It's Time! It's Time! We Really Did it!

We all know how long this "big moment" has been holding its breath. We started asking you to vote way back in what ... 1909? Well, hey, here we are! We won the Pepsi Refresh grant last year, we raised money through picket painting, HOLiDAZZLE, T-shirt and wire heart sales, the city's generous check (from proceeds made during Seafood Festival!) and from all of your generous donations and participation. 

So, now what? Well ... it's time to celebrate, dear SHAMc supporters! So come out on Sunday, May 6, from about 2:45 to 9:30 p.m. (or somewhere in between) to participate in this fun, happy event. We will start at the 8th Avenue Pub, right off Main Street in Safety Harbor. It's a family-friendly place and the owners and staff have been wonderful, continuous SHAMc cheerleaders. The Pub has both indoor and outdoor seating. 

There'll be, talking, laughing, and listening to some fantastic music. At close to 6:00 we will parade to the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center (Oh, that felt soooo good to type!) and we will hear Mayor Steingold talk about the future SHAMc. It will be a short but exciting groundbreaking. Then we will do a little more celebrating in a way only Kiaralinda and Todd can think up (nothing huge, just very cool!) and then we will parade back to the Pub for more great music! 

Music? you ask. Why, yes, of course we'll have music for you! Have you heard Shaun Hopper perform? How about Gareth Asher? Imani Woomera? Rebekah Pulley? Tony Wylie? The Hummingbirds? TJ Weger? Well, how about Shannon Whitworth? 

May 6th is going to be like one huge fun, free concert! What a great way to bring in what we have all been so excited about! Now, breathe, we're almost there! (See you May 6th!)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

... NOTHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE!

But isn't that what we've come to expect from Kiaralinda and Todd?

Are you ready to experience magic? HOLiDAZZLE is here!

In case you're still confused, Kiaralinda and Todd have created another amazing display. They have done it before ... and always for different, charitable organizations. Now it's their turn to raise some cash for their own project, the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center! Whooo!

HOLiDAZZLE is not going to be held on the SHAMc grounds. It's at the artists' home at 1206 3rd St., Safety Harbor, FL 34695. Come by at or after dusk all the way until 9 p.m. every night from the 17th until December 29th. Park along the street and walk to the display. It's free, but all donations are greatly appreciated. You'll have the opportunity to purchase flowers made out of plastic bottles, as well as amazing aluminum can ornaments. All money raised will go to help build the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center! Yay!

The DAZZLERS can't wait to see you!


Want to read more about HOLiDAZZLE? Check out my article in Destination Tampa Bay's November/December issue!

Sentimental Spinning, Spinning the Wheels of Friendship, Thanks, Creativity and Fun!

On Sunday, 10/16/11, The Whistle Stop Grill & Bar celebrated their 16th anniversary as one of Safety Harbor's most beloved restaurants. No, Dawn Pendola did not ask me to say that. Let me tell you a little story before I get into the events of last Sunday...my original idea for a blog post!

When my husband Chris and I arrived in the bay area from Washington State in the late summer stickiness of 2008, we searched home after home for the right place to live. The realtor had us driving to places way north and way east, but we asked to see a home we'd found on the Internet. I remember how she sighed and told us how far away Safety Harbor was. (Ha!) But we were feeling desperate. We had to go back to the northwest and begin the process of relocating to Florida. I think we had two more days...

Long story short, we drove into town, found the house, fell in love with it, and let the realtor go home. Chris and I headed to the marina, where tall white sails flapped in the breeze. I think we saw a dolphin that day too. We went back to Washington and packed, moved and finally began the process of acclimating. I remember how hard it was for me to find a grocery store and how I had to have a map to get our son to Countryside High School. After the first day's stresses of moving, we headed downtown to eat.

Whistle Stop felt like a local hangout, but with its lights and warm outdoor patio, it had a magical ambiance to us out-of-towners, and as silly as this may sound, it felt like we were home. We ate our meal holding hands across the table, watching a squirrel climb an oak, and listening to a musician as he sang and played his guitar. I snapped pictures and sent them to my friends in the Northwest. "It's called the Whistle Stop," I remember writing in my text message, "Like the Fannie Flagg book."

So yes, I am sentimental, and yes, I will always treasure the welcome we received into our new hometown. (I even remember Mike was our waiter!)

So now, three years after our move, if someone had told me I'd be part of a huge network of friends, helping the community we fell in love with to get an art and music center built. Wow! Amazing.

So, thanks, Dawn and Patrick, and all the WSG staff, for being a huge part of Sunday's fun. You brought the town together, helped SHAMc raise funds by donating beer proceeds and getting hundreds of people to your restaurant and naturally, to get people involved in our town's non-profits. Now, I'll stop being so sentimental and show you all some pictures!

SHAMc had a great day, and Regina AaMacha of the Safety Harbor Musicians Co-op reported that they made $400.00 for the guitar that they raffled. Heather Richardson won the guitar, by the way. Way to go, Heather!

The Co-op provided amazing talent, and kept everyone happy, dancing, laughing, and enjoying the day. Thanks, musicians. We loved sharing the day with you and the museum!

So, to end my sentimental thank you (from not only me, but all of SHAMc), I'll hand the mic to Dawn.

"Thank you all for a very beautiful happy day. Just thinking about Sunday... Patrick and I want to say thank you again to our AMAZING Staff, Our awesome guests, Safety Harbor Musicians Co-op, Safety Harbor Museum, SHAMc and Todd and Kiaralinda. That's the crew you need to plan a party! We could'nt have done it without you all!" --Dawn

Thanks to Holly Apperson and Joe Sacco for the beautiful photos!

One of our smallest, yet biggest, helpers

In December, when ten year old Devan heard about the possibility for an art and music center in her town, she knew she had to be a part of making it happen.

Todd Ramquist and Kiaralinda had every indication their idea to turn their small rental home at 706 2nd Street North would be competing for a Pepsi Refresh grant, and Devan added to the excitement with her own. She immediately involved herself by visiting Whimsey and finding Kiaralinda. "I just walked up to her and asked," Devan said. "I wanted to help."

And since then, Devan has helped. She handed out postcards at the Christmas parade. Her parents brought her to the aqua house that will someday be unrecognizable compared to its current condition, and she couldn't stop talking about the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center to her friends and family. In fact, Devan went a step further; she made it her personal goal to help make this dream come true. Plus, to make it even better, SHAMc fit the requirements for her fourth grade service project.

"I knew it would be a great project because it would serve the community," she said. "I like art and music."

Unfortunately, not only for Devan, but for the arts community as a whole, there was a computer glitch in that first attempt and Pepsi didn't include SHAMc in the competition. "We were so close!" Devan said, remembering her disappointment, but still smiling.

Maybe most kids would have dropped it--gone on to new, perhaps more exciting projects--but not her. Devan had already created a project binder and she separated the sections into categories: What I am doing; How I can Help; What is the Art and Music Center?

"It's a big purple binder with 'SHAMc' on the cover and the spine," she explained. "I have cards on how to vote and some newspaper articles too. When I heard that we got in, I wrote 'yeah!' in my May updates section." She laughed--her energy meeting every definition of a happy kid. "The binder is massive now," she said. "Cards stick out of the sides. I always keep cards in my backpack so I can hand them out and tell people how to vote."

If anyone understands the complexities of trying to win a $50,000 grant, it's Devan. She has been talking to classmates, to teachers, and to everyone she meets, but because she attends two different classes each day, she has to fit the time in to leave her class to present her project to other classes. Her teachers are supportive, and Devan is sure that by the end of May everyone in her school will know what the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center is and can be.

At Third Friday in May, Devan was at the SHAMc booth, showing people the model of the center's plans, passing out cards, and talking to community members.

Why would a ten year old dedicate herself so fully to an idea--to a service project like hers? Perhaps it's because Devan knows what she wants for her future. "I'm in chorus, plus, I have won a lot of art shows. One was a chalk butterfly with vines and I didn't think it was that good, but my teacher told me I won!," she said. "I want to do something with art. I like dancing. I might be a Cirque du Soleil dancer and performer. Dance is art. It's just a different kind of art."

Devan won the Tropicana Speech competition at her school and is going to District for Battle of the Books. She is also performing in Fairies Inc. in Dunedin.


Our sincere thanks and lots of high fives to Devan. Thank you for your help during this process. We appreciate all you've done and we appreciate your hard work!