BESTBets
Florida Blueberry Festival
The Florida Blueberry Festival, previously held in
Brooksville, will move to a new location in Kissimmee
from March 28th-31st, where it will feature fresh
blueberries and pies, 120 fine art and craft exhibitors,
a juried art show, live entertainment and festival
foods. The event will be held at Formosa Gardens
Event Center and will benefit the Florida Blueberry
Growers Association, the Community Hope Center,
the Sunshine Foundation-Dream Village and other regional 501c3 organizations.
This is one of Florida’s best festivals, and is a great way to enjoy these sweet treats.
For more information, call (407) 507-0015, or visit FloridaBlueberryFestival.org.
38 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
JEFF O’KELLEY
Pepin Academies
Gala
Pepin Academies will celebrate its
20th anniversary on Saturday, March
2nd at the TPepin Hospitality Centre in
Tampa. This action packed gala, hosted
by Lauren and Tom Pepin, will feature
tasting stations, sponsor lounges, a silent
auction and dancing, plus the opportunity
for corporate leaders to come together
with the community to raise awareness
of the vital work of the schools. Pepin
Academies, with campuses in Tampa,
Riverview and New Port Richey, helps
empower students with learning-related
disabilities to reach their full potential
by providing a high-quality education in
a stimulating learning environment. For
sponsorships and ticket information, call
Holly at (863) 397-5859.
Master Pastelist Brooke Allison, whose work
is shown here, was named the 2019 Patron
of the Arts by the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s
Sterling Society.
Sterling Society’s
Founders Luncheon
The Dunedin Fine Art Center
Sterling Society’s 12th annual Founders
Luncheon, which will be held on Friday,
February 1st at the newly renovated
Fenway Hotel in Dunedin, will honor
Brooke Allison as its 2019 Patron of the
Arts. Brooke, who teaches at the Dunedin
Fine Art Center, is a nationally recognized,
award-winning master pastelist, oil
painter, plein aire and charcoal artist,
known for her still life, portraiture and
landscape works. Her highly collected art
has appeared in museum shows, books
and other publications. The Sterling
Society’s cocktail hour and seated
luncheon to benefit the art center tends
to sell out quickly. For reservations,
call (727) 298-DFAC (3322) or visit
dfac.org.
Ruth Eckerd Hall
Expands
Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater has completed a major
phase of the Expanding the Experience project, an enlarged
six-lane grand entry to the hall. The new traffic pattern has
four lanes that can be used by patrons to exit onto McMullen
Booth Road. This should make arrivals and departures from
the hall stress-free. Included in the $34 million renovation will
be a new grand lobby, live music locations at the Holt Family
Stage at the Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton Cabaret Theatre,
the England Family Welcome Pavilion and the Raymond James
Financial ticket office. Renovations should be completed in
fall of 2019.