Winter Wonderland Comes To Clearwater For The 24th Year

Just because it isn't naturally wintry in a place, it does not mean that you don't want the traditional trappings of Christmas to take over the month of December. If you live in Florida, where the sun is usually always shining, and sand is more likely than snow, you have to make your own. The weather might get a little cooler, but you are unlikely to have real snow falling on you.

Every year, since 1993 Santa has been visiting Clearwater for Winter Wonderland, in an event jointly sponsored by the Clearwater Community Volunteers and the Church Of Scientology. Winter Wonderland creates a really great environment for kids and their families to experience the ambiance of Santa's home and what it might be like, while providing games and food and other entertainment.

Come And See Santa And Go On The Rides!

You can see from the faces of the people there that they really enjoy it, and it has been growing every year – a regular event on people's calendars that is often a lot of children's first experience of a big Christmas event, and their first time meeting Santa.

From December 2nd right through to December 22nd from 6-9pm Wednesdays through Sundays you can come and visit this great event.

At the event they also ask that you bring an item of non-perishable food and an unwrapped toy, that are then distributed to local charities. The lights and the atmosphere and the fun you can have has drawn people from all over the world to come and visit the Winter Wonderland, and this year will be no different.

As one of the top races in Tampa it has been run by people like Mark Allen, the six-time World Ironman Triathlon Champion, Ronnie Holassie, Dan Otz, and a whole host of others.   Over 200 volunteers help the race to happen, and the race also helps other local charities, such as Challenged Athletes Foundation, Pinellas County Youth Ranch, Operation PAR, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts.

Come along and show your support, and if you can take part!



Keanan Kintzel: Hello, who are you? Where are you from and what are you doing?

St Pete has the Firestone Grand Prix, where the streets are taken over every year by the fast moving race cars from the IndyCar Series, and you can barely move for the crowds, or hear yourself think for the noise.

Clearwater puts an interesting spin on the whole racing phenomenon, with it's annual Achieva Box Car Rally, which, this year, took place on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Trading in the noise of race cars for the excited crowd, drawn from all ages, there were a lot people in attendance.

The main course the drivers take starts at the intersection of Osceola and Cleveland, and continues west down Cleveland to the waterfront.

You had Pee-Wees (7-12), Teens (13-17), Adults (18 and older), High School (where the driver represented a high school), Corporate (representing a business or organization) and Auto (where they represented a business in the automotive industry).

It was a fun day for everyone

People like to build things. People like technology. Makers like to combine these two things and turn out some pretty interesting projects, ranging from 3D printing to even more complex projects.

It used to be a pretty fringe activity, and in some ways it still is. There have, however been robot fighting shows on TV and in the local area, that share some common interests, and other events as well. Barnes & Noble have held maker workshops for both adults and kids at their stores - making innovative use of the fact that they have a brick and mortar store. Writers like Warren Ellis have created groups in their stories that combine the ethos of maker groups with transhumanism, and some of that has moved into the real world as well, with people embedding magnets in their fingers, and such. A lot of local groups have sprung up, and the areas of expertise that they include is ever-expanding.

Gulf Coast Makers Consortium is a great resource for anyone interested in learning new skills or in making their skills available to others. Locally we have groups like St Pete Makers, and there is Backyard Workshop in Clearwater. Maker communities can have as their focus anything from producing food, to art, to 3D printers, to making available resources for adults and children alike who have a leaning towards STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

It doesn't take much digging around to find groups and events, and given the educational bent of most enterprises, a lot of schools are getting really interested in it, so if you have kids they may already know a fair bit about it. With this kind of thing going on, if you have any interest in science and technology, you should never be at a loss for what to do.

There is often a complaint from those in industry that schools do not hand them students that have any practical experience; they aren't prepared for life in the working world. This leads to many political discussions about the worth of education, and what can be done about it.

There are programs such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) designed to match education requirements to industry needs, which are doing a good job, and are also working to correct an imbalance in the number of boys versus girls in the system.

On a local level, Pinellas County is looking to introduce young children to computer coding.

A hundred bee-bots have been purchased by the district. They are simple little robots with arrows on them that the kids have to use to get the robot to an assigned square on a grid.

One of the schools taking part, Leila Davis Elementary School , in Clearwater, was interviewed by 10 News, and Kali Kopa, a teacher at the school who teaches technology, was very excited about the prospects this opens up for them. The bee-bot's simple functions prepare the children for the more complex challenges offered by coding.

It is a skill very much in command, and the Clearwater area, and the whole of Tampa Bay, is a hot bed for technology.

Tampa Bay is an area with a lot of different tech companies, as a quick Google search will reveal, and they cover a lot of different areas of interest. The intentionally fast-paced Ignite Tampa Bay event gives a great platform for both established and newer tech companies to get their ideas out there into the world.

20 different speakers deliver a speech and 20 slides in 5 minutes each, and it has included speakers from all over Tampa Bay.

It is a format that debuted in Seattle and is being brought to Tampa by Technova Florida, INc, which is Tampa based. The company is non profit and has as its mission a dedication to creating "resilient, radically inclusive tech and maker communities that empower positive change."

Next year will be its tenth year. This year included talks such as Technological Singularity: What Is It, and Will It Happen? by Steve Tingiris and Smart Innovation: What Can Government Learn from Startups? by Chris Paradies.

The event was sponsored by Fairwarning, from Clearwater, which offers "affordable cloud-based security solutions provide data protection and governance for Electronic Health Records, Salesforce, Office 365, and hundreds of other applications."

If you look at the archives it wouldn't be much of a leap to speculate about next year being just as cool and inspiring.

affordable cloud-based security solutions provide data protection and governance for Electronic Health Records, Salesforce, Office 365, and hundreds of other applications.

One of the things you don't expect a hurricane to prompt is the kind of disagreement that occurred between Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, and County Administrator Mike Merrill. As someone living in a place that, at the time, was expected to take a direct hit from Irma, you want a united front from the people in charge of deciding whether or not you should evacuate.

We were in Zone A, which should have been a mandatory evacuation, which the Mayor tried to order, but local government officials complained he had overstepped the boundaries of his authority, and so the order became instead a voluntary evacuation.

Obviously, Tampa was lucky, and Irma had both weakened, and also didn't hit directly, but it could have been a very different story, and thanks to conflicting messages a lot of people were not as prepared as they could have been.

The announcement from the Mayor on the Friday before Irma was due to hit directed people to the shelters that had been set up, but Hillsborough hadn't actually opened them at that point. Buckhorn issued a curfew; Merrill said there was none. This kind of problem is not without precedent, but it definitely needs to get handled. It is understood that Irma was downgrading as she hit Tampa, but the prediction was that it might have picked up speed and kept spinning fast enough to remain a category 4 - it was all dependent on whether it moved across the land and slowed down or moved across the water and picked up speed because of the heat in the water.

People, on the whole were great with each other, and despite the idea that everyone was in a state of panic, most people seemed calm and collected, and went about getting the things that they needed without incident. For sure, it was not the easiest thing getting gas, and water became scarce pretty quickly, as did canned goods, but it seemed that most people were better coordinated than the government officials.

Being gluten intolerant it isn't always the easiest thing to find a place to eat where you aren't limited to salads, which I personally get more than a little sick of. Variety definitely is the spice of life, especially when it comes to food. We were at a gig at the nearby Fubar, and we had a limited amount of time to find and choose and eat our food before the band we had come to see started playing.

The bar looked pretty trendy from the outside, and when we went inside the staff were really friendly. We sat down, they brought the menus, and we asked them what was good and gluten free. When you are told that everything in the place is gluten free apart from the beer at the bar, it is an unusual experience; raw, vegan, and gluten free - not something you are going to find in too many places. It's great because it means that instead of having to dig and cherry pick different parts of the menu to construct a custom menu that won't have you feeling bad for days after, you instead can choose anything you like.

Well, within reason. We were there late, and they had had a bit of a rush on, so our first choices weren't available. The barman was helpful, and he told us what they had and what was going to be easy and quick for him to prepare, and he made some recommendations based on his own favorites on the menu. When you genuinely see that the staff like eating their own food it is a definite good indicator. The Pad Thai was great, as was the soup - Gazpacho; and the kombucha, which they had on tap, really hit the spot.

I definitely want to go back there at some point - it was a relaxed atmosphere, the seating was comfortable, and the staff and the food make it a definite instant favorite.

Lions After Dark played their last gig this Saturday - it was a very celebratory gig, and I think most of the crowd were friends or family of the band, who have been an integral part of the St Pete music scene for a while now.

Maddie Pfeiffer opened with an acoustic set, which really showcased some of the aspects of her music which draw people in - powerful delivery coupled with great lyrics and a diamond cut melodicism. She was joined on stage by Scott Perez, Andrew Roden, and Kurt throughout this set. Maddie wasn't feeling particularly well, but you wouldn't have known from the performance.

The first support act was WD Han, and Spencer, Lea, and Cal brought some great punchy energy to the stage. WD Han are an exciting band to watch. You have Spencer's powerful vocals, coupled with some nice virtuoso turns on the guitar from Cal, and Lea's never less than impressive drumming. You get swept along watching and listening to them - Cal even gave us a little bit of a Hendrix thing (playing the guitar with his teeth).

I'm going to detour for a second to give some of my own personal history with the bands here - I used to work with Spencer and Maddie, and they were given to impromptu performances sometimes ... Spencer pulling out his guitar, and Maddie with a tiny wooden piano, and sometimes we would get previews of their latest tunes. I got hooked to the sound of both bands from that point, but scheduling issues meant I never got to see them live ... I just had the digital recordings for the longest time ... so, this was a real treat (and I got to pick up CDs as well).

So, the next act up was Kerry Courtney, who by his own account was in a transitional state with his band. They were the only band on the roster that I wasn't familiar with, but I really enjoyed their sound - which kind of reminded me of Jeff Buckley, but with a sensibility reminiscent of some melodic seventies rock band like The Byrds, or maybe The Band. I believe they played the longest set outside of Lions, and it was compelling throughout. I now have some of their music to listen to at home as well.

Lions After Darks last album Loud was a heavier effort than their previous outing - a new direction that translates really well to a live setting. It was interesting to see the band and understand what a captivating front-person Maddie is; I mean, if you speak to her you know she's whip-smart and funny, but she really commands the audience when she is up on that stage.

As a live band Lions After Dark really amp up the emotional rawness present in their music, and Kurt's pounding rhythms really drive that home. You watch the band up there on stage and you see how cohesive they are, and you can see the chemistry that always made their music so interesting. It's interesting when your first experience of a band playing live is their last gig, and I know I wasn't the only one experiencing this - you get pretty excited and then the bittersweet nature of the affair hits you.

The cool thing though? The thing that is patently obvious if you have been watching the band for any length of time at all - whatever anyone in this band does next, it is going to be something worth listening to. You can't cage that much energy - so maybe not so much a last roar, as just the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

Michael Minder is an experienced Custom Jeweler with an artistic background. Michael seized on the opportunity to own his own jewelry store in St. Petersburg, Florida when the owner of the store retired and sold him his business. He was a natural at it, when he transitioned into the ownership role. He is knowledgeable in his field and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. He not only shares this wisdom with clients but this is also one way Michael gives back to the community by helping new jewelers. He has amazing customer service skills and wants the customer to be happy when they buy a piece of original custom jewelry from him. Michael has a friendly welcoming shop in Largo on Belcher, near Ulmerton Road. This friendly shop isn’t just custom jewelry, its a place where you know you get value.

On Saturday 30th of May I had the chance to take part in a really great event designed to aid with the betterment of Williams Park in downtown St Petersburg. The park, which includes an impressive Veterans memorial, and an award winning bandstand, has become a place where the homeless gather, and where a lot of drug dealing occurs. Take Back Williams Park was designed to help start turning that around, and to give back a valuable resource to the city and its people.

By getting the ball rolling and raising funds to put on more public events in the park, this event really is helping a lot. It has been concluded that by doing this, entertaining and giving something back to people, the area can be uplifted while the council works on long term handlings to deal with the homelessness and drugs.

The Summer Market has moved into the park on Saturdays now, which is helping, and sometimes people do use the bandstand to put on music and to deliver talks. If you take a walk around the park and can look past the current problem, you can see the potential that the place has, and how it could be as part of an ideal scene..

There was a silent auction with some really stunning artwork donated by artists such as Jim Warren, and other great items such as orchestra tickets and great food, and other great deals from local businesses who want to support the cause. There was live music by Nikki Baker, Haley Graves, Rob Meister, and others which really brought the place alive. Glamour came in the form of a fashion show.

It was a lot of fun - the food was great, and everyone really enjoyed themselves and raised some money to further the cause of not only halting the decline of an area, but reversing it.

See Great French Art For The First Time In Florida

If you are looking for some culture you can't go far wrong by visiting the Museum Of Fine Arts at any point - you are always going to find something of interest there; well, if you like art you are. At the moment though they have a real draw with the exhibition Monet to Matisse - On The French Coast. This is the first time that a lot of this art has actually been in Florida or the Southeastern United States, so if you combine this fact with the great location and the unique chance to view these works arranged in this way, as an art lover, why would you not want to take advantage?

To celebrate the museum's 50th Anniversary they have put together this comparative collection that holds up the Impressionist and Modernist visions of the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France. the museum already has an impressive collection of French art regularly on display and this just adds to and enriches that.

One Of Many Great Exhibitions At The Museum Of Fine Arts

The show runs from February 7th until May 31st, 2015, so there is plenty of time to catch these two masters, and some other great European painters. It was put together by Dr Kenneth Wayne, formerly of the Portland Museum Of Art and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, working with Jennifer Hardin, the hazel and William Hough Chief Curator of the MFA.

Earth Day Festival Celebrates 2nd Year in South Straub Park

It has a long tradition, stretching back to 1970, but there may be more than a few people who aren't even really aware of Earth Day. I have to admit that it was one that had kind of passed me by, but it giving some recognition to the importance of the Earth is something that is a lot more at the forefront of people's minds.

It was first celebrated in 1970 after a proposal put forward in 1969 by a peace activist called John McConnell, who wanted to honor Earth with a day of peace. The date of April 22nd derives from a second Earth Day started by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. the whole thing went worldwide in 1990, when Denis Hayes, the original coordinator organized events in 141 nations.

St Petersburg Is A Forward Thinking City

On April 18th St Pete celebrates the day in South Straub Park - the second time that it has done so. It is sponsored by Duke Energy and the St Petersburg Downtown Partnership. It is pretty cool, because the whole idea is to educate people about eco-friendly technology and different ways that you can build healthy sustainable communities.

If you walk around St Pete the evidence that the city is very supportive of forward thinking initiatives is obvious - there are the charging stations for electric cars for one thing, and recycling points as well. It's the first city in the state to be awarded for Green Building Coalition's Green City designation. When a city takes an interest in conservation, recycling, water conservation, and various other initiatives that seek to improve the life of its citizens then that is definitely something to celebrate. St Pete is a very art-oriented community anyway, so you know that there is a certain kind of attitude that the people who live there imbue the place with, and the whole ethos of the festival seems very much in line with that way of thinking and living. It is very forward thinking of the city planners, and pretty inspirational.