Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Experience a holiday tradition that connects the entire family to nature and reignites the creative spirit at Holidays at Bok Tower Gardens. Nature's seasonal beauty provides the inspiration for this year's celebration. From creatures large and small, to the cheerful nod of seasonal foliage, visitors will discover a rich palette of natural beauty as the Gardens' celebrates the landscape and the history that has shaped this majestic area. Holidays at Bok Tower Gardens offers...
Bok Tower Gardens will host its annual Rootstock Plant and Garden Festival from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. Admission is free, but there is a $10 parking fee for nonmembers. (Members park free.) The $10 parking fee can be applied at the membership lounge toward purchase of a Bok Tower membership that day. Bok Tower says Rootstock is "Central Florida's largest plant and garden extravaganza." Duke Energy is the event sponsor. Rootstock draws more than 40 vendors, who wil...
The Lake Wales Arts Council will open a new exhibit Friday, Sept. 20 featuring the "Keep Florida Wild" nature photography of Adam Bass. The opening will include a reception from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Michael Crews Gallery of the Lake Wales Arts Center, 1099 SR 60 East. Admission is free to the public. The event will include food and an open bar. In describing the exhibit, Bass wrote: "I am a Florida native, born in Winter Haven. I have always loved wild Florida - the Real...
Vincent Harris struggled in high school and took 10 years to earn his bachelor's degree. His own experience makes him even more committed to helping adult students with disabilities find meaningful employment after their nine-month internships at Lake Wales Medical Center. As the Project SEARCH instructor, Harris shared his passion at a gathering Aug. 28 to kick off the program for students with disabilities, ages 18-22. The five students – four from Lake Wales High School a...
George O'Neill III has traveled the world, but he still has a heart for small cities like Lake Wales where he grew up and played youth soccer. The 25-year-old University of Florida theater major has created a tool to help local businesses, cities and organizations promote their events and expand their reach. He's holding a pre-launch mixer Aug. 28 to introduce his PROMO app to potential early adopters in Polk County. O'Neill recognizes the frustrations of people who create a...
As County Manager Jim Freeman prepares to retire, he quietly reflects on his accomplishments - rather, his team's accomplishments; the future of Polk County; and his own plans, post-retirement. Jim Freeman says other people say he will be remembered for guiding the county through the Great Recession of 2008. "It was challenging," Freeman said. "It took a lot of creativity and we had to make a lot of difficult decisions on reductions, expenditures, staffing levels. We got...
Mary Neil Hardman Whitmire Chandley, 88, passed peacefully in her sleep on June 9, 2019 at 4 a.m. She was a lifelong resident of Lake Wales, born on January 5, 1931 to Cleo and Neil Hardman, both pioneer residents of Lake Wales. Throughout her life, Mary Neil was always very active in school, church, community service, youth organizations, music and other local projects. She graduated with honors from Lake Wales High School in 1948 and attended Piedmont College in Demorest,...
Derek Nathaniel Wolford, aged 24, passed away at his home on Friday, May 17 in Lake Wales, Florida. He was born on July 8, 1994 in Winter Haven to Dewey and Wendy Wolford. He was employed by Bald Peak Colony Club in Moultonborough, NH. He attended Lake Wales High School and Job Corp in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was a member of Impact Church in Lake Wales. Derek loved listening to all genres of music, playing drums with his band mates, cooking, and helping his Mimi and Poppaw do odd jobs. His respectful and caring nature...
The Lake Wales Museum will host its next speaker series presentation at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 25. The Florida Humanities Council presentation by Andrew Frank will be Modern by Tradition: Innovation and the Transformation of Seminole Culture. Between 1700 and the present, the culture of the Florida Seminoles has remained remarkably connected to its roots while also innovating in dramatic fashion. This lecture explores this dynamic to show how the Seminoles have embraced this d...
The Roarin' 20s roared into life during the annual gala of the Lake Wales Arts Council, "A Night in New York," on Saturday, March 16. Men in tuxes and ladies wearing beaded gowns were transported to a 1920s New York supper club for an evening of fine dining, jazz and hobnobbing with the who's who of Lake Wales, who joined arms to form a high stepping kick line on the dance floor. The Paul Gavin Trio entertained with Gavin on drums, Palo Arencibia on piano, Michael Ross on...
What is Pickleball? "It was started in 1965, in Bainbridge (Island), WA," Ambassador Helene "Pookie" DeCocq states emphatically. "It's just getting to (Florida and) the Midwest. There's tournaments all over." Carol Yarbrough adds, "We started with like four people." Another lady Pickleball organizer and player Deborah Waldrip chimes in, "And it just started growing. It's one of the fastest growing sports." From those first four players the group soon doubled to eight, and...
The environmental lands team at Circle B Bar Reserve is looking for volunteers to help celebrate Gopher Tortoise Day on Wednesday, April 10. The event starts from 8-11 a.m. with a gopher tortoise survey. The public can volunteer to gather data about the tortoise population by participating in a survey crew. Participants will track the tortoises by radio through the uplands, find the burrows and collect information on the numbered tortoises. Volunteers are asked to wear...
Join Dr. Jack E. Davis at the Lake Wales Public Library for his lively long historical view of the Gulf of Mexico, drawn from his 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea. Significant beyond tragic oil spills and hurricanes, the Gulf has historically been one of the world's most bounteous marine environments, supporting human life for millennia. Davis starts from the premise that nature lies at the center of human existence, and takes his...
For its third exhibit since opening in October 2018, the Gallery at Melange is bringing together two artists who have never met, but have a great deal in common. Both majored in the arts in college, and both have enjoyed long careers as teachers. Both have simultaneously created art for most of their adult lives, and have each chosen a similar approach to blending reality and fantasy with an emphasis on re-imagining and intertwining the flora, fauna and common elements of the...
When we were kids, we all had hobbies. It may have been Little League sports, theatre, music, Scouts, or any other menagerie of things that were fun. We loved being around our friends, gaining skills, and even getting rewards for success we had earned. How early in your life did you find your passion? For most of us it wasn't at four and 10 years old. Heck, some of us still haven't found it and to get to our age you would have to multiply four and ten together. This is...
Jennifer Ardolino says the goal of her art is to "make people happy." It's definitely hard not to smile when viewing her tropical scenes or colorful abstracts. Ardolino is a regular in the art show circuit, exhibiting at the finest Florida shows and some festivals outside Florida. A significant body of her work is on display through March 14 at the Art Gallery at Melange, 250 E. Park Ave. in historic downtown Lake Wales. Melange is offering a number of abstract originals,...
Traveling by car in Central Florida in 1929 wasn't easy. In the late 1920s, many Florida roads were clay. Yet, thousands of cars full of curious people headed to Lake Wales to see the President of the United States and to see Edward Bok's Bird Sanctuary. On Feb. 1, 1929, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, now known as Bok Tower Gardens. It was a very rare occasion to see the President in those days. To have the opportunity to...
Tom Freeman turned 93 years old on October 19, 2018. Who is Tom Freeman? Well, he's kind of a legend around here - a Lake Wales treasure. He's somewhat of a renaissance man: an artist, poet, farmer, educator, businessman, war hero, golfer, historian, fisherman, storyteller, wildlife expert and activist. His life is an inspiration to many, and his art is a fabulous and important legacy. As are many, I am honored to know Mr. Freeman, and I am grateful for the privilege of...
