynton Beach

Cost: $55

Info: 561-279-8883 or spadymuseum.com

Mizell’s cousin, Delray Beach resident Yvonne Odom, an active supporter of the museum, referred him to the board.

“When we talked to him, he said, ‘You know I’ll do anything Yvonne tells me to do,’” Farrington said. “We were thrilled to learn of his involvement in the King holiday, so I really want to hear that story.”

Mizell worked at Elektra Records where he branded the term “jazz fusion.” During his tenure, he produced several significant records — among

them Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company, which won a Grammy Award in 2005 for “Album of the Year.” He also is a contributor to civil- and socialjustice initiatives.

“We want to impart some knowledge that has to do with the Black experience in America,” Farrington said. “That’s what we’re looking for. Not just a speaker, but a speaker who can share information authentically.”

The St. John Primitive Baptist Church Praise Team will sing gospel music during the event, and CORE Ensemble actor Tiffany Terrell will give a onewoman performance portraying voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.

“We do our best to make this event available for a large majority of our audiences,” Farrington said of the $55 ticket price.

“It continues to grow, and it continues to represent the Spady museum and its mission and our goals.” P

Philanthropy Notes Victory Party honors YMCA donations

The YMCA of South Palm Beach County’s recent Victory Party celebrated ambassadors and donors for helping raise a record-breaking $1.4 million for the 2024 Annual Giving Campaign.

The event also honored the hard work and dedication of campaign Co-Chairwomen Linda Gunn Paton and Nicole Grimes.

“Raising $1.4 million is a testament to the power of our community, generosity and shared purpose,” Gunn Paton said. “It reflects the unwavering dedication to ensuring everyone

has access to vital programs and resources that strengthen individuals and families alike.”

“This year,” Grimes added, “we had an incredible team of donors, staff, volunteers and members who were deeply committed to showcasing the meaningful work the YMCA brings to our community.”

For more information, call 561-395-9622 or visit ymcaspbc. org/agc.

Her 2nd Chance

receives $40,000 gift

Boca Raton-based Her 2nd Chance, a nonprofit dedicated to

empowering women in recovery, has received $40,000 from the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation.

The funds consist of a $10,000 donation and a $30,000 grant, and they will expand employment opportunities and support programs for clients working to rebuild their lives after overcoming addiction.

“We are proud to continue supporting Her 2nd Chance and the incredible work they do to uplift women in the Palm Beach County community,” said James Conner, chief grants officer for the foundation.

“This donation reflects our ongoing commitment to helping organizations that embody compassion, social responsibility and a commitment to positive transformation.”

Erin Sabin, executive director of Her 2nd Chance, said, “We are deeply grateful to the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation for their unwavering support and commitment to our mission. Both the generous donation and grant award for 2024 will allow us to enhance our vital programs, ensuring that more women have the opportunities for a fresh start.”

For more information, call 561-405-6346 or visit her2ndchance.org.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@ bellsouth.net.

Mizell

Note: Events are current as of 12/27. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY

Saturday - 1/11 - The Rotary Club of Boca Raton’s OPAL Awards at Boca West Country Club, 20583 Boca West Drive, Boca Raton. Celebrate Outstanding People And Leaders with cocktails and dinner and a special tribute to the life and legacy of Spencer Siegel. 6:30-11 pm. $375. 561-4777180 or rotaryclubbocaraton.com.

Monday - 1/20 - Spady Cultural Heritage Museum’s Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch at Indian Spring Country Club, 11501 El Clair Ranch Road, Boynton Beach. Celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King with more than 300 guests from Palm Beach and Broward counties. 10 am-noon. $55. 561-279-8883 or spadymuseum.com.

Wednesday - 1/22 - Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach’s Annual Gala at Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Honor John and Beverlee Raymond at an exceptional evening of music as eight of the world’s finest violinists come together for a powerful performance. 6 pm VIP reception, 7 pm concert, 8 pm dinner. $1,000. 561-3796773 or cmspb.org.

Saturday - 1/25 - Boca Raton Museum

Pay It Forward

of Art’s 75th Anniversary Gala at The Boca Raton, 501 E. Camino Real. Join the storied institution’s black-tie benefit that will feature dazzling performances by an 18-year-old Spanish guitar protégé, an award-winning Flamenco soloist and a live auction. 6:30-11 pm. $1,500. 561-392-2500, Ext. 212 or bocamuseum.org.

Thursday - 1/30 - Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s Lion of Judah Luncheon at B’nai Torah Congregation, 6261 SW 18th St., Boca Raton. Join keynote speakers Ashley Waxman Bakshi and Olga Meshoe Washington, along with moderator Liz Schrayer, for a talk centered around the theme 'Empowerment Through Resilience.' 10:45 am-2 pm. $136 couvert, plus a minimum gift of $5,000 to the Annual Campaign. 561-852-6061 or jewishboca.org/lionlunch.

Friday - 1/31 - Delray Beach Public Library’s Laugh with the Library at Opal Grand Oceanfront Resort & Spa, 10 N. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. Laugh out loud at this year’s installment of an evening of comedy, featuring actor/comedian T.J. Miller. 7-11 pm. $500. 561-266-0798 or delraylibrary. org/laugh.

FEBRUARY

Saturday - 2/1 - Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s 62nd Annual Ball at The Boca

Raton, 501 E. Camino Real. Help raise funds for the advancement and enhancement of patient care and enjoy entertainment by the legendary band Chicago. 6-11 pm. Sponsorships start at $5,000. 561-955-6634 or donate.brrh.com

Monday - 2/10 - Woman’s Club of Delray Beach’s Real Men Bake & Valentine Sock Hop at Boca Delray Golf and Country Club, 5483 Boca Delray Blvd., Delray Beach. Sample sweet and savory delights baked by a who’s-who cast of male volunteers at a ‘50’s-themed benefit for local charities. 6-9 pm. $40. 561-870-6345 or 561-706-8577 or delraywomansclub.com.

Wednesday - 2/12 - Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach’s Heart to Heart Dinner at The Little Club, 100 Little Club Road, Delray Beach. Shop jewelry, chocolates and orchids on the sweetest day of the year and sit down to a delicious meal with a live auction. 6-9 pm. $300. 561-676-5472 or bgcpbc.org.

Lion of Judah Luncheon B’nai Torah Congregation, Boca Raton

Jan. 30: 'Empowerment Through Resilience' is the theme of the annual event that will feature keynote speakers Ashley Waxman Bakshi (content creator and entrepreneur) and Olga Meshoe Washington (author and community builder), and moderator Liz Schrayer (a business consultant based in Washington D.C.). Time is 10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Couvert is $136, plus a minimum gift of $5,000 to the Annual Campaign. Call 561-852-6061 or visit jewishboca. org/lionlunch. ABOVE: Luncheon Co-Chairwomen Marissa Hollander and Karen Lazar. Photo provided

Celebrations

Hope Bash Boca

Boca West Country Club, Boca Raton — Nov. 2

Brain Bowl

Boca West Country Club, Boca Raton — Nov. 14

The highly anticipated ball — in its 11th year — set a fundraising record for Place of Hope’s South County campus. The soldout event brought together an audience of nearly 700 who helped pay for programs that provide safety and stability to vulnerable youths. ‘We are thankful for the people who have carried us through this first decade and excited for the next generation of supporters who will help us blaze a trail forward,‘ said Lisa McDulin, director of advancement and campaigns, noting that Susan and Peter Brockway were recognized as 2024 Jay DiPietro Heroes of Hope honorees.

TOP: The Brockways. INSET: Amy and Mike Kazma.

Photos provided

Read Together Palm Beach County Palm Beach State College, Lake Worth Beach — Nov. 18

The 10th-anniversary luncheon benefiting the nonprofit that attorney Pamela HigerPolani founded to help people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases drew more than 1,100 guests. Leaders in business, the community and politics came together to hear former football star Tim Tebow, whose father has been battling Parkinson’s for more than a decade, speak about dementiarelated disorders.

ABOVE: (l-r) Cassie Ganter, Robyn Raphael Dynan, Lina Zelman, Victoria Bradley, Jennifer Thomason, Rachael Johnson, Danielle Rosse, Kali Williams and Claire Rhodes hold Tebow images.

LEFT: Ingrid Fulmer and Marta Batmasian.

Photos provided by Downtown Photo

Walk of Recognition

The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County’s campaign finale took place in front of an audience of 300 supporters watching while author Shelby Van Pelt was being interviewed about ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’. Van Pelt’s debut novel — about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant octopus reluctantly residing at an aquarium — was an instant New York Times bestseller. ’This Read Together campaign was one of the most exciting and engaging campaigns, from scientific presentations about octopuses, to art class-style paint-and-sip parties, to virtual and in-person book discussions,’ said Kristin Calder, the coalition’s CEO. ’The community loved reading this book together.’

TOP: (l-r) Leanne Adair, Calder, Brenda Medore and Debra Ghostine.

INSET: (l-r) Suzy Lanigan, Van Pelt and Becky Walsh. Photos provided

The annual affair of the Boca Raton Historical Society/Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum celebrated the 2024 inductees whose contributions left a lasting mark on the Boca Raton community. ’The Walk of Recognition highlights the selfless individuals who strengthen the fabric of our community through service, leadership and generosity,’ said Mary Csar, executive director of the historical society. ’We are honored to celebrate this year’s inductees and their extraordinary legacies.’ Inductees’ names are etched into granite stars at the Walk of Recognition monument in Mizner Plaza at Royal Palm Place. ABOVE: Honorees (l-r) Lisa Mulhall, Cynthia Krebsbach, Leon and Toby Cooperman, Dawn Friedkin, Mindi Fasnacht and Lisa Friedkin. The Friedkins accepted a posthumous award for Lora ’Skeets’ Friedkin. Photo provided

The Addison, Boca Raton — Nov. 20

The Go

with a moving presentation as 20 breast cancer survivors shared their names, ages and years of survivorship.

20th annual Go Pink Luncheon raises over $2.6 million to fight breast cancer

By Steven J. Smith

This pink-themed event raked in a lot of green for a golden cause.

The 20th Anniversary Go Pink Luncheon, in conjunction with the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation, raised over $2.6 million on Oct. 18 to benefit cancer programs at the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute and the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute, according to event chair and community philanthropist Carrie Rubin.

“It’s an annual awareness luncheon for breast cancer, where we celebrate and honor our survivors,” Rubin said. “We had 1,250 people this year and we always invite a distinguished keynote speaker.”

This year’s special guest was Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” who survived a breast cancer diagnosis in 2007 and five years later also overcame a bone marrow disease.

“Robin eloquently spoke about her journey,” Rubin said. “She and her wife are both breast cancer survivors. We always have someone who is either a survivor or is closely related to someone who has fought the disease. Robin was a great speaker. She was very motivational.”

Rubin added that the $2.6 million raised at the luncheon came in addition to $192,000 that was raised as of July from the Go Pink Challenge, which is a separate fundraising effort.

“The luncheon and the challenge both benefit programs and services at the Lynn Cancer Institute and the Women’s Health & Wellness Institute, but they’re different entities,” she said. “And of the $2.6 million raised at the luncheon, $640,000 went to a new program at the Lynn Cancer Institute called Bridge To Care. This program underwrites specialized individuals who work with patients and all of their doctors, to help them successfully navigate their cancer treatments.”

The luncheon began with 20 breast cancer survivors taking the stage to give their names, ages and years of survivorship, Rubin added.

“It was a very moving moment,” she said. “Also, 16 fashion and jewelry designers and an artist created one-of-a-kind couture bras for a silent auction that raised $135,000. It was a memorable day for an important cause.” P

For more information on how to get involved with the Go Pink Luncheon, call Special Events Manager Terrie Mooney at 561955-6634.

LEFT:

Pink Luncheon opened

Photos provided by Visual Enterprises

Go Pink Luncheon attendees Amy Cohn (left) and Amber Laign flank keynote speaker Robin Roberts (second from left) and event chair Carrie Rubin.

Go Pink Luncheon attendees (l-r) Mark Larkin, President of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation; Freyda Burns; Carrie Rubin; and Lincoln Mendez, president and CEO of Boca Regional Hospital.

Christine Lynn Amy Kazma

JoAnn Procacci Kathy Adkins

A new wave of dining awaits at Oceano Kitchen’s expansive new digs

Mid-month is the targeted reopening date for the newly designed Oceano Kitchen.

The popular Lantana restaurant moved in 2023 to the former Social House in downtown Lake Worth Beach. It’s been closed since June for the renovation.

Chef/owner Jeremy Bearman said the former restaurant and bar is transformed. “We gutted the entire thing.”

Bearman got through last season with a limited menu.

“We went into the contract on the building a year and a half ago. After we were kicked out of our old space, we moved in in nine days in Lake Worth,” Bearman said.

“When we moved over from the old space, we left a kitchen with a wood-burning oven. We had used it for everything. So we ran without pizza.

“Now, we have a new woodfire oven — no gas. And a pretty big smoker outside. We’ll be doing pizzas and all the wood-fired dishes as we did in the past.”

Bearman co-owns the restaurant with his spouse, Cindy Bearman, and they planned the layout. “We did all the architecture,” he said.

The interior spaces are their vision that a New York designer fulfilled, he said.

“We hired this designer, Sarah Carpenter, from

Brooklyn. We love her work,” Bearman said.

Carpenter’s designs incorporate a modern feel, with light woods and open spaces, and not what Bearman calls the cliché of dark, industrial interiors he dubs as overdone.

“You don’t see too many like these in South Florida,” he said.

He’s excited about having expanded seating, patio dining, and a practical kitchen. It’s a big step up from his former restaurant, a tiny house on Ocean Avenue in Lantana.

“For 6½ years we were working from a 500-squarefoot kitchen. We were limited in how much we could do. Guests didn’t like the 2½-hour wait,” Bearman said.

That, combined with a lease disagreement with the landlord, and the Bearmans were ready

to move. “So when we found this place in Lake Worth Beach, we jumped,” Jeremy said.

The Social House was used for co-working and as a private event space at the time.

“One good thing was a functional commercial kitchen. We were able to run out of there for six months. If it hadn’t been there, we would be closed,” Bearman said.

Also new is the full bar.

“We’re super excited. We brought on a gentleman, Patrick Wert, who does a lot of work in New York and Miami. He’s consulting with us on our cocktails. He does amazing work.”

A change in menu format is underway as well.

“We used to do a menu that changed every night. But we limited it when we moved

grill. It has been a draw to the plaza from the start.

“It’s got a long and successful history,” Baldwin said. That’s one of the reasons it will remain under the same name, he said.

It will pick up the best features from Kaluz, but still retain the Max’s Grille feel, he said. Changes will be subtle and not immediate.

here. Now we’ll have a few things that remain on it weekly — pizzas, pastas, fish every night. But we’ll change a couple items every week. By the time we get into a couple months, a lot of the menu will change,” Bearman said.

He will continue to source locally when viable, and change the menu with ingredient availability.

Cindy Bearman will continue as pastry chef and add a few more desserts each night, Jeremy said.

“We have new wait staff and, the great thing, a new general manager.”

Eric Abney is from Dallas where he worked at Loro, a well-known Asian smokehouse.

“All of our employees are coming back, too,” Bearman said. “Eric Sheremeta heads up our kitchen as chef d’cuisine, the former general manager wants to stay on as maitre d’. Even all our dishwashers are coming back. It’s pretty amazing.

“A lot of our guests have been clamoring for us to reopen.”

The new restaurant seats 140 — 80 indoors and 60 outside. “We’re taking reservations for all size parties. We can accommodate 40 to 50 people in our back dining space. We’re already sold out for two weddings,” Bearman said.

Diners will also be in for a pleasant payment surprise.

“Oh yeah — we’re now taking credit cards. Gotta move forward,” he said.

512 Lucerne Ave., Lake Worth Beach. Online at oceanolwb.com.

Max’s Grille changes hands

Max’s Grille in Mizner Park is under new ownership as of mid-December and is open during the transition.

David Baldwin, owner of Arka Restaurant Group, says the group will keep the Max’s name but tweak the concept to Arka’s specifications.

Baldwin is behind the trio of Kaluz restaurants, in Wellington, Plantation and Fort Lauderdale.

Max’s Grille was created by local restaurant gurus Burt Rapoport and Dennis Max in 1991, and considered a new concept at the time: a chefdriven, modern American

“I’m happy with the general manager and chef and others that are there,” Baldwin said. “We are trying to integrate their opinion and at the same time, make sure to move the concept forward.”

Baldwin says dining at an upscale-casual restaurant has changed since Max’s opened.

Looking at other recently opened restaurants in the plaza, he said, “We want to be relevant, and continue to stay relevant. We’ll improve what you touch and feel in the restaurant and the food.”

Adapting to trends and shifts in diner perception is important.

“People who want to go out to dinner want a good meal and good service — and an experience,” Baldwin said. “We get birthdays and celebrations, the special occasion diners. We’re selling an experience. But people have to see the value in it.”

Baldwin is hoping to expand Max’s Grille concepts elsewhere, while he continues to add more Kaluz locations.

404 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Phone 561-368-0080; maxsgrille.com.

In brief

The Falcon House in Delray Beach is now Novecento, with a soft opening late last month and grand opening set for Jan. 16. The upscale-casual Argentinian steakhouse has roots in the Soho area of New York and in South America. Currently there are four in Miami-Dade County. Expect a large selection of grass-fed Argentinian steak cuts, a raw bar with dishes such as wagyu carpaccio and salmon crudo, plus pasta and chicken items. Brunch, lunch and dinner; weekly tango shows. More info at novecento.com.

The Boca Raton resort is bringing back the Napa Valley-partnered winter wine and food event that focuses on top chefs and winemakers. The Artisans of Wine and Food event is Jan. 17-19 at the resort and includes the popular gala with wine auction. Tickets and more information are available at artisansofwineandfood.com.

Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@ gmail.com.

The new Oceano Kitchen on Lucerne Avenue in Lake Worth Beach will include a wood-fired pizza oven, fuller menu and bar, credit-card acceptance and a light, open interior. Rendering provided

before the Wright brothers accomplished the same feat.

The presentation at the PBS studio, which is in the midst of a construction project scheduled for completion next fall, is the exhibit’s first stop on a U.S. tour after it debuted in Berlin and Amsterdam. It is also the first exhibit at the studio, which going forward plans two such shows per year, each lasting six months. This one began in November.

“There’s been a curiosity about da Vinci, and wanting to know even more,” said Sadah Proctor, who joined WLRN as director of immersive media over the summer. “That’s influenced us to find other ways to share about (him). The overall response has been very positive.”

“It was very, very interesting,” Jupiter resident Beth Rockroff said after leaving the 75-minute presentation. “Very, very colorful, and creative.”

Marketing and Event Manager Heather Strum said as of mid-December the show had already been viewed by more than 9,000 visitors and 68 school classes and is selling out weeks ahead of schedule, with four showings a day.

The show, which complements a threepart series on da Vinci by legendary filmmaker Ken Burns that is available on PBS and Amazon Prime, begins with a 15-minute video giving a brief summary of da Vinci’s life and accomplishments with commentary from experts.

After another brief video welcome from CEO Dolores Fernandez Alonso on the

Boynton Beach

If You Go

What: Da Vinci — An Immersive Art Experience When: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through April; closed Mondays. Where: WLRN studios, 3401 S. Congress Ave., Boynton Beach Tickets: southfloridapbs. org/davinci. Adults $35 plus fees, students and seniors $28, 12-under free. Parking: Free on site.

station’s history and future plans, guests are ushered into a 2,700-square-foot room with three large video screens. A mirror on a cube encompasses the middle of the room, and a multimedia mix of sound and lights can sometimes overwhelm the

eyes and ears during the show’s 46-minute run time.

The production was designed and engineered by two awardwinning companies, Phoenix Immersive and flora&faunavisions, with a soundtrack composed by electronic music legend Sasha.

As lights cascade around the room with images of da Vinci’s works and accomplishments appearing and disappearing, the show occasionally becomes interactive, with viewers able to spread light by moving their hands across walls or placing a hand against a handprint on a wall to send streams of light off in different directions.

“Da Vinci Genius is the award-winning next generation of immersive

experiences,” reads a text block prepared by Phoenix Immersive on a board in the tent that serves as a lobby. “Explore da Vinci’s world from a completely new perspective.”

As with pretty much every show that’s ever been presented, not everyone comes away impressed.

“I was kind of disappointed because it was basically a very clever graphic arts presentation,” said Harry Berkowitz, of Boynton Beach. “And he didn’t have computers in those days.”

“It’s not what I expected,” added his wife, Sheila. “I thought it would be more into art.”

But Vernon Thornton, of Wellington, saw value in the presentation.

“It was an experience, more

Weekend of kinetic art aims to move you

By Tao Woolfe

Boynton Beach is promoting this year’s kinetic art exhibition as one that kids will especially enjoy. But because many of the huge, outdoor sculptures sport bright colors and parts that move with the wind, they bring out the child in everyone.

The exhibit, formally known as the International Kinetic Art Experience in Boynton Beach, will be held Feb. 1-2 at two venues — one inside at the Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center and one outside.

The outdoor installations will be placed in downtown areas from Seacrest Boulevard to Federal Highway, said Craig Clark, the city’s director of recreation and cultural services, who is organizing the event.

The indoor pieces will be on display for only two days, but the outdoor sculptures

will remain for 18 months, Clark said.

“Kinetic art is art that really moves, or gives the illusion of motion,” Clark said, adding that the art form — which requires engineering expertise as well as artistic talent — is popular and brings artists and visitors from around the world.

He said he is especially excited about some of the local artists who will be among the 30 exhibiting this year. Among them is Harold Caudio, a Haitian mixedmedia artist who lives in West Palm Beach.

Caudio’s work, which has been featured at Art Basel in Miami and on television’s “Good Morning America,” uses unconventional materials such as Skittles candies for pop art pieces. His “Colored Collextion” will feature portraits of Black celebrities constructed from hundreds of Skittles.

He has sweetly remembered

Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, and Michelle Obama, to name a few.

“The idea of the collection is to bring people together, no matter what color or background while spreading unity and peace,” says a blurb on the website of the Trap Music Museum in Atlanta, which has exhibited Caudio’s work.

Other artists Clark plans to showcase include Darren Miller, of Decatur, Ill., and Laurence Gartel, of New York, who is considered a pioneer in digital art.

Miller’s Explorations of the Dance is 7 feet tall and will be on exhibit along Ocean Avenue.

“It moves and turns and plays musical notes,” Clark said.

A little further down Ocean Avenue, Gartel’s playful murals of underwater flowers and fish will grace the Boynton Beach Amphitheater in Centennial Park.

“It’s an underwater colorful theme that looks like it’s moving,” Clark said.

Boynton Beach has been featuring kinetic art exhibits since 2013 and has established itself as an annual destination for the big, moveable pieces.

Last year’s show brought in some 6,000 visitors, Clark said.

“This is our seventh one,” Clark said, explaining that although setting up such exhibits is not usually his job, he has enjoyed the task.

“I’m excited and proud to be putting in this show. I do love art!”

The exhibition weekend will include artist and designer talks, student displays, turbine demonstrations, light projections and choreographed motion performances with community volunteers. There will also be live music, food trucks, artist booths and other activities.

than anything I would learn in a museum or read about,” he said. “It attempted to get me into his mind and how he works out the relations between things. And I felt it a bit.”

At the conclusion of the multimedia presentation, visitors are encouraged to take a 15-minute visit into a workroom full of artifacts featuring interactive stops — such as having a conversation with Mona Lisa, keyboards designed to play music of that period or papers that show how to draw eyes the way da Vinci did.

“We had our director of creative services, Norman Silva, design the room and create a modern-day workshop that taps into some of the neuro arts aspects of da Vinci’s work,” Proctor said. P

The indoor exhibit will be held Feb. 1-2 at the Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E. Ocean Ave. Hours for the Feb. 1 indoor exhibition are noon to 4 p.m., and for Feb. 2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The outdoor weekend events will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on Feb. 1 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 2. The outdoor exhibits are selfguided. Admission is free. P

Visitors are immersed in da Vinci works, which are projected across the floors, walls and ceiling. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Darren Miller’s Explorations of the Dance. Photo provided

Beachy vibes

By Jan Engoren Contributing Writer

The art of Spain is not just on view in the Old Masters exhibit now ongoing at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

At the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Sorolla and the Sea includes more than 40 works of art on view for the first time in more than 100 years. The exhibit, which runs through April 13, highlights the work of impressionist Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), known as the “Spanish painter of light.”

The exhibit, which features paintings from the Hispanic Society Museum and

Norton exhibits works by Spanish master of light

Library in New York City, is a reciprocal exhibit with the Boca museum and marks the first time the two museums have partnered in a joint venture, says Hispanic Society CEO Guillaume Kientz.

The two museums are offering a $5 discount to non-members for the two shows and reciprocal admission for members.

Even Claude Monet, the French impressionist painter known for his study of light, was in awe of Sorolla, says Kientz,

and called him the “master of light” for his depictions of light on water.

Sorolla, who loved to paint seascapes, balanced the Spanish tradition of realism with modernist trends of the day, using unmixed colors and freer brushwork.

Kientz says it’s no coincidence that Sorolla’s seascape paintings were selected to exhibit in Florida, where the coastal landscape mimics Sorolla’s own shoreline scenes of Valencia, Spain.

“Sorolla is one of my favorite artists and I hope he becomes a favorite of our visitors as well,” says Norton CEO Ghislain d’Humières.

By Bill Meredith ArtsPaper Music Writer

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be drummers in South Florida.

Miami-born Jonathan Joseph has toured and recorded with vocalists Ricky Martin and Joss Stone — two pop artists with oversized name recognition — but even that hasn’t made him a comparable star despite his own oversized technique, taste, and speed around the drum kit.

The 58-year-old Port St. Lucie resident has also worked with rock, jazz and fusion names like Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn, Richard Bona, Martin Barre, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Betty Wright, Nestor

Torres, and the Yellowjackets.

Trained by the incomparable Steve Rucker at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the drummer has talent comparable to that of current percussive icons such as Vinnie Colaiuta, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, and Omar Hakim.

And although his home base being in South Florida means he’s seen and heard less than his peers, Joseph’s every new project could shine more light on his world-class dexterity — like his latest venture, the Beast Mode Trio (beastmodetrio.com), with keyboardist Tal Cohen and bassist Armando Gola.

The group has a forthcoming self-titled debut album that’s being mixed and mastered by Gola, and appears at Crazy

Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton on Jan. 12.

“It’s mostly originals, written by all of us, with a few cover songs,” Joseph says. “Like ‘My Favorite Things’ by Rodgers and Hammerstein; ‘Lonnie’s Lament’ by John Coltrane, and ‘Yesterdays’ by Jerome Kern, which we play in a 7/8 time signature. They all have our unique rhythmic approach.”

Grammy Award winners all, the members of the Beast Mode Trio are also akin to a musical United Nations (fittingly touring to play the Thailand International Jazz Conference on Jan. 24). The Australiaborn Cohen’s credits include Terence Blanchard, Joe Lovano, and Greg Osby; the Cuban Gola’s include Arturo Sandoval,

‘The Dresser,’ dusted off, still fits at Dramaworks

By Hap Erstein ArtsPaper Theater Writer

Twenty-one years ago, Palm Beach Dramaworks was a fledgling troupe trying to gain an audience and critical attention in the county’s crowded cultural scene. As its co-founder and current producing artistic director William Hayes recalls, the company turned a corner toward those goals by mounting Ronald Harwood’s World War II backstage tale, The Dresser, is which Hayes appeared in the title role.

“That was really our first play that started to draw an audience, and we extended it,” Hayes remembers. “We had had some missteps along the way, and we said, ‘OK, we’re going to give this one all we got.’ We had a little postage stamp-size stage. Although it’s got a large cast I thought the intimate nature of the piece was really suited to our space. You really felt like you were in the dressing room with these guys. But it really stretched us to the limits.”

Over the years, theatergoers kept asking Hayes whether Dramaworks was ever going to revive The Dresser. In its current much larger playhouse, he felt the theater could do the work greater justice, so he added it to the 20th anniversary lineup in 2020. But that put the play on a collision course with the pandemic and its canceled season. Add in a few years of recovery, and Hayes rescheduled the play for PBD’s 25th anniversary season, Dec. 20-Jan. 5.

Hayes returns to the stage as Norman, the all-around factotum to the British touring company’s leading player and business manager Sir, played by Dramaworks veteran Colin McPhillamy.

“I’ve worked with Colin now for well over 10 years,” says J. Barry Lewis, who directs this production. “The diversity of his library of work is extraordinary. It was ‘Of course we want Colin to play this role.’ It just seemed to be the perfect fit.”

Playwright Harwood (19342020), whose bio includes such stage scripts as Taking Sides, Quartet and the Oscar-winning screenplay for The Pianist, spent most of the 1950s as personal assistant to the renowned Sir

Boats on the Beach, Malagua is one of 40-plus works by Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida on display at the Norton Museum of Art, on loan from the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in New York City. Photo provided

The Beast Mode Trio consists of keyboardist Tal Cohen, bassist Armando Gola and drummer Jonathan Joseph Photo provided

See SOROLLA on AT10 Music

Hayes

SOROLLA

Continued from page 9

“My vision is that Sorolla’s landscapes, seascapes, portraits and depictions of the people of Spain will inspire visitors to explore European masterworks from his contemporaries and influences in the Norton’s collection.”

The exhibit is divided into five sections: Life and Work, Beach Scenes, the Vision of Spain, the Fisherman’s Life and Plein-Air, which shows work the artist did outdoors, including a portrait of Louis Comfort Tiffany, painted in 1911.

Of particular note is Sorolla’s 1903 Beaching the Boat, one of the most important paintings of Spanish impressionism, on a long-term loan from the HSM&L to the Norton Museum.

The painting captures the evening light and the tradition of Spanish fishermen using teams of oxen to beach their boats at the end of each day.

Kientz explains its significance this way: “The painting is of importance, not only because of its scale, but because paintings of that dimensions were traditionally about the lives and feats of the powerful and the wealthy.

“In Beaching the Boat, Sorolla makes the fishermen the heroes of the story,” he says. “He pays homage to their hard work, the nobility of their activities, critical to the community (feeding the city’s residents), in a lyrical symphony of colors, light

If You Go

Sorolla and the Sea runs through April 13 at the Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Info: 561-832-5196; www.norton.org

and sea waves.”

The two exhibits mark a significant achievement for the HSM&L and the opportunity for the viewing public to see these rare works and signifiers of Spain’s Golden Age up close and personal.

Kientz says it’s also the first time the Norton has partnered with the Boca Raton Museum of Art in a joint venture.

“We’re thrilled to have facilitated these two exhibits,” he says. “South Florida has never received so many big names from the Spanish school at the same time.

“I hope people will come out and take advantage of these rarely seen masterpieces by some of Spain’s most renowned painters,” Kientz says.

As South Florida has become a global art destination, and a mecca for Latin American art and artists, Kientz believes these exhibits will speak to viewers.

“There is an appetite for art in Florida and it’s serendipity that this exhibit and the Sorolla and the Sea exhibit at the Norton Museum of Art, also part of the HSM&L collection, came about at the same time,” says Kientz.

After the Bath, by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Photo provided

Boca History Museum celebrates life, vision of Addison Mizner

By Jan Engoren Contributing Writer

A new exhibit at the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum coincides with the city of Boca Raton’s centennial and looks back on the continuing impact of city planner, industrialist and architect Addison Mizner.

The multimedia exhibit, Boca Raton 1925-2025:

Addison Mizner’s Legacy, features artifacts, photographs, drawings, maps and videos, and runs through May 30.

It highlights the city’s past century of development — from its beginnings as a rural agriculture stop on Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, to a wealthy enclave and resort destination, due in large part to the architectural philosophy and vision of Mizner.

“Contemplating the previous decades of progress gives us the foundation, perspective, and inspiration to make the next century even greater than Addison Mizner could have ever imagined,” says Mary Csar, executive director of the Boca Raton Historical Society.

Along with the museum’s curator, Susan Gillis, the exhibit was guest curated by architectural historian and photographer Augustus Mayhew, author of Addison

Mizner: A Palm Beach Memoir

As a young man, Mizner traveled extensively in Spain, Mexico and Central America, visiting Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and was influenced by the architectural styles he saw there.

“I have based my design largely on the old architecture of Spain — with important modifications and to meet Florida conditions,” he said at the time.

His vision for both Palm Beach and Boca Raton included a city inspired by the style of Old World Spanish or Italian towns — Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles — but with modern conveniences such as plumbing, roads and electricity.

According to Gillis, Mizner would fly potential investors down from Palm Beach to Boca Raton in a seaplane.

The Historical Society archives contain hundreds of Mizner’s full-page newspaper ads from all over the country proclaiming of Boca, “Where promises are as good as the God-given soil.”

“Nobody did PR better than Addison Mizner,” says Gillis, noting that Mizner, the bestknown American architect of his era, was “incredibly ambitious.”

Mizner’s first Florida building in 1918 — now the Everglades Club — revolutionized Palm Beach, which had wooden homes mostly in the style of the Northeast. The club had a

If You Go

Boca Raton 1925-2025:

Addison Mizner’s Legacy is on view at the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, through May 30.

Admission: $12 adults, $8 seniors and students Info: 561-395-6766; www. BocaHistory.org

An ionic capital manufactured by Mizner Industries. Photo provided

signature pink stucco, arched arcades, ornate wrought-iron balconies and terra-cotta tile roofs, which he himself manufactured at Mizner Industries on Bunker Road in West Palm Beach. The company also manufactured pottery, furniture, wicker, millwork, hardware and stained glass windows and doors.

From 1919 to 1924, Mizner designed about 38 houses in Palm Beach, as well as homes in Boca in the Old Floresta and Spanish Village neighborhoods and even the City Hall building, which now houses the Boca Raton History Museum.

The Addison, built in 1925, and now an event space on East Camino Real, was Mizner’s headquarters. According to

Gillis, Mizner had an apartment on the second floor, a space now used for storage.

“I never begin to design a home without first imagining some sort of romance about it. Once I have my story, then the plans take place easily,” he said.

The centerpiece of the Boca exhibit is Mizner’s famed 1925 Mediterranean Revival-style Cloister Inn, now The Boca Raton. His signature details are evident in the resort’s red tile roofs, stucco exterior, lush, tropical landscaping, ornate lobbies and open air spaces as well as its opulent décor, some of which he manufactured himself.

On display at the museum are interior décor and vases and Ali Baba jars with his signature “Mizner blue” glaze and samples of tiles fabricated in his Las Manos Pottery company.

Also showcased are Miznerdesigned architectural elements such as Corinthian column artifacts, cast-stone elements, mantels, decorative accessories and furnishings on loan from the Frederick Herpel Collection.

What does Gillis think Mizner would think of Boca Raton now?

“He’d absolutely love it,” she says. “His architectural style still has influence today and, not just the style, but his glorious dream.”

BEAST MODE

Continued from page 9

Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Eldar Djangirov, plus his own celebrity vocalist association in Jennifer Lopez. But the trio’s chemistry stems from years of previous instrumental gigs, jams, and recording sessions.

“The first time I played with Tal was a jam session at Churchill’s Pub,” Gola says, “the oldest bar in Miami. We also used to play at a jazz club there called Le Chat Noir. And Jonathan and I have done many years of recordings and concerts with different bands, including Weather Underground.”

Joseph’s drumming is in the league of hummingbird-like speed kings who attract eyes and ears by nature.

Yet Joseph, Cohen and Gola all understand that surplus technique and beastly chops are necessary only when they suit particular pieces of music.

The drummer’s work with the Zawinul Syndicate, Austrian keyboard legend Joe Zawinul’s offshoot group from Weather

Report, taught him lessons in non-clave-based rhythms and world music. And Joseph’s 2015 instructional book, Exercises in African-American Funk (Hudson Music), written with the Frost’s Rucker, illustrates the fusing of Cameroonian rhythms into contemporary music that his playing with the gifted Cameroon-born bassist Richard Bona inspired.

“Richard probably had more impact on me than any other artist I’ve worked with,” Joseph says, “and Armando is probably one of the only other musicians I know who could help create the rhythms we come up with.

Tal, who’s a tremendous upand-coming talent, has been

Drummer

Jonathan Joseph has had a varied and impressive career. His newest venture is a jazz-fusion trio.

Photo provided

If You Go

The Beast Mode Trio performs at Crazy Uncle Mike’s, 6450 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.

When: 7 p.m. Jan. 12

Tickets: $25-$245

Info: 561-931-2889; crazyunclemikes.com

fascinated with those rhythms since we first crossed paths. He plays mostly acoustic piano, with occasional Fender Rhodes electric piano figures.”

The Beast Mode Trio features the perfect foils for Joseph, and not just because all are deserving of wider recognition. Cohen seamlessly blends his knack for Middle Eastern melody with traditional jazz harmony, and his rhythmic prowess perfectly suits the propulsive rhythm section. Gola sports a deep, massive tone on electric bass, and an ability to match Joseph on everything from stately ballads and jazz standards to complex shell-game rhythmic patterns on original fusion compositions.

Both Cohen and Gola reside in Joseph’s hometown of Miami, and the drummer has indeed ventured elsewhere during his career of star associations.

Many of the jazz/fusion artists he worked with came during the late 1990s, when he lived in and around New York City. Joseph met British singer Joss Stone in the early 2000s; married her mother, and started splitting time between the United States and England.

Joseph’s move to Port St. Lucie was for reasons nonmusical.

“In 2016, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer,” he says. “The surgeon that my urologist recommended was based in Celebration, near Orlando. So I sold my townhouse in Boca Raton and moved further north. I had surgery in 2017 after my last tour with Jeff (Beck), plus a tour with Jethro Tull’s former guitarist, Martin Barre. Those were both great distractions, and I’ve been cancer-free for more than seven years since.”

The Beast Mode Trio took shape after he recovered, providing incentive for the seemingly ageless drummer to break new ground with Cohen and Gola, musicians a generation or more younger.

On the trio’s album and at its upcoming performance, listeners can expect the unexpected in cuts like Joseph’s composition “Binda.”

Few other than Weather Report have ever created a jazz/fusion beast this heavy — especially, and similarly, with no guitarist required.

THE DRESSER

Continued from page 9

Donald Wolfit (1902-1968), whose symbiotic relationship inspired The Dresser. In the play, the aging, weary Sir must be cajoled by Norman to persevere through a performance of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy King Lear

At its core, The Dresser is a love story — the unrequited love of Norman for Sir. And it is a valentine to theater itself. “I always find people have long had a fascination with that backstage world,” says Lewis.

“We in the audience usually only see the results, that final glitz, the glamour. Well, here it’s just the opposite. So we’re looking at the struggle, the challenge of what it is to maintain and survive.

“Two words in the text keep popping out at me, ‘struggle’ and ‘survival,’ which is in essence the life of any theater. So we are opening up the backstage world to our audiences.”

In addition to the two juicy leading roles — in a cast of 10 — The Dresser has a thoughtprovoking text, a classic Dramaworks play that adheres to its mission statement of “theater to think about.”

“I think it has a lot of dimensions about the backstage world and how it functions. But it’s also about coming to a point in one’s life where you have to make amends and come to terms with the past,” offers Lewis. “And that is a very powerful story, a storyline that needs thought. It’s more than just an entertainment piece, because it deals with the issue of what your life has amounted to.”

The play’s life-or-death theme is heightened by the ever-present awareness of wartime. “What is very important, almost like an unspoken character, is that it is taking place during World War II. There were bombings on a daily basis, and the potential for loss of life was evident,” Lewis adds.

“And because of that, the play deals with end of life. It asks us to sort of look back and try to analyze whether we have made a difference, has my life meant something.”

McPhillamy has long been an admirer of The Dresser and its high-stakes setting.

“I suppose it’s just such a brilliant portrait of what live theater is, against all odds,” he says. “I mean we’re seldom in a situation quite as extreme as that — in wartime — but sometimes you can really be up against it.”

He had been talking for years to Hayes about doing The Dresser and recalls that he was interested from the first mention of the play. “I didn’t have to think about it. He said The Dresser? And I went, ‘Yes,’” McPhillamy explains.

“Could I do it? I didn’t know, but there’s only one way to find

If You Go

The Dresser runs through Jan. 5 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Tickets: $72-$107 Info: 561-514-4042; www. palmbeachdramaworks.org

out.”

Sir and his troupe are traveling the provinces of England with a rotating repertoire of Shakespeare plays. And it is no accident that Harwood has them performing King Lear this particular night, for there are substantial parallels between Sir and Norman and Lear and his Fool.

“[Sir] has an enormous ego, he’s bombastic, he’s selfobsessed, he’s a bit of a ham and a hugely talented Shakespearean actor,” says McPhillamy of the role he plays. “It’s not King Lear, but it’s King Lear-adjacent. So it’s a great opportunity to have fun with that character. He’s a lovable monster, if you like. But he’s also in a moment of great crisis.”

Asked about the challenges the role presents him with, McPhillamy responds, “Well, it’s quite demanding technically. Costume, makeup, there’s a lot of all of that. There’s not a lot of time to prepare so you’ve got to be in the moment. You’ve got to stay present the whole time. Because you’re playing someone who isn’t present. There’s a contradiction there.”

Hayes fully expects that this return to the role of Norman after two decades will result in a more meaningful performance on his part.

“With 20 added years of life experience, I feel I understand the character more,” he says. “There were just some things that I was missing in the earlier version. Hopefully I can now bring it more depth.” He concedes with a tiny chuckle that he can be his harshest critic. “I’m one of those actors who thinks there’s always room for improvement. But I guess people were responding to that production, so there must have been something right about it, on the surface anyway.”

So even if you were around in 2003 and saw The Dresser at Dramaworks back then, Lewis feels certain you will want to see it again now. “For any play we see over again, it’s because it speaks to us personally. It’s like visiting an old friend. And hopefully, if you’re seeing it for the seventh time, you’ll see something new in it.”

“Oh, it’s a great play,” chimes in McPhillamy. “You can see great plays more than once, can’t you? It’s got it all. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you really wonder why.

“You’ll be entertained, but more than that you’ll get an insight as to why we need theater as much as we need law or medicine and engineering.”

‘The Dresser’ truly impresses in a power-suited return at Dramaworks

By Hap Erstein ArtsPaper Theater Writer

Theater audiences are often intrigued by the intricacies of backstage life, and particularly the larger-than-life personalities who have devoted their careers to an unglamorous existence on the road.

So there is little wonder that Ronald Harwood’s 1980 drama The Dresser has been met with success on both sides of the pond, with several major revivals and a couple of filmed adaptations of the story of a symbiotic relationship between a once-great, now gone-to-seed Shakespearean actor-manager known only as Sir and his slavishly devoted companion and factotum, Norman.

The play has long been a favorite of Palm Beach Dramaworks’ producing artistic director William Hayes, so much so that he took on the role of Norman in the company’s fourth season and revives it now, returning in the title role.

While Sir and Norman are fictional characters, they are recognizably based on Sir Donald Wolfit, an incorrigibly difficult stage actor who headed a classical touring troupe in England during the 1940s and ’50s, and Harwood himself, who served as Wolfit’s dresser during that latter decade.

The Dresser is set somewhere in the English provinces in war-torn 1942 and, indeed, the first sound we hear in director J. Barry Lewis’s meticulously detailed production is an air raid siren that threatens to cancel Sir’s 227th rendering of King Lear. You would

think he would have the role down cold by now, but perhaps struggling with dementia, panicky Sir is trying to recall his opening lines — much to Norman’s chagrin — and is virtually catatonic, unable to make his first entrance.

In many ways, The Dresser is a valentine to the theater and to those who trod the boards many years ago, but Harwood is also after something deeper and more personal. For in addition to the history lesson, it is a touching tale of unrequited love.

Despite his name, Sir is as far away from knighthood as his seedy troupe is from London’s West End. Nevertheless, there is greatness in Colin McPhillamy’s performance as the mountainous,

egotistical tragedian facing life’s endgame. As befits the character, most of his lines are bellowed in capital letters, for Sir is always consciously acting, offstage as well as on. The actors and crew in his orbit have both fear and affection for him, dependent as they are on his ability to keep the company intact and solvent.

No one is more aware and on the receiving end of Sir’s mood swings than Norman, his devoted assistant who has accepted his lot in life, living in Sir’s shadow. In a similar way, Hayes spends much of the evening deferring to McPhillamy, but he comes on strong late in the play as Norman is forced to face how little his love and respect for

Sir are reciprocated. Hayes low-keys the prissy mannerisms that are often used to convey the character’s sexual orientation while leaving no doubt that he is gay.

The Dresser is essentially a twohander, though Harwood gave himself the luxury of a 10-member cast, some of whom are mere background extras. Standouts include Denise Cormier as Sir’s long-suffering wife, Her Ladyship, and Elizabeth Dimon as Madge, the company’s stage manager. Among the indignities Cormier has to suffer are being assigned to play Lear’s daughter Cordelia. Dimon, reprising a character she played 21 years ago, aptly projects a scolding admiration for Sir.

Dramaworks’ earlier production was in a more intimate — as in cramped — venue. While that sense of claustrophobia had its advantages, money and space now allow the company the breathing room of Anne Mundell’s scenic design, a wellappointed if shabby dressing space and a cleverly placed side area representing the stage wing. There, the actors huddle and double as the sound crew,. Veteran costumer Brian O’Keefe must have had fun assembling the theatrical wardrobe for the cast, as well as Sir’s dingy gray union suit underwear.

In recent years, Dramaworks has been placing an emphasis on producing new works. While that is an admirable goal, it is currently demonstrating the value of also reaching back in this 25th anniversary season and reviving cherished productions from its past.

Whether you saw PBD’s The Dresser 21 years ago or not, see it now.

From left: Dennis Creaghan, William Hayes, Denise Cormier, David Hyland, Kelly Gibson and Collin McPhillamy in ‘The Dresser.’ Photo by Curtis Brown Photography

Editor’s note: Events listed through Feb. 1, 2025, were current as of Dec. 27. Check with the presenting agency for any changes. Ticket prices are single sales unless otherwise specified.

ART

Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens: Through Jan. 26: Slim Aarons: Gold Coast $15; $10

seniors. 253 Barcelona Road, West Palm Beach. 10 am-4 pm W-Sun. 561-832-5328. Info@ ansg.org

Armory Art Center: Free. 811 Park Place, West Palm Beach. 9 am-5 pm M-F, 9 am-noon Sat. 561-832-1776 or armoryart.org

Boca Raton Museum of Art: Through March

30: Splendor and Passion: Baroque Spain and its Empire; Félix de la Concha; through Feb. 23: Julie

Evans: Eating Sunshine. $16; $12 seniors 501 Plaza Real (Mizner Park), Boca Raton. 11 am-6 pm W, F, Sat, Sun; 11 am-8 pm Th. 561-3922500, bocamuseum.org

Cornell Art Museum: Through January: Nature’s Palette: Art Inspired by the Earth; through February: Hot Glass Free. Noon-5 pm W, Sun, noon-7 pm Th, F; 10 am-5 pm Sat. 561243-7922 or oldschoolsquare.org

Cultural Council for Palm Beach County: Through Jan. 18: Quintessentially We. Free. 601 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach. Noon-5 pm T-F. 561-471-2901, palmbeachculture.com/ exhibitions

Flagler Museum: Opens Jan. 21: The Ethereal Worlds of Maxfield Parrish. Through April 20. $28; $14 ages 6-12. 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach. 10 am-5 pm M-Sat, noon-5 pm Sun. 561655-2833, www.flaglermuseum.us

Lighthouse ArtCenter: Opens Jan. 16: Brainz

’N Boltz : Works by the` New York-based artist

Tyler K. Smith, featuring a world of machines and fantasy creatures. Through Feb. 22. $5 nonmembers. 9 am-5 pm M-Th; 9 am-4 pm F; 10 am-4 pm Sat. 561-746-3101, lighthousearts.org

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens: Through Feb. 16: Time Flows Like Water: Works by Masumi Sakagami $15; $13 seniors; $9 children; free for members, ages 5 and under. 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach. 10 am-5 pm T-Sun. 561-495-0233, morikami.org

Norton Museum of Art: Through March 9: Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing; through Jan. 19: Dragons: Commanders of Rain $18 adults; $15 seniors; $5 students; free for ages 12 and under, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. 10 am-5 pm, M, T, Th, Sat; 10 am-10 pm F; 11 am-5 pm Sun. 561-832-5196, www.norton.org Society of the Four Arts: Through Jan. 19: Past Forward: Native American Art from the Gilcrease Museum 100 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach. 10 am-3 pm M-F. 561-655-7226, fourarts.org

CLASSICAL

Sunday, Jan. 5

Renée Fleming: The legendary American soprano performs a recital based on her 2023 album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, featuring a collection of songs, some of the newly commissioned, that reflect on mankind’s destruction of his natural environment. The recital is accompanied by a film from the National Geographic Society. 2 pm, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. $40-$125. 561-8327469; kravis.org

Thursday, Jan. 9

Charles Yang and Peter Dugan: The violinist and the pianist offer a different take

Continued on the next page

on chamber music with their arrangements of songs such as “Blackbird” and “House of the Rising Sun.” A Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach concert at Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. 7:30 p.m. $25. cmspb.org; 561-379-6773.

Saturday, Jan. 11

Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach: The first four young musicians in the society’s new Rising Stars program, a string quartet is composed of violinists Angela Chan and Matthew Hakkarainen, violist Brian Isaacs and cellist Sara Scanlon. The program includes string trios by Haydn and the Holocaust victim Hans Krása, a string quartet by Mozart and the String Sextet No. 2 by Brahms, in which the four will be joined by CMSPB artistic director Arnaud Sussmann and cellist Edward Arron. 7 pm, Kravis Center. $35. 561-832-7469; kravis.org.

Sunday, Jan. 12

The Symphonia: Guitarist Jason Vieaux joins the orchestra, led by former Florida Philharmonic conductor James Judd, in the Guitar Concerto by contemporary Mexican composer Samuel Zyman. Opening the concert is Souvenirs, by West Palm Beach native Richard Danielpour; closing is Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. 3 pm, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. $55$90. thesymphonia.org

Society of the Four Arts: Artistic adviser Wu Han launches a three-concert series examining the music of Felix Mendelssohn. The pianist is accompanied by her husband, cellist David Finckel, in the composer’s Cello Sonata, while violinist Julian Rhee performs an early violin sonata before joining in the Piano Trio No. 2. 3 pm 102 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach. $40. 561655-7226; fourarts.org.

Monday, Jan. 13

Palm Beach Symphony: French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins Gerard Schwarz and the band for the Piano Concerto in G of Maurice Ravel on a program that also includes Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral and the Sixth Symphony of Tchaikovsky. 7:30 p.m., Kravis Center. $25-$95. 561-832-7469; kravis.org

Wednesday, Jan. 15

Society of the Four Arts: The second concert in the Mendelssohn Festival includes Songs Without Words, as well as the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings. 7:30 pm. $40. 561655-7226; fourarts.org

Thursday, Jan. 16

Seraphic Fire: The Miami-based choir pays tribute to the Capilla Flamenca of the 16thcentury Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Guest conductor Amanda Quist leads the choir in music by a host of Renaissance greats including Heinrich Isaac, Jacobus Clemens non Papa, Pierre de la Rue, Adrian Willaert and Josquin des Prez. 7:30 pm, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. $45$65. 305-285-9060; seraphicfire.org.

Friday, Jan. 17

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Conductor Riccardo Muti leads two canonic symphonies: Schubert’s Eighth (Unfinished ) and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth. 7:30 p.m., Kravis Center. $40-$150. 561-832-7469; kravis.org

Saturday, Jan. 18-Sunday, Jan. 19

Master Chorale of South Florida: The Fort Lauderdale-based chorus joins the New World Symphony in a program titled Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances that includes Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw. At the New World Center, 500 17th St, Miami Beach. 7:30 pm Sat, 2 pm Sun. masterchoraleofsouthfloirda.org

Sunday, Jan. 19

Society of the Four Arts: The Mendelssohn Festival closes with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center performing Mendelssohn’s early Piano Quartet and his beloved Octet for Strings. Also included are four-hand piano performances of music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as the virtuosic Allegro brillant. 3 pm, Society of the Four Arts. $40. 561-655-7226; fourarts.org

Wednesday, Jan. 22

Lysander Piano Trio: The young piano trio, founded at the Juilliard School in 2010, performs for the first concert of the Duncan Theatre’s Classical Café Series. 2 pm, Stage West, Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth Beach. $35. 561-868-3309 or palmbeachstate.edu

Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach: Eight top-ranking violinists take the stage at the Norton Museum of Art for a celebration of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (in its tricentenary year), Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, and American composer Andrew Norman’s Gran Turismo. Violinists are James Ehnes, Chad Hoopes, Tessa Lark, Karen Gomyo, Yura Lee, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Andrew Wan and Arnaud Sussmann. 7 pm, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. $75. cmspb.org; 561-379-6773

Amaryn Olmeda: The young Boston-born violinist and winner of the Sphinx Competition gives a recital as part of the Young Artists Classical Series at the Kravis Center. 7:30 pm, Rinker Playhouse. $40. 561-832-7469; kravis.org

Sunday, Jan. 26

Stephen Hough: The great British pianist gives a recital at the Society of the Four Arts that includes two sonatas in B minor: the third piano sonata by Chopin, and the epic sonata by Franz Liszt. He’ll also play pieces by the Frenchwoman Cécile Chaminade, who in the early 20 th century was so popular among American women that they founded Chaminade Clubs in her honor. 3 pm. $40. 561655-7226; fourarts.org

Monday, Jan. 27

Cleveland Orchestra: The young Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji solos joins Singaporean conductor Kahchun Wong and the Clevelanders in the Beethoven Violin Concerto. 7:30 p.m., Kravis Center. $40-$150. 561-832-7469; kravis. org

DANCE

Friday, Jan. 17-Saturday, Jan. 18

Parsons Dance: David Parsons’s legendary New York-based contemporary dance company is now in its 40 th season. They lead off the Duncan Theatre’s Friday and Saturday Modern Dance Series. 8 pm both shows, Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth Beach. $45. 561-868-3309; palmbeachstate. edu.

Friday, Jan. 31-Saturday, Feb. 1

Pilobolus: The great body-bending company is on tour with re:Creation, a mix of Pilobolus classics and new collaborations. 8 pm both shows, Duncan Theatre. $45. 561-868-3309 or palmbeachstate.edu.

Saturday, Jan. 4

JAZZ

Gafieria Rio Miami: The Brazilian big band has just released a new recording, Live at the Back Room Sessions. 8 pm, Arts Garage, 94 NE

2nd Ave., Delray Beach. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Wednesday, Jan. 8

Shelly Berg Trio: The jazz pianist and dean of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music is joined by bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and drummer Dafnis Prieto in music from Berg’s latest recording, Alegria! 7:45 pm, Amaturo Theatre, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets start at $65. Visit browardcenter.org or goldcoastjazz.org.

Friday, Jan. 10

Emilie-Claire Barlow: The much-admired Canadian jazz singer and composer gives an intimate concert with her trio, guitarist Reg Schrager and bassist Jon Maharaj. 8 pm, Arts Garage. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Sunday, Jan. 19

Joshua Espinoza Trio: The pianist and Peabody Conservatory faculty member is joined by bassist Kris Monson and drummer Jaron Lamar Davis in jazz readings of songs by the Beatles, Billy Joel and Leonard Cohen. 7 pm, Arts Garage. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Sunday, Jan. 26

John Pizzarelli Trio: The guitarist, singer and master of the Great American Songbook plays two shows at Delray Beach’s Arts Garage with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karn. Pizzarelli is touring in support of his 2023 album Stage and Screen, featuring classic songs from Broadway and Hollywood. 5:30 pm and 8 pm. $70-$75. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

OPERA

Friday, Jan. 24-Sunday, Jan. 26

Roméo et Juliette: Palm Beach Opera opens its new season with Charles Gounod’s 1867

retelling of the classic Shakespeare story of Verona’s star-crossed lovers. The Chinese tenor Long Long is Romeo opposite the Egyptian soprano Amina Edris (Jan. 24 and 26); two Americans, tenor Eric Taylor and soprano Lydia Grindatto, sing the roles on Jan. 25. Tara Faircloth directs the action, while conductor David Stern leads the orchestra and singers. 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday at the Kravis Center. $35-$275. 561-832-7469 or kravis.org

POPULAR MUSIC

Sunday, Jan. 12

Styx: The Chicago sextet founded in the early 1970s has a sizable catalog of hits that were heard everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s (“Come Sail Away,” “Babe,” “Too Much Time on My Hands”). The Canadian pop rockers Loverboy are the concert openers. 8 pm, Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. $55-$155. Visit ticketmaster.com.

Friday, Jan. 17

Billy Joel: Now mostly living in South Florida, the Piano Man ostensibly retired a few years ago but keeps coming back to his loyal, vast fan base. 8 pm, Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Tickets range from $105 to $605, but few remained in late December; those that did were going for prices as high as $3,500. Visit ticketmaster.com.

THEATER

Through Jan. 5

The Dresser: Ronald Harwood’s 1980 tragicomic play about an aging Shakespearean actor who insists on touring during World War II, and his devoted dresser. At Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. $92. 561-514-4042 or

palmbeachdramaworks.org

Opens Tuesday, Jan. 7

Frozen: The Broadway version of one of Disney’s most popular films, with a score by Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez. Through Jan. 26 at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. $74-$140. 561-5752223 or jupitertheatre.org.

Opens Thursday, Jan. 16

Beautiful: The 2013 jukebox musical featuring that tells the early life story of songwriter Carole King, with songs by King and others in the 1960s and 1970s. Starring Monet Sabel. Through Feb. 16. $119. Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. thewick.org Friday, Jan. 17-Sunday, Jan. 19

Perlberg Festival of New Plays: A threeday festival of five new plays at Palm Beach Dramaworks, read by veteran actors with input from the audience. 3 pm and 7:30 pm Fr and Sat, 3 pm Sun. Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. $30; $100 all five readings. 561-514-4042 or palmbeachdramaworks.org.

Opens Friday, Jan. 17

The Sound of Music: The revered 1959 musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Through Feb. 2 at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach. lakeworthplayhouse.org or 561-568-6410. Opens Friday, Jan. 31

Escape to Margaritaville: The 2017 jukebox musical featuring songs by the late Jimmy Buffett. The book tells the story of a bartender and singer who falls in love with a tourist. Through Feb. 23 at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9 th St., Delray Beach. $45 and up. 561272-1281 or delraybeachplayhouse.com

Finding Faith

How Recovery Church works in Delray

Some people call it Drunk Church. Or Addiction Church.

Whatever the name, the Recovery Church Movement is saving the lives of addicts and alcoholics one soul at a time.

Recovery churches hold worship services that incorporate Jesus Christ into the familiar 12-step recovery program with great success.

Recovery Church was imagined in Lake Worth in 2010 by Philip Dvorak, a Palm Beach Atlantic University graduate, and a few other men and women who recognized the need for a church where alcoholics and addicts in any stage of recovery could continue their walk with Christ without fear of being judged. Its tagline explains it: “A Church Created BY the Recovery Community FOR the Recovery Community.” And

as Dvorak has said, “They can belong before they believe and before they behave.”

Delray Beach’s first Recovery Church, which meets on Mondays at Trinity Lutheran Church on North Swinton Avenue, maxed out with more than 300 people showing up some weeks for Christian worship. So Pastor David Schmidt at Cason United Methodist Church, just across the road from Trinity, opened his church to the movement on Thursday nights at 7.

Mitch Thompson from the Recovery Church Movement has overseen the opening of Recovery Church Delray 2.

Thompson’s official title is “Discipleship and Operations Pastor,” which means he’s active in all aspects of running a Recovery Church and spends his time fine-tuning the churches

and the 20-step process for opening a new church. The system provides all the support a new church could want. Over several months, church leaders like Thompson, Jeff Waycott and Dave Wise travel to the sites to train new worship leaders in the ways of the RCM.

In December, the RCM opened its 85th church with plans to open at least five more in the coming months.

As anyone familiar with the 12-step method of treating alcoholism knows, the first step is for addicts to acknowledge their lives are broken. (“I admitted I was powerless over alcohol that my life had become unmanageable.”)

But the second step delivers hope. (“I came to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.”) And the third step is to surrender to that power. (“I made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood him.”)

Many people find comfort in the ambiguity of a “higher power” and one that accepts “God as I understood him.”

This opens the door for people of all faiths — and those without any faith at all — to work the 12 steps. For those with a Christian background, the unaffiliated Recovery Church provides a way to ease back into building a more intimate relationship with God.

But Recovery Church doesn’t just minister to addicts living in sober houses or on the street. The leaders do what Thompson calls “the H&I tour” — the hospitals and institutions tour — where they bring church into the facilities where the sickest are suffering. “We’re very much connected to the recovery community,” Thompson said. And RCM has certain expectations.

“One of the key components or requirements is that the individual be of service to others. It’s fundamental to us,” Thompson said. Parishioners are expected to volunteer to help in any way they can. It may be something small at first, but in most cases, they want to give back, Thompson said. “Addicts tend to be selfish people and it’s important that they grow and look outside themselves. The root of service is spiritual.”

It’s a way of saying thank you for the grace that they’ve been given, because it’s by the grace of others that Recovery Churches exist. Most of their money comes from donors and fundraisers. It takes from three to six months and $10,000 minimum to open a new church, Thompson said. “In every location, we take care of all the set-up costs and training of the people.”

Thompson said that the demand for Recovery Churches keeps growing, so 2025 shows no sign of slowing down. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a testament

to the success of the church. The attendance, which sometimes tops that of “normal” church, is proof there’s a need.

It’s easy to get burned out, and even with God’s support, Thompson, a married father of two kids ages 3 and 8, said he’s careful to take time out for selfcare. “I have a mentor I meet with who helps me, and I guard my evenings and weekends closely. Family and balance come first,” he said.

Inside a church service

The service at the new church in Delray Beach kicked off on time, right at 7 p.m., with about 50 people scattered on hard, slippery wooden seats. But right from the start you knew the acoustics were first-class.

Worship leader Kermit Kruger welcomed everyone. He called out his team of prayer warriors and invited anyone present to come up to receive a “surrender cross.” These crosses represent the start of one’s journey walking and working the steps at Recovery Church. They are a bit like the AA chips that people in recovery receive. Parishioners earn crosses of different colors for the time they’ve spent on the path.

The music portion was first. Singers Stacy Hinz and Bobby Cumming took the stage to perform Brandon Lake’s “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” a heartbreaker of a song. The words to the songs are displayed on a huge video screen, karaoke style, so that you can sing along and don’t need to remember all the words.

The duo followed that with the stirring song “I Speak Jesus,” written by Jesse Reeves, Abby Benton, Carlene Prince, Dustin Smith, Raina Pratt and Kristen Dutton.

With lyrics like “I just want to speak the name of Jesus/ ’Til every dark addiction starts to break/ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom/ I speak

ABOVE: (l-r) Mitch Thompson, campus leader, Jeff Waycott, lay leader, and Dave Wise, servant leader, all serve Recovery Church, which last month opened its 85th location.

LEFT: Waycott carves these crosses that can go to parishioners on recovery journeys. Photos provided

Jesus,” the song touches many hearts. Hands go up in praise all over the venue as people at various points in their sobriety journeys pass healing energy back and forth. The duo finished with a lovely rendition of the classic Christmas hymn “O Holy Night.”

Kruger returned to the stage with a few messages of his own before introducing the guest speakers. He impressed upon the audience that when we don’t want to do something (like go to church), that’s the time to do it. He said that what spinach is to Popeye, Jesus is to him. And most touching, he admitted, “I finally found the high I’ve been searching for my whole life.” Then he turned the stage over to Will and Jose, the guest preachers for the night.

The duo testified about their recent experiences spreading the Recovery Church message. Pastor Will told a story about a woman with a withered hand and asked the congregants, “Without Jesus, where is your hope?”

Then speaker Jose turned up the volume and told his story, which had themes including “God loves a grateful heart,” “keep on praising” and “God doesn’t change.” He reminded his audience that we have “a big God for our little problems.”

As the show ended, audience members were invited forward for a meet-and-greet and prayer session, and when they began putting chairs up on tables an hour later, prayers were still going on.

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@ outlook.com

Cason United Methodist kids will be learning with Legos

You can’t build Rome in a day, but you can build the Old City of Jerusalem, if you have help and you use Legos.

Architect Stephen Schwartz brings one of his projects — using Legos to build a 20-foot-by-20-foot depiction of the Old City of Jerusalem — to Cason United Methodist Church on Jan. 25, and you are invited to help.

“This program is not just for kids,” said Emily Popolizio, the church’s director of family ministries. “It’s meant to be interfaith and intergenerational.”

The display is part of a learning module for Cason Kids Care, a group that Popolizio started three years ago to teach Christian principles of kindness and service to kids aged 5-11. The group meets on two Saturdays a month, and the project for this month is centered on learning more about Jerusalem as the home of four religions and in light of the war.

“If we cannot learn to respect each other, it’s not a world I want my granddaughter to grow up in,” she said. “That’s the whole point of Cason Kids Care — raising caring kids.”

The depiction, which is laid out on a large drawing that re-creates the ancient city, has a Lego wall and Lego structures, from the eight gates of the city to the Kotel, Tower of David and Beit Hamikdosh. Many other landmark elements are included.

Schwartz is the founder of Building Blocks Workshops LLC based in Livingston, New Jersey. He is a graduate of the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He has years of experience as a licensed architect in more than five

states and a CV full of civic and educational volunteer work, but now he reconstructs cities and notable places out of Legos.

Schwartz will lead the activity from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 25, at 342 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Free. Info: 561-276-5302 or www. casonumc.org.

The city will be on display until the afternoon of Jan. 26.

Note: LEGO is a trademark of the LEGO Group of Companies, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse these programs.

Unity of Delray to host traditional new year rites

Unity of Delray Beach, at 101 NW 22nd St., hosts two popular new year ceremonies in January. Both are free and open to the public.

The ceremonies are:

The Burning Bowl Ceremony takes place at 7 p.m. Jan. 8. The Burning Bowl is a satisfying way of releasing old hurts and anger into the universe by writing the hurt on a piece of parchment and burning it in a special bowl blessed for the occasion. This makes room for divine love, healing and

acceptance. This is usually followed by a prayer for prosperity and success in the new year.

The White Stone Ceremony is at 7 p.m. Jan. 15. This is a special evening of selfawareness that has its roots in an ancient practice of selecting a new name, which was written on a white stone tablet and signified one’s freedom from the past. As they begin a new year, participants make a commitment and declare what their focus will be by calling forth a new name. Some people write on the stone what they want to achieve: Peace, Perspective, Balance, Forgiveness, Hope. For more information, call 561-276-5796 or visit unityofdelraybeach.org.

Guest theologian coming to First Presbyterian First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach welcomes its first Distinguished Preacher of the new year when the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Walton comes to the pulpit at 9 and 11 a.m. Jan. 12. Walton is an accomplished author, ethicist and religious scholar and is the president of Princeton Theological

Seminary. He has taught at several universities and colleges, including Princeton University, the University of California, and Harvard. He formerly served as dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

First Presbyterian Church of Delray is at 33 Gleason St.; 561276-6338 or firstdelray.com

B’nai Torah Congregation’s 2025 Concert Series begins

Tickets for B’nai Torah Congregation’s 2025 Concert Series are on sale. The four performances take place in the sanctuary at 6261 SW 18th St., Boca Raton. A virtual option is offered. Performances are:

• Jazz pianist and composer Leonid Ptashka at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15.

• ABBAFAB, The Music of ABBA at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

• Cantor Shai Abramson at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26.

• Cantor Magda Fishman, Maestro Tomer Adaddi and Friends at 7:30 p.m. March 11.

Tickets range from $30 to $80 for members and $40 to $105 for guests at www.btcboca. org/cs. For more information, call 561-392-8566 or visit btcboca.org.

Martin Luther King Day celebrations in Boca

The City of Boca Raton joins with Temple Beth El and Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church for a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 20.

A community breakfast takes place at 8-10 a.m. at Ebenezer, 200 Ruby St. Sponsored by Developing Interracial Social Change, the breakfast has the theme “Don’t Give Up on the Dream.”

A Unity March takes place at 10 a.m. from the MLK Jr. Monument at 200 Ruby St. to Mizner Park Amphitheater. The march will feature the Boca Raton Community High School Band & Color Guard. Trolley service is available for people requiring assistance.

At 10:30 a.m., the ceremony begins at the amphitheater with keynote speaker Dr. Alisha Winn. A mayoral proclamation, speeches by community leaders, poetry, music and the presentation of the humanitarian award are also planned.

The Unity Celebration from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. features rides and games, a craft station, community booths, performances, and food and drink for purchase. tbeboca. org/event/the-city-of-bocaraton-hosts-mlk-jr-day.

Afternoon with Gershwin set for First Presbyterian First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach invites you to spend the afternoon with George Gershwin’s music performed on piano and by a chamber orchestra and some of South Florida’s best singers. At 4 p.m. Jan. 26, you’ll be transported by the “Fascinating Rhythm of George Gershwin,” featuring the most popular selections from the Gershwin repertoire. Tickets are $30 each at firstdelray.com/concerts/ reserve-concert-tickets.

The church is at 33 Gleason St.; 561-276-6338 or firstdelray. com

Annual Grace Race taking registrations

Registration is open for the annual Grace Race 5K and 1-mile fun run/walk at 8 a.m. Feb. 15. One hundred percent of the race proceeds benefit 4KIDS of South Florida’s work in helping families in crisis; Trail Life Troop FL 0633, a father-son program; and the outreach efforts of Amped Student Ministries.

Hosted by Grace Community Church Boca, the race is for all ages and fitness levels. The event features food, refreshments, a bounce house and music by a DJ. The race begins and ends at the church, 600 W. Camino Real, Boca Raton. For more information, call 561-395-2811 or visit www. graceboca.org.

Architect Stephen Schwartz, set to appear Jan. 25 in Delray Beach, uses Legos to build a symbolic version of old Jerusalem as a teaching tool to reach children. Photo provided

Religion Calendar

Note: Events are current as of 12/23. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY 5-11

Sunday - 1/5 - Zoom Bible Study at Ascension Catholic Church, 7250 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. Every Sun 7 pm. Free. Zoom link: communications#accboca.net; 561-997-5486; ascensionboca.org

Monday - 1/6 - Women’s Bible Study via Zoom at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach, 33 Gleason St. Every M 10 am. Free. 561-276-6338; firstdelray.com

1/6- Rosary for Peace at St. Vincent Ferrer Family Life Center, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. Every M 5:45-6:15 pm. Free. 561-276-6892; stvincentferrer.com

Tuesday - 1/7 - Tuesday Morning Prayer Service at Unity of Delray Beach Church, 101 NW 22nd St. 10 am. Free. 561276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

Wednesday - 1/8 - Men’s Spirituality Hour via Zoom at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. Every W 8 am. Free. For link: 561-395-8285; stgregorysepiscopal.org

1/8 - Wednesday Evening Meditation Service at Unity of Delray Beach Church, 101 NW 22nd St. 6:30 pm. Free; love offering. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

1/8 - Burning Bowl Ceremony at Unity of Delray Beach Church, 101 NW 22nd St. 7 pm. Free-will offering. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybech.org

Thursday - 1/9 - Thursday Morning Telephone Prosperity Coffee presented by  Unity of Delray Beach Church, 101 NW 22nd St. Phone meeting (605-475-6006,

Continued from page AT20

Register for the Grace Race ($30 for the 5K) at runsignup. com/Race/FL/BocaRaton/ GraceRace5KRunWalk

Boca church seeks helpers in hosting world summit

The annual summit for WorldLead will be held Feb. 1321 at Boca Raton Community Church, 470 NW Fourth Ave.

Pastor Bill Mitchell started WorldLead with BRCC in 2011. Today, WorldLead works with more than 100 leaders in 39 nations on six continents to develop Christian leaders. “WorldLead is a leadership process, not a leadership

passcode 3031030). Free; love offering. 561276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

1/9 - Men’s Fellowship at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach Courtyard, 33 Gleason St. Every Th 8:30 am. Free. 561-276-6338; firstdelray.com

1/9  - Women’s Bible Study at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church Youth Room, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. Every Th 1 pm. Free. 561-395-8285; stgregorysepiscopal.org

Friday - 1/10 - Legion of Mary at St. Vincent Ferrer Family Life Center, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. Every F 9:30-11 am. Free. 561-276-6892; stvincentferrer.com

1/10 - Bible Study w/Dave Kirk at Advent Boca Raton Fellowship Hall, 300 E Yamato Rd. Every F 10-11:30 am. 561-3953632; adventboca.org

1/10 - Virtual Shabbat Service at Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County, 2475 W Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach. Every F 7:30 pm. Free. 561-276-6161; templesinaipbc.org

JANUARY 12-18

Wednesday - 1/15 - White Stone Ceremony at Unity of Delray Beach Church, 101 NW 22nd St. 7 pm. Free-will offering. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybech. org

JAN. 26-FEB. 1

Sunday - 1/26 - Concert: An Afternoon with Gershwin at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach Courtyard, 33 Gleason St. 4 pm. $30. 561-276-6338; firstdelray.com

program,” its website says.

As part of BRCC’s international ministry, the church hosts the annual summit, which brings leaders to Boca for special training. WorldLead and the church need your help. Volunteers are needed to host international guests, provide transportation to and from the airport, purchase snacks from Costco, provide baked goods, and set up and tear down for various events. If you can help, contact the church at 561-395-2400 or www.bocacommunity.org/thisweek.

— Janis Fontaine

Note: Events are current as of 12/23. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY 4

Saturday - 1/4 - Drop-In Family

Storytime at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Up to age 5. Every Sat 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/4 - Saturday Morning ART (smART) at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. Art making and eduction. Ages 5+. 10-11 am. $15/member family; $25/non-member family. Registration: 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/4 - ColorSpace: Teen Art Studio at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 13-17. 11 am-noon. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/4 - Haitian Folkloric Dance

Movement Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every Sat through 1/25. Ages 13-65. 11:30 am-1 pm. Per class: $20/resident; $25/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/4 - Tail Waggin Tutors at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Children read to certified therapy dog. Ages 6-8. Select time slots. Held again 1/18 & 2/1. Noon1:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/4 - Piano Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every Sat through 2/8. Ages 5+. 30 Minute time slots between 1-3 pm. $210/resident; $263/nonresident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/4 - Sandoway Discovery Center

Daily Feedings at 142 S Ocean Blvd, Delray Beach. All ages. Shark & stingray feedings 1 pm; aquarium feedings 2 pm; animal encounters 3 pm. T-Sat. Free w/$10 admission. 561-274-7263; sandoway.org

JANUARY 5-11

Monday - 1/6 - Special Guest Storytime w/Ocean Rescue Lifeguard at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Up to age 5. 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-3937968; bocalibrary.org

1/6 - Fun w/Fernanda: Bilingual Spanish-English Story Time at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 0-5. 3:30-4 pm. Free. Registration: 561266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/6 - K-Pop Club at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 13-17. 5-6 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0197; delraylibrary.org

1/6 - Teen Writer’s Corner at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Ages 13-17. 5-7 pm. Free. Appointments: 561-7426883; boyntonlibrary.org

1/6-8 - Homework Help - Delray Beach Public Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Grades K-5. Every M-W 3:30-4:15 & 4:15-5

pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

Tuesday - 1/7 - Tumble Tots w/ First Steps Dance & Tumbling at Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center, 129 E Ocean Ave, Boynton Beach. Children’s books come to life. Ages 2.5-5. Every T through 2/11 11-11:30 am. $48/members; $60/non-members w/pd admission. 561742-6780; schoolhousemuseum.org

1/7 - Baby Rhythms w/First Steps Dance & Tumbling at Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center, 129 E Ocean Ave, Boynton Beach. Children’s books come to life. Ages 2 mos.-2 yrs. Every T through 2/11 11:45 am-12:15 pm. $48/members; $60/non-members w/ paid admission. 561-742-6780; schoolhousemuseum.org

1/7 - Story Explorers at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 6-8. 3:304:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/7 - Teen Tuesday at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Ages 13-17. Every T 5-7 pm. Free. 561-742-6393; boyntonlibrary.org

1/7 - Teen Book Club: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 13-17. Held again 1/14. 5-6pm. Free. Registration: 561-2660194; delraylibrary.org

1/7-8 - Sensational Story ‘n More at Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center, 129 E Ocean Ave, Boynton Beach. Children’s books come to life. Ages 2-5. Every T 10-10:45 am & W 3-3:45 pm. Free w/paid admission. 561-742-6780; schoolhousemuseum.org

Wednesday - 1/8 - Toddler Tales at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 2-3. Held again 1/22 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/8 - Pop-Up Pages at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Stories, music, movement. Children must be accompanied by adult. Ages 0-5. Held again 1/16, 18, 23, 25 & 30 & 2/1. 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/8 - Bilingual Outdoor Storytime at Boynton Beach Library under the Banyan tree, 100 E Ocean Ave. Stories, rhymes, more. Ages 5 & under. Held again 1/22 10-10:30 am. Free. 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

Thursday - 1/9 - Drop-In Family Storytime at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Up to age 5. Held again 12/26 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-3937968; bocalibrary.org

1/9 - Lil’ Pals & Tales at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 3-5. 3:304:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/9 - Make & Take at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Ages 5-12. Held again 1/30 4:30-5:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

1/9 - Haitian Folkloric Dance Movement Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every Th through 1/30. Ages 13-65. 6:30-8 pm. Per class: $20/resident; $25/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

Saturday - 1/11 - Future All-Stars Sports Program at Catherine Strong Park, 1500 SW 6th St, Delray Beach. Ages 7-9. Every Sat through 2/8 10-11 am. $30/ person. 561-243-7194; delraybeachfl.gov

1/11 - BreakoutEDU at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 5-12. 10 am-3 pm. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/11 - Once Upon a Story at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 0-5. Held again 2/1. 11-11:30 am. Free. 561-2660194; delraylibrary.org

1/11 - Bones to Books at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Children read to friends from Bonafide Therapy Dogs. All ages. 1-2 pm. Free. Registration: 561-7426390; boyntonlibrary.org

JANUARY 12-18

Monday - 1/13 - Visual Adjectives

Graphic Novel Workshop at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. 4-week workshop: instruction in art, writing, production. Registrants must commit to each of the 4 sessions (1/27, 2 /3 & 24).

Materials provided. Ages 9-12. 4-5:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0197; delraylibrary.org

1/13 - M&S Performing Arts: Acting & Drama Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every M through 2/10. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $50/resident; $64/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/13 - M&S Performing Arts: Ballet & Lyrical Dance Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every M through 2/10. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $50/resident; $64/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/13 - Teen Career Workshop: Information Technology at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Ages 13-17. 5-6 pm. Free. 561-742-6393; boyntonlibrary.org

Tuesday - 1/14 - Toddler Tales at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Stories, music, movement. Ages walking to 23 mos. Every T 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/14 - Teen Tech Sandbox at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 13-17. 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration:

561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/14 - M&S Performing Arts: Musical Theatre Combo Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every T through 2/18. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/14 - M&S Performing Arts: Jazz & Hip Hop Dance Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every T through 2/18. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/14 - Karate Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Ages 6-17. Every T/Th through 2/20 Beginner: 5:30-6:25 pm; Intermediate: 6:30-7:25 pm. $90/resident; $113/non-resident. 561-7426221; boynton-beach.org

Wednesday - 1/15 - Reading & Rhythm for 2-3s at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Literacy enrichment class. Child must be accompanied by an adult. Every W 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-3937968; bocalibrary.org

1/15 -Young @ Art: Square Off the Square at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Create fun arts/crafts, learn principles of art. Ages 6-8. Held again 1/29 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-2660194; delraylibrary.org

1/15 - Farmer Jay’s Junior Sprouts Class 1: Seeds at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 6-8. 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/15 - M&S Performing Arts: Visual Arts Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every W through 2/19. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; age 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/ non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/15 - M&S Performing Arts: Acrobatics & Gymnastics Dance Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every W through 2/19. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/non-resident. 561742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/15 - Soccer Skills Clinic at Hester Center, 1901 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. Ages 5-17. Every W through 3 /5 6:30-8 pm. $60/resident; $75/non-resident. 561-742-6550; boynton-beach.org Thursday - 1/16 - Little Lap Adventures at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 3 mos-1 ½ yrs. 10-10:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary. org

1/16 -Friendship Builders at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 6-8. 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561266-0194; delraylibrary.org 1/16 - Adventures in Reading at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW

2nd Ave. Literacy enrichment through books w/related activities. Child attends independently. Ages 4-6. Every Thu 4-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-544-8584; bocalibrary.org

1/16 - Picture Book Club: The Fish of Small Wishes by Elana K. Arnold at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Ages 5-12. 4:30-5:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-742-6393; boyntonlibrary.org

1/16 - M&S Performing Arts: Vocal Harmony Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every Th through 2/20. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/16 - M&S Performing Arts: Tap Dance Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every Th through 2/20. Ages 6-10 4:30-5:30 pm; ages 11-17 5:30-6:30 pm. $75/resident; $94/nonresident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

Friday - 1/17 - Baby Bookworm at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Storytime for infants accompanied by adult. Age 0 months to non-walking. Every F 11-11:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-3937852; bocalibrary.org

1/17 - Bright Minds Storytime: An Autism Spectrum Disorder Storytime at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 2-5. 3:30-4 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org 1/17 - M&S Performing Arts: Violin Virtuosos Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Every F through 2/21. Ages 6-10 4-5 pm; ages 11-17 5-6 pm. $75/resident; $94/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

Saturday - 1/18 - Exploring Mixed Media for Kids w/Corinne Shafie at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Ages 8-12. Every Sat through 3/1 10 am-noon. $255/resident; $295/non-resident. 561243-7209; delraybeachfl.gov/government/ city-departments/creative-arts-school/ workshops 1/18 - Little Wonders at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Hike, crafts, stories. Ages 3-4 w/an adult. 10-10:45 am. $8/resident & member; $10/non-member. Reservations: 561-5448605; myboca.us/calendar.aspx?CID=47 1/18 - ART Tales Story Time at Boca Raton Museum of Art Wolgin Education Center, 501 Plaza Real. Literacy/visual arts program; Boca Raton Library book readings with art project. Ages 4-9 w/guardian. 10:30-11:30 am. $15/member family; $25/ non-member family. Registration: 561-3922500; bocamuseum.org 1/18 - STEM Camp: AR/VR at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 9-12. 10:30-11:45 am. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org 1/18 - Nature Detectives at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. New mystery each month. Ages 5-6 w/an adult. 11:30 am-12:15 pm. $8/resident & member; $10/non-member. Reservations: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/ calendar.aspx?CID=47 1/18 - Gaming Club at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Age 13-17. Held again 2/1 3-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

JANUARY 19-25

Sunday - 1/19 - Winnie the Pooh Day at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 0-8. 10-11:30 am. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/19 - Art For Everyone at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 3-12. 11 am-noon. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

Tuesday - 1/21 - Ultimate Book Club at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 9-12. 4-5  pm. Free. Registration: 561266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/21 - Sustainability Skills for Tweens: Soap Making at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 9-12. 6-7 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

Wednesday - 1/22 - Farmer Jay’s Junior Sprouts Class 2: Scouting for Insects at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 6-8. 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/22 - Drone Discovery Camp at Delray

Atlantic High senior reflects on 600 volunteer hours, helping others

By Faran Fagen

When Larissa Cerant imagines the foster kids staring at their reflections in the mirror and spraying perfume onto their necks as they face the day, she smiles.

“One volunteer experience that shaped my life was when I donated items like perfume and lotion to foster kids,” said Cerant, a senior at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach. “It taught me the importance of giving and how small gestures can bring happiness to others. Volunteering is important to me because it allows me to help others in my community and make a positive impact.”

Cerant, 17, has been an honors student at Atlantic since the start of her high school career. She has devoted 600 hours of volunteering through club and outreach programs and was recently named Student of the Month by the Rotary Club of Delray Beach for the fall of 2024.

She plans to attend the University of Florida to study nutrition science and/or business management, aiming to have her own business.

“I want to inspire others to pursue their dreams and lead healthier lives by providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed,” Cerant said.

Her most impactful

Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 6-8. 4:30-5:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561266-0194; delraylibrary.org

Thursday - 1/23 - Creative Writing at Boynton Beach City Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. For elementary & middle school students. 4:30-5:30 pm. Free. 561-7426393; boyntonlibrary.org

1/23 - Gymnastics Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Ages 5-11. Every Th through 3/13 5:306:15 pm. $144/resident; $180/non-resident. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

Saturday - 1/25 - Family Fun Day: Heroes Among Us at Boynton Beach Amphitheatre in Centennial Park, 120 E Ocean Ave, Boynton Beach. Dress up as favorite character or hero. All ages. 10 am-2 pm. Free. 561-742-6780; schoolhousemuseum.org/p/125/familyfun-day

1/25 - Bones to Books at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 5-8. 11 am-noon. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/25 - Game On! Library Edition at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 5-12. 11 am-noon. Free. 561-2660194; delraylibrary.org

1/25-26 - Creation Station at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. Limited seating. Noon-4 pm. Free w/admission. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

JAN. 26-FEB. 1

Sunday- 1/26 - Rookie Rooks:

Introduction to Chess for Youth at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 8-12. 10:30-11:30 am. Free. Registration: 561393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/26 - Genius Hour at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 3-12. 2-3 pm. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

Monday- 1/27 - LOTG Kindergarten

Readiness Story Time at Catherine Strong Splash Park, 1500 SW 6th St, Delray Beach. Ages 3-5. 10-11:30 am. Free.

volunteering experience came on Halloween. She set up games for little kids during the spooky holiday and assisted with cleanup afterward.

“Seeing the children enjoy themselves and knowing I

Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary. org

1/27 - TAB (Teen Advisory Board)

Meeting at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 13-17. 5-6 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary. org

Tuesday - 1/28 - Booktastic Book Talk: A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Free copy of book upon registration. Child attends independently. Ages 7-12. 3:30-4:15 pm. Free. Registration: 561-3937968; bocalibrary.org

1/28 - Bedtime Story Time at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Ages 3-5. 6-7 pm. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/28 - Journey to Olympus at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Free copy of book upon registration. Ages 9-12. 6-7 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

Wednesday - 1/29 - Farmer Jay’s Junior Sprouts Class 3: Plant Anatomy at Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Ages 6-8. 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/29 - Acting For Kids Class at Lake Worth Playhouse Stonzek Studio Theatre, 713 Lake Ave. Ages 9-14. Every W through 5/7 4:30-5:30 pm. $300/14-weeks. 561586-6169; lakeworthplayhouse.org

1/29 - Acting For Kids Class - Level II at Lake Worth Playhouse Stonzek Studio Theatre, 713 Lake Ave. Ages 10-14. Every W through 5/7 5:45-6:45 pm. $300/14-weeks. 561-586-6169; lakeworthplayhouse.org 1/29 - Family Pajama Party Night at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. All ages. 6-7 pm. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org Thursday - 1/30 - Musical Theatre Class at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. Ages 7-17. Every Th through 5 /8 5-6:30 pm. $300/14 weeks. 561-586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

school grade point average of 3.75 (3.96 weighted), encountered her own share of obstacles on her journey to achieving her goals. They included bullying, the loss of her grandpa this past year, navigating an individualized education plan, and struggling with self-confidence.

“To overcome these challenges, I sought therapy at my school and practiced daily affirmations to build my selfesteem,” Cerant said. “These steps helped me grow stronger and more resilient.”

Cerant also received accolades outside of Atlantic High.

At McDonald’s, where she has worked since the summer of 2023, she was awarded Employee of the Month for exceptional drive-thru cashier service, and processing orders efficiently and accurately.

She was recognized for academic excellence by the National Achievers Society, was named senior point recording secretary for the National Honor Society, and has been a multiyear runner for the Eagles’ cross-country and track teams.

contributed to a memorable event for them made it a meaningful experience,” Cerant said. “Helping those in need brings me a sense of purpose and fulfillment.”

Cerant, who boasts a high

As a Safe Schools ambassador, Cerant intervened in incidents of bullying and cyberbullying, and in promoting a safe and respectful school environment. She also educated peers on the importance of kindness and

inclusivity, reducing instances of mistreatment.

In addition to her 600 volunteer hours the equivalent of 25 full days she’s proud of being named Student of the Month, earning No Tardy of the Month, and achieving perfect attendance.

“These accomplishments reflect my dedication and consistency throughout my high school journey,” Cerant said. “I believe I earned Student of the Month because I made an effort to get along with my teachers, stay consistent with my work, and always be open to trying new things.”

As far as advice for underclassmen, Cerant said to “be yourself and don’t be afraid to try new things. Stepping out of your comfort zone will help you discover your strengths and passions.”

Cerant lives near downtown Delray Beach with her family, which includes mom Lifaite Boulin, dad Michelet Cerant, and brothers Rony Jean and Michael Cerant.

On her résumé, she lists these skills: leadership, collaboration, customer service, time management, problem solver, communication, Google C-Suite, Canva, Instagram Reels and Video Editing.

Above all, if you look at all she’s accomplished as a student, Cerant is a volunteer who wants to help others. P

Larissa Cerant, of Delray Beach, plans to study at the University of Florida. Her work at Atlantic High has earned her special recognition from the Rotary Club of Delray Beach. Photo provided

Health & Harmony

For a longer, healthier life, learn to look on the bright side

From Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking to the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness, and songs such as Annie’s (The Sun’ll Come Out) Tomorrow, or Monty Python’s Always Look at the Bright Side of Life, much has been written about the power of optimism.

The Harvard Health newsletter reports that people with an optimistic outlook enjoy healthier and longer lives.

A study published in 2019, in the journal PNAS involving more than 70,000 people, found that those who rated themselves as having high optimism were more likely to live to age 85 or older compared with less optimistic individuals.

And, while an optimistic or pessimistic outlook may be partially genetic, researchers believe that it doesn’t have to be a life sentence — people can learn to improve their outlooks and thus their health outcomes.

Dr. Raphael Wald, a neuropsychologist with Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health in Boca Raton, notes that if our minds didn’t play a role in our well-being there would be no such thing as the placebo effect.

“If I get the flu, instead

Suffering from domestic violence abuse for seven years, she separated from her partner this past year and found healing in gardening.

Due to the abuse and stress, she developed panic attacks, wasn’t able to drive on Interstate 95, couldn’t venture more than a mile from home, would cry, and developed ulcers and gastrointestinal distress.

“Gardening saved me,” Shenoy says. “I turned to gardening and community service to keep me grounded.”

blessings and realize what you do have.”

Also counting her blessings is neonatal ICU nurse Kaitlyn Nasto, 22, originally from Boynton Beach and now working at a hospital in Orlando.

of dwelling on how sick I feel, I think, OK, this is an opportunity for me to rest for a couple of days,” Wald says.

“There’s no other time when I can sit in bed. If I have a positive approach, I feel better faster.”

To improve your cognitive, physical and psychological outlooks, Wald recommends walking at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

“Walking is also one of the greatest ways we have to combat, delay or prevent dementia, depression and anxiety and improve heart and overall health,” he says.

For Boca Raton resident Jeera Shenoy, 43, a mother of seven, it wasn’t walking, but gardening that helped her through a difficult period.

She has a garden plot at the Pearl City Community Garden in Boca Raton and hopes to volunteer along with her oldest daughter at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center butterfly garden.

A student of biology, Shenoy collects rare herbs and carnivorous plants such as Venus flytraps, pitcher plants and sundews.

She helps homeless people she has met near her garden find low-cost hotels, medication, shoes and electric scooters to use. Under the name “iAmSomebody” on TikTok, she calls herself, “Mom supporting Boca’s homeless with hope.”

And while it can be hard to let go of negativity, Shenoy says, “Go outside. Ground yourself. Look at the sky. Look beyond yourself.”

She recommends tuning out extraneous noise and distractions.

Nasto, who knew she wanted to be a nurse since ninth grade at Santaluces High School, works the overnight shift from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. three times a week and sees many sad moments, but also joyful times.

“I fell in love with the NICU,” she says. “I found my calling; I was meant to be here.”

Now, after graduating from UCF College of Nursing and working for a year, Nasto still has the same excitement and passion for her work.

“I feel so grateful to have this job,” she says, while home in Boynton Beach for the holidays.

She’s a firm believer in holistic nursing — incorporating both the mind and body in healing — and believes in staying positive when working with patients and families.

prays to stay grounded, does affirmations, keeps a positive mindset and celebrates the little milestones of her charges.

She remembers a preemie under her care who wasn’t taking a bottle and was in poor health. She wasn’t sure whether the baby would be able to go home without a feeding tube.

She and the parents talked to the baby and encouraged him, stayed positive and celebrated small victories. Over a course of weeks, the baby was able to finish a bottle and go home sans feeding tube.

Nasto, who likes to spend time with family and friends when not working, has this advice for staying positive: “Focus on the things that are meaningful to you and make you happy.”

“We only have one life,” she says. “It’s so much better to have a positive mindset and focus on the joy. It can reduce stress and improve your health.”

Tips to become more positive: Focus on the good; practice gratitude; laugh; spend time with positive people; practice positive self-talk; smile; start each day on a positive note. Your outlook may not change overnight, but with practice and mindfulness, you can learn how to improve it.

“Turn off the TV and radio, turn off your phone and focus on you and your potential,” she says. “Be thankful, count your

Note: Events are current as of 12/23. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY 4

Saturday - 1/4 - Morning Beach

Yoga at The Seagate Beach Club, 401 S Ocean Blvd, Delray Beach. Every Sat 8-9 am. $20/person. Tickets: 561-330-3775; eventbrite.com/e/sunrise-beach-yogatickets-336433921917

1/4 - Saturdays @ Sanborn: Yoga Class at Sanborn Square, 72 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. 8:45 am registration; 9 am class. Free. 561-393-7703; downtownboca.org

1/4 - Zumba Class at South Beach Park Pavilion, 400 N State Rd A1A, Boca Raton. Every Sat 10 am. Free. 561-393-7703; downtownboca.org

1/4  - Yoga Class at South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. Every Sat 9 am. $5/class. 561-588-8889; southpalmbeach.com

1/4 - Yoga at the Beach at Red Reef Park West, 1221 S Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Held on grass overlooking the Intracoastal. No cash accepted on-site. Every W 6:30 and 1st & 3rd Sat 10-11 am. $10-$12.50/class; 60-day membership $65/resident, $81.25/ non-resident. 561-393-7807; myboca.us

“A positive attitude creates a more positive environment and a better space for healing,” she says. Noting that babies, even premature ones, can pick up on your stress, Nasto believes in “being a light in a time of darkness.”

A spiritual person, Nasto

1/4  - Judo Class at Boca Raton Community Center, 150 Crawford Blvd. Warm-up exercises, instruction, practice, tournament training. W 6:30-8:30 pm mixed ages/ranks; Sat 10 am-noon all groups. Per month $21.50/resident; $27/ non-resident. 561-393-7807; myboca.us 1/4  - AA Meeting at Unity of Delray Beach Fellowship Hall, 101 NW 22nd St. Every Sat 5:30 pm. Free. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

JANUARY 5-11

Sunday - 1/5 - Coco Market at Old School Square Amphitheater, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Monthly wellness market: 30 local vendors, health/wellness professionals w/various healing modalities; live music; 2 free yoga, meditation or fitness classes per event. 9 am-3 pm. Free. 561-870-4090; thecocoyogi.com/market 1/5 - Yoga at the Beach at Red Reef Park East, 1400 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Held on grass overlooking the Intracoastal. No cash accepted on-site. Every Sun 4:30 pm. $10-$12.50/class; 60-day membership $65/ resident, $81.25/non-resident. 561-3937807; myboca.us

Monday - 1/6 - Zumba Cardio at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Basic modern western square dancing.

Taking the month off Our Pets column will be back in February.

Arden Moore is an author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. She hosts the syndicated radio show Arden Moore’s Four Legged Life (www. fourleggedlife.com) and the popular Oh Behave! podcast on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting www.ardenmoore.com.

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@ hotmail.com.

Adults. Every M/W 5:30-6:30 pm. $10. 561742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/6 - LGBTQ ACOA Meeting at Unity of Delray Beach Prayer Room, 101 NW 22nd St. Every M 6:30 pm. Free. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org Tuesday - 1/7 - Yoga with Sophia at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Adults. Every 1st & 3rd T 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/7 - Al-Anon Meeting at Unity of Delray Beach Fellowship Hall, 101 NW 22nd St. Every T 7 pm. Free. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

1/8 - Tai Chi Class at South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. Every W 9 am. $5/class. 561-588-8889; southpalmbeach.com

1/8 - Yoga at the Library at J. Turner Moore Memorial Library, 1330 Lands End Rd, Manalapan. Every W/F at 10 & 11 am. $200/members; $300/non-members. 561383-2541; manalapan.org

1/8 - Stretch & Strengthening Mindfulness Class at South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. Every W/F 10:30 am. $5/class. 561-588-8889; southpalmbeach.com

1/8 - Wellness Wednesday: Yoga at Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Every W 11 am-noon. $8/class. Registration: 561-6542220; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/events 1/8 - LGBTQ+ AA Meeting at Unity of Delray Beach Prayer Room, 101 NW 22nd St. Every W 7 pm. Free. 561-276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org

Thursday - 1/9 - Alateen Meeting at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, 643 NE 4th Ave, Boynton Beach. Every Th 7:30 pm. Free. 561-278-3481; southpalmbeachafg.org

Jeera Shenoy enjoys the mindcalming effects of working in a Boca Raton community garden. Photo provided

Wald

Nasto

Delray Medical Center debuts procedure to treat atrial fibrillation

Delray Medical Center now offers a procedure to treat patients with atrial fibrillation — a condition that causes irregular heartbeats — by combining two treatments in one surgery.

A-fib causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat in an irregular fashion, preventing blood from freely flowing to the lower chambers of the heart. This can cause a blood clot to form in the heart’s top left chamber. If a clot forms and breaks off in the bloodstream, it can travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

The first procedure of this kind at the hospital was performed by Dr. Yoel Vivas, a cardiologist and heart rhythm specialist who serves as the director of Delray Medical Center’s Electrophysiology Department. He used the hospital’s Farapulse pulsed field ablation system to target and destroy the problem areas in the heart without damaging nearby tissues.

The system, which received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2024, uses electric fields, not heat.

In the same procedure, Vivas placed a Watchman implant in the patient’s left atrial

Dr. Yoel Vivas (fourth from left) with assistants at Delray Medical Center’s Electrophysiology Department. Vivas performed an atrial fibrillation operation that destroyed problem areas in the heart and implanted a device to block clots. From left are Jeanna Goudey, Dora Jean-Charles, Darcy Nikes, Vivas, Abigail Catalano, Jorge Molina, Sima Ramsi, Juanita Walker, Antonia Stypelkoski and Brianna Mezter. Photo provided

appendage. This device helps block blood clots from forming and may reduce the need for blood thinners. Over time, new heart tissue grows over the implant, permanently sealing off the area and lowering the risk of stroke.

JFK Hospital receives specialty treatment honors

HCA Florida JFK Hospital has received several specialty excellence awards

from Healthgrades. The hospital placed among the top 5% nationally for surgical care, spine surgery and overall orthopedic services. It placed among the nation’s top 10% for cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, cardiac services, pulmonary services, coronary intervention and treatment of stroke.

The hospital was also rated five stars for 18 services including colorectal surgeries,

gallbladder removal, treatment of sepsis, respiratory failure and diabetic emergencies.

Additionally, JFK Hospital was ranked No. 4 in Florida for orthopedic and spine surgery.

Delray Medical lauded for vascular care

In December, Delray Medical Center was identified as a Carotid Care Quality Champion by the Society of Vascular Surgery’s clinical registry recognition program.

“This recognition is only awarded to facilities that are demonstrating their commitment to quality through use of our carotid registries and leveraging real-world data to inform needed adjustments in care delivery,” said Dr. Jens Eldrup-Jorgensen, the registry’s medical director.

In 2018, Delray Medical Center completed a trans carotid artery revascularization, performed by Dr. Joseph Ricotta. Since then, the hospital has been designated a TCAR Center of Excellence every year by Silk Road Medical, the manufacturer of the TCAR.

In 2020, Ricotta received the national TCAR Clinical Operator of Excellence distinction, also awarded by Silk Road Medical. He has been named a Castle Connolly “America’s Top Doctor” 13 years in a row and earned a position on Newsweek ’s “America’s Best Vascular Surgeons 2024” list.

Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Whether you’re looking to catch multiple sailfish in a tournament or want to catch only one of South Florida’s iconic sport fish, there are many little things you can do to put the odds in your favor.

Sailfish typically migrate to the region in late fall and early winter, with January through April a prime time to catch them. Although the fish will bite trolled lures and chunks of dead bait, no serious sailfish angler would leave the dock without live bait.

Many of the 50 boats competing in the West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s Silver Sailfish Derby, which is Jan. 9-10, will go out on Lake Worth Inlet each day with several dozen live baits.

And they might need them all.

Over the years, the tournament has had some incredible catches, with a oneday record of 36 sailfish releases and a one-day average of 14 fish per boat.

Capt. Skip Dana of Deerfield Beach, who has numerous tournament victories to his credit, likes to use a variety of live baits such as goggle-eyes, threadfin herring and sardines.

If there’s enough wind, he’ll fly a fishing kite, which has fishing lines attached to get them far away from the boat. Dana likes to put out two kites with three lines on each.

The goggle-eyes, which are bigger, will go on the far kite lines because they stay in the water better. The herring might be on the middle kite lines or short lines, and the smaller

Note: Events are current as of 12/23. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY 4

Saturday - 1/4 - Outdoor Marine Aquarium Feedings at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. All ages; child must be accompanied by an adult. Daily 12:30 pm. Free. 561-5448605; myboca.us/calendar.aspx?CID=47

1/4 - Resident Sea Turtle Talk at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. All ages; child must be accompanied by an adult. Daily 1 pm. Free. 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar. aspx?CID=47

JANUARY 5-11

Tuesday - 1/7 - Golden Hour Guided Tours at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Guided tour ends w/sunset views of the Intracoastal Waterway from the beach by the Seminole

sardines will be on the short lines.

Most anglers want their kite baits splashing on the surface because that attracts sailfish, but some say they get more bites with their baits several feet under the surface.

Capt. John Louie Dudas of Miami, who has won countless sailfish tournaments, has a sensible reason why he fishes

chickee. Ages 7-adult; child under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Held again 1/21. 5:15-6:45 pm. $10/resident & member; $13/non-resident. Registration: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar. aspx?CID=47

Saturday - 1/11 - Intracoastal Adventures: Intro to Kayaking at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Includes short talk about South Florida’s unique animals/ecosystems. Age 7-adult; each child under 13 must be accompanied by one adult. 9-10:30 am. $20/resident & member; $25/non-member. Registration: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/ calendar.aspx?CID=47

JANUARY 12-18

Sunday - 1/12 - Intracoastal

Adventures: Advanced Canoeing at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Short talks about South Florida’s unique animals/ecosystems.

his kite baits on top or just below the surface.

“If a bait is 6 feet down,” Dudas said, “a fish can get tangled in the leader.”

Standard sailfish tackle is a conventional outfit with 20-pound monofilament line and a 30-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Most anglers put a foam float or tie a ribbon on the

For experienced paddlers age 13-adult; child under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. 9-10:30 am. $20/member; $25/ non-member. Registration: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar.aspx?CID=47

Tuesday - 1/14 - Island Treks at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Visitors will be guided on a short trek along the shaded boardwalk through the tropical hardwood hammock forest, pausing for some intracoastal views through the mangroves. All ages; child must be accompanied by an adult. Held again 1/28. 10-10:45 am. Free. 561-5448605; myboca.us/calendar.aspx?CID=47 Wednesday - 1/15 - EcoWatch Lecture Series: Leatherback Research: News from the FAU Marine Lab w/ Emily Turla & Dr. Samantha Kuschke at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Age 13 & up; child under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult. 6:30-8 pm. Free. 561-544-8605; myboca. us/calendar.aspx?CID=47 Thursdsay - 1/16 - Beach Treasures at

main line above the swivel that is connected to the leader so they can keep track of the kite baits, but Capt. David Doll of Lighthouse Point does not.

That’s because he once hooked a big kingfish on a kite line marked with a chartreuse ribbon. As the fish swam away, taking the ribbon under the water, a second kingfish came along and bit the ribbon,

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Learn about seashells, the animals that make them. Caravan to Red Reef Park, 1400 N State Rd A1A, to search for ocean treasures. All ages; child must be accompanied by an adult. Held again 1/30 2-3:30 pm. Free. Reservations: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar. aspx?CID=47

JANUARY 19-25

Saturday - 1/25 - Coast Guard Auxiliary Boat America: A Boating Safety Course at Harvey E. Oyer, Jr. Park, 2010 N Federal Hwy, Boynton Beach. Boating terminology, boat handling, navigation rules, regulations, more. Course provides knowledge needed to obtain a boating certificate; possible insurance discount. 8 am-4 pm. $20. 561-312-6439; birdlover5@ bellsouth.net

1/25 - Intracoastal Adventures: Intro to Canoeing at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Learn about our native & migratory birds

cutting the line.

Hooking sailfish is fairly easy with circle hooks. Instead of yanking back on the fishing rod when a sailfish grabs a bait, you only need to reel to set a circle hook. Just don’t start reeling too soon, because that can take the bait out of the fish’s mouth.

Dudas said to make sure the fish is swimming away from you before you reel. “You want some type of angle,” Dudas said, “so if the fish is coming to you, don’t reel.”

All sailfish anglers agree that you want your live baits to be lively. If you’re kite fishing, you can reel the baits into the air to make sure they’re wiggling.

If they look tired, replace them, because fresh baits react naturally to sailfish. If a sailfish approaches a lethargic bait that doesn’t try to get away, the sail instinctively knows that something isn’t right and won’t bite.

To make his baits act as natural as possible, Doll uses small 3/0 and 4/0 circle hooks instead of the more typical 5/0 to 7/0 sizes.

“The idea is to have baits as lively and unencumbered as can be, so when a sailfish comes up, the bait reacts and triggers a strike,” he said. “When they’re biting like crazy, it doesn’t matter, but when fishing is tough, it does.”

Outdoors writer

Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol. com.

from an experienced birder. Age 12-adult; child under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. 9-10:30 am. $20/member; $25/nonmember. Advance reservation required: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar. aspx?CID=47

JAN. 26-FEB. 1

Sunday - 1/26 - Intracoastal Adventures: Advanced Kayaking at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Includes short talk about South Florida’s unique animals/ecosystems. Age 7-adult; each child under 13 must be accompanied by one adult. 9-10:30 am. $20/resident & member; $25/non-member. Registration: 561-544-8605; myboca.us/ calendar.aspx?CID=47

Wednesday - 1/29 - EcoWatch Lecture Series: Florida’s Bats: The Endangered Bonneted Bat w/ Stephanie Brinez at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Age 13 & up; child under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult. 6:30-8 pm. Free. 561-544-8605; myboca. us/calendar.aspx?CID=47

Thursday - 1/30 - Early Birding w/Al at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Learn about native & migratory birds from an experienced birder; walk the Ashley Trail/boardwalk in search of warblers, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers, other avian species. Binoculars recommended. Meet on nature center front porch. Age 10+; child must be accompanied by an adult. 8:30-10 am. Free. 561-544-8605; myboca.us/calendar. aspx?CID=47

Capt. Skip Dana, foreground, prepares to release a sailfish caught by Glenn Sapir Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star

TOP: A sailfish leaps from the waters off Hillsboro Beach.

ABOVE: Good live bait choices include goggle-eyes, threadfin herring and sardines.

Municipal Meetings Community Calendar

Note: Events are current as of 12/23. Please check with organizers for any changes.

JANUARY 4

Saturday - 1/4 - Free Fun Saturday at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N Federal Hwy. 10 am-4 pm. Free. 561395-6766; bocahistory.org

1/4 - Freestyle Saturdays Art Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Ages 18+. Every Sat through 5/24 10 am-12:30 pm. Per class $29/ resident; $35/non-resident. Registration: 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/4 - Open House and Registration Event at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 10 am-4 pm. Free. 561-243-7209; http://ow.ly/ bye450Tzubs

1/4 - Virtual Saturday Morning Writers’ Group w/Caren Neile at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. Every 1st & 3rd Sat 11 am-12:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/4 - We Are The Champions - The Ultimate Queen Tribute Show at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. Two shows: 4 pm & 8 pm. $59. 561-2721281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/4 - Gafieira Rio Miami Brazilian Big Band at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/4 - Sick Puppies Improv Comedy Extravaganza Show at Doghouse Theater, 105 NW 5th Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $30-$35. 954-667-7735; sickpuppiescomedy.com

1/4-5 - Supper Club: Clint Holmes at The Wick Theatre & Costume Museum, 7901 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. 6 pm. $175. Reservations: 561-995-2333; thewick.org

JANUARY 5-11

Sunday - 1/5 - Exhibit Opening Reception at Artist’s Eye Gallery Boutique, 604 Lucerne Ave, Lake Worth. Runs through 2/2. 2-4 pm. Free. 561-586-8666; lwartleague.org

1/5 - Sunday Matinee Music Series: Con Brio String Quartet at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 3-4 pm. 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/5 - The Boxers: A Tribute to Simon and Garfunkel at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 7 pm. $45-$50. 561450-6357; artsgarage.org

Monday - 1/6 - Pickleball at Hester Center, 1901 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. Combines badminton & tennis.

Adults. M-F 9 am-noon. $5; $50/24-visit pass. 561-742-6550; boynton-beach.org

1/6 - Musical Paintbrushes: Impressionism w/Thomas Cimarusti at Florida Atlantic University Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1011:30 am. $60/annual membership; $30/ member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/6 - Seminar: The Journey of the American Constitution: The Roots of the Articles and Amendments from 1585-1789 w/Jeffrey Shapiro at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 10-11:30 am. $60/annual membership; $30/member; $35/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/6 - Brown Bag Lecture Series Kick-Off: History of the Boynton Beach Inlet at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Adults. Noon. Free. Registration: 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

1/6 - CIA Challenges and Changes: U.S. Intelligence Adaptation in a Dynamic World w/James Bruce at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/ member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/6 - Advanced Squares at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Adults. Every M 2-4 pm. $6. 561-7426221; boynton-beach.org

1/6 - Seminar: Who’s That Girl? The Two Eves We Meet in Non-Biblical Ancient Texts w/Rami Pavolotzky at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $40/member; $50/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/6 - Delray Beach Mental Health & Information Fair at Delray Beach Community Center, 50 NW 1st Ave. 4-7 pm. In partnership with the Achievement Centers for Children & Families. Learn about free mental health resources & services: therapists, support groups and youth mental health services. delraybeachfl.gov

1/6-10 - Tovah Is Leona! at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. M-F: 2 pm; W: 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $75. 561272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/6-11 - Sacred Arts Tour at Mounts Botanical Garden, 531 N Military Trail, West Palm Beach. Join Monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery for sand mandala

1/6 – Ocean Ridge Town Hall, 6450 N Ocean Blvd. 6 pm. Agenda: oceanridgeflorida. com

1/7 & 1/21 – Boynton Beach City Hall, 100 E Ocean Ave. 6 pm. Agenda: boyntonbeach.org

1/7 & 1/21 – Delray Beach City Hall, 100 NW 1st Ave. 5 pm. Agenda: delraybeachfl.gov

1/10 – Gulf Stream Town Hall, 100 Sea Rd. 9 am. Agenda: gulf-stream.org

1/13 & 1/27 – Lantana Town Hall, 500 Greynolds Cir. 6 pm. Agenda: lantana.org

1/14 – Manalapan Town Hall, 600 S Ocean Blvd. 10 am. Agenda: manalapan.org

1/14 – South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. 2 pm. Agenda: southpalmbeach.com

1/14 & 1/28 – Boca Raton Auditorium, 6500 Congress Ave. 6 pm. Agenda: myboca.us

1/21 – Highland Beach Town Hall, 3614 S Ocean Blvd. 1:30 pm. Agenda: highlandbeach.us

1/23 – Briny Breezes Town Hall, 4802 N Ocean Blvd. 4 pm. Agenda: townofbrinybreezes-fl.com

creation, stone painting, pet blessing, Tibetan marketplace. 10 am-3:30 pm. Per day: $25; $18 children; $5 members. Tickets: www.mounts.org

Tuesday - 1/7 - The Northern Front: Israel, Hezbollah and the Grim Prospect of Transformative Regional War w/Robert Rabil at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1011:30 am. $60/annual membership; $35/ member; $40/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/7 - TRX Outdoor Workout at the Park at Old School Square Amphitheater, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Held again 1/14. Noon-1 pm. Free. Registration: 561243-1077; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/ events

1/7 - 1945: A Year to Remember w/Stephen Berk at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $35/ member; $40/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/7 - General Meeting: Growing Roses in the South Florida Garden by Victor Lazzari at Boca Raton Garden Club, 4281 NW 3rd Ave. 1 pm. Free. 561-395-9376; bocaratongardenclub.org

1/7 - Resume Coaching with Merrill at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Free coaching by appointment (45 minute sessions). 1-5 pm. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/7 – Socrates Café at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Philosophical discussions. Every T 1:30-3 pm. Free. 561393-7852; bocalibrary.org

1/7 - Book Talks - An Hour to Kill: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 2-3 pm. Registration: 561-393-

7906; bocalibrary.org

1/7 - Great Decisions 2025 w/Jeffrey Morton at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every T through 3/18 4-5:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $150/member; $180/non-member; $30/ guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/7 - Beginning Tap for Adults at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. Ages 18+. Every T through 1/28 5:30-7 pm. $60/4 weeks; $20/drop-in. 561-586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

1/7 - Movie Night at Highland Beach Library, 3618 Ocean Blvd. Held again 1/21. 5:30 pm. Free. 561-278-5455; highlandbeach.us

1/7 - Comedy Open Mic at Arts Garage , 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. Every 1st T 8-10:30 pm. $10-$15. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/7-24 - Delray Beach Annual Senior Games at various locations. Basketball skills, golf, pickleball, swimming, track & field. Information: 561-243-7250 x5240; smithra@mydelraybeach.com

Wednesday - 1/8 - GFWC Woman’s Club of Delray Beach Meeting at Delray Beach Public Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Bring your own refreshments/coffee. 10 am. Free. delraywomansclub.com

1/8 - Charcoal Mastery: Light, Shadow & Texture That Pop at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $55. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/8 - Pop-Up: The New Trump Foreign Policy: Ending Wars or Ending the Threats? w/ Walid Phares at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 10-11:30 am. $60/annual membership; $35/member; $40/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/8 - Palm Beach County Hospitality Career Fair at Old School Square Vintage Gym, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 10 am-2 pm. Free. Registration: 561-243-1077; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/events 1/8 - Russia’s War on Ukraine: An Update w/William Taylor at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. VIP ticket includes reserved seating and meet-and-greet reception. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $55-$65; VIP: $75-$85. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu 1/8 - Pastels Made Easy Class at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Ages 18+. Every W through 5/28 1-4 pm. Per class $35/resident; $44/ non-resident. Registration: 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/8 - Portrait Drawing From Life at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. Every W through 1/29 1-3:30 pm. $240/4 weeks. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org 1/8 - Marvin Hamlisch & Carole Bayer Sager: We’re Playing Their Songs w/Harvey Granat at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 4-5:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/ member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/8 - Language & Cultural Exchange: Spanish/English at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Adults. Every W through 2/5 6-7 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/8 - Radiant Roses in Watercolor at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 6-8 pm. $40. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/8 - Town Hall Talk: Double Take: Reflections on Addison Mizner’s Life, Legend, and Legacy w/Augustus Mayhew at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. 6 pm check-in/refreshments; 6:30 pm lecture. Free/BRHS member; $10/guest. RSVP: 561-395-6766 x100; bocahistory.org

1/8 - Delray Beach Orchid Society Meeting at Veterans Park, 802 NE 1st St, Delray Beach. 2nd W 7 pm. Free. 561-5732422; delraybeachorchidsociety.org

1/8 - The Miracles at Duncan Theatre, Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth Beach. 8 pm, $49. Part of the Jukebox Music Series. 561-868-3309; palmbeachstate.edu

1/8-9 - 2-Day Workshop: Color Theory Basics at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. Held again 10:30am-1:30 pm 1/23-24. 4:30-7:30 pm. $90/2-days. 561330-9614; artswarehouse.org

Thursday - 1/9 - Quilters meet at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave.

Share quilting information, perpetuate quilting as a cultural & artistic form. Every Th 9 am-noon. $1/lifetime membership. 561-742-6886; boyntonlibrary.org

1/9 - Seminar: Verdi, Puccini, and Their Roles in the Unification of Italy w/Sharon Steinberg at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1011:30 am. $60/annual membership; $40/ member; $50/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/9 - Line Dancing at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Basic modern western square dancing. Adults. Every Th 10:30-11:30 am. $6. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/9 - Sticking Your Toe in Florida History: What You Don’t Know and Thought You Knew w/Eliot Kleinberg at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every Th through 1/30 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $60/ member; $80/non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/9 - Claude Monet: The Quintessential Impressionist w/Armando Droulers at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/member; $35/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/9 - Intermediate Tap for Adults at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. Age 18+. Every Th through 1/30 5:30-7 pm. $60/4 weeks; $20/drop-in. 561-586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

1/9 - Spotlight Tour at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. Adults. 5:30-7 pm. $20/member; $35/nonmember. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/9 - Concert: Hootenanny with a Highwayman at Highland Beach Library, 3618 Ocean Blvd. 5:30 pm. Free. 561-2785455; highlandbeach.us

1/9 - The Future of Florida’s Coasts: What We Can Learn from the History of Tampa Bay w/Dr. Evan Bennett Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Part of the Thursday Night Speaker Series. Adults. 6-7:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-3937906; bocalibrary.org

1/9 - Community Fellowship Kickball League at Galaxy Park, 459 W Boynton Beach Blvd, Boynton Beach. Age 18+. Every Th through 2/13 6-8 pm. $100/ resident; $125/non-resident. 561-742-6641; boynton-beach.org

1/9 - Painted Abstract Wall Sculptures at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 6-8:30 pm. $50. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/9 - True Florida Tales at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. 7 pm. $20. 561586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

1/9 - Evening of Jazz - Phil Hinton Trio at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. Adults. 7-8:30 pm. $20/member; $30/ non-member. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.

org

1/9 - From Brooklyn to Boca - A Comedy at The Studio at Mizner Park, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Runs through 1/19. Th/F/Sat: 7:30 pm; W/Sat/Sun: 6 pm. Tickets start at $45. 561-203-3742; thestudioatmiznerpark.com

Friday - 1/10 - Cities of the World: Rome w/Taylor Hagood at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1011:30 am. $60/annual membership; $30/ member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/10 - Seminar: Lewis Carroll and the Making of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland w/ Matthew Klauza at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $40/member; $50/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/10 - Introduction to Alcohol InkAbstract Designs at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 2-4 pm. $45. 561330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/10 - Nothing’s Trivia! OLLI Boca’s 2nd Annual Trivia Contest w/Judy Scara & Lisa Tover at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $10/member; $15/non-member & guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/10 - Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Sip & Paint at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Age 21+.

Green Markets

Lake Worth Beach Waterside Farmers Market every Saturday under the overpass at A1A and Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach. 9 am-1 pm. Free. 561-547-3100; lakeworthfarmersmarket.com

Delray Beach GreenMarket every Saturday at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave. Fresh local produce, baked goods, gourmet food items, plants, live music, children’s activities. 9 am-2 pm. 561-276-7511; delraycra.org/green-market

Night Market at Sanborn Square Park, 72 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. Food options, beer & wine, local artisans and live music. 6-9 pm. Jan. 9. Free. myboca.us/2324/NightMarket

6-9 pm. $20/includes supplies. 561-7426221; boynton-beach.org

1/10 - Beginner Squares at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Adults. Every F 6-7 pm. $6. 561-7426221; boynton-beach.org

1/10 - Castoffs Square Dance at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. Basic modern western square dancing. Adults. Every F 6-9 pm. $6. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach.org

1/10 - Artist Blow Out featuring Eli Cecil at Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, 1105 2nd Ave S, Lake Worth. 6:30-9:30 pm. $25. Reservations: 561-508-7315; benzaitencenter.org

1/10 - Emilie-Claire Barlow at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/10 - Sick Puppies Stand-Up Comedy Show at Doghouse Theater, 105 NW 5th Ave, Delray Beach. Every F 8 pm. $30. 954667-7735; sickpuppiescomedy.com

Saturday - 1/11 - Art Collecting 101: Curate Your Own Collection That WOWS You! at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10:30 am-noon. $20. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/11 - Open Figure Studio w/Model at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. Ages 18+. Held again 6-8 pm 1/23. 10:30 am-12:30 pm. $15. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/11 - 6th Annual Florida Highwaymen Art Show & Sale at Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, 125 E Ocean Ave. 11 am-3 pm. Free. 561-742-6221; boynton-beach. org

1/11 - Culture Talks: Bend Childs in Conversation with Bill Meredith at Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, 601 Lake Ave, Lake Worth. Hosted by The ArtsPaper & The Coastal Star. 2-3 pm. Free. Registration: 561-471-2901; palmbeachculture.com

1/11 - Mystical Abstract Landscape in Mixed Media at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 2-4 pm. $60. 561-3309614; artswarehouse.org

1/11 - Artist at Work - Janie Reisler at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. 3-4 pm. $5/member; $10/non-member. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/11 - The Floyd Experience: The Ultimate U.S. Tribute to The Music of Pink Floyd at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. Two shows: 4 pm & 8 pm. Tickets start at $59. 561-272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/11-12 - The Eagles Revival at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. Sat: 8 pm; Sun: 7 pm. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/11-12 - 36th Annual Downtown

Delray Beach Festival of the Arts at 104 W Atlantic Ave. 10 am-5 pm. Free. 561-7466615; artfestival.com

JANUARY 12-18

Sunday - 1/12 - Hot Brass: Chicago/ Earth Wind & Fire Tribute at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. 2 pm. Tickets start at $49. 561-272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/12  - Town Art Show at South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. 2-4 pm. Free. 561-588-8889; southpalmbeach. com

1/12 - Friends of the Uffizi Lectures: Armando Droulers - The Florentine Renaissance, Brunelleschi, Donatello and Verrocchio at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. Speaker Dr. Kevin Cole. Adults. 3-4 pm. $18/non-member. 561392-2500; bocamuseum.org Monday - 1/13 - Reconciliation & Resilience: The Transformative Journey of Germany & Israel w/Anette Isaacs at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 10-11:30 am. $60/ annual membership; $30/member; $35/

non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/13 - Brown Bag Lecture Series: Southern Italy Unveiled - A Traveler’s Journey at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Adults. Noon. Free. Registration: 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

1/13 - The Met in HD: Part II w/ Paul Offenkrantz at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/13 - Seminar: Our Electricity Future: Powering Electric Vehicles and AI While Lowering Emissions PostInauguration w/Stephen Kowel at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $40/member; $50/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/13 - Monday Movies - Documentary: Zappa directed by Alex Winter at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 5:30-8 pm. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/13 - Meet the Author - Believe by Christina Wilson at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Adults. 6 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.

org Tuesday - 1/14 - The Coming World War? w/Robert Rabil at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every T through 3/4 10-11:30 am. $60/ annual membership; $120/member; $160/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/14 - Self-Portrait Workshop w/ Ma Nong at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 10 am-noon. $40. 561-2437209; delraybeachfl.gov/government/ city-departments/creative-arts-school/ workshops

1/14 - Pop Culture and American Politics: “Hamilton” w/Kristin Shockley  presented by FAU Lifelong Learning Institute at The Field House at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 10:30 am-noon. $30/member; $35/ non-member & guest pass 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/14 - The Hinge of Fate: Great Decisions of the 20th Century w/ Stephen Berk at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every T through 2/4 12:30-2 pm. $60/ annual membership; $60/member; $80/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/14 - Book Talks - Spring Book Previews at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 2-3 pm. Registration: 561393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/14 - Alcohol Inks Workshop: Floral

& Abstract w/ Debra Snyder at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Held again 6-8 pm 1/30. 2-4 pm. $40. 561-243-7209; delraybeachfl.gov

1/14 - Impact Talks 2025: Danielle Rollins at Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC), 4950 Communication Ave, Boca Raton. 5:30-7:30 pm. Free. 561-336-4623; impact100pbc.org

1/14 - James by Percival Everett part of Tuesday Book Group at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. 6 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary. org

1/14 - All Arts Open Mic Night at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. Every 2nd T 8-10:30 pm. $10-$15. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Wednesday - 1/15 - Objection! Current, Contentious, and Confusing Legal Battles w/Irving Labovitz at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every W through 3/12 (no class 2/12) 10-11:30 am. $60/annual membership; $120/member; $160/non-member; $30/ guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/15 - Freehand Magic: Charcoal Still Life Drawing Without the Grid at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $55. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/15 - Book Buzz Adult Book Club at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Adults. 10:30 am-noon. Free. Registration: 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

1/15 - Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: A Trailblazer in Television Comedy w/ Al Kustanowitz at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/ member; $35/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/15 - Seminar: Scheherazade’s Secrets: The History, Mystery, and Influence of “The Arabian Nights” w/Cara Bresciana at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every W through 2 /5 3-4:30 pm. $60/ annual membership; $70/member; $90/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/15 - From Memory to Memoir w/ Barbara Cronie at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Every W through 2/26 6-8 pm. $240/resident; $280/non-resident. 561-243-7209; delraybeachfl.gov/ government/city-departments/creativearts-school/workshops

Thursday - 1/16 - The Making of Modern China: From the Opium Wars to Xi Jinping w/Jeffrey Steinberg at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every Th through 2/20 10-11:30 am. $60/annual membership; $90/member; $120/non-member; $30/guest pass. 561297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/16 - 2-Day Workshop: Intro to Oil Painting at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. Two day workshop held again 1/23 10:30 am-1:30 pm. $150/2-days. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org 1/16 - Seminar: Who’s the GOAT? Baseball, Basketball, Football, Tennis & Golf: Who Were the Greatest? w/ Joseph Dorinson at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every Th through 2/6 12:30-2 pm. $60/ annual membership; $70/member; $90/

non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/16 - Art Deco Afternoons 2025 w/ Terryl Lawrence at Cultural Council for PBC, 601 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach. 2 pm. Free. RSVP: art@artdecopb.org 1/16 - 2-Day Workshop: Intro to Oil Painting at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. Two day workshop held again 1/23 3-6 pm. $150-$175/2-days. 561330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/16 - Exploring the Future of Golf: Trends, Competition, and Sustainability w/Paul Clivio & Geoff Lofstead at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $35/member; $40/non-member & guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/16 - Twilight Tribute Concert Series: Brooks & Dunn/Reba & Shania Tribute at Old School Square Amphitheater, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 5-9 pm. $50/VIP; $10/General admission; free/kids 12 & under. 561-243-1077; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/events

1/16 - Art Happy Hour: Alcohol Ink Abstract Design Note Card at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 6-7:30 pm. $30. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/16 - Creative Writing w/ Barbara Cronie at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Every Th through 2/27 6-8 pm. $240/resident; $280/non-resident. 561243-7209; delraybeachfl.gov/government/ city-departments/creative-arts-school/ workshops

1/16 - Renaissance: The Capilla Flamenca at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 7:30 pm. $45-$65. 305-285-9060; 561-3763858; seraphicfire.org

1/16-19 - Living On Love by Joe DiPietro at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. Runs through 1/26. Sat/Sun: 1 pm; Th-Sat: 7 pm. $54-$69. 561-272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

Friday - 1/17 - Self-Portrait Painting: A Study in Color w/Ma Nong at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. Every F through 2/28 10 am-noon. $240/resident; $280/ non-resident. 561-243-7209; delraybeachfl. gov/government/city-departments/ creative-arts-school/workshops 1/17 - Mixed Media Magic: Underwater Art & Expressive Collages at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $50. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/17 - Guided Discussion: Book Club: Short Fiction of the Gilded Age w/Taylor Hagood at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every F through 2/7 10-11:30 am. $60/ annual membership; $100/member; $130/ non-member; $35/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/17 - Workshop: Experimental Printmaking with Gelli Plates at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10:30 am-2:30 pm. $90. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/17 - OLLI Glee Club: Sing From The Heart: Voices United w/ Monica Berovides-Hidalgo at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every F through 3/14 12:30-2:30 pm. $60/

AT30 Community Calendar

annual membership; $200/member; $260/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/17 - The Top 25 Film Scores of All Time w/ Emanuel Abramovits at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every F through 2/7 2-3:30 pm. $60/ annual membership; $60/member; $80/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/17 - Bonfires & Night Market at Lake Worth Beach Complex, 10 S Ocean Blvd. Bring beach chairs/blankets. 6-9 pm. Free; metered parking. 561-533-7395; lakeworthbeachfl.gov

1/17-18 - Mirage - Visions of Fleetwood Mac at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $55-$60. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/17-18 - Magician Murray SawChuck at Sol Theatre, 3333 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. F: 7 & 9 pm; Sat: 6 & 8:30 pm. $30$35. comiccure.com/boca-raton

Saturday - 1/18 - Tree Giveaway at Sara Sims Park, 134 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Boynton Beach. City of Boynton Beach residents only. First come, first served, limit 2 trees per household (1 fruit tree max). 9 am. 561-927-8733; communitygreening. org

1/18 - Oceanfront Bark at Oceanfront Park, 6415 N Ocean Blvd, Boynton Beach. Well-behaved dogs welcome to “paw-ty” on the beach. Dogs allowed off leash on the beach & in the water. Dogs must be appropriately licensed and well-behaved. 9 am-noon. Free. 561-742-6221; boyntonbeach.org

1/18 - AARP Smart Driver Course at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. 9 am-3 pm. $20/AARP members; $25/ non-members. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/18 - Calling All Serious Writers! Saturday Writers Studio presented by Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. In person. All other Sat via Zoom. 10 am. Free. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/18 - Color Crush: Mix Like a Master, Paint Like a Pro at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $65. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/18 - Intro to Creativity with Wassily Kandinsky at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10:30 am-12:30 pm. $55. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/18 - Indie Author Day 2025 at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 1-5 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/18 - 3D Figure Sketches in Plaster at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 1-4 pm. $75. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/18 - Boca Beer Wine & Spirits Festival hosted by Evan Berman Productions at Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 E Plaza Real. Beer, wine, spirit samples w/live entertainment, food, interactive games. Age 21+. 6-9:30 pm. $15/designated driver; $50-$60/adults. winterfestusa.com/boca-fest

JANUARY 19-25

Sunday - 1/19 - TRX Outdoor Workout at the Park at Old School Square Amphitheater, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 10-11 am. Free. Registration: 561243-1077; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/ events

1/19  - PBSO V.A.S.T. Presentation & Ice Cream Social at South Palm Beach Town Hall, 3577 S Ocean Blvd. Presentation followed by ice cream social (2 pm). 12:30 pm. Free. 561-588-8889; southpalmbeach. com

1/19 - Romeo & Juliet at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Part of the Palm Beach Opera series. Adults. 2-3:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

1/19 - Faculty Recital: Darko Varga, piano at FAU Theatre, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3 pm. $20. 561-297-6124; fauevents. com

1/19 - Lecture - The Americans Who Collected Spain: From Meade to Meadows w/ Amanda Dotseth at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. 3-4 pm. $8/member; $18/non-member. 561392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/19 - Story Central Storytelling Slam

The COASTAL STAR January 2025

Public Library Classes

Local libraries offer hundreds of adult classes each month. To discover what you can learn at your library, please visit: Boca Raton Public Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org Boynton Beach City Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org Delray Beach Public Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. 561-266-0194; delraylibrary.org

For children and teen classes, please see our Tots & Teens calendar. "Libraries are the free universities of the people." — Andrew Carnegie

at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 3-4:30 pm. Free. 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

Monday - 1/20 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

1/20 - City of Boca Raton Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at MLK Jr. Monument, 200 NE Ruby St, marching to Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 E Plaza Real. Music, family activities, rides, vendors. 8-10 am community breakfast at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, 220 Ruby St.; 10 am march at MLK Jr. Monument; 10:30 am-3 pm ceremony & unity celebration at Mizner Park Amphitheater. Free. 561-393-7700; myboca.us/1468/MLK-Jr-Day

1/20 - Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch at Indian Spring Country Club, 11501 El Clair Ranch Rd, Boynton Beach. Breakfast, entertainment, live music, poetry presentations, guest speakers. 10 am-noon. $55/person; $550/table. 561279-8883; spadymuseum.com

1/20 - Tree Giveaway at Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. City of Boca Raton residents only. First come, first served, limit 2 trees per household (1 fruit tree max). 11:30 am. 561-927-8733; communitygreening.org

Tuesday - 1/21 - Concert: Heartstrings Ukulele Group at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Adults. 2-3 pm. Free. Registration: 561-266-0194; delraylibrary. org

1/21 - Book Talks - Non-Fiction/ Biographies: Broken Glass at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 2-3 pm. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/21 - Alcohol Inks Workshop: Seascape/Landscape w/Debra Snyder at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 2-4 pm. $40. 561-243-7209; delraybeachfl. gov/government/city-departments/ creative-arts-school/workshops

1/21 - FAU Astronomical Observatory public viewing at Florida Atlantic University Science & Engineering Building 4th floor, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1st F & 3rd T 7:30 pm. Free. Schedule subject to change; check website: 561-297-7827; cescos.fau.

edu/observatory

1/21 - Barricade Boys Broadway Party at Duncan Theatre, Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth Beach. 8 pm, $39. Part of the Mix Tape Series. 561-868-3309; palmbeachstate.edu

1/21 - Spoken Word Open Mic: Poetry, Storytelling & Lyrics at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. Every 3rd T 8-10:30 pm. $10-$15. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Wednesday - 1/22 - Charcoal Dramatic Still Life: Drawing the Unexpected at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $55. 561-3309614; artswarehouse.org

1/22 - Lunchbox Matinee: Living On Love by Joe DiPietro at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. Noon. $54. 561272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/22 - How the Six-Day War Shaped the Course of Middle East Peace w/ Ralph Nurnberger at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $35/ member; $40/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/22 - Curator Chat at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. 2-2:30 pm. Free w/pd admission. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/22 - Music Americana: Beyond The Glory Days w/Rod MacDonald at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every W through 3/19 3-5 pm. $60/ annual membership; $120/member; $160/ non-member; $30/guest pass. 561-2973185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/22 - City of Boca Raton Vision Zero Neighborhood Meeting at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Explore pedestrian and transit-oriented safety while touring streets near the Downtown Library, Brightline station and Boca Raton’s downtown. Wear comfortable shoes. 4:30-6:30 pm. Free. 561-393-7700; myboca. us/2239/Vision-Zero

1/22 - Art & Jazz on the Avenue on East Atlantic Ave (between Swinton Ave and Federal Hwy), Delray Beach. Live music, art, culture, dancing, dining in the street. 6-9:30 pm. Free. 561-243-1077; downtowndelraybeach.com/artandjazz 1/22 - Elvis: The Life and Music w/ Taylor Hagood at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 7-8:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $35/ member; $40/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/22 - Concert: Delray String Quartet - Masterworks 2 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 7:30 pm. $55-$65. 561-808-5084; delraystringquartet.com

1/22 - Rat Pack Together Again at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. 7:30 pm. $40. 561-586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.

org Thursday - 1/23 - Celine Dion: One In A Million w/Robert Versteeg at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/annual membership; $30/member; $35/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/23 - Concert: Volta Group - Classical at Highland Beach Library, 3618 Ocean Blvd. 5:30 pm. Free. 561-278-5455; highlandbeach.us

1/23 - Foster Parenting & the Foster Care System w/Henry Smith Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Part of the Thursday Night Speaker Series. Adults. 6-7:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-3937906; bocalibrary.org

1/23 - Friends Virtual Book Club: Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan presented by Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. 561-393-7968; bocalibrary.org

1/23-2/2 - The Donald M. Ephraim Sun & Stars International Film Festival. The Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse screens 18 premieres (Jan. 23-30) at 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. EVO Entertainment screens 9 premieres (Jan. 31-Feb. 2) at Delray Marketplace, 14775 Lyons Road. Tickets, film details: SASIFF.org or 561-559-5338

Friday - 1/24 - Introduction to Alcohol Ink - Trees & Landscape at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 2-4 pm. $45. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/24 - TRX Outdoor Workout at the Park at Old School Square Amphitheater, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 4:45-5:45 pm. Free. Registration: 561-243-1077; delrayoldschoolsquare.com/events

1/24 - The Georgina Dieter Dennis Honors Recital at FAU Theatre, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 7 pm. $10. 561-2976124; fauevents.com

1/24-25 - Rich Aronovitch at Sol Theatre, 3333 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. F: 7 pm; Sat: 6 & 8:30 pm. $30-$35. comiccure.com/ boca-raton

1/24-25 - Ann Hampton Callaway featuring John Proulx - The Linda Ronstadt Songbook at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $60-$65. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

Saturday - 1/25 - Light, Shadow & Drama: Create Depth Like a Renaissance Artist at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $65. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org 1/25 - Abstract Flow: Simple

Expressive Watercolor Landscapes at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $50. 561-3309614; artswarehouse.org

1/25 - Blossoming Winter - A Day of Writing & Sharing at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. Adults. 10 am-4 pm. Free. Registration: 561-2660194; delraylibrary.org

1/25 - TedxDelrayBeach 2025PointBREAK at Vintage Gym at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. An exploration of breakthroughs, and the power of pivotal turning points in life, society, and innovation. AM Activator Series (Family friendly): 10:30 am-1 pm, $25; PM Spectator Series (18+ or 15+ w/parent/guardian): 4:15-10 pm, $60. tedxdelraybeach.com

1/25 - Boca Street Fest at Mizner Park Amphitheater (590 Plaza Real) & throughout Mizner Park (327 Plaza Real), Boca Raton. Kick off the city’s Centennial with live performances, a beer garden and marketplace. Noon-4 pm. Free. 561-3937890; myboca.us/2445/Boca-Street-Fest

1/25 - Ken Block & Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel at The Studio at Mizner Park, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $45. 561-203-3742; thestudioatmiznerpark.com

JAN. 26-FEB. 1

Sunday -1/26 - Music in the Museum - Ausias Parejo at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. 3-4 pm. $8/ member; $18/non-member. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/26 - Concert: An Afternoon with Gershwin at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach Courtyard, 33 Gleason St. 4 pm. $30. 561-276-6338; firstdelray.com

Monday - 1/27 - American Politics: A House Divided w/ Kevin Wagner at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 10-11:30 am. $60/annual membership; $30/member; $35/nonmember & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/27 - Brown Bag Lecture Series: Healthy Gut at Boynton Beach Library, 100 E Ocean Ave. Adults. Noon. Free. Registration: 561-742-6390; boyntonlibrary.org

1/27 - Interest-Rate Risk, Real Estate and Banking: What Does the Future Hold for the U.S. Economy? w/ Rebel Cole at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 12:30-2 pm. $60/ annual membership; $30/member; $35/ non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/27 - Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange part of Afternoon Book Group at Delray Beach Library, 100 W Atlantic Ave. 1 pm. Free. 561-266-0196; delraylibrary.org

1/27 - Marilyn Monroe & Grace Kelly: 20th Century Icons w/ Richard Rene Silvin at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 3-4:30 pm. $60/ annual membership; $30/member; $35/ non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/27 - Monday Movies - Feature Film: Wings of Desire directed by Wim Wenders at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 5:30-8 pm. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

1/27 - Directing For The Stage for Adults at Lake Worth Playhouse Stonzek Theatre, 713 Lake Ave. Age 18+. Every M through 5/5 5:30-7 pm. $325/15 weeks. 561-586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

1/27 - Worlds in Motion: A Journey Through Contemporary International Cinema w/Shelly Isaacs at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every M through 2/17 7-9 pm. $60/annual membership; $60/member; $80/nonmember; $30/guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/27-28 - Auditions: The Producers at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. Production dates 4/11-27. 7 pm. 561-5866410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

Tuesday - 1/28 - MOSAIC 2025 Success Strategies at Cultural Council for PBC, 601 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach. 9-10:30 am. Free. 561-471-2901; palmbeachculture. com/institute

1/28 - Directing For The Stage for Adults at Lake Worth Playhouse Stonzek

Theatre, 713 Lake Ave. Age 18+. Every T through 5/6 6-7 pm. $325/15 weeks. 561586-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org

Wednesday - 1/29 - Reflective Realities: Glass & Metal Still Life in Charcoal at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $55. 561330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/29 - Lunchbox Matinee: Tell Me A Story at The Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. Noon. $49. 561-272-1281; delraybeachplayhouse.com

1/29 - Murder & Mayhem in the World of ART w/Terryl Lawrence at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Every W through 3/12 12:30-2 pm. $60/annual membership; $105/member; $140/non-member; $30/guest pass. 561297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/29 - Artist Talk w/ Nicole Gabai/ Book Signing and Sip & Shop at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real. 3-6 pm. Free w/pd admission. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org

1/29 - Cabaret at the Benz features Johnny Bee & Billie Davis at Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, 1105 2nd Ave S, Lake Worth Beach. 6:30-9:30 pm. $225. 561-508-7315; benzaitencenter.org

1/29 - Two Of Us On The Run by Steve McMahon at FAU Theatre Lab, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. W-Sat: 7:30 pm; Sat/Sun: 3 pm. Tickets start at $5. 561-297-6124; fauevents.com

Thursday - 1/30 - Seminar: Capturing Light: A Journey Through the History of the Camera and Photography w/Robert Feeney at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 1011:30 am. $60/annual membership; $40/ member; $50/non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/30 - The Jewish Connection: Pop Songs By Jewish Artists w/PinkSlip Duo at FAU Friedberg Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. 4-5:30 pm. $60/ annual membership; $35/member; $40/ non-member & guest pass. 561-297-3185; olliboca.fau.edu

1/30 - Opening Reception: Reflections of a Century at Cultural Council for PBC, 601 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach. Exhibit runs through 3/29. 5:30-7:30 pm. Free. 561471-2901; palmbeachculture.com/institute Friday - 1/31 - Mixed Media Magic: Abstract the Human Figure at Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St, Delray Beach. 10 am-12:30 pm. $50. 561-330-9614; artswarehouse.org

1/31 - Ocean Epoxy Workshop w/ Corinne Shafie at Creative Arts School at Old School Square, 51 N Swinton Ave, Delray Beach. 2-4 pm. $60. 561-2437209; delraybeachfl.gov/government/ city-departments/creative-arts-school/ workshops

1/31 - Tom Glynn in American Tune: Simon, Croce & Taylor at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

1/31-2/1 - Comedy Night with Dana Eagle at Sol Theatre, 3333 N Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. F: 7:30 pm; Sat: 6 & 8:30 pm. $30-$35. comiccure.com/boca-raton Saturday - 2/1 - Tree Giveaway at Spady Museum, 170 NW 5th Ave, Delray Beach. City of Delray Beach residents only. First come, first served, limit 3 trees per household (1 fruit tree max). 10 am. 561927-8733; communitygreening.org

2/1 - Virtual Saturday Morning Writers’ Group w/Caren Neile at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. Every 1st & 3rd Sat 11 am-12:30 pm. Free. Registration: 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

2/1 - Kim Weitkamp: Beyond the Trees - A Story Central Performance at Boca Raton Library, 400 NW 2nd Ave. Adults. 3-4:30 pm. Free. 561-393-7906; bocalibrary.org

2/1 - Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band at Arts Garage, 94 NE 2nd Ave, Delray Beach. 8 pm. $45-$50. 561-450-6357; artsgarage.org

2/1-2 - Two of Us On The Run by Steve McMahon at Florida Atlantic University Theatre Lab, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton. Runs through 2/16. Th-Sun: 7:30 pm; Sat/ Sun: 3 pm. $60. 561-297-6124; fauevents. com

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The chef’s kitchen is equipped with custom cabinetry, two large islands, and top-tier appliances. Adjacent to the kitchen, the spacious loggia with summer kitchen and bar is framed by French doors, allowing an effortless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces, while providing an uninterrupted connection to the outdoors for entertaining.

Upstairs, the primary suite serves as a private retreat with hisand-her, spa-like bathrooms, spacious walk-in closets, a sitting area with a fireplace, and a private balcony with stunning ocean views. The second floor also includes four additional ensuite bedrooms and a cozy sitting area. Additional estate amenities include impact windows, a five-car garage, motor court, elevator, and a full-house generator. Offered at $32,995,000.

Contact Candace Friis at the Corcoran Group, 561-573-9966; 400 Royal Palm Way, Suite 110, Palm Beach, FL 33480. candace.friis@ corcoran.com; or visit candacefriis.com

Built by Dan Swanson, this property offers a formal stone-floor foyer with a spiral staircase and traditional stained-glass windows and lighting that merge timeless elegance with modern sophistication. There is also an elevator available for access to the second floor.

LEFT: The lushly landscaped grounds feature a large oceanfront pool, a summer kitchen and a Tiki Hut on the sand. RIGHT: This oceanfront estate in the Byrd Beach section of Highland Beach has 100 feet of direct ocean frontage and is set back 600 feet from the water.

The custom wood-paneled and marquetry-detailed bar/entertainment area is the perfect spot for movies, billiards or a game of cards overlooking the water.