Something fun is cooking for November, neighbors. A local favorite is joining the Around Winter Haven family as our very first community partner, and that means a whole month of treats, perks, and surprises landing right here in the group and on the Page. I am not spilling who it is just yet, the big reveal lands this weekend, but I will say this: you are going to want to be watching when it does. 🌅 HOLLY’S 7 AM PICKIf I could only line up early for one sale this weekend, it is the Disney Muppets Estate Sale, Friday and Saturday 9 AM to 2 PM, 424 Milford Street, Davenport. Be Our Guest Estate Sales has posted 104 photos of Disney and Muppet treasure, the kind of collection that takes a lifetime to build. Collectors will be in that driveway before the doors open, and the good stuff will not see Saturday. Be one of the early ones. 🗺️ PORCH EXCLUSIVE: THE FULL MAP28 yard, estate, and online sales across Polk County this weekend, every one of them mapped and ready for your route. One honest warning: Sunday’s forecast is one long thunderstorm, so this week the hunt is a Thursday-through-Saturday sport. Email subscribers see it first, the group post goes live Friday morning. → See the sales + plan your route 📅 THIS WEEKENDFri 5–9 PM: Lake Wales Main Street Halloween Spooktacular, downtown Lake Wales, Addams Family theme with trick-or-treating at the shops, a costume contest, and the movie under the stars. Details Fri 6–8 PM: Town of Lake Hamilton Trunk or Treat, 100 Smith Ave, hay rides, a costume contest, and touch-a-truck with the police cars, free. Details Sat 5:30–8 PM: Trick or Treat at Central Park, Lake Alfred, the 7th annual city trunk-or-treat with the Lions Club, trophies for the best decorated trunk. Details Sun 7–9 PM: Ominous Descent Haunted Trail, final night of the season, Scare Hunger Away night, one last walk through the woods before it all comes down. Details
The full weekend lineup lives on the community calendar. 👏 THE HIGHLIGHT REELThread of the Week: The Great Blanket Roundup. A neighbor asked the group a simple question: could any of our local animal rescues use her old blankets and quilts for the animals? Thirty-two comments later, the rescues had been named, drop-offs were getting arranged, and half the neighborhood was eyeing its own linen closet. Nobody was selling a thing. Somebody just had warm blankets and a soft heart, and this group did the rest. That takes the award. → Read the thread 🏆 THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKENMonday’s poll asked for the best pizza Around Winter Haven, and the slice fight was everything we hoped for. The votes are still being counted, and the crown lands Monday morning on the Page. Pizza opinions are strong in this town, and nobody is backing down. 🏆 MOST RECOMMENDED THIS WEEKThe crown goes to Somewhere Sports Bar and Grill, 5688 Cypress Gardens Blvd, Winter Haven. A family friendly sports bar where the pizza is made fresh to order, the wings get raved about, and the food is way better than regular bar food. Live music on the weekends, trivia on Thursday nights, and Music Bingo on Tuesdays: there is always a reason to stay a little longer. Somewhere Sports Bar holds the title all week. 🎤️ THE PORCHThis week on The Front Porch Podcast with Holly and Wally, we count costume parties, Polk County turns its comments off (ours have no off switch), and then the whole porch goes quiet for one serious minute. A neighbor is looking for two of her dad’s old friends, doctors from his Bond Clinic days, because her dad does not have long and hearing from them would mean everything. So here is where the episode leaves us: somebody in 20,000 neighbors knows how to reach them. Hear the names, and if you know anything, the porch is counting on you. 🎧 Listen to this week’s episode on the website. (Email can’t play audio, so it links out.) 🚧 THE DETOUR REPORT, STARRING YOUR PATIENCEDowntown drivers, your patience starts a three-week run on Monday. Central Ave W closes between 2nd St W and 3rd St W from Monday, November 2 through Friday, November 20, right through Election Day and every workday in between. The city did not list a detour, so pick your cut-over street now, add five minutes to the morning run, and let the cones do their thing. 💬 THE PORCH QUESTIONThis week’s question lands right in the middle of costume season: what is the best Halloween costume you have ever worn, or ever put together for your kids? The legendary ones, the homemade ones, the ones held together with safety pins and prayer. Photos count double. Hit reply: best answers make next week’s issue, with your name in lights. 🦊 WALLY’S CORNERWally has appointed himself costume judge for Halloween night and will be handing out candy with a clipboard in hand.
Nobody asked for scores. The clipboard is laminated. There are categories.
If your costume gets a number instead of a compliment, just know the porch review board takes its work very seriously. (DRAFT, Holly: replace or approve.) ✨ FIND OF THE WEEKRub Bagby caught a lightning bolt standing over Lake Dexter at dusk, the whole sky lit up purple behind it. Fitting, with storms on the Sunday forecast: this week’s find is the sky practicing. Photo by Rub Bagby. Member photos open this letter most weeks, reply with yours and you might lead the next one. See you out there, neighbors. If you need me this weekend, I will be the one in Davenport at 9 AM sharp, in line for Muppets.
Holly P.S. Know about a sale I missed? Hit reply, reader tips are how this gets better every week. 💖 Know a neighbor who’d love the Porch? Forward this email, that’s how we grow. |
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