Hello and Welcome to the blog of week 4! Our “Love Lakeland Day” was packed with different destinations and speakers. We learned so much about the community of Lakeland and the important sites within the city.
We started off the day with chicken biscuits from Chick-fil-A and heard from Stacy Smith, the City’s park extraordinaire, about parks here in Lakeland. We then traveled to Hollis Gardens where we had a tour guided by Stacy. Even though I have lived in Lakeland all of my life, I learned more than I could have imagined on this tour. Craziest fact that I’ve heard about Lakeland so far in SLP is how the swans were brought through a connection from the royal family. We also got to eat many different fruits that I didn’t even know existed.
Once the tour was over, we left Stacy and took a trip to the Lakeland Linder International Airport. SLP participant, Cody Orlebeke, works at the airport and was able to give us a tour of the airport. Cody was able to provide a lot of insight about all of the new commercial flight destinations and different aspects of the airport. I was amazed at all of the different things that go on at the airport that I didn’t know about.
After the airport, we took a trip to the Publix Dairy. We got to go on a tour of the plant and got to see how all of Publix’s different dairy products were made. I was very impressed by all of the machinery and different elements that go into making their products. Our tour guide said that from the time the cow is milked, to the time the milk is on the shelf is about 24-36 hours, which I found incredibly interesting. We heard many different stories about George Jenkins and how Publix came to be. It is so cool to hear how much they have done for Lakeland and how much of a staple they are to our community.
Speaking of Lakeland staples, we then headed to the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art (The AGB) at Florida Southern College. Dr. Alex Rich provided us an overview of the museum and gave us a tour of their exhibits and auditorium. Dr. Rich wears many different hats and was able to provide backstories and future plans for the museum involving their expansion they are currently adding on. The museum has tons of different programs that I did not know about, like their programs for artists in the community of Lakeland.
We then went back to Catapult for our local favorites panel. On our panel we had Chris McArthur of Black & Brew, Ruthie Tate of Balance Culture, and Jon Bucklew of The Joinery. The three of them talked about being entrepreneurs and how they got to where they are now. They also talked about how local businesses are the backbone of Lakeland and how they work together to ensure our community thrives.
After a very long day, we had our social at Cob & Pen.
Thank you so much for reading!
- Carter Sandman (SLP Intern)