Calling all art lovers, this one’s for you! I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with two artists in Polk County who are hoping to make a “splash” on the art scene come November. Gillian Fazio and Katerina Santos have a festival in the works running from November 6 through November 14, 2026, that is sure to knock your socks off. Coming from a shared love of each others’ work and a serendipitous meeting through murals at Disney Springs, Gillian and Katerina are the geniu

Kokomo’s Cafe is the perfect lounge space for avid readers looking for their next page-turner while sipping away on a beverage of their choosing or eating lunch. The dreamy cafe offers a variety of drinks like tea, coffee, wine, and beer, and a carefully curated food menu with clean-sourced ingredients. The place was dreamt up by the owner herself, Chloe Shreeve, who has a passion for creating a space for people to unwind, be loved, and feel welcomed like a warm hug. Named af

AFTER THE GOLD RUSH Neil Young, 1970 The words ontological shock are the only ones I can take from their usual contexts and place before the sight that greeted me when I landed in Palm Springs and beheld the desert for the first time. After some long moments committing the sight to permanent memory storage, I grabbed my bag, got in a cab, and made my way to my final destination: Contact in the Desert. My first UFO conference. The roots of American UFO culture stretch across t

The Haven Hotel opened in 1924. It was converted to 55 condominiums in 1982. Photograph by Robert Dahlgren In December 2023, a six-story hotel opened its doors at 305 Fifth Street NW, overlooking Lake Howard in the heart of downtown Winter Haven. The Staybridge Suites, 108 rooms, modern apartments, the full amenities of a twentyfirst century extended-stay property, was welcomed as something genuinely new. It was, in fact, the first hotel to open in the downtown core in more t