This weekend, April 2 and 3, marks the return of the Spring Art Festival in downtown Celebration. More information on this event is available on the Celebration Town Center website.
The title says it all. From this page:
Spring Cleaning! It’s not just inside that needs a little elbow grease and polish. After a cold winter there’s plenty of work to do both inside and outside. Need some help?
Come to the Expo to arrange to dispose of those closet-cleaning castoffs!
Come to the Expo to find help with interior cleaning, like carpet shampooing!
Come to the Expo to meet folks who can clean up and spruce up your yard!
Come to the Expo to talk to designers who can reinvigorate your spaces!
Come to the Expo to learn about saving energy and money!
Come to the Expo to experience fragrances that can soothe your jangled nerves!
Come to the Expo to see the newest technology offered in Celebration!
Come to the Expo to enjoy a little lunch, have some fun, and maybe win some prizes!
Come to the Expo to chat with your friends and neighbors!
It’s at the Town Hall Building at 851 Celebration Ave., from 9a to 2p.
Celebration’s semi-annual, community-wide yard sale was last Saturday. The homeowner’s association does a terrific job at organizing it, and I think everyone — buyers and sellers alike — have a decent time. We left our house in the East Village at 7:45am; I returned at a little after noon, and my wife about an hour later. That should give you an idea of the distance we covered on foot.
Traffic is always a concern for this event, as you have a confluence of factors conspiring to make the day miserable:
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The number of people
That the people are looking sideways, trying to peek at people’s stuff, instead of paying attention to the road
That many people simply can’t drive well, even on a normal day
Some Celebration streets that aren’t fun, even on a normal day (*cough* Nash *cough*)
Lots of pedestrians, some of who have children and pets
As with the Halloween issues every year, I don’t know that there’s any good solution. Certainly strategically-placed No Parking signs and off-duty sheriff’s deputies would help, but this is another situation where the Homeowner’s Association has to expend time and money on something where there is no possibility to recoup those resources.
Personally, I look forward to these community yard sales. They’re a terrific excuse to wander the neighborhoods, meet fellow residents, and pick up cheap books (me) and baby stuff (wife).
We attended the first night of Grouchos Comedy in Celebration on Feb 5. My wife’s parents do the Canadian snow bird thing, so we were fortunate enough to have trusted help in town to watch our 17 month old for a night. We started at around 7pm at Cafe D’Antonio, me with wine and a kick-ass Caprese di Bufala and the wife choosing to fill up on bread and Bruschetta alla Romana. Hunger sated, we strolled over to Thai Thani for the show.
Now… it was the first night for Grouchos at Thai Thani, so I didn’t know what to expect. I heard about it from Mike Nunez with Lexin a few weeks prior, but didn’t have any insight into how widely it was advertised, how well advanced tickets were sold, or how many people would actually show.
We didn’t do the Dinner & Show deal, which meant we wouldn’t have priority seating. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised to be seated at the back of the room — meaning they had done very well in selling the package and filling the place. There were ‘Reserved For…’ placards posted on most of the tables. Sure enough, by show time the room was packed, a great environment for comedy. “Trailer Park Diva” Michelle Harrington had a great set, and headliner Dean Napolitano absolutely killed.
Notice on the very left of the photo that Nat seems quite happy about things.
All expectations were exceeded — even on an opening night, where glitches are expected — and we shall definitely be repeat visitors. Thanks to Nat with Thai Thani, Larry with Grouchos, Mike with Lexin, and whoever else was involved in bringing this to Celebration. If you’re around Celebration on a Saturday evening, I encourage you to take advantage. The dinner & show package is a tremendous value:
Tickets- $12.00 or $25.00 Dinner Package (includes show, dinner, beverage, and choice of seats)
Menu Includes
Choice of one of the following:
Egg Roll (2-piece)
Crab Rangoons (3-piece)
Chicken Satay (2-piece)
Plus Choose One Entree
(Choice of: Chicken, Beef, Pork, Tofu or Veggies)
Fried Rice
Phad Thai
Sweet & Sour
Garlic Meat
Mixed Vegetables
Cashew Nut
Pepper Steak
All Entrees include choice of soda or Ice Tea.
You can tell them you read about it here, but it won’t get you anything special beyond funny looks. 
Live comedy is coming to Celebration! From what I understand, terms were worked out earlier tonight to feature live comedy by a nationally touring comedian every Saturday night at 8:30pm in the Thai Thani banquet room. The first show is scheduled for February 5. Admission is either $12 or can be purchased as part of a dinner and show package.
I hope to have more information in a day or two such as a list of performers and how to purchase tickets. In the meantime let this serve as a save-the-date!
Update 2011-Jan-19: The first six weeks’ acts have been announced. See the Grouchos site for more info.
There was an arrest today in the Matteo Giovanditto homicide case.
“A homeless man was arrested Monday afternoon in the first murder in the town of Celebration. David Murillo, 28, was taken into custody and charged first-degree murder.”
Based on the article it sounds like there’s a fair amount of physical evidence pointing to the arrested individual, but I’ll reserve judgment and let a jury decide. The arrest also confirms what the police had previously alluded to in that it was not a random killing.
Other links:
There’s been a lot of media coverage on Celebration in the last week, including the NBC Nightly News and Today Show, CNN.com, The New York Times, and hundreds of other outlets that picked it up via a wire service.
So far, of the stories I’ve read, this one from the New Urban Network is probably closest to reality and treats the story in a less sensationalist manner than the other sources: News flash: Celebration is not perfect
Mr. Steuteville, if you’re out there, thank you for sharing your perspective on the events here. If you find yourself down this way, let me know and the first round is on me.
By now you’ve probably heard of the homicide here in Celebration over Thanksgiving weekend. The murdered man’s name is Matteo Giovanditto.
I didn’t know the man personally, but he was a active participant in the Town’s residents-only message board called the Celebration Front Porch. The Front Porch is divided up into various categories, including Public Safety, Entertainment and Dining, Items For Sale, Real Estate, and so on. It provides a forum for residents to discuss anything and everything related to living in Celebration, such as Halloween crowding, police activity, skywriting, town events, and recommendations for service people.
In the time he’d been in Celebration, Matteo posted 521 messages. His last message, in a thread where someone was asking the community if there was a copy of “The Prince” by Nicolo Machiavelli to borrow, was:
Again, I didn’t know the man beyond the occasional message board conversations, but that message makes me sad. Whatever he did in life or whoever he pissed off, he was still a person with likes and dislikes and thoughts and feelings. He came across as intelligent and articulate, someone who cared about other people and the town.
The Associated Press put a story about the murder on the wire today, so now the story is national and appearing on sites such as CNN.com, Drudge Report, and the Yahoo! front page. They all have the same basic slant: that this is the first homicide in the community planned by Disney and that we usually don’t have murders here and by the way Disney used to own the land and… whatever. Seems like an opportunity to drag Disney — who haven’t been actively involved in the HOA or downtown for a number of years — through the mud for no reason beyond the fact the Disney name generates clicks. Fine.
Statistically, Celebration is still very safe by every measure, and it’s the safest place I’ve lived. We chose to move here and raise our son here due in part to that fact. I’m hoping law enforcement can find and bring the coward who performed this despicable act to justice as soon as possible so we can start putting this behind us.
The Women’s Club of Celebration is holding their Holiday Home Tour this weekend. The proceeds from this great event benefit local needy charities, so your participation is welcome!
The tour hours are:
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Saturday, December 4 from 3:00 to 9:00 pm
Sunday, December 5 from 1:00 to 5 pm
Pre-sale tickets are available at the following locations: Confetti, Soft As A Grape, Sanrio, The Spa at Mirasol, Advanced Nutrition Store (ANS), Salon 720, and Platinum Dance Academy. They are also available on the day of tour (at a slightly higher price) at the ticket tent in front of the Post Office on Market Street.
You may also download a PDF flyer for the event. If you’d like more information, refer to the contact page for the Women’s Club, or you may mail us at blogmail@celebrationblog.com and we can send your question along.