+ YOUR Local
Discover the local venues that have kept residents
entertained through the decades.
Arts and entertainment means
something different to each
person. Someone like me, a
transplant to West Orange County
who arrived in 1989, may think that
the term “arts and entertainment”
means theme parks. Theme parks
emerged in West Orange with Walt
Disney World in 1971, then expanded
with SeaWorld in 1973, followed
by Universal Studios Orlando in
1990. I can recall the family trip with
my brother and parents in 1974 to
Walt Disney World and then my own
48 Central Florida Lifestyle | September 2019
family trip with Nick, and our 2-yearold
twins back in 1988. That was our
entertainment then and now, with
many more options as well.
West Orange has grown in so
many ways over the nearly three
decades in which I have lived here.
Lucky for us, our choices are many
and some have come full circle. The
history of arts and entrainment in
West Orange predates our theme
parks by many decades. In 1935,
a movie theater opened in downtown
Winter Garden that attracted
residents from the surrounding
West Orange area. While it was the
place to go for many years, times
changed and the theater eventually
closed and remained vacant for
many years. Yet, as history tends
to do, it repeats itself and its doors
opened again.
Lucky for us, community members
partnered with the Winter Garden
Heritage Foundation and developed
a plan to restore the theatre to its
original splendor. This effort led to the
re-opening of the Garden Theatre in
2008. The Garden Theatre showcases
local talent in plays, musicals, concerts
and still shows movies and hosts private
functions.
As the theatre thrived in Winter
Garden’s historic downtown, other
community leaders realized that
other forms of art had a place in the
city. This led to the formation of the
Winter Garden Art Association to fill
the need for a place for local artists to
feature their artwork. The art gallery,
known as SOBO, was born and fulfills
this need on South Boyd.
I am thankful to the community
leaders who have had visions and
fulfilled them for all of us to have
arts and entertainment right in our
backyards.
By Stina D’Uva, West Orange Chamber of Commerce
STEVENMILLERPIX.COM
Arts & Entertainment
Comes Full Circle in West Orange
ThThTh G d ThThThTh h
THE STUDIO ENTRANCE.COM
SOBO artist
rendering
Garden Theatre
interior
Garden Theatre
marquee
/STEVENMILLERPIX.COM
/ENTRANCE.COM