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and a Farmers Market on Saturdays. The district includes the
Garden Theatre, which first opened in 1935 and was the first
movie house in Central Florida built for “talkies.” Restored, it
reopened in 2008 and today hosts more than 450 events each
season, including plays, concerts and movies.
WINTER PARK
Arguably the gem of Central Florida cities, Winter Park is
known for its art and culture, elegant homes, fine dining and
eclectic shopping. The city of more than 30,000 is home to two
nationally acclaimed institutions of higher learning — Rollins
College and Full Sail University — as well as a branch campus
of Valencia College. Must-see museums include the Albin Polasek
Museum and Sculpture Gardens and the Charles Hosmer
Morse Museum of American Art, which houses the world’s
most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Housed at Rollins College, the Bach Festival Society of
Winter Park presents performances by the Bach Festival Choir
and Orchestra. The Scenic Boat Tour takes passengers on a
relaxing ride through the Winter Park Chain of Lakes. Park Avenue
is a paradise for shopping and dining. It runs alongside
Central Park, site of the annual Winter Park Art Sidewalk Festival,
which attracts artists from around the world, as well as the
smaller Autumn Art Festival, which features only Florida artists.
OSCEOLA COUNTY (OSCEOLA.ORG)
Population: 352,180
Number of housing units: 148,901
Median value of owner-occupied homes: $164,500
Mean travel time to work (in minutes): 32.2
Median household income: $47,343
Osceola County may be the ideal place for newcomers to
Central Florida who want to live near “Old Florida” but still
have access to the urban lifestyle of Orlando.
Covering more than 1,500 square miles (compared to Seminole
County’s 300 square miles), Osceola stretches more than 60
miles from the Orange County line south to Okeechobee County.
In between are the county’s two cities, a handful of unincorporated
communities and plenty of nature in the form of
ranchlands and undeveloped prairie, woods and marsh.
By far, most of the county’s 352,180 residents — up 31 percent
since 2010 — live in the northwest part of the county, which
borders Orange and Polk counties. That puts them within a halfhour
drive to Walt Disney World and other area attractions.
It’s no surprise that Disney is the county’s second largest
employer, just behind the county school system.
Away from the traffic congestion and tourist draws, there are
STATISTICS: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, AS OF JULY 2017
/(OSCEOLA.ORG