Joker Marchant Stadium Hosts Inagural Unicorn Festival

by James Coulter

The unicorn is the rarest of God’s creatures, yet visitors to Joker Marchant Stadium last Friday evening had the opportunity to see for themselves the fabled one-horned horse—or at least the facsimile of one.

The inaugural Unicorn Festival that evening allowed guests of all ages, especially young girls, to engage in unicorn-related activities, including a petting zoo with several animals. One of these animals was a horse decorated with a horn on its head, imitating a unicorn so fluffy that you’d want to die!

The petting zoo that evening was provided by Pretty Ponies, which provides such animals for birthday parties, church functions, school outings, and other events across Central Florida from Ocala to Fort Myers. The small business also offered other activities including face painting, snow cones, and cotton candy.

Storm Elliot, co-owner of Pretty Ponies, was inspired to start the business back in 2001. Her mother would drive a school bus, and one of the children was planning a cowboy party. Since Elliot and her mother had animals, they decided to bring several along. They have been facilitating such events ever since, she said.

“These events are perfect for us,” she said. “We get a lot of interaction with the community, making the kids happy is our number one thing, we always want to make the kids happy, it is always about the kids.”

The Unicorn Festival was hosted for the first time ever at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland on Friday evening. Attendees could pet a unicorn and several other animals at the petting zoo, have their faces painted like unicorns, and try their luck tossing rings onto a unicorn’s horn.

“Unicorns are the new thing [for little girls], and it is very trendy right now, so why not make it a night for our promotional event,” said Chimere Butler, Group Sales Manager.

Butler helps coordinate many of the theme nights at the stadium, which allows attendees to enjoy several activities along with the scheduled baseball game featuring the home team, the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

Partnering with the event were the Girl Scouts, who not only help assist with the event that evening, but also provide more exposure for their troop and organization.

Toni Collelo, Membership Manager for Polk County, and her organization have been partners and close friends with the stadium. They were more than pleased to help that evening, interacting with the young girls and their families, many of whom expressed interest in joining the scouts.

“We want…to see Girl Scouts in action,” she said. “We are friends with the stadium, we have a good partnership with them. It was a great event, and we look forward to it next year…Girls love unicorns. It was very nice, we had a great turnout, we had some newcomers to girl scouts, and our girls had a good experience.”

Occurring concurrently with that evening’s event was First Responder’s Night, with several members of local emergency and rescue services, including the Polk Sheriff’s Office and Lakeland Fire Department, to showcase their vehicles, host demonstration, and offer information about their services.

Evry Manley, Communication and Education Assistant, loves being able to attend to educate young people about what she does for a living. She especially loves being able to spark interest among young girls, as it helps inspire more women like herself.

“I love any event that I can interact with the kids and show them all that we can do,” she said. “It is cool for them to see that…especially with the girl scout troops here. We want to give out the message that women can be firefighters too. And that is something we did with the campaign last year.”

Mojo Federal Wins First Place At Eighth Annual Wing Ding

by James Coulter

MOJO Federal Swine & Spirits may have only been open for a year, but this new Lakeland eatery has already made it big by winning first place at several local wing competitions, including the eighth annual Wing Ding at Joker Marchant Stadium on last Thursday evening.

By receiving one extra point over its competition in the popular vote, MOJO managed to reach first place that evening. Earlier that year, the team had also won the title of King Of Wings At the Annual Citizens Bank & Trust Luau Business After Hours.

The secret to their success? Their wings are prepared with a special dry rub before being slowly smoked for 14 hours until nice and tender, explained Josh Moran, Mojo Manager.

“Lot of work goes into them, and people just love them,” he said.

This was the first Mojo participated in this year’s Wing Ding competition, hosted by the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. As such, winning first place during their first year came as quite the pleasant surprise, Moran said.

“We are still a young restaurant in the town, and we are hoping to come up in the roll,” Moran said. “We can’t wait to do it again next year…Nice to come down to the home town, put on a show, and see a nice baseball game, and come out and win.”

MOJO attended alongside nearly a dozen other local eateries including Duke’s Winghouse, Mission BBQ, and Bedrock’s. All teams participated to serve samples of their wings and to see who would walk away as the best.

Attendees at the event each received a poker chip that they could use to vote for their favorite wings. The team that received the most chips were declared the winner by popular vote and received a trophy for first, second, or third place depending on their ranking. MOJO won first place, with Smokin Aces winning second place and Bedrock’s winning third.

With 12 other eateries competing that evening, this year’s saw participation more than double from previous events, explained Dan Lauer, Assistant General Manager of Joker Marchant Stadium.

“It is exceeding expectations,” Moran said. “[We had a] great crowd, great night, great weather, so we are very excited about it.”

Wing Ding has been hosted for the past eight years. Since its inception, it has served as a charity fundraiser for Camp Fire, a local non-profit organization that helps children “find their spark within” to become the best person they can be by teaching them problem-solving skills and a respect for the environment.

“We are really set on helping our kids learning to be what they want to be and to help give them a better world, teach them how to make that world a better place, [and] helping kids find their spark and become the best version of themselves,” said Nate Chappell, Assistant General Coordinator.

Camp Fire has been helping facilitate the event since it first started eight years ago. Proceeds from the tickets sold at the event go towards their organization. They, in turn, assist with the event by having their children lead the national anthem and by offering information about their organization through their booth.

Chappell attended the event for the first time this year, and it managed to more than exceed his expectations. He loved being able to see everyone, especially the children in his organization, enjoy the event and its festivities.

“It has been a lot of fun so far, the wings are awesome, we have a good turnout, so it is a pretty good event,” he said. “I think the variety coming out and supporting our local community, it shows how Lakeland is growing, and also how people in Lakeland really care about our kids and the culture of our community altogether.”

Lakeland Skies Go Red, White, & Kaboom For 16th Year

by James Coulter

The skies over Lakeland may have been booming with thunder and lightning on Wednesday evening, but rain clouds kept their distance long enough for the sky to boom with red, white, and blue fireworks.

For the 16th consecutive year, Downtown Lakeland celebrated Independence Day with fireworks, festivities, and fine music during its annual Red, White, And Kaboom event at the Frances Langford Promenade.

Hundreds of local residents crowded around Lake Mirror for an evening of live entertainment, great food provided by local food trucks, and other fun activities all capped off with the fireworks show shortly after sundown.

Even though the weather forecast that evening called for showers and thunderstorms, the rain managed to stay away long enough for the sky to light up with fireworks of all colors.

Elizabeth Hollida, Digital Content Specialist for City of Lakeland, surveyed social media to comb feedback on the event. While she received several concerns about potential rain and doubts about the fireworks display that evening, most of the remaining feedback proved much more optimistic.

“I think it is really good,” she said. “Usually, if there are issues, we start hearing about it on social media. We haven’t heard anything about any event-related [problems]. That is always the first place you hear those things.”

Christina Camp, an administrative assistant helping with the event, also concurred that most feedback about the event was positive. Of course, one only had to look up from their phones and around at the crowd to see that, she said.

“Look around, look at the people, they are happy, families are dancing, food is being eaten, no issues that we have heard of,” she said.

Taking advantage of the large crowds that evening were Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE), a local non-profit organization that assists local senior citizens, which had several volunteers scout the event for donations of canned goods and money. The event even allowed visitors to make a donation through their phones by texting “Feed Lakeland” to the number “50155.”

Steve Bissonnette, VISTE President, mentioned how his organization has visited the event in the past seeking similar donations. Last year, they managed to raise $500 and received 1,000 pounds in canned goods, and they expected to surpass that this year, he said.

“This is a great night for our country,” he said. “[We are] celebrating our independence. And we are here helping celebrate as a reminder to people that, as seniors age in our community, their independence is dependent upon us and our willingness to help them out.”

Many residents visited the event and enjoyed it in their own unique ways. Some people simply set up chairs and picnic blankets on the lawn to enjoy the camaraderie. Others played lawn games with corn holes and flying discs.

One local resident, Shani Lynn, decided to capture the artistic essence of the event by painting a scene of the Frances Langford Promenade. A painter for 15 years, she has always tested her skills by trying her hands at new subjects, she said.

She and her fiancée have been living in the city since February. She loves the city, and finds it very beautiful, making it the perfect subject for her art, she said.

“People get excited when they see a painting in action, so that is great,” she said. “The lake and this place [are] beautiful. I am hoping to get a good painting out of it.”