Election results were as follows:

• Jason Kelly, president
• Kevin Shipley, vice president
• Michele Jones, treasurer
• Laura Grieco, secretary
• Ben Van Hook and Cheryl Van Hook, members-at-large

Kelly, the organization’s new president, said he is creating a neighborhood survey to determine what types of events residents would like to see in the months ahead.

“We aim to expand the number of engaging neighborhood events to foster an even deeper sense of community in our beautiful neighborhood,” he said. “We also plan to launch a digital quarterly newsletter to keep residents informed of neighborhood happenings and to share the undertold stories of Lake Davis-Greenwood.”

Kelly said he is working to increase the organization’s social media presence by creating Facebook and Instagram accounts to complement its active Facebook group.

He extended special thanks to Rich Szadek, Carla Trine, Andrew Souther and Cristianna Duvall for volunteering their time to install 63 American flags on light poles at Lake Davis Park on May 30 and June 6.

“Their efforts help keep our neighborhood looking its best and showcase the pride we take in our community,” Kelly said.

The flags will remain flying through Labor Day.

Neighbors are invited to attend a meeting with Orlando police Chief Eric Smith at 6:30 p.m. on July 7 at the Wadeview Neighborhood Center.

The meeting will focus on Smith’s vision for the Orlando Police Department and ways residents can partner with the city to combat crime.

The neighborhood association’s next quarterly meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Beardall Senior Center.

Volunteers hang their annual flags in the Lake Davis-Greenwood Neighborhood. (COURTESY OF JASON KELLY)

Lake Davis-Greenwood volunteers Jason Kelly, Carla Trine, Rich Szadek, Andrew Souther. (COURTESY OF JASON KELLY)

Jason Kelly, the new Lake Davis-Greenwood Neighborhood Association president. (COURTESY OF JASON KELLY)

The post Volunteers hang their annual flags in Lake Davis-Greenwood first appeared on The Community Paper.

Goodwill celebrates the graduation of three Project Compass students. (COURTESY OF GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF CENTRAL FLORIDA)

Before Isaiah Williams joined Project Compass, he struggled in school, got mostly C’s and hated class. Now he has graduated and is looking forward to his future at Valencia College.

Project Compass is a program organized by Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, in partnership with Orange County Public Schools, designed to help teens who are struggling to finish high school.

“It was a super friendly atmosphere,” Williams said. “They gave us extra classes on how to work with new technology … and were helping me find what my next steps were going to be.”

At the Goodwill campus on Orange Blossom Trail, students in Project Compass can receive extra instruction focused on their specific needs. For over a decade, the program has been giving teens work experience at Goodwill, as well as providing them with space for more personalized education, helping them catch up on coursework and plan for their future career paths.

Williams is not the only Project Compass student to graduate this school year. Goodwill celebrated three graduating students in May.

The post Project Compass points toward the future first appeared on The Community Paper.

In 2024 — the year of the recently released statistics — Orlando fell to No. 25 on the list.

Bike/Walk Central Florida stated, “For us, this report has long been part of our ‘why’ — a reminder of the urgency behind our work to advance safer streets and support Vision Zero across the region.”

I first started covering the Vision Zero initiative in 2018, when Orlando adopted Vision Zero principles.

Vision Zero is a global movement that promotes safe, healthy and equitable mobility by recognizing that traffic deaths are preventable. Vision Zero is supported through a Safe System Approach to improve safety for all road users by:

• Designing smarter streets to support safer driving behavior.
• Engaging communities through education and awareness.
• Prioritizing high-risk areas with vulnerable road users.

Other cities have also had great success with Vision Zero, which has the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2040.

According to the annual report, Orlando recorded the third-largest decrease in long-term pedestrian fatality rates, which is great news and proves that the steps taken by our local officials are working.

But there were still 65 people killed while walking in the Orlando metro area in 2024.

It will take many years to undo the auto-oriented designs of many of our streets and roads.

The Smart Growth report states: “Across the country, roads continue to be designed that prioritize vehicle speed over safety — and everything else. Outdated design standards that produce dangerous speeds in places where people are present, too-wide lanes, infrequent pedestrian crossings, and poor visibility continue to produce the deadly outcomes they were built to prevent. After decades of preventable deaths, insufficient policy change, and broken promises, our streets are still dangerous by design.”

“Slightly less deadly is not the same thing as safe.” — Smart Growth America

But the report is encouraging in that Orlando is improving, and it is right that we support these initiatives to save lives — and property, for that matter.

“We are making progress here in Orlando!” said Eric Grimmer, chair of the Orange County Transportation Mobility Advisory Commission. “We still have a long way to go, but it’s invigorating to see the results the hard work is yielding.”

You can read the full report at https://lnkd.in/gefdQg8J.

Narrowed lanes on Conway Road, along with protected bike lanes, make the street safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. (LOGAN LAMPHERE)

The post Pedestrian deaths fall in Orlando as Vision Zero efforts yield results first appeared on The Community Paper.

(NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

The new store features candy imported from Sweden, according to its Instagram account.

Millie’s candy consists of 16 flavors, though eight will rotate throughout the year, with the store open to suggestions from customers.

The shop accepts only card and mobile payments, not cash.

Millie’s owner, Millie McMahon, said she was surprised by the number of people who showed up for the grand opening, which was around 200. The line at the door was so long that it wrapped around the street corner.

A line stretches around the street corner with about 200 people waiting to shop at Millie’s Swedish Candy Co. on June 13 during its grand opening. (NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

“We expected a bit of a line due to the social media shares,” she said. “But I did not expect it to go all the way into the neighborhood.”

McMahon added that her store’s grand opening was a “dream come true.”

“I’ve loved candy my whole life,” she said. “I’d come on Edgewater to get candy for movie nights all the time, so this is truly a full-circle moment.”

Millie’s is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2529 Edgewater Drive.

The post Millie’s Swedish Candy Co. celebrates grand opening of first brick-and-mortar location first appeared on The Community Paper.

Allison Smith joins Nick on this episode of the Community Podcast. They discuss some upcoming events and stories including:

Saturday, June 27

Intro to Coffee Brewing Dining, Lifelong Learning 9:30 – 11 a.m. Knowledge for Living Parramore

Rainbow Raptors Lifelong Learning 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Audubon Center for Birds of Prey Maitland

Liberty Weekend Concert Music 7 p.m. Orlando International Airport

The post The Community Podcast for June 26, 2026 first appeared on The Community Paper.

The business started back in 2016, not in a commercial kitchen but on a blog. Carly Paige, a Winter Park native who grew up cooking with her mother and grandmother, was working in marketing when she realized she needed an outlet for what she actually loved: food, wellness and helping people live better. After earning a health coaching certification and culinary credentials, she started seeing clients one-on-one. Before long, people wanted to buy whatever she was making.

“Someone tried a cupcake I had given a friend,” Paige said. “’I need more of wherever that came from.’ That was my first client.”

From those early home visits, FitLiving Eats grew into a full-service culinary wellness kitchen and event space. It was a project three years in the making, designed to handle both back-of-house production and front-facing community experiences. When Paige finally opened the doors, she realized the physical space looked almost identical to a vision board she had sketched years prior.

Today, FitLiving Eats offers three core services: customized prepared meals for private clients, boutique catering and hands-on cooking classes. The prepared meal service is the heart of the operation, with menus built around each client’s needs, sourced with care and crafted from scratch. Demand has grown so steadily through word of mouth that a waiting list is now the norm.

“We only have the capacity for a certain number of clients each week because of how customized the service is,” Paige said. “It takes a lot of manpower to pull off and to pull it off well.”

A massive part of what sets FitLiving Eats apart is its commitment to local sourcing. The kitchen partners with regional staples like Frog Song Organics and local sustainability initiatives like O-Town Compost. For Paige, it’s about the environmental impact and quality; local produce tastes better and retains more nutrients than vegetables that spend days sitting in a grocery supply chain.

“I love being able to support other business owners,” Paige said. “It’s very hard to have a small business. We’re better together, stronger together. I want to build friendships in the entrepreneurial community and see each other win.”

The cooking classes bring that same philosophy into a hands-on setting. Built around what Paige calls the “simple swap method,” the classes help everyday home cooks upgrade their meals without the typical wellness-industry overwhelm. It’s about swapping all-purpose flour for an almond-and-oat blend, learning to use nutritional yeast, and cutting through diet-culture noise to get back to basics.

“No matter what dietary lifestyle you choose to follow, we can all agree we should be eating more plants,” Paige said. “Meeting them where they’re at and encouraging them to take that next step, not do a total transformation overhaul, but maybe one new food ingredient that you might want to play with, instead of 10 new things to incorporate.”

Hands-on cooking classes are one aspect of FitLiving Eats, founded by Carly Paige. (EMMY BAILEY)

Looking forward, FitLiving Eats is exploring ways to bring that same quality to a wider audience in a more flexible format, with plans to grow the space into a true community hub where local chefs, wellness educators and neighbors can gather.

“I want Fit Living Eats to be a place that people come to, and they can gather around the table,” Paige said. “They can have a conversation. They can understand what it means to nourish their body from the inside out. They can experience food a little bit differently and be a community hub and a home away from home.”

For now, the operation remains one of the area’s best-kept secrets. But between the food and the waitlist, it won’t stay a secret for long.

The post Nourishing from the inside out: How Carly Paige built FitLiving Eats first appeared on The Community Paper.

Orlando City SC and Orlando Pride partnered with Orlando Magic and Orlando Solar Bears on the collection, including shirts that feature a 10-year Orlando United design. The Orlando United program was created following the Pulse tragedy in 2016.

The Orlando United collection is a collaboration between Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride, Orlando Magic and Orlando Solar Bears. (COURTESY OF ORLANDO PRIDE)

All funds generated by the shirts will go directly to The Center Orlando to help continue supporting Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community, as well as honoring the 49 lives lost and uplifting the survivors.

“This collaboration reflects our responsibility to stand together, support one another and champion love in all its forms,” Kaia Forget, vice president of community impact for Orlando City and Orlando Pride, said in a press release.

Shirts can be found online at ShopOrlandoPride.com or Shop.OrlandoSolarBearsHockey.com and at the Orlando City and Orlando Magic team stores.

The post Orlando’s pride first appeared on The Community Paper.

On June 18, CityArts honored their 20-year anniversary with the opening of a new exhibition, “CityArts Retrospective: Celebrating 20 Years.”

The celebration featured live music by June Bunch and DJ Nigel and coincided with the launch of limited-edition merch designed by local artists Dawrby, Jonathan Stemberger and Etch, plus a CityArts Retrospective wine in partnership with Assemblage Wine.

(NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

CityArts has been a significant part of the Orlando arts community since it first opened on Orange Avenue in 2006, with over 20,000 artists exhibited in their gallery space and 36,000 works displayed, according to a press release from Downtown Arts District.

Head to the CityArts gallery space at 39 S. Magnolia Ave. to check out the “Retrospective” exhibition, as well as five other exhibitions, including “Artivism” curated by Alexis Collum.

The post CityArts Retrospective: 20 years of Orlando art first appeared on The Community Paper.

Eventgoers line dance at Kaya’s fifth annual Filipino Freedom Fest on Saturday. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA)

Each June, the restaurant hosts the event and invites local Filipino businesses to highlight Orlando’s Filipino community. The timing also reflects the proximity to Philippine Independence Day on June 12, said Jami Salonga Bailey, the restaurant’s co-owner and general manager.

“When we opened Kaya, we always said it’d be more than a restaurant,” Bailey said. “We take all of our values around community and pair that with Filipino hospitality and love of a good party.”

Bailey said that around 800 to 1,000 people have shown up to prior Filipino Freedom Fests and that the same number seemed to turn out this year.

While attendees could feast on Kaya’s Filipino spaghetti, fried chicken skin and halo-halo during the festival, other vendors, such as Beng Bread, Hapa Halo and Tala’s Delightful Bites, offered various other Filipino dishes.

Chase Meyer (left) and Danielle Bacani take a bite of the shaved ice that they bought from Koko Kakigori, a pop-up shop on the same lot as Kaya. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA.)

Justin Dizon and Katherine Ragamat ordered pork sisig and chicken intestine skewers from Tala’s. Ragamat said the festival’s vibes matched those of past Filipino parties that she went to for friends.

“Especially when I’m looking at the people dancing and eating, it’s like I went to my tito’s place,” Dizon said. (“Tito” in Filipino means “uncle” or a male friend of one’s parents.) “It’s a Filipino party, exactly what I expect from it.”

Besides food, vendors such as Dabu Arts Club sold clothing, while others such as Sticker Print Go sold art pieces.

Joyce Leatherman, who operated a booth selling prints, stickers and tote bags, said business went well at the event. “It was really busy,” she said. “I was praying that the rain wasn’t going to deter people, but no, it’s been really great.”

Leatherman’s husband, Brett Leatherman, took part in a contest at the festival where participants had to eat as many lumpia rolls as they could in a minute. Although Brett Leatherman didn’t win, Josh Murga did — by eating eight rolls — and received $100 as a prize.

“It’s more lit than I thought, even though it’s a small place,” Murga said of the festival. “I just know, at heart, I’m an eater.”

Students from UCF’s Filipino Student Association also performed the Filipino folk dance “tinikling,” which involves stepping over and between bamboo sticks that are rhythmically tapped and slapped together. After the performance, eventgoers had the chance to try out the dance themselves.

Students from UCF’s Filipino Student Association perform “tinikling,” a Philippine folk dance, at Kaya’s fifth annual Filipino Freedom Fest on Saturday. After their performance, eventgoers had the chance to try the dance themselves. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA)

Afterward, Kaya’s driveway opened for line dancing as DJ Eno disk-jockeyed classic songs in the genre like “Cupid Shuffle” and “Electric Slide,” along with Filipino pieces such as “Otso Otso.” The event ended with Halo Halo Music Fest providing attendees with karaoke on Kaya’s patio.

More than 13,000 Orlando residents speak Tagalog, the Philippines’ national language. Joyce Leatherman, herself Filipino, said events such as Filipino Freedom Fest help Orlando’s younger generation be more familiar with the local Filipino community.

“For me, I have a son that’s mixed, and I really want to make sure that he experiences the culture,” she said. “I think it’s important for all of the young Filipinos and other people that are interested in learning about the Philippines.”

As the festival began wrapping up toward 11 p.m., Bailey said she felt joy, pride and gratitude for the local community turning out to the festival. She added that Kaya will also host a “barangay festival” in January, with “similar flavor” to Filipino Freedom Fest.

“I am proud to be a part of this Kaya community, this community of Filipino Americans in Orlando,” Bailey said. “And [I] just feel more than ever inspired and responsible to do right by them.”

The post Filipino food, Filipino music, Filipino dance: Kaya hosts fifth annual Filipino Freedom Fest first appeared on The Community Paper.

This is not your typical poetry reading. There is no quiet contemplation or welcoming snaps at the end of each poem. Rather, when the poet or poetry team steps up to the plate, so to speak, the audience sends up words of encouragement. “Set your stage” or “take your time” can be heard from the crowd as the poets take a deep breath, summon their courage, and speak their minds.

These poems are deeply personal, taking on fiery topics from personal struggles to politics. The intensity rises over each performance, voices finding power to prove their points. And when a point lands, or a bit of wordplay is particularly notable, the audience will let you know — applause, whoops, entire ovations — as the poets reach a fever pitch and conclude, usually with decisive passion.

Bouts took place at CityArts and other downtown venues. (NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

“It’s poetry that’s like thrown at you.” That’s how Shawn Welcome describes it. Welcome was the poet laureate for the city of Orlando from 2021 to 2025 and served the poetry festival this year as the host city ambassador. Himself a slam poet, Welcome had been hoping for Orlando to host Southern Fried for years. 

“I’m super, super happy and proud that we were able to pull it off here in Central Florida,” Welcome said.

Literary Arts Council of Central Florida co-founders Alex Gurtis (left) and Shawn Welcome hosted a media preview of the slam in early June. (NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

From June 9 to 13, poets gathered for what is called “bouts.” Teams sent up groups or individuals for round after round of performances; independent poets would break up the rounds, with the same feverish celebration from the crowd.

“These poems,” Welcome said, “are designed and delivered to be extremely persuasive in nature.”

Indeed, they were.

The judges scattered throughout informed the poets how much, with five scores popping up after each poem. Judges scored out of 10 and held up their assessment on white boards. When the scores were read aloud, the lowest number always elicited boos from the crowd, a show of unwavering support from the fellow poets seated throughout the room.

Volunteer judges scored each performance. (NICK GEORGOUDIOU)

There was a bravery to the subject matter. Raw, intimate feelings and heavy thoughts in front of strangers.

“When it comes to pulling from a deep place in poetry, I think that there’s just a natural consequence that you would rub up against deeper feelings.” Welcome said that’s just human nature. “Poetry is one way to process the things that we are going through or the things we have opinions on.” 

There was plenty of commonality present. Even the most singular feelings were met with nods, snaps or even the occasional “Yes!” from the room. Strangers no more.

Welcome hopes this is just the beginning for an increased interest in the literary arts. He is the co-founder and president of Literary Arts Council of Central Florida, and he hopes that literary events like the poetry festival can spark folks in Orlando to find new ways to use their words. He said, “We want to position Orlando and the surrounding area as the literary arts capital of the South.”

This festival has set the stage.

The post Orlando hosts Southern Fried Poetry Slam Festival first appeared on The Community Paper.