Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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An annual planning conference will hear a special presentation on Lake Wales and the Connected plan this week. The 2023 CNU Florida Summit will take place on Thursday and Friday, February 16 and 17. Sponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, DC, the two-day event will take place at Creative Village in downtown Orlando, a campus of the University of Central Florida. Attendees will learn about Lake Wales and the...
Lake Wales Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram has just earned the title of 2022 CARFAX Top-Rated Lifetime Dealer, along with two other dealerships in Florida, also owned by the Mahalak family. The Award is given for exceptional customer service. The Low Payment Kings at Lake Wales Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and the Mahalak Auto Group have much to Celebrate in 2023. The Low Payment Kings, powered by Mahalak Auto Group, is also celebrating the 57th Anniversary of the founding of its first...
Representatives of three different first responder organizations were honored at a special luncheon organized by the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce. The event, held at the Lake Wales Arts Center on Thursday, is the second such annual recognition event run by the Chamber, and apparently the only one in this part of Florida. The top honorees, Firefighter EMT George Gibson of Polk County Fire & Rescue, (LtoR) Deputy Sheriff Steven Mills of the Polk County Sheriff's Office,...
The Lake Wales History Museum will resume its popular speaker series with a presentation on Florida's past presented by guest speaker and local historian Robert Connors. Connors is the author of several books including "The Florida Saga," a historic novel documenting the long, tortured history of the Sunshine State. The History Museum holds a wealth of information about the Lake Wales area, ranging from pre-Columbian canoes carved by Native Americans from whole trees, to the...
Eric Edwards has been appointed General Manager at Alfa Romeo FIAT of Winter Haven, according to a statement issued by Mike Mahalak, president of the Mahalak Auto Group. "We are very pleased to have Eric assume this position at our dealership.," said Mahalak. "He started working with us over twenty-five years ago. His experience in all areas of the automotive industry including customer service, It, training and sales makes him the perfect person to assume the general manager...
Ideal weather and a special anniversary celebration will make this weekend's Lake Wales Car Show an extra draw. The monthly show of antiques, classics and hot rods of all sorts and descriptions is celebrating 13 years of shows. Each month scores of cars line Stuart Avenue for the fourth Saturday Lake Wales Car Show. Local show organizer Larry Bossarte is eager to present the prizes and awe the fans with the colorful array of restored and maintained vehicles representing the...
A special presentation by noted urban planner Bruce Stephenson will take place at Bok Tower Gardens at 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 28. Stephenson is a consultant and a professor at Rollins College. Stephenson will discuss the life and impact of John Nolen, who studied at Harvard as a student of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. Nolen prepared the first biography of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. for his honor's thesis. Both Nolan and Olmsted Jr. defined new visions of park design and...
KT's Sunshine Foundation will host the Southern Sunshine BBQ & Music Festival this weekend in Lake Wailes Park, drawing thousands of fans for the fun, and the purpose. The festival was created in memory of "KT," a nursing student who died in a tragic traffic accident, In its short existence, KT's Sunshine Foundation has awarded $22,000 in scholarships to high school seniors interested in pursuing a medical degree, helped 9 families with funeral expenses, and donated $1,000 to...
A full five days of events and celebrations will mark the annual The Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday holiday in Lake Wales. The local MLK Commemorative Committee has announced the the full schedule of activities for the 2020 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. Thursday January 12th: 6:00 P.M. at James P Austin Community Center, 315 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. A pot luck dinner is being sponsored by Unity in the Community entitled "Dessert First". Please come out...
A team of skydivers from a dozen nations cooperated to build canopy stacks of a 54 and 65 persons at Lake Wales Airport this week while descending from well above 10,000 feet. The 65-person stack was the largest achieved since the current world record of 100 canopies was set in 2007, also at Lake Wales Airport. The huge canopy stack, measuring almost 300 feet tall, was detected by radar from 200 miles away. This week the "Freeze Your Buns Off Boogie" is offering acrobatic...
UPDATE: Suspect Dontavious Grant is in custody after his arrest without incident in Winter Haven. Law enforcement would like to thank the public for their assistance in this case. Lake Wales detectives are searching for a suspect involved in a New Year's Eve shooting that occurred in the 700 block of North Scenic Highway. During an investigation, detectives identified Dontavious Grant a suspect in the shooting. Grant, 29, frequents Lake Wales and Winter Haven. On January 6,...
The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District) is reminding residents who irrigate their lawns to "Skip a Week" or more of watering during the cooler months of January and February. According to research by the University of Florida, grass doesn't need to be watered as often during the cooler months. One-half to three-quarters of an inch of water every 10–14 days is sufficient. In fact, if your lawn has received any significant rainfall, then you can turn off y...
Classes have started at Polk State College, but there is still time to enroll for the Spring 2023 Semester. Registration continues for 12-week classes, which will start on February 6, and eight-week classes that will start on March 7. Currently enrolled students can register for classes in Passport. Prospective students must submit a free online application to Polk State. The application, as well as information about the admission and registration processes, is available at...
A new roundabout project at the intersection of Old Bartow Lake Wales Road and Rattlesnake Road (County Road 653) in Lake Wales will close the intersection for one month starting Monday morning, January 9. A month long extension of a road closure has been added to a roundabout project under construction at the intersection of Old Bartow Lake Wales Road and Rattlesnake Road (County Road 653) in Lake Wales. The construction project, which began in September, has required...
Lake Wales Police have reported the arrest of Trenton Shane Tillman, 25, of Lake Wales, who was being sought by police after a theft of multiple weapons from Loan Star Pawn in Lake Wales on Friday December 23. Tillman turned himself in to Lake Wales police after learning that he was being sought. The suspect was identified by police using camera footage from the store. During the investigation detectives also identified two other individuals who they believe assisted Tillman...
Christopher Allen Eismon of Frostproof, faces numerous criminal charges including vehicle theft, fleeing to elude, resisting an officer, trespass in a citrus grove, driving while license suspended, attaching an unassigned license plate, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia after he was arrested following a short chase by local police. Sometime during the night of December 5th someone entered the locked city wastewater plant located at 840 Henry St...
A suspect identified by police as Trenton Shane Tillman, 25, of Lake Wales, is being sought by police after a theft of multiple weapons from a local pawn shop on Friday December 23. The theft of several firearms occurred at Loan Star Pawn,112 State Road 60 East. The suspect, was quickly identified using camera footage as the person taking the guns. Tillman frequents the Lake Wales and Winter Haven areas and is now armed with multiple firearms. Anyone with knowledge of...
A $4,000 grant from Florida's Natural Growers Foundation will support Victory Ridge Academy's School Wide Behavior Management System, school officials have announced. Victory Ridge Academy, located at 501 Burns Avenue in Lake Wales, is a Title 1 non-profit public charter school that exclusively serves children and adolescents with special needs. According to Penelope Updike, Grants/Public Relations representative, Victory Ridge Academy "recognizes the importance of...
A month long extension of a road closure has been added to a roundabout project under construction at the intersection of Old Bartow Lake Wales Road and Rattlesnake Road (County Road 653) in Lake Wales. The construction project, which began in September, has required closure previously. The road will close again at the intersection for one month starting Monday morning, December 19. Local access will be maintained to the point of closure, but no traffic will be permitted to...
Rural small businesses face greater challenges to economic recovery and are less optimistic about the future compared to their non-rural counterparts, according to new survey data from SCORE, mentors to America's small businesses. SCORE's Fall 2022 Megaphone of Main Street: The Small Business Rural/Urban Divide surveyed more than 3,000 entrepreneurs and found that while more than 75% of small businesses surveyed have returned to pre-pandemic levels or better, more than half...
A rare opportunity to touch and operate a surgical robot got a group of Lake Wales High School medical academy students excited this week, after AdventHealth Lake Wales offered them access to the sophisticated equipment. "This is an exciting day for us. These students are our future health care providers," said AdventHealth Lake Wales President and CEO Royce Brown. "We want to do whatever we can to encourage them to follow their dreams and continue their pursuit of a career...
A concerned student, a responsive parent, and quick action by Lake Wales Police may have averted a tragic ending after a student's "toy" gun was revealed to be a very dangerous, loaded pistol. Lake Wales Police Officers responded to the entrance of Dinner Lake, a subdivision on Chalet Suzanne Road, after receiving a report that a “toy gun” might be hidden in bushes near a school bus stop there. Police located a purple drawstring backpack behind one of the bushes near the ent...
Lake Wales area students in high school or middle school levels are able to sign up for a one-time special Saturday class that will leave them with surprising facts about our community. Those on a college-bound track will appreciate a "Student Naturalist Certificate of Achievement" that will be awarded upon completion of the three-hour program, according to local educator Kyra Love Harriage, who is leading the curriculum for the classes. The history-making people who founded...
AdventHealth Lake Wales has received an "A" in patient safety from the prestigious Leapfrog Group, a national patient safety watchdog group that delivers grades based on quality metrics such as a hospital's performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. Out of 3,000 hospitals evaluated nationwide, only 30% received this top grade and 115 are awarded as a Top Hospital. The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization that uses their...
Anglers: Compete in new trophy bass fishing competition, Battle of the Lakes! The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) invites you to participate in the Battle of the Lakes trophy bass fishing competition to determine which lake is crowned the best trophy bass fishery in Florida. The FWC's Florida Trophy Bass Project is pitting two popular fishing destinations against each other: Orange Lake versus Fellsmere Water Management Area (also known as Headwaters)...
