Islands Fest 2009
The 2009 Islands Fest continues to be the largest event on Davis Islands. Artists, music, bounce houses, gyrospheres, magicians, and more were enhanced for 2009 with over 100 classic British collector cars at the Peter O. Knight Airport on display with airplanes and more. Tampa General Hospital gave free health screenings. Mark Misner of Body By Design was on hand to answer diet and exercise questions. It was quite a day for everyone. GM presented a prototype car, new Mini-Coopers, and Smart Cars showed some new cars available.
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Show Case Home Nearing Completion
Davis Islands is already known for some beautiful waterfront estates, but seldom do you have a chance to visit on. Boss and Mennie, Tampa luxury homebuilders are quickly moving along on the construction of a Showcase home at 332 Blanca Ave. The waterfront home will be available for tours from July 16th to August 2nd , Thursdays through Sundays, noon – 6pm for three weekends. Tickets will be $10 in advance and $15 at the door, children are free. 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales goes to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
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Celebrate Tampa Bay at Datz Deli
The new Datz Deli on South MacDill was the location for our April Celebrate Tampa Bay Event. Over 100 attended and the food, drink, and fun was great as always. The upstairs wine/beer bar area provided our guests with a wide selection of choices, but it was the fresh and quality appetizers that helped set the tone of the evening. Guests enjoyed the downstairs gourmet shopping area and promised to return soon. Our monthly Celebrate Tampa Bay event visits one of Tampa’s newest locations with a free to attend event featuring complimentary appetizers and the opportunity to make many new friends.
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Davis Islands Egg Hunt
The Young Islanders of Davis Islands held their annual Easter Egg Hunt as lots of kids scrambled to find plenty of Easter Goodies. The Davis Islands Garden Club provided the perfect waterfront setting. The kids always have a great time and plenty of eggs were found. Congratulations to the Young Islanders for another great event.
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Mayor Iorio Declares City Sound – but Cautious
The annual State of the City speech by Mayor Iorio was given in a room packed with City Department Managers and employees. The careful attention and silence as the Mayor spoke provided a clear indication that 2009 was a different year from the past. Starting with a video presentation, a careful progression of this past year’s events and accomplishment were laid out as Mayor Iorio took advantage of construction backdrops to re-enforce her contention that Tampa was progressing ahead with jobs projects of all kinds. It was her speech that seemed to hit home with those in attendance. With term limits requiring that this be her last term as Mayor. She sounded more than ever as a careful steward of a meticulous policy based on fiscal responsibility with the respect and appreciation of every city employee.
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Bike Event Takes Over Downtown
The first Criterium Bicycle event happened in downtown Tampa with lots of riders, great weather, and perfect streets. A Criterium (Crit) generally takes place on downtown streets with mixed surfaces and many turns and curves. The Tampa location provided it all. Riders came from across the South to participate. The event was billed as the First Annual Tampa Twilight Criterium and Festival. The riders enjoyed the course and the race organization did well, but the promotion of the event had been weak from the start as evidenced by the light turnout of race viewers.
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Mayor's Cup Regatta
The downtown waterfront is a perfect setting for the Mayor’s Cup Regatta as teams from across the US compete in rowing competition on Seddon Channel by Davis Islands and Harbour Island. The day long event provides plenty of excitement as row teams participate in multiple heats beginning in the early morning and continuing until mid afternoon.
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What Mayor Iorio Wants You to Know
We recently received an invitation to tour the downtown construction project for the Tampa Museum of Art, the Glazer Childrens Museum, Kiley Gardens, and the Curtis Hixon Park. While we received invitations of all kinds (including press releases etc from the Mayor) this was especially unique. Usually, there are a gaggle of reporters with the tv guys pushing everyone around because they have big cameras. While I was looking forward to the update, I also was dreading the usual gaggle. Since misery loves company I decided to invite Tommy Duncan (Editor of the Davis Islands Community News and Owner/Editor of Sticksoffire.com, Tampa’s best blog) to join me. Mayor Iorio’s office said to bring him along. To my surprise there was no gaggle.
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