Winter Garden festival to recognize heritage with history, music

Winter Garden is hosting a fall festival Saturday, Nov. 6, that is sure to offer fun and entertainment for all ages. The Winter Garden Heritage & Music Festival is placing a spotlight on the city’s 118-year-old history with a day of old-fashioned fun from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

It is being presented to the community by the City of Winter Garden, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and other partners. Events and activities are taking place in all corners of the downtown area, so be sure to check it all out.

HEALTH & HARVEST FESTIVAL

Healthy West Orange will host its annual Health & Harvest Festival from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Winter Garden Farmers Market. Guests can enjoy free games, giveaways, fitness classes, cooking lessons and more.
Get a free bike safety check by Winter Garden Wheel Works or get yourself checked out by healthcare partners offering free screenings. Learn CPR, get in shape and have fun dancing to music to stay on top of your health. DJ sponsor is Mix on Wheels Entertainment.

There will be lawn games at the market from 10 a.m. to noon.

WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation will have an abundance of city history available.

At Heller Hall, in the Winter Garden Heritage History Research and Education Center, 21 E. Plant St., photographs and artifacts from the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation archive and the city of Winter Garden present the history of the people and places that created local history. “Faces & Places — A Photographic History of Winter Garden,” and an accompanying PowerPoint presentation looping throughout with more images, is available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The city and WGHF will have outdoor displays that provide the history on some of Winter Garden’s most important historic buildings from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

At the Winter Garden Heritage Museum, 1 N. Main St., the “At the Movies: Winter Garden Silver Screens” exhibit tells the story of the evolution of cinematic fare at Winter Garden’s theaters. This runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Central Florida Railroad Museum, 101 S. Boyd St., is open for visits and tours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local historian Richard Cronin will give presentations on “The First Train to Winter Garden” at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Museum guests can run a G-Scale model railroad, tour the museum library and enjoy a 51st anniversary slide show of the Central Florida Railway Historical Society.

The Bloom & Grow Garden Society’s Winter Garden Heritage Trees Walking Tour was created in the historic district and is a guided walk of two miles and 56 trees starting at the Winter Garden Heritage Museum at 8:30 a.m. and ending at City Hall at 10:30 a.m. Labels have been placed on many of the trees with a QR code that allows you to access information about the tree as well as historic information about Winter Garden and its people. For information, call Jim Crescitelli with the WGHF, (407) 656-3244.

“CENTRAL FLORIDA ROAD TRIP: WINTER GARDEN”

Broadcast journalist Buddy Pittman hosts a big-screen video tour of Winter Garden in a short film that will be playing continuously at the Garden Theatre, 160 W. Plant St. from noon to 2 p.m.

FALL FESTIVAL & THE ARTS

The Winter Garden Masonic Lodge 165 F&AM, 230 W. Bay St., is holding a fall festival, children’s fair, and arts and crafts event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dozens of local artists will have their artwork and other creations for sale. Proceeds benefit local charities.

FAMILY FUN

A plethora of family-friendly activities will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. at the Sam Williams Little League Complex and Veterans Memorial Park. Adults and children can play baseball, softball, field games and children’s activities, and there will be live music and food.

PARKING

Parking is available at multiple locations

• 848 E. Plant St., at the corner of Ninth and Plant streets; shuttle service provided

• 160 S. Boyd St., parking garage

• 104 S. Lakeview Ave., downtown pavilion, for golf carts only at the conclusion of the farmers market

• 114 E. Plant St., public parking lot at the corner of South Dillard Street and Plant.

• 415 S. Park Ave., Sam Williams Little League Complex

• 420 S. Park Ave., Veterans Memorial Park

• street parking where available, except Plant Street, which will be blocked off

DONUT DASH 5K

Here’s one way to eat all the doughnuts you want: Participate in this year’s Donut Dash 5K, hosted by the Winter Garden Police Athletic League.

The 8 a.m. dash starts and finishes at Lake Apopka and includes music, a kids fun run, T-shirts, medals, a prize for best doughnut costume and, of course, lots of Krispy Kreme Donuts.

Every doughnut eaten in one of the three “donut zones” will take 30 seconds off the final run time. Anyone who eats a dozen or more donuts will receive an additional bonus of 1 minute per doughnut (over 12) taken off their final run time.
Each adult entry comes with one free child’s entry into the kids mini donut fun run (additional children can take part also at no additional cost). The half-mile run is for ages 5 to 12 and includes a doughnut.

For information or to register, call (407) 656-3636, Ext. 5416, or visit Bit.ly/3CzSJOB.

The WGPAL provides a free eight-week summer camp for 140 underprivileged and at-risk children and hosts the Holiday Gifts for Kids program, which gives Christmas presents to about 400 local in-need children.

THE HEADLINERS

Musical acts will perform music from a variety of genres. The headliners are Hello Sister, Paint it Black Quartet, The Spazmatics, Michael Andrew & Swingerhead, and Selwyn Birchwood.

Hello Sister is a pop rock band driven by three sisters, 15-year-old Grace, 14-year-old Gabriella  and 13-year-old Scarlett. They have a large catalog of original songs and draw musical inspiration from a diverse group of music artists, including Avril Lavigne, Prince, Keith Urban, Jonas Brothers and U2. The band performed on Season 16 of “America’s Got Talent.”

Paint it Black Quartet with Shannon Caine performs cutting-edge rock music. The players are classically trained professionals with an extensive resume of work with celebrity artists worldwide. Musical influences include Coldplay, U2, 2Cellos, Elton John, Adele, Queen, Annie Lennox, Ed Sheeran and Hans Zimmer.

The Spazmatics offer the ultimate tribute in 1980s tunes while wearing stylish bowties, plaid pants, taped glasses, pocket protectors and short shorts — an homage to the film “Revenge of the Nerds.”

For two years, Michael Andrew was the headline singer and bandleader at the world-famous Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center in New York City. He was the band leader and singer at Merv Griffin’s “Coconut Club” in The Beverly Hilton in California. A frequent symphonic pops guest artist, he has appeared with symphonic orchestras nationwide. In 2012, he starred in the world premiere of the new musical “The Nutty Professor.”

Selwyn Birchwood released his third album, “Living in a Burning House,” this year. He is a rising guitar and lap steel player who calls his original music “electric swamp funkin’ blues.”