MacDill Happenings

Believe it or not Halloween is just around the corner. All the local stores have already put out their Halloween decorations. Instead of being a bystander for Halloween, you can participate in Halloween! If you want to get in the mood for Halloween or just learn about historic St. Petersburg, then The Ghost Tour of St. Petersburg is the prefect place to start.  This is a 90 minute guided walking tour of the historic downtown area. Narrated by costumed storytellers, the tour visits approximately 10 haunted locations, weaving together the history, ghost stories and legends associated with each site. One such stop, the old Detroit Hotel, is the oldest building in St. Petersburg. Built in the late 1800s, the Detroit harbors a mysterious ladies’ man known as the Captain, whose portrait hangs in the attic and watches for unwitting intruders. The old Mayor’s Mansion on 4th Street was built in 1901 as a wedding present for the mayor and his wife, but according to some, the spirit of the woman still resides there. And the Heritage Hotel on 3rd Street, built in the 1920s, must have the same appeal because its second floor is haunted by a prior owner who died there. The tour begins at the Full Monty Cafe, 119 2nd Street N, at 8:00 pm year-round. Tickets are $15 per person, $8 from ages 4-12, and can be purchased online or at the Full Monty Cafe.

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The Tampa Bay Rays, take on the Toronto Blue Jays tonight. The first pitch is thrown at 7:10pm. To make the playoffs, this is a must win game and series for the Rays! Tonight’s promotion is a free DJ Kitty t-shirt to the first 10,000 fans. Who would have thought after losing 7 players from last season that the Rays would still be in the running for the playoffs this late in the season! Pitching and great defense have been keys, as always, to the success of the Rays. Evan Longoria has come back from injury at the start of the season and has been on a power surge. Parking is free at the Trop. The Trop is easily accessible from I-275. Inside the Trop, check out the Ray tank in centerfield. In the Left Field Street area, fans can participate in a baseball-themed game show, take their picture on a Topps baseball card, have their name inscribed onto a Louisville Slugger bat, touch and feel real game-used equipment, and broadcast play-by-play of baseball highlights. At Right Field Street kids can experience the magic of baseball in the Rays Baseball Carnival, a real working carnival that includes plinko, spin the wheel, ring-a-bat and skee ball. Or take a swing against a computer images of real Major League pitchers in a batting cage or test their arms in the speed pitch, both found in the T.G. Lee Rookie Challenge area of the Carnival. There is also kids-themed areas such as “Bats, Balls, and Brushes”, “St. Petersburg Times Pressbox” and “The Science of Baseball.” Centerfield Street has the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar, baseball’s first in-stadium cigar bar, as well as the Batter’s Eye Restaurant, located in the “batter’s eye” in center field. Centerfield Street also has the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall-of-Fame. To save money, make sure you purchase tickets earlier. If you purchase tickets on game day at the stadium, the price increases about $3 per ticket! If you buy tickets at the Ray downtown Tampa store, the service charge is only $1.75. For these tickets, the service charge is also discounted and only costs a $1 per ticket. Or stop by the MacDill AFB ITT office for discounted baseball tickets.

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Classic Albums Live performs The Who’s “Who’s Next” on 23 September at the Straz Center for Performing Arts. The Who’s blistering, unhinged, massively successful album, will be recreated live on stage. The performance starts at 8pm. Founded in 2003 by Craig Martin, Classic Albums Live has become the ultimate destination for music lovers wanting to hear the greatest albums performed live without all the gimmickry and cheesy impersonations. Relying only on the music, using what Martin refers to as ‘the world’s best musicians,’ Classic Albums Live has defined itself as a mainstay in performing arts centers across North America. Who’s Next was first released by Track Records in August 1971, and in the 1980s as a CD with a remixed and remastered CD following in 1995. It is currently available as a Deluxe Edition 2-CD set (Polydor 113 056-2), issued in 2003. The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is located downtown on a picturesque nine-acre site along the east bank of the Hillsborough River. As the largest performing arts complex south of the Kennedy Center, the 335,000 square-foot Straz Center provides an environment for a wide variety of world-class events. It boasts one of the nation’s leading Broadway series and is nationally respected for producing grand opera, as well as presenting a wide variety of concerts, performances and events. Come early to your show and dine steps away from your theater seats at one of the Straz Center’s three restaurants. Parking is available at nearby lots and parking garages. If you get there early, sometimes on free on street parking is available behind the center.

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It’s not too early for high school seniors and juniors to start thinking about college! College Night for Hillsborough County Public Schools has been set up from 19-22 Sept at 4 different high schools within the district to try to allow as many people as possible to attend.  The nights and high schools are: 19 Sept-Sickles, 20 Sept-Plant, 21 Sept-Chamberlain and 22 Sept-Brandon.  College Night will have a large number of college admission representatives who can answer questions about their schools, what you need to do to apply and a competitive applicant, provide info on financial aid and other contact information.  College Night will have in state colleges and community colleges and out of state colleges like University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vassar College attending.  Being able to visit every college that your student is interested in is difficult for most families, but College Night may provide the next best thing to doing an actual campus visit by talking to a representative from that college.  Students can go to their guidance counselors at any high school to get a complete list of college representatives scheduled to attend.  Remember that their are changes here and more to come to Florida Bright Futures scholarship program. Because of the economy, college students and their parents will continue to get less money from the Bright Futures program. Parents make sure that you attend to get your questions answered!

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For an inexpensive night out this weekend, stop by the MacDill AFB movie theater.  Adult tickets (ages  12 and older) are only $4.25!  A child’s ticket is $2.50.  Plus, you can purchase refreshments at a that are at least half-off of what you would pay out in town!  On Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 4pm, the new action movie “Cowboys & Aliens” will be shown. The movie is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference and has a run time of 118 minutes. The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been. On Saturday at 7pm, the new comedy movie “The Change-Up” will be shown. This movie is rated R for pervasive strong crude sexual content and language, some graphic nudity and drug use and has run time of 115 minutes. Growing up together, Mitch and Dave were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they’ve slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie, kids who adore him and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, living Mitch’s stress-free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true. Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave’s worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other’s bodies and proceed to freak out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other’s lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed.

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Today is the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington DC and the Tampa Bay area just like the rest of the country will be remembering the victims of the attack with memorial ceremonies.  Tampa is the home of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) who are the primary U.S. military commands responsible for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Military members of CENTCOM and SOCOM are highly visible in the Tampa community and are neighbors and friends in the many Tampa neighborhoods. Starting at 8am the SS American Victory in Channelside will hold a free 9/11 ceremony and the entire public is welcome to attend. The American Victory is a working museum located next to the Florida Aquarium is a dedicated the Victory ships that helped America win WWII. At 8am in St. Pete on the downtown waterfront at North Straub Park, the City of St. Pete will hold a family friendly morning to honor all those who lost their lives in the 911 attack on America features a display of emergency vehicles including a helicopter, various fire engines, ambulances, police cars, plus games and face-painting. More than 420 Tampa Bay First Responders, Firefighters and Police Officers, in full uniform, will gather for a commemorative photo. During the Tampa Bay Rays game starting at 1pm, the Rays will salute the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with special events at the Rays vs. the Boston Red Sox game. Fans will enter the stadium under a giant American flag suspended between two extension ladder fire trucks. There will also be a steel beam from the World Trade Center on display, a pre-game moment of silence, a pre-game ride around the field on a St. Pete Fire Department heavy truck and all children can run the bases after the game. The first 30,000 fans get mini-flags and the first 10,000 kids get free fire helmets. At the home opener for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fans will receive flags, military personnel will lead the team onto the field and troops and first responders will form a full-field American flag. In conjunction with the NFL, there will be a national moment of silence and the playing of Taps. There will also be a military supply drive for the group Support Our Troops. Fans are asked to bring supplies such as coffee, hygiene items, nonperishable food, new or slightly used CDs or DVDs.

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For Labor Weekend MOSI is offering a Buy One Get One free ticket admission special from 3 to 5 September! Normal admission runs from $23.95 to $16.95. This is a fantastic opportunity to try more than 450 hands-on activities, including The Amazing You exhibition, Kids in Charge!, and receive a standard IMAX Dome Theatre ticket to see Born to Be Wild and a 3-D film in the Coleman Science Works Theater. Checkout the custom car show from 12 – 3 pm! Various high-end cars will be featured on MOSI’s shell drive from local Tampa car clubs to celebrate the opening of Fast Five in MOSI’s IMAX Dome Theatre. Take a ride on the High Wire Bicycle! You can take a chance on pedaling a bicycle on a 1-inch steel cable suspended 30 feet above the ground. See one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered! The sauropods that are in the lobby are 3 stories tall! See the permanent exhibit on health, wellness and prevention. Or experience hurricane force winds. The Saunders Planetarium now features a new projection dome, new seating arrangements and a state-of-the-art star projector—the GOTO Space Simulator Chronos projection system—capable of recreating the night sky from any time in less than 20 seconds from the past, present, and future from anywhere on the planet! In addition, the new interactive planetarium is capable of playing movies, ultra 3D graphics and live videos from NASA. Kids In charge! is a designed for children 12 and under and emphasizes the value of learning through play. Because of improvements to parking, parking costs$4. There is a museum shop in case you want to bring home a souvenir and a restaurant to keep you going through the day. MOSI is open from 9am to 6pm. Plan on 4 hours to see all the exhibits. MOSI is directly across the street from the University of South Florida and is about a 40 minute drive from MacDill AFB. Free ticket must be of equal or lesser value. Tickets may not be combined with any other offers or discounts and excludes special engagement exhibitions, films, events and ropes course.

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