Local Places, Local Faces

Market Day with Arts and Treasures at Heritage Village

April 17, 2015April 13, 2015 by KTgreen

Terry and I along with friends Tim and Connie did some traveling in Citrus County on Saturday–from the west to the east.

We started out in Crystal River at Heritage Village for Market Day with Arts and Treasures. I’ve been to many of these market days over the past few years and expected to find sidewalk vendors with produce, crafts and art.

Not so. A few tents. No produce. Just like a regular Saturday on Citrus Avenue.

The only reason I knew that it was Market Day was my musician friend, Paula Bateman, gave me a flyer at our last acoustic meetup. She was performing at the gazebo with a friend of her son.

Paula Bateman Market Day with Arts and Treasures at Heritage Village

And it’s a really cute gazebo.

gazebo

As you can see from the above snap, there weren’t many in attendance. There wasn’t even a place to sit. A couple of benches and a few rocking chairs would have been a welcome addition.

Crystal River has a lot going for it with the influx of tourists coming to see the manatees in the winter, scalloping in the summer, and fishing all year round. So why aren’t these visitors shopping at Heritage Village with all of its little shops, art gallery, and cafes?

Even our local newspaper reported that there was an exodus from Heritage Village to downtown Inverness. An article that was a coup for Inverness but very discouraging for Citrus Avenue.

I can only believe that it’s a marketing issue. While Heritage Village does have an updated website, I see little advertising elsewhere.

This is a really nice area and I love shopping here. I bring our guests here plus I’ve bought many unique gifts over the years (sometimes for myself). Now I’m concerned that more of these stores will be closing down.

We did a little shopping, listened to Paula, and then headed on to our next destination.

Which I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

Friday Meanderings

April 10, 2015 by KTgreen

Okay.

It’s Friday.

My favorite day of the week.

I’m sure it’s ingrained from all those years of working those jobs where Friday meant HAPPY HOUR! (or sometimes happy lunch that just continued into the happy evening)

Let’s talk about how great the weather has been! This is the weather that makes our northern visitors move here. Or just stay all year round.

Fortunately that’s balanced with the heat and humidity and hurricanes of the summer. I’m calling them the 3H. Which scares the rest of the visitors away. I’ll take the 3H over the snow that the northeast has experienced this year.

Speaking of hurricanes. We have sirens here in Citrus County. They were originally put in to alert us about possible nuclear disasters. Yes, here on the NATURE COAST we had a nuclear power plant. But it’s being brought DOWN. Oh, wait, the official term is decommissioned.

The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office sent out an announcement on Facebook that they are no longer using the sirens and are removing them. What? I’m pretty sure those were also used when we had possible hurricanes. (And there’s also a fire engine that goes around and announces really loud that YOU NEED TO EVACUATE)

and how will I know that it’s noon on Friday without our official alert announcement?

Heavy sigh.

Here’s some flowers and a bee….

Just a reminder that it’s the perfect time to stick some flowers in the ground. I planted these a couple years ago. Never liked bush daisies but I needed some color in a new piece of landscaping. We were having a lot of guests (someone got married in our back yard). And these crazy daisies have been beautiful. I had to cut them all the way to the ground last year when they were looking scraggly. But they are back and beautiful.

Thank you bush daisies. You make it through 27 degree weather.

Unlike my plumerias. Almost all passed away after that one night of non-tropical weather. But I have one sturdy one that perservers.

Oh, I’m really meandering this week.

So let’s get to business.

What’s going on this weekend?

A lot.

Brooksville is having their Blueberry Festival. Inverness is having a taste of Inverness. Crystal River is having a beer and wine tasting hosted by Burke’s of Ireland.

But all of those cost money.

Our plans are to stop in Crystal River for Market Day with Arts and Treasures at Heritage Village. We have a friend that’s performing at the gazebo.

Free!

I think Paula starts playing at 11 am.

And I can do some shopping on Citrus Avenue. And support our local merchants. (Guess I gotta buy something to do that!)

Fun!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Kathy

Out and About: Recent Restaurant Visits

April 9, 2015 by KTgreen

Let’s talk about food!

I’ve had a few requests for more restaurant reviews! Unbelievable. People actually want to know my opinion! About food!

So I’m back to being the undercover occasional restaurant critic writing haphazardly about local and distant restaurants.

So here’s the places we’ve been over the past 31 days!

We went to Crystal River for the St. Patty’s Day Festivities and stopped into Burkes of Ireland. It was crazy busy so we didn’t stay but this dog was in the bar and I’m thinking it looks like a fun place to go so we’ll try it on a less busy day. (Really, why would I even try to get into an Irish bar on St. Patty’s Day!)

So instead of having Irish food, we went a little south to the 19th Hole Bar and Grill. It’s at the Plantation Golf Course and it’s just a little hole in the wall. Nice view of the golf course. Food was good and service was fine. Nothing wrong with it but it’s just golf course food. We probably won’t be back unless we have just finished up 18 holes.

Last week I went to two restaurants. Big time for me!

I went to Papa Joe’s on the east side of Brooksville to meet a cousin, my sister and my niece for lunch. It was centrally located for all of us since we were coming from different directions. It’s about five miles west of I-75 just off of Cortez Blvd. This has always been one of my favorite restaurants and I’ve been going there since the 80s. Joe and his son even catered our daughter’s wedding a couple years ago.

Tragically the restaurant burnt down back in January 2014 but, unlike our local Margueritagrill, was rebuilt and opened up a few weeks ago. I was really looking forward to seeing the new place.

And it didn’t disappoint.

Papa Joe's — Here’s the beautiful new bar that is right at the entrance

My sandwich was excellent. Well, actually it was my sister’s sandwich. She ordered a steak hoagie while I ordered the Vegetable sub. But our orders were switched and I ate half of the steak one before I realized it. “Hey, that’s not eggplant! That’s pink!”

I don’t eat meat very often, but that was one yummy sandwich!

And the last restaurant to report on is the Seagrass Pub. We went there back in the beginning of March with some friends. We hadn’t been there in quite some time because on our only two visits we were very disappointed and hadn’t been back. On this occasion we only went there because it was convenient. We weren’t expecting much but were pleasantly surprised with really delicious dinners and very good service.

Just to make sure it wasn’t an anomaly, we went to the Tiki Bar last week on a beautiful day.