(COURTESY OF TONY HUYNH/ORLANDO MAGIC)

Good stuff is happening here in Orlando.

The Orlando Magic‘s mascot was recently recognized with a nationwide award for his aura, fanbase and the cool stuff he does, winning the 2026 NBA Mascot of the Year.

Stuff, the Orlando basketball team’s magical mascot, won the admirable accolade for the third time at the annual NBA Mascot Conference. The award ceremony first debuted in 2005. This was the third time Stuff won the award, after receiving consecutive titles in 2016 and 2017. He was selected for the honor by his masked peers across the NBA.

The hometown dragon is most known for his lovable personality, high-flying feats and acting prowess. Last year, he won the 2025–26 Digital Content Award for his “Play the Song” posts and the 2025–26 Video of the Year Award for his “Choices Nope – Yep.” According to a news release from the team, this year’s recognition makes Stuff the only mascot across the league to win multiple awards this season. 

(COURTESY OF TONY HUYNH/ORLANDO MAGIC)

Stuff has made appearances on nationally recognized television and has been a part American pop culture since his birth — from a large egg on Church Street — in 1989. Other notable moments include a marriage proposal to supermodel Kate Upton, making ESPN’s Top 10 Play and a dance-off challenge to the mascot of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” according to a news release.

This will be Stuff’s 38th season with the Magic, of which he is the No. 1 fan, of course.

Seems like someone has enough awards to stuff a dragon’s lair.

The post Orlando Magic mascot knows his STUFF, wins third award of the year first appeared on The Community Paper.

Quest Inc. is a nonprofit that provides various services to adults and children in Central Florida with disabilities, including its keystone transportation program that drives patients to medical appointments. With a mission to expand access to healthcare and wellness, the organization helps more than 800 people every day.

Through a transformative partnership with Central Florida–based hospital AdventHealth, the nonprofit is investing in expanding its transportation services. As a grant partner, Quest expects to further enhance its accessible transportation fleet to “better connect clients with critical medical appointments and healthcare services,” according to a news release.

“Transportation is more than a ride. It is a vital link to healthcare, independence, and quality of life,” said Lauren Nelson, Quest’s vice president of philanthropy. “We’re grateful to AdventHealth for investing in this important need and partnering with us to ensure that individuals with developmental disabilities have greater access to the care and services that help them thrive.”

The organization will also further its residential and community-based programs, like its intermediate care facilities, supported living services and more, according to the release. Additional resources include employment assistance and educational and recreation programs.

Quest Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps improve the quality of life of people with development disabilities, offers transportation services to medical appointments and employment assistance programs. (COURTESY OF QUEST INC.)

AdventHealth recently conducted a Community Health Needs Assessment to identify core barriers to accessing healthcare and maintaining community well-being, in which transportation was an essential resource.

Sharon Line Clary, the senior vice president of Community Impact and Partnership Engagement for AdventHealth Central Florida, said that external partnership opportunities with nonprofit organizations help build “more resilient communities.” 

“Everyone in our community deserves the opportunity to feel whole and to thrive,” Clary said in a prepared statement. “By investing in and collaborating with Quest, Inc., we’re helping create pathways to hope, stability and better health for our neighbors”

Quest, not affiliated with the medical laboratory Quest Diagnostics, has been helping residents with developmental disabilities in Orlando and Tampa “experience a full life” for more than 60 years. After starting with one location, with the capability to serve eight people, the nonprofit has grown to more than 20 locations. 

For more information about Quest and its services, visit QuestInc.org.

The post Nonprofit transporting residents to healthcare receives pivotal partnership first appeared on The Community Paper.

(COURTESY OF NICK D/ALESSANDRO)

You won’t find “Ask the Pediatrician” on YouTube. Believe me, I’ve tried. No, the episodes of this show featuring my family are accessible to me in only one place: in the box of VHS tapes we keep in my mom’s closet. They’re cherished for us. They may not exist anywhere else.

VHS tapes are the remnant of a previous generation, the medium of filmed entertainment that brought us from one era to the next. It was VHS that brought me taped episodes of “Pokémon,” my worn-out copy of “Big Fat Liar,” and every “Sesame Street” episode I could get my hands on. I remember diligently setting my old plastic VCR to record a new episode of whatever show was coming on that night. The VHS tape was sacred. It allowed you to capture the past for the future.

A few years ago, I purchased my first VHS in over 20 years: Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” It was sitting in a monster stack of tapes on the back wall of Best Used Books in Longwood. I walked out with a bag of memories — and a new obsession.

That was four years ago and, well, I have over 300 tapes now.

Whoops.

I can’t help it: Orlando is a great town for tape collecting.

If you pass by the cassette tapes in the back of Rock & Roll Heaven on Orange Avenue and slip into what feels like a hidden chamber, you’ll find the walls covered in tapes, including concert videos, every “Star Trek” movie ever made, and movies you can’t believe they put on tape.

At Duckie’s in the Oviedo Mall, Saturday vault drops curated by the owners bring collectors waiting at the gates for their opening, like the starting gun being fired. The friendliest chaos ensues, as happy tapeheads rush to the tables and scoop up whatever they can find.

Orange Tree Antique Mall on Orlando Avenue has tapes scattered around the various vendor booths in the winding aisles of their vintage palace. My fiancée frequently loses me in the shelves and finds me hunched over, accumulating my treasures.

The side room of Park Ave CDs on Corrine Drive now holds a growing collection of tapes, a worthwhile expansion of their physical media devotion. If you want tapes, you can find them. They’re everywhere.

This is just scratching the surface. There’s Cromulent Basement and Owl’s Attic, and nearly every parking lot market has at least one person selling old tapes from a box for a buck or two. I never walk away empty-handed.

You’ll never find a cheaper collector hobby. And the best part is, you get a movie! And a community to boot, fellow tapeheads eagerly sharing their finds whenever you realize you speak the same cinema language.

The friendly neighborhood video store is long gone, unfortunately, and most movies are available at the click of a button. It’s a convenient age, and I am certainly a fan of decades of filmmaking waiting for me in high definition.

But picking a tape off the shelf and popping it into my old VCR, the one we had growing up, is my favorite sort of nostalgia. It’s a little more grainy, a little too bright, and sometimes the picture flickers. But those imperfections are familiar to me now, a welcome sight. I pick up my tapes from all over town and line my shelves with them, alongside old episodes of “Ask the Pediatrician,” my own memory put to tape. 

The post Be kind, rewind first appeared on The Community Paper.

“You salty little Pringle.”

That’s it. That’s the takeaway.

Because I have salty Pringle days. We all do. Someone hurts your feelings. You feel slighted, overlooked or misunderstood. Maybe someone is just plain rude. You can replay it, dissect it, tell three people about it and come up with the perfect response six hours later. Or you can decide that person, that comment or that moment has already gotten enough of your energy.

They’re a “salty little Pringle.”

It doesn’t mean they’re a salty Pringle forever. And it doesn’t mean I am either. We’re all just people having days, and I’m trying to get better at forgiving the salty ones, including myself, and saving my energy for the good stuff.

There’s plenty of it.

For starters, Fifty-Two and I are celebrating 20 years of marriage this month. I’m hoping he surprises me with a trip to Paris, although history suggests there’s a reasonable chance that at the end of dinner that night, I’ll be holding a tiny gift bag with a Starbucks gift card in it. And honestly, after 20 years, I think knowing each other’s coffee order is one of the love languages.

You will not, however, see a syrupy anniversary post from me thanking “the man who holds our family together.” He certainly holds a lot of it together. So do I. That’s the whole point.

We both work. We both raise kids. We both pay bills. We both keep track of a bazillion moving pieces while dealing with the world’s naughtiest dogs. Twenty years later, I think the secret is less “one person holds everything together” and more “we keep choosing to hold it together with each other.”

Sometimes with coffee.

Speaking of the world’s naughtiest dogs, one of my other favorite phrases this month comes from Logan Lamphere, who writes about Orlando’s growing “dog infrastructure.” It’s my new favorite term. I might get a tattoo of it. We’ll see.

My algorithm is already almost entirely dogs, so I’m thrilled my city is apparently following suit. Parks, patios, trails and places built where we can pet more dogs? This is infrastructure I can get behind.

Maybe that’s the theme for October: Spend less energy on the salty stuff and more on the things that deserve it — nice people, friendly dogs and good stories.

You’ll find plenty of those in this issue, including inspiring pieces from Annette Kelly and Mel Gray, along with all the great community stories our writers bring you every month. And hang onto this one for our Halloween Roundup, with some of the best places around Orlando for kids and grown-ups to celebrate.

Enjoy the read. And save your energy for the good stuff.

—Lindsay

The post On Pringles, pooches and perspective first appeared on The Community Paper.

Jeff: Welcome back to “Under Oath.” Today, we have actress Amelia Eve. Horror movies are opening up big right now. Your latest film, “Insidious: Out of the Further,” opened at $60 million.

Amelia: Yeah, I had no idea. I have no barometer for what’s good. But I thought to myself, “That sounds like a lot.”

(COURTESY OF JEFF KAUFMAN)

Jeff: Now, you’ve done a lot of horror over the last couple of years. And some people are not good at it, but you have this intensity that works in this genre.

Amelia: I feel very passionately that I try not to box any project that I’m working on by its defined genre because I think any good movie should feel like it’s multiple genres anyway. It should make you feel all the things that alternative genres might. So, approaching a character within a horror, I would never approach her as if she’s in a horror, if you know what I mean. I would approach her like a whole human being. And then she just happens to exist in a world where slightly creepy, scary stuff happens.

Jeff: The casting for this film was global. They chose you out of an incredible amount of people; that must have been such an honor for you. How long did it take you to finish your audition tape?

Amelia: I’d say probably about a week in terms of prep and working on it, amongst juggling life things. And then there was the last scene that I had to do that was just so insane that I couldn’t even do it with another person. I couldn’t ask anyone to read it with me because I was like, “I have to do some crazy stuff here, and I think I’m going to be freer to do it alone.” So, I just learned all the lines for that one, my lines and the other person’s lines that were in the scene.

Jeff: The choices you make, do you run them by others, or do you trust your own instincts?

Amelia: I think a bit of both. But you can normally feel in your gut when you’ve touched something that feels honest and unexpected or surprises you.

Jeff: What a lot of the audience doesn’t realize is how many takes something might require. You could wind up doing the same scream 50 times. What do you do to hold that energy back?

Amelia: I think having a good team who you trust and feel respected by is huge and has a massive impact on your ability to sustain that kind of endurance. As long as the exhaustion is balanced with genuinely still finding joy in the job and in the character and your environment and the people you’re working with, then they just about balance out.

Jeff: The internet can be hard on actors nowadays. How long did it take you to get used to responding to the negativity?

Amelia: I have this phrase that keeps coming up for me. I often think, “You salty little Pringle.” Why go out of your way when you don’t like something? I would rather give somebody who’s saying lovely things my attention and my time than give the salty little Pringle my time and affection. I am going to absolutely encourage the nice people of the world who decide to share love instead of negativity.

Jeff: What is the coolest opportunity you’ve been given because of the roles you’ve gotten? Who did you get to meet? Some people went to the White House. Some people saw the queen. What is the coolest thing you’ve been able to do because of this?

Amelia: I was told once at an acting class, “Don’t go to Hollywood until you’re invited.” And it really stuck with me. I trusted that the universe would give me a good reason to go to LA one day. I just had the most amazing experience ever. I got flown out to LA. My face was on billboards all around, and it was just the most mad experience ever. I thought, “If ever there was a reason, it feels like this was it.” I feel so grateful to the universe for blessing me with that. And I feel very proud of myself for believing it and willing it into existence.

Jeff: I love that, Amelia. I wish you the best. I really look forward to talking to you soon.

The post ‘Under Oath’ with Amelia Eve first appeared on The Community Paper.

New Romantics customers hold up copies of “XO Karma” by author Hailey Dickert, who spoke about the book at the store on Sept. 9. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA)

But for some among the bookish, going to local bookstores like The New Romantics and The Story Room Collective provides something that book-buying in other forms doesn’t: community.

Every Tuesday, Desirai Labrada shops at The New Romantics, a romance-only bookstore on Corrine Drive, because of its book releases. For her, the connections she’s made with other regulars make her want to come back to the store often.

The bookstore holds events multiple times a month, which often feature authors coming to the store to discuss their recently published books and sign copies.

“I’ve made a lot of friends from coming to these events,” Labrada said. “Everybody knows your name, and so I have a lot of synchronistic interactions while I’m here.”

Although she sometimes buys books at Barnes & Noble, Labrada said the interactions she has with others at New Romantics feel more “authentic” and more closely connected to the bookstore’s customer base.

“I do sometimes come and I work on the couch, and it’s just such a nice feeling to have people I know walk in and be like, ‘Hey, there you are again. It’s so nice to see you,’” she added.

Casey Klein works at The Story Room Collective, a bookshop on West Central Boulevard. Before the store hired her in September, Klein said she had been a regular customer since its brick-and-mortar location opened in May.

As with Labrada, what drew Klein to continue shopping at The Story Room Collective was the store’s close community, which “makes you feel like family,” she said. But when it comes to where to spend money, Klein also said supporting small businesses over bigger, more well-established bookstore chains appeals to her.

Estefania Lazaro, owner of The Story Room Collective, arranges books on a shelf in her store. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA)

“When you purchase from them, it’s actually going to a good cause,” Klein said.

Jane Rodriguez, owner of The New Romantics, said her store’s romance-only bent helps foster deeper community ties because of the uniformity of book genre.

“It guarantees shared interest,” she said. “If someone walks into our store and is looking at our shelves, and someone else walks in … they know that person is a romance reader.”

Estefania Lazaro, owner of The Story Room Collective, said that her store sells not only romance novels but also many books by independent authors to foster a community that values books that aren’t as well known.

Park Ave CDs is a record shop on Corrine Drive that also sells books. Ken Ciocco, a customer who regularly buys vinyls and books at the store, said he also feels a strong sense of community shopping at Park Ave CDs, adding that the staff treat him “like family” and that other regulars recognize him.

Although Park Ave CDs is a record store, it also sells a variety of books. (JOSHUA-PAUL ESTABALAYA)

“They’ll go that extra mile if I am curious about something or trying to locate something,” Ciocco said. “They just take good care. To me, that’s what’s unique — that people experience.”

As with Klein, both Labrada and Ciocco said supporting small businesses also played into why they shop at them so often.

“I’ll go to a family-owned restaurant, independent bookstore, independent record store, locally owned,” Ciocco said. “Those are my priority before I have to go elsewhere.”

Independent bookstores in Central Florida

All Booked Up (The Villages)
Authentic Books
Barrel of Books and Games (Mount Dora)
Best Used Books
Blackbird Comics & Coffeehouse
BookBurn Cafe and Social
Bookish Cafe Orlando
Book Rack (Ocoee)
BrightLight Books (Fern Park)
Essence of Knowledge Urban Bookstore (Cocoa)
Fables & Fur
Family Book Shop (DeLand)
Fern & Fable Books (Ormond Beach)
Flipping Pages Bookshop (Daytona Beach)
For The Plot Bookstore & Cafe
Hello again books (Cocoa)
Maya Books & Music (Sanford)
Moonstruck Market (Melbourne)
New Leaf Bookstore (Winter Park)
New Romantics
Novel Tea Book Shop
Park Ave CDs & Books
Spellbound Bookstore (Sanford)
Spiral Circle
Story Room Collective
Sunshine Book Co. (Clermont)
Walls of Books (Oviedo)
Writer’s Block Bookstore (Winter Park)

The post Why some readers buy their books locally first appeared on The Community Paper.

These are the topics I usually write about — how people interact with these urban services. But there’s a growing kind of infrastructure that cities across the world are providing, not for their citizens, but for their pets.

Pet infrastructure is a growing demand residents have for improving their (pets’) lives. According to the American Pet Products Association, about 70% of American households have a pet, with dogs being the most popular. About 71 million households have a dog.

Dog parks have been one of the fastest growing segments of city park space, according to the Trust for Public Land.

There are several options for dog parks in downtown Orlando.

Constitution Green in South Eola is good for well-socialized, smaller apartment dogs that need to get outside and play fetch. There is a watering station — but be aware: Sometimes the whole east end of Constitution Green can be a watering station in the rainy season. The city is also investing in a dog wash and lighting at Constitution Green.

Lake Druid Dog Park in Audubon Park is next to the Lake Druid Skate Park — maybe your dog can become one of those skateboarding YouTube sensations!

Lake Baldwin Dog Park is for the big boys. Dogs can walk into Lake Baldwin, and things can get wild here — this one is best for large active dogs such as labs, retrievers, collies and shepherds. Water dogs love it! (Small dogs can get run over.) Best of all, Lake Baldwin Dog Park has table-high washing stations after your dog has gone swimming. (To date, I am not aware of any dogs being eaten by gators at Lake Baldwin.)

Park of the Americas off Andes Avenue and the 408 has both a large and small dog park with picnic shelters and is good for dog birthday parties.

The new Luminary Green at Downtown UCF has an off-leash dog area.

Greenwood Urban Wetlands has a dog agility area and pet memorial, where you can order memorial plaques from the City.

Of course, nearly all parks and sidewalks allow leashed dogs. Walking around Lake Eola can be like a mini-Westminster Dog Show with nearly every breed represented.

What pet infrastructure would you like to see in Orlando?

A group of dogs from Thornton Park celebrate a birthday at Park of the Americas. (LOGAN LAMPHERE)

The Greenwood Urban Wetlands dog agility area is best viewed from the sky. (GOOGLE MAPS)

Memorial plaques can be ordered through the City of Orlando for the Greenwood Urban Wetlands Pet Memorial. (CITY OF ORLANDO)

The post Orlando’s growing pet infrastructure first appeared on The Community Paper.

(COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY CENTER)

A week later, on Oct. 18, the History Center will host Black Cats & Bats, a sensory-friendly version of the Trick or Treat Safe Zone. The organization regularly hosts Sensory Sundays for guests with sensory processing differences. Costumes are encouraged, and the event is from noon to 4 p.m.

An event that’s themed and for adults? That’s later in the month on Oct. 30. History After Dark: San Juan Speakeasy takes place from 5 to 9 p.m., inspired by the San Juan Hotel murder. Along with live music and activities, participants who complete the evening’s scavenger hunt will access the hidden speakeasy to enjoy themed food and drinks available for purchase.

Other events coming up at the History Center:

Friday, Oct. 2
Lunch & Learn: Orlando’s Blossoming LGBTQ+ History
Noon – 1 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 3
History Alive: Florida’s Natural World
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 7
History Alive: Florida Lifestyle
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The post Halloween roundup: Orange County Regional History Center first appeared on The Community Paper.

When I reach the goal. When I make more money. When my body feels stronger. When the kids get through this stage. When the difficult thing is finally resolved. When life calms down. When I can finally exhale.

Maybe you have your own version: I’ll be happy when I get married. When I have a baby. When the baby sleeps. When the kids are older. When I get the promotion. When I lose the weight. When we buy the house. When the diagnosis is behind us. When the relationship gets better. When the relationship ends. When the paperwork is signed. When I finally know what happens next.

We are incredibly good at moving happiness just slightly out of reach.

And recently, three words have been rattling around in my head: “I already won.”

Not “I’m going to win.” Not “I’ll win when …”

I already won.

It’s a strange thing to say when parts of your life are still unfinished. Mine certainly are. There are questions I cannot answer yet. Things I’m building. Things I’m working through. Goals so big — they occasionally make me wonder who on earth gave me this much confidence.

There are parts of my life I would absolutely change if someone handed me a magic wand. But that’s exactly the point. I don’t want to require a perfect life in order to love my actual life.

Because what happens if we spend five years waiting for the hard thing to end? Those five years were still our life.

Our children grew up during them. Birthdays happened. People came into our lives. People left. We laughed until we cried. We sat on sidelines. We ate ordinary Tuesday-night dinners. We took trips. We watched sunsets. We drank coffee with people we loved. We got stronger. We changed.

We lived.

I wonder how many of those moments we’ve missed because mentally we’ve categorized the entire season as something we simply needed to “get through.”

I have certainly done it. I’ve caught myself thinking that once a particular chapter closes, then I can really begin. Then I can breathe. Then I can celebrate. Then life can properly start again.

But life had already started. It was happening while I was waiting.

That realization has changed something in me. I can desperately want something to change — and still be grateful for today. I can have enormous goals — and still believe I have enough. I can be sad about one part of my life — and wildly joyful about another.

I can be standing in the middle of uncertainty and still say, without pretending, “This is a beautiful life.”

Those things are not contradictions. Maybe that’s what adulthood keeps trying to teach us. Life rarely arrives neatly packaged as “good season” or “bad season.”

There can be grief at 8 a.m. and belly laughter at 8:07. You can receive disappointing news and still cheer like a lunatic at your kid’s game that evening. You can be scared about the future and excited about it. You can be rebuilding something while simultaneously realizing how much you already have.

Joy does not require every problem to leave the room first.

That may be the lesson I needed most. Because I am ambitious. I want to do ridiculous things. I want to write more books. Stand on bigger stages. Run faster races. Help more people. Raise good humans. Build things I haven’t even thought of yet.

I hope I’m still chasing something when I’m 90.

But I never want ambition to convince me that today is merely a stepping stone to a better life.

This is the life.

The messy kitchen. The unanswered email. The teenager who needs to be driven somewhere approximately four seconds after you sat down. The work in progress. The relationship that matters. The body that carried you through today. The friend who answered the phone. The ordinary morning. The unfinished chapter.

All of it.

So yes, I still have finish lines I want to cross. Some literal. Many not. But I’m trying not to place my happiness on the other side of them anymore.

I can chase what is next without withholding joy from what is now. I can want more without treating today as less.

And when my brain inevitably starts whispering, “You’ll be happy when …” I have three words ready for it:

I already won!

The post I already won first appeared on The Community Paper.

(COURTESY OF ORLANDO SCIENCE CENTER)

Visitors can find comfort in the carpeted floors and walls, a dimmer switch for lighting, and a variety of other sensory tools including:

• Three Yogibo Pod X Sensory Bean Bags with a cocoon-like design, offering a cozy haven that’s ideal for sensory seekers and relaxation.
• A NunoErin Cube, which provides an ever-evolving sensory experience through 12 interactive, touch-sensitive light programs with a spectrum of colors and intensities.
• A Nanoleaf Light Panel customized to paint gentle animations, providing a calming effect while delivering a beautiful experience of color and light.
• Two Air Walls that create captivating visuals by utilizing air to launch small Styrofoam balls, lit softly to ease anxiousness. The air pumps also create white noise, providing the additional benefit of drowning out other sounds.
• Four manipulative touch panels provide an additional soothing activity, encouraging guests to use different available movements. These panels productively distract and occupy attention, giving the mind a mental break.
• A textured sensory wall that feels like dinosaur skin. Touching or stroking this texture can provide a calming effect.
• A custom OSC tactile art piece created by an artist with autism. This piece is made to be touched, with an engaging surface that changes in texture and color.

(ROBERTO GONZALEZ/COURTESY OF ORLANDO SCIENCE CENTER)

October is Sensory Processing Disorder Awareness Month, a reminder that everyone should be able to explore and enjoy OSC’s exhibits while having their sensory needs supported. OSC is committed to making STEM education more accessible, and the Sensory Room is one part of that ongoing effort. KultureCity recently named OSC best venue in the Education and Library category by the KultureCity Human Highlight Awards.

Included with general admission, the Sensory Room is available for use by one family or group at a time and is open to anyone who might need to use it during normal operating hours and special events. There are also sensory friendly kits available to check out at the front desk for those in need. Plan your visit today and purchase tickets in advance at OSC.org/visit.

The post A sensory-friendly space makes science learning more accessible first appeared on The Community Paper.