BEST PLACE TO WATCH A SUNSET
The lounge at Armani's
A bit more upscale than a quick stroll down to the beach with a plastic cup of draft beer in your hand, the view from this restaurant atop the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay is a panoramic vista of Old Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico beyond Pinellas County. Save dinner here (Mobil Four Star and pricey) for another night; order up an ice-cold vodka martini, sit back in the small but comfortable lounge and watch as the sun sinks slowly in the west. Armani's, 6200 Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa, 813-207-6800.
BEST PLACE TO WATCH A SUNRISE
On DVD
Sure, there are some obvious choices. Atop the parking garage at Tampa International Airport. Or from a boat in Tampa Bay. But we say, the hell with the idea of getting up before the sun. Stay in bed until at least 11 a.m., and then roll out of the rack, pop in a DVD and watch sunrise at a civilized hour of the morning. Try the sunrise over a black-sand beach in Hawaii on the Hawaiian Dreams relaxation video. $19.95, available online at www.powerfloe.com.
BEST STROLL AT DUSK
Downtown St. Pete on the water between The St. Pete Yacht Club and The Vinoy
A nighttime stroll can be a very relaxing way to release the stress built up throughout the day. With winding sidewalks, great views of both a growing skyline and the sparkling waterfront, and a nice breeze coming in off the water that slices through the raging humidity, downtown St. Pete offers one hell of a walk after work. Start at the pretty-in-pink Vinoy and walk south, through the park, past shops selling ice cream, coffee or even adult beverages, and finish up at the St. Pete Yacht Club, which anchors the southern end of the path. Turn around and repeat. Your body will thank you.
BEST TREE
The Kapok at The Museum of Fine Arts
Downtown St. Pete is booming — every high-rise shooting up is taking property values with it — and cheap places to hang out are getting harder and harder to find. But chilling at the kapok, on the corner of Second Avenue N. and Beach Drive, is still free. A gorgeous tree with long thick limbs that grow just feet from the ground, the kapok draws a diverse array of St. Pete contingents: The punk kids there on Saturday nights, mingling at the tree instead of at BayWalk a few blocks away; protective mothers happy to let their kids climb just above the grass. And with its level limbs, the kapok is an ideal place to take a nap — check it out after midnight and you're bound to see someone using it as a motel. 225 Beach Drive N.E., St. Petersburg.
BEST LAWN TO WATCH FIREWORKS FROM
Lassing Park, St. Pete
This under-used (but we like it that way) treasure is the perfect waterfront park: wide stretch of green lawn, nice patch of white-sand beach, pretty but not overbearing homes across the street and a view of the St. Pete skyline in the distance. There's a mellow vibe here that extends even to the Fourth of July, when carloads come to watch the fireworks over the bay. Though the big finale fizzled out at this year's display, the crowd remained quiet and unruffled — perfectly happy to continue lazing around Lassing. Beach Drive S.E. between 15th and 22nd avenues S.E., St. Petersburg.
BEST ERGONOMICALLY EFFICIENT MEN'S ROOM
Ford Amphitheatre
You've had several beers and, because Tom Petty has launched into "Don't Come Around Here No More," you've decided to hold off your very, very necessary men's room run. With the song over, you dash there, only to discover that the queue is very, very long. You get that moment of panic. You start eyeing nearby bushes and crannies. But then your realize that the line, maybe 50 yards long, is moving rather briskly. Twenty-five yards to go and you start thinking, "I just might make it." Within a few minutes, you're inside the hallowed walls. You can hear the flushes and the chatter, smell that men's room smell. It smells good — because it means you're close. There are rows and rows of urinals, and men filing orderly by like in some futuristic movie about clones. You reach porcelain and let it go. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… Ahhhhhhhh. You don't know exactly how or why the line moved so quickly, but you are grateful and, in some way, you are astonished. You stop for another beer on the way back to your seat. 4802 U.S. 301 N., Tampa, 813-740-2446, www.fordamp.com.
BEST MEAT MARKET (SENIOR CITIZENS DIVISION)
Captain Kosmakos Restaurant
The bold and the beautiful under-35s have plenty of pickup joints, both straight and gay. The 55-and-over crowd deserves a place to shake its booty and hook up a lil' sump'm sump'm, too, and the lounge at Captain Kosmakos is it. Live Top 40 bands provide the music for the small dance floor on weekends in this second-story restaurant with its trademark smoky dark windows. 9610 Gulf Blvd., Treasure Island, 727-367-3743.
BEST GAY BAR
Georgie's Alibi
Cityside and Suncoast have their fans, but there's just something about Georgie's. As one regular explained during a recent visit, the place is simply "comfortable" — and that means comfortable for all kinds of people, whether they're male or female, gay or straight, young or old, hot or not. Located in a homo-centric shopping plaza in St. Pete's Historic Kenwood, Georgie's has all the gay-bar prerequisites and then some: three bars, two pool tables, video monitors everywhere you look, a dance floor that gets enthusiastically crowded on weekends, surprisingly good food, even dart tournaments. But what really sets the tone is the bar staff — possibly the best in any bar in Tampa Bay, homo or het. Owner George Kessinger is credited with kick-starting the Ft. Lauderdale-area gay Mecca of Wilton Manors with the opening of his first Georgie's. He opened the Kenwood branch five years ago and once more helped raise the profile of a great gayborhood. 3100 Third Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 727-321-2112.
BEST LANDSCAPING
WMNF-88.5 FM Radio Station
As part of its new $2.2 million building on E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Tampa, community radio station WMNF wouldn't be expected to install anything less than the most environmentally friendly, drought-tolerant plants for its landscaping. Even in the heat of summer, WMNF's little slice of landscaping heaven is blossoming, according to station manager Vicki Santa. By using xeriscaping principles and native plants, the landscaping uses less water and is a better host to native animals and insects, according to landscape designer Brian Schatz. The key, he says, was using native plants, which often are neglected even in xeriscaping projects. "Native plants get the short shrift; they don't get the notoriety and don't get installed that much," Schatz said. He contributed the design pro-bono; the Florida Native Plant Society provided the physical labor and is maintaining it. 1210 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tampa, 813-238-8001, www.wmnf.org.
BEST DEAD AIR
WMNF-88.5 FM
Depending upon one's tastes regarding entertainment, the occasional technical glitches that have always been a regular part of the WMNF listening experience are either fairly endearing or frankly irritating. For about six months after moving into the station's new building in February, however, the stretches of silence and lost phone connections attained a hilarious/maddening frequency, as DJs, engineers and producers scrambled to learn the new gear on the fly. These days, it sounds like most of the kinks have been worked out, but listeners are never completely surprised to dial in 88.5 and discover, well, nothing, for a few seconds or more.
BEST AUTOMATION ATROCITY
WUSF Jazz Goes Digital
We understand, even if we don't like it, that corporate radio is now completely under the control of a centralized radio god who spoon-feeds the masses aural pabulum. But when the jazz programs at WUSF-89.7 FM switched to an automated format — with DJs taping intros to sets, which then go into a digital program assembly — that saddened us. WUSF has been running after-midnight jazz programming since 1979 in a loose, free-spirited fashion that relied a lot on listener interaction. It's a shame to see that go away. Program Director Bob Seymour now selects and compiles all the music, and as radio gods go, he's a damn good one. No complaints there. (We should also add that the decision to automate was not his, but General Manager JoAnn Urofsky's.) Still, we're going to miss the individual tastes and idiosyncrasies of the other jocks. Plus, jazz is built on spontaneity; isn't automation antithetical?
BEST WTF?
The Band-Aid Painting on All Children's Hospital
Obviously there were several contenders around Tampa Bay for this coveted slot. It could've gone to Sham Auto Repair, or that place that rents rims. Scientology was in the running, as were Ronda Storms, the NHL and the disappearance of the fantastic falafel shop in downtown St. Pete. But nothing could top that giant Band-Aid thing on the side of the Children's Hospital. Maybe it was a good idea originally, the Band-Aid signifying healing and all. But the rainbow? The swirls? A friggin' blood spot? Couldn't you have at least put up an unused one? What the fuck? Drive to the stoplight at Fourth Street S. and Sixth Avenue S. in St. Pete. Look up. And then look down. Quickly.
BEST HEADLINE THAT STATES THE OBVIOUS
Tampa Tribune's Chamberlain prom coverage
Ahh, so many good choices here. I mean, after all, we've got a whole year of the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times to choose from, not to mention stuff we see online and in national papers like the New York Times. But the winner is the Trib, with its "no-duh" masterpiece that topped a story by Julie Pace about dozens of Chamberlain High School students who got into trouble on prom night by showing up drunk. The headline: "Students' Prom Preparations Might Have Included Alcohol."
BEST TBT* HEADLINE
"Another Hard Re-Entry," July 17
Our favorite little asterisk has run several gems in the past year, but this one, about the first astronauts to go up after the 2003 Columbia disaster, took the top prize. You don't get to see a national tragedy reduced to a dimwitted sexual double-entendre very often. Kudos. To be fair, this headline appeared in The Times four days before it appeared in TBT*. If TBT* ever wrote their own stories, we promise we would've picked one of those.
BEST SHORTCUT
83rd Avenue N./San Martin Boulevard, St. Petersburg
U.S. 19 is always the default example of ugly, frustrating and dangerous traffic conditions in the Bay area, but navigating the intersection of Gandy Boulevard and Fourth Street N. can be an equally enraging and/or perilous experience. Why bother? Many cross-bridge commuters utilize this scenic two-lane trek that avoids the issue by curving behind Derby Lane and passing by the turnoff to Weedon Island Nature Preserve. Just watch your speed — bicyclists and cops are both known to frequent this stretch of road.
BEST BAD BILLBOARD
AdSizzle Marketing, Inc.
It's as prime an example of irony as any: a marketing company marketing its marketing skills via an advertisement that displayed no marketing skills whatsoever. For months, Odessa-based AdSizzle exposed itself to potential clients with a billboard, facing northbound I-275 in South Tampa, that featured only a fiery logo and people dressed in black cocktail attire. A dance act from some cruise ship? We can't be sure. We do know, however, that the ad exhibited all of the creativity and cutting-edge marketing savvy of a sandwich-board sign and a handbell. www.adsizzlemarketing.com.
BEST CONVENIENCE STORE WATCHDOG
Max, Gita Food Store
The life of a watchdog is a touchy one. You have to be imposing enough to scare the folks worth scaring, but docile enough not to freak out the reputable customers. Our boy Max, a German shepherd, does both perfectly. Does he spend most of his time lying down behind the counter, staring blankly at the wall of cigarettes? Sure. Are the neighborhood kids petrified of him? Absolutely. He's the Old Southeast version of "The Beast" from The Sandlot — ruthless killer on the outside, lovable softie on the inside. That is, of course, assuming you don't go slipping a can of tuna under your shirt. Don't test him. 1700 Third St. S., St. Petersburg, 727-823-1992.
BEST OLD FOLKS SPORT REVIVAL
The St. Pete Shuffle
With downtown St. Pete in the midst of a real estate bonanza, it was always surprising that the rundown shuffleboard courts across from The Coliseum were never gobbled up. But after Chad Mize and Philip Clark, members of the St. Pete artists' collective The Artillery, started their Friday night events, the courts' survival started to make some cosmic sense. Not only did the duo help save a downtown landmark — The Shuffleboard Club opened in 1925 and was the place to be for years — but they gave folks a good enough reason to hang outside during the summer. Shuffleboard ain't just for your grandma — the game can be brutally competitive, and playing under the lights on a Friday night can be downright sublime. Shuffle your heart out Friday nights from 6 to 11 p.m. 559 Mirror Lake Drive N., St. Petersburg, www.stpeteshuffle.com.
BEST BASKETBALL LEAGUE FOR AGING JOCKS
The St. Pete Beach Over-30 League
If you're past your athletic prime, but can still play some, there's a problem with hoops leagues: They tend to be either filled with young guns who have plenty of attitude, or populated with rec ballers who really can't play. The St. Pete Beach league overcomes this issue with a minimum age limit that keeps out too much raw talent. (You don't see very many dunks in these games.) There are still plenty of good players, though. Some of the younger guys can really bring it, and the long-in-the-tooth fellas can usually shoot and pass well. The play is by and large clean, but never dainty; there's plenty of defense (unlike a lot of run 'n' gun leagues) and overall there's pretty good competitive balance. Plus, there's a bonus for oldsters: the St. Pete Beach gym has a short court. 7701 Boca Ciega Drive, St. Pete Beach, 727-363-9245.
BEST PUTT-PUTT
Polynesian Putter
Technically, there's a difference between putt-putt and mini-golf. Putt-Putt is actually a brand, and each Putt-Putt course is relatively similar: No windmills, no hitting it through the snake's mouth … no frills. Just a putter, a ball, some artificial turf and a couple slabs of wood. These classic courses, typified by St. Pete Beach's Polynesian Putter, have the same endearing old-school style as your local two-chair barbershop. And when put up against the garish amusement park feel of mini-golf (or adventure golf, as some decidedly unadventurous people like to call it), Polynesian Putter has an air of class that you just don't find anymore. Sure, there are a few dead spots in the wood, and the turf is coming up at the corners. And yeah, playing 18 holes without the possibility of your ball being swallowed or lit on fire or hit down a 25-foot hill might not keep ADD-addled kids as engaged as Grand Theft Auto does. But Putt-Putt courses like the Polynesian have two things those "adventure" spots never will — a round costs just $4 and it's actually possible to ace every hole. 4999 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach, 727-360-9678.
BEST DRIVING RANGE
The Downs Golf Practice Facility
Attached to Tampa Bay Downs, this range sports all-grass tees under a giant awning, and is perfect for practicing your monster drive and long irons. For work on your short game, The Downs has multiple putting and chipping greens guarded by bunkers, including a green you can hit at from 65 yards away. Floodlights keep the duffers swinging past dark, and get this: You can bet on the ponies and practice putting almost simultaneously! Make a wager on horse racing or jai-alai in the pro shop, go out and hit a bucket under the beautiful Florida sky, then head back in to collect your winnings. Golf nirvana — achieved. 11225 Racetrack Road, Tampa, 813-854-4946.
BEST BOWLING ALLEY
Sunrise Lanes
The awning out front of Sunrise Lanes actually says "A breath of fresh air." Bowling alleys have come a long way since the smoke-filled days of yore. Inside, Sunrise Lanes is smoke-free and tripped out in blacklight-friendly surfaces (love the swirling purple and orange galaxy of pins and balls displayed at the end of each lane), which are put to good use during "Galactic" bowling. A mix of flashback atmosphere, loud music and rolling glowing orbs, Galactic bowling is a big hit with the kids. For traditionalists, Sunrise has 32 lanes, leagues galore, a giant game room, pool tables, and a kick-ass bar where bowlers can down a few and rehash that amazing 7-10 split pickup. Check the neon sign out front; if it's glowing pink, lanes are available. Sunrise Plaza, 6393 Ninth St. N., St. Petersburg, 727-522-2174.
BEST PLACE TO NAB FREE SAMPLES
Saturday Morning Market
You can find several places to eat for free around the Bay, without having to resort to dumpster diving. There's Panera, which has the added advantage of free wireless (for those broke people out there with fancy laptops), but you're not going to find much variety. Publix can be sample heaven — but the schedule is tough to pin down and often grabbing more than one entails flirting with the woman dolling out BBQ chicken bites. At the Saturday Morning Market, however, you can sample everything from hand lotion to novelty popcorn in the span of a block. It may be haphazard — some pimento cheese spread here, a little bread and gourmet olive oil there — but you can get a decent breakfast without dropping a cent. Be careful, though, most of this stuff is good enough to deviously draw your wallet from your pocket. Central Avenue and Second Street, St. Petersburg, www.saturdaymorningmarket.com.
BEST BAR TO DRINK ALONE IN
Friendly Tavern
Three types of bars make for good solo drinking: 1. The depressing hole-in-the-wall, where you can anonymously drink yourself into a stupor. 2. The singles bar, where you can anonymously leave with someone else. 3. The Friendly Tavern. A textbook dive, complete with crooning country on the jukebox and NASCAR on the TV, the Friendly Tavern lives up to its name. The regulars are quick to buy the new guy a beer or play him in a game of pool, and if you don't know the words to Lefty Frizell's "Saginaw, Michigan," the crew will be happy to teach you; the tune plays every 20 minutes. If solitude is what you're after, the folks at the Friendly Tavern are happy to oblige. But unlike most bars, a good conversation is always just a stool or two away. 3120 W. Gandy Blvd., Tampa, 813-837-5913.
BEST PLACE TO SLIP ON VOMIT
Guavaween
Tampa Bay has its share of bacchanalian events, but as far as pukefests go, it comes down to two: Guavaween, that annual Hallow's Eve craziness that happens in Ybor; and Gasparilla, where drunks stumble around Bayshore and elsewhere. Based on simple physics, Guavaween wins because it's in a more confined space, and thus has a higher vomit-per-square-foot ratio.
BEST PLACE FOR A DARTS SHOWDOWN
The Tamiami at Jannus Landing
We've all been there before: You're in downtown St. Pete having a couple of beers with your buddies, when one of them inexplicably and without warning starts acting like a complete asshole. And, of course, the only way to shut them up is to humiliate the hell out of them with plastic darts. When looking for the proper venue for such a showdown, remember that you don't want to be crowded — the hormones are mixing with the booze, and kicking the crap out of a loud-mouthed friend takes some serious concentration. Luckily, The Tamiami is sufficiently quiet on off-show nights — you're almost guaranteed to have the dartboard to yourself. Plus, the music tends toward the motivational power of classic rock, the beers are always cheap and your pals can watch the duel from a killer white pleather couch that looks straight out of amateur porn. So next time that dickhead starts acting up — and you know he will — take him over to The Tams and beat his ass. In darts. 242 First Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 727-896-1244.
BEST PLACE TO RECYCLE AND FORAGE FOR FREE DETRITUS
Recycle Center in N.E. St. Pete
Across from Mangrove Bay Gulf Course on 62nd Avenue N.E., hidden behind a tall stand of trees and a lengthy privacy fence, is one of St. Pete's six RecyclaMat/Brush Site centers. The huge lot is a drop-off site for virtually all recyclable materials: glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans, magazines and newspapers, phone books, junk mail and yard clippings. Each receptacle is clearly labeled, so there's no question as to what goes where. You can also cop free mulch and firewood, dispose of appliances, and if you're stocking up for a move, you can choose from a stockpile of broken-down cardboard boxes. The city of St. Petersburg lags in the recycling department, but at least there are depots like this, where if you want to recycle you can, and you trash-pick while you're there.
BEST NONSCIENTOLOGY-RELATED REASON TO HANG IN DOWNTOWN CLEARWATER
Java Junction
Everything about Java Junction is an invitation. Its laid-back atmosphere is as much of a draw as its assorted caffeine offerings (we recommend the creamylicious St. Java's Glacier coffee shake) and selection of specialty drinks, beer and wine. The vastness of the room is welcoming and even cozy with glowing lamps and twinkling lights; a huge collection of games is crammed into a bookshelf that's set against walls covered in artful endeavors, pictures and photos. Comfy couches and armchairs are scattered about; and tables and chairs are easily moved to make room for dancing. Rising Jupiter hosts a steady stream of music from the jam-band genre and beyond on the Junction's wide stage (see BEST MUSIC-VENUE UPGRADE) and the public can also choose from other cultural diversions like drum clinics, open mic nights and art classes. The venue also boasts homemade desserts, free Wi-Fi internet access, a quarter-slot pool table and free bumper pool. It's also smoke-free, family-friendly and it always smells delightful. 705 Franklin St., Clearwater, 727-799-1100, www.myjavajunction.com.
BEST PLACE TO BE ABDUCTED BY ALIENS
State Road 52, between the Suncoast Parkway and I-75
By now, the space invaders' modus operandi is pretty clear: They arrive late at night, swooping down on a country lane, snatching bleary-eyed drivers up into the U.F.O., performing strange experiments (maybe sexual, you never know), and depositing the confused humans back on earth. If this sounds like your cup of tea, head out for a close encounter of your own kind on State Road 52, near the Florida Estates Winery. It gets dark out here, people. Really dark. For a long stretch of road, there is nothing around but cows and power lines. We all know how much the aliens enjoy a good cattle mutilation. Hell, it's practically an intergalactic mousetrap.
BEST REASON TO GET OFF I-75 AT EXIT 217
The Linger Lodge
It takes a second to reach this treasure from the highway — you've gotta drive through a massive subdivision and cross under a few bridges — but the trek is worth it. Where else are you going to dine next to a stuffed squirrel playing golf? The Linger Lodge has that rare quality of being distinctly Floridian — it's just not a place you're going to find anywhere else. Owner Frank Gansky is an amateur taxidermist and displays his work — all animals he's killed on the property — around the restaurant. Stuffed snakes, the aforementioned squirrels, skinned gators — Gansky's done it all. But preserved beasts aren't the only reason to break up that mind-numbing drive on the Interstate. Linger Lodge's waitresses may be the nicest group in the lower 48, the kind of women that call you "honey" and rest on your shoulder while you order. The food is fantastic — including the famous fried gator bites — and the crowd is a good mix of diehard locals and enterprising tourists. So put on your blinker and get off the highway the next time you're flying down I-75. Originals like this shouldn't be missed. 7204 Linger Lodge Road, Bradenton, 941-755-2757.
BEST PLACE TO CURSE ASPIRING HAIRSTYLISTS UNDER YOUR BREATH
Third Street and Third Avenue S., St. Pete
They're everywhere. Ever-y-where. Bobbing little faux-hawks and bangs, dressed all in black, dashing across the street from the Aveda Institute to Publix. Do these kids ever actually go to class? Or is the real course work at Aveda to mull around outside the building like extras in March of the Penguins? If this were a video game — Grand Theft Auto: Aveda — we'd be down. But it's not. It's just a bunch of folks with very up-to-date hairdos standing too close to oncoming traffic. And it's dangerous. Aveda Institute students, while lacking in peripheral vision, dole out great haircuts for only $11. 253 Third St. S., St. Petersburg, 727-820-3162, www.avedaflorida.com.
BEST LOCAL BLOG
Tampa Rail
With the price of gas through the roof, the sustainability of a Bay area built entirely around the car is questionable at best. Tampa is going to need some form of mass transit, and it may need it sooner then expected. Tampa Rail, a blog devoted to advocating light rail in Tampa, already knows this. The blog, focused on news and views about the development of mass transit in the city, is an example of a blog done right. Simple layout, good information and a topic made personal by a person just like you. Isn't that what blogging is all about?
www.davidpinero.com/rail/default.cfm.
BEST LOCAL WEBSITE
Sticks of Fire: A Tampa Blog
In the Tampa online community, Sticks of Fire reigns supreme. While technically a blog, in terms of content (a five-parter on Jobsite Theater, anyone?), writing style, layout and organization, no other local site we've seen (blog or not) even comes close. In addition to original content, Sticks of Fire (the name a translation of the Calusa Indian word Tanpa, a reference to the area's famed lightning) is an outstanding gateway into Tampa's often difficult to pin down online world. The list of local links is huge, and the site is an amazing resource for all things Tampa.
Sticks of Fire has moved to a new address: www.sticksoffire.com. Update your bookmark now!
BEST EYESORE
The remnants of Florida International Museum
Wandering around downtown St. Pete, one could be forgiven for thinking the war had come home. The Florida International Museum has gone from hosting an exhibit on the Titanic to resembling the broken and rusty hull lying at the bottom of the Atlantic. Crews have been demolishing the building to make way for Progress Energy's new headquarters, a hotel and — you guessed it — a condo. Fear not lovers of culture; the museum will re-open at its new location downtown with The Beatles! Backstage and Behind the Scenes, beginning Oct. 6. The Florida International Museum's new location: 244 Second Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 727-341-7900.
BEST NATURE TRAILS
Brooker Creek Preserve
Let's just get one thing straight — this isn't a park. It's a preserve, so you can't really explore all 8,500-acres of unspoiled wilderness, not only due to a need to protect the area's natural diversity, ecosystems and endangered species, but also because you run the risk of becoming a meal for its bobcat and coyote inhabitants. However, there is plenty to look at while hiking along the principal, 1.7-mile trail, and you'll pretty much forget that you're surrounded by a sprawling metropolis, as the quiet is only penetrated by bird calls and excessively vocal insects. Guided nature hikes happen Sunday mornings (8-10 a.m.) and every other Wednesday evening (6:30-8 p.m.), and a new network of hiking trails opens this winter. For more information about the preserve, to participate in programs or guided hikes, or for directions, call the Environmental Education Center at 727-453-6800. 3940 Keystone Road, Tarpon Springs.
BEST "THANK GOD, IT'S OVER"
The WMNF Building Fund Drive
Back, oh, in the late '50s, the folks at community radio station WMNF-88.5 FM decided they needed a new space from which to broadcast their brand new Buddy Holly 45s. Several decades later, they reached their goal. (OK, the building fund drive took a lot less time than that, and it yielded several years' worth of good shows and other benefit events put on by the station.) But we're glad it's over, aren't we? Didn't you get just a tad weary of hearing about it? After a few years, we thought the building fund was some Beckett-esque gag perpetrated by those inveterate jokesters over at the station. But we were pleased to discover that they actually used the funds to put up a spanking new building. We can only be thankful that erecting their new headquarters took but a fraction of the time it took to raise the dough.
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2005.