Thomas the Train is always a popular activity. Photo provided

By Shelley Gilken

    Breakfast with Santa is an old tradition at the Boca Raton Children’s Museum. For 21 years, families have come to this special event each year for the classic Santa Claus experience with the frame-worthy photo op, the pancakes, the crafts and other attractions.
    Breakfast with Santa is the signature event of the year at the museum, expecting to draw around 1,500 people between 8:30 a.m. and noon on Dec. 13, said Sandra Manning, marketing and special events coordinator.
    “Sit on Santa’s lap and we take the picture, print it out and they take it home right then,” Manning said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
    Reservations are required, and Manning suggests buying a ticket soon before they run out.
    The program includes other attractions such as Thomas the Train rides, sand art, a few vendors, a clown and a character artist. One of the more popular activities — in addition to the big guy in the red suit — is the snow blower spewing white fluffy material for children to frolic in.
The museum used to get real snow, but “icy snow was cold and hard for the kids … It’s synthetic. It’s not cold. It’s fluffy.”
    The museum also offers a low-key alternative program for people who celebrate Hanukkah. The Hanukkah party is a one-hour event from 5 to 6 p.m. Dec. 11, which includes the opportunity for children to play with a dreidel and make crafts.
    Parents will be able to glimpse parts of the museum at these holiday events, but the museum is not open during the breakfast or Hanukkah program. However, there are plenty of exhibits worthy of a return visit during regular hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
    Visitors have until the end of December to see the museum’s special Brazil exhibit. “Learn about the culture, the art and there’s a soccer exhibit. We also have a Brazilian mummy,” Manning said.
    The museum’s year-round exhibits feature several imaginative scenes that allow children to play and explore. There’s a grocery store setting, post office and a pirate ship. There’s also a nature trail where families can go for a walk and look at local birds and wildlife. The museum also holds an array of classes each week for babies through elementary school students.
    Manning said that many people who visit for Breakfast with Santa are coming to the museum for the first time, and they often make plans to return to see the rest of the exhibits.

If You Go
Breakfast with Santa
For children 10 and younger
When: 8:30 a.m. to noon Dec. 13. Pre-registration is required.
Cost: $10/person (free for infants). Additional fee for certain attractions.

Hanukkah Party
When: 5 to 6 p.m., Dec. 11
Location: Boca Raton Children’s Museum
498 Crawford Blvd.,
Boca Raton
Reservations: 368-6875

IN THE ’50s

An aerial view of Boca Raton Inlet and Lake Boca Raton shows the property that includes the Boca Raton Resort & Club. That’s Camino Real curving eastward.

IN 2012

An aerial view of the land that includes the Boca Raton Resort & Club. In 1969, the resort opened a 27-story tower, shown in this photo. When built the tower was the tallest structure between Tallahassee and Miami. It is still the tallest building in Boca Raton.

A manually operated wooden drawbridge was built in 1916 on Palmetto Park Road, making beach access easier. This view is looking west over the bridge. On the right is the tender’s wife, Mrs. Townsend. Photos courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Sugar sand, palmetto forests and plenty of mosquitoes made life for settlers who lived in Boca Raton about 100 years ago very different from what it is today.
“There weren’t any condos or high-rises, but there was a lot of land for the taking,” Susan Gillis, curator of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum, said.
Her information was gleaned from primary sources left behind by the pioneers. These include survey notes, maps, correspondence and photos from Thomas Rickards, who platted the area for Henry Flagler and his FEC Railroad. He ended up staying when he settled on 50 acres near Lake Boca Raton.
Gillis used photos, correspondence and diaries kept from 1903 to 1935 by settler Frank Chesebro. He had 60 acres where he grew mostly tomatoes and pineapples.
They were two of the five or six families and a few bachelors who inhabited the area at the time. But what was life like for them?
Farming was the mainstay of the early settlers who came mostly from northern Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Vermont and upstate New York.
In his diaries, Chesebro, a trained agriculturist from Grand Rapids, Mich., mentioned growing crops recognized today. These include mangoes, oranges, limes, guavas, loquats, watermelons, eggplants and sweet corn. But the settlers also tried their hand at growing rice, cotton and peanuts — not always with success.
And Lake Boca Raton was home to plenty of fish, including flounder and pompano. In fact, there are stories of it being so plentiful the fish would jump into the boats.
Bugs, vermin and snakes were never in short supply. The only way to combat them was with organic pesticides such as whale oil soap or whitewashing oranges and grapefruits to keep the rabbits off them. The smoke from smudge pots was the only hope to keep the mosquitoes away, as DDT had not yet been invented.
However, indoor plumbing came to the area in the 1920s; Chesebro had an indoor toilet by 1926. But electricity, which was available in Fort Lauderdale, hadn’t come as far north as Boca Raton. So children who attended the one-room wooden school built in 1908 had to do their homework by kerosene lamp.  
If, like Chesebro, you were lucky enough to own an automobile, you might don your wool knit bathing suit, pile into the car and head to the beach. If others were walking along the sand road, it would be neighborly to stop and give them a ride across the wooden bridge built at Palmetto Park Road in 1916.
But once you got to the barrier island, you probably had to make your way through a jungle of sea grapes, strangler figs, pine trees and coconut palms to the sandy beach. From here you could swim along the rocky reef looking for colorful fish.
But you had to keep your eye out for shipwrecked timber. Early settlers salvaged it to build their homes.
“Even so, we weren’t no hick town,” Gillis said.

In 1915, locals welcome the new Dixie Highway that has just opened through Palm Beach County.

The Yamato Colony (pronounced YAH-ma-to) was for the most part made up of 15 second sons from Japanese families who wouldn’t inherit land in their own country. They bought 40 acres in Boca Raton, married and set up this farming community. There were never more than 50 settlers including these children of the Kamiya family, who sit on their front porch in 1914.

About this series
From its pre-Columbian inhabitants to the “city with an attitude” it has become, Boca Raton’s history is rich and compelling. Much of it was revealed during a four-part series, Boca History 101, last month at FAU under the auspices of the Lifelong Learning Society.
\Susan Gillis, curator of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum, and historic preservationist Bonnie Dearborn were the instructors.
Coastal Star reporter Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley attended each session and shares her observations. Her reports on the first two classes — about how a farming town became a vacationers mecca and the hardships of early settlers — appear in this edition. The final two installments — about architecture and life during World War II — will appear in the December issue.

Right: Susan Gillis

Once homesteading was allowed in Florida, Thomas Moore Rickards was the first known settler to build a house. He settled in about 1897 along the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway. Photos courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

The journey through Boca Raton’s history began with the Tequesta tribe, who left behind a 20-foot-high burial mound that remains standing in what today is the Boca Marina and Yacht Club area.
From 1953 to 1958, it was a roadside attraction called Ancient America, set up so that people traveling on Federal Highway could stop and walk through it.
This archeological treasure is called Barnhill Mound after the man who bought the 24 acres on which the site is roped off from the public, according to Susan Gillis, curator of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum.  
The Tequesta left the area by about the 18th century, Gillis said during the first of four classes on Boca Raton’s history.
Gillis continued by exploring the area’s agrarian roots. In 1842, Florida passed the Armed Occupation Act that allowed settlers to homestead land.
They used it to grow tomatoes, potatoes and pineapples, she explained.
“They raised big honking tomatoes that could survive shipment north without refrigeration,” Gillis said.  
Incorporated in 1925, this small farm town was blindsided by the land boom of the 1920s. That’s when Addison Mizner, here for only about a year, worked his magic. He’s best known for building The Cloister Inn that later became the Boca Raton Resort and Club.
It was his dream to turn Boca into “The Greatest Resort in the World.” But it never quite materialized as the Great Depression and the devastating hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 helped turn the area’s boom into a bust.
In need of economic revitalization, the area’s inhabitants returned to their agrarian roots planting winter vegetables. They became known for their prolific green beans.
To demonstrate its comeback, the city now had two traffic lights, which were turned off in summer.
But a fresh wave of prosperity washed over the area during WWII when the Army Air Corps opened a radar school on land that today is the Boca Raton Airport and the FAU main campus.
Everyone got into the act, renting rooms to the servicemen, including Lillian Williams, who not only rented out her home but also her chicken coop. Today her home is preserved as the Boca Raton Children’s Museum.
Following the war, Arthur Vining Davis, who made his wealth as founder of Aluminum Co. of America (Alcoa), started Arvida Development Corp. He bought land and built homes and high-rises, spreading the population east to the ocean and west toward the Everglades.
In 1970 on the outskirts of Boca, IBM established its main complex, where they manufactured mainframes and developed the first personal computers. The company brought along 12,000 well-educated, well-paid employees interested in supporting all things cultural in Boca Raton.
The IBM offices relocated in the mid-1990s, but some employees of Big Blue decided to stay, helping Boca Raton to grow to the almost 90,000 people in the city and 120,000 in “west Boca” who now call this place home. 

Learn More
To learn more about the history of Boca Raton, visit bocahistory.org. For more on the Lifelong Learning Society, visit fau.edu/lls or call 561-297-3185. To discover what early pioneer Frank Chesebro wrote in his diary, follow him at Twitter.com/BocaHistory. Every day “Frank” tweets his activities from 100 years ago.

Joseph Myrick, Peg Young, Helen Long, Robert Myrick, Mamie Myrick and William Myrick enjoy a day on the beach in this photo by Laurence Gould, taken 1914-1917. Courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

The year is 1958; the view is south on Federal Highway from what is now Sanborne Square (including Town Hall). There were only two stoplights in the city, and the Greyhound bus station was downtown. Courtesy of Boca Raton Historical Society

A quick trip through Boca: From burial mound to IBM | Hardship accompanied long-ago opportunities

Boca Raton: Then and Now

Thousands of people took part in the 20th annual Buddy Walk at John Prince Park Oct. 19. The event raised money for the Gold Coast Down Syndrome’s educational, social and advocacy programs and promotes awareness of the capabilities and talents of people with Down syndrome. Gail Marino, left, founded the organization. She is shown here with her daughter Kim and husband, Gary. Photos provided

About 1,500 people came to Mizner Park for the first Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which raised $120,000. Photo provided

Six teams of volunteers ‘competed’ with one another during Boca Helping Hands’ Miracle Chef event Oct. 17.  The teams prepared dishes using nothing but recovered food, drawing attention to the need for food recovery in our community.  Supporters and volunteers enjoyed sampling dishes that often fill the plates of the 175-200 served daily at Boca Helping Hands. ABOVE: Chef Doug Kinzer, ‘Team  Cuisine’ enjoys sharing his mashed potato creation. To learn more about food recovery and efforts to feed those living with food insecurity in Boca Raton, contact Bozena Szalobryt at Bozena@bocahelpinghands.org. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Kim Weiss captured images of sunrises from the terrace of her Boynton Beach apartment. Photo provided

By Steve Pike

“There is never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same.’’ — Carlos Santana   

   Kim Weiss can relate to a guitar legend’s sentiments. So much so, in fact, that she has authored a book called Sunrise Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe and Gratitude.
The book features a collection of orange-hued sunrise and sunset pictures Weiss took from the terrace of her Boynton Beach apartment that overlooks the Boynton Beach marina, Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean. Each picture is accompanied by an inspirational passage from people such as daytime TV star Gloria Loring, poet Rodger Kamenetz and sci-fi author J. Gabriel Gates.
Weiss, the director of communication of Health Communications Inc., the book’s publisher, debuted Sunrise Sunset on Nov. 1 at Barnes & Noble at University Commons in Boca Raton. She will have another book signing Nov. 16 at Unity Church in Delray Beach and appear at the Miami Book Fair on Nov. 22-23.
A portion of the proceeds from the book (shelf price $10.95) will be donated to the Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse organization in Delray Beach.
Weiss didn’t start out to publish a book of her photographs.
“I wasn’t taking pictures for a book. I was just taking pictures,’’ she said.     The book sprung from the reactions she received from friends and family whom she sent the pictures to via email and through her Facebook page.
“The reactions were surprising to me,’’ Weiss said. “People told me they actually used these pictures during meditation in the mornings.’’
Weiss said she originally balked at the idea of publishing a book of the photographs, but eventually decided to use her 20 years of connections in the publishing community to get it done.
“I’ve gotten to meet some pretty illustrious characters along the way,’’ she said.
Most of the photographs in the book were taken with a Canon PowerShot camera. A few, Weiss said, were taken with her iPhone. Weiss, her editor and art director culled through hundreds of photographs before setting on the 52 that appear in the book.
While photography is a hobby for Weiss, music is more a passion. A trained vocalist and musician, Weiss has performed locally and recently wrote the theme song for a women’s conference.
“I call myself a ‘creative compulsive,’ ’’ said Weiss, who has lived in South Florida for more than 30 years. “I’m just someone who really appreciates beauty. I was raised by a mother who exposed me to the arts. I was raised more to be a musician. Growing up in New Jersey, close to New York City, I was exposed to a lot. I consider myself lucky in that regard.’’
And in regard to her next book, Weiss wants to stay with the nature theme — maybe.
“I also have a pretty nice collection of photos of my cat (Annabelle)’’ she said. “So I’m thinking either clouds or cat. Anything that’s universally loved.’’

Kim Weiss captured an image of an osprey perched on her terrace. Photo provided

Alan Jacobson opened Plaza Theatre in 2012. The Coastal Star/file photo

By Bill Hirschman

The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan declared bankruptcy and closed its doors Oct. 17 on the day that it was poised to begin its third season.   
Meager season subscriptions and $50,000 in bills persuaded founder and artistic director Alan Jacobson to consider bankruptcy and to close the 246-seat theater in the Plaza del Mar shopping center at 262 S. Ocean Blvd., which once had been home to Florida Stage.    
Oct. 17 was supposed to be the opening night of Exceptions to Gravity, starring acclaimed New York artist Avner the Eccentric, but it was canceled because of poor ticket sales.    
Jacobson wrote in an email that the cancellation “has severely hurt our cash on hand and cash flow, and although we don’t have that much debt, we do not have the funds to continue at the moment. We have done everything in our power the last three months to seek out donors and raise money, but our efforts have been unsuccessful. We fought up until we just couldn’t fight anymore.”
He planned to ask other theaters to honor the subscriptions already sold as the Caldwell Theatre Company did when it closed in Boca Raton.
“We are committed to making certain ALL of our paying customers are taken care of,” the theater said in an email Oct. 23. “We are working with another theater in the area who will be honoring ALL tickets purchased for the Plaza Theatre 2014-2015 Mainstage Season, including all single-ticket purchases for the 2014-2015 season, subscription and groups.”
The email did not say what theater the company was working with, but said it would release further details later.
 “This is heart-breaking. We didn’t start a theater company to not be in it for the long term, and we have worked very hard to make things work.” Jacobson said. “We had come to the point that not only did we not take a salary the first year, we had deferred our salary this year,” he said.
“The agonizing thing for me was less the going out of business; the more agonizing thing for me was having to tell people I had hired that they no longer had work.” He had hired most of the talent for the coming season for anticipated shows like the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit version of Phantom and Richard Greenberg’s Broadway hit play The Assembled Parties.
In fact, a few people who did not want their names used complained that this had damaged them because they had passed up other jobs on the prospect of work at the Plaza. Most other theaters in the region have solidified their casting for the season.    

Harriet Oser and John Archie in the Carbonell-nominated Driving Miss Daisy at The Plaza Theatre. Photo provided

    The Plaza offered an eclectic slate each year aimed at an older mainstream audience. It encompassed straight plays like Neil Simon’s Chapter Two, large musicals like Charles Strouse/Stephen Schwartz’s Rags and many musical revues like You Made Me Love You, based on the music of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and Fanny Brice.  
 The quality varied from thoroughly entertaining to lackluster, but several shows earned standing ovations and Plaza shows produced Carbonell nominations for best ensemble for I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change and best actor and actress for Driving Miss Daisy for Harrier Oser and John Archie.
The theater had been flush with money in 2013 after it mounted a spoofy hoot by Jacobson called Waistwatchers The Musical, he said. It played to 20,000 patrons and was repeatedly extended. “We could have run it for a solid year,” he said. But he put it on hiatus over that summer so the theater’s student conservatory could present two shows, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and William Mastrosimone’s Sleepwalk, examining teen suicide.    
Even this past season, sales were respectable for Rags, about immigrants at the turn of the century, and Life on a Diet, a one-woman comic memoir read rather than performed by its author, Renee Taylor, although critics and many theater professionals were distinctly dismissive of both.
“But we burned through money during the season, because sales were disappointing for several shows”, he said, including I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, Dirty Blonde, about Mae West, and Cougar, a Waistwatchers-type musical, among other offerings. Through the summer, the ticket sales ran $100,000 short of expectations. 
Jacobson, a businessman as well as an artist, said, “Your intellect tells you one thing, your heart tells you something else. Our staff said, ‘We’re gonna do well.’ My gut was telling me, no, but my heart was trying to believe it.”
Facing the $50,000 debt plus the need for a nonexistent $100,000 in cash flow against a $1.2 million annual operating budget, he closed up shop.
Jacobson said many factors played into the demise. One was the location of the theater. When he was trying to attract donors, he found that the residents of Boca Raton and Palm Beach did not view Manalapan as their backyard.
“If we had been in the Poinciana Playhouse (in Palm Beach) we’d have had money coming in left and right,” he said.    
The Plaza may still have a legacy. Recently, Jacobson’s wife, Melissa Bohrer Jacobson, and General Manager John Lariviere organized a theater program for autistic students called Puzzle Players. They still hope to conduct that program at some area schools.  
And the second email from the company said the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Conservatory “will continue to provide classes for adults and children, including our current classes in Bak/Dreyfoos audition preparation, our Adult Cabaret Workshop, and our Musical Theatre Production Workshop of Into the Woods, which will take place at a new location.” 
Despite the regrets, Jacobson is still proud of the Plaza. “I’m proud of the fact that we produced good work. We didn’t produce cutting-edge work, but we produced work that the audience loved. I’m proud that I paid fair wages to the actors, that I hired good people. I’m proud of the fact that I took really good care of people, and I guess I’m proud of the fact that we gave it a shot under difficult circumstances.”

Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Susan Mullin, chairwoman, and Michael Mullin. Photo provided

By Amy Woods
    
Everything from cake balls to clothing, holiday ornaments to home décor and something called Popsicle pearls will top the tables of the Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club’s Holiday Trunk Show.
    The Delray Beach nonprofit’s signature event enters its 12th year Dec. 1 through 3 at the Seagate Hotel & Spa, featuring more than 30 vendors.
    “They’re pearls for hot girls,” Holiday Trunk Show Chairwoman and Gulf Stream resident Susan Mullin said of the Popsicle pearls. “You literally put them in the freezer. They’re a riot.”
    This year’s fundraiser promises to be bigger and better because of the fresh assortment of merchandise Mullin and her 20-plus-member committee have selected.
    “We’ve got toys for kids,” she said. “We’ve got gifts. We have a wonderful shoe company. We have just a ton of new vendors. I think everyone will be very surprised and pleased.”
    Last year’s Holiday Trunk Show raised more than $109,000. The preview cocktail party, which drew about 200 shoppers/supporters, takes place Dec. 1, and the show is open to the public Dec. 2 and 3.
    Proceeds benefit the club’s programming efforts, which focus on six core areas: career and education development; character and leadership development; fitness, recreation and sports; health and life skills; technology; and the arts.
    Proceeds also help fulfill the club wish list. Among the items to be checked off are a 15-passenger van, flat-screen television, laptop computers and an LCD projector.
    The club’s Family Liaison Initiative, a monthly educational and family-fun night for parents, will receive a boost, as well.
    “We’re always looking to take in more kids to our club, but it costs money to do that,” Mullin said.
    The septuagenarian has chaired the Holiday Trunk Show for most of its 12 years and now involves her husband, Michael.
    “Michael and I were looking to find a worthwhile charity to volunteer for and give our time to, and the Boys & Girls Club just seemed to be a natural venue because we know so much about it,” Mullin said. “I really enjoy it.”

If You Go
What: Holiday Trunk Show
When: 6-8 p.m. Dec. 1; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 2 and 3
Where: The Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach
Cost: $85 Dec. 1; free Dec. 2 and 3
Information: Call 683-3287 or visit bgcpbc.org
Sponsors: The 2014 event will be sponsored by the Seagate Hotel & Spa, Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart and Shipley, and Lang Realty.

It was a banner season for the Jaguars. The football team had a 9-1 season and defeated Unity School in its final game. The Lady Jaguars varsity volleyball team had an 8-4 season and made it to the semifinals. ‘St. Joseph’s is proud to offer a stellar athletic curriculum for area students and the community,’ Athletic Director Andrew Wideroff said. Photo: (in front) Football team members Tyler Thomas, Alex Ream, Mason DuBois, Gustavo Fedele, Bobby Valashinas, (in back) Sebastian Tirado, Campbell Little, Cody Wheeler, Trevor Black, Gabe Guny, Quinn Lowry, John Westine, Chad Mulling, Coach Rick Nevad, R.J. Broda, Tyler Drew, Wideroff, Priyank Patel, Ethan Baxter and Nick Sama. Photo provided

The Delray Beach Public Library’s third annual fundraiser netted more than $35,000 during an afternoon of shopping for the latest accessories and shoes. Close to 300 women put on their pearls, favorite hats and heels and shopped from the heart. Photo: Co-Chairwomen Caron Dockerty and Nancy Dockerty, with Honorary Chairwoman Kate Toomey and library Development Director Kimberley Trombley-Burmeister. Photo provided

The 2014 Saint Francis Award was given to the sea turtle monitor team from Gulf Stream and south Ocean Ridge during the Blessing of the Animals at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church. Photo: Sea turtle volunteers in attendance were Darlene Duggan, Jim Jolley, Joan Lorne, Margie Talbott and Jackie Kingston, who are joined by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brian Daly riding ‘Arthur.’ The volunteers were nominated by the Rev. Wendy Tobias.
Photo provided

Stanley Tate, founder of the Florida Prepaid College Program, served as guest speaker at the Gold Coast Tiger Bay Club gathering, regaling the group with a background that includes living in the White House and talking about the college program that has enabled tens of thousands of students each year to better their lives and futures. Above: Jon Lee, Marshall Isaacson, Anita Feinstein and Robert Cleveland. Below: Robert Fraiberg and Arlene Herson. Photos provided

William and Adlyn Sherman celebrated their 70th wedding anniversay. Now 92, the couple met when they were 16 at New Hartford High School in Utica, N.Y. They married in San Francisco in 1944 while William was serving as a Naval officer in  World War II. The couple takes joy in their family, which includes four children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. They have lived at Barr Terrace in Delray Beach since 1998.

Color photo, Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Black-and-white photo taken in 1945, provided by family

The Greater Boca Raton Estate Planning Council drew a large turnout for its 2014-15 season kickoff, where established and prospective members gathered for a meet-and-greet cocktail reception. Photo: Laurence Blair, Steven Belson and Daniel Siegel. Photo provided by Jeffrey Tholl

More than 70 guests attended the American Fine Wine Competition’s fun-filled event that included a tasting of 50 U.S. wines complemented by an array of appetizers. All proceeds benefited Women In Distress of Broward County, a domestic-violence center. Photo: Edie and Ira Holz, Jay Valenski, Kimberly Davidson, Andrew and Robin Baker and Karen Wilson. Photo provided

Officials ushered in the June and Ira J. Gelb, M.D. Auditorium in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine building at Florida Atlantic University in honor of the philanthropists’ $250,000 donation to their scholarship fund. ‘It is my honor and privilege to officiate the dedication of the June and Ira J. Gelb, M.D. Auditorium, which will allow hundreds and thousands of our students to come through these doors to learn to art of medicine, science and healing for decades to come,’ said David Bjorkman, the college’s dean and executive director of medical affairs. Photo: Christopher Fluehr, FAU Foundation secretary, with Marilyn and Jay Weinberg. Photo provided

The nonprofit cultural-arts and education-based organization unveiled its new art gallery, The Blueprint Gallery, before a gathering of more than 70. The center’s board and staff members took part in celebrating the debut of the inaugural exhibit with the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce. Photo: Nancy Merolla, David Kissell, Alison Hill, Anna Girgis, Kurt Knaus and Kendra Williams. Photo provided by Robert Romero