Good news for the new hotels and businesses sprouting in Wesley Chapel — the DICK’S Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions is returning for the 2016 and 2017 tournaments.
The National Development Program (NDP) Lacrosse announced Wednesday, June 1, that the pre-collegiate club lacrosse national championship will return to its long-time home of Pasco County’s Wesley Chapel District Park and Wesley Chapel High for the 9th and 10th straight years.
“Pasco County’s Board of County Commissioners, its Tourist Development Council and the Wesley Chapel Athletic Association have provided tremendous support to the event for nearly a decade,” said NDP Vice President of Business Operations Josh Gross in a press release. “I’m excited that the event will return to Pasco County.”
The tournament, which started in 2006, has been held in Wesley Chapel since 2008. Last year’s event featured 73 teams from 16 different states.
Teams earn bids at regional qualifying tournaments to compete for the DICK’s national championship across five divisions. One of those qualifiers, the Derek Pieper Memorial Cup, is held in Wesley Chapel and the new deal keeps that tournament viable.
The DICK’S Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions is held every December 29-31, with an estimated economic impact of $3 million in Pasco County.
“This has been our anchor sporting event for many years,” said Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey of the Pasco Board of County Commissioners and the Tourist Development Council. “We are glad to have them back again for the next two years.”
Ford’s Garage, which mixes the vibe of old school service stations with burgers and craft beers, is one step closer to becoming one of Wesley Chapel’s new neighborhood hot spots.
Eric J. Hendra of Hendra and Associates, a consulting engineering and surveying firm in Tampa, officially submitted a preliminary site plan application for Ford’s Garage of Wesley Chapel in March to Donna Huber, Pasco County’s Senior Development Review Technician.
The restaurant will be located adjacent to the Pollo Tropical on the Northeast corner of S.R. 56 and Grand Cypress Drive (east of Wesley Chapel Blvd.) directly across from the Tampa Premium Outlets.
It will be owner Marc Brown’s fifth Ford’s Garage location. Brown, of South Tampa, started the chain in Fort Myers in 2012, later added locations in Estero and Cape Coral and recently opened a location in Brandon.
The project, wrote Hendra in the preliminary site plan application, will be a “local restaurant with nostalgic vehicles highlighting the Ford’s Car manufacturer products.” Brown and his ownership group has a licensing deal with Ford Motor Co., so car enthusiasts will enjoy the attention to detail if previous locations are any indication.
The Ford’s Garage menu generally focuses on a vast selection of burgers, chicken, steak and salads, and a variety of popular macaroni and cheese variations according to many reviews on Yelp!. It also boasts more than 150 different types of craft beers in bottle and on tap.
There will be 7,211-sq.ft. of indoor seating, and a 1,192-sq.ft. patio area, according to the proposed site plan. The restaurant will include “static mounted Ford Vehicles for icons located within terminal islands along with a antique non-working fuel dispenser.”
On a Saturday night last month, they got ready like anyone else would for their prom. Tuxedos were buttoned, hair was styled, nails were painted. For some in attendance, it wasn’t their first prom – but it was just as special.
St James United Methodist Church hosted its seventh annual “Red Carpet Affair” under balloons, lights and the sounds of laughter. Nearly 280 special needs adults, ranging from age 16 to 52, attended the Red Carpet Affair with their caregivers for a night of fun, food and dancing. For some, it was also a night of hope.
“Many of us graduate high school and move on to new social structures,” said Carlene Barbeau, who started volunteering with the Red Carpet Affair in 2012 because of the joy it gave her brother Matt. “But, in the special needs community, graduating high school often leads to a lack of a social world.”
Carlene says St. James hosts the Red Carpet Affair to remind our friends that they are special, beautiful in their own unique ways, and can still have a whole lot of fun in life. “Plus, the volunteers have a blast, too,” she says.
Posing for prom pictures are (l-r) Eric Thompson, Lindsay Danner, Tristan Snapp and MacKanzie Conour.
Since January, a team of ten volunteers met multiple times to make the plans to make the Red Carpet Affair a night to remember. Their goal: to make their special needs friends feel like the celebrities they know them to be.
That evening, a “Diva Room” gave women a place to have their hair styled by professional stylists, and makeup done by makeup artists. They were offered shrimp and chocolate-covered strawberries while they were given a manicure. The church’s sanctuary was transformed with light walls, balloon sculptures and floral arrangements. Live Fusion Entertainment blasted some of the most popular songs on the radio and lights spun and flashed.
As the guests arrived, they were greeted by cheers as each walked into the event on the red carpet. Two professional photographers captured smiles in portraits the guests took home as souvenirs of their evening. But, that was all only part of the magic.
Chrissy Hoerner walks down the red carpet on prom night.
Liz McCafferty, director of communications at St. James, says, “The true beauty of the night was in the spirit of community.”
She explains that a community of 120 volunteers, ages 12 to 91, gathered together to cut carrots, dance, hug and create a community for those who are sometimes forgotten. “That community is rooted in love,” Liz says. “Love for our differences and love that we all enjoy a great conga line. And a great conga line it was!”
If you would like to be part of next year’s Red Carpet Affair, or are interested in events tailored for those with special needs, please contact Sally DePalma at specialconnections@stjamestampa.org.
—Submitted to the Neighborhood News by St. James UMC
Maya Patel, a senior at Freedom High in Tampa Palms, has already graduated.
From college.
When she graduates again, as Freedom’s Class of 2016 valedictorian on Wednesday, June 8, 9 a.m., at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, it will just be the icing on the cake.
Maya is one of many exceptional students in the New Tampa area, but the Tampa Palms resident makes a strong case for being at the top of that list.
She is graduating with an 8.6 weighted grade-point-average, believed to be the highest ever at Freedom.
And, she already has an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree with highest honors in Business Management from Hillsborough Community College. She also was president of five clubs at Freedom.
She even started a nonprofit organization with her best friend, Milan Shah (see below), dedicated to donating used books across the globe.
While she will attend the University of Tampa in the fall, declining opportunities to attend, among others, the prestigious University of Cambridge — the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world — and Kings College of London, England.
And, get this – Maya says she still found time to have some fun in high school. “Of course, of course,’’ she says, laughing. “High school is not just about academics; it’s also about fun. I have done Indian dance (called Bhangra) since I was five, and I did typical high school things like movies and the mall. I always made time for fun.”
And sleep, she says. Maya says that despite her many responsibilities, she always got 7-8 hours of sleep a night, even after she added a part-time job at Taco Bell to her already busy schedule.
She says it’s pretty simple, really — use a calendar, make lists and just follow them.
Cheryl Bernales, Maya’s Latin teacher and World Language Department head at Freedom, as well as an American Government honors teacher, thinks the secret might be more about math than lists.
“I don’t know how she does it, but she does seem to have found a few extra hours in a day,’’ Bernales says.
The only child of V.C. and Nila Patel, pharmacists with the Suncoast Community Health Center in Palm River, Maya says she never set out to be the class valedictorian. She did, however, want to be in the top 10 percent.
But, once she started taking dual enrollment and AP classes, “I realized my level of rigor was pretty competitive.”
Her initial goal, laid out with intricate planning, was to graduate with her A.A. degree from HCC, which she did on May 6. Then, she added Class Valedictorian to her to-do list.
Her sophomore and junior years were the toughest, she says, as the classes and assignments could pile up at times, causing a few brief moments of self-doubt.
“I felt at those times that I needed to keep going on,’’ Maya said. “Such a big thing like valedictorian doesn’t come easily. So, I would get a snack and a drink, and get back at it.”
Maya had no idea who else was close to valedictorian status. When she found out her closest competitor was good friend Junie Kim, who had gone to school with Maya at both Chiles Elementary and Liberty Middle School, she was thrilled.
“Had it been anyone else, I would have also been happy for them, but it was even sweeter that it was a friend,” Maya says.
Maya credits her parents for being “pillars of support” in her academic quests. She says they never pressured her, and only encouraged her to reach the goals that she had set for herself.
Those goals now include becoming the first dentist in her family. At the University of Tampa, which she chose in part because of its “positive vibe” and proximity to her Tampa Palms home, she will study biochemistry and work towards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, while trying to get into a top dental school.
She also will continue to help run MSMPC (her registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit), which stands for Milan Shah Maya Patel Collaboration, in the fall of 2014.
The two fell in love with reading at a young age, and over a discussion about what to do with their old books, hatched a plan to donate them, as well as others they would collect.
The MSMPC has donated more than 4,000 books in less than two years to places ranging from local community centers to Zambia, India, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The organization also has partnered with Books For Africa to donate more than 2,000 books.
Maya admits it all sounds like a lot for an 18-year-old to juggle. But, she loves it.
“I don’t understand where she gets all this time,’’ Bernales says, “but she’s always positive, always high energy and never comes to school like it’s a burden or a task. She goes all out and does her absolute best job on everything, and does it with a smile on her face.”
If you want to contribute books to Maya’s nonprofit, please visit MSMPC.weebly.com.
WCNT-TV, a new multimedia project from Neighborhood News and Full Throttle Intermedia, in conjunction with the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, will debut next month from the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel Studios.
The bi-weekly show will feature news and events in and around New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, a feature on a WCCC member business and editor Gary Nager’s Neighborhood Dining News. Look for more updates soon.
Good news for the new hotels and businesses sprouting in Wesley Chapel — the DICK’S Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions is returning for the 2016 and 2017 tournaments.
Her initial goal, laid out with intricate planning, was to graduate with her A.A. degree from HCC, which she did on May 6. Then, she added Class Valedictorian to her to-do list.