Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Riding high on the emotional juice of their first district title in years, the Lake Wales High School Highlanders will host round one of the regional championship tournament Tuesday at Legion Field in Lake Wales. The local squad took the district title with a convincing 6-1 victory over Middleton Thursday evening before hundreds of joyous fans. Middleton had previously knocked off the district's top-seeded team, Lake Region, by a 4-2 score. The Highlanders will next face the S...
A controversial proposal for a new toll expressway running through eastern Polk County is meeting with opposition, including a likely resolution from the Lake Wales City Commission. A map showing four potential routes for the proposed limited-access highway was recently released by Florida’s Turnpike, a state agency that is proposing the route. The proposed road is intended to more-directly link SR 60 and the greater Orlando area, eventually connecting, at least indirectly, wi...
A proposed toll expressway linking Lake Wales to US 17-92 and indirectly to metro Orlando was the subject of a public presentation that brought plenty of critical questions and skepticism from the public but support from major land owners and development interests. The Central Polk Parkway East is proposed to run from SR 60 on the west side of Lake Wales to connect to 17-92. A planned Poinciana Connector segment will link 17-92 directly to I-4. The route is seen as a way to...
The sight of street resurfacing has been welcomed this week in Lake Wales, but nowhere more than at the intersection of Scenic Highway and Park Avenue. The work is the final step in the complete reconstruction of Park Avenue in accordance with the Lake Wales Connected plan to reinvigorate the city's urban core. Crews moved closer to completing the reconstruction of that intersection, which has been closed to traffic for three months. New road surfaces were put down this week...
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that the Lake Wales Fire Department was not involved in fighting this residential fire which took place outside city limits. A raging fire that sent flames leaping dozens of feet into the air and alarmed many area residents destroyed a Lake Wales residence shortly after 5:30 Monday afternoon. The emergency call was received by first responders at 5:28 p.m. and within minutes at least 13 fire rescue and medical team vehicles...
Restaurant choices for Lake Wales area residents continues to increase as four new operations are poised to begin serving in January. Two are well-known national chains while two are locally-owned. The city's sparkling reimagining of the downtown area, known as Lake Wales Connected, is attracting new investment in the form of two new restaurants, both in an extensively-remodeled building just across from the US Post Office. The Thirsty Dragon will open in a matter of weeks at...
Drivers using city streets around Lake Wales have likely noticed improvements to area streets as a six-year program of resurfacing continues. The aggressive effort to catch up on deferred maintenance began in 2021 and has resulted in miles of smoother new surfaces under the city's Pavement Management Program. Portions of 12 roadways were resurfaced in early November, and the effort will resume today with another eleven segments of roadways in Lake Wales. The streets, selected...
A new controversy has emerged in association with the BizLinc business incubator in Lake Wales. BizLinc operator Florida Development Corp is being sued by a trio of investors who claim the company owes them more than a quarter-million dollars. According to the lawsuit filed in the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court, the three investors are being denied access to company books and dismissed by FDC officers. The lawsuit says that, after acknowledging the $260,000 cash infusion made...
January is shaping up to be the coldest month in recent memory for central Florida as several sharp cold fronts lead icy blasts dropping south into the Sunshine State. Temperatures in southeast Polk are expected to dip into the 20's by late next week after a series of drops. Area growers of citrus and vegetable crops are preparing to protect their greenery from the potential freeze. Florida's embattled citrus growers are hoping that the cold weather, approaching just as trees...
As an increasingly-serious drought has wilted crops and increased fire dangers across the region, the hope for rain may be atop the holiday wish list for many. It's a hope that may be answered. With little measurable rain across the area since the October 10 passage of Hurricane Milton, much of central Florida, including southeast Polk, is suffering from rainfall deficits and parched vegetation. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) lists central Florida as "abnormally dr...
The purchase of 4,158 acres of land on the southwest side of Lake Wales by an active land-development company may be a harbinger of yet another major development proposal. The long-discussed 5-R Ranch property could potentially host many thousands of homes along with commercial and industrial uses if purchaser Richland Communities decides the time is ripe to develop the sprawling property south of Lake Wales Airport. Richland purchased the property for a local-record $50...
The City of Lake Wales has earned the designation of Tree City USA, joining a list of more than 160 communities in Florida who have won that designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation. "This is a prestigious honor for our city," city Horticulturist Kevin Polk said. Polk now leads a team of parks employees who are planting and maintaining hundreds of trees and thousands of shrubs across the city. Lake Wales met all criteria to qualify for the designation by operating a...
Frostproof's landmark, and perhaps haunted, Ramon Theatre is in serious trouble, and the volunteers who manage the venerable auditorium are turning to the community for help, pinning high hopes upon the success of a January 18 "Barn Bash." The Ramon is the cultural and entertainment soul of the southeast Polk Community. Built in 1925 at the height of the Great Florida Land Boom, the theatre hosts musical and theatrical performances around the year. The double-blows of...
One of central Florida's biggest annual music events happens this weekend when the annual Orange Blossom Revue opens in Lake Wailes Park. The festival will feature eight top touring bands who are expected to draw large crowds from across the nation to the annual lake-side performances. Headlined by JJ Grey and Mofro, the charity fundraiser also offers performances by The War and Treaty, Robert Earl Keen, Steep Canyon Rangers, Sam Grisman Project, Emily Nenni, Wyatt Ellis, and...
The long construction project to turn the once-desolate Park Avenue in downtown Lake Wales into an attractive pedestrian magnet is apparently approaching a conclusion. Once completed, the entire length of Park Avenue will be open for two-way traffic for the first time in nearly two years. Traffic on Scenic Highway has been detoured around the construction site since late October. The project timeline suggested a 90-day closure, but that schedule may be surpassed if progress...
The prospect of a transformative high-end development along SR 60 west of Lake Wales advanced with a unanimous vote in favor of the annexation of about 558 acres that will be the site of the proposed Lake Wales Commons at the most recent city commission meeting. Lake Wales Commons could host as many as 3,200 new dwelling units, along with more than a million square feet of light industrial and warehouse space on about 558 acres fronting along SR 60 West, Old Bartow Road, and W...
Polk County's Conservation Lands program is set to finalize a $5.2 million deal that will bring another large tract of land into permanent protection. It will become part of the "Big Green Network" of environmental lands will forever form limits to the potential urbanization of the Lake Wales area. The vision of a Big Green Network emerged as one of the major elements of the Lake Wales Envisioned project to assure that Lake Wales remains a livable area in the face of enormous...
The threat of a new round of stormy tropical weather is rapidly diminishing for central Florida as Tropical Storm Sara is now forecast to move ashore over the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico where it is expected to dissipate. The storm had been predicted for more than a week in forecast models, but the changing conditions in the atmosphere that originally pointed it to Florida have now pushed it farther west. After multiple rounds of hurricanes in what proved to be an active and...
Weather-exhausted Floridians are casting a weary eye back at the tropics this week as yet another tropical cyclone is expected to threaten the state next week, even as Hurricane Rafael, briefly a Category 3 storm, fizzles in the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center in Miami has identified a new area of disturbed weather south of Cuba that is expected to drift to the west across the Caribbean as it slowly becomes better organized. Forecasters there are currently giving it an 80...
A rollicking send-up of all things "soap opera" will entertain theatre-goers for three weekends as Lake Wales Little Theatre offers "The Bold, The Young, and the Murdered" to begin the adult plays for its 47th season. The show is directed by David Smith and features an ensemble cast of 13, and an inside peek at the imagined tensions on a television studio set filled with high-maintenance actors and giant egos. Each character presents an obvious personality flaw that produces...
A third fire and EMS station to serve the fast-growing south side of Lake Wales will eventually occupy a prime corner spot following unanimous action by the Lake Wales City Commission. The five-acre future location at the southeast corner of Hunt Bros. Road and Nest Egg Road (South Ninth Street) will be purchased at a cost of $300,000, which Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson said initially gave him some pause, as the appraisal of the site showed a value of $100,000 less. Fire Chief...
The Lake Wales Police Department will soon be stronger and better-prepared for any emergency, thanks to either Drake or Eli, two Belgian Malinois dogs who represent a generous donation from Chad Landry, the owner of Patriot Canine Service of Plant City. Canine units have become an integral part of police work, and the Lake Wales department is no exception, relying upon the highly-trained dogs since 1997 for criminal apprehension, tracking missing persons and suspects,...
The much-anticipated grand opening of Ollies is happening Wednesday morning. Crowds are expected to visit in coming days, shopping and exploring the more than 20 different departments of the discount store. The new store will occupy a former Kash'n'Karry grocery store at 1340 SR 60 East that has remained vacant for more than two decades as the once-thriving center struggled to generate traffic. Ollies is a national chain of more than 500 stores featuring a changing line-up of...
An attractive renovation of the historic Crystal Lake Apartments was unveiled in Lake Wales Tuesday, showcasing a development which will contribute to ongoing efforts to increase residential uses in the city's downtown area. The two-story building at 282 East Park Avenue offers eight fully-remodeled one and two-bedroom apartments. Officers and directors of the Lake Wales Care Center hosted some 100 guests who toured the like-new facility and enjoyed refreshments following the...
Motorists traveling on city streets around Lake Wales will find the going much smoother as work progresses on an aggressive program of improvements being conducted under city contracts. Portions of 12 roadways are presently being resurfaced with either a cape seal or a double-micro slurry of liquid asphalt as part of the city's Pavement Management Program. Both processes are preservation treatments to extend the life of the roadways for several years, creating a smoother...
