MacDill Happenings

Downtown Tampa is bustling during the day with everyone working at all sorts of businesses from local phone companies to banks to the City of Tampa offices to the County of Hillsborough offices. At night, Downtown quiets down quite a bit. Although the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, is alive at night with musical performances and live theater. Malio’s Prime restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and is a great place for a good meal. The boundaries of the Downtown area are north defined by I-275, south defined by Adamo Dr through Ybor City, then Seddon and Garrison Channel waterways of the port, east defined by 22nd St N and west defined by the Hillsborough River. The Downtown Tampa is split into four areas. The Central Business District is closest to the Hillsborough River. There is the Channel District near the Channelside shopping area and St. Pete Times Forum. The St. Pete Times Forum is home of the NHL Tampa Bay Lighting and home to numerous concerts and assorted events. The Channelside Bay Plaza is great collection of restaurants, small shops and a movie theater. The Harbour Island community is behind the St. Pete Times Forum and is quiet community with upscale homes and affordable townhomes and condos. Finally there is Ybor City. Ybor City has the famous nightlife and is a collection of shotgun-style row houses, upstairs apartments and new condos. The Downtown area is only a 15 min drive to MacDill AFB and can be quick bike ride if you want some exercise and also save on money for gas.

There are plenty of camp programs available this summer, probably too many to list. However, this list is a good start if you are living in Tampa or getting ready to make a PCS move to MacDill AFB this summer.

ARTS:
Taylor Art Studio for studio arts including clay, paint, wood, sculpture, jewelry, kites and fabric design, 611 W. Indiana Ave, ages 8-12, Jul 7-11, $75 for the week, (813) 274-8364.
The Tampa Theatre to make your own movie, 77 N. Franklin St, 3rd-12th grade, weeks of July 7, 21, 26 and Aug 4, $150 per week, (813) 274-8286.

SPORTS & RECREATION:
Camp Terrapin Tampa Preparatory School for sports, swimming, camping, fine and performing arts and field trips, 727 W. Cass St, 1st-7th grade, sessions between Jun 16 and Jul 25, $450 per two week session, (813) 251-8481.

SCIENCE:
Florida Aquarium AquaCamps for snorkeling, sailing, parasailing, and scuba certification, 701 Channelside Dr, ages 3-15, Jun 9-Aug 15, $32 for part-time toddlers to $695 for two weeks with discounts for members, (813) 273-4015.
Kids in the Garden for conservation, gardening and plant related crafts, Tampa Garden Club 2629 Bayshore Blvd, 1st-6th grade, Jun 9-13 8:30am to noon, $35 per week with snacks and supplies provided, (813) 251-5059.
Lowry Park Zoo for zoo hikes, animal encounters, arts and crafts and water play, 1101 W Sligh Ave, 1st-8th grade, week long sessions between Jun 9 and Aug 11, $185 per week or $165 for zoo passholders, (813) 935-8552 ext232.

COMMUNITY:
Centre for Girls for cooking, fitness, computer lab and field trips, 105 W. Sligh Ave, girls ages 10-18, weekdays and Saturdays, free, (813) 231-3404.

If none of these are interesting, then on MacDill AFB there are great variety of things to do: the Base beach, the Base fitness center including indoor basketball courts, the Base swimming pool, MacDill Lanes bowling alley, fishing and the golf course.

PhilFest is an annual event in Tampa that always takes place the first weekend in April and runs from 9am to 5pm this Sunday. PhilFest is a fundraising event for the Philippine Cultural Center. The Centers address is 14301 Nine Eagles Dr in Tampa. The Center is near the Westchase community of Tampa. Westchase is planned community that you can drive through on the way to the PhilFest. This event has something for Filipinos and non-Filipinos, enjoy the food, music, vendors and dancing! The Philippine Village on the grounds of the Phillippine Cultural Center, is transformed into a town fiesta with different food vendors offering a myriad of the Philippines dishes and delicacies. There are a variety of clothing vendors that offers run from the traditional barong tagalog to modern t-shirts. The Archipelago t-shirt vendor had some unique Filipino shirts that you just can’t find anywhere else. There will be a Dual Citizenship oath taking ceremony ( for Philippine American Citizens ) on Sunday at the Bayanihan Arts and Events Center. The Bayanihan Arts and Events Center is a 9,900 sq ft carpeted convention, exhibit and event hall. Admission is $6 per person with children under 5 yrs old free. You can park for a fee on the Center grounds. If you don’t want to pay the parking fee or the parking lot is full, you can park along some parts of road in front of the Center or you can park in nearby strip malls for free. The Philippine Village grounds are dirt so make sure you wear good footwear. Seating can be hard to find depending on the time of day, so you might want to bring a chair if you plan on sitting down and watching the entertainment. The Tampa Bay area has a large Filipino community that although is spread out has a cultural base around the Philippine Cultural Center. To buy food, you purchase tickets with each ticket costing 50 cents. Soft drinks and water cost 3 tickets. For 10 tickets you can get a full plate of food that will fill you up!

If you are new to the area or you just haven’t been out to Ft.De Soto Park, you might want to try the free Guided Nature Walk on Sunday. The walk starts at 10am and ends at 11am. Fort De Soto Park was named America’s Top Beach by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest online travel community. Fort De Soto is located in the southwest corner of Mullet Key, at the entrance to Tampa Bay. It is about a 40 min drive from MacDill AFB. The best way to get there from MacDill AFB is to take Gandy Blvd west and get on I-275 going south and then there are plenty of signs on I-275 providing directions the rest of the way. Besides great beaches, the park also offers nature trails, camping, fishing and boating. On the eastern side of the park, you can always see the windsurfers. The largest park within the Pinellas County Park System, this park consists of 1,136 acres made up of five interconnected islands. First opened on December 21, 1962, when the state toll road named the Pinellas Bayway was completed, this park was dedicated May 11, 1963, in perpetuity as a public park. Annual park attendance averages more than 2.7 million visitors. First opened on December 21, 1962, when the state toll road named the Pinellas Bayway was completed, this park was dedicated May 11, 1963, in perpetuity as a public park. Annual park attendance averages more than 2.7 million visitors. The 12-inch mortar battery, located at the fort for which the park was amed, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Adding to the historical interest at Fort De Soto, two British breech-loading, rapid-fire rifles of 1890 vintage were installed in March 1982. Markers showing the original building locations and a Quartermaster Storehouse Museum add to the park’s historic interest. To register for the Nature Walk call (727) 582-2267. Photo courtesy of the city of St. Petersburg

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The South Tampa neighborhoods of SoHo, Hyde Park and Bayshore are within a 5 min drive of MacDill AFB. MacDill AFB sits on the southern end of a pennisula and the South Tampa neighborhoods sit on the northern end of the pennisula.  With the cost of gas, living near your job on MacDill AFB has a lot of advantages.  The roads leading on to MacDill AFB are alos very bicycle friendly and you can always see someone pedaling to work.  The generally accepted boundaries of South Tampa are Gandy Blvd on the south, Kennedy Blvd on the north, Dale Mabry Blvd on the west and Bayshore Blvd on the west. South Tampa homes run the gamut from millions of dollars to something affordable to the average kind of person. There are plenty of townhomes and condos to chose from. The view of the bay along Bayshore Blvd is priceless. Old Hyde Park Village offers very nice shopping opportunities. Westshore Plaza Mall is just on the nothern side of Kennedy Blve and slightly to the west of the western boundary of South Tampa.  The high school that serves this area is Plant High School, an A-rated Hillsborough County School District public school. 

Plan for the weekend now and include movies at the MacDill AFB Theater on your schedule. On Friday at 7pm is Fool’s Gold.   This movie is rated PG-13 for action violence, sexual material, nudity, and language.  Run time is 142 min.  It stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.  Ben Finn Finnegan, a good-natured, surf bum-turned-treasure hunter is obsessed with finding the legendary 18th century Queen’s Dowry, 40 chests of exotic treasure that was lost at sea in 1715. In his quest, Finn has sunk everything he has, including his marriage to Tess Finnegan and his more-rusty-than-trusty salvage boat. Just as Tess has begun to rebuild her life, working aboard a mega-yacht owned by billionaire Nigel Honeycutt, Finn discovers a vital clue to the treasure’s whereabouts. Certain that his luck will change with the newfound information, Finn maneuvers himself aboard Nigel’s yacht and, using his good-natured charm, convinces the tycoon and his Blackberry-wielding, celebutante daughter, Gemma, to join him in the pursuit of the Spanish treasure. On Saturday at 3pm is Definitely, Maybe.  Rated PG-13 for sexual content, frank dialogue, smoking and language.  It has a run time of 112 min.  A thirtysomething Manhattan dad is in the midst of a divorce when his 10-year-old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love: Will’s story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the presidential campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of big city politics, and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. Will hopelessly attempts a gentler version of his story for his daughter, and changes the names so Maya has to guess who is the woman her father finally married. Is her mother Will’s college sweetheart, the dependable girl next door Emily?  At 7pm on Saturay, Step Up 2 is playing.  Rated PG-13 for language, suggestive material and violence.  Run time is 97 min.  When rebellious street dancer Andie lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the school’s hottest dancer Chase to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore’s underground dance battle The Streets, she ultimately finds a way to live her dream while building a bridge between her two separate worlds.  Admission is $3.75 for all ages.  Popcorn and a medium soft drink is only $4!

You can learn how to take care of your own car or have the mechanics at the MacDill Auto Shop perform the work for you! By doing regular checkups on your car, you can keep your car in top running shape. If you don’t want to do it yourself, then the mechanics can change your oil, replace filters, check belts and hoses, replace brakes and a whole lot more at a lower price than you would pay out in town. To make an appointment, call 828-4553. If you want to do your own car work, then stalls and lifts are available Tue-Fri from 11am-7pm and Sat from 9am-7pm. Stalls and lifts are on a first come, first serve basis. Stalls cost $2.50 an hour and lifts cost $2.50 per half hour. There are free car classes if you want to work on your car, but aren’t sure how to do it. There is an oil change class on 10 Apr from 4:30pm-5:30pm. On 17 Apr from 4:30pm-5:30pm, there is a How to Perform Your Own Vehicle Safety Check class. Topics include tire treads and air, checking fluids, wiper blades and how to put your vehicle on a lift to check the underneath the car for problems or damage. On 24 Apr from 4:30-6pm you can learn how to check for tire wear, use of wheels-free lift and removal/replacement of tires. There is also a 24/7 car wash right next to the Auto Shop so you can keep your car looking good.

Make your plans for the weekend and check out the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg starting on Friday and ending on Sunday with the Main Event.  The cars will be running on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, around the waterfront and on a runway at Albert Whitted Airport.  On Friday and Saturday you can watch practice for the Indy-style street race.  The Main Event will start at 2:30pm on Sunday.   Firestone, BP, The National Guard, a 70′ Ferris Wheel, Rock Climbing Walls and more will be in the 2008 Bright House Networks Speed Zone, the interactive fun zone for families, adults and children of all ages!  Soulfound, one of the most popular Florida bands touring the country today, will perform on the XM Stage in Honda Plaza on Saturday, April 5. The concert will begin at 11 a.m. and is included in the Saturday race day ticket, which also features the second running of the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg and qualifying for the Honda Indy St. Pete.  Click here for a detailed schedule.  Ticket prices for a 3-day admission with Sat/Sun reserved seating runs from $110-$85 for adults and 12 yrs and younger from $80-$55.  Sunday admission with reserved seating runs from $80-$60 for adults and 12 yrs and younger from $55-$35.  General admission prices during the event runs from $45-$25 for adults and 12 yrs and younger from $20-$10.  Expect large crowds in the Downtown St. Pete area during this event.  To help with parking, there will be bus shuttle from Tropicana Park.  This will be the best way to get to the race.