The Rockin’ Freedom Fest is coming to MLK Park on July 3rd, and we’re looking for amazing food trucks and food vendors to bring delicious eats to this patriotic celebration!
This is an application-based process, and vendors will be selected by parks, Recreation & Culture staff at the close of the application deadline. Apply here: https://ow.ly/G49R50VuLyJ
Application Deadline: May 16, 2025
Don’t miss your chance to serve up great food while celebrating freedom and community! Apply today to be part of the fun!
For more information, contact the Parks, Recreation & Culture Office at (863) 291-5656.
The Winter Haven Fire Department is back on scene with a recurring structure fire near Ave L NE and E Lake Silver Drive NE. There is heavy smoke in the area which may impact visibility. Please avoid the area if possible.
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Original post
April 10, 2025 – 10:02 a.m. traffic alert
Winter Haven Fire Department is currently working a structure fire at Avenue L NE and E Lake Silver Drive NE. There is smoke in the area causing some traffic delays. Please avoid the area if possible. There are no known injuries at this time.
HAINES CITY – Target is making its way to Haines City, marking the first of many retailers set to join the Crossroads Village Center (CVC), a major new mixed-use development currently under construction. Officials are calling the center a key part of the city’s economic growth.
Located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 27 and Highway 17, the 120-acre CVC is being developed by Blue Mountain Group (BMG). The center will feature a combination of retail spaces, residential areas, and more, serving as a central hub for the region.
At today’s groundbreaking ceremony, Syed Raza, Director of BMG, shared that there is intense competition among major retailers to secure space in the development. “We have more Letters of Interest (LOIs) than available space,” Raza said, emphasizing the demand for this project.
The center will offer a total of 400,000 square feet of retail space, with Phase 1 covering 300,000 square feet. Target will anchor the development, taking up half of this space, while other junior retailers will fill the remaining area.
Phase 1 is slated for completion in Fall 2026, with both Target and the junior stores set to open in October 2026. Following that, Phase 2 will begin in early 2027 and will include additional retail stores, condominiums, hotels, and possibly an assisted living facility.
“We are building a power center that will generate hundreds of jobs and millions in trade,” Raza said.
The project faced significant challenges during its early stages. In 2017, securing approval from the Department of Transportation and the Southwest Florida Water Management District was a lengthy process, but the project eventually gained approval, just in time for the pandemic. “We’ve overcome a lot to get here. After the pandemic, we had to start over, but we had a great team behind us. This is truly a team effort,” Raza reflected.
The site also presented substantial environmental hurdles. Over 50 acres of wetlands, with muck up to 25 feet deep, had to be excavated. In addition, hundreds of truckloads of sand were brought in, including sand from a 14-acre man-made lake on the property.
“Our vision is to create a village-like environment where people can live, shop, and enjoy walking around the lake,” Raza added.
City officials are equally optimistic about the development’s potential. Haines City Mayor Omar Arroyo said, “This project represents more than just new buildings — it reflects our commitment to listening to residents and responding with transformative growth. We are excited about the economic impact, job creation, and the sense of community pride this development will bring.”
Maureen Helen Thurston, beloved wife, mom, nana, sister, and friend, passed away peacefully on Friday, April 4, 2025 at the age of 85.
Maureen was a self-proclaimed snowbird who shared the past 24 winters in Nalcrest, Florida with her husband, Paul, and enjoyed the warmer months at their beautiful home in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Born on September 19, 1939 in Boston to the late Herman and Helen Schreffler, Maureen was known for her warmth and kindness to others. She found joy in sculpting her outdoor living spaces, trimming grass, pulling weeds, planting flowers, spreading mulch, and forever straitening cobble stones. She was a dedicated mom to her two sons and caregiver to a host of neighborhood children. She served the Plymouth community as a teller for the Mayflower Bank, was an active member of American Legion Post 40, Past Commander of the DAV Auxiliary Chapter 72, and enjoyed outings with her cherished Red Hat Society. She was a member of Saint Peters Catholic Church and taught faith formation in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Maureen is survived by her husband of 64 years, Paul William Thurston; sons, Paul William Thurston, Jr. and wife Tracy of Greenwich, New York, Michael Thurston and wife Anne of Bel Air, Maryland; sisters, Kathleen Turgeon and husband Richard of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, Arleen Parker and husband Danny of Fort Myers, Lorraine Callahan and husband Dan of Norton, Massachusetts; eight grandchildren, Paul III, Andrew, Alex, Sam, Megan, Rebecca, Emma, and Joseph; and one great-grandchild, Fiver.
A celebration of life will be held at the Nalcrest Community Center on Saturday April 11, from 1:00 – 3:00 PM. A second celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts and inurnment at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Massachusetts will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation
AdventHealth is advancing plans to establish a comprehensive medical complex on approximately 218 acres near 3838 Harden Boulevard in South Lakeland. The Altamonte Springs-based healthcare system acquired the land for $14 million in November 2024.
The proposed development includes a 400-bed, 10-story hospital equipped with a helipad for medical air transport. Adjacent to the hospital, plans feature a free-standing emergency department, a 200,000-square-foot medical office building, a rehabilitation facility, structured parking, and a central energy plant.
Beyond medical facilities, the project envisions 204,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, as well as a 250-unit apartment complex, aiming to create a mixed-use environment that integrates healthcare services with residential and commercial amenities.
In September 2024, the Lakeland City Commission approved the necessary zoning changes to facilitate this development. This decision followed discussions addressing potential traffic impacts on Harden Boulevard, a concern raised by both commissioners and local residents. Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley expressed reservations about increased congestion, noting the area’s existing traffic challenges.
To mitigate traffic concerns, plans include conducting updated traffic studies and coordinating with the Florida Department of Transportation for necessary roadway improvements. The development also designates 61 acres for conservation, preserving natural habitats and addressing environmental considerations.
Site Area Map (Provided by Drummond Company)
AdventHealth aims to commence construction with the free-standing emergency department, targeting operational readiness within three years. The broader hospital complex is anticipated to open by 2027, enhancing healthcare accessibility for South Lakeland and surrounding communities.
This initiative reflects AdventHealth’s commitment to expanding its presence in Polk County, where it has operated since 2019. The new Lakeland facility will complement the system’s existing network of hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, and other healthcare services throughout the region.
As the project progresses, AdventHealth plans to engage with local stakeholders to address ongoing concerns and ensure the development aligns with community needs and expectations.
Neurodivergent Diversions: A Column about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
by James Coulter
For nearly 25 years, Arthur has been a ground-breaking animated show that has touched upon challenging topics including trauma, cancer, death, and even social disorders like dyslexia and autism.
In the case of the latter, the show explored and discussed autism in the episode, “When Carl Met George (or “George and the Missing Puzzle Piece”), which premiered on PBS on Dec. 3, 2010.
The episode introduced the bunny character of Carl, one of the first characters with Autism in a children’s animated show. Even 15 years later, this episode offers one of the best explanations of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ADS), allowing anyone to better understand the social disorder.
When Carl Met George
The episode begins with the moose character George meeting Carl at the community center. George sees Carl putting together a puzzle, which George initially mistakes for a spaceship.
Carl corrects him, explaining it’s a bullet train, not a spaceship. He then begins talking about how fast the train travels, how it rides on magnets, and how the picture in the puzzle is inaccurate to how the train appears in real life.
Here, Carl is “info dumping”, which is when someone (usually a person with Autism) shares a large amount of information about a topic of interest, often in great detail, and sometimes unprompted. George never asked anything about trains. He only said the train in the puzzle looks nice. But Carl was more than willing to share everything he knew about it.
George introduces himself and extends a hand for a shake. Carl continues assembling his puzzle, almost as if he is ignoring George. He rarely, if ever, makes eye contact.
When George asks if they can hang out together, Carl asks, “Hang out of what?” George then asks if Carl is pulling his leg. Carl answers that he’s not because he’s putting together a puzzle. George then says goodbye, but Carl does not reply.
This interaction shows how people with Autism often struggle with “pragmatic language”, which is the ability to use language appropriately in social situations. In other words, it’s knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it.
As such, people with Autism often struggle to make eye contact, interpret social cues, and understand figurative language like idioms or metaphors. It’s why Carl acts the way he does toward George.
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Arthur’s Awesome Autism Analogy
However, George doesn’t understand. He thinks Carl was acting “strange.” He even feels Carl is ignoring him because he doesn’t like him.
Later, George visits another friend, Brain, at the ice cream shop. Upon telling him how Carl was acting, The Brain explains Carl has Asperger’s Syndrome (an outdated term for Autism Spectrum Disorder).
Brain knows about the disorder because his uncle also has it. His uncle is a professor who’s brilliant about physics but awkward in social situations. “He has a lot of trouble being around people,” Brain says. “His brain just works differently. What’s normal to us can seem really strange to him.”
The brain then goes on to offer the following analogy, which does an excellent job explaining Autism:
Imagine you crashed landed on an alien planet. It looks like Earth, but there are a lot of differences.
For one, a lot of people seem to talk extremely loudly. And even though you speak the same language, you sometimes have a hard time understanding what they mean. And things that seem hilarious to you aren’t funny at all to them.
You wish the scientists on Earth had given you a guidebook to this strange planet, but they forgot to pack one. So you have to try to learn things all on your own. Maybe there’s one thing in particular that captures your interest, and you study just that.
Hopefully, the people on the planet get to understand you a little better. And you might even learn to fit in, but you will always feel a little bit different.
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Still A Great Episode
This episode aired nearly 15 years ago, and its analogy for Autism still holds up. It’s a great way to explain Autism to other people, and it teaches them how to better empathize with people with Autism and to understand that autistic people aren’t acting “strange” or “rude”, just different.
In fact, the only aspect of the show that hasn’t aged well is that ASD is referred to as Asperger’s Syndrome. The term is no longer used, as the physician it was named after, Hans Asperger, was discovered to have actively assisted with the Nazi’s euthanasia program.
Even then, the episode still holds up, and it serves as a great tool to help people without Autism better understand people with it.
Victory Ridge Academy, a public charter school for special-needs children, is opening up a new campus in Davenport.
A campus already exists in Lake Wales, but the population growth of Polk County in general has precipitated a need for expansion. The school’s executive director, Steve Whitaker says “We have such a need in the Davenport area. Not only do we have about 70 kids that we’re busing…They’re on the bus for so long, but just the population growth in general.”
“So I would just drive around all the time, finding, like, churches and then happened to find a grove that was not even for sale. Called the owner, and he was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’ So we ended up getting it for about 50% of the price.” The new campus covers 9 acres and is designed to be more intimate than the spread-out buildings in Lake Wales. To Whitaker, this smaller size is an advantage as the wealth of students and the hands-on assistance they need can be more efficiently accommodated.
An aerial of the Davenport site, under construction.
To parents of disabled children, it may be something to look into. The school accepts children who require level 4 or level 5 assistance with their education and there is no cost for admittance. With the included behavior programs and therapy services, the idea is to help kids through their education and eventually transition them to the larger world as teenagers. That transition period specifically is key to Whitaker’s aspirations for this new campus.
The campus’ spacious gym under construction. Planned to be multi-purpose.
Funding for Victory Ridge is covered by the state and voluntary donations. This new campus’s gym, Whitaker speculates, could be a one-two punch for extra funding and furthering teens’ development. “It’s just a large building itself. It doesn’t have the bleachers like a traditional gym, so it’s spread out so you can do other events. But then our students can work parking, they can work food service, they can work helping clean up, they can be there.” Whitaker notes that while other schools close on the weekends, Victory Ridge can use this space to rent out events to the community, and have students in their transition program work those events to develop job skills. He elaborates, “We have partnerships with Publix, Hampton Inn, Care Center, AdventHealth. A lot of these groups where our kids are getting internships and getting skill sets to be able to go into the workforce.”
But as Victory Ridge’s staff works tirelessly to prepare students for the future, what of the school’s own future? The plan, as it stands now, is to cover all four corners of Polk County. If the Davenport campus succeeds, perhaps we’ll see more, but how many is determined most importantly by one thing: “the need from the families.” Whitaker says. “If we can help people and we can figure out the means to do it, then why not do it? Why not us do it?”
This morning, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, four seniors from Lake Wales High School made big commitments to both their sports and educational futures.
LWHS football players Amanuel Tarver, Jayden Johnson, Russell Watts, and Jeremiah Telot, each signed a letter of intent for their colleges of choice in a ceremony at the high school gym.
Amanuel Tarver at the LWHS signing event. Credit: Maria Iannucci
Tarver, #7, cornerback for LWHS, has signed with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Oklahoma.
Jayden Johnson at the LWHS signing event. Credit: Maria Iannucci
Johnson, #3, who plays free safety, slotback, and running back positions, is the son of LWHS head varsity football coach Tavaris Johnson. Jayden has signed with Warner University in Lake Wales.
Russell Watts at the LWHS signing event. Credit: Maria Iannucci
Watts, #57, team captain who plays center and defensive end, has signed with Samford University in Alabama.
Jeremiah Telot at the LWHS signing event. Credit: Maria Iannucci
Telot, #28, who plays defensive end, has also signed with Warner University in Lake Wales.
Parents, friends, and family were in attendance to mark the occasion. 
For the third year, Rockin on the Chain rocked out for a good cause with good music and food at Tanner’s Lakeside.
For three days, Tanner’s Lakeside in Winter Haven hosted the annual music festival benefiting Autism and special needs.
Nearly two dozen local bands and musicians performed live music along the scenic shores of Lake May on the Chain of Lakes in Winter Haven.
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This year’s lineup included local stars like Korey Ketchum, Kai7en, Jim & Judy Taylor, the Josh Blevins Bands, and the Jason Green Band.
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Local musician Joey Foley not only performed live music on Friday evening, but he also served as the master of ceremonies over the weekend.
As a member of the committee who helped organize the even ever since its inception, Joey Foley was more than pleased with this year’s turnout.
“It always meets expectations,” he said. “I am asked that question every year, and my answer is that it is always amazing. We are doing a great job to make sure things happen. We expect no less than success and that is what we always have.”
John Straughn started the annual music festival as a spin-off of a former event, Rockin on the River, which had also served to raise proceeds benefiting Autism and special needs.
Straughn was more than pleased with this year’s turnout. He appreciates how the local community comes together to have fun and raise funds and awareness for a good cause.
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“It has been amazing,” he said. “It is beyond our expectations. We have had good community support with sponsorships, it is a free event for people to go in and make raffles. It has been a positive experience.”
Proceeds from the event will go toward the Winter Hospital Haven Foundation. Mary Beth Corwith, Director of Community Outreach, loved seeing the fundraiser be as successful in raising funds and awareness for a cause she strives for.
“I appreciated the community and the people involved for giving their time and giving back to our community,” she said. “I am thrilled to be part of this event and group. The people leading it are exceptional, and that shows everyone who sets foot here that they are dedicated to the cause.”
Brack Shack
Aside from good music, the event also provided good food with vendors including barbecue by the Brack Shack and burgers and soul food by Sassy Sugie.
Sassy Sugie
Melissa Browne, who runs Sassy Sugie, appreciates how the event benefited special needs. Her own 4-year-old granddaughter (who gave her the affectionate nickname Sugie) has Autism.
“This event is very dear to our heart because she is autistic,” Browne said. “The event is amazing!”
Bruce the Balloon Guy
The event also provided a kid’s zone, which included a bounce house and several small carnival-style games. Tim Bonifay and his wife helped supervise that area. Both of them keep returning to help with the event because they love to see so many folks happy for a good cause.
“We love to give back to the community,” he said. “We love seeing smiles on the kid’s faces when they play the games, and knowing this is going to help somebody in the future.”
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Melanie Brown Culpepper has also been assisting with the event since its inception three years ago. As someone who assists with many other local fundraisers, including her own non-profit Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation, she jumps at any opportunity to help her community.
“This year has been better than the last two years. It has gotten bigger and bigger,” she said. “It is absolutely an amazing turnout and a good day. We could not have asked for a better group of people coming together to make this happen.”
Hop on over to Camp Margaritaville in Auburndale on Saturday, April 19, 2025, for an unforgettable Easter celebration! From 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM EST, families can enjoy a festive Bunny Brunch that’s perfect for all ages.
Photo source Camp Margaritaville Auburndale
The event kicks off at 10:00 AM with fun games, activities, and a bounce house for the kids. Young guests under 12 will have the chance to craft their own Stuff-a-Plush, included with admission. At 10:30 AM, the Easter Bunny makes a special appearance, offering a magical character dining experience.
Brunch includes delicious food, complimentary coffee and orange juice, with optional beverages and cocktails available for purchase. After the meal, enjoy storytime with the Easter Bunny, followed by a thrilling Easter egg hunt. Don’t forget to capture the moment with a professional photo with the Bunny!
Ticket options are available for all ages, with special packages for children and adults. Children under 1 year old can participate in activities and receive a Stuff-a-Plush without brunch. Tickets are non-refundable, and all sales are final.
Join us for a day filled with Easter fun, games, and memories that will last a lifetime. See you at Paradise Pavilion on April 19th!
