Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival Returns To District Park October 21!

Jazz Tyme Productions is proud to announce that the Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival will return to the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. on Saturday, October 21, noon-8 p.m. (File photo from 2016)

Although it always features a little more than “just” great jazz, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for the Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival, which returns to the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. (two miles north of S.R. 54) on Saturday, October 21, noon-8 p.m.

Event organizer and promoter Tim Hancock of Jazz Tyme Productions has previously survived events where the heat index seemed to reach 120 degrees and one cancelled by torrential rain as the headliner hit the stage.

But, through it all, Hancock has brought great music, some excellent food and other vendors together for all-day shows that are appropriate for families but still allows adults to enjoy adult music and to a location only 15 minutes or so north of the Hillsborough/Pasco county line.

Bring your lawn chairs and/or blankets and grab the kids for some fun activities just for them.

This year’s Jazz Festival sponsors include the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, Rubenstein Law, DeSigns Signs & Printing, Serenity Village Insurance & Consulting, Kaptain Krab Seafood, Jazz Tyme Productions and the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

Food vendors already announced for this year include JB’s Sweet Addictions, Anthony & Son Catering, Momma’s Empanadas, The Tea Jug, T-Momma Catering & Kaptain Krab Seafood.

For more info about the latest Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival, visit JazzTymeProductions.com.

Simply Events Presents The WC Fall Festival At The Grove Oct. 28-29!

Presented by Simply Events, the Wesley Chapel Fall Festival Returns to The Grove shopping center off Oakley Blvd., Saturday-Sunday, October 28-29.

So, of course, the 13th annual Wesley Chapel Fall Festival has to be held between Friday the 13th and Halloween, the two spookiest nights of 2017.

To that end, on Saturday & Sunday, October 28-29, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. both days, this will be the second year that Simply Events — a Pinellas County-based local event management company — will put on the free (to attend) Fall Festival, after wowing thousands of not only Wesley Chapel but also surrounding-area locals last year, the first time the Fall Festival wasn’t put on by the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), which is a sponsor again this year.

“It was a great event last year and we expect it will be even bigger and better this time around,” says Simply Events’ Sonya Bradley.

This time, attendees can participate in a Pet Parade & Costume Contest, the Mr. & Ms. Pumpkin Pageant, a new Trunk or Treat event (on Saturday at 4 p.m.) and the Fall Festival Carnival until 10 p.m. both nights.

There’ll be live music, great fair-style food & beverages for sale, arts & crafts, a Halloween celebration & so much more.

For more information, contact Simply Events at (727) 674-1464 or online at SimplyEventsFL.com.

Cappy’s Pizzeria Owner Is Happy To Focus On Pizza, Salads & Calzones!

EVEN THOUGH I keep asking him to add some more menu items, Harold Hasselbeck, the owner of the Cappy’s Pizzeria in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center, says he’d rather keep doing what he does well than bring on additional menu items and spread himself and his small, but happy staff too thin.

OK, I get it, especially when everytime I take the office to Cappy’s, everyone is still happy, despite the comparatively small menu selection. Although the laminated menus themselves feature way-cool album covers on one side and the menu on the other, which fits well with the super-funky dĂ©cor and vibe at all four Cappy’s locations (Seminole Heights, South Tampa and Riverview are the others).

In previous reviews of Cappy’s, I’ve always explained that even though this uniquely decorated, full-service dine-in and carry-out pizzeria serves both thin-crust and deep-dish pizza, it’s a little bit of a misnomer to call Harold’s thin crust “true New York style” or his deep dish pizza “true Chicago style,” but that doesn’t mean that both styles aren’t delicious, because they are.

But, we’ll get back to the pizza in a bit. For starters, Cappy’s only offers cheesebread ($4.25) and breadstix ($3.25, served with a side of a deep-red, thick marinara dipping sauce) and a variety of salads, all available in small sizes from $4.50-$5.50 and large sizes for $7-$8.50. Our favorites at the office are the large Greek salad shown on the next page — which features lots of feta cheese, kalamata olives, pepperoncini and a nice-sized scoop of Cappy’s house-made potato salad, with a slightly sweeter house-made dressing — and the small tossed salad with Cappy’s house-made Italian vinaigrette dressing, which is a perfect appetizer-size salad for two.

Cappy’s also adds feta to its non-traditional Caesar salad and although I’m not the biggest fan of spinach salad myself, Cappy’s has a spinach & goat cheese salad with white raisins, shaved almonds and a house-made honey balsamic vinaigrette that got rave reviews from the couple at the next table on our most recent visit.

Pizzas & Calzones

Cappy’s opens every weekday at 11 a.m. (noon on Saturday & Sunday), and offers great lunch prices, like single NY-style cheese slices for $2.50 and $3 if you want one topping. I’m partial to the sausage and premium meatball toppings (see below) at Cappy’s, but there are almost 30 different toppings available, with veggies like artichoke hearts, banana peppers, carmelized onions and jalapeños to meats like anchovies, bacon and ham and premium toppings also are available.

There are also lunch-sized calzones for just $5, which comes with mozzarella, a side of marinara sauce and two fillings of your choice. You can even add extra fillings for just $1 apiece.

There also are lunch combos such as two one-topping slices or a one-filling, lunch-sized calzone and a fountain drink for just $5.99, or add a mini-salad (smaller than a small) of your choice to your $5.99 combo and the price is just $8.50.

You can order small- or large-size NY-style pizzas (with a truly crispy crust) and small-, medium- or large-size Chicago-style pizzas for lunch or dinner (Cappy’s Tampa Palms stays open until 9 p.m. on Sun.-Thur. and until 10 p.m. on Fri. & Sat.) and in addition to the regular toppings, you can add premium toppings like chicken, goat cheese, feta and sun-dried tomato.

NY-style pizzas start at just $9.00 for a small or $11 for a large, up to $14.50 for the small and $18.50 for the large“Cappy” (with sausage, ham, pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, onions and green peppers). Our office gobbled up the large Cappy (we ordered it without sausage).

Chicago-style pizzas cost the same for a small as the NY-style and the medium deep-dish costs the same as the large NY-style. The large Chicago style starts at $14 for just cheese and we ordered sausage and meatball that even if I wasn’t in training for a four-mile kayak race, I probably still couldn’t have finished more than two filling wedges of at a time.

Cappy’s also offers a nice variety of  beers on draft (I love the Peroni and Fat Tire), plus red and white wine and red and white sangria by the glass, as well as wines by the bottle.

Cappy’s Pizzeria is located at 16019 Tampa Palms Blvd. For coupons worth $3 off a $20 purchase and $5 off a $30 purchase, see the ad  on pg. 41 of our last New Tampa issue. For more information, visit CappysTampaPalms.com or call (813) 512-8947.

Another New Tampa Resident Taken Too Soon — Joel Miller (1988-2017)

In February of 2015, I finally got to do the exclusive interview that former Wharton High football star Joel Miller had promised from Day One he would give me — where he finally got to tell me and our readers his side of the story of the locker room incident between him and former University of South Florida (USF) head football coach Jim Leavitt that ultimately cost Leavitt his job when Joel was a walk-on onto the USF team.

Unfortunately, that incident became the defining moment of his too-short life and that interview was the last real conversation I ever had with Joel, who passed away unexpectedly on September 10 at the too-young age of 29. Joel was a month or so older than my older son Jared, who first got to know his friend when both played youth football for the New Tampa Wildcats.

Jared and I spoke shortly after we heard the news that Joel had passed and both of us were heartbroken for his entire family — his mother Kathy, his father Paul and his siblings.

“Joel and I became a lot closer after high school,” Jared said. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Of course, Joel would become one of the top running backs in Hillsborough County when he played for Wharton, where he ran for more than 2,600 yards his final two high school seasons and won Hillsborough County’s 2006 Golden Helmet Award for Class 5A-6A players.

He and Jared remained friends following the Leavitt incident, when all this smart, tough, talented young man wanted to do was to finally be able to tell his side of the story.

We published my interview with Joel in our February 28, 2015, issue, and it was easy to tell that he still hadn’t reconciled how or why the incident happened or how he ended up being blamed for what happened to Leavitt afterward.

“I wasn’t the whistleblower who called the media after the incident,” Joel told me. “I never wanted anyone to find out what happened. I just wanted to play football.”

I was sad that neither Jared nor I were able to attend Joel’s Celebration of Life at St Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd. on Sept. 23, but I tried to picture myself in his parents’ shoes and my heart bleeds for Kathy, the long-time local school teacher who I know loved Joel the way I love both of my boys.

Like many other people, I found out about Joel’s passing on Facebook, where I saw this post from Kathy:

“My baby Joel passed away today. I am numb and heartbroken. As you all know, we were very close… I don’t even know what to say or what to do…I know he knows I love him and hope he is at peace… My Joely.”

And then, after his memorial service on the 23rd, Kathy posted:

“Our family would like to thank everyone for donating money towards Joel’s Memorial Service. It was beautiful. Thank you to all who attended the Celebration of Life. We truly appreciate it very much. It was great seeing everyone and hearing the stories that included Joel. We also appreciate all the cards, texts, phone calls, visits and food. This has been a very difficult time for all of us. It still doesn’t seem real. We want each and every one of you to know how much your support has meant to us. Love, the Miller Family.”

A few days later, on Jared’s own 29th birthday, he posted:  “I dedicate this birthday to Joel Miller. I will forever miss you man! Wish that you were here. Love you, bud. My prayers are with your family!”

And, one of Joel’s former coaches at Wharton (and for the New Tampa Wildcats) Craig Rainey, who also was our neighbor when I first moved my family to Florida, posted this:

“Joel, I really don’t even know where to start and can’t believe it. I will never forget you coming in as a freshman introducing yourself, telling me you were our starting running back. From that day forward I knew you were going to be fun to coach and you were. So glad that we developed a friendship and always kept in touch. I have many memories that I will never forget. You were a great kid and touched so many around you. I love you and am going to miss you kid. RIP. Godspeed. Heaven has gained another angel. My thoughts and prayers are with the entire Miller Family.”

Rest in Peace, Joel. You are missed.

  

Nibbles and Bytes: WC Rotary’s Casino Night Raises $18,000!

Congratulations to my friends from the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel (noon), which meets Wednesdays at noon at Lexington Oaks Golf Club, for putting on a smash hit “Casino Night” fund raiser to help the family of Clayton Mahler with their medical bills.

The Rotary Cub was prompted to action by Pasco’s Clerk & Comptroller Dr. Paula O’Neil, who knows the family personally and was the emcee for the event, which was held August 25 — the same day Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas — at Wesley Chapel Nissan on S.R. 54. The dealership took all of the vehicles out of its showroom and replaced them with gaming tables for the event.

Dr. O’Neil, a breast cancer survivor herself, talked to her friend and Wesley Chapel (WC) Nissan public relations rep Troy Stevenson about doing something to help.

Stevenson got the approval of the dealership’s general manager Joey Falcon to host the Casino Night, which was attended by more than 300 people and which raised about $18,000, according to event chair and club Board member Chris Casella.

Clayton was diagnosed with Stage 3 rhabdomyosarcoma after a July 4th visit to the emergency room for a growth in his nose that was obstructing his airway. He is receiving 42 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by radiation, after 95 percent of the mass was removed.

The Mahlers’ medical bills are piling up and you could feel the love and appreciation flowing in every direction during Casino Night, which was attended by a Who’s Who of local politicos, including Congressman Gus Bilirakis, State Representatives Danny Burgess and Amber Mariano and four of the five members of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, as well as by numerous Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce members, many of whom served as volunteers.

The food was donated by Latin Twist Café on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., although Chick-fil-A on BBD in New Tampa donated the food for the second floor VIP room, where Clayton and his family spent most of the evening. Wine was donated by our friends Charles and Cheryl Visalli of Time for Wine and the delicious Taino Light and Boricua beer was donated by WC Nissan owner Jay Rosario, who also is an owner of the beer company, which is based in Altamonte Springs.

“We’re proud to be able to help this wonderful family,” Casella said. “We really want to thank Dr. O’Neil, the family and especially Wesley Chapel Nissan for hosting us.”

Unfortunately, the club’s planned Sept. 11 American flag giveaway and breakfast for local first responders had to be scrapped because of Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida on Sept 10. The club has since rescheduled the flag giveaway at both the Shops at Wiregrass and Tampa Premium Outlets malls for this weekend — Saturday-Sunday, September 23-24, noon-4 p.m., at both locations.

For more information, visit WCRotary.com or attend one of the club’s meetings at Lexington Oaks Golf Club.

Starbucks, Chick-fil-A & CubeSmart Getting Closer

If it’s been a while since you ventured out on S.R. 54 east of I-75, you may not have noticed all the progress that’s been made on both the new Starbucks, located just east of the new Walmart on 54 or the new CubeSmart self-storage facility located just west of the intersection of 54 and Curley Rd.

Prior to Hurricane Irma, we also saw some progress on the planned Chick-fil-A that is just beginning construction on 54, just west of the Walgreens at BBD.

We will have updates on all three businesses in a future issue.

Sorry that we didn’t have room for a list of WCCC events in this issue, but there are always great events — many of which are free — available for current and future Chamber members to attend and this month is no different.

For all the latest events, visit WesleyChapelChamber.com. — GN