Don your Easter bonnet, farmer’s cap, or fedora March 25 and take part in the Floral City history parade if you live in the Floral City ZIP code – 34436 – or if you can round up a friend who does.

The date to register to march or ride in the parade is March 13.

If you live outside the ZIP code, line up along Orange Avenue from 11 a.m. to noon on March 25 to cheer on the Floral City residents who will be celebrating the 140th anniversary of the city’s official establishment by participating in the Spring Into History event.

Paulette Lash Ritchie, who’s helping coordinate publicity, said that 140 years ago, Floral City was surveyed and laid out.

Spring Into History steps off with the parade and continues until 4 p.m. in the town center with folk life demonstrations and food.

The Floral City Heritage Museum at 8394 E. Orange Ave., and the Duval House, 7801 S. Old Floral City Road, both will be open. The Duval House is considered the oldest remaining, continuously occupied home in Citrus County.

First Baptist Church of Floral City will oversee activities for children.

Ritchie said the event is an alternative to the city’s annual Heritage Days festival.

“It’s something different and a new way to celebrate,” she said.

Residents are urged to participate in the parade by choosing clothes from a past decade and showing off their finery in the procession. Floats, cars, pets, baby buggies, antique wagons, towed boats, walkers, and other parade possibilities are allowed. Children are welcome to march or ride in the parade, as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

One of the rules is “No elephants,” Richie said. And participants can’t throw candy, beads, or other items into the crowd. Horses will be allowed, although they will have to trail everyone else, and any horse by-products must be scooped up.

To register for the parade, residents should fill out an application and submit a $20 registration fee. The Floral City Heritage Council is coordinating the daylong festivities. The deadline to apply to parade down Orange Avenue is 6 p.m. March 13. The first 20 people who apply will receive a pewter 140th anniversary commemorative medallion. Applications are available by emailing floral cityheritage@gmail.com or by phoning Terri Hartman, 352-726-6644.

According to Ritchie, “It’s easy to forget we are living history. Historians like to look to the ancient past, but we live our lives in decades. We have invited our residents to represent a time that is important to them, have a little fun, and realize how important the residents are in the process.”

And good Floral City resident that she is, Ritchie said she and her husband, Tom, the director of the Floral City Heritage Museum, are likely to participate in the parade by dressing as farmers and riding in their old red truck. Tom also might dress as a preacher.

Tom will drive and Paulette Ritchie, in her grandmother-in-law’s calico dress with a tiny pink rose pattern, may ride in the back in a rocking chair and wave at the crowd. Paulette’s grandmother-in-law created the dress for her town’s centennial celebration.

The Floral City festivities should be “kind of old-timey community fun,” Paulette said.

Imagine life without strawberries: No strawberry shortcake, no strawberry jam.

No iconic Beatles song about strawberry fields forever.

Thankfully, there are strawberries – lots of them.

And this weekend, Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5, the plump, juicy red berries will be the center of attention at the 36th Annual Floral City Strawberry Festival at Floral Park in Floral City.

Here are 8 things not to miss at this year’s festival:

1. Strawberries, of course

Take home fresh-picked full and half flats of local Ferris Groves-grown berries. Berries will be available for purchase from the strawberry flats tent, also at each gate and at the shuttle bus drop off at the Citrus County auditorium.

Can’t wait until you get home to sample the sweet berries? Stop by the Strawberry Shortcake tent near Gate 1 for a dish. Just $5.

Official Strawberry Festival merchandise will also be available at the festival and online at www.Go StrawberryFest.com.

2. Pie-eating contest

One minute to eat an entire strawberry and whipped cream pie – with no hands. Think you can do it?

Contest is open to all ages at 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday on Strawberry Row near the shortcake tent. Sign-ups will begin at 10 a.m. each day at the Chamber information tent. Slots fill up fast.

3. Music, entertainment and adorable kids

It wouldn’t be the Strawberry Festival without the Strawberry Princess pageants on Saturday, March 4 from 9:15 a.m. until 10 a.m. at the Main Stage, followed by a full-day of music from Southern Express Band playing bluegrass, Homosassa native Ashley Young and Homegrown: The Zac Brown Band Experience (tribute band).

On Sunday, the entertainment kicks off at 9 a.m. with DJ John Diorio, Bad Luck Penny playing Southern Rock/blues at 10 a.m., more DJ John Diorio at noon and acoustic duo Palomino Blonde playing rock, pop and country at 1 p.m.

4. Soccer collies!

Dogs that play soccer? Yes, dogs that play soccer. Test your soccer skills against these trained pooches once an hour beginning at 9:45 a.m. Participants will line up in a circle around the dogs as they use their skills to score “goals,” pushing the ball outside of the human goalie line.

5. Arts and crafts, information, cool gadgets and other neat stuff

Where else can you shop for dog treats and apparel, hand-painted gourds, wind chimes, bird feeders and tie-dye, soap, candles, tea and even jewelry recycled from used ammunition, get information from area nonprofit organizations and check out local businesses all in one place?

Shop and learn while supporting your neighbors.

6. Festival food – so much more than strawberries.

How about: barbecue, soul food, Cajun, Southwestern, vegetarian or vegan cuisine, fish tacos, pizza, lobster rolls, funnel cakes, kettle corn, ice cream, fresh-squeezed fruit drinks, a beer and wine garden, OMG Pretzel Bites – and more.

7. Park and ride from the Citrus County auditorium – FREE

Festival goers are encouraged to utilize the free parking available at Citrus County auditorium at 3610 S. Florida Ave., Inverness. Free shuttle buses from the auditorium will run both days, all day.

To find the correct parking lot at the auditorium, follow the signs posted on U.S. 41 S.

8. Kids Zone

Skeeball, inflatables, face painting, balloon pop, and more for the little ones to have fun and burn off some kid-energy.

Floral City Strawberry Festival at a glance:

When: Saturday, March 4, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Sunday, March 5, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Where: Floral Park, 9530 S. Parkside Avenue, Floral City – three miles south of downtown Floral City on U.S. Hwy. 41

Cost: Festival Admission is $5 per adult, children 12 and under are free

Pets: Leave your pets at home; service dogs are welcome.

Nancy Kennedy can be reached at 352-564-2927 or by email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

The story of Pudgee’s American Eatery is a story of perseverance.

Even though its owner, John Sterling, served his last Pudgee’s hot dog and locked the front door of his Floral City business for the last time on Saturday, July 23, Sterling fought the good fight and is ready for his next chapter.

“It was time,” Sterling said Monday, Aug. 1, in a phone interview. “My house and vehicles are all paid for, and I have a camper we’ve never used and a granddaughter who’s never been camping or fishing.

“So it’s time to do fun, grandpa stuff,” he said.

That’s not to say saying goodbye to his faithful customers from over the past 23 years was easy.

“We’ve had incredibly great customers who stayed with us through everything,” Sterling said.

In the past two years, Sterling has had COVID three times, lost about a dozen employees at the beginning of the pandemic when he had to close for a month and they didn’t return, and he lost his 32-year-old daughter to Hodgkin’s Disease.

“That was the hardest,” he said.

Just prior to the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sterling was set to open a second Pudgee’s in Brooksville.

“I invested a lot into that place, and we were set to open,” he said. “We had our final inspection and they said we had to redo the hood and part of the roof – $76,000.

“We pulled the plug before that restaurant could open because we couldn’t find anybody to put on a new hood,” he said. “We just kept getting punched in the face.”

Sterling had experienced “getting punched” before when Pudgee’s was a simple roadside stand on U.S. 41 in Floral City.

The self-described “hometown boy” and Citrus High School Class of 1979 graduate “who gave the county its first original hot dog stand,” as he told the Chronicle in 2011, opened his stand in 2001.

Prior to that, he drove a gas tanker truck for 26 years and lived in Ohio for 10 of those years.

His job on the road took him all over the country, where he sampled lots of good food.

When he returned to Citrus County, he opened Pudgee’s All American Hot Dogs as a roadside dining attraction.

It was a small trailer with just enough room for a cook or two, and several tables outside under a canopy. The colorful trailer was plastered with signs, cartoons and whimsical photos all about hot dogs.

In December 2012, after more than a decade in business, Pudgee’s failed a fire inspection and the cost to bring his trailer up to code would’ve been more than the trailer was worth, Sterling said at that time.

“I’ve had inspectors, code enforcers, food inspectors, everyone inside this place,” he had told the Chronicle. “No one has ever raised any flags of any sort, because we never had any issues. We’ve never tried to be above the law.”

Sterling announced he would be closing Dec. 29, 2012, but after an outpouring of support from his customers and the community, Sterling was able to comply with the code and his business was saved.

Five years later, Pudgee’s roadside stand closed in December 2017 and reopened March 3, 2018, in the then-newly built Stagecoach Square – just blocks from his old stand on U.S 41.

As he looked back on his 23 years with Pudgee’s, Sterling said he, and also his son, Chris, who had worked side by side with him as a cook, thoroughly enjoyed providing Pudgee’s’ customers with the best product they could make.

“What has happened, the cost of everything has gone up. When I first started Pudgee’s, hamburger was 83 cents a pound,” he said. “We just weren’t making enough to pay the bills, and we couldn’t find employees to cook for a second shift so we could stay open at night. You can raise your prices, but how much are you going to pay for a hot dog?

“I didn’t get into the business to see how much money I could get from people; it was always about giving families an affordable meal.”

Sterling, 62, said closing is bittersweet, but the stress is “off my chest – almost.”

“I think I’m in better shape now than when I was struggling to survive, so it’s all right,” he said. “It’s actually very all right. It’s actually all good.”

On July 24, Sterling posted this statement on Pudgee’s Facebook page:

“The Pudgee family wants to thank you all for the last 23 years here in Floral City, but it’s time to say goodbye. The last couple days have been quite overwhelming with your love and support ... the good news is, be on the lookout for Pudgee’s to reopen in the future with new owners.

“We will definitely keep you posted. Thanks again for all of your support and we will miss you all.

“Forever thankful, Pudgee.”

Nancy Kennedy can be reached at 352-564-2927 or by email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

More and more women are demanding a seat at the table — and they're willing to make their own offices to get it.

Co-working environments were on the rise before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down many offices in the U.S. Now that more employees work from home, these spaces are seeing a resurgence in interest driven mostly by women.

Stephanie Loewenstern, founder of Bright Link Talent, a woman-owned recruiting firm, was part of a coworking space called The Wing, where she connected with other women who were starting their own businesses. After the pandemic, people are getting more eager to get out of the house and work independently while surrounded by other “like-minded talent,” she said.

“Co-working spaces and the use of them have been in flux pre- and post-pandemic,” Loewenstern said. “Pre-pandemic, there was an upswing in users in co-working spaces. There were many spaces that catered toward different needs.”

Recently, she said she has seen additional businesses and freelancers utilize co-working spaces.

“Remote workers are looking for community and connection, and co-working spaces are a great place to find them,” Loewenstern said.

In Jacksonville, this rings true.

Britt McColgan, 33, owner of The Anti Bride in Murray Hill, recently opened the Edgewood Avenue suite called The Space Between to twice-weekly coworking opportunities.

MColgan opened the space to allow for more creativity and room for growth with her floral business, The Anti Bride. She said she wanted to be able to take meetings with clients somewhere but also hoped to have coworking in the space.

“I love that coworking energy,” she said. “I love having a neutral, naturally lit space.”

MColgan said her initial focus was on her floral business, which opened in spring 2021, because the wedding industry “went crazy” after COVID-19 restrictions delayed so many nuptials. Now that she is in a more consistent flow, she said she wanted to start connecting with the community on the coworking level again.

McColgan also hired Jaime Hutkin, 31, to manage the space, which has made expanding into coworking a smoother transition.

The Space Between hosted its first coworking event of 2023 in February and has since opened coworking to be available weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays due to demand. RSVP’s are required as those who sign up are welcome to spend the whole day from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the space and seating is limited.

McColgan said they are capping attendance to 15 people per day for now, and the $20 registration fee grants all-day access to the space as well as beverages from Brew Five Points and a variety of snacks.

“Right now we’re taking the funds that come in for coworking and reinvesting them into the day,” she said.

McColgan added that she hopes to have collaborations with other local businesses and coffee shops for treats and other coworking benefits in the future.

Ciarra Carter-Tanks, owner of Krayige Faye, worked from The Space Between on Feb. 22.

Carter-Tanks, a 24-year-old Jacksonville native, said the space was great for helping her meet new people and other small business owners.

“I got done twice the work I usually get done,” she said. “The vibe and being somewhere else, having to get dressed and be productive and not have those home distractions has been great.”

She said she plans to cowork from the space again and that one thing she would like to see incorporated in the future could be an “Instagram corner” with a nice backdrop for small business owners to post on their social media accounts.

So far, it has mostly been women who have taken advantage of this new Jacksonville workspace.

Despite The Space Between being open to all, women having the most interest in coworking isn’t an uncommon trend.

Remote workers who have children or roommates are often those who have the most desire to get out and work in a different place, especially one designated for work only, Loewenstern said.

“For me as a woman utilizing co-working spaces was an opportunity to connect with other women and build community,” Loewenstern said of her experience with The Wing in 2019.” I needed a space that was a place for me to get out and meet other like-minded women and make new friends.”

Erin Hohnbaum is the co-owner and co-founder of The Nest Little Rock, a women-only co-working space, along with Natalie Ghidotti.

Hohnbaum and Ghidotti both own their own businesses in Little Rock, Arkansas, and are part of a CEO group in the city. Being the only two women in the group, they became friends and worked to solve the problem of not having a space for other women in business to convene.

“With the amount of women forced to leave the workforce during the pandemic, we wanted to create a workspace for them outside their home offices,” Hohnbaum said. “We wanted to do this after I was back from maternity leave, but the real plan started taking place in March and April 2021, when people started getting vaccinated. We opened in December 2021.”

Since then, Hohnbaum said members have been able to experience more of a sense of community among other women than they have been able to traditionally in a male-focused workforce.

Loewenstern said coworking is “a great opportunity for freelancers, business owners, startups and businesses to connect, network and meet.”

“In a post-pandemic world, it’s important to get out, even if it’s only a few times a week,” she said. “The co-working spaces that thrive are the ones that make an effort to offer great amenities and build community.”

Hohnbaum called this being “hardwired for community.”

“Just as human beings, we flourish when we’re in community with other people,” she said. “A lot of women, specifically mothers, we have so many hats that we’re wearing during the day, that if you’re working from home, there are a lot of other things happening from home that aren’t related to your career and work. Having a place that’s focused and having time carved out for yourself and your career makes a big difference.”

While membership at this space in particular is limited to women, Hohnbaum said the group is diverse both racially and in age with its 150 members.

Jacksonville also has a women-only co-working office: The Cowerk Space by Women At Werk.

The downtown co-working space near Urban Grind Coffee Co. is advertised as “for women who are starting their own business or working on their startup and have been looking for a space with the right environment to be productive and get work done.”

Hutkin emphasized that importance of having a “third space” locally and said “Britt’s vision is coming to life” in Jacksonville.

With so many people still working from home, McColgan said, having a dedicated workspace like this can help keep people out of a rut.

“I hope people find a productive, pretty, calming space,” McClogan said. “If that means they’re also networking at the same time or meeting new people, that’s just a bonus. I feel like we’ve already seen that happen so much. We can still not want to go back into an office but appreciate the communal space that coworking offers.”

FLORAL CITY – The Floral City Heritage Council has been working on some exciting plans and changes to its Heritage Days. The hugely popular Candles and Carols will again be held this year with a slight name change to Candles, Carols and Carriages.

Visitors are invited to Floral City to walk Orange Avenue which will be lined with luminaries and closed to traffic from 5 to 9 p.m. Carolers and musicians will be positioned up and down the avenue to perform Christmas music. Many homes will be decorated for the holidays.

Also available again this year is the old-fashioned horse and wagon ride, an alternate way to enjoy the lights and carols.

The Floral City Heritage Museum will be open, featuring many new old gadgets, which at the time they were in use, people probably thought were the greatest labor savers ever, which, at that time, of course they were! The museum’s Old Country Store will be open, too, with all manner of great items for sale, including tees, corn brooms, toys and feather dusters, a Christmas shopping opportunity.

On Saturday, Dec. 3, the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Duval House (across the street) will be open for tours, as well. The Duval Preservation Trust, Inc. will host a frontier Christmas with holiday tastings and silent auction on the Duval House grounds to benefit the trust that evening. That event will be from 4 to 7 p.m. The public is invited and reservations are requested. Donations are encouraged and very much appreciated. The trust looks to the public to gain support for the continued rehabilitation of the house and for the development of the grounds on which the house resides.

The Saturday daytime presentation of demonstrators from past years is going to be replaced with a spring event, the council is calling Spring into History. It will feature a “Fourteen Decades of History Parade” in which anyone who lives in the Floral City zip code can participate. Visitors outside of Floral City are invited to attend the parade. Plans for the day will also include food, music, games and dancing. There will be more about this later.

The “Spring into History” event will celebrate the 140th anniversary of when Floral City was laid out and surveyed.

For information about Candles, Carols and Carriages, call 352-650-0013.

For information about A Frontier Christmas or to make a reservation, Call 352-726-7740, text 352-634-4781 or email abeasely001@tampabay.rr.com.

For information about “Spring into History,” call 352-419-4257 and leave a message.