Make plans to attend this special event

Welcome to Misty Bottorff, new executive director of the Skyway Marina District

Word came the other day about Misty Bottorff, the new executive director of the Skyway Marina District. Welcome to Misty. We look forward to working with her. Misty comes to us from Michigan and the pretty little town of Otsego, that straddles the Kalamazoo River a little bit north of Kalamazoo near the Bittersweet ski and snowboarding resort area. Last time we checked, it was about 11 degrees F in Otsego. Of course, last time we checked it was 48 degrees F here. Still, we think Misty made a good choice. Misty was executive director of the Otsego-Plainwell Chamber of Commerce and promotions chair of the Otsego Main Street District, so it was her job to say nice things about the weather up there. We hope she'll find nice things to say about the weather here, especially when it warms up a bit next week. Welcome, Misty!

From our family to yours, have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

Wishing you peace and joy and all the best in the coming new year!

Celebration postponed because his mom's well-being came first. A fine young man.

Did you see the heartwarming story Allen Buchanan had in The Weekly Challenger the other day? It's about Ethan Tyler Price, the young man in the front row in the middle. He finally got to have a graduation party to celebrate graduating from Boca Ciega High School. Back in the summer, his mom was having surgery so the celebration had to be postponed. Read it story.

Need a delightful Victorian group for your old-fashioned Christmas bash? Call 'em!

When she's not on the go as a professional massage therapist, Libby Higdon of Gulfport (on the right in the picture), might be found dressed up at a Renaissance faire or, as is the case in the picture, dressed up in Victorian garb to make an appearance at the Gulfport's Holiday Hoopla the day of the Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. They were included in a write-up in The Gabber recently. In this photo, she's with fellow performers Susan Lentz and Gary Lehman. If  you need a Victorian group, give Libby a call at (727) 204-8602. Here's a little more about them here.

That's a lot you might not know about the Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. Read on.

Debbie Wolfe, who may be as fine a writer as she is a photographer, had a thoroughly enjoyable story about the behind-the-scenes activities at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club's Lighted Christmas Boat Parade in The Gabber the other day. There's really a lot more to the annual event than meets the eye, and Debbie did a wonderful job of telling out it. This is such a delightful time of year and Debbie's article added to the enjoyment of it.

Maximo resident Billy Hume spearheads his annual Christmas for Kids toy project

Maximo resident and popular barber Billy Hume is behind this amazing annual project now in its eighth year. Billy asks customers, friends, and affiliated organizations to help raise money to provide needy kids with toys at Christmas time. Over the years, Billy has attracted a growing number of sponsors to the worthwhile endeavor. The event will be held on Thursday evening in Fox Hall at Eckerd College. It's not too late to donate. Call Billy at (727) 512-5305. Tell him you heard about his project from the South St. Petersburg Post.

So many activities, so little time. Enjoy the holidays in Gulfport. So much going on

Gosh, it's barely the beginning of December and we're awash with holiday events.This is Wednesday and this afternoon there's music and celebrating at the Catherine Hickman Theater with a social gathering afterward. You can get the details in the poster above. Then on Saturday there's the downtown Gulfport Holiday Hoopla followed by the Boca Ciega Yacht Club Lighted Christmas Boat Parade. Details are below. So much fun.

This wonderful group of men with amazing voices will perform tonight in Gulfport

There's always something exciting going on in our community at this time of year. In fact, there are so many things happening that it's hard to keep up with them all. Here's something special you won't want to miss, though. The Bay Voices men's choral group performs tonight at 7 at the Gulfport Public Library. It's free and open to the public. You should try to be there. They've been so popular they're back for a third year.

It's a most wonderful time of the year! We hope to see you at the Lighted Boat Parade

On this Thanksgiving Day, we send good wishes to all – and set the record straight!

Every good Floridian, transplanted or not, knows that the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated in St. Augustine more than half a century before the Pilgrims got together with the Wampanoags in Plymouth, MA, in 1621. The Spanish explorer, Don Pedro Menendez, claimed Florida for his country and his colonists broke bread with the local Timucuas. Father Francisco Lopez offered a Catholic Mass of thanksgiving. The picture above is an old post card that depicts the event.

Of course, it was the Pilgrims who got all the attention and so everybody (except real Floridians) celebrates the holiday with those colonists in mind instead. That mistaken, johnny-come-lately notion was helped along, of course by paintings like the one below by the American artist Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, who is best known for his series of paintings depicting important events in American history, and for being the nephew of the famed Hudson River School artist Thomas Moran.

Despite the popularity of Jean Leon's paintings, historians say he didn't always get his facts straight. In the case of the painting below, called The First Thanksgiving (1915), critics say the Wampanoags wouldn't have been sitting on the ground, nor would they have dressed like western Indians and worn feathered war headdresses. Furthermore, the Pilgrims wouldn't have worn those black outfits.

This time of year often brings a new Hallmark Channel-worthy commercial from Publix. The supermarket chain has one running now that warms the heart as a family prepares Thanksgiving dinner then sits down to enjoy it. At the end, Grandpa clears the table as Grandma reads to her little granddaughter. Awww!

It's sweet but our favorite Publix commercial was one from a few years back. Maybe you remember it. If not, it's below. And, yes, we realize that it stars those cute little Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers everybody used to put out on the table at Thanksgiving. Oh, well. Our Thanksgiving will not be diminished, despite knowing that most of the country has it wrong. No matter how you celebrate it, we hope you have a most wonderful Thanksgiving Day with friends and family.

Change is coming! It's how you deal with it that really counts so you'd better get ready

If you think things are changing fast now, stick around for 20 years or so. You ain't seen nothin' yet! The Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions at St. Petersburg College recently presented futurist David Houle, author of The Shift Age: AS Futurist's View of Life in 2040. Hope you enjoy it!

Gulfport Chefs Table grows and feeds multitudes to raise money for charity

Wow! What a turnout for such a worthy event. This wonderful and dramatic photo was in The Gabber showing the Chefs Table in downtown Gulfport. The event, now in it's second year, donates proceeds to Gulfport Montessori Elementary School. The weather was perfect. Some 360 diners enjoyed delicious dishes from 10 fine Gulfport restaurants. Debbie Wolfe did a terrific story and many wonderful photos. Check it out.

Yes, we DO have some of the best beaches anywhere and we're glad the interns noticed

So now that the weather is a little cooler and the sun isn't beating down as hard and the snowbirds haven't arrived yet, the beaches are a terrific place to be. Those facts weren't lost on the folks at the Tampa Bay Times. The editors sent out some of their interns to write about the beaches. Imagine? Well, several of our favorite nearby beaches made the cut. Here's a first-rate article that tells what the folks who live here already know: we have some darned fine beaches in St. Pete Beach, Pass-a-Grille, Fort de Soto Park, and Shell Key. Technology being what it is today, they even took a drone along and got some beautiful video and photos of our favorite beaches. Enjoy!

Super heroes and pop culture icons are the themes to celebrate for the 2018 Gecko Ball

Did you see the article on the Gulport Patch website the other day? The theme for the 2018 Gecko Ball next August will celebrate the comic book heroes and pop culture conventions that keep showing up in the Tampa Bay area. Gecko Con is the theme for the big dance next August at the Gulfport Casino Ballroom. There were a number of other ideas but that's the one that captures the judges' imagination. Looking forward to the Gecko Ball.

"It’s one of those nice little small-town things that I hope they keep doing." Aww!

We couldn't help but get a kick out of Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson's comment about the annual Boca Ciega High School homecoming parade as reported in The Gabber yesterday. Hiz Honor was quoted in the paper as saying: “It’s one of those nice little small-town things that I hope they keep doing. It’s just a good reminder to the people who live here that we’ve got a good school with a magnet program and a strong athletics presence right here in Gulfport. So, it’s a good reminder to people to support our hometown school.” One of the things we love about Gulfport is it's small-town atmosphere. And the nice picture by LocalShops 1 captures the idea perfectly.

What a delight to get to hear Lee Irby's talk on Confederate statues and their place today

Here's an unexpected treat. We were talking not long ago about one our our favorite authors, Lee Irby, who teaches history at Eckerd College and wrote an intriguing book called Unreliable, that has been gaining attention of late. Lee's book is set in Richmond, Virginia, which is where Lee is from, and where resides a statue of General Robert E. Lee. With the current discussion of Confederate statues and their place in society today, Lee Irby was asked to speak on Confederate Monuments in the South: Place, Memory  and Lingering Wounds. That was on Monday, and there was quite a crowd. What's unexpected is that if you couldn't attend Lee Irby's talk, you haven't missed out. The recording above provides great opportunity to hear what Lee Irby had to say about General Lee's statue and much more.  What a delight. Thank you, Lee, for posting the talk. Thank you, Eckerd College, for recording it.

It's always fascinating to learn about the activities of Eckerd College's fine students

Nicole Valez, who is graduating from Eckerd College next year, made this video about the summer internships Eckerd College students had at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Included in the video are Elizabeth Weatherup '19 (Coral Health and Disease Program), Danielle Birk '19 (Animal Rehab), and Juliet Stevenson '19 (Sarasota Dolphin Research Program).  Nicole was in the Sea Turtle Conservation & Research Program. We love it when we learn about the activities of Eckerd students. They're some of our favorite people.

Favorite author Lee Irby gets a write-up and a chance to talk about Confederate statues

Here's one from the Local Boy Makes Good file. Don't know if you saw Cathy Salustri's write-up in Creative Loafing about one of our favorite writers out at Eckerd College, Lee Irby. Here's the part we like. Kathy is talking about Lee's new book, Unreliable, a murder mystery with an unreliable narrator. Her  opinion is that Lee and his book haven't gotten enough attention lately. We concur. She calls the book "witty, engaging amd utterly engrossing." But the best part: She says the book is Literature, "the kind that should have a capital L. High praise, indeed! Anyway, if you haven't read it yet, we'd encourage you to do so. Lee's going to be speaking at a special event at Eckerd Confederate Monuments in the South: Place, Memory and Lingering Wounds. It's on October 23  at 7 p.m. in the Triton Room. He's speaking on the removal of Confederate statues, which a focus on the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, which is the setting for his book.

The Swami says: "I got struck by enlightening during a brainstorm"

Not long ago, St. Petersburg College's Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions (which, we have to say, sounds awfully serious) hosted a hilarious evening dinner program featuring Swami Beyondananda, who is actually the "comic alter ego of writer, humorist, performer, and uncommontator Steve Bhaerman." The Swami says his favorite yoga pose is tongue-in-cheek. This somewhat educational and highly entertaining. It's worth your time.