It was a funeral for a friend.
There were scenes of joy as those who had been away for years, even decades, returned and were greeted with hugs and laughter. And there were tears, too, for the loss, not of a person but of a place and the fellowship that lived there.
St. David’s Episcopal Church ended its 65-year presence in Lakeland with an emotional farewell service on Sunday.
The Naples-to-Tallahassee ride honors 20 Florida public safety officers who died in the line of duty last year.
The staff at LALtoday, which officially launches next week (details here), have curated a useful calendar of some of the top events taking place in Lakeland in August. (For those not familiar with it, LALtoday is a locally-produced product of 6AM City, a Greenville, S.C.-based audience development company recruited by the Lakeland Economic Development Council to expand the newsletter, social media and web outreach that was formerly done through YLakeland.)
With steady rain today and more expected tomorrow, Lakeland has likely passed the May rainfall record of 16.03 inches set in 1979.
An estimated 150 people attending a rally in Munn Park this morning were urged to contact city commissioners and ask them to keep the Confederate monument there. One of those commissioners, Michael Dunn, spoke at the rally and donated a .38 derringer from his military surplus store for a raffle; proceeds from the $20 raffle tickets supported the candidacy of Ed Shoemaker, a rally sponsor who is running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Dennis Ross. Keep reading for video from the rally.
