If you haven't been to Spring Fever in the Garden, presented by the Bloom and Grow Garden Society, in partnership with City of Winter Garden, then you need to make a note in your calendar for next year! This past weekend's event was our second time going and it was such a great day meeting people, talking with local business owners, and perusing beautiful flowers and garden decor.
One of my favorite things to do is discover new local businesses in our community. Partly because of my writing with Macaroni KID Winter Garden-Ocoee, and partly because of friends, I've learned how important it is to shop local and support local. It takes a lot of effort from all of the people working and volunteering at events like these. For small business owners (and everyone involved!), there are so many details that go into organization, set up and take down.
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This is why I wanted to follow up my day with an article to highlight some of the neat people I was able to meet, as well as businesses I learned about that I didn't even know existed!
- Tri and Run of West Orange is an athletic shoe store, right in downtown Winter Garden. They celebrated their 18th anniversary this past weekend - and I'm sad to say I had never knew it existed. I found a great deal on their clearance shoes!
- Candy Coated Pecans by Miko was such a lovely encounter. Her friendliness, along with the yummy taste of her pecans, got a sale from us! You can find her at the weekly Winter Garden Farmer's Market.
- Also set up at the WG Farmers Market is The Blue Barn Milkshake Bar, Bakehouse and More. Oh my goodness - next time you're at the Winter Garden Farmer's Market - you need to try a baked good or milkshake!
- Once we made our way to the kids zone, here is what we found
- Orange Technical College had students from their Cosmetology School out, painting kids' nails and my daughter loved going to their "salon"!
- My daughter also got her face painted and some fairy hair.
- The Bloom and Grow Garden Society let kids plant a flower to take home. My daughter loved this!
- I met Kelly, the Director of Eight Waves, a non-profit organization that has a lot of programs to help the community, along with a lot of volunteer opportunities. Their booth had reading buddies and sand art!
- Plaster Cottage of Clermont brought hundreds of plaster pieces for kids to paint. My daughter chose a rainbow and enjoyed this activity. We want to visit their location for sure!
- Students from the West Orange FFA program were out, and this was probably my daughter's favorite booth to visit. She was able to pet and hold a baby chicken, pet some rabbits and baby goats.
- Healthy West Orange, Orlando Health and Roper YMCA all had booths in the kids zone that let kids engage in healthy activities.
- We got to check out a book from the Orange County Library Book Bike!
- The Chick-fil-A herd of cows came out for a visit and interacted with the kids!
- The DinoDig.Com set up their traveling party truck and let kids dig for 3 pieces of gems or shark teeth or other treasures!
- There were acrobatic dancers, along with entertainment by WeFlip entertainment.
- The Fire Department and Police Departments had tables set up too - what a nice way for kids to meet our community heroes.
- We also got to see some artists creating their chalk drawings and of course we voted for our favorites!
I'm sure I'm forgetting some other amazing people we met during the day. So, you'll just have to go next year to see for yourself!
