Are You Looking To Have Your Dream Wedding…On A Budget?

In case you hadn’t heard, one of the more unexpected effects of the 2020 pandemic was the cancellation of many weddings — as people weren’t allowed or were afraid to travel, or even go out to eat, much less spend hours in a room full of people. Many were even skittish about staying in hotels.

To that end, our friends at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel on S.R. 56 have come up with a unique idea to help those who lost deposits or otherwise had to cancel or postpone their nuptials, as well as those who were hoping to still make their wedding a beautiful occasion on a budget they can afford.

The concept is called “My Dream Micro Wedding” and it offers the opportunity for a wedding event that will be intimate, as well as budget-friendly.

You’ll be able to invite a small guest list of your family and dearest friends, all for one cost that will include everything you need to have the glamorous feel of a large wedding, with all of the “trimmings,” at a fraction of what it would normally cost.

Your Dream Micro Wedding reduces your time frame to only two hours, but includes all of the following for one budget-friendly price: a beautiful venue, a wedding planner, white linens, white chair covers with gold bows, a wedding officiant, photography (and event photo book), a live DJ, hors d’oeuvres, two-hour bar, bride’s makeup done (day of wedding), custom bridal and maid of honor bouquets, custom boutonnieres for groom and groomsman, table floral décor, sweetheart table, cake cutting, plus a local engagement photo shoot prior to the event and a one-night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn on the event date.

The only “catch” is that My Dream Micro Wedding currently is only being offered on Saturday, June 19, and while your two-hour timeframe will be exclusively yours, there will be other couples getting married at the hotel the same day. 

Even so, Hilton Garden Inn director of market sales Lisa Moore promises that, “We have brought together the most awesome vendors in Florida, in order to make your special day perfect. All of the details have been taken care of for you — all you have to do is give us a call ASAP to reserve your time and discuss all of those details with us.”

Moore also says that if this first-time “My Dream Micro Wedding” event proves to be a success (as she fully expects), “we will begin offering to do the same thing on other dates in the future.”

To reserve your two-hour timeframe now, call Moore as soon as possible at (813) 591-6907. The Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel is located at 26640 Silver Maple Pkwy. For more information, visit TampaWesleyChapel.HGI.com or email Moore at Lisa.Moore2@hilton.com.

College Students Host ‘Zoomhall’ For New Tampa Study

New Tampa is at its best when it comes together to fight for important additions to the community, like the 2017 budget battle that led to an expansion of the New Tampa Rec Center.

Three Master of Social Work (MSW) students at Southeastern University in Lakeland hosted a New Tampa Town Hall meeting on Zoom, hoping to discuss the community’s potential for growth.

The final verdict? To grow, you need to connect.

During the 40-minute Zoom call on May 4, presenters Darlene Starrette, Kyrin Backlund and Melissa Rice (a 20-year resident of New Tampa and the only member of her group that lives here) discussed the opportunities that New Tampa could partake in to increase community engagement. In addition, they held an open forum to hear from the 17 attendees present, including District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.

“While New Tampa can feel like a disconnected place, residents have voices that matter and we would like to hear your voices,” Starrette said.  

The Zoom call was part of a final project in the course “Generalist Practice with Groups, Communities and Organizations.” The three students completed their first year in the Master’s program and are currently beginning their summer internships. Next year, the students will start their final clinical year to earn their MSW degrees.

Rice was the one who suggested focusing on New Tampa for their final project. She described herself not as a social butterfly, but as someone who was interested in hearing from the people of her community. 

“New Tampa just isn’t talked about much at all,” Rice said. “Living here, I was very interested in other people’s perceptions of the community.”

Luis Viera

One of the main issues discussed during the meeting was the lack of interaction between New Tampa neighborhoods. Viera, who has long argued the same thing, said that New Tampa needed a better collective community identity.

“We see ourselves as Tampa Palms, Hunter’s Green, Richmond Place, Cory Lake Isles, K-Bar Ranch, Grand Hampton, etc. and we don’t see ourselves as New Tampa collectively,” Viera said. 

During the Zoom call, a link was shared to a 42-page community engagement tool kit that covers the demographics of New Tampa, benefits of community engagement and survey results posted on the app Nextdoor. From the responses of 21 residents who took the survey, the lack of social and cultural events in New Tampa was highlighted as a priority. 

“In terms of its cohesiveness and community spirit, it’s not a town — it’s just a zip code,” said Priscilla Stephenson, a Tampa resident who participated in the meeting. 

Rendering of the New Tampa Performing Arts Center.

The New Tampa Performing Arts Center (PAC), which has been 17 years in the making, also was a hot topic during the meeting. The team encouraged the Zoom call participants to email and voice their support for the vote occurring the next day. On May 5, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners approved the construction contract of the PAC.

“In our research, we found that there are a lot of benefits to engaging the community,” Backlund said, “including overall health, sense of belonging and social connectedness.”

Rice talked about how some members of the community wanted better transportation and more affordable housing. From her notes, she recorded that New Tampa residents also wanted to fill some of the open store fronts, build cultural bridges and have more restaurants in the area. 

Although two of the three MSW students aren’t residents of New Tampa, each member has worked towards a common goal of establishing New Tampa’s sense of community. Backlund suggested creating a Facebook page for the New Tampa area to keep the community discussion going. 

While nearby Wesley Chapel has three robust community Facebook pages with nearly 60,000 total combined members, New Tampa’s busiest Facebook page, New Tampa Online Yardsale!, is mostly for selling household items.

“I’m just hoping that this isn’t the end,” Backlund said. “Our goal is to get people on board and start to actually make some significant changes.”

The three MSW students want the residents of New Tampa to take pride in their community and to keep engaging through community events.

“It’s really up to the community to decide that this is a good thing for them and it’s something that they really want to do,” Starrette said. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Palms Pharmacy

Congratulations go out to Shahida Choudhry, Pharm.D., and her amazing, super-friendly, knowledgeable team at Palms Pharmacy at 17008 Palm Pointe Dr. in the Shoppes at the Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in April with a great, free event for its customers.

 Most items in the store were buy-one, get-one-half-off for the one-day party, which was attended by several dozen customers, in addition to the Neighborhood News. Photographer/video producer Charmaine George and I were among those who enjoyed the free cupcakes from Smallcakes Cupcakery next door, as well as truly delicious coffee drinks from the Bean Bar coffee truck.

Palms Pharmacy, which has been providing both rapid Covid-19 and Covid antibody testing for several months, is now also offering both the two-shot Moderna and single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccines, as well as shots for the flu, shingles and other ailments. And, the prices for everyday over-the-counter medications, vitamins, supplements, CBD products and sundries are competitive with the big chains. For more info, call (813) 252-9063, visit ThePalmsPharmacy.com or see the ad on pg. 19. — GN

Education Notebook — Local PTSAs Take Home County Honors

PTA treasurer Rachel Barten

The Hillsborough County Council of PTAs/PTSAs held its annual awards ceremony this year on May 1, with several New Tampa schools, educators and volunteers taking home top honors.

Hector Rivera of Liberty Middle School was named Instructional Person of the Year for middle school. Rivera is a technology resource teacher who was nominated because he, “worked tirelessly to provide technical support and troubleshoot problems that our e-learners encountered with technology during the year,” according to his nomination. Rivera uses his bilingual skills to help Spanish-speaking parents overcome technical difficulties, and enthusiastically supports his school and students.

At the high school level, Dr. Tammy Crawford of Wharton High also received the Instructional Person of the Year award. Dr. Crawford is a success coach at the school who, according to her nomination, “is someone who has been a very strong advocate for all students, but especially for those who sometimes need the most help and are often overlooked.”

Wharton principal Michael Rowan was named Principal of the Year among the county’s high school nominees for the second time in three years.

According to the Wharton PTSA’s nomination, “Our principal, Michael Rowan, works to make our school a safe, welcoming and fun place that students want to come to!”

Hunter’s Green Elementary won awards for Health & Safety for its “Walk & Bike to School Week” event, for Advocacy/Legislation for its “Engage 33647” initiative, and for Volunteer of the Year, which went to PTA treasurer Rachel Barten.

This year was a year of unknowns for Barten, whose work used to include frequent international travel, which was stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, she faced unexpected surgery to remove a brain tumor. As she recovered, with no work obligations, she returned to the school PTA and became one of the group’s busiest and most passionate volunteers.

“I honestly think between Covid and my diagnosis, it should have been the worst year ever,” Barten says, “but it truly gave me the opportunity to focus on things I always wanted to do.”

Barten’s main priority is her daughter, Reagan, who is a fourth-grader at the school. She jumped in and volunteered at every possible opportunity, from the school’s fund raisers to running errands, helping with staff appreciation and handing out fliers in the car line after school. 

“It was two very odd crises that turned into blessings,” Barten said. “I was able to totally repurpose my attention to what I’ve always wanted it to be.”

After A Decade In New Tampa, Principal Gaye Holt Retires

After 10 years serving as principal of New Tampa schools, Gaye Holt will retire June 30. She steps down after a 39-year career in education, with the last seven years as the principal of Hunter’s Green Elementary and three years prior to that at Clark Elementary.

“I’m really going to miss everyone, and it’s going to be hard,” she says. “Whether I was at Clark or Hunter’s Green, the boys and girls, the parents, everyone in the community has been nothing but supportive, helpful and caring.”

Holt is known for her hard work and generous spirit, whether it’s greeting each child by name every morning or keeping the campus looking top-notch with her personal, daily inspections.

She says one of the funniest memories she has is when she dressed up as a member of the rock band KISS for a school fund-raising lip synch contest among teachers and staff. 

“It’s those kinds of things that everybody enjoys,” she says, “because it’s very uncharacteristic of me. I did it because the kids love it, and I’ll do anything for those kids – goo and slime, getting iced, all of that, I’ll do it for the kids.”

Her teachers and staff at Hunter’s Green say Holt will be missed tremendously.

“She’s so wonderful about procedures,” says Roxi Coriell, one of HGE’s kindergarten teachers. “There’s a plan for everything and the plan makes sense. When it came to coming back after Covid, I knew that we would be in great hands.”

Coriell says it’s obvious how much Holt cares about all of her students and members of the school community, a sentiment echoed by current PTA president Rebecca Towner.

“She is leaving Hunter’s Green Elementary with a strong foundation and a legacy that will not be forgotten,” says Towner.

Holt’s replacement was scheduled to be named at the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on May 18, which was held after this publication was printed.

Win A Prize Package Worth Nearly $500 At The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Center!

Now that it’s been open for a while, you’ve hopefully heard of the Sarah Vande Berg (SVB) Tennis & Wellness Center, located on Simons Rd. in Zephyrhills.

In case you haven’t heard of it before, SVB has an amazing array of competition tennis courts, as well as the full-size courts for both pickleball and padel, two of the fastest-growing racquet sports in the world.

But, SVB also is home to an amazing fitness center and also offers licensed massages, cryotherapy, salt therapy, sports counseling, a boutique pro shop and a full-service restaurant with chef-created food by locally renowned Vesh Catering.

But, you might ask, what does all this have to do with you? I’m glad you asked. 

One of the things we’ve heard from our readers in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel is that SVB is “too far away” for our readers to join. Wrong! It’s only 15-20 minutes away from most of our Wesley Chapel communities and, with its unique variety of activities, you really should check it out.

Still not convinced? Here’s some incentive:  To win an amazing prize package to give SVB a try for FREE, send us an email (to ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com) or message us (at “Neighborhood News” on Facebook) with your name, address, the community you live in, a valid email address and daytime phone number, by Tuesday, June 1, to be entered into a random drawing to win this incredible SVB prize package worth nearly $500:

• One week of Recreational Kids Summer Camp (for ages 4-6) or Boot Camp (for athletes ages 8-14) with former NFL star Mel Williams

• One 25-minute Salt Room session

• Brunch for two at the Vesh Café

• SVB “swag bag,” including an SVB logo mask, Mahala cup, lipstick, sunstick, black cup & borosilicate verre water bottle