MacDill Happenings

Get ready for the holidays at the MacDill AFB Arts & Crafts Center Holiday Open House from 30 Nov to 4 Dec!  Stop by and see the unique gifts ideas, available services, enjoy a snack and a warm drink and register for a gift to be given away at the end of the week. If you are one of the first 60 vistors at the Main Shop, you can choose to receive a free Trackster car or Kookies animal. If you visit the Auto Hobby Shop, then there will be free gifts from Snap-On Tools and Advance Auto Parts. The Arts & Craft Center has an Awards Shop that has plaques, mugs, t-shirts, medals and much more. The Crafts Corner has areas to spread out your crafts and get together with friends. The Frame Shop can help you turn ordinary photos and prints into pieces of art. Do-it-yourself classes are also available. The Wood Shop is a prefect place to do that project you been think about. You will find all the tools needed for a simple project or a complex project and people will be there to help you out! The Auto Shop personnel can perform a variety of services including oil changes, filter replacements, checking belts & hoses, replacing brakes and more! Prices are much lower than you would find 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.

Stop by Old Hyde Park Village this Sunday to take a holiday picture with your pet!  Sponsored by Downtown Dogs, you can have a picture taken with you and your pet in a festive holiday outfit!  The SPCA is also selling poinsettas to raise funds!  Pictures will be taken from 9am to 4pm and poinsettas go on sale starting at 10am.   Hyde Park Village is an open-air shopping center located in the neighborhood of Hyde Park. The Village center is situated in several buildings located between Swann and Rome Avenues. Although are national retailers, the majority of tenants in the center are independent boutiques and eateries. The neighborhood of Hyde Park is located near the University of Tampa and close to Tampa’s business and cultural arts district. The boundaries of the neighborhood include the Hillsborough Bay to the east, Kennedy Blvd to the north, historic and picturesque Bayshore Boulevard to the south, and Armenia Avenue to the west. Major thoroughfares within the historical district include Kennedy Boulevard, Bayshore Boulevard, Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, Howard Avenue, and Swann Avenue. There are 3 free parking structures available in Hyde Park.

The Sunscreen Film Festival presents the  classic 1934 Laurel and Hardy holiday film “Babes in Toyland” tonight.  The movie will be presented at north of the Museum of Fine Arts at North Straub Park at 225 Beach Drive NE in downtown St. Pete at 7pm.  Seasonal refreshments, including popcorn, coffee and hot chocolate, will be available for purchase. No alcohol is allowed. Make sure you bring chairs or blankets to sit on! The film’s story takes place in Toyland, which is inhabited by Mother Goose and other well known fairy tale characters. Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee (played by Laurel and Hardy, respectively), live in a shoe (as in the nursery rhyme There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe), along with Mother Peep (the Old Woman), Little Bo Peep, a mouse resembling Mickey Mouse (and actually played by a live monkey in a costume), and many other children. The mortgage on the shoe is owned by the villainous Silas Barnaby, who is looking to marry Bo Peep. Stannie and Ollie set out to get the money for the mortgage from their boss, The Toymaker. But after the Toymaker finds that Stannie has mixed up an order from Santa Claus (building 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall) and one of the soldiers wrecks the toy shop, Stannie and Ollie are fired without getting the money. Ollie and Stan tell their story to Old King Cole (the King of Toyland) and the townspeople as two Bogeymen scale the wall and open the gate. The crowd flees in panic as the army of torch-wielding Bogeymen attack Toyland. Ollie and Stannie run and hide in the toy shop. There they discover boxes of darts and use them to fight off the Bogeymen. Stan and Ollie then empty an entire box of darts into a cannon, but as the two search for the last remaining darts, they realize instead that they should unleash the wooden soldiers. The “march” alluded to in the film’s title begins as the soldiers march out of the toy shop (filmed in a stop-motion animation sequence by Roy Seawright[2]). The scene changes to live action as the soldiers attack the Bogeymen with the bayonets of their rifles. Barnaby and the Bogeymen are defeated and driven back into Bogeyland, where alligators appear to feast on them, although this is never made clear. The kingdom of Toyland is saved.

In today’s tough economy and during the holiday season, TECO has a great idea to help you save money!  This is a free service!  You call TECO to setup an appointment for them to come and do a free energy audit of your house.  You can save 8 to 10 percent overall from your electric bill.  Help the environment and keep some money in your pocket!  When you call TECO, they will come and give you and install a free easy-to-use programmable thermostat that will allow you to control your heating, cooling system, electric water heater and pool pump, if you have one.  The service technician will show you how to program the settings so that they match up with the lowest possible energy prices.  Energy Planner offers four pricing rates for electricity (Low, Medium, High and Critical). The price you pay for electricity is based on your usage, time of day and the day of the week. Energy Planner enables you to take advantage of electric rates that are less than the average 10.463 cents per kWh residential customers pay under the residential service rate. The lower rates will be available approximately 87 percent of the time. You also get 8 energy-saving light bulbs.  In Hillsborough County, call 813-223-0800 to find out about more about the program and to sign up for an appointment.

Take a break from holiday shopping and stop by the MacDill AFB movie theater this weekend!  You can’t be the price of admission or refreshments!  Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for children.  Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 3pm, the funny animated children’s movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs“. This a pretty funny movie with a good moral story. This movie is rated PG for brief mild language and has a run time of 81 minutes. Inspired by Ron and Judi Barrett’s children’s book of the same name, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is about inventor Flint Lockwood and his food making invention. When hard times hit Swallow Falls, its townspeople can only afford to eat sardines. Flint Lockwood, a failed inventor, thinks he has the answer to the town’s crisis. He builds a machine that converts water into food, and becomes a local hero when tasty treats fall from the sky like rain. But when the machine spins out of control and threatens to bury the whole world under giant mounds of food, Flint finds he may have bitten off more than he can chew. On Saturday at 7pm, the new Vince Vaughn comedy “Couples Retreat” is playing. This movie is rate PG-13 for sexual content and language and has runtime of 131 minutes. Four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price. What follows is a hilarious look at real world problems faced by all couples.

Take a break from the rush and crowds of shopping this Friday evening at the 4th Friday Clearwater Party on Cleveland Street. Enjoy the great Florida evening weather! Cleveland street will be blocked off for this event.  The free party runs from 5:30pm to 10pm. Enjoy free music from Tribute to the Blues Brothers, Official Blues Brothers of the Chicago Bears Football Club and the Mainstream Band with Kirsten Joyer. Come out with friends see the sights of downtown Clearwater. Take look at the shops and vendors that will have unique offerings. Taste the great food and have a drink or two. Beer and wine sales benefit the Clearwater Veterans Alliance. There will be special appearances by the pirate krewe of Ye Mystic Krewe of Santa Margarita and Tampa’s original kilt krewe, Krewe of Shamrock. RCS Food Bank will be accepting donations of canned foods in preparation for the upcoming holiday season!  RCS Food Bank is the largest distributor of food to those in need in Pinellas County, serving between 5000 and 6000 individuals monthly at our warehouse and 10,000 more through 59 sub-sites. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is located on the highest coastal bluff in Florida. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Clearwater is over 108,000 residents. Two major airports are conveniently nearby: Tampa International Airport and St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport. The downtown area is the gateway to the beautiful Clearwater beaches. Clearwater is about a 30 minute drive from MacDill AFB.

Come celebrate the start of the holiday season at Hyde Park Village in South Tampa. Hyde Park Village will hold an Enchanted Tree Lighting ceremony on 27 November from 6 to 8pm. Enjoy live music, children’s activities, and refreshments. Santa will be on hand to join in the celebration and don’t forget to get your picture taken with him! Come watch as the 30 foot tall Christmas lights up the Tampa night! Hyde Park Village is an open-air shopping center located in the neighborhood of Hyde Park. The Village center is situated in several buildings located between Swann and Rome Avenues. Although are national retailers, the majority of tenants in the center are independent boutiques and eateries. The neighborhood of Hyde Park is located near the University of Tampa and close to Tampa’s business and cultural arts district. The boundaries of the neighborhood include the Hillsborough Bay to the east, Kennedy Blvd to the north, historic and picturesque Bayshore Boulevard to the south, and Armenia Avenue to the west. Major thoroughfares within the historical district include Kennedy Boulevard, Bayshore Boulevard, Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, Howard Avenue, and Swann Avenue. There are 3 free parking structures available in Hyde Park.

To save yourself some cooking time this Thanksgiving Day, stop by the MacDill AFB Bayshore Club for a wonderful Thanksgiving Day buffet at a very reasonable price.  The buffet runs from 11am to 2pm. Feast on the traditional roast turkey with bread stuffing, baked ham with raisin sauce, baron of beef, seafood newberg, baked fish, pasta station, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, steamed rice, seasonal mixed vegetables, assorted salads, breakfast items, assorted cheeses, breads, fruits, pies, cakes, fruit juices, coffee and tea.  The Bayshore Club offers an elegant dining location in a friendly casual atmosphere.  This is a very kid friendly place so it’s great for the entire family.  Cost for AF Club members is $17.95, non-members $19.95, children 6-12 $8.95 and children 5 yrs & under are free! Reservations are required, call 828-4756.  Or if you want to eat at home and not cook, then you can also order Thanksgiving To Go Packages by calling 840-6900 before close of business on Tuesday 24 November. 

The University of South Florida Symphony Orchestra and Band will present performances on 22 November at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg. The USF Symphony Orchestra will play a variety of music from the orchestral repertoire from 4pm to 6pm. Tetrology – Tiro Scotto Concerto for Trumpet – Henri Tomasi, featuring USF’s 2009 Concerto Competition Winner Stephen Denison Symphony No. 6 in B minor, “”Pathétique”", Op. 74 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The USF Symphony Band will preform from 8pm to 9:30pm. The symphony band is a large band that contains primarily music majors on brass, woodwind and percussion instruments. The music performed will consists of band masterworks, new compositions and other diverse selections. The University of South Florida is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in fiscal year 2007/2008. The university offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 46,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF music graduates may be found in leading graduate schools, professional ensembles and prominent teaching and administrative positions throughout the state and nation.

Come out to Sanding Ovation Treasure Island’s First Annual Master Sand Sculpting Competition and Music Festival, a competition of eight sand sculpting masters from throughout North America.   The festival will be on the beach behind the Bilmar Beach Resort.  Come out and watch the sculpturers work all weekend until the final judging on Sunday. There will be food and drink for sale. Check out the kid’s activities. Explore the arts and crafts. On Saturday at 8pm, there will be a fireworks display. At 112th Ave, parking is available at the beach for $10. Listen to the free music. On Saturday, Experimental Pilot will be playing alternate country at 4:30pm, Sarasota Slim will be playing blues at 6:30pm, and at 8:30pm the Rocket Man will be performing. On Sunday, from noon to sunset there will a jam session open to all musicians. The City of Treasure Island, Florida is a municipality located in Pinellas County on Florida’s west coast, bordered on the north by John’s Pass and the City of Maderia Beach, on the east, by Boca Ciega Bay and the City of St. Petersburg, on the south, by Blind Pass and the City of St. Pete Beach, and on its west, by the Gulf of Mexico and some of the best beaches in the state. It is about a 35 minute drive from MacDill AFB.