Today we drove over to Oakland for their third annual “car stroll” (this year supported by Advent Health); it’s a small and quiet event but some nice vehicles on show (previous years: 2024, 2025). Here are my photos;
Third Oakland Car Stroll
Tucker Ranch Wellness Park
Tucker Ranch is an undeveloped area a couple of miles from our home, it once was a cattle ranch and Winter Garden purchased it some time ago (?2011?); we walked there back in 2020 (a not-crowded place, during COVID) – at that time there was a children’s playground and restrooms, and little else …
Back in 2021 the city developed a plan with backing from local health care providers to develop Tucker Ranch into a “health and wellness park” – see this article at West Orange Observer:
The city purchased the 209 acres of land at 100 Avalon Road in 2011 from Corinne Tucker. Judge C.M. “Pete” Tucker and his wife, Mary Matilda Thurmon Tucker, operated a cattle ranch beginning in the 1940s … “When she finally decided to sell her land, she was concerned about the beautiful space being developed, so she approached the city of Winter Garden about purchasing the property for a city park,” City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said. “We didn’t want to miss this opportunity.” … The city spent $2.1 million for the land and obtained a state grant for $900,000 to preserve and develop the property as a legacy park …
Twenty acres will be transformed to a regional park with trails, fitness areas, multi-purpose buildings, canoeing, camping and a state-of-the-art working and teaching farm that will function as a regional food hub … Key partnerships … are working together to bring this first-class health and wellness facility to Winter Garden … Healthy West Orange, Advent Health, Orlando Health, Shepherd’s Hope, American Heart Association, Community Health Centers, American Diabetes Association, UCP of Central Florida, Mental Health Association of Central Florida and others …
It’s taken quite a few years to design and develop this project; I found this article from 3. Fromme Design that describes the design (did they win the bid?) and earlier this year the historic West Orange Country Club arch was relocated from street side into the new development.
Today thanks to Bloom & Grow, we had a chance to preview the new “wellness park set in a botanic garden”; here’s photos I took:
Winter Garden Farmers Market
Here are some of the products on offer at todays Farmers Market downtown … you can see we have two “fruit & veg” stands, the big one under the pavilion and a smaller “organic” one – but so many other items from donuts to dresses, belts to bread, and more. It was early when I took these photos but much busier by 10am:
M&I / GBMINI 