Next week, May 31-June 2, The Villages Balloon Festival will take place at The Villages Polo Club. A similar event took place last year, but they are calling this The Villages Polo Club's first annual balloon festival. The event will feature hot air balloon flights, tethered balloon rides, entertainment, food, a beer garden, as well as retail and arts and crafts … [Read more...] about The Villages Hot Air Balloon Festival
This Week
2019 Evening With the Developer
This week was the annual Evening With the Developer event, during which the developer provides his updates on what's going on in the community and what's to come. For the most part it was pretty standard "this community wouldn't be what it is without you, the residents" type fare, but there were a few nice surprises among the updates. One nice announcement is that Rialto … [Read more...] about 2019 Evening With the Developer
Burger King in The Villages Robbed
The main excitement in The Villages this past week did not involve two buddies scoring back-to-back holes-in-one or the announcement that The Villages is getting a Huey-Magoo's (which is only my favorite place for chicken tenders in the whole wide world), though believe it or not those things did happen. Unfortunately, the big excitement was the armed robbery of a Burger … [Read more...] about Burger King in The Villages Robbed
Adios, Hacienda
Another piece of Villages history is gone. The Hacienda Hills Country Club restaurant, at least in its current incarnation, is closing its doors for good this weekend. You can't really say it will be missed. In recent years the food and service have gone down the drain. Villages-News reports that the developer is still trying to sell the restaurant, swimming pool, … [Read more...] about Adios, Hacienda
The Villages Keeps Growing and Growing and Growing…
The Villages' growth rate is like the Energizer Bunny Nothing like a play on the Energizer Bunny commercials to start us off here...it is Easter weekend after all. New Census data came out this week, and as the title of this post suggests, The Villages keeps on growing! From July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018, The Villages Metropolitan Area grew by 3.1%, from 124,933 people … [Read more...] about The Villages Keeps Growing and Growing and Growing…
Villages Honor Flight Ready for First Trip of 2019
Villages Honor Flight serves veterans of Citrus, Lake, Marion, Sumter, and Hernando counties, and regularly takes them to visit Arlington National Cemetery and many of the war and service memorials in Washington, D.C. Their first trip of 2019 is scheduled for April 17, which you can read about in this article. - Daily Commercial I'm really loving these articles that … [Read more...] about Villages Honor Flight Ready for First Trip of 2019
Last Year’s Sinkholes Still Causing Headaches
A group of residents from the Village of Calumet Grove, the area rocked by sinkholes last year, went to the Marion County Commission meeting this week to let commissioners know they are fed up with the problems that remain on their street. Read more from Villages-News and watch the video below by News 6 to see just what these residents are dealing with: The … [Read more...] about Last Year’s Sinkholes Still Causing Headaches
Shocker: The Villages Tops Recent Population Growth Report
A few weeks ago we wrote about a study posted by USA Today content partner 24/7 Wall Street that stated The Villages metro area has the fastest growing violent crime rate in the state of Florida. In response to that report I mentioned that The Villages metro area has been one of the fastest growing areas of the country for years, so it stands to reason that this would make … [Read more...] about Shocker: The Villages Tops Recent Population Growth Report
A Star is Born
In our last issue I told you about Larry, the 700 or 800-pound (depending who you ask) alligator in The Villages, who shot to internet fame after someone recorded a video of him crossing a road near Brownwood. The video was quickly picked up by hundreds of news outlets around the world. Well, I guess The Villages wasn't a fancy enough place for this big star, and he is … [Read more...] about A Star is Born
Larry the Alligator Gains Celebrity Status
This week a huge alligator named Larry, who is well known to residents of The Villages, had his stroll across a multi-modal path in Brownwood video taped and beamed across the universe in viral video fashion. At last check, his video has been picked up by NBC, ABC, CBS, and a number of other big-time blogs, and now, he gets his place on a small-time blog: In other … [Read more...] about Larry the Alligator Gains Celebrity Status