Summer Camp Expo At FHCI Tomorrow

Event organizer Miriam Cook.

If you want your kids to have some amazing experiences this summer without having to spend frustrating hours searching the internet or making phone calls for options, Family-Friendly Tampa Bay hosts its first ever Family-Friendly Summer Camp Expo at Florida Hospital Center Ice off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel tomorrow — Saturday, April 8, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Admission is free.

More than 40 camps are signed up to participate in the Expo. Most are located in and around Wesley Chapel, says event organizer Miriam Cook, but camps from across the Tampa Bay area will be there, including the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Busch Gardens, and the Glazer Children’s Museum.

Cook says diverse summer camp options will be presented, including day camps, sports, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), special needs/autism, art, performing arts and academic camps. “Parents can meet one-on-one with numerous Tampa Bay-area camp directors and staff at the expo, talking with the people behind these programs to find the best fit for their child,” Cook says.

Cook notes that she’s especially excited about offering summer camps for kids with special needs. She says there will be an agency that provides resources for families with children who have disabilities and other special needs. While she didn’t specify camps for only special needs children, she says many of the camps attending the expo are “inclusive” and make accommodations to serve all children, regardless of ability.

“Right now, we have 1,200 families who have pre-registered to attend the event,” says Cook. “When families register for free tickets through Eventbrite.com, they are automatically entered to win a free week of camp. We will be donating several weeks of camp at the expo. We will also have other giveaways, as well.”

For example, each family that attends will receive a coupon for buy-one, get-one-free ice skating at Florida Hospital Center Ice, and the first 250 families to arrive will get a “swag bag.” There will be many activities for the kids, such as face painting, and several mascots will make an appearance, including the mascot from the Tampa Yankees, the Tampa Bay Lighting’s ThunderBug, and the Chick-fil-A cow.

It’s not necessary to pre-register, but it does enter you to win prizes. To register, go to EventBrite.com and search for “Summer Camp Expo” in Tampa (although technically in Wesley Chapel, the site notes that the Expo is in the “Greater Tampa” area). Florida Hospital Center Ice is located at 3173 Cypress Ridge Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. For more information about Family-Friendly Tampa, go to FamilyFriendlyTampaBay.com.

Aldi Headed For Cypress Creek Town Center N.

Wesley Chapel residents eager for the long-rumored Aldi grocery store to open have been keeping their eyes on the S.R. 54 area near The Grove at Wesley Chapel shopping center, where rumors had the German-based chain planned.

Turns out, they were looking in the wrong place.

Instead, it now appears Aldi is headed for the Cypress Creek Town Center North development across the road from Tampa Premium Outlets on S.R. 56.

According to forms filed recently with Pasco County, Aldi is proposing to build a 19,054-sq.-ft. store on the north side of S.R. 56, off Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz (though the forms list Wesley Chapel as its address). Aldi filed a Development Permit Pre-Submittal Meeting request form March 27, as well as a conceptual site plan.

A previously filed pre-app form listed the Northeast corner of Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54) and Gateway Blvd. near The Groves as a proposed site for a 17,825-sq.-ft. Aldi store.

A trendy favorite of shoppers, Aldi is a no-frills discount supermarket chain based in Germany, with over 8,000 stores worldwide.

Aldi is able to offer items at cheap prices (and doesn’t accept coupons) because of low overhead. Not every aisle has shelves, as some items are simply stacked in their boxes, shoppers need to bring their own bag, shopping carts will cost you a quarter (which you get back when you return it, saving employees from having to track down carts in the parking lot) and the store sells random non-grocery items as well.

Aldi is aggressively expanding across the U.S., and is currently remodeling many of its stores to give them a more modern look.

Just a little east of the proposed Aldi site and also making its way through the county permitting pipeline is Darden Restaurant chain Bahama Breeze Island Grill, which had it’s pre-app meeting on Jan. 30 and is looking to build one of its popular restaurants in Cypress Creek Town Center North, at 25663 Sierra Center Blvd.

The new restaurant would be 7,987-sq.-ft. with an outdoor seating area and 168 parking spaces.

Bahama Breeze, whose nearest locations are in Brandon and between Tampa and Clearwater off the Courtney Campbell Causeway at Rocky Point, specializes in Caribbean-inspired food and tropical drinks.

Porter Donates $2,000 For WC Rotary’s Honduras Trip

JD Porter (far right) donated $2,000 to the WC Rotary Club for its upcoming trip to Honduras.

The Wesley Chapel Rotary Club is planning its sixth trip to Honduras, and received a boost in that effort from local businessman J.D. Porter, who donated $2,000 to the Rotary at their March 29 luncheon at Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club.

The club has raised roughly $25,000 for the upcoming trip. A group of Rotarians will spend a week in a country that is not only one of the poorest and neediest in South America, but also the most dangerous, as one Rotarian pointed out at the March 29 luncheon (to nervous laughter, perhaps). Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world, with more than 90 homicides per 100,000 people.

Members of the club have taken the trip for five years in conjunction with Pure Water for the World (PWW), a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of families in poor countries through sustainable water solutions, sanitation and hygiene education.

Porter made the donation in the name of the Wiregrass Ranch Foundation, his family’s not-for-profit corporation, which was  founded in 2012.

He said the foundation is about, “the community, as we continue to see it grow. We started this, and we take no salaries, we just get out and raise money so we can have it available for local needs in the community. We’ve had a great time with it. And, we’ve raised a bunch of money.”

The Honduras trip turned out to be something near and dear to Porter’s heart.

He said his grandfather, after selling the first piece of Wiregrass Ranch property (which is now Saddlebrook), “one of the first things he did was he bought a boat.’’ Porter said he spent the next 2-3 years fishing in Central and South America,  in places like Nicaragua and Venezuela. But, his favorite place was Honduras.

While recently cleaning out some of his family’s old stuff, Porter says he discovered papers that listed items that his grandfather had continued to send shipments of to Honduras, items like toothbrushes, band-aids, gum, candy, “random stuff that a lot of us take for granted.”

“That’s why this clicked with me…not only is it special to give back to such a great group here, it’s almost like continuing a legacy,’’ Porter said. “That’s kind of special. So, I feel honored to present a check for $2,000 so you guys can get out there and do something awesome for people, making a difference in someone’s life who truly deserves it.”

For more info about Porter’s foundation, visit WiregrassRanchFoundation.org. For the WC Rotary, visit WCRotary.org.

Notebook: Bulls Rule The SAC With Boys & Girls Titles In Tennis & Track

The WRH track teams celebrate their SAC sweeps.

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) spring sports program had a big day last week, when the boys and girls tennis and track teams all took home Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC)  championships.

The boys tennis team, coached by Dave Wilson, has long been the class of Pasco County, and their SAC title was the seventh straight for the Bulls. In fact, the team hasn’t lost a match to a Pasco County school in that span, going 83-0.

The Bulls have been led this season by senior Noah Makarome, who won the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA)’s Boys 14 Singles National Clay Court Championship in 2013 but has never played high school tennis, and Destiny Okungbowa.

The girls tennis team won the conference title by beating Pasco 4-3.

In track, the host Bulls swept the boys and girls team titles at the SAC East meet for the second straight year.

The girls outscored Sunlake 143-134, pulling past the Seahawks with their dominance in the 800 meters.

The Bulls trailed Sunlake by 24 points heading into the 800. However, Kerry Reilly, Brenna Moran and Kate Moore finished 1-2-3, and Abbie Dodge came in fifth, as the Bulls picked up 26 points and surged to the lead.

Kyra Swain won the next race, the 200 meters, to give WRH some cushion, and then Reis Ehman (fourth), Julia Blankenbaker (fifth) and Lauren Payne (sixth) scored seven points in the 3,200 meters to help offset Land O’Lakes’ 18 points in the race, thanks to a 1-2 finish.

The WRH boys built a big lead in the field events, thanks to long jump champ Rashaun Wiliams and discus winner Dillion Teets, but the Bulls put the meet away with their work in the hurdles races, scoring 36 points.

In the 110m hurdles, Dylan Ridolph and Josia Gadeen finished 1-2, and in the 330m hurdles, Ridolph, Gadeen and T.J. Ridgel finished 2-3-4. The Bulls boys literally ran away with the title with 166 points, followed by Land O’Lakes (80) and Wesley Chapel (79).

WILDCATS SPRINTERS SHINE IN SAC, TOO: Wesley Chapel High (WCH) speedster Isaiah Bolden won the 100- and 200- meter races at the SAC meet, and also teamed up with Dexter Leverett, Nick Merilan and Deion Watkins to capture the 4×100 relay to lead the third-place Wildcats.

Dominic Moreno also was a triple winner, capturing titles in the 800m, 1,600m and 4x400m relay (with Cameron Boger, Raymund Reddick and Leverett).

For the WCH girls, who finished fourth with 77 points, Sydney Parker was a winner in the 100m, and Faith Mercer took the title in the 400. Cache Simmons added a third first-place finish to the Wildcats’ haul in the triple jump.

FOOTBALL COMMITMENT: Evan Hogan, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive lineman and long snapper for Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), orally committed to Keiser University in West Palm Beach.

Hogan was a starter for the Bulls last season and part of an offensive line that helped the team rush for 2,282 yards (228.2 yards a game) and 29 touchdowns.

As a long snapper, Hogan has been ranked among the top 50 in the nation by the Kornblue Kicking/Snapping Academy.

The son of Florida International University sports information director Mike Hogan, Evan will get a unique opportunity at Keiser, which is starting football in the fall of 2018.

Keiser competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) and plays in the Sun Conference against three colleges in Polk County and one near Naples.

Hogan will play for head coach Doug Socha, who was an offensive assistant for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills last season.

Roadway Connections Open House Apr. 18!

The oft-argued merits of a connection point between Wesley Chapel’s Mansfield Blvd. and New Tampa’s Kinnan Dr. is set to get a new look, but that won’t be the only route back and forth between Hillsborough and Pasco counties that the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) plans on looking at in less than two weeks.

The MPO will hold an open house-style meeting on Tuesday, April 18, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., at Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, in order to gather public comments and other information to be used in the upcoming Wesley Chapel Roadways Connections Study.

The study is designed to evaluate the pros and cons of three potential roadway connections between Wesley Chapel and New Tampa (red circles on map above):

Mansfield Blvd. & Kinnan St., a long sought-after connection by many in the Cross Creek and K-Bar Ranch area, though it also has its share of opponents.

Meadow Pointe Blvd. & the Meadow Pointe Blvd. extension, which leads right into the planned K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and would provide easier access to Morris Bridge Rd.

Wyndfields Blvd. & the Wyndfields Blvd. extension, which would also connect directly to both K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and Morris Bridge Rd.

“We are just starting the process, and the purpose of the first meeting is to get public input about what issues there are on both sides,’’ says Pasco County transportation engineer Ali Atefi, P.E.

Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. have been separated by about 50 feet of grass, trees and sometimes garbage, for years. In 2016, Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore and then-Tampa District 7 City Council member Lisa Montelione met to discuss connecting the roadways, but those talks stalled.

New District 7 City Councilman Luis Viera made the connection point one of the staples of his winning campaign, and continues to say he would like to push to bring the roads together.

“From both sides, we have had a request for a connection and, we’ve had people that don’t want to connect,’’ Atefi says. “But, these connections are shown on our long range plans and we want to do an in-depth study and figure out the positive and negatives.”

The open house, which Atefi says “is not a debate,” will include an MPO summary at 6 p.m., followed by an opportunity for those attending to examine area maps and to voice their opinions. Stations will be set up, and representatives from Pasco County Planning & Development, the MPO and the consulting team will be available to answer questions.

The public is welcome to drop in anytime between 5:30 and 7:30.

Atefi says other meetings will be held in the future, and the public will also be encouraged to take online surveys to help determine what, or if any, connections should be made.

The PHSC-Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch is located at 2727 Mansfield Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. For more information about transportation planning in Pasco County, visit the MPO website at PascoMPO.net.