Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 107
A creative group of Lake Wales area citizens joined with urban design and traffic planners Saturday morning at the James Austin Center to begin the process of designing an alternative future for the City of Lake Wales. Future neighborhood development types, street designs, greenways, preferred placement of residential developments, and even a "blueway" trail connecting to Winter Haven were among suggestions that emerged from teams working around maps and charts. The process,...
A chance to relax in the shade, enjoy food from your favorite food truck, listen to four different bands, and let the kids burn off steam as they learn and play is expected to draw crowds to Lake Wailes Park Saturday. The 10:00 am to 8:00 pm event will include a kite festival, a family-feud style trivia game, nature walks, a giant inflatable obstacle course, nature walks, a "fishing pond," and a wide variety of games and prizes for adults and kids. A silent auction and gift...
The historic beauty of Lake Wales and efforts to re-create it are the focus of a special event planned for Lake Wailes Park. Area businesses, artists, and crafters are being invited to participate in Olmsted Day in the Park, an annual event celebrating Lake Wales' parks and streetscapes. Sponsors and vendors are welcome to join in the community-wide effort. The April 29 event, hosted by Lake Wales Heritage with the participation of the City of Lake Wales, features music, food...
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...
Ongoing construction of a new roundabout will keep the intersection of Old Bartow Lake Wales Road and Rattlesnake Road (County Road 653) closed in Lake Wales through February. The project, which began in the fall, was expected to take about 60 days, but has been repeatedly delayed. Local access will be maintained to the point of closure, but no traffic will be permitted to cross the intersection. Local access is maintained to the point of closure, but traffic is not permitted...
Allison Jennings McCance, beloved wife of Henry F. McCance, passed away peacefully at her home in Mountain Lake, Lake Wales, FL, on January 15, 2023, of complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was surrounded by her family and cherished caregivers. Allison Jennings was born in New Canaan, CT, on June 29, 1942. A graduate of Abbott Academy and Sweet Briar College, Allison worked from 1967-1975, first as a grader and then as an Associate for Special Projects at Harvard...
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...
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...
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...
Andrea Garwood Littleton of Lake Wales, Florida passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 5, 2022 with her children and husband by her side at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. She was born on April 12, 1952 in Newton, Massachusetts to the late E Peter and Shirley Garwood and was raised in Saginaw, Michigan. They raised their three sons in the Boston area and the family later relocated to Wilmington Delaware, and eventually retiring to Lake Wales ten years ago....
A special free learning opportunity is being offered to area Middle and High School students, who will learn and earn a special completion certificate as "Student Naturalists."The program is being offered in special Saturday events at Lake Wales Public Library, and will be led by certified Florida educators. The three-hour educational program, described as "a fun experience," is being hosted by Lake Wales Heritage, a local non-profit endeavoring to recreate the "garden city"...
A special free learning opportunity is being offered to area Middle and High School students, who will learn and earn a special completion certificate as "Student Naturalists."The program is being offered in special Saturday events at Lake Wales Public Library, and will be led by certified Florida educators. The three-hour educational program is being hosted by Lake Wales Heritage, a local non-profit endeavoring to recreate the "garden city" envisioned by city founders. While...
The City of Lake Wales has been cited as a significant cultural landscape in the 2022 Landslide report issued by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). According to the national organization, the city's origins and Olmsted patrimony place it among the cultural treasures recognized in the annual report. The report, which was distributed to national media this week, salutes the work of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who "completed a comprehensive plan for...Lake Wales,...
A $500,000 grant to Bok Tower Gardens for "Saving the Olmstedian Landscape Gardens at Mountain Lake Sanctuary – Lake Wales" has been announced by the National Park Service (NPS). The grant is awarded "in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services," according to an accompanying press release. "This project will complete the rehabilitation and reinvigoration of the original l...
In a further plan to facilitate the growth of the City of Lake Wales, city commissioners are poised to adopt an exclusive utility service area ordinance intended to keep neighboring municipalities from intruding into city interests. Citing "the City's municipal home rule powers under Chapter 166, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 180, Florida Statutes," the ordinance will provide a legal basis for defending the city's interests. An intrusion by the city of Winter Haven into the...
Another traffic-delaying project is about to impact some motorists in the Lake Wales area. A roundabout project is now under construction at the intersection of Old Bartow-Lake Wales Road and Rattlesnake Road (County Road 653) in Lake Wales. The route is one of the few 'back-door" routes allowing commuters to avoid traffic delays between Lake Wales and Winter Haven. The work will close the intersection for one month starting Tuesday morning, September 6. According to Polk Coun...
A 312-acre parcel expected to host the Mayfair development nearly two decades ago is now the proposed site of a 1,020-unit project dubbed Ridgecrest. The Lake Wales City commission on Tuesday will consider the application for a preliminary subdivision plat and a special exception use permit for a residential Planned Development Project (PDP). Ridgecrest is planned to be constructed in three phases and will fill in a large blank in the city's residential areas stretching from R...
The parade of development proposals that have stirred citizen concerns of runaway changes to Lake Wales continued to be evident at the most recent city commission meeting as details emerged for several more projects. A calculation by LakeWalesNews.Net staff has indicated that more than 12,000 new single-family homes, townhomes, apartments, and mobile homes are included in developments already on the drawing table. At least three other projects have been proposed but remain to...
A celebration of parks, trees, and all things "Olmsted" will draw families to Lake Wailes Park on Saturday, April 30. The all-day event will include food vendors, bands, games for the kids (and the family), lots of vendors, a beer garden, and plenty of prizes. Part of the nationwide celebration dubbed "Olmsted 200," the festival will include kite-building class and flying contest, a "family feud" styled game with a grand prize of a quad-copter drone, plus races and education...
Long before Frederick Law Olmsted left his generational "City in a Garden" imprint on Lake Wales -- and a decade before he transformed impoverished scrub into the lush gardens of Bok Tower – the first of his Florida landscapes was the verdant canvass of Mountain Lake. By early in 1915, the famed landscape architect who will be celebrated locally on April 30 – and whose work is the foundation for the city's current "Lake Wales Connected" redevelopment plan for the historic dow...
Volunteers and supporters gathered Saturday morning in Lake Wailes Park to mark the dedication of 34 young Magnolia trees which were planted on Friday, April 8 along Lakeshore Boulevard. The trees were a gift to the citizens of Lake Wales from Lake Wales Heritage, which is actively re-planting the lost trees of the landscape plan for the city, which was designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1930. Olmsted played a central role in the development of...
More than 40 young magnolia trees will once again grace the length of Lakeshore Boulevard's western stretch when work is completed this week on the replacement of the missing trees from the historic Olmsted landscape. The original trees, planted more than 90 years ago, were mostly lost to hurricanes over the decades. The project is the work of Lake Wales Heritage, the local group that has dedicated itself to restoring the historic "City in a Garden" streetscapes designed by famed architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. at the...
When Edward Bok visited the site of his carillon tower on Jan. 11, 1927, more than two years before its dedication and opening, progress at the site left him with a smile. "He was greatly pleased with the growth that the large live oaks have made. He was equally pleased with the large palms. Mr. Bok hardly thought it possible for the Sanctuary to look so fine during mid-winter," read a report received in the Massachusetts offices of the Olmsted Brothers, the world renowned...
Bok Tower Gardens is participating with gardens across the nation to commemorate the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., father of American landscape design. His son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed Bok Tower Gardens and many of our nation's finest public spaces. As part of this nationwide celebration, the National Association for Olmsted Parks and Olmsted 200 sponsored an international carillon composition competition in 2021, entitled Inspired by Olmsted. An...
Construction is near the halfway point at Scenic Highway and Mountain Lake Road as contractors work to improve the intersection and add a full traffic signal to replace the existing caution light. Crews have repaved and restriped a portion of Old Scenic Highway (Mountain Lake Road) east of the intersection and near the district offices of Duke Energy, but have yet to begin installing the new signals. The project began January 31 and is scheduled to be completed in April....
