Cottage Industry Expo To Be Held At Wiregrass Ranch High July 30

A tray of fresh blueberries. Florida fruits, food production. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.
A tray of fresh blueberries. Florida fruits, food production. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.

With consumers looking for more locally-sourced food, small businesses offering products made from local produce and meats are becoming more common.

Called “cottage food” operations, these businesses produce small-scale, local food, where raw ingredients are processed in a way that adds value to the final product, such as creating cheese from milk or jam from berries.

Starting this type of business can be daunting, so the Tampa Bay Cottage Industry Expo will help those who are new in the industry learn what they need to know about food safety, regulations, and marketing, to get their business off the ground.

The expo will be held on Saturday, July 30, at Wiregrass Ranch High, located at 2909 Mansfield Blvd., beginning at 9 a.m. It’s open to anyone interested in cottage food operations.

“We want to enable people with a good idea to hit the ground running,” says event organizer Dr. Whitney Elmore of the University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) extension office in Pasco County. “We can provide the ‘do’s and help you avoid the ‘don’t’s when it comes to rules and regulations, and share best practices for marketing, including social media.”

Elmore says her office and the UF/IFAS extension offices in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are working together to put on this expo in respond to a need. “We are constantly getting calls and people walking in who are asking how to get started, especially when it comes to rules, regulations and safety concerns.”

The expo is for small business owners – or people looking to start their own business – in fruits and vegetables, livestock, and hydroponics, which is a way of growing food in water without soil. Sessions will include topics such as agriculture production, legal and regulatory considerations, and marketing.

Fish fedding on roots of lettuce.
Fish fedding on roots of lettuce.

In Pasco County, Elmore says there are many you-pick blueberry farms, and when they have leftover berries at the end of the season, they also have a dilemma. What to do? “Farmers can turn their leftover blueberries into jams and jellies and sell them at a premium. Our goal is to have no waste.” Just like turning the proverbial lemons into lemonade, Elmore explains, the farmers turn their berries into “useful, high-dollar commodities.”

She says these businesses are important to the economy in Pasco County. “People are looking for locally sourced food, and they are willing to pay more for it,” Elmore says. “We want to keep our food local, produce it locally, and keep the money associated with it local.”

Some of the expo attendees are people who only have an idea and no experience in the market, while others have decades of experience in growing food or raising livestock, but are looking to improve or expand their business.

“In some cases, we’re helping people achieve a lifelong dream,” says Elmore.

Food trucks will be on site throughout the event, offering lunch, snacks and drinks for sale.

Anyone who has not yet registered for the Tampa Bay Cottage Industry Expo but would like to attend can register on-site at the opening of the event. The fee to attend for the day is $30, and event organizers ask that you be prepared to pay by credit card, as cash will not be accepted.

For more information about the expo, visit http://pasco.ifas.ufl.edu/.

Newest Chick-fil-A Is Worth The Wait For Overnight Campers

Chick WEB
Robert Hutton and Barbra Spesak are the first two through the doors at the newest Chick-fil-A on S.R. 56.

If you are having trouble wrapping your head around why anyone would camp out in a parking lot on back-to-back nights for a free chicken sandwich, order of waffle fries and a medium drink weekly, Robert Hutto understands.

If you think it’s all about the chicken (although he says it’s really not), Hutto gets it.

And if you think Hutto is a little crazy for sleeping in an asphalt parking space off S.R. 56 and then hanging out there all day in 93-degree heat — for a few sandwiches — he doesn’t blame you.

Crazy?

“They are not too far from the truth,’’ Hutto says.

Hutto and Barbra Spesak, Brandon residents, were the first two people in line at the Grand Opening of the newest Chick-fil-A in our area, this one in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets off S.R. 56. Hutto arrived June 28 at 8 p.m.; he saved a spot under his 10’x10’ tent for Spesak, who arrived after work at 11:30 p.m.

Decked out in complimentary red and white Chick-fil-A t-shirts and paper hats, they were the first two in line and the first two through the door on Thursday morning, June 30. As cameras from two local television stations rolled — as well as our own WCNT-tv cameras recording footage for our second episode (see pages 44-45 and 51), Hutto and Spesak met the local Chick-fil-A franchise owner Britt Young, shook his hand and received their chicken “debit” card — stocked with 52 No. 1 combos — before being ushered out another door and back into the parking lot.

For those doing the math at home, it was 34 hours of waiting for about 30 seconds of picking up the reward.

“But, it’s about the experience,’’ Hutto said.

The experience is called the First 100, a Chick-fil-A tradition started 12 years ago to celebrate the grand openings of their wildly popular fast food chicken restaurants. Chick-fil-A has given away more than $27-million in free food since beginning the First 100.

For Hutto, it was the third time he had been one of the first 100. He also waited overnight at the Chick-fil-A openings on Waters Ave. in Citrus Park, as well as for the Bruce B. Downs Blvd. location in New Tampa.

CHICK2 WEB“I’ve made some friends at these things,’’ Hutto said. “They have a live deejay playing music. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that’s not bad. It’s a good time.”

Both Hutto and Spesak admit that they probably won’t eat every No. 1 meal on their cards themselves.

“It really isn’t about the sandwich,’’ Hutto said. “When we are out and we see someone who needs a sandwich, like a homeless person or something like that, we’ll go hit the drive-thru and use the card for them. We’ll also use it for friends and family.”

Hutto, who transports RVs all over the country for a living, says he also sometimes uses his free meals as a pit stop when he’s on the road.

He said of all the First 100 events he has attended, this one might have been the toughest. It was blistering hot, the heat made even worse by his setup on black asphalt, and it rained three times. During one heavy downpour the last day, more than a dozen revelers seeking free chicken abandoned their posts, and the first 12 alternates were selected.

Nothing, however, was deterring Spesak, a certified nursing assistant. It was her first overnighter at Chick-fil-A.

“It was fun,’’ she said. “Everybody thought I was crazy, the people at work thought I was crazy, for taking days off to go camp out at a Chick-fil-A.”

And, she may have caught the fever. Asked if they had plans to do this again, Spesak said she is already scouting out the next opening.

“I hear they might be opening one soon on Dale Mabry,’’ she said, smiling.

DUI Crash Claims 3 Over Holiday Weekend

crashThe Fourth of July weekend, traditionally one of the deadliest of holiday weekends, was tragically ushered in with a DUI car accident that killed a Leesburg family on July 2 when a Wesley Chapel driver allegedly sent their pickup truck into the waters beneath the Howard Frankland Bridge.

Joshua Burbank, 25, was driving his 4-door 2014 Honda Civic eastbound on I-275 near milepost 33 at approximately 9:30 p.m. when he swerved from the center inside lane into the inside lane and hit the truck, causing it to lose control and overturn multiple times before flipping over the southern concrete barrier wall and into the water below, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Burbank, says the FHP, was driving under the influence. He was arrested at the scene and faces three charges of DUI Manslaughter and another charge of DUI involving property damage., as well as careless driving.

Robert, Karen and Samuel Getter of Leesburg were inside the GMC truck, and perished.

The FHP says that the front left portion Burbank’s car clipped the rear right of the truck, causing it to go into a clockwise spin before tumbling towards the edge of bridge, and into two feet of water.

Robert Getter, 76, and his wife Karen, 73, sustained fatal injuries; their son Samuel, 52, sustained critical injuries and was transported to an area hospital where he died. All three were wearing their seatbelts.

The northbound lanes of the Howard Frankland Bridge was closed from 9:45 p.m. until 2 a.m. Saturday morning while the crash was investigated.

Burbank was released from the Pinellas County Jail on Saturday after posting bail.

 

 

Where To Find Fireworks In Our Area For Independence Day!

FireworksGreg Lenners, the general manager at the Shops at Wiregrass mall, says pulling out of the Wesley Chapel Rotary Club’s fifth annual Freedom Fest was one of the toughest decisions he’s had to make. But, because of safety concerns – namely young kids darting across S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. at 10 p.m. as cars whizzed by – he says it was the most prudent choice.

“We outgrew Freedom Fest faster than we expected,’’ Lenners said.

So where do locals turn now for their Fourth of July fireworks fix until, hopefully, Freedom Fest finds a new new home in 2017?

We have a few suggestions:

Avalon Park West in Wesley Chapel will host a Fourth of July celebration Monday beginning at 5 p.m. in its Amenity Center at 5216 Autumn Ridge Dr.

The festivities will include an apple pie bake-off, bike parade, wet/dry bounce park sponsored by Avex Homes, Tampa Bay Lightning mascot Thunderbug, food trucks, free 3D glasses for the firework show provided by Trinity Church of Wesley Chapel and fireworks at 9 p.m.

(It should also be noted that Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club does a fireworks display every year, but it is typically an event for members and requires reservations, though there could be some good parking spots in the area along Bruce B. Downs to catch a glimpse of the pyrotechnics Monday night if you try)

If you’re looking for something relatively close, Dade City is just a short trip and their Sparklebration gets good reviews. There will be eating contests, skydivers, bounce houses, pony rides and, of course, a fireworks display to cap it all off. The festivities kick off on Monday, July 4, 4 p.m., with the pyrotechnics starting at 9:15 p.m.

Temple Terrace is another short drive from the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area, and the Greater Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce is hosting its 42nd annual Temple Terrace Independence Day Parade on Monday, July 4, 10 a.m.

The parade will begin on the corner of Whiteway Dr. and Gillette Ave., and head south on Gillette, west on Druid Hills and then south on Ridgedale. The evening festivities begin at 6 p.m. on the first fairway of the Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club and fireworks are at 9:15 p.m. Pro tip: find a nice parking spot on N. 56th street, and avoid the traffic on the way home.

Brandon also is hosting a 4th of July parade, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Monday. They bill it as the largest parade in Florida, and it begins at 101 E. Lumsden Rd.

If a longer drive doesn’t worry you, check out Cotanchobee Park across from Amalie Arena in the Channelside area on Saturday, where a host of activities are scheduled like an igloo drag race competition, DIY canvas painting and live jazz, all from 5-10 p.m., with fireworks at 9.

And, check out the “Land O’Liberty Salute,” sponsored by the WC Noon Rotary Club’s Land O’Lakes (LOL) satellite club, which is painting LOL Red, White & Blue. For more info, call 817-3011.