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Palm Harbor Fire Rescue

Because Palm Harbor Fire Rescue was celebrating its 50th anniversary at the same time as the Taste of Palm Harbor festivities, there were plenty of old fire trucks in attendance. This was one of them.

Tags: north pinellas, Palm Harbor

Taste of Palm Harbor

Here’s another view of the crowd that showed up at the taste of Palm Harbor event this afternoon (Sunday, Oct. 1)

Tags: Palm Harbor

J.J. Gandy’s pies

J.J. Gandy’s Pies was on hand, offering up samples of their famous Key Lime pie and other flavors. We tried the chocolate cheesecake pie, and it was great. We’ve written on the website before about J.J. Gandy’s — they are a Palm Harbor company that makes some of the best Key Lime pie anywhere. Many of the best restaurants in the area don’t even try to match J.J. Gandy’s quality — they just buy their pies from J.J. Gandy’s and sell them to their own patrons. You can also buy pies over-the-counter from the J.J. Gandy’s location at 3725 Alt. 19, Palm Harbor. Look for more about J.J. Gandy’s in the “Local Partners” section of my website at www.bethfrederick.com

Tags: j.j. gandy's pies, key lime pie, Palm Harbor

The Melting Pot

Here’s the crew from The Melting Pot — a happy and very helpful bunch. If you’ve never tried The Melting Pot, you definitely should. They offer meat and cheese fondue dishes, as well as out-of-this-world chocolate fondue dessert specialties, to name just a few. The company operates 85 restaurants around the country, but the one that should interest you is at 25822 US19N, on the west side of the road just south of Enterprise.

Counters

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

Taste of Palm Harbor

I mentioned a day or two ago that the annual Taste of Palm Harbor event would be held today (Sunday). Bill and I stopped by, walked around, and sampled some of the food that was made available by a number of local participating restaurants. We had a great time and enjoyed the food.

The above picture looks up Florida Avenue, which usually gets blocked off to traffic whenever events are held in Old Palm Harbor.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

Palm Harbor is “hub of innovation.” Honest.

Q — If you are an inventor, where are you apt to live?

A — Right here in Palm Harbor.

Why? Beats me.

Late last month the Wall Street Journal ran a story called “The Most Inventive Towns in America”. It was a listing of U.S. towns that are home to the biggest number of inventors. The newspaper looked through new U.S. patents, and arranged them by the ZIP codes of the people who were granted the new patents.

I think everyone was very surprised when our own Palm Harbor, Fla., showed up as #11 on the list. It was the only Florida town to show up at all.

Now, if Palm Harbor was home to Microsoft, or IBM, this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. But there is no company here that even resembles a big engineering-based outfit. So I’m kind of mystified, along with everyone else in town.

But whatever the reason, Palm Harbor is one of the nation’s 20 top “hubs of innovation,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Counters

Tags: Palm Harbor

Jill Mulry’s photos at Clearwater Fine Arts Festival

Jill Mulry is a photographer who lives in Seminole, and she will be one of the artists whose work will be on display at the Clearwater Fine Arts Festival at the Harborview Center this weekend.

Here is what her website has to say:

“A self taught photographer embracing a wide variety of interests, Jill Mulry is pleased to present her refreshing visions to the world of art.

“Arriving late to the art scene after a full time career as an educator, Jill has combined a lifelong passion of photography with her love of travel. Jill introduces us to the inspiration and surprises of nature through her pictures of flowers and animals, distant mountain and rainforest trails, architecture in its elegant and simplistic forms, and the emotions expressed by her people of character.

“All photographs, some of which have been slightly enhanced through the digital process, are printed by the photographer. To ensure the highest archival permanence of her prints, Jill uses the finest quality archival inks and papers.

“Jill Mulry’s photographs are on display in galleries, botanical gardens, fine shops and tea rooms on both the east and west coasts of Florida.”

You can see examples of Jill Mulry’s work on her website, www.jkatchcreations.com.

Tags: art, Palm Harbor

If it snows, he’ll be ready

Tags: Palm Harbor

We’ve got your key lime pie right here…

How did I almost miss THIS one?

Just a few days ago, on July 1, the key lime pie became the official state pie of Florida, so named by the Florida Legislature.

This is important, so I’m told, because Florida is now only the second state in the entire nation to have an official pie. And key lime pie, GOOD key lime pie, is certainly worthy of being an official state pie.

(I wonder what kind of pie gets the “official” designation in Vermont? Something by Ben & Jerry’s?)

In 1994, the key lime pie was named an Official Symbol of the state of Florida, but I guess that didn’t quite reflect the full honor that a good key lime pie deserves. So the legislature passed the necessary bill, and Gov. Jeb Bush, fresh from signing the Take Your Dog To Lunch” bill, also signed this one.

“Interesting,” you say. “But what does this have to do with Pinellas County?”

I’m glad you asked, because it just so happens that we have one of Florida’s premier key lime pie makers right here in Palm Harbor. J.J. Gandy’s Pies is at 3725 Alternate 19, and it supplies key lime pies (and other flavors) to many of the area’s best restaurants. They also sell their pies over-the-counter, so you can enjoy them at home. Learn more at their website, www.jjgandyspies.com.

(I knew you were bursting to know, so I just checked and learned that the official state pie of Vermont is the apple pie. It’s not mandatory, but when the Vermont Legislature passed its pie bill in 1999, it wrote into the law that people should make a good faith effort to serve apple pie with a glass of cold milk, a slice of cheddar cheese or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. No kidding.)

Tags: Palm Harbor, Things to eat

Try Peggy O’Neill’s in old Palm Harbor

I’m not a huge fan of the Irish pub/pub food concept, but there are times when nothing but a good burger or some fish and chips will do. And when that moment strikes, Peggy O’Neill’s in old downtown Palm Harbor really fits the bill.

Peggy O'Neill's Irish pub

There’s a few important items to mention about Peggy O’Neill’s:

First, Peggy O’Neill was supposedly a young Irish woman who immigrated from Ireland to America in 1912, expecting to reunite with her fiance and get married. Unfortunately, the ship she chose for her trip was the Titanic. More than 1,000 survived the sinking of the Titanic, but Peggy wasn’t one of them.

Another item of interest: Peggy O’Neill’s is located in the old Sutherland building at 1026 Florida Ave. in old Palm Harbor, close to Alt. 19. That old building is pretty interesting from an architectural viewpoint, and the old post office trappings have been left alone in what is now the dining room.

The corned beef and cabbage is worth trying; so is the fish & chips. I had a reuben sandwich on a recent trip, and that was excellent, as well. One of our companions tried the Shepard’s Pie, and said it was great.

Like most Irish pubs, Peggy O’Neill’s is casual and fun. The waitpeople are friendly and helpful, and kids seem to be welcome. There’s live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays, and Wednesday night is open jam night.

Did you know there is a whole page of restaurant reviews on my website? Take a look — go to www.bethfrederick.com and click on “restaurant reviews.”

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants