This press release was issued by Clarion Partners today regarding their acquisition of the Water Tower Shoppes for $18.3 million. The release also indicates that a Publix grocery store will anchor the plaza.
A grocery store on “this side” of 192 will be more convenient for NEV owners and bike riders than the current Publix at Xentury City.
Thanks to CROA for a fun holiday party on Saturday. Scheduling only allowed us to attend the carols and tree-lighting, but that was enjoyable.
This evening we attended an early preview of the annual “Now Snowing” event that runs through most of December in Celebration. There was “ice” skating, NEV train rides, Santa & Mrs Claus, and the snowfall itself (which is actually just soap of some kind).
To set the scene, they put down a layer of snow around dusk:
Before long it looks like this:
The actual snowfall wasn’t easy to capture on camera but you can kind of get the idea:
This year the regular snow falls start on Saturday, November 26 through December 31. There are snow falls every night at 6, 7, 8, and 9 pm. More information can be found on the Celebration Town Center site.
The weather was cool and dry, people were friendly and upbeat, and traffic was under control.
It rained today. All day. Even at 9:00pm the radar still looks like this:
While we could use the rain, this weekend we were supposed to welcome in Fall with the annual Oktoberfest festival. Somewhat fortunately, since it’s been so rainy, the organizers have rescheduled the Saturday events for next weekend, October 15. See you next weekend!
Article: Vacation Lodge Maingate fire displaces 231 people
A number of families were displaced by this nearby fire and are at present being attended to by the American Red Cross. Other organizations that have helped include Main Gate Transportation, Chick-fil-a, Flippers Pizza, Celebration High School, CROA, Robert Schwartz, Orange Lake Resorts, McDonalds, the Celebration Foundation, and Publix, as well as several community churches.
Monetary donations to the Red Cross(a) and Second Harvest are appreciated. Community Presbyterian is collecting clothes to be distributed on Friday. Other useful suggestions, taken from a post on the Celebration message board, include:
If you have more information that you would like posted here, please mail me so I can update.
(a) – A $10 donation to the Red Cross can be made by texting REDCROSS to 90999 from your mobile phone. Donations also accepted at the Mid-Florida Red Cross web site.
Lexin pays for fireworks: Argh why are they destroying the downtown?
Lexin doesn’t pay for fireworks: Remember when we used to have fireworks? Argh why aren’t there fireworks?
CROA pays for fireworks: Argh why are we wasting our money on this? Plus it’s destroying the downtown.
CROA doesn’t pay for fireworks: Remember when Lexin used to pay for fireworks? Argh why aren’t there fireworks?
I can understand some people might not like the crowds, but it’s like building a house next to the airport (landfill) and then complaining about the noise (smell). You had to have some inkling of what you were getting in to.
Celebration will be hosting a unique event on May 21 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm called Savor the Flavors. Dine with friends and neighbors in the open air of Market and Front Streets in downtown Celebration. All the dining establishments downtown are offering prix fixe meals, with the price including dinner, listed complimentary alcoholic beverages, gratuity, taxes, and a charitable donation to benefit Florida Hospital – Celebration Health.
A nice-looking flyer, including the menu for each restaurant, is available at savortheflavors.net. Questions can be answered by calling (407) 566-1200, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CelebrationRecreation.
The hardest part is deciding which terrific Celebration restaurant to choose!
Every year the Parks & Recreation department puts on an Easter Egg Hunt down at Lakeside Park. This was our first year going, now that our little one is old enough.
The “hidden” eggs:
Overall there were over 20,000 eggs for this year’s event. Filling this many plastic eggs with treats is no small task.
People lined up at the starting gate awaiting the countdown.
The event was well-attended and, besides a few meltdowns, everyone appeared to be having a good time. Chick-fil-a was there, as was the Easter Bunny and a Balloon Animal Artist.
A great job by Celebration Parks & Rec!
