Despite being around for 88 years, Temple Emanuel has modern ideas about extending Thanksgiving to a larger community. It’s all about finding gratitude in an unstable time.
Author Archives: Julie Butterfield
Posted inEnvironment
Welcome Center Will Add Context to Se7en Wetlands
A welcome center being developed for the Se7en Wetlands Park will tell a story about how in the 1980s, the city of Lakeland set an example for other jurisdictions on how to treat wastewater through nature.
Posted inArts & Culture
Artist’s Graceful Swan Will Still Represent Mayfaire
For the first time since 1974, families in Lakeland won’t be celebrating Mother’s Day weekend by strolling through Mayfaire by-the-Lake. The 2020 edition of the Lake Morton outdoor art festival was postponed a full year to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But even before its scheduled return on May 8 and 9 next […]
Posted inCity Hall / Local Gov't
City Targets Illegal Dumping With New Plan
A renewed effort to curb illegal dumping in Lakeland acknowledges that property owners are often victims and seeks their cooperation in cleaning the properties.
Posted inPeople
Some Miss Lakeland Winners Are Local This Year
For the first time since the Miss Lakeland was revived three pageants ago, most of the winners have Lakeland backgrounds. Out of five 2020 winners — Misses Lakeland, Swan City, Polk County, Lakeland Teen and Polk County Teen — two claim Lakeland as home and a third lived here until recently and hopes to move […]
Posted inFood & Dining
A Tale of Two Bakery Cafes on South Florida Avenue
What is it about South Florida Avenue that’s attracting bakery cafes? We’re not sure. And we surely don’t mind. Fleur Bistro opened this month at 4525 S. Florida Ave. It offers scratch pastries, exotic teas, specialty coffee and wines. Just a block a way, Cafe Zuppina opened The Market earlier this year and then enhanced […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Munn Park Event Attracts Art Lovers
Autumn Farnsworth, 10, helped another budding artist get started on the paint-it-yourself canvas prominently displayed at Munn Park Saturday morning and exclaimed to the other child, “You’re making art!”
Posted inArts & Culture
Juried Art Festival in Munn Park Includes Performances
Art Crawl, an outdoor festival in its seventh year, will showcase the work of 70 artists from 25 Central Florida cities at Munn Park on Saturday.
Posted inHealth
Obesity Study Ranks Polk Heaviest in Florida
A new study says the Lakeland-Winter Haven area has a lot of heavyweights — but not in a good way. Polk County is the heaviest county in Florida, with an obesity rate that’s nearly nine percentage points higher than the rest of the state, according to new calculations by 24/7 Wall St., a financial news […]
Posted inBusiness
Galaxy Bar: ’80s Nostalgia, Vintage Arcade Games
Galaxy Bar Lakeland, opening soon in north Lakeland, aims to maintain a nostalgic dive-bar aesthetic as the former Johnny G’s on U.S. 98 North transforms into an arcade bar. With popular vintage games from the 1980s and ’90s, like Donkey Kong, Tetris and the original Ninja Turtles, “It’s going to feel like you’re in a […]