The Boulud Sud pop-up at Café Boulud offers a $35 four-course menu.

Summer Deals: Take a close-to-home getaway at bargain rates

By Jan Norris

Locals staying through summer are rewarded at area restaurants with no waits, meal deals, drink and wine specials and in some cases, new spots to try. Here are a sampling:
Raffaele Ristorante in Boca Raton’s Royal Palm Place has a three-course prix fixe for $28.50, Sunday through Thursday. Entree choices include a 12-ounce strip steak or housemade ravioli with lobster.
 A new happy hour menu, served from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays, features a number of appetizers and half or full portions of entrees all specially priced. (www.raffaelerestaurant.com)
Dine with the new general manager, Bruce Siegel, and new executive chef, Denise Girard, at the Sundy House in Delray Beach during their summer special “3 for $33” event. Dinner is served at the tables in the tropical Taru gardens overlooking the pool, or in the dining rooms in the historic old house. Favorite specialties from the previous menu such as crab cakes are still available, but new dishes, like lemon pepper seared mahi with a duo of mashed potatoes and seafood linguine have been added. (www.sundyhouse.com)
Another three-course special is offered at Rosario’s in Royal Palm Place. Italian comfort dishes like eggplant rollatini, chicken saltimbocca and baked clams oreganato are available as entrees on the menu served Sunday through Friday for $24.95. (www.rosariosristorante.com)

Pizza from Ovenella

Buy one, get two courses free at the summer deal at Ovenella in Boca Raton. Through Nov. 30, from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, diners can order from 16 entrees, priced from $17 to $26 — salad and dessert are complimentary. Entrees include steak, veal, seafood or pasta. (www.ovenella.com)

La Stella’s in Boca Raton is participating in a summer wine series. Photos provided

A downtown Boca summer wine series, from 6 to 7 p.m. each Tuesday, moves among different restaurants.  Diners taste three wines paired with three small plates from each menu for $25. Restaurants are Anatolia’s, Aug. 7; Ovenella, Aug. 14; The Spaniard, Aug. 21; Raffaele’s, Aug. 28; Chops Lobster Bar, Sept. 4; Yakitori Sake House, Sept. 11; Saquella Café, Sept. 18; La Stella’s, Sept. 25; and 4th Generation, Oct. 2. Diners can reserve a spot by calling the individual restaurants. (www.downtownboca.org)

Deck 84 in Delray Beach offers half-off bottles of wine Monday through Thursday.

Deck 84 in Delray Beach takes half off all bottles of wine Monday through Thursday during the summer and valet is complimentary on those days for lunch and dinner. An extended Happy Hour is from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday.
They sing, “When it rains, we pour!” — and happy hour prices apply at both bars anytime it’s raining. (www.deck84.com)
Diners can learn to cook on Friday nights in August at 32 East in Delray Beach. Chef Nick Morfogen teaches students how to create a different dish each week in a small-class format upstairs in the restaurant, followed by a three-course dinner that includes the lesson dish. Classes are $55 (tax and tip not included) and limited to 20 diners; reservations are required in advance. (www.32east.com)
A three-course dinner for two is $55 at Prime in Delray Beach if you dine from 4 to 7 p.m. Some of the restaurant’s signature steak dishes are included on the menu. Signature drinks — including the popular cucumber martini or Arnold Palmer martini — and select glasses of wine are $8 during happy hour, 4-7 p.m. (www.primedelray.com)
A “Culinary Tour of the Mediterranean” is the summer promotion at La Cigale in Delray, where diners can choose from several dishes representing the week’s regional cuisine in a four-course dinner. The meal includes tapas of chef’s choice, appetizer, main course and dessert — plus a glass of wine  — for $30. The culinary tour prix fixe is served Monday through Friday, along with the regular a la carte menu. (www.lacigale.com)

The scallops at the Atlantic Grille

At the Atlantic Grille in the Seagate Hotel, a three-course dinner for two is $60 and includes a bottle of wine. It’s served Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, a three course meal is $35 with wine extra. The menu changes monthly throughout the summer. Past entrees have included pan-seared corvina with a roasted tomato sauce; deconstructed Mediterranean pita plate with ground lamb, pork and beef; and barbecue chicken with a house-made sauce.

Algerian grilled lamb loin at Cafe Boulud’s Boulud Sud pop-up. Scott Simmons/The Coastal Star

In Palm Beach, Café Boulud has created Boulud Sud — a pop-up restaurant within the modern French space in the Brazilian Court Hotel. At Boulud Sud, a prix-fixe four-course dinner is served for $35. Appetizers such as a plate of falafel, pea hummus, babaganoush and lavosh or an artichoke, fennel, frisee and celery salad are paired with spicy lamb Merguez sausage or a chicken tagine or Algerian grilled lamb loin. Classics from Boulud’s traditional menu also are available as a la carte items. For an extra fee, wines can be paired to each course as a sampling menu. (www.cafeboulud.com)
Buccan, also in Palm Beach, offers a Sunday Summer Series of family-style menus, at $26. Past menus have included a New England style clambake, a Southern fried chicken dinner and a wood-roasted paella meal. The menu changes each week. (www.buccanpalmbeach.com)
The Ritz-Carlton’s Temple Orange Sunday Brunch features a fresh-squeezed-juice cart and for an additional fee, bottomless bloody Marys, mimosas and Champagne, along with traditional breakfast and brunch items. Cost is $38 for adults; $19 for kids ages 6-12.
From 4-10 p.m. Saturdays,  wood-fired flatbreads are featured at the Stir Lobby Lounge for $14. (www.ritzcarlton.com)
The Four Seasons Palm Beach dishes up a summertime Beachfront BBQ menu on the weekends. From 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the Atlantic Bar & Grill menu changes weekly to include grilled swordfish with tropical fruit salad or a barbecued half-chicken with sweet plantain potato salad or barbecued ribs with home-style potato salad, with other fixings. Cost is $20 and craft beers are sold for $5 extra. (www.fourseasons.com/palmbeach/)
Summer specials abound at The Breakers properties. At the Flagler Steakhouse, a two-course lunch menu is $20; a three-course dinner starts at $49.50. Sunday brunch at the Flagler Steakhouse Terrace is $35 for three courses — including the signature stuffed pecan French toast.

Bailey’s Cream soufflé and chocolate chips from The Breakers’ Echo

Three-course summer special menus are $39.50 at both the Asian-cuisine Echo and The Breakers Seafood Bar.
The Italian Restaurant in The Breakers features a three-course, $35 dinner that’s family friendly — kids can dine separately in the Family Entertainment Center.
At the Top of the Point at Phillip’s Point in West Palm Beach, the chef repeats the popular Summer Road Trip special — a culinary visit through U.S. regions. It’s Chicago in August, the Pacific Northwest in September and the Gulf Coast in October. The three-course meal is $39.50. (www.thebreakers.com)

Callaro’s is offering a $19.13 three-course menu that includes steaks, crab cake and double-cut pork chop. Photo provided

It’s 1913 at Callaro’s in Lake Worth. The former Manalapan restaurant is offering a three-course menu for $19.13, with 11 entrees to choose from including an 8-ounce strip steak, crab cake and a double-cut pork chop. The menu is available for both lunch and dinner. (www.callarossteakhouse.com)
For $19.95, diners can choose the Summer Menu offered Sunday through Thursday at Couco Pazzo in Lake Worth. Six entree choices include chicken Marsala, fettucine Bolognese, veal Milanese and a fresh fish of the day. (www.coucopazzo.com)                   
Note: Prices for specials quoted in the story do not include tax and tip.

The Beach Club at the Boca Raton Resort & Club offers deals and upgrades through Oct. 8. Photos provided

Let's make a summer deal: Restaurants, hotels offer off-season bargains

By Mary Thurwachter

Ahhhh, summer.
The crowds have thinned. The traffic has eased. And many fine resorts, hotels and small inns are luring locals with special packages offering substantial savings.
It’s the ideal time to lap up some of the same Florida fun and pampering that tourists relish during the busy season.
Here are some specials to consider:

Boca Raton Resort & Club,
a Waldorf Astoria Resort,
Boca Raton
The deal: The Boca Bonus Program, offered at the main resort and the Boca Beach Club, is good through Oct. 8, gives guests a chance to add a layer of savings when booking an available package.  Any leisure reservation, regardless of rates and/or promotions, qualifies for the Boca Bonus extras that include a complimentary upgrade valued at up to $125, complimentary breakfast for kids 12 and under at Palm Court or Sea Grille, complimentary golf greens fees (cart fees apply), use of the tennis facilities, and cocktails for two.
For information, reservations: To see available packages, go to www.bocaresort.com/Packages.

The Breakers,
Palm Beach
The deal: As part of the resort’s Endless Summer promotion, available though Sept. 30, weekday rates start at $289 per night and represent a 45 percent savings over the winter season. A variety of amenities are either free or at significant savings from complimentary incentives such as continental breakfast, kids’ meals, kids’ camp, unlimited tennis and fitness classes; to savings on golf, dining, spa services, bungalow rentals, on-site shopping and overnight valet parking.
For information, reservations: Call 1-888-BREAKERS (273-2537) or see www.thebreakers.com.

The Ritz-Carlton/Palm Beach, Manalapan
The deal: The Comfort You package, available through Dec. 20, starts at $279 a night and includes overnight accommodations in a guestroom with a private balcony, breakfast for two with an ocean view at Temple Orange restaurant, and a $100 resort credit per night.
For information, reservations: Call 533-6000 or see www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/PalmBeach.

The Chesterfield,
Palm Beach
The deal: The Summer Sizzler, good through Sept. 30, is a two-day, one-night stay special that includes English breakfast for two and a drink in the Leopard Lounge for $145 plus tax.
For information, reservations: Call (800) 243-7871 or see www.chesterfieldpb.com.

The Delray Beach Marriott,
Delray Beach
The deal: Florida resident rates start at $127 through September. A spa package, with rooms starting at $309, includes daily breakfast for two, a $25 spa credit, and a room with a partial ocean view.
 For information, reservations: Call  (877) 389-0169  or see www.marriottdelraybeach.com.

The Colony Hotel & Cabana Club, Delray Beach
The deal: A summer special available online offers queen rooms at $99 per night through November, although this special is not available over Thanksgiving. Guests have access to the Cabana Club and saltwater pool on the beach.
For information, reservations: Call 278-4123 or see www.thecolonyhotel.com/florida.

Stay two nights and get the third night free at the Historic Hartman House in Delray Beach. Guests often dine by the pool.

The Historic Hartman House, Delray Beach
The deal: Stay two nights and get the third night free at Historic Hartman House Bed and Breakfast. The offer is good through Oct. 31. The B&B, which has its own lap pool, offers a 10 percent discount for Florida residents (although that rate isn’t available with the third night free special).
For information, reservations: Call 278-2302 or see www.delraybeachbedandbreakfast.com.

Four Seasons Resort,
Palm Beach
The deal: Summer rates start at $189 per night for Florida residents and include complimentary access to spa relaxation areas, daily fitness classes, kids club and valet parking for reservations through Sept. 30.
For information, reservations: Call 582-2800 or see www.fourseasons.com/palmbeach.

The Holiday Inn,
Highland Beach
The deal: Florida residents rate start at $129 for a poolside room or $159 for an oceanfront room. Both include breakfast for two. The offer continues through Sept. 30. The See Florida Like a Native package, good on bookings made by Oct. 1, starts at $129 per night and includes a 25 percent discount for a Loxahatchee Everglades boat tour, breakfast for two, and an upgrade to a poolside room with a private balcony.
For information, reservations: Call 278-6241 or see www.highlandbeachholidayinn.com.

The Brazilian Court
Hotel & Beach Club,
Palm Beach
The deal: Florida residents can get up to $30 off the daily rate at The Brazilian Court Hotel & Beach Club and complimentary valet parking through Sept. 30. Rates start at $189 a night. A package deal popular with families, 1000 Words, includes a two-night stay starting at $938, a private session with a photographer, a hardbound photo album, a beach picnic by Café Boulud and bike rentals.
 For information, reservations: Call 655-7740 or see www.thebraziliancourt.com.

The Omphoy Resort,
Palm Beach
The deal: The Omphoy is offering a 20 percent discount off guest rooms and suites and complimentary parking to Florida residents booking a stay by Dec. 31.
For information, reservations: Call 540-6440 or see www.omphoy.com.

Sabal Palm House
Bed and Breakfast,
Lake Worth
The deal: In honor of Lake Worth’s 100th birthday next year, this B&B will give guests a fourth night for $19.13 when they pay for three consecutive nights. Standard rates begin at $99. The offer is good through Nov. 15.
For information, reservations: Call (888) 722-2572 and mention the 100 Centennial Deals or 1913 or see www.sabalpalmhouse.com.

Pay for two nights at the Sundy House in Delray Beach, and receive complimentary breakfast — and a free night.

Sundy House,
Delray Beach
The deal: You can get a free “Sundy” night when you pay for two. Stay in a one or two-bedroom suite or a romantic cottage set in a tropical garden. Standard rates begin at $179. Continental breakfast is included each day.
For information, reservations: Call 272-5678 or see www.sundyhouse.com.

Seagate Hotel,
Delray Beach
The deal: Summer rates at the Seagate start at $159 for courtyard accommodations. Teachers can get a 20 percent reduction off room rates and spa treatments.
For information, reservations: Call (888) 334-51841or see www.theseagatehotel.com.

The Breakers on the Ocean, Delray Beach
The deal: The Breakers on the Ocean of Delray Beach is offering Florida residents a 15 percent discount on their $126 basic summer rate when booking before Oct. 31.
For information, reservations: Call 278-4501 or see www.breakersontheocean.com.                                       

A smorgasbord of news on the local restaurant front:

Chrissy Benoit of Lake Worth’s Havana Hideout opened The Little House on Ocean Avenue in downtown Boynton Beach, serving an eclectic American menu. The historic cottage was moved and renovated with the help of the CRA.

Longtime Boca Raton chef John Belleme, formerly of Zemi and Henry’s, is executive chef at the new luxe restaurant and lounge, Stephane’s in Boca Raton. A mix of modern French and American cuisine at moderate prices can be ordered off the iPads provided to diners as a pairing guide. The focus is on sustainable and natural meats and seafoods, matched to wines chosen by master sommelier Virginia Philip. The lounge features a contemporary cocktail list and music mixed by the owner, Stephane Lang-Willar. (Stephane’s is at 2006 NW Executive Center Circle; 893-8838, www.stephanesrestaurant.com)

Also new: Boca’s Chops Lobster Bar, in Royal Palm Plaza, sports a new cocktail lounge that opened Aug. 1. 

— Jan Norris

Chase Navellier works out on his ‘erg’ rowing machine at his Manalapan home.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack
    
When Chase Navellier first began rowing during his freshman year in high school, his knowledge of the sports was fairly limited.
    “I didn’t know if you rowed [facing] forwards or backwards,” says Chase, 15, of Manalapan.
    Although he now rows backward — facing the stern of the boat like the rest of his teammates — Chase’s reputation as a high-school rowing powerhouse is moving forward, and quickly.
    With less than two years of rowing experience, the incoming junior at Pine Crest High School in Fort Lauderdale already has a collection of medals that would make many athletes proud.
    He and his rowing partner, Ryan Pristo of Fort Lauderdale, also have a few titles  — and some bragging rights — to their names.
    In April, rowing for their school team, the two took first place in the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association Sculling Championships in Sarasota, rowing in the doubles category for high school juniors and younger.
    And last month, they each collected two gold medals in the USRowing Club National Championships in Camden, N.J., — one medal as part of a four-man crew and one medal as part of an eight-man crew.
    While Chase’s 6-foot and 160-pound frame, and his smarts — he has a 4.5 grade point average in a school packed with overachievers — have helped in his quest for medals, his work ethic and his love of competition are what  set him apart.
    “Chase is really driven and really committed to being the best at the sport,” says his coach, Steven Casey, also the director of Pine Crest’s rowing program. “He has the makings to be able to do whatever he wants with rowing. He has the drive and the mental capacity.”
    Teamed up by Casey while in a summer rowing program, Chase and Ryan are similar in build and personality but a little different in attitude.
    “Chase is like a pit bull and Ryan is like a Labrador retriever,” Casey says.
    That combination, Ryan says, works well for the two rowing partners.
    “He pushes me to be more aggressive and I push him to take it down a notch,” Ryan says. “We really know how to work well together and we both like to win.”
    To understand just how competitive Chase is, all you have to do is listen to him talk about the joy he gets from leading other boats through a 1,500-meter course.
    “I love the feeling of being able to see the other teams behind you as you cross the finish line,” he says.
    In addition to his strong fundamentals and technique,  Chase’s dedication and determination help him stand out from the rowing crowd.
    “Both Chase and Ryan are willing to do what it takes to excel and they’re both easy to coach,” Casey said.  
    To get in as much time on the water as they need to learn and develop, both Chase and Ryan make it a point to be at the boathouse when Casey arrives at 6 a.m. For Chase, that means getting up long before the sun rises and being on the road by 5:15 a.m.
    That’s not a problem for the young man who has discovered a sport where his potential is unlimited.
    “When you get into rowing as much as I have, it becomes a part of your life,” he says.
    Both Chase and Ryan see themselves rowing in college;  and who knows what the future holds — there may even be a few more medals for the taking at the 2016 summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro.        

Ryan Pristo (left) and Chase Navellier took first place in the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association Sculling Championships and received two gold medals in the USRowing Club National Championships. Photo provided

Matthew and Brooke Slinger’s daughter, Harper Rose, was born using Bethesda Memorial Hospital’s family-centered maternity care program. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Paula Detwiller

It’s called the “magic hour”: the period just after a child’s birth when it experiences sight, touch, smell and taste for the first time. Ideally, this brand-spanking-new baby will be placed skin-to-skin on its mother’s chest while everyone, except the father, leaves the room.
    The bonding begins. Dad gets his chance to bare-skin-snuggle his progeny. Often, happy tears flow. Baby quickly recognizes its parents’ voices and smells, and — according to medical studies — lives are transformed.
    The “magic hour” is an important part of Bethesda Memorial Hospital’s new family-centered maternity care program. Instead of whisking the newborn off to the hospital’s nursery after delivery, mother and baby are kept together from the moment of birth. They spend the next 48 hours (72 hours in the case of a Cesarean birth) in a private room, cared for exclusively by a specially trained registered nurse. Fathers are welcome to sleep overnight in the foldout bed, and participate, along with mom, in caring for the baby.
    “We’ve taken the warmers out of the nursery and put them at bedside,” says Jane McCarthy, RN, director of Bethesda’s Women and Children Services, who took charge in implementing the new protocol. “Mom can watch her baby get a bath, she can receive breastfeeding help if needed, she gets to be present for the doctor’s examination of the baby, and has lots of opportunities to ask questions.”
    All of that was comfort and joy to first-time parents Brooke and Matthew Slinger of Palm Beach Gardens, whose daughter, Harper Rose, was born at Bethesda at 10:23 p.m. on July 16.
    “We got here Sunday night to be induced, and it was very overwhelming,” says Brooke. “But everybody here has been so great, and the baby has not left us — I think that’s the best part, because I would have been so anxious if they had taken her away.”
    Both parents enjoyed the “magic hour.”
    “Labor was longer than we anticipated,” Matthew says. “It was 13 hours, and pretty hectic with so many hospital personnel checking in on us. But after the birth, it was like the seas parted and everybody went away for about an hour. It was definitely a magic hour … and I’ll never forget it.”
    “It had been such a long process, it was nice to just relax with Matthew and the baby,” Brooke says. “I knew that was going to be the moment when it became real — you know, ‘Wow, that’s my baby.’ And it was really, really incredible.”
    Bethesda’s new model of care for mothers and babies is based on the pioneering work of Celeste R. Phillips, RN, a highly respected national advocate of family-centered maternity care based in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Phillips’ philosophy is that the childbearing experience belongs to the family, not the caregivers. Since January, she has worked with Bethesda’s nursing staff to help them transition to this new service.
    Geralyn Lunsford, RN, Bethesda Memorial’s vice president of patient services, helped make Phillips’ intervention possible. She says family-centric care is an idea whose time has come.
    “When I was born, my father was in the waiting room and my mother was knocked out. That’s where we were as a society,” Lunsford says. “But today, mothers and fathers and significant others are much more engaged, and this new model of care really supports that.”
    “I’m proud to be doing this work,” says McCarthy, who has helped implement the Phillips method in two northeast hospitals and one in Miami. She says babies who bond with their parents in the first hours of life are calmer, healthier, easier to breastfeed and have a higher pain threshold. And there’s another benefit that continually encourages McCarthy and the other mother-baby nurses.
    “There’s lots of statistical data showing that if you put a child to a father’s chest when it’s first born, that father will remain in the child’s life for a lot longer than he would otherwise,” McCarthy says. She tells how a tough-acting, tattooed young man dissolved into sobs when the newborn he fathered was placed on his bare chest.
    “In my career, I look to change society one family at a time,” she says.

Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Find her at www.pdwrites.com.

Members of the Avenue Church bow in prayer to kick off their fitness ministry, which began July 14. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tim Pallesen

Bikers and runners on Ocean Boulevard generate the most activity early on a Saturday morning.
Now a Delray Beach church has launched a physical fitness ministry to be part of the action.
    About 35 members of the Avenue Church walked from Veterans Park to the beach on July 14 to kick off Get Fit, a ministry to take care of their bodies.
    “We believe in the mind, body, spirit approach,” senior pastor Casey Cleveland explained. “It’s important to take care of our bodies and honor God in all that we do.”
    The weekly workouts include swimming, biking, running, walking and cross-fit training to build stronger bodies, stimulate alertness of mind and enhance spiritual values.
    Church member Melissa Serafica brought her sons Gavin, 11, and Westyn, 2, to understand the relationship between fitness and religion.
    “Our bodies are our temples,” Serafica said. “We want us to be healthy as God intended us to be.”
    The Avenue Church worships on Sunday at the Delray Beach Community Center and Old School Square.
    Cleveland has described his congregation as the young people who stroll Atlantic Avenue on a Friday or Saturday night. Most are in the age range of 21 to 40.
    That was the age group on July 14 when fitness pastor John O’Brien led the prayer to begin the new oceanfront ministry.
    O’Brien said he feared not measuring up to the “fit and attractive people” on Atlantic Avenue before he found Christ.
    “God wants to set us free from that fear,” O’Brien told the congregation as the hardbody workouts began.
                                       ***
    Foster parents deserve a night away from the kids on Atlantic Avenue, too.
    The orphan-care ministry at the Avenue Church sponsored its first Foster Parent Night Out on July 20.
    Church members entertained and fed both foster and adoptive children at the Delray Beach Community Center so the adults could enjoy dinner without them.
    The event organizer, Lisa Wanamaker, said the church has recognized that support for foster and adoptive parents in Palm Beach County is a much-needed Christian service.
    “Some of the parents said they hadn’t had a date night in three years,” Wanaker said. Foster parents cannot leave their foster children with a babysitter who doesn’t have proper background clearance.
    “We have a small army of committed volunteers from the church,” she said. “Our goal for the evening is to love the kids and give the kids and give the parents a much needed break.”
    The congregation also donates diapers, clothing and toiletries to the families.
    “This is just one small way of saying thank you to the families who are caring for children who have been removed from their birth families because of abuse, abandonment or neglect,” Wanamaker said.
                                       ***
    The former director of a sexual assault and domestic violence clinical services and child advocacy center has joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach as a volunteer deacon.
    The ministry of a deacon is to be a servant to those in need, particularly the poor, weak, sick and lonely.
    Clelia Pinza-Garrity was ordained in Nevada, where she directed the No-to-Abuse Child Advocacy Center in Las Vegas for four years. She previously was a social worker and chaplain for Hospice of Palm Beach County.
    The Rev. William “Chip’’ Stokes, senior pastor at St. Paul’s, served as Pinza-Garrity’s spiritual director during her training to become a deacon.
    “It was a privilege to walk with her through her journey,” Stokes said. “She will provide us with much-needed support and energy.”
    The Episcopalian church doesn’t pay deacons a salary. But St. Paul’s will allow Pinza-Garrity to supplement her income by operating a private therapy and counseling service from her church office.
                                       ***
    Churches often invite classical musicians to perform in their church sanctuaries. It’s a pleasant way to invite strangers to visit your church.
    Unity of Delray Beach Church kicked up the tempo with its free Old Time Rock  ’n’ Roll Concert on July 15.
More than 400 people rocked as 12 local performing groups sang hits from the 1960s through the 1980s.
    “I love old time rock  ’n’ roll,” said Unity publicist Brenda Robinson, who persuaded the pastor to switch from more traditional church music. “The music has to do with love, and love is what Unity is all about.”
    The music dates back to when Robinson was growing up near Detroit where her friends, Joan and Alex Sliwin, achieved fame as a sister act.
The singing sisters appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and toured with Bob Hope to Vietnam in 1968.
The sisters — now singing again under the stage name Like Honey — reunited with Robinson to perform the first rock ’n’ roll concert at Unity in Delray three years ago.
The number of performers and the size of the audience has been growing each year since then.
    But most rock ’n’ roll musicians hesitate at first when they hear they will perform in a church.
    “I tell them to come on down because Unity is a nondenominational church and everyone is welcome,” Alex Sliwin Collins said.

ABOVE: Like Honey performs at Unity in Delray. Photo by  Liz Lamont Images

                                       ***
The Islamic Center of Boca Raton will use Ramadan this year to unveil its new 20,000-square-foot mosque, a light green building with a tower and green dome at 3100 NW Fifth Ave.
Muslims have invited Christians and believers of all faiths to celebrate with them over dinner there at 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 15-16.
The holy month of Ramadan includes daytime fasting and nighttime prayers. Muslims break their fast at sundown.
Spreading word about the free interfaith meal called an Iftar should not be difficult.
The Islamic Center is actively involved with the Delray Beach Interfaith Clergy Association, whose membership also belongs to Jewish, Bahai, Buddist and Hindu groups.

Tim Pallesen writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events.  Email him at tcpallesen@aol.com.

By Arden Moore

Even though I’m the one with a bachelor’s degree in communication, the stellar communicators in my family are a pair of rescued mutts who answer to the names of Chipper and Cleo. Their “talk” is always clear and consistent — whether they are communicating with me, each other, their canine pals or even their feline housemates, Zeki and Murphy. Often, Chipper and Cleo can convey their message without uttering a single sound. Their messages are delivered by their postures, tail positions, tail movements, eyes, expressions, actions and much more. For example, when Chipper turns her head and air snaps, then plops down with her rear end hoisted in the air, I know that she is ready for a friendly game of tug-of-war. When Cleo starts to pant and jumps in my lap, I know that she needs to relieve her bladder outside — and pronto. As a pet behavior consultant, I travel all over North America to help people better understand why their dogs — and cats — do what they do in order to restore harmony in households. I’ve learned to speak dog and yes, even cat. For the past dozen years, I’ve studied and interpreted communication from dogs of all ages, sizes, breeds and attitudes. It brought me to creating my latest — and 24th — pet book, aptly called, What Dogs Want: A Visual Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Every Move. The book is being distributed worldwide and will be released in the United States in September, but I wanted to give South Floridians a sneak peek into its pages and to award an autographed copy to the 24th person who emails me (Arden@fourleggedlife.com) with the code words “What Dogs Want.” The book offers a visual guide that decodes 100 postures, expressions, sounds and actions exhibited by dogs. It also identifies some possible underlying medical reasons and provides the best ways to respond. A sampling: Why dogs expose their bellies: Most often, dogs strike this pose to garner love, attention and maybe a little help to scratch a hard-to-reach itch. But check the whole canine package first before bending down to offer a belly rub. Beware of dogs who make direct, hard stares and have tense bodies. They are not relaxed dogs waiting for TLC; they are purposely exposing their bellies to lure you closer and to demonstrate dominance by growling or snapping. For these dogs, I recommend re-schooling them in the basic cues of “sit” and “watch me” to demote their status below you and your family members. Why some dogs tilt their heads: Dogs tend to reserve head tilts for the person who is right in front of them, especially if that person says the magic word, treat. But some dogs also tilt their heads to attempt to tune into a strange sound or are suffering from medical issues such as ear infections or infestation of ear mites. For dogs that cock their head to garner attention, add this action in your dog’s repertoire of tricks to delight your friends. But persistent tilting and pawing of the ear may signal an infection that needs veterinary care. Why some dogs gut stuffed toys: Despite being pampered in homes, dogs have never lost their hunting instinct. Lacking access to real prey, dogs stalk and “kill” pretend prey — plush toys. Terrier, sporting and hunting breeds lead the pack when it comes to gutting stuffed toys. But in a dog’s haste to gut a toy, he may swallow the squeaker or stuffing, which can cause stomach or small intestinal blockages and require surgery. Take your dog to a vet if he seems to have abdominal pain, drools, acts lethargic or is vomiting. You can make this plush toy last longer by wrapping it in an old T-shirt and tying the ends off. Or introduce your dog to more durable toys, such as hollow, hard rubber ones that you can fill with kibble or smear with peanut butter. My quest is to help bridge the communication gap between you and your dog. Paw through the pages of What Dogs Want, and you will not only learn why your dog is acting or vocalizing in a specific manner, but you will also discover what you can do in response to bring out his best behavior and health. Chipper and Cleo never earned a college degree in communication. They didn’t need one. They are born communicators who have joyfully helped me hone my communication skills to share with you.

Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and certified pet first aid instructor. She happily shares her home with two dogs, two cats and one overworked vacuum cleaner. Tune in to her Oh Behave! show on Pet Life Radio.com and learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

By Greg Stepanich

The very first piece of art Tim Wride tried to buy was a drawing by Edward Gorey, which he saw at the old Gotham Book Mart while he was a college student in New York.
    Although he ended up not being able to afford the drawing, Wride has had ample time to examine plenty of Gorey’s work as curator of the Norton Museum of Art’s current exhibit, “Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey,” on display through the rest of this month at the West Palm Beach museum.
    “His legacy is this really lovely singularity,” Wride said, which was that of a culturally omnivorous bookmaker who preferred that medium to the world of the galleries. “He impacted a huge number of artists and non-artists because of the vehicles of dissemination of his work that he chose.”
    Gorey (1925-2000), Chicago-born and Harvard-educated, created a huge body of illustrative work, much of it gently macabre (like his drawings for the PBS series Mystery!) and evocative of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. It includes hilarious — or bizarre, depending on your point of view — works such as The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963), an alphabet in which children meet horrible, outrageous deaths (“B is for Basil, assaulted by bears”).
    And while his angular, quirky, detailed pen-and-ink drawings make up much of the world we know as Gorey’s, Wride said the artist considered himself a writer first, perhaps not surprising for someone who was the poet Frank O’Hara’s roommate at Harvard in the late 1940s.
    “When he was doing his own books, it was about the words first, and the images after,” said Wride, 57, who is the Norton’s recently appointed photography curator. “Even when he was doing other people’s work, he had to have the whole story first before he could begin to conceive where he was going to go with it.”
    The exhibit includes more than 170 artworks by Gorey, including book illustrations, sketches and unpublished drawings, as well as a stage set in which patrons can have their pictures taken and be part of a Gorey drawing. Wride said he ranks with three other legendary American masters of line drawing who had a significant impact on the culture: Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein and Charles Addams.
    “He really is this idiosyncratic, singular voice. I don’t think he even acknowledged anybody outside his own inner drive,” Wride said. “To me, that’s one of the beauties of who he is.”
    “Elegant Enigmas” is on display through Sept. 2 at the Norton. Admission is $12, $5 for students; Palm Beach County residents get in free on the first Saturday of each month. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, except for Thursday, when the museum is open until 9 p.m. Call 832-5196 or visit  www.norton.org for more information.
                            ***
    In addition to the just-ended Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival, there is another group busy during the summer with small, chamber-style concerts.
    The Symphony of the Americas, which has been performing in one incarnation or another for 25 years, is in the middle of its annual Summerfest series. The Fort Lauderdale-based orchestra brings its summer show to Palm Beach County on Aug. 4, with a concert at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach.
    It will be a string orchestra concert that also features guest flutist Marilyn Maingart, and it will feature members of the Mission Chamber Orchestra of Rome. The Italian ensemble’s director, Lorenzo Turchi-Floris, has contributed a new piece to the effort called Tarantango, for piano and strings, a work that marries the Italian tarantella with the Argentinian tango.
    “He’s a wonderful composer and a wonderful performer, and the work’s phenomenal,” said the symphony’s founder and director, James Brooks-Bruzzese.
    The festival, which is in its 21st year, has taken its participants to every country in Central America, to four South American countries, and six countries in Europe, Brooks-Bruzzese said. In Florida, it’s appeared from Vero Beach south to Key West on the east side, and Tarpon Springs down to Naples on the west, and played at the State Department in Washington, D.C., as well as at the Kennedy Center.
    “So it’s become quite a national and international festival now. It’s quite large, and we’re very proud of it,” he said. Late last month it played eight days in Panama, familiar to Brooks-Bruzzese, who grew up in the Canal Zone.
    In addition to Turchi-Floris’ piece, the concert will include a Maingart arrangement for flute and strings of the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso of Saint-Saëns, a staple of the virtuoso violin repertory. The Baroque era will be represented by a concerto grosso (Op. 6, No. 5) of Corelli, and the transitional period of Baroque to Classical by one of the marvelous short symphonies (No. 2 in B-flat, Wq 182/2) of C.P.E. Bach.
    “It’s really striking,” he said of the work by the second of Bach’s composer sons. “It has a major-key beginning and then moves and shifts from darkness to sunshine, back and forth. And it’s also really exciting.”
    The second half of the program contains, in addition to Tarantango, three movements from the English Suite of Hubert Parry, an arrangement of the second movement of Borodin’s Second String Quartet (which was copped for the 1950s pop hit And This Is My Beloved), and one of the early string symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn (No. 10 in B minor), written when the precocious composer was 14.
    The Delray Beach concert begins at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Crest Theatre in Old School Square. Tickets are $25 to $45 (the higher price includes a post-concert reception at D’Angelo Trattoria, at 9 SE Seventh Ave.). Call the box office at 243-7922.

Justin Hearn used a DSLR camera to shoot his short film One Year. It was produced in less than a day, as part of a contest called 24HourFilmRace. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes
    
On your mark ... Get set ... Make a movie!
At exactly 10 p.m. on May 18, the rules appeared on Justin Hearn’s laptop.
His mission, should he choose to accept it, was to create a video in less than 24 hours.
The video could last no longer than four minutes. It had to be based on the theme of “One.” It had to feature a character listening to music. It had to include the number 1. And it had to be uploaded by 10 p.m. on May 19.
In cities all over the world, more than 750 video teams were receiving the same instructions for the “24HourFilmRace,” sponsored by HTC One, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer.
On June 27, when the winners were announced from the stage of Miami’s Colony Theater, Hearn’s submission, One Year, was named second runner-up in that city’s division, chosen from 25 titles that qualified for screening.
It wasn’t the Academy Award for Best Picture, but of those 750 entries, it was the only one shot in Highland Beach. “I shot it at my parents’ house, and on the beach there,” says Hearn, 30, of Delray Beach. And he didn’t need 24 hours.
When the instructions appeared on his iPad, Hearn was waiting at the Barnes & Noble booksellers on Glades Road, along with his crew and actors Marc Castellano, Carolina Chang and Adam Goldberg. They tossed around ideas, got a sense of what they might do — and went home.
At 9 the next morning, they gathered at his parents’ house.
“We finished by noon,” he recalls, “and I edited from 1 to 4 p.m. I couldn’t find the right sound effect for a fist punch, but for a 24-hour piece, I’m pretty satisfied with it.”
One Year (http://hearnstudios.tumblr.com) is a vaguely surreal, beautifully eerie episode that begins when a young man is awakened by a phone call that seems to imply he has only one year to live. What it lacks in linear narrative it more than makes up for in dreamlike cinematography. The colors are thin, not quite black and white, but not full color, either.
“I used a process called bleach-bypass,” Hearn explains. “It’s a software for color grading.”
Clearly, this is not a novice filmmaker’s first effort.
Hearn grew up in Boca Raton, earned a degree in computer animation at Florida Atlantic University, attended film school at New York University and has taught film and television production at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach.
He’s the staff videographer at Lynn University, responsible for producing short films for the school’s website, YouTube and other marketing purposes.
“I have pretty much total freedom at Lynn,” he says. “I was able to create a video for our memorial to the students who were lost in the Haiti earthquake, and my next project is to do one on the  October presidential debate we’re hosting.
He’s also done freelance work for Maxim and Men’s Health magazines, as well as the Billboard Latin Music Awards in Miami. “But my dream is to be a director of photography for independent films,” he says. “I love The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men ... I love stories about morally gray characters.”
In the meantime, though, he’s now added three minutes, 30 seconds of fiction to his documentary experience.
“It was just a fun thing to do,” he says. “It didn’t feel like work, but making a documentary is a lot easier than making an interesting narrative film.”
And there’s been one reward beyond his second runner-up finish:
“I got asked to do my first wedding.”           

                       To see Justin’s video, visit: hearnstudios.tumblr.com

If you’ve heard the name Larry Rosensweig, it’s probably because of his longtime association with the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. He was, after all, the founding director of the museum and remained at the helm for 28 years. He has traveled to Japan many times, speaks Japanese fluently, and was decorated with the “Order of the Rising Sun” by the emperor of Japan.
    But it makes you wonder: how did a Jewish guy from rural Pennsylvania become interested in Japanese culture in the first place?
    “When I was in eighth grade, we had a Japanese exchange student at my school,” Rosensweig says. “That was unusual in my town in the early 1960s. I became curious about Japan and decided I wanted to be an exchange student, too.”
    He got his wish at age 18 after graduating from high school. He spent one year living in Sendai, Japan, with three different families as part of Rotary International’s Youth Exchange program. That experience inspired him, upon returning to the U.S., to pursue a college degree in East Asian languages and civilizations.
    After college, Rosensweig went back to Japan for more cultural immersion, this time living with a family in Hiroshima and working for a company that transported Mazda automobiles. He grew to love Japanese home cooking, especially the dishes prepared by his host mother, Mrs. Toda: vegetables with bits of fish, lotus root tempura and a savory custard-like dish called “chawan mushi.”
    A year later, Rosensweig was back home and off to college again, earning a master’s degree in Japanese studies. What happened next was a perfect example of preparation-meets-opportunity: A Japanese museum was opening in Delray Beach, and it needed a director. Twenty-five-year-old Rosensweig landed the job.
    After his long tenure at the Morikami, Rosensweig had a five-year stint as director of advancement for the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, and then launched his own business as a consultant for nonprofit arts-related organizations.
    Now 61, he is focusing on science rather than art these days. In May he became a regional executive director at the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. From his office in West Palm Beach, he raises money for scholarships and laboratory equipment for the institute, a renowned international center for scientific inquiry based in Israel.
    Rosensweig’s wife, Nora, recently retired from a 40-year career with the Palm Beach County School District. With their two sons grown and out of the house, the couple is enjoying spending more time together. Lately, they’ve been catching up on past seasons of TV shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
    Rosensweig says he and Nora will get back to Japan one of these days. They are particularly interested in seeing how things have changed on the island since last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami. But for now, he’s expanding his knowledge of Israel in connection with his current job.
    “At this point in life, it’s exciting to be learning new things,” he says.
                        — Paula Detwiller

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. I grew up in Kingston, Pa., near Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and went to public school. Mine was the first graduating class from a newly consolidated district comprised of nine small communities. It was largely a working class area with what I thought of at the time as a very diverse population: Poles, Italians, Irish, Jews, etc. Although there were no African-Americans, Asian-Americans, or Latinos, there were significant cultural and religious differences among the mostly second- and third-generation Americans. I learned to appreciate other cultures and to get along with people from different backgrounds than my own.
    
    Q. How is your current job alike or different from positions you have held previously at the Morikami Museum and the Norton Museum of Art?
    A.  In short, I’ve gone from art and Japan to science and Israel in my current position with the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. It has been exciting and invigorating to focus my attention on learning new subjects at this point in life while putting to new use many of the skills I learned over the previous 35 years in the museum world.
    
    Q. In the late 1970s, how did you come to establish a center for Japanese culture in South Florida?
    A. It was a classic case of being in the right place at the right time. I had recently completed my M.A. in Japanese studies at the University of Michigan after living in Japan for two years and majoring as a Harvard undergrad in East Asian languages and civilizations.
I was 25, single and “underemployed” in Cambridge, Mass., when I got wind of what would become the Morikami. How bad could a couple of years in Florida be? The Palm Beach County Parks & Recreation Department hired me to put together the museum in August 1976, and the following June we managed to open. I had the pleasure of attending the 35th anniversary celebration this past June.
    
    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
    A. About the time the Morikami Museum opened, I put $3,000 down on a new house in Rainberry Woods in Delray Beach. I’ve pretty much been here ever since. My wife, Nora, and I moved to our home in the Seagate neighborhood in 1985. Back then we were the young kids; now we’re getting to be the old folks in the neighborhood.
    We love living within walking distance of the beach and Atlantic Avenue.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray Beach?
    A. Delray Beach is a community that for a long time has understood what “community” means and requires. It has a sense of itself from a historical perspective and an evolving feeling for where it wants to go in the future. I have enjoyed being part of this community through the Morikami, Sister Cities activities, and now as a member of the board of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.
    Q. What advice do you have for a young person pursuing a career today?
    A. Be confident in your abilities but humble in understanding that you have to keep learning and adding new skills as the workplace constantly changes. Most important, do something for which you have real passion.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. For inspiration, I listen to the blues or blues-based rock; to relax, jazz or maybe the Grateful Dead.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. My wife, Nora, whom I met when she volunteered the first summer the Morikami was open, has been my best and most consistent mentor. She has helped me greatly with planning and organization, as well as with supervisory skills.
    My maternal grandfather has always been my role model: a successful businessman, family man, and a true philanthropist.
 
    Q. If someone made a movie of your life, who would you like to play you, and why?
    A. I’d probably say Humphrey Bogart because he would make me seem both cool and tough. My sons would probably want Paul Rudd to play me because he would make me seem goofy and inept. In the Japanese version, I’d like it to be Toshiro Mifune, the quintessential samurai, but it might more appropriately be Takashi Shimada, the stolid everyman of many Kurosawa films.

    Q. Who or what makes you laugh?
    A. I love to laugh and I’ve always surrounded myself with funny people. Nora and my sons, Clark and Drew, make me laugh more than anyone. Fortunately, the boys inherited their mother’s sense of humor.                      

The Junior League of Boca Raton, Inc. recently announced the Board of Directors for 2012-2013. Leading the board is President Jackie Reeves, a JLBR member since 2001. ABOVE: Bottom L-R:  Elizabeth Kelley Grace, Jennifer Barner, Cyrstal McMillin, Jackie Reeves, Kristine Kuntz and Kellie Mejia. Top L-R: Kirsten Stephenson, Jackie Shatz, Kirsten Stanley, Debbie Abrams, Carolyn North, Melissa Whelchel, Andrea Garcia, Alicia Laufer, Dorothy MacDiarmid and Fabiola Hooker.

The League also held its 2012 Woman Volunteer of the Year luncheon kickoff announcing Neiman Marcus as its Fashion Show Sponsor. In its 25th year, the annual WVOY Luncheon will be held Oct. 18 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.  LEFT: Holly Meehan (chair) and Kelly Martin.  Photos by Downtown Photo

By Steve Plunkett

    The recent years of low or no tax increases appear to be over in Boca Raton.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell proposed that property owners pay $3.66 per $1,000 of taxable value for the coming budget year, up 4.3 percent from this year’s $3.51 rate.
    “Remember, this is the maximum. You can always lower it in September but you can’t increase it beyond this,” Ahnell said, adding that his rate would provide $250,000 for security at the presidential debate in October as well as money to reopen Spanish River Park on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and to operate a new, larger library downtown.
    But council member Michael Mullaugh persuaded the council to add 17 cents to Ahnell’s proposal.
    “It gives us some room if we were to decide to fund something more than what the city manager comes up with in a budget,” he said. “We need to have some flexibility to look at things.”
    The council July 10 voted 5-0 to adopt Mullaugh’s $3.83 rate.
    Mullaugh said he hoped the final budget would require even lower taxes than the rate Ahnell proposed.
    A home assessed at $1 million after exemptions last year paid $3,510 in city property taxes. If that home’s assessment grew the same as the city’s average 1.2 percent and Mullaugh’s rate is adopted, it would owe $3,878 this year, an increase of $368 or 10.5 percent.
  Mayor Susan Whelchel said the extra taxes could be used for a possible Lake Wyman restoration and to start feeding $1 million a year to an incentive fund to attract businesses.
    Ahnell also recommended adding $5 to the $80 fire fee each residence is assessed. Fee increases for businesses would also go up, he said.
    Boca Raton will have its first public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at City Hall. The council is on its summer schedule and will not meet again until Aug. 27-28.
    Most of a property owner’s tax bill goes to the school district and the county. Boca Raton property owners also are taxed by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and other taxing authorities.

8/4 -  Wine & All That Jazz: Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real. 7-9 pm. $50/general, $100/VIP.
 8/7 - FondueRaiser: Melting Pot, 5455 N. Federal Highway. Fondue, cocktails and prizes. 4:30-10 pm. 30 percent of proceeds go the Lynn Cancer Center.
 8/9 - Cocktails for a Cause: Blue Martini, 6000 Glades Road. 6- 8pm. $12  benefits JARC Florida and the programs they offer to developmentally disabled adults.
 8/10- Habitat’s 2012 Mr. Stud Finder Bachelor Auction:  Boca Center, 1800 Building S. Military Trail. 5:30-8 pm $25/ online, $35/door benefits Habitat for Humanity.
 8/11 -  Wine Country Safari:  Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real.  Wine, hors d’oevres, raffles and silent auction. 7-9 pm. $25 for Twin Palms for the Disabled.
 8/12 - “PAW”ty Time for the TriCounty Humane Society: Shoppes at Village Pointe, 6018 SW 18th St., Suite C1. 4-7 p.m. Free.
8/17 - Boca’s Ballroom Battle: Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real, 6-9:30 pm., $150, benefits the George Snow Scholarship Fund.
8/18 - Guided Tours of the Historic Boca Raton Resort & Club:  Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real. Provided by Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum. 2-3:30 pm. $15 per person plus $11 for valet parking.
8/19  - Party with Promise - A Party Extravaganza!: The Pavilion Grille, 301 Yamato Road. 1-4 pm. $5/adults, Free/kids 14 and under.
8/20 - ‘So You Think You Can Sing?  Karaoke Contest: Dubliner Irish Pub in Mizner Park, 435 Plaza Real. 6- 9 pm.  $20 includes complimentary drink and buffet. Benefits Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation. Entry for contestants is $10 more.
8/23 - Eat to Beat Cancer - A Diamond Jubilee: Royal Palm Place, 215 N Federal Highway. Eight restaurants will give a portion of sales to the charity. Concert, cake cutting to celebrate 60 years of The Pap Corps and the Boca Chamber.  5-8 pm.
 8/24 - Celebrity Shake-Up:  Blue Martini, 6000 Glades Road. Dueling bartenders raise money to support foster youth served by Best Foot Forward. 5:30-7:30 pm. $25.
8/25 - Singing and Swinging in the Pines: Boca Raton Children’s Museum, 498 Crawford Blvd., 6-9 pm. $35.
8/26 - Boca Helping Hands Bowling for Bread:  Strikes at Boca, 21046 Commercial Trail.  2-5 pm. $50 per bowler.
8/28- Pong Fest &Unicorn Foundation Event: Bogart’s, 3200 Airport Road. Presented by Bogart’s Bar & Grill and The Unicorn Foundation. 6-9 pm $40 and up.
8/31 - Boca Center’s Message in a Bottle Luncheon: Uncle Tai’s, 5250 Town Center Circle. Commemorates the Time Capsule Burial in the renovated Courtyard. Noon-2 pm. $15.
For more information, call: 395-4433 or www.bocaratonchamber.com/BocaFestEvents .

By Steve Plunkett

Three men are running in the Aug. 14 election to replace Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District Commissioner Dirk Smith, who resigned his seat at the start of the year.
The candidates are Steven Engel, Felipe Martinez and Tom Thayer.
Chairman Earl Starkoff and Commissioner Dennis Frisch were reelected without opposition.
This is a first run for office for Engel, 62, a senior advertising consultant to Forum Publishing Group and precinct leader for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. Engel, who rents a townhouse on Pacific Boulevard, has a bachelor’s in marketing from Baruch College and is married with two children and one grandson.
“Our beaches and parks are as much a part of our infrastructure as our roads and our schools,” said Engel, who ran a residential real estate appraisal firm in New York before he moved to Florida.
Martinez, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Services in Boca Raton, lives on Golf Vista Way west of the city.
Thayer moved from his home on the Intracoastal Waterway to a condo he owns in Boca West to be eligible to run. The commission Seat 5 is open only to district residents who live outside the city.
The move forced Thayer to resign from the city’s Marine Advisory Board, which is only open to Boca Raton residents.
Thayer, a former pilot for the Navy and Delta Air Lines, is treasurer of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners Association and a past president of the Boca Raton Kiwanis Club and Florida Kiwanis Foundation.
“We live in a great community and we need to keep it great,” Thayer said. “That goes for the beaches and parks and all the other amenities we enjoy.”
Early voting is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 4 through Aug. 11 at the Spanish River Library, 1501 NW Spanish River Blvd., and 11 other sites across the county.

By Steve Plunkett
    
With little discussion, Highland Beach commissioners proposed a 13.9 percent tax increase to finance renovations to Town Hall, repairs to the town’s walk path and provide increased code enforcement.
    A residence valued at $500,000 after exemptions this year paid $2,170 in Highland Beach taxes. Assuming its value increased the same as the town’s average 1.4 percent, its owner would pay $2,471 in taxes for the coming year, or $301 more, under the proposal.
    “In the future we can come down to whatever millage rate we want, but by law, should we set one lower than what we wind up approving on the budget, we would have to go out to each individual voter and tell them that we needed to raise that millage rate,” said Vice Mayor Ron Brown, who recommended setting the rate at $4.87 per $1,000 of taxable value.
    “We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Commissioner Louis Stern said. “Without our hands being tied we can always come down, and I like that feeling that we’re not strapped.”
    Town Manager Kathleen Weiser had asked for a tax rate of at least $4.70 per $1,000 of taxable value to allow her to balance operating expenses with tax revenue and use $1 million in reserves for capital projects.
    The town used $710,000 from its reserves this year to pay mostly for operating expenses.
The proposed budget for the coming year calls for the Police Department to retire one patrol car without replacing it and cuts money for books at the library by 20 percent, to $60,000.
    Commissioners set a budget workshop for 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7 and a second workshop, if needed, at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21. Public hearings will be at 5:01 p.m. Sept. 7 and Sept. 20.  

Call it Showdown at the Charter Change Corral.
Mayor Bernard Featherman and Commissioner Doris Trinley split sharply with Vice Mayor Ron Brown and Commissioners Dennis Sheridan and Louis Stern on how big an expense has to be to trigger a town referendum.
The Highland Beach Charter requires voter approval on any project costing more than $350,000. The Charter Review Board recommends making the limit 7 percent of the town’s general fund budget, or about $777,000 in the coming year.
Featherman noted at the July 31 workshop the charter proposal comes while commissioners are also considering a $750,000 renovation of Town Hall. “This is a bad, bad time to be putting money out,” he said.
Brown said the renovation project and the charter change are separate issues. “It has nothing to do with this building,” he said.
Commissioners scheduled a vote Aug. 7 on the proposed change.               – Steve Plunkett

About 850 riders took part in the 23rd annual Frank Stark Bicycle Ride on July 15. Frank Stark was an airline pilot who was forced to retire after quadruple bypass surgery and two heart attacks. Starke, who died in 1999 at the age of 70, took up cycling as rehab and worked up to the point that he would ‘ride his age’ every year on his birthday. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The oceanfront Chalfonte Condominiums had to get Boca Raton City Council approval to renovate its swimming pool deck because most of the structure is now seaward of the state’s Coastal Construction Control Line.
The waterproofing system under the deck had failed over time, said Luis Piedra, the high-rise’s representative. To replace the waterproofing, the deck will be stripped to its structural base, he said.
    Improvements to be added during the project include new planters, a new “social/dune terrace,” a new shade structure, new spa and new aluminum fence. New sea oats will also be planted to restore the existing dune, Piedra said.
    “Nothing is encroaching or affecting the native dune system or the coastal environmental area,” he said.         The condominium, at 500 S. Ocean Blvd., relied on the “historically disturbed nature” of the area and the fact that the state moved its Coastal Construction Control Line west in 2007.                  - Steve Plunkett          

Store Location: Publix at Sunshine Square

501 SE 18^th Ave.

Boynton Beach, Florida 33435

(561) 292-4080

Date of Opening: Thursday, August 2, 2012

 Time of Opening: 7 a.m.

    Hours of Operation: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday – Sunday

      Pharmacy Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday – Friday

9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday

            10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday           

  BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., (July 30, 2012) — On Thursday, August 2, 2012, 7 a.m., the Publix at Sunshine Square will open its doors and begin passing on the Publix spirit.  

            The new store will offer customers 54,000 square feet of shopping pleasure. In addition to the traditional grocery, produce, meat, dairy and frozen food departments, the store will feature the following full-service departments: bakery, deli, floral, fresh seafood and sushi, custom cut meats, as well as a Publix Pharmacy. Customers can also enjoy a hot soup bar prepared fresh daily and a Mediterranean olive bar.

Approximately 120 Publix associates will be employed at the new store.

George Shelby will serve as Store Manager. George has 23 years of service with Publix and was most recently store manager of Publix at Gardens Towne Square.

“We are thrilled to open our doors and begin serving customers,” said Kim Reynolds, Publix’s Miami media and community relations manager. “The store’s larger format allows for an expanded selection of health, natural and organic foods and products as well as an increase in artisan cheeses and wines from around the world. We wanted to enhance our customer’s shopping experience by offering a wider variety of products in a larger, brand new store all while providing the same service and value one has come to expect from Publix.”

The first 1,500 customers on grand opening day will receive a customized free Publix reusable bag.

Publix is privately owned and operated by its 152,000 employees, with 2011 sales of $27 billion. Currently Publix has 1,055 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company has been named one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” for 15 consecutive years. In addition, Publix’s dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized as tops in the grocery business, most recently by an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. For more information, visit the company’s website, www.publix.com. 

By Angie Francalancia

Another budget year approaches in Boynton Beach, and another round of discussions has begun on closing Fire Station #1 that handles calls in Ocean Ridge.

During the second day of Boynton Beach’s budget workshops, Commissioner Steven Holzman said the city could almost balance its fire department budget by closing Station #1 and laying off six of the firefighters that now staff it and moving the other three to Station #4 on Federal Highway near Woolbright Road.

The city has agreed to once again hold a workshop to discuss closing the station. It’s tentatively scheduled to take place in October, after the new budget year begins.

If Boynton Beach laid off six firefighters at Station #1  it could save about $435,000, the amount in contractual raises Boynton Beach has promised in collective bargaining agreements.

But the move could jeopardize its annual $900,000 contract with Ocean Ridge for fire service, cautioned Lori LaVerriere, Boynton Beach's interim city manager. While there’s nothing in the contract that specifies which station would serve Ocean Ridge residents, LaVerrier said Ocean Ridge felt it was implied that Station #1 would serve them.

“We need to take ocean Ridge out of our decision,” Holzman said.

Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi, who coordinates all public safety for the town, has said he’s concerned about response times and has collected data showing the response times for calls.

            Late last year, officials from both towns had agreed to explore the possibility of housing Boynton’s Fire Station #1 at Ocean Ridge Town Hall. That move would have preserved the close proximity of a fire station for both Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach’s downtown residents. But that idea was put on hold earlier this year, Boynton Fire Chief Ray Carter said, because the city got no acceptable bids on three pieces of property it was looking to sell that would have financed a larger police station. Boynton wants to use Station #1 to expand its police headquarters. On Tuesday, Carter raised issues about the cost of renovating Ocean Ridge’s garage.

            Ocean Ridge Town Manager Ken Schenck said he’s never seen a cost analysis.

            “To the best of my knowledge, nobody has looked at numbers for this,” Schenck said. “It never got that far.”

— Mary Kate Leming contributed to this story