Ending its 20-year-run, the Palm Coast Arts Foundation today handed over a $69,000 gift to City Repertory Theatre, the largest gift the theater troupe has ever received and one of the largest cultural gifts ever recorded from a non-governmental organization to another in Flagler. PCAF was required to disburse its remaining funds to a kindred non-profit before closing its books.
Culture
Echoing Air’s Free Baroque Concert at DSC Saturday
Echoing Air, the Indianapolis-based Baroque chamber ensemble, presents a free concert at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Jeanne M. Goddard Center on the campus of Daytona State College, at 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach.
Beverly Beach’s Frank Gromling Is Re-Appointed to Florida Council on Arts and Culture
The Beverly Beach artist and business owner Frank Gromling, who formerly owned an art gallery in Flagler Beach and wrote FlaglerLive’s Coastal View column, was reappointed to a third two-year term on the 15-member Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
‘Crows and Ravens’ Workshop and Book Signing by FlaglerLive’s Rick de Yampert June 22 at Vedic Moons
Rick de Yampert will talk about that feisty raven and other crazy corvids when he presents his workshop “Crows and Ravens: Birds of Myth and Magic” from 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday June 22 at Vedic Moons – Ayurvedic Wellness, Metaphysical Shop & Herbal Apothecary, 4984 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Unit 4-6, Palm Coast.
Covenants May Be Hurdle to Palm Coast’s Plan for YMCA on Town Center Land Pledged for the Arts
As Palm Coast government plans for a long-awaited YMCA in Town Center, albeit without a pool for now, a covenant restriction requiring the land to be used only for arts and cultural purposes may stand in the way. It isn’t an immovable restriction. But to get around it, the city may either have to pay back some state grant money that helped build a stage there, or it would have to use creative–to not say Orwellian–maneuvering that would allow it to redefine Y spaces as an arts and culture venue.
Palm Coast Planning for YMCA on Central Avenue in Town Center, Raising Questions About Arts’ Place
Palm Coast government is getting ready to build a 30,000 square foot YMCA on a 12-acre city-owned parcel on Central Avenue in Town Center, next to what used to be the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s stage and a 5-acre parcel that had been dedicated to arts and culture. Plans at the moment do not include a pool. A director of United We Art, the organization overseeing arts development in Town center, fears picking that location for the Y may crowd out the city’s pledge for an arts center there.
St. Augustine/St. Johns County Win Nod for Museum of Black History; Getting It Built Is Next Challenge
A state task force assessing possible sites for a proposed Florida Museum of Black History voted 5-4 Tuesday in favor of St. Johns County, where Martin Luther King once rallied protests against segregation in the city of St. Augustine but where the site would require extensive development, including roadbuilding. The close vote followed intense lobbying by St. Augustine/St. Johns, which branched out to support from surrounding counties, including Flagler County, where Palm Coast and the School Board lent support.
Rymfire Elementary Students Celebrate School Year’s End With Another Battle of the Books
Last week students from every grade at Rymfire Elementary organized in teams and competed to show their reading prowess after spending the school year reading at least six titles out of a list of 15, for students in grades 3-5, or 12 books out of 15 for students in grades K-2. Team captains had to read all the books on the lists, though many students end up doing so as well–and more.
Flagler Pride Fest Cancelled Amid Turmoil as Organization’s Founder Resigns, Board Frays and Wagons Circle
To the dismay of a following that had grown substantially over the years, what was to be the fifth annual Flagler Pride Fest at Palm Coast’s Central Park in a month was abruptly cancelled last week through a cryptic, short-lived Facebook post that was scarcely cleared up when what remained of the organization’s officials posted a not-entirely accurate statement attempting to explain the decision on Tuesday, and betraying infighting.
Beethoven’s Ninth at 200
Symphony No. 9, sometimes referred to as the Choral Symphony, was the capstone to Beethoven’s extraordinary career. In the 200 years since its debut, the symphony has become an essential composition in the orchestral repertoire and is often cited as the crowning achievement of Western classical music.
Flagler County Cultural Council Awards $25,000 in Scholarships
The Flagler County Cultural Council (FC3) presented scholarships to Flagler County graduating seniors Scott Wiggins, Mae Fasnacht, April Bonilla, Winston Sjeda and Angelina DeMaio.
Flagler School Board Will Send Letter of Support for Locating Museum of Black History in St. Johns
Following the recommendation of Will Furry, its chair, the Flagler County School Board will send a letter of support to a state task force in hopes of luring the future Museum of Black History to St. Johns County. St. Johns was ranked first among three finalists for the location. Its competitors are Eatonville in Orange County and Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County.
Paul Auster, An American Writer with a European Sensibility
With the passing of Paul Auster, who died of lung cancer on April 30 at the age of 77, the aesthetics of postmodernism retreated another significant step back into the past tense of history. Auster became closely associated with postmodern style because of his highly self-conscious and self-reflexive fiction. In 2017, he wrote that he “wanted to turn everything inside out.”
William Bartram Living History Fest at Alpine Groves Park Marks Naturalist Visit’s 250th Anniversary
On Saturday, May 11, the St. Johns County Parks and Recreation Department, in coordination with the St. Johns Cultural Council, will hold the 2024 Bartram Living History Fest at Alpine Groves Park, this year commemorating the 250th anniversary of naturalist William Bartram’s historic visit to Florida.
1st Amendment Lawsuit Over Florida School District’s Ban of Children’s Book Cleared to Proceed
A federal judge has ruled that two authors and a student can pursue First Amendment claims against the Escambia County School Board over the removal of the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” from library shelves. But U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, in a 27-page decision Thursday, dismissed allegations against state education officials and leaders of the Lake County school district.
Freudian Slip: City Rep’s ‘Hysteria’ Takes Farcical Look at Dali’s Meeting with “Father of Psychoanalysis”
British playwright Terry Johnson reimagined an actual, historically documented meeting between the 81-year-old Freud–father of psychiatry–and the 34-year-old Salvador Dali–the indomitable surrealist–into “Hysteria,” an intellectual farce that City Repertory Theatre’s John Sbordone calls “one of the funniest things that CRT has ever done.”
For Palm Coast Council, ‘Utopian’ Goals on Roads, Parks, Arts and Jobs Clash with Fixation on Reducing Tax Rate
The Palm Coast City Council has narrowed its goals for the coming year to 12. It is an ambitious, immediately contradictory list that starts with limiting government revenue by way of a rolled back tax rate as a goal, then goes on to outline costly initiatives the administration has not been able to address in line with demand for lack of money: road repairs, swale repairs, more money for arts and culture, advancing the dredging of saltwater canals, implementing the parks master plan, and so on.
Flagler Beach Will Declare April Sisco Deen Month in Perpetuity as Scholarship Takes Historian’s Name
The Flagler Beach City Commission on Thursday is set to be the first city to declare April “Sisco Deen Month” in perpetuity, in honor of the archivist and long-time member of the Flagler County Historical Society, who died last August at 83. Deen was a Flagler Beach resident.
Trail Days Celebration at Waterfront Park on April 27
The City of Palm Coast, in partnership with the Flagler County Tourist Development Council, invites residents and visitors to Celebrate Trails Day on April 27, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Waterfront Park. Celebrate Trails Day offers the community a chance to engage with nature and each other by exploring over 130 miles of scenic trails in Palm Coast and Flagler County.
How 19th Century Women Wrote About Marital Rape
Over a century before it was criminalized, two key groups of women – colonial writers and suffrage agitators – began to criticize a husband’s legal right to rape his wife. These criticisms took many different forms, ranging from self-published feminist journals to novels, short stories, serial fiction and poetry.
Flagler County Cultural Council Lands Grant for Arts-Oriented Students
The Flagler County Cultural Council is proud to announce the creation of five scholarship awards for graduating high school seniors from the Flagler County school district, each in the amount of $5,000 for students with a career path in the arts.
Michael Rickman and Daytona Solisti in ‘Mozartiana – Music of Mozart’ April 21 in Ormond Beach
Pianist Michael Rickman and the Daytona Solisti Classical Players will perform a concerto that one music historian called “one of the greatest wonders of the world” – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, KV 271 “Jeunehomme.”
Egg’Stravaganza 2024: A Celebration of Spring in Palm Coast
The City of Palm Coast invites residents and visitors to join in the festivities at our annual Egg’Stravaganza event on Saturday, March 23rd, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Central Park in Town Center.
City Rep Theatre’s ‘Vinegar Tom’ Explores the Psychology of Witch-Finding
“ ‘Vinegar Tom’ uses the hunt for witches in the 17th century as a tool to investigate the subjugation of women in a male-dominated society,” says City Rep director John Sbordone. “The lessons of the past are reflected in many aspects of our own society.”
St. Johns County Commits to Keeping IMAX Theater Open
Following the recent transition of ownership of the IMAX Theater and World Golf Hall of Fame building, St. Johns County has reaffirmed its dedication to keeping the IMAX Theater open to the public.
Betty Smith’s ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ at 80
The New York in the 1940s, the setting for Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” was not the city we know today. The Empire State Building had not reached its full height, nor had the statue of “Alice in Wonderland” taken up residence in Central Park. Brooklyn, too, was still becoming itself – and no other 20th-century American novel did quite so much for the borough’s reputation.
‘Reading Is My Passion’ Sums Up Read Across Flagler Literacy Celebration Bookmarked by Media Specialists
Read Across Flagler Literacy Night at Palm Coast’s Town Center was as much a celebration of reading as it was of the school district’s media specialists who, pound for pound, have been the single-most besieged group of professionals in the district in the last couple of years of book bans, disrespect and ignorant rhetoric from the very school board members who should be championing them.
‘Warbirds Over Flagler’ Returns March 23-24 ina 2-day Air Show at County Airport
Mark the calendar in ink. “Warbirds Over Flagler” at the Flagler Executive Airport returns this year as a two-day warbird fly-in event on Saturday, March 23, and Sunday, March 24 to salute all veterans, both past and present.
No Back-Up Plan: Palm Coast Hip-Hop Artist Devante Collins Is Working for His Big Break
Devante Collins, whose stage name is Devante, The Artist, graduated from Flagler Palm Coast High School in 2015 and has been on a trek to breakthrough as a hip hop artist, writer and producer since in Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, Philadelphia and now back in Florida. He performs tonight at a Justice for Hip Hop music festival in Jacksonville, at the Justice Pub at 315 East Bay St.
Snuffed Out for 4 Years, Commission Debate Continues to Smolder Over July 4 Fireworks in Flagler Beach
It’s as if a stash of July 4 fireworks keeps smoldering somewhere under Flagler Beach, looking for a burst skyward–and getting snuffed out at every turn. Some Flagler Beach city commissioners and members of the business community are not happy with the uncertainty. So the commission will hold a workshop on the matter for still more talk, to hear from the public and to figure out of fireworks could return to the pier for the first time in five years come July 4.
Rick de Yampert, FlaglerLive’s Arts and Culture Writer, Releases ‘Crows and Ravens’ Book
Rick de Yampert, FlaglerLive’s arts and culture writer, will have his book “Crows and Ravens: Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Sacred Corvids” released March 8 by Llewellyn, one of the world’s major metaphysical publishers. The Palm Coast author will hold a book signing and meet-and-greet from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Vedic Moons – Ayurvedic Wellness, Metaphysical Shop & Herbal Apothecary, 4984 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Unit 4-6, Palm Coast. The event also will feature de Yampert’s Mr. Crow art for sale.
St. Mary Catholic Church in Korona, a Legacy of Immigrants, Is Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The community of Korona’s St. Mary Catholic Church (also known as the St. Mary Mother Church) at 89 St. Mary’s Place in Bunnell was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on Jan. 25. The structure meets several NRHP requirements for historic significance including: architecture, ethnic heritage (European, Polish), and exploration/settlement. The very unique Shrine of Saint Christopher, a short distance north of the church, was also listed as a contributing resource.
Palm Coast Marks Grand Opening of Southern Recreation Center
The City of Palm Coast announce the successful grand opening of the highly anticipated Southern Recreation Center and new Lehigh Trailhead. The grand opening ceremony took place on Friday afternoon, drawing in hundreds of excited residents who gathered to celebrate and explore the new facilities.
Palm Coast’s $13.7 Million Southern Recreation Center: A Facility Designed for Way More than Pickleball and Tennis
Between its gathering and lounging areas, its food concessions, its trailhead, dog park, community garden and other amenities, the most important thing you should know about Palm Coast’s new Southern Recreation Center is that you don’t have to be a tennis player or a pickleball player to go there. That’s why the emphasis on that happily open-ended word: Recreation. You can fill in your own kind of fun. Here’s a tour.
Moms for Liberty’s Book of Morons
The moms of Moms for “Liberty” are feeling a little touchy, put-upon, even diminished. Their do-boy DeSantis crashed out of the presidential race. They’re losing school board elections. They’re making idiots of themselves in the national media, as when Moms co-founder Tiffany Justice simultaneously defends taking books off school library shelves while denying that Moms want books taken off school library shelves, unless they’re by Black writers or gay writers, or ones dealing with the Holocaust, racism, or any sex.
Flagler Beach Is Fiercely Opposed to Consolidating Library With County, But Cooperative Intrigues Even Jane Mealy
Flagler Beach on Thursday formally rejected an inquiry by Flagler County government about the possibility of merging the Flagler Beach Public Library with the county’s system. But that does not necessarily close the book on a collaborative partnership. City Commissioner Jane Mealy, the fiercest defender of the Flagler Beach library’s independence, is intrigued by the possibility of a cooperative that would preserve that independence but expand Flagler Beach residents’ access to county library resources, likely at no additional cost.
City Invites Residents to Grand Opening of Palm Coast’s Southern Recreation Center
The City of Palm Coast is thrilled to announce the grand opening of the long-awaited Southern Recreation Center and the new Lehigh Trailhead, adjacent to the current Palm Coast Tennis Center, on February 23rd from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm at 1290 Belle Terre Parkway, Palm Coast, FL 32164. These projects are pivotal steps in aligning with the priorities outlined by the community during the recent countywide Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
Flagler Pride Installs Its New Board as It Looks To Be a ‘Beacon of Support and Empowerment’
Flagler Pride, the non-profit Eryn Harris established four years ago as the county’s first LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, and the organizational muscle behind the annual Pride Fest, installed its new, four-member board at Coquina Coast Brewing on Jan. 12. It’s led by President Tyler Jones, with Skyler Loder as vice president, Margaret “Maggie” Potter as secretary and Calvin Vincent Neugent as treasurer. The organization’s founding board members–Harris, Erica Rivera and Garrett Marinconz–have taken on advisory roles.
3rd Annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Palm Coast Is Set in Town Center on Feb. 3
The City of Palm Coast will host its 3rd Annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run/Walk Palm Coast on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at Central Park in Town Center, beginning at 8 a.m. The previous two events raised nearly $30,000 with all proceeds going to the foundation.
Flagler Beach Will Sign 3-Year, $94,000 Deal for New Year’s Eve Fireworks, But With an Escape Clause
The Flagler Beach City Commission will approve a three-year, $94,000 deal with My Three Sons, the fireworks company, to produce New Year’s Eve fireworks through 2026, assuming there’s a place from where to set them off. The deal stems from last New Year’s Eve fireworks display, the first in the city on that date, which My Three Sons produced to local acclaim.
In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children
A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book.
Taking Liberties: City Repertory Theatre Goes Beyond Boomer Musical with ‘Edges’
“Edges,” that song cycle (not a traditional musical, mind you) crafted by two Millennials when they were both 19 years old, is not just for Millennials. Its 17 songs about navigating the crossroads of life will appeal to all generations, say the cast and director of the City Repertory Theatre production that opens Friday Jan. 19 at the troupe’s Palm Coast venue.
FPC Freshman K’imani Gerven-McCoy’s Anthem Opening Legislative Session Draws 29-Second Ovation
K’imani Gerven-McCoy spent her first day back from the winter break a little differently than other Flagler Schools students: she twice sang the National Anthem at the opening sessions of both the Florida House and a joint session of the Legislature, ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s State of the State address.
In a Major Shift, Flagler Beach Government Would Subsidize First Friday Events With Up to $30,000 a Year
Flagler Beach government is going all out to subsidize the showcasing of city businesses at the monthly First Friday event while also ensuring that the event’s manager, Vern Shank, who has complained of running a shoestring operation, makes more money and stays viable. The City Commission Thursday will consider a subsidy package that amounts to up to $30,000 a year for the operation Shank has run since 2021.
Flagler Beach’s New Year’s Fireworks Celebration Draws 500 People and Hula Hoops of Raves
Flagler Beach may have ignited a new tradition for itself and the county as some 500 people turned up at Veterans Park and around the pier in the waning minutes of 2023 Sunday for the city’s inaugural surf board drop and New Year’s fireworks.
We Asked Flagler County Leaders to Tell Us About Their Favorite Book of 2023. Their Answers Are Page-Turners.
Twenty-one Flagler County leaders–in politics, culture, business, education, media–were asked to tell us about their favorite book of 2023. The very wide-ranging responses were always enlightening and often surprising, showing how minor our political or ideological differences can be, or ought to be, when we connect on a cultural and personal or literary level, which is to say: a human, or humanist, level.
Daytona Solisti Takes On Schubert’s Romantic Realms in January Concert
The Daytona Solisti concert “Romantic Realms – Music of Schubert” will feature the Rickman-Acree-Corporon Piano Trio performing a Franz Schubert work that was never played publicly during the Austrian composer’s brief lifetime. “Romantic Realms – Music of Schubert” will be presented at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, at Lighthouse Christ Presbyterian Church, 1035 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, where Solisti is in residence again this concert season.
Federal Judge Will Hear Arguments in Escambia Schools’ Book-Banning Case in January
The case is playing out amid wide-ranging debates in Florida and other states about school officials removing or restricting access to books. The plaintiffs in the Escambia County case contend that the school board’s decisions violated First Amendment and constitutional equal-protection rights. Attorneys for the school board argue the judge should dismiss the case because the board has authority to decide which books to purchase and keep on school shelves.
Grinchy Storm Raises Flooding Concerns and Cancels Palm Coast Starlight Parade, With No Make-Up Date
A low-pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico that will whirl across Florida over the weekend, from the Big Bend area to Jacksonville, is expected to churn up the Atlantic with up to 10-foot waves and significantly higher tides that may cause flooding, it is already kicking up wind gusts of up to 40 mph in places, and it is cancelling weekend plans such as the much-anticipated Palm Coast Starlight Parade.
Palm Coast Holiday Boat Parade Draws More than 100 Boats as It Prepares to Lift Anchor Dec. 9
More than one hundred boats have officially registered to participate in the 2023 Palm Coast Holiday Boat Parade which has held the record as Florida’s largest lit boat parade to be held December 9 at 6 p.m. It may be in range of the record for the largest such boat parade in the United States, behind the Newport Beach parade in California and the Newport, Rhode Island, parade.
