This week I messaged every karaoke host in Polk County. Every KJ, every bar stage, every bait shop with a microphone. I am building the list of where to sing and where to trivia around here, and roughly half the county now believes I am launching a comeback tour. It is coming soon, neighbors. Warm up your go-to song. 🌅 HOLLY’S 7 AM PICKIf I could only line up for one sale this weekend, it is the Orange Manor community yard sale, Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM, both parks: East at 206 Orange Manor Drive and West at 18 Kinsmen Dr, Winter Haven. Mobile home park sales are always fantastic: decades of treasures in every carport, prices from another era, and two whole parks selling at once. Get there early, the good stuff does not wait. 🗺️ PORCH EXCLUSIVE: THE FULL MAP49 yard, estate, and online sales across Polk County this weekend, the biggest treasure weekend of the fall. Saturday alone brings three whole neighborhoods selling at once. Email subscribers see it first, the group post goes live Friday morning. → See all 49 sales + plan your route 📅 THIS WEEKENDFri 7–8:30 PM: Boktoberfest on the Oval, the DeLeon Family Band live under the stars at Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, German food from 5 PM. Details Sat 9 AM–3 PM: GFWC Plant & Garden Festival, Lake Wales Woman’s Club, the plant people’s favorite morning of the fall. Details Sat 10 AM–7 PM: Black Swan Market at Lakeside Village, Lakeland, a brand new horror and dark art makers market announced this week, with a horror film festival inside the theater. Details Sun 2:30 PM: The Addams Family, Haines City Theatre, the creepy and kooky matinee to close the weekend. Details
The full weekend lineup lives on the community calendar. 👏 THE HIGHLIGHT REELThread of the Week: The Bait Shop Karaoke Investigation. One neighbor claimed the best karaoke in Polk County hides inside a bait shop, and this group did what it does: venues, nights, and times poured in until we had the bones of a whole karaoke and trivia map. That thread is now an award winner, because of course it is. → Read the thread 🏆 THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKENMonday’s poll asked for the best tacos Around Winter Haven. You crowned Tacos My Friend with 41% of the vote, The Lake House Kitchen took second. Congrats to the champs. 🏆 MOST RECOMMENDED THIS WEEKThe crown goes to Trader’s Pawn Shop, 2880 Havendale Blvd NW, Winter Haven. Family owned, serving this town since 1981, and your neighbors called it the only pawn shop they trust. Gold, jewelry, tools, electronics, and a treasure hunt of its own at 17,000 square feet. Trader’s holds the title all week. 🎤️ THE PORCHThis week on The Front Porch Podcast with Holly and Wally, we honor the first responders who showed up Monday morning, chase a shed, identify a bug, and ask the question half of downtown is already arguing about: is the garage construction messing up your commute with Third Street closed? Hear Wally’s answer, then tell us yours. 🎧 Listen to last Saturday’s episode on the website. (Email can’t play audio, so it links out.) 🚧 THE DETOUR REPORT, STARRING YOUR PATIENCEMark December 19 and pack your patience early: the city just approved the Jewett Alumni Association’s 40th anniversary parade, police and road closures included, after a genuine haggle over the price tag in the commission room. The skeptic flipped to yes, with strings attached for every parade that comes after. Future you, stuck at a rolling roadblock, will want to remember this was democracy in action. 💬 THE PORCH QUESTIONThis week’s question: what is your go-to karaoke song, the one you can bring the house down with, no warmup, total confidence? Hit reply: best answers make next week’s issue, with your name in lights. 🦊 WALLY’S CORNERWally heard about the karaoke list and has submitted his application. Stage name: just “Wally” (the mystery, he says, is the brand). Song choice: classified. He has also formally requested to be listed as a local legend.
The list committee is reviewing his application. The committee is me.
It is not looking great for him, neighbors. ✨ FIND OF THE WEEKMitchell Mick Pederson caught lakeside birds at Lake Howard park, the kind of quiet Winter Haven morning that reminds you why we put up with the humidity. Photo by Mitchell Mick Pederson. Member photos open this letter most weeks, reply with yours and you might lead the next one. See you out there, neighbors. And if you catch Wally near a microphone this weekend, you did not hear it from me.
Holly P.S. Know about a sale I missed? Hit reply, reader tips are how this gets better every week. 💖 Know a neighbor who’d love the Porch? Forward this email, that’s how we grow. |
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