December 2012.         

Winter Arts Festival.   December 1 & 2nd.

The Winter Arts Festival on Dearborn Street coincided with the last 2 days of the Vietnam Traveling Wall, which was erected on the grounds of Pioneer Park. Both events benefited from the other, which ensured that both events had excellent turnouts.
We are fortunate to have a number of outstanding local artists living in the Englewood area and they, along with many other artists bring selected works with them for display and sale. The mediums the artists use range from oil, watercolors, photography. wood carving, jewelery, stone, ceramics, sculpturing and gem stones.
The above work of art was created by Ben Essenburg, one of the organizers of this event along with James Sears who produces amazing bronze sculptures. I previously did an article on Pat Foss who's medium is 3-Dimensional paper sculpture producing a very unique picture. I plan on doing a series of interviews with some of these locals, so look for them in the future.  In the mean time, see some of the items on display at the art show by CLICKING HERE.

Vietnam Traveling Wall.

The Vietnam Traveling Wall spent 5 days in Englewood and during that time period over 8,000 people visited the site.

Vietnam Traveling Wall

On Saturday morning, a memorial service was held at the site with over 2,000 people in attendance. This was the last appearance of the wall for 2012 and at the conclusion of the event, the wall returned to it's home in Cocoa, Brevard County. In all, the Wall made 18 visits across the country ..... Englewood .... You made us proud.

Christmas Parade Downtown.

Santa arrived early on Dearborn Street to the delight of kids of all ages. A parade was also held. Here are a few shots from the evening of the 14th.

   

November 2012

Halloween Safe Walk.

For a some time Dearborn Street is THE place for families to "Trick or Treat" on Halloween - the street is closed to traffic, local police presence is visible and all the candy is pre-inspected to ensure that it is safe. As a result, hundreds of families come downtown to fill their bags.

The variety of costumes ranged from inspired to unique, store bought and home made, all combining to make this one of the really fun events of the year.  We even had Ichabod Crane, the headless horseman, riding his horse downtown.
Many revelers brought their pets with them, also dressed in costume, and there was a contest hosted by Paws and Claws for the best costumed pet.
Head on over to the Englewoodfl.us website to see some of the other youngsters, and not so young, dressed to kill.

 Cruizin on Dearborn

The first Saturday of every month is Cruizin on Dearborn, where collectors of classic cars bring their pride and joy to the downtown area to show them off to the public.
It is obvious that a lot of investment of time and money have been put into these automobiles and they are well worth seeing.
There are always a significant number of Chevrolets, Fords, Corvettes, Pontiacs, among the "normal" domestic cars plus quite a few exotic machines such as AC Cobras, Panthers, hotrods and other muscle cars.

Krazy Biker Katz Bikefest.

On Saturday 6th the Krazy Biker Katz Bikefest was held in Englewood. Proceeds from the event went to EARS, a non-profit, no kill, shelter for animals located on 145 W. Dearborn Street.

Entertainment was provided from 11am - 5pm with vendors selling food, beer,  displays of custom cycles and antiques.


One of the vendors was Custom Cycles of Venice. Pictured on the left is Heather Davern aboard one of Weston Davern's creations, The Pirate.
Another sponsor was Black Widow Harley Davidson of Port Charlotte.
More information and photographs are shown on hppt://www.englewoodfl.us.

Ole Time Cafe.

On Dearborn Street the Ole Time Cafe has taken over the space vacated by the Cafe de  la Bay so once again dining is available under the great oak tree in the center of downtown. New owners, Mildred Paulsen and her daughter Patricia Frink, are long time residents of Englewood are bringing back good old-fashioned cooking.
Ole Time Cafe is open from 07:30 to 2pm every day with freshly baked bread, home made soups, salads, burgers and sandwiches. For workers stopping in for breakfast, Mildred and Patricia would be happy to pack your lunch to go from the lunch menu.

Gasparilla Inn & Club.  Boca Grande.

The Gasparilla Inn and Club in Boca Grande opened
up it's doors on Oct. 10th to preview the upcoming island
season that starts Oct. 11.
On display were the newly refurbished entry area, the
Presidential Suite and living room.
Executive chef Peter Timmins and his staff prepared
hors d'oeuvres for the crowd that filed through the Inn to
the kitchen area.
The Inn's newest shopping venue, the Inn Boutique,
was open featuring designer resort wear and jewelry.

Ricaltini's .     Placida Road,  Grove City.

After a few months of construction Ricaltini's opened it's doors this week and the newly paved parking lot was full. Fortunately additional parking is available across the street.
Formerly E.J. Fishbones Grille, Ricaltini's has taken the outside area and made it an undercover patio area that seems to be the favorite area to enjoy the food and drinks.
As the name implies, this restaurant is mainly Italian dishes with an assortment of Pizzas, Calzones and Stromboli along with Pasta, Ravioli, Chicken or Veal Parmesan, however they also  serve Hamburgers, Subs,  Ribeye Steak and Prime Rib Dinners.

 Buchan Field Fly-in.

The Buchan Field Fly-in was very well attended. On the right is a Navy N3N-3 built in 1941 and one of a number of vintage aircraft on display.
Also on display were experimental aircraft as well as conventional light aircraft. It was good to see that families with young children were there giving them an education in aviation.
There were also display booths from various local civic organization, such as The Historic Society, the Arts Alliance, and the Civil Air Patrol to name a few. 
The breakfast tent was doing a brisk business not only
for the people who flew in but also for a large percentage of the spectators.
For a more pictures from the event visit www.englewoodfl.us and look at PAST EVENTS.

September 2012

Hurricane / Tropical Storm Isaac.

Once again Englewood was spared the brunt of the storm and the result was winds of about 30 mph, less than 3 inches of rain and a storm surge that did not top my seawall. I took some pictures at the main beach at high tide on Monday, Sept 27th, when Isaac was passing Englewood … at high tide. School was cancelled in advance as a safety precaution and some people where at the beach to see how the beach was affected.


A young lady attempted to take her paddle board out in the surf. I don’t know how she planned to stand up on the board, or what she was planning on doing, after taking a full frontal from on incoming wave, you can see her trudging down the beach to rescue the board.



The storm surge left the boats in the canal resting in the mud and when the tide came in it actually covered the dock across the canal.

Lemon Bay High School.

Lemon Bay High School is in the midst of a
huge change. Single story classrooms are being replaced with 3 story buildings, shown on the right. Classes are designed around a maximum of 25 students per class and the structure now means no more environmental concerns going from one class to another. Classrooms have all modern teaching aids built in, an educators paradise.

The first building constructed was the gymnasium, the Home of the Manta Rays, and has a number of basketball games played there.
The cost of construction for the new Lemon Bay High School is estimated to be around $40 million and shows a commitment to the education of Englewood students.

Changes in the Business Landscape.

On Dearborn Street the Cafe de la Bay closed it’s doors. We wish the Kennedy’s success wherever they are going. Also closing is J & J Cafe on South McCall Rd.   Ricaldees has closed it’s location on South McCall Rd. and is updating a new location and will open under another name.  More on that in the next blog.
Newly opened is the ParrotFish Grille located at 2639 Placida Road in Grove City, formerly the home of Zydeco Grill. The ParrotFish Grille specializes in seafood; however, also has other items, such as steaks, salads, sandwiches and hamburgers rounding out their menu. A full service bar is available. Takeouts can be ordered by calling (941) 460-8081 or place your order with the hostess.

Pioneer Day Celebrations.

The cardboard boat races take place at Indian Mound park on September 1 from 9am to Noon while September 3rd is the day for the Pioneer Days Parade (from 9am to 11am).  This years theme is “Hats off to Englewood”, so expect lots of photos in the Past Events section, under the “What to Do” tab of www.englewoodfl.us .

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Pat Foss, local Englewood artist, displaying her art on Dearborn Street.

June 2012

Artwork of Pat Foss.

Pat agreed to meet me at her house in Rotonda West to discuss how she produces paper tole, 3 dimensional art.
I have shown many an art show on my website, http://www.englewoodfl.us, and one of the artists that is unique in her presentation is Pat Foss.  A visitor to the website asked if I would do an interview with Pat to talk about her paper tole, 3 Dimensional art.
Pat explained that paper tole was an art form that was very popular in the 1970’s and there were not a lot of people who were doing this in this present day.
Pat started her craft in 1999 and has created hundreds of 3 dimensional art. She joined the Englewood Arts Club who asked her if she would like to represent the club at a showing of art at Edison College, where she sold her first picture.  She was hooked at that point and then began to look for places to show her art around the area. Her art has been displayed in shows on Dearborn Street over the years, in local banks, at the Englewood Playhouse and the Marie Selby Gardens.
Pat has been self-taught until taking her first class this year, where she learned some new techniques which she has incorporated in her craft.  The new techniques include the use of crushed glass, which produces a sparkling effect, and producing simulated bark on a tree, which created a lot of admiring comments from visitors to her display of 2 Blue Jays in a tree.  Pat starts the work with about 12 copies of a picture, the number of copies depends on the depth of final product, the more copies the deeper the effect which also results on a larger frame to hold the picture.  She builds up the picture by adding layers to the base copy, cutting out sections with an X-acto knife, then coloring the back side and the edges with markers so that no white sections of the paper show, adding seamlessly to the depth of picture when added in layers. Final trimming of the cutout section is done, with a small pair of cuticle scissors, before being glued on the base with an acid-free craft silicone. The base copy becomes the background and you build up the picture to the middle ground and the most detail (and parts) to the foreground.
Pat has been teaching her craft for 7 years at the Arts Center and will be starting new classes in October.  Pat’s classes will be limited to 5 students, so that each student can receive individual attention. The classes will be divided up into 3 groups – Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced – with the Beginner and Intermediate classes lasting 1 day , all supplies provided (with the exception of the frame) and the student goes home at the end of the day with a finished picture. The Advanced class will feature a 8 x 20 picture of a Blue Heron and is accomplished over a number of days which including homework. The last day with Pat includes showing the students how to put the paper backing on to complete a stunning portrait.
For more information on classes contact Pat Foss at:
frostbite51@comcast.net or call  (941) 662-7191
Visit Pat’s website at http://www.pfpapersculpture.com to view Pat’s art.

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