The 22nd annual induction ceremony and reception by the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum honored two leaders and one institution. More than 150 guests celebrated the philanthropic endeavors of Dick Reed, Rita Thrasher and the Boca Raton Museum of Art. As a new addition, this year’s winners received a special medallion, and this year’s institution winner received a special desktop award. ABOVE: Thrasher by her Walk of Recognition star. Photo provided by Michele Eve Sandberg

The intimate evening, a modern twist on a ladies night, took place among the stacks at the nonprofit library on Atlantic Avenue, featuring specialty cocktails, dinner by the bite and vendor shopping. Nearly $8,000 was raised to support outreach programs. ABOVE: (l-r) Therese Snyder, Ari Kobren, Chiara Clark and Ali Levin. Photo provided by Angie Meyers

The Banana Boat last remodeled in 2017, expanding its dock area. It serves a mix of tourists and local residents. Photo provided

By Jan Norris

Not much was happening in what would become the downtown of Boynton Beach back in 1978. Drift boats, commercial fishing boats, and charters owned the waterways and tied up at the marinas scattered along the waterfront.

Society types dined at Busch’s Seafood on State Road A1A. But the working population’s watering hole was Two Georges, basically just a bar with rustic tables made of old wire spools, set back on Sixth Street in the pocket marina northwest of the Ocean Avenue bridge.

John Therien, a successful restaurateur in Fort Lauderdale with the original Banana Boat, saw opportunity here for an “authentic Florida” waterfront bar and grill.

“My dad had three other partners, and they eventually built seven Banana Boats in Broward. But each one had their own goals and dreams and it got to be too much. So they sold the partnership,” said Luke Therien, the second of John’s three sons.

“He moved to Boynton Beach. It was quieter here and he was getting closer to retirement. He found a great piece of property on the waterfront, and thought it was the next big area to grow.”

All his predictions came true, and last month the Banana Boat celebrated its 40-year anniversary. Though John died in 2015, his sons continue with his plans, expanding on them.

Luke describes it as a “drastically different place” from its initial format.

Plans in 1978 were that the Banana Boat, with its water views, would offer a lounge and dining room for locals, and eventually, docks for boating customers.

“In the original concept, it was to serve a working-class community. It was more of a bar and grill,” he said. “In 1978, Boynton Beach was a farming and fishing community. Working-class people who came in for a cocktail after work, happy hour. You could come in and get a sandwich and a drink for a reasonable price.” It didn’t attract winter tourists or beach residents, he said — more locals.

Today, he says, “there’s a tremendous tourist business, seasonal people, country club, beach residents”  — and working-class types, young and old, all in a mix dining and drinking at the Banana Boat.

The Banana Boat’s original menu. Photo provided

In 1978, the menu was much smaller — as were the checks. A burger was a whopping $2, and conch chowder, a buck. There were mountains pictured on the menu behind a sailboat.

Today, the burger will set you back $12.95, and a crock of conch chowder, $6.50. The menu is much larger, with a variety of fresh seafood, steaks, and contemporary “bowls.”

It remains family-run, with a Therien on site daily. “My older brother, Pierre, and my younger brother, Gilles, worked there from the beginning. I didn’t start until 1996,” Luke said.

The staff that began as “about 25” has grown to 130 or so in season. It’s been a loyal one, too, Luke says.

Oscone Roger, assistant chef, has been on board for 37 years; senior cook Pierre Lombard for 34, and senior cook Andre Demesmin for 29. Another 25 employees have been with the restaurant more than a decade.

The workers have changed, too, in their makeup. “They used to be working-class people, working 70- to 80-hour work weeks,” Luke said. “Now, we have certified professional chefs, college-educated managers, college students working for their degrees and young people with families who are making this their profession.

“They work 40-hour work weeks and it is treated as a profession.”

The Banana Boat was renovated in 2000 during a multimillion-dollar makeover of the waterfront area; about 1,000 square feet was added to its footprint. A new Ocean Avenue bridge replaced the 1935 one, and Marina Village, a mix of condos and retail spaces, was created in the former laid-back pocket.

“We renovated again just recently — 2017 — and added docks on the north side. That’s the first time we’ve had docks there,” Luke Therien said.

Over the years, notable visitors have left behind great stories, though “none I can tell,” said Luke, laughing and playing the diplomat.

There’s no sign of slowing. The family stays busy, as it also owns Prime Catch, a seafood restaurant on the water at the Woolbright bridge.

“We’ve embraced the service industry down here,” Luke said. “We take a lot of pride in it.”

The restaurant team is active in community affairs and charity work. The Theriens all live in Boynton and spend their time here, though they’re originally from Montreal.

Luke is especially pleased in how the downtown has grown, yet maintained its character by keeping family-owned restaurants around its core.

“That’s more representative of what the Boynton Beach downtown always was,” he said. “A fishing village.”

                            ***

Boynton Beach bid a sudden farewell in October to Torchio’s Finer Meats and Deli, a longtime favorite of many on Woolbright Road west of Interstate 95.

The meat market and deli opened 40 years ago, and though no longer owned by the Torchio family, was a popular spot for lunch and pickup dinners.

Customers stood in line for Italian subs, salads, pastas and more; both everyday and special-occasion meats and prepared dishes as well as desserts were picked up for parties.

Owner Richard Walker closed the deli with no notice — just a handwritten sign on the door posted Oct. 25 that it was closed, explaining only, “It’s time for us to move on.”

On her Boynton History blog, Janet DeVries Naughton writes of its closing, reminiscing: “I remember the store well, its spicy aroma and busy atmosphere. Cases of meat — prime rib, hamburger, veal cutlet, and sausage — fresh-ground homemade Italian sausage. Dry goods and vegetables displayed on shelves, in baskets and refrigerated cases, some homemade pies, and a full-service deli counter. My mom used to refer to it as ‘the stinky store,’ a term of endearment that goes back to the Italian butcher and delicatessen we used to visit in Chicago.”

Nora Hoover, who lives within walking distance of the deli, had been shopping there for years.

“Torchio’s was a family-run business that treated everyone like their own family. They watched our daughter grow up — and always recognized our voices on the phone. Our favorites were the Italian sandwiches,” she said.

Julie Houston Trieste also lived close by as a girl, and rode her bike to the deli. Though not a regular whose name they knew, she loved it and was particularly fond of the stuffed pork chops. “They were divine!”

Naughton urges residents to patronize family-owned shops, saying Torchio’s closing is proof that “some day, they won’t be there. You’ll be lucky if there’s a kind note left on the door.”

In brief: Blue Ocean Poke will be coming to the former Beer Trade location on South Federal in Boca Raton this winter. Poke is a pan-Asian bowl concept popular as a Hawaiian street food. …

Don Chepo’s taco shop officially opened in Boca at The Boardwalk of Boca Raton Shops on Powerline Road and Southwest 18th Street. This is more street food, tacos as sold in stalls and off trucks come to a brick and mortar. Two-dollar tacos are sold on Tuesdays. …

Miracle’s Christmas Carol drink is made from barrel-aged rum and other ingredients.

Photo provided

Through Dec. 31, Miracle, a pop-up bar, will operate at Death or Glory in Delray Beach, with a second one at West Palm Beach’s CityPlace. Special holiday cocktails are available, and they’re poured in special glassware that, if purchased, means a donation for the charity Action Against Hunger.

Jan Norris can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com. Thom Smith is on leave.

The Place: Baciami Italiano, 1415 S. Federal Highway (at Woolbright Road), Boynton Beach; 810-5538 or baciamiitaliano.com

The Price: $7.77 at happy hour

The Skinny: We don’t know when we had a happy hour with food that left us ecstatic, but the offerings at Baciami left us close to that.

Each day between 4 and 7 p.m., the Boynton Beach restaurant offers a menu of bar bites priced at $7.77.

The menu includes standard fare — fried calamari, for example, and there are happy hour specials of half-price pizzas. But the Shrimp Oreganato, with a trio of plump shrimp, white beans and escarole atop Italian bread, was a treat. The shrimp were perfectly seared, and the wilted escarole and grilled beans made for a hearty counterpoint to the tender shellfish.

— Scott Simmons

Return of the Swallows, by Dorothea Praschma. Amazon; 280 pp., $15.99

By Steve Pike

Dorothea Praschma’s granite boulder gravestone in South Africa’s Transvaal reads: “She Gave a Dog a Bone.’’

Through memoirs that span 1935 to 1947, Dorothy, Countess Praschma, gives readers much more than a bone. The memoirs, compiled by her daughter, Ilona Praschma Balfour, vividly tell the tale of an aristocratic family at war with the Nazis, Russians and sometimes each other during the most pivotal time in 20th-century history.

“This is her book,’’ said Balfour, of  Hypoluxo Island.

The story of Dorothy Ferreira, a South African peasant who in 1930 married German aristocrat Englebert, Count Praschma, is as sweeping as any James Michener novel. From castles in what is now the Czech Republic, to European boarding schools, Soviet labor camps and Portuguese East Africa, Return of the Swallows is filled with a cast of real-life characters led by the indomitable wife (widowed in 1941) and mother caught in the madness of war and between two disparate cultures.

“People who knew her loved her and admired her. My mother was always a strong person who was always looking out for us,’’ said Ilona, who has been married to journalist Malcolm Balfour for 50 years.

Ilona Balfour worked off and on for several years to compile her mother’s memoirs into a self-published book that, except for prologue and epilogue, are Countess Dorothy’s own words. The countess died in 1981. 

“It’s not great literature,’’ Balfour said, “but it’s an intriguing story of an interesting time.’’

A story that rings true even today.

Staff reports

It’s that time of year again, when the holiday calendar gets crowded with arts activities to put everyone in the mood for the season.

This month, we have two calendars: one of the non-holiday events and one devoted just to seasonal offerings.

Here are some of the notable holiday happenings in the performing arts:

Saturday, Dec. 1

Delray Beach Chorale: The choir presents Sing a Joyful Song, a program of holiday selections including Saint-Saëns’s Christmas Oratorio, Hasse’s Laudate Coeli Dominum and, in honor of his centennial, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. 7 pm, Olympic Heights High School, Boca Raton. Tickets: $25 ($10 students); visit delraybeachchorale.org.

Saturday, Dec. 1;

Thursday, Dec. 13-Sunday, Dec. 16

Ballet Palm Beach: Colleen Smith’s Palm Beach Gardens-based company mounts its annual production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. 2 pm and 7:30 pm Dec. 1, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach; 7 pm Dec. 13 and 14, 1 pm and 7 pm Dec. 15, 4 pm Dec. 16, Page Family Center, The King’s Academy, West Palm Beach. Kravis tickets: 832-7469 or kravis.org;  King’s Academy tickets: 888-718-4253 or TKAfinearts.net.

Tuesday, Dec. 4; Sunday, Dec. 9

Symphony of the Americas: James Brooks-Bruzzese’s orchestra presents two Holiday Music and Movies concerts, featuring orchestral music traditionally associated with the season (Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker) and music from some favorite Hollywood seasonal flicks (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation). 7:45 pm Tuesday and 3 pm Sunday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale. 954-462-0222, browardcenter.org, or sota.org.

Thursday, Dec. 6

Seraphic Fire: The Miami-based concert choir returns to Boca Raton for the first of multiple performance of its annual Christmas concert, featuring contemporary and classic songs including a favorite of this choir and its audiences: Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. 7:30 pm, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Boca Raton. Tickets: $60. 305-285-9060 or seraphicfire.org.

Barry Manilow: The pop songwriter and pianist who broke into worldwide in the early 1970s presents A Very Barry Christmas. 8 pm, American Airlines Arena, Miami. Tickets $55.75 & up; ticketmaster.com or aaarenacom.

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall will perform holiday tunes on Dec. 7 at the Kravis Center. Photo provided

Friday, Dec. 7

Herb Alpert: The trumpet titan of the 1960s presents a concert called Holiday Wish with his wife Lani Hall, longtime lead vocalist of Sergio Mendes’s Brasil ’66. 8 pm, Kravis Center. Tickets $25 & up. 832-7469 or kravis.org.

Saturday, Dec. 8

Robert Sharon Chorale: The West Palm Beach-based community chorus offers Joy!, a program of holiday music. 3 pm Saturday, DeSantis Chapel, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach. Tickets: $15. rsharonchorale.com or 561-MUSIC45.

Young Singers of the Palm Beaches: The 350-member youth choir presents Winter Dreams, its annual holiday concert. 7:30 pm, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. Tickets: $15. 832-7469 or kravis.org.

Sunday, Dec. 9

FAU Chamber Singers: The student group, in collaboration with the Delray Beach Chorale, performs the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. 7 pm, University Theatre, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. Tickets: $20. Visit fauevents.com.

New York Polyphony: The vocal quartet of early music specialists offers songs from its Sing We Nowell recording, holiday music that spans some nine centuries. 3 pm, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach. Tickets: $30. 655-7226 or fourarts.org.

Lynn Philharmonia: The student orchestra offers its 16th annual Gingerbread Holiday Concert, a fundraiser for the school that includes a big Christmas carol singalong. 3 pm, Boca Raton Resort and Club (come at 2 pm for a visit from Santa Claus); Tickets: $35. Call 237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/events.

Friday, Dec. 14

Master Chorale of South Florida: Recalling the pre-electronic media days when folks entertained themselves by gathering around a piano to sing, the group presents Cocktails and Carols, billed as an intimate evening of Christmas carols and other holiday music, plus hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. 7 pm, Pompano Beach Cultural Center, Pompano Beach. Tickets: $50;  masterchoralofsouthflorida.org.

Friday, Dec. 14; Sunday, Dec. 16

Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches: The chorus originally founded by the late Jack Jones presents its annual reading of Handel’s Messiah. 7:30 pm Friday, Benjamin Upper School Campus, Benjamin School, Palm Beach Gardens; 7 pm Sunday, Royal Poinciana Chapel, Palm Beach. Tickets: $25; masterworkspb.org or  845-9696.

Saturday, Dec. 15-Sunday, Dec. 16

Harid Conservatory: The Boca Raton dance school presents Act II of The Nutcracker along with selections from other ballets. 3 pm both shows, Spanish River High School, Boca Raton. Tickets: $25-$30; call 998-0838 or visit harid.edu.

Friday, Dec. 21

The Sound of Music: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1959 musical about the von Trapp family and the Anschluss is not a Christmas play, but over the years it’s become a regular part of the holiday season, not least for My Favorite Things. Billed as a “brand-new production,” this version plays the Kravis Center for one night only. 8 pm. Tickets $42 & up. 832-7469 or kravis.org.

Saturday, Dec. 22

Iris Apfel: An afternoon of holiday cheer with the 96-year-old designer and “geriatric starlet.” Apfel will sign copies of her book, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, and a pop-up shop will offer Iris-related items. 3 pm, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach. 832-5238 or asng.org.

Sunday, Dec. 23

Gianni Banchini Trio: The pianist and organist leads his trio in music of the season in a program called Holiday Swing. 7 pm, Arts Garage, Delray Beach. Tickets: $35-45. 450-6357 or artsgarage.org.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The 1965 TV special, complete with its Johnny Marks score, comes to life on stage in a show intended for children ages 4-10. 1 pm and 4 pm, Kravis Center. Tickets $20 & up.  832-7469 or kravis.org. 

Friday, Dec. 29-Sunday, Dec. 31

Miami City Ballet: Lourdes Lopez’s Miami Beach-based troupe presents the George Balanchine version of The Nutcracker, the production that turned it into part of our Christmas celebrations. With new costumes by Isabel and Ruben Toledo. 2 pm and 7 pm Friday, 2 pm and 7 pm Saturday, 1 pm Sunday, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. Tickets $30 & up. 305-929-7010, 832-7469; or miamicityballet.org or kravis.org.

Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019

Salute to Vienna: The Strauss Symphony of America returns for its annual New Year’s Day concert, drawing on the Vienna Musikverein tradition dating to 1939. With vocalists and dancers. Prosit Neujahr! 8 pm, Kravis Center. Tickets $29 & up. 832-7469 or kravis.org.

State Rep.-elect Mike Caruso of Delray Beach  (2^nd from left) celebrates with members of his campaign staff after the final recount of votes revealed the Republican maintained his election victory over Democratic candidate Jim Bonfiglio of Ocean Ridge.

Democratic candidate Jim Bonfiglio (second from right) talks with Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher and some of his supporters after a recount of ballots.  He lost his bid for State House District 89 by just 32 votes.

 Candidates for Florida House District 89, Democrat Jim Bonfiglio (left) and Republican Mike Caruso, shake hands surrounded by supporters for both candidates after the final recount of 78,474 ballots was completed at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office. The 32-vote margin of victory held for Caruso, who now pledges to make election process reform the first thing he will pursue after he is sworn into office.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Mary Kate Leming

Ten years. Who’d a thunk it? Not me, that’s for sure. I was convinced print would be so crippled by digital that we’d get only five years out of our startup publication at most.

Wow, was I wrong.

I knew there was a serious risk of this coastal area becoming a local news desert, but I didn’t know whether anyone cared. You, dear readers, have shown us that you do care about local news. And you’ve proven that delivering news in print and to your driveway is a model that still works.

Yes, we have 3,500 members on our website and our stories frequently get over 1,000 views on Facebook, but the amount that digital delivery contributes to our business model is minute.

We make our money from print. We deliver more than 17,000 print copies each month.

So why does this news model still work?

Simple: People want to be part of a community. They want to know what’s happening around them. They want to see a reflection of who they are today and who they have been. They want to know what the future might bring.

And print is durable. It allows us to hold a journalistic mirror up to both the beautiful and the not-so-beautiful in our area and gives us all a sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves. That is a critical element of any community, of any society.

Partners understand

Our advertising partners understand this. They support our journalism even when we write on topics they’d rather we didn’t. They understand that they play a large role in defining how our community is viewed. Their support through these past 10 years has exceeded our expectations.

I shouldn’t be surprised, since the individuals and companies who support our local journalism are our neighbors. Like us, they live, work and play here. Advertising with us is just one of the many generous ways they give back to our community. We admire their local commitment and are grateful for their continued support.

Committed staff

The amazing journalists who work with us each month do so out of love for the work and a commitment to their craft. Trust me, they don’t sit through five-hour commission meetings for the money. No one goes into community journalism to get rich. The hours spent each month contributing to this newspaper are committed with a desire to provide readers with necessary information to make informed decisions about local government, community and life.

I’m fortunate to work with some of the best storytellers in South Florida and grateful they’ve chosen to be a part of our newspaper’s family. I’m also thankful for all of our hard-working support staff. It really does take a village.

Challenges ahead

We cover so many municipalities that other media ignore, that some months our resources get stretched pretty thin. And as with many other small, family businesses, our employees are getting older. Some want more personal time, some feel a need to make more money and some simply need health insurance. After a decade of publishing — beginning in the midst of the Great Recession — I understand these concerns. Someday, I too would like to retire. But right now there’s so much more our newspaper would like to do, so much that needs to be reported, so much more to share with our readers about where we live.

So … when the naysayers tell us our business model is obsolete, we’ll keep on. When elected officials refuse to provide public records, we’ll keep pressing for them. When someone calls our work “fake news,” we’ll put out another edition.

We’ve learned a lot this past decade: how to stay quick and nimble, how to admit mistakes and, most of all, how to say thank you to our readers for your continued support. Thank you. We are deeply grateful.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Arthur Remillard funded the $3 million facility that enabled Boca Helping Hands to expand its food services. Photo provided

By Rich Pollack

Arthur Remillard is a generous man.

At 87, Remillard cringes when he sees people on television, both in the U.S. and abroad, who don’t have enough to eat. It’s heartbreaking for him to see people living in poverty and struggling to get by.

And it brings back memories.

“I know what it’s like to feel poor,” he says.

A successful businessman who built an insurance company that, at one point, insured one of every three automobiles in Massachusetts, Remillard is now in a position to help people in need.

Through his philanthropy, he supports soup kitchens, hospitals and medical school programs in his hometown of Worcester, Mass. For the past 10 years, he has spread his generosity to organizations in South Florida, including 4KIDS of South Florida and Habitat for Humanity.

Perhaps his biggest impact in Florida, however, has been with Boca Helping Hands, where he all but single-handedly funded the organization’s $3 million home, a 15,000-square-foot facility that serves about 175 noontime meals to people in need. The building has a food pantry that distributes thousands of pounds of groceries every year.

Job training programs are offered there, too. Staff members are on hand to help connect people in need with other services.

“Arthur is my patron saint,” says Gary Peters, president of the board of Boca Helping Hands. “He’s the one responsible for us being in this building. It’s a facility that impacts thousands of people.”

Last month Remillard was honored with special recognition during Boca Helping Hands’ Celebration event.

“Arthur has always been encouraging and a strong supporter,” Peters said. “He’s been there every step of the way.”

Remillard says that when he first arrived in South Florida about 10 years ago he was looking for an organization to support.

He Googled food pantry and Boca Raton because he had donated to similar organizations up north. Boca Helping Hands popped up immediately.

Remillard went to meet with Peters and discovered that the organization was a lot smaller than those he typically supported.

At the time, Boca Helping Hands was little more than a small soup kitchen working out of the Friendship Baptist Church, serving about 36 meals a day. The facility occupied a mere 900 square feet.

“It wasn’t much of an operation,” Remillard said, adding that meals were served only four days a week.

Seeing a great need in the community, Remillard issued a challenge to Peters.

“I said ‘go find a building,’ ” he recalls.

It took four years and a lot of searching, but together Peters and Remillard found the perfect spot on Northwest First Court.

When the building opened in 2010, Boca Helping Hands served 80 meals a day and began serving six days a week. At one point during the height of the recession, the organization served 225 meals a day. 

In addition to noontime meals and the food pantry service, Boca Helping Hands serves between 60 and 70 family meals one night a week.

For Remillard, philanthropy comes as the result of his success in business.

Growing up in Worcester, Remillard joined the Navy after high school. After his discharge, he went to Clark College in his hometown and graduated with a degree in accounting. He became a partner in five supermarkets and then went into the insurance business, opening his own agency.

In 1972 he started Commerce Insurance, becoming a major insurer in Massachusetts. He sold the firm in 2006 for $2.2 billion.

“I grew up saying I would do well, but I never thought I would do this well,” he says.

For Remillard, whose father was a janitor and whose family was too poor to think about giving to charity, philanthropy has become an important part of his life. It’s something he has shared with his five children and grandchildren.

It’s not unusual, Peters says, for members of Remillard’s family to come to Boca Helping Hands and volunteer when they’re in town.

That’s something that Remillard says makes him proud.

“I want people to think of me as a businessman who got involved in philanthropy and who passed the idea of philanthropy onto his family,” he said. 

People who have disabilities can sing, play games and take field trips when they enroll at Twin Palms Center for the Disabled. They recently visited Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Not far from the intersection of Spanish River Boulevard and Dixie Highway in Boca Raton, a gathering of adults with disabilities is singing and dancing, doing crafts, laughing with friends and playing games. Some are learning to play the piano.

The activities are part of Twin Palms Center for the Disabled, which has been serving the community for 50 years by nurturing adults with physical or developmental disabilities. About a dozen men and women from their early 20s to their 60s come to the center, which is open Monday through Friday, for fun, friendship and field trips.

David and Linda Pilossof of Boca Raton have been taking their son Robert, 41, to the center for about three years. They like the program because it’s small and intimate, giving Robert lots of personal attention.

But the Pilossofs, who are avid bike riders, say the biggest difference between this and other programs is the fitness aspect. David said that at Robert’s former program, “he was sitting down constantly. It was important to us that he get exercise. At Twin Palms, they go and do lot of things: the zoo, the library. And they go bowling every week.”

The Pilossofs found the program when David noticed the clients playing basketball. He noticed they were having fun and were well-supervised. He saw the logo on the side of the van and called.

Executive Director Christopher Berens says most people discover Twin Palms through word-of-mouth and admits the center is one of the best-kept secrets in town, but not intentionally. “We’re a hidden gem,” he laughs.

Berens has held the reins at Twin Palms for just over a year, but he started as a volunteer. While studying music at FAU, he created his system — a novel way to teach piano that was easy to learn. He wondered if it would work with special needs students, so he brought the program to Twin Palms to try it out.

“Most of them get it,” Berens said. And most can play a familiar tune right away, which builds self-esteem and excitement.

As a result, music has become a big part of the program, with Berens playing the piano and singing with residents every day. Berens, who has degrees in music and psychology, said, “I always felt drawn to special needs and I discovered I had a way with this population. The need for programs is great.”

But not all programs are the same. “This is a fully recreational program,” Berens said. Because it has no vocational component, the center doesn’t qualify for state money.

Tuition at Twin Palms is affordable, in part because it owns the building, so there’s no Boca-sized rent or mortgage, but the center depends on grants and gifts and hosts a few fundraisers each year. 

Berens would like to serve more clients, but not too many. Because the group is small, Berens said, “we get to know them as people.”

For the Pilossofs, that was another plus. At another program, there were too many people and Robert got lost in the crowd.

Small groups make it easier to take nature walks and field trips to places like Butterfly World, a favorite destination. “Mobility is important,” Berens said. “We do fun stuff, and they want to go.”

Also important to Berens: “Our clients have friendships, and a place where they’re respected.”

David says Robert is “more comfortable” and “he gets more attention.” Plus, lunch is provided, which saves parents and caretakers a few more minutes, and dollars, each day.

Twin Palms was born out of necessity in 1968 when a group of parents of children with developmental delays arrived at a common but perplexing predicament: what to do with their children who had aged out of the public school system.

A half century ago, services were scarce or expensive and often both. The parents’ solution was to start their own program and the Boca Raton Society for the Disabled, now Twin Palms Center for the Disabled, was born.

On Nov. 10, Twin Palms will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a picnic. The city of Boca Raton will recognize Twins Palms for its continuing contributions to the community. Over the years, Twin Palms has helped more than 300 people reach their potential, Berens said.

There’s a lot that David and Linda Pilossof could say about Twin Palms, but the only thing that really matters to them is this: “Robert loves it.”  

If you go

What: Twin Palms 50th Anniversary Picnic

When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 10

Where: Twin Palms Center, 306 NW 35th St., Boca Raton.

With: Bounce houses, face painting, entertainment, a silent auction, food by Mississippi Sweets and 5 Spice Asian Street Market, and a special proclamation from Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer.

Cost: $20 adults, $15 children, includes lunch.

Info/tickets: 391-4874 or www.TwinPalmsCenter.org

By Lona O'Connor

During the long hours when Penelope Douglas and her team put together the new Health Channel, she learned a few things she hadn’t expected — including the virtues of eating beans. More on that in a moment.

Douglas was no stranger to health, medicine and eating right. Her background was producing health programs for television.

The Health Channel, which launched in August, is a digital channel of South Florida PBS and is available to Palm Beach County viewers over the air and on Comcast and Hotwire. The channel is a mix of live and recorded programs featuring medical professionals from Baptist Health South Florida. They soon will be joined by colleagues from Bethesda Healthcare Systems, which recently joined the Baptist Health network.

The Health Channel team hit the ground running on March 1, hiring a small production staff, creating a weekly schedule, collecting doctors and helping them to explain confusing medical terms.

The Health Channel includes a website where the public can search for specific ailments and view Baptist Health experts, available in two- to three-minute versions of full-length interviews, which are about an hour long.

One of the Health Channel’s best features is interactivity. Viewers can call in and participate before or during the live shows and discuss specific health issues.

The doctors work with interactive 3-D body graphics to make the discussions more specific and understandable.

The Health Channel broadcasts 24 hours a day. Each week the team produces 20 hours of programming, including four hours of live TV, on topics from orthopedics to nutrition, cancer to kids’ health. Programs repeat during the remaining hours of the week.

A viewer who leaves a message about a specific medical condition on the Health Channel’s answering machine may be surprised to receive a callback from a staff member, who will let the caller know that, say, a cardiologist will be interviewed at 7 a.m. the following day.

“People have been so grateful and complimentary,” said Douglas, who is one of the people who regularly makes these calls. “But sometimes I do have to tell them more than once that I’m not trying to sell them anything.”

In one case, the callback was not routine. A viewer had left a message saying she noticed blood in her stool.

Douglas called back immediately. A man answered. When Douglas identified herself, he hung up on her. Douglas called back and this time a woman answered. Before the woman could hang up, Douglas explained why she was calling and told her a doctor would be discussing colon cancer the next day at 11 a.m. on the Health Channel.

“She had a complete change of attitude,” said Douglas. “She said, thank you so much.”

Many medical centers have cameras in place, so in the future Douglas and her colleagues hope to be able to call health experts and researchers all over the country.

The Health Channel has already started broadcasting human-interest stories on patients and doctors, including triplets who are obstetrician-gynecologists working with their mother, also an ob-gyn.

Besides covering the big categories, the channel drills down to lesser-known issues like cancer-related depression and heart problems caused by cancer treatments. In a recent program, a psychotherapist told the story of how her sudden depression led her doctor to find the cancer and then help her treat the cancer and the depression.

Now, about those beans. The Health Channel includes a number of shows on nutrition and exercise. The dietitian on a nutrition show took a call from a woman on dialysis who wanted to eat better but pointed out that it’s often cheaper to eat bad food.

The nutritionist told the woman that canned beans are healthy and cheap, about 20 cents a serving. She then made a bean salad.

“It was delicious,” Douglas reported. The shows, she said, “are not just hypothetical. The dietitian said, here is an example and it is cheap. I loved that call. And these shows have changed my eating and exercise habits. Now I set an alarm and every half hour I get up and walk.”

In focus groups, health was a topic that interested potential viewers, said Bill Scott, executive vice president of South Florida PBS. South Florida PBS and Baptist Health South Florida were a good match because their customer footprint was similar, stretching from the Florida Keys to Martin County.

The Health Channel can be viewed on television, smartphone and the internet. The website already contains about 1,000 health-related videos, Scott said.

“The world of health and medicine is evolving so rapidly and we want to be ready for that future,” he said.

“Whatever we do, we always ask, is there another way, a better way, to do it, in keeping with our mission to serve the community,” said Scott. “I put myself in the shoes of the viewer and say, does this make sense to me, does it look interesting, does it provide information that’s useful?

“The payoff is when we get emails and calls from people who say what they like.”

To contact the Health Channel, phone 855-796-4475.

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

The Toast, by Jan Scramlik (1860-1936). Provided by Christie’s

By Mary Thurwachter

There you are at the head of an elegantly set table, staring down at a big, beautiful roasted turkey with all the fixings. A collection of family and friends, some of whom you see only once a year, has assembled in your home.

It is the perfect occasion for a Thanksgiving toast. 

But what do you say? You can pull out the same one you’ve used for years, if you like.

Sheree Thomas, president of the Boca Raton Noon Toastmasters, has done that with this short and sweet toast by an author she found online:

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump,

may your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, and your pies take the prize,

and may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs!

Lantana Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm, who has mastered the gift of gab, plans to deliver this snappy toast:

We give thanks to those who bravely sailed across the sea to discover this New World, to those who built it into the greatest country on earth, for the food we are about to enjoy and for our families and friends both here and away. But most of all, we give thanks that we can enjoy this feast in shorts and flipflops!

“Over the river and through the woods” on a sleigh? No way!

Like many patriarchs, Malcolm Balfour of Hypoluxo Island, who’s a member of Lantana’s Town Council, traditionally has his family hold hands around the table as each takes a turn at telling  something for which he or she is thankful. Balfour, who was born in South Africa and worked for the National Enquirer for many years, remembers how he came to love the November holiday.

“My first four or five turkey dinners were all at the New Orleans Athletic Club, which served a delicious feast after athletes ran in the famous Turkey Trot down the main street,” Balfour said. “I never realized what a wonderful holiday it was until experiencing it in private homes. First, it’s totally 100 percent American.  And second, the great thing about it is there are no presents, no presents!”

As part of his toasts, Balfour likes to quote songwriter Irving Berlin:

Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I’d like to express my thanks. Got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.

Balfour quips that when the first settlers landed in Florida, our Indians were smarter than the ones at Plymouth Rock. The Seminole chieftainess — he said — proclaimed:  “Don’t feed ’em. If you do they’ll never leave.”

John Lynch, who lives in Ocean Ridge and is a member of The Little Club, says he’s going to a restaurant for Thanksgiving this year and won’t need to give a toast. However, he has given many over the years, and has some advice for those who want to prepare their own turkey day salutations.

“Brevity is the soul of wit,” Lynch says, quoting Shakespeare (Polonius in Hamlet). “Every toast should be thought of along those lines. A lot of people ramble, seemingly enjoying the sound of their own voice. It’s just not good.”

Last year, Lynch came up with this salute, which he calls silly and short, but it got a laugh:

Let’s all raise a glass to Wishbone and Drumstick, the two turkeys pardoned by the president yesterday (pause) and kindly thank them for sending their cousin Backbone to us for dinner today! God bless America and happy Thanksgiving!

Besides keeping toasts brief, Lynch says he typically tries to personalize his. “I always consider who is going to be there. And you try and keep it light. Serious things get weighed down. The wittier toasts are always the best.”

Kimberlee Duke Marshall, president of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club, toasts Thanksgiving as her favorite holiday. “It is the purest representation of sharing and life just feels that much better when shared,” Marshall says. “Nothing is as good without sharing it, and then you add a little wine — in vino veritas!”

Toasting as a tradition began centuries ago. Ancient Persians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Saxons and Huns were all toasters, drinking to their health and welfare. They put bread crumbs into their goblets to cut the acidity of the bitter wine. That led to the phrase “to toast” from the Latin word “tostus,” which means to dry up. 

When the custom spread in Europe, the ritual added something new — the clinking of glasses. Everyone drank at the same time and added sound to the experience of taste, smell and sight.

Thomas, a personal trainer who lives in Boynton Beach, has achieved the coveted title level of master toastmaster and enjoys helping others improve their communication skills through speeches. And she says toasts are speeches, albeit very short ones. She agrees with Lynch that humor is vital.

“It’s a skill, not a gift,” Thomas says. “You have to practice and avoid crudeness and be sure it’s relevant to your audience. I never want to offend anyone.” In fact, practice is very valuable for people giving toasts, or any type of speech, Thomas says. “I practice while walking the beach, or in front of a mirror, or sometimes have someone tape me so I can evaluate how I sound.”

Those who would like to improve their toasting skills, or speaking skills, are invited to join a local Toastmasters Club.

For more information, call Thomas at 251-4164 or visit www.bocaratontoastmasters.org. 

More tips for toasts 

Prepare an opening, body and conclusion. A toast is a speech, a very short speech.

Make sure it fits the occasion in both mood and language.

Avoid clichés. Tired expressions such as “down the hatch” or “here’s mud in your eye” are the last refuge of the uncertain toastmaster.

Be sincere. The best toasts are heartfelt. Don’t embarrass anyone. Be sensitive to your audience and to the occasion.

Use vocabulary variety. Humor is vital, but be sure it’s relevant and won’t offend anyone. 

Source: Sheree Thomas, president of the Boca Raton Noon Toastmasters 

ABOVE: Parks runs the Dreamfinder to shuttle underwater video crews to film goliath groupers at wrecks off Boynton Beach this fall. Photo provided by Mike McKenzie BELOW: Parks is restoring the 25-foot Bertram little by little at his home in Boynton Beach. Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

The weathered capacity plate on the 1972 model Bertram 25 that Bill Parks owns. Parks and his wife, Chris, purchased it in 1986. She died in 2002. 

By Willie Howard

Bill Parks has been boating on classic deep-V Bertrams since he was a boy growing up in Delray Beach.

A veteran scuba diver and lifelong boater, Parks still uses his 1972 Bertram 25, named Dreamfinder, and is gradually restoring it at his home in Boynton Beach.

Parks, 60, grew up fishing and diving on his father’s 1964 model 25 Bertram Express Cruiser, named Better Times II.

He continued the family’s Bertram tradition in 1986, when he and his wife, Chris, paid $9,300 for a Bertram 25 they found at a marina on the Hillsboro Canal. They named it Dreamfinder.

The boat is special to Parks because of the many happy days he and Chris, who died of cancer in 2002, spent on it, diving for tropical fish and running across the open ocean on frequent summer crossings to Bimini.

“The best times of my life were spent with the love of my life on this boat,” Parks said while looking at his weathered Bertram. “Our summers were priceless.”

Parks is so protective of the Dreamfinder that he towed it to Titusville when Hurricane Irma was bearing down on South Florida last year.

The boat’s mascot, a tiny doll named Figment, sits on the dashboard near the helm — a reminder of the years he spent on board with Chris. He still uses the wooden scuba tank racks that Chris made for the Dreamfinder.

“It’s a member of my family, even though it’s a machine,” Parks said.

Parks is not alone in his love of Bertram boats, which have something of a cult following.

South Florida has dozens of Bertram devotees, some of whom have painstakingly restored Bertrams built during the 1960s and ’70s.

The boat company was founded in Miami by veteran sailor and boat broker Richard Bertram. His boats set a new standard for ocean powerboats in the 1960s because of their wave-slicing, deep-V bottoms.

Bertram was sailing in America’s Cup trials off of Rhode Island in 1958 when he spotted a powerboat cruising by at 30 knots in 6-foot seas.

He tracked down the boat’s designer, Raymond Hunt, and commissioned Hunt to build him a 31-foot boat with a deep-V bottom, which he named Moppie after his second wife. 

Bertram raised eyebrows in boating circles in 1960, when he and crew members Sam Griffith and Charlton Mitchell aboard the Moppie won the Miami-to-Nassau with a two-hour lead over the second-place boat.

As for Parks, he plans to keep the Dreamfinder as long as he’s able to use it and eventually hand it down to a family member or sell it to someone who cares enough to maintain it well.

Meanwhile, Parks continues to use his 46-year-old boat, powered by twin 140-horsepower MerCruiser inboard/outboard engines, and is restoring it little by little.

“I want the boat to look the way we used to keep it,” Parks said. “It’s going to take time.”

Beswick triumphs in Bluewater Babes event

Sherri Beswick of Lake Worth caught a 49-pound kingfish to win heaviest fish in the 10th annual Bluewater Babes Fish for a Cure tournament, held Oct. 6 at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores.

Beswick was fishing with captain Bill Wummer on Spiced Rum III when she caught the winning fish on a slow-trolled blue runner in 150 feet of water off Juno Beach.

Tasha Ford caught the biggest dolphin, 20.2 pounds, aboard Temptation. Shelby Gore won the “meat fish” division with a 16.9-pound blackfin tuna caught aboard Carolina Gentleman.

Emily Riemer won the billfish division with two sailfish releases on the Day Sea.

Only women can fish in the Bluewater Babes event, which provides support to women suffering from breast and ovarian cancer.

Members of the Knot Surfin’ team show the 36-pound kingfish that won the $5,000 top prize as the largest fish in the X-Generation Anglers for Soldiers KDW Fishing Tournament, held Sept. 22. From left are Billy Brewster, captain Chuck Hampton, Karen Casey and Jamie Locastro, who caught the winning fish. Photo provided by Capt. Chuck’s Charters

Knot Surfin’ wins X-Gen tournament

Lantana-based charter captain Chuck Hampton and his team on Knot Surfin’ won the X-Generation Anglers for Soldiers KDW Fishing Tournament with a 36-pound kingfish.

Hampton said Jamie Locastro caught the winning kingfish on a live goggle-eye in 135 feet of water off Lost Tree Village. Hampton said the winning kingfish hit the first bait in the water during the Sept. 22 tournament, noting that fishing was relatively slow most of the day.

A bad alternator on the boat’s engine almost prevented the Knot Surfin’ from making it back to Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores to weigh the kingfish, which won $5,000.

Organized by X-Generation Custom Rods in Lantana, the tournament attracted 35 boats and benefited Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, a Lake Worth nonprofit that sends care packages to American troops.

Coming events

Nov. 3:  Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 ($20 for ages 12-19). Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.

Nov. 6: Boynton Beach Fishing Club meets, 7 p.m. in the clubhouse next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Details: www.bifc.org.

Nov. 7-11: Dust ’Em Off Sailfish Warmup Tournament, a sailfish release tournament designed to get fishing teams in shape for the winter season. Captain’s meeting Nov. 7 at Maxwell Room in Fort Lauderdale. Charity tournament Nov. 9. Sailfish tournament Nov. 10, followed by awards Nov. 11. Call 786-366-7883 or go to www.dustemoffsailfish.com.

Nov. 24: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $25. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.

Tip of the month

Want to underscore your saltwater fishing accomplishments with official kudos? Consider submitting your catches to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s saltwater angler recognition program. Find details at www.catchafloridamemory.com.

Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.

Kimberlee Duke Marshall takes a selfie with Officer Debra Boyle (on ATV) and volunteers (l-r) Regan Pompeo, Madi Rosenberg and Stella Kolb during the public safety department’s cleanup. Volunteers placed trash into buckets and dumped it into bins on a couple of ATVs.

Photo provided

As with past celebrations of  ‘Chanukah Under the Stars,’ music will be an important part of the Dec. 7 event, with three choirs performing. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Thanks in part to a Jewish Outreach grant from the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, “Chanukah Under the Stars,” the signature event of Temple Beth El, returns to Mizner Park Amphitheater in downtown Boca Raton in December. The last time the event was held was in 2014, and more than 4,000 people came out to celebrate the Festival of Lights at a shabbat service that included extra music, food, games and festivities.

“We usually host it every other year, but we took some time off. It’s a huge effort for the staff to put on the event,” executive director Steve Kaufman said.

For the past few years, Temple Beth El has been busy renovating and remodeling its Schaefer campus, thanks to a $5 million grant it received in 2014. Since then, construction has been the ongoing focus, but on Dec. 7, the focus returns to the people. From 5 to 9 p.m. the local South Florida community — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — is invited to come together to celebrate one of Judaism’s most popular and lively holidays.

“We look at this as our gift to the community,” said Susan Stallone, director of marketing and communications for Temple Beth El. “It’s a beautiful musical celebration.”

A few upgrades have been added to make it even better. “For the first time, we’ll be broadcasting the service on a video screen so people can see better,” Kaufman said. “We’ll also have the text of the service on another screen to help people follow along. We wanted to enhance the experience, and this was one way to do that.”

“Chanukah Under the Stars” starts at 5 p.m. with activities in the children’s area, including bounce houses, face painting, crafts and storytelling. A special Chanukah Tot Shabbat and songfest will follow. From 5 to 7 p.m., visitors can sample the variety of traditional latkes and other food  available. The Chanukah Shabbat service will begin at 7:30 p.m. led by Rabbi Daniel Levin, Rabbi Jessica Spitalnic Brockman, Rabbi Greg Weisman, cantor Lori Shapiro and cantorial soloist Michelle Auslander Cohen.

“This year we have three choirs performing,” Kaufman said. Temple Beth El’s adult chorale will perform, as will as Shir Ruach, its teen group, and Shir Joy, the youth choir for grades 3 through 6.

The celebration will take a moment to recognize the temple’s charity, The Giving Tree, which provides necessities such as new uniforms and school supplies to children whose parents cannot afford them. The Giving Tree also has a very active and generous holiday gift program that provides Christmas presents, yes, Christmas presents, to more than 100 families who live in the Dixie Manor Public Housing community in Boca Raton. The Giving Tree also provides the food for a full Christmas dinner.

“The Giving Tree is truly a light in the darkness, and the holiday is about being a light,” Stallone said. For more information, visit www.thegivingtreeboca.org.

Admission to “Chanukah Under the Stars” is free, with a variety of food and drink vendors available. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Leslie Viselman at 314-2836 or lviselman@tbeboca.org. Volunteers are also needed. Call Rachael Rand at 391-9091.

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at janisfontaine@outlook.com.

If you go

What: Chanukah Under the Stars

When: 5-9 p.m. Dec. 7

Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton

Admission: Free

Info: 391-8900 or

www.tbeboca.org

Eddie James and Tommy Woodward poke fun at religion as a way to get people involved in church. They will perform Nov. 14 at Cason United Methodist in Delray Beach.

Photo provided

Who says there’s no laughing in church?

Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, known as “The Skit Guys,” would disagree. The men, best friends for more than 20 years, have made a career out of poking fun at religion — and helping people get closer to God at the same time.

The Skit Guys travel the nation for performances from Florida to South Dakota. Woodard and James were the class clowns, most likely to laugh their way through life, but they’ve become a lifeline to God for people.

But they’re just the guys people see. Their writers and production staff put together scripts for skits, videos, sermons, books, T-shirts and support materials, all designed to strengthen the bonds between church and congregation.

Tickets are on sale now for the Nov. 14 show at Cason United Methodist Church, 342 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Doors open at 6 p.m. (5:30 p.m. for VIP tickets), and the show begins at 7. Tickets are $25, $35 for VIP.

Call 276-5302 or visit www.casonumc.org.

Shop for fun and help school

St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church hosts a Shop Hop Trolley Tour, the “ultimate girls’ day out,” on Nov. 15. Beginning at 8:15 a.m. with a continental Champagne breakfast, the fun includes visits to nine Delray shops for some holiday deals and personal pampering. Ladies lunch at a downtown eatery and arrive back at the church at 2 p.m.  Each person gets a swag bag.

Tickets are $60 but this year’s event is sold out. Twenty percent of sales from this popular annual event is donated to St. Vincent Ferrer School, 840 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach. Call 276-6892 or visit www.stvincentferrer.com.

Trinity Lutheran hosts Love Delray

The first weekend of November is a great time to volunteer with churches that want to make Delray Beach a better city.

Love Delray is a quarterly initiative that partners church volunteers with nonprofits for a day of service. Participants can help with a beach cleanup, make repairs with Habitat for Humanity, work in the Delray Beach Children’s Garden or pack care packages for troops, homeless people and veterans.

The program kicks off with a meeting for prayer and fellowship at 8 a.m. Nov. 3 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 400 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Volunteering is from 8:45 until noon.

Sign up online at Eventbrite.com or visit the Facebook page.

— Janis Fontaine

Jeannie Fernsworth, a co-founder of the Children’s Garden, shows the new path, which is accessible to people in wheelchairs and with walking devices. The path was underwritten by a donation from the Grass River Garden Club, Capital One Bank and Alexander Simon. The path travels into the outdoor classroom. The garden is at 137 SW Second Ave. and is open 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays or by appointment at 463-2528. Photo provided

Garden tour to be source of landscaping ideas

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Residents looking for new ideas to attract more birds and butterflies to their yards and snowbirds interested in landscaping that doesn’t need much maintenance while they are up north might want to attend the annual Native Plant Garden Tour.

The Nov. 11 tour is sponsored by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.

“We want to encourage people to plant Florida natives because only they support our native insects and those insects support birds,” explained society member Susan Lerner, who says proceeds will benefit her group’s educational programs.

The tour will stop at six destinations west of Military Trail, north of Woolbright Road and south of Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach County. That facilitates driving from one location to the next.

Since March, Lerner has been on the lookout for gardens that are planted in about 80 percent native flora and made up of at least 40 native species.

“If a person has only a couple of cabbage palms and some cocoplum hedges, we don’t qualify that as a native garden,” said Lerner, who for this tour selected large gardens, including one that covers 5 acres.

These properties qualify not only because of what they have but also by what they eschew, which are invasive plants as defined by Palm Beach County and the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. And if any of these invasives are present, they will be labeled as such.

For the first time on this tour, Lerner’s own half-acre garden in West Palm Beach will be on view. “When I moved in about 10 years ago, the place was pretty typical with a swimming pool, exotic and invasive plants around the perimeter of the property and surrounding the house as well as the mandatory lawn of grass and weeds,” she said.

Her first step was to call Carl Terwilliger, the owner of Meadow Beauty Nursery in Lake Worth. She hired him to inventory the natives already on the property. He found only about a half-dozen mature cabbage palms and a couple of slash palms among the Brazilian pepper, mother-in-law tongues, wedelia, tuberous sword fern and other invasives and exotics.

“Next I started thinning things out; there was tons of removal work to do,” she said. That included hundreds of feet of Chalcas paniculata, which has a sweet-smelling flower at the same time it serves as a vector plant for citrus greening.

When she was ready to start planting, Lerner began with fruit trees even though they are not natives. “In my garden, I wanted there to be food for me and all the critters. It’s a garden in which everybody gets to eat,” she said.

She also studied the property’s feng shui and found the “love” corner, where she planted a Haden mango in honor of her deceased parents, who claimed this variety as their favorite. “It seemed like the nice thing to do. And energy-wise, it was a good thing,” she said.

Her mangoes are particularly interesting because that Haden is grafted with a Mahachanok, so she gets two types of mangoes from the same tree.

When you visit, you’ll be able to view a basket with bananas and fruit from three twice-grafted mango trees, jaboticaba, mamey sapote and abiu, which produces a peach-sized golden-yellow fruit.

You’ll also see how native shrubs, flowers and trees can be used for landscaping. And you’ll discover how she converted that 15,000-gallon swimming pool into a pond complete with goldfish and water lilies.

Lerner believes that humans, instead of taking over the land and using it only for their own purposes, should share the earth with all living things.

“It’s all about stewardship,” she said. And that’s why she plants natives and wants to share their advantages with you on this garden tour.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

If You Go

What: Native Plant Garden Tour

When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 11 

Cost: $10 paid in cash or check at your first stop; free for Florida Native Plant Society members and children 13 and under. Where: Garden stops are in Boynton Beach, Wellington, Lake Worth and West Palm Beach. Visit palmbeach.fnpschapters.org for more information, including tour stop addresses.

Plant giveaway and book sale

     The first 250 people to visit the tour stop at Susan Lerner’s home in West Palm Beach will receive two free native plants: a fogfruit groundcover that hosts three types of butterflies as well as a Simpson’s stopper, a shrub or small tree that supports birds and pollinators (one pair of plants per household).

    Here too you can purchase the catalog from “Renewal: Going Native,” a recent exhibition and sale of native plant photography at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.

Photography contest

     You can enter nature photos taken during the tour. It’s free to enter and the winner will receive memberships in the society and the Photographic Centre, in West Palm Beach. The winning photo will hang at the center if a print is provided. The winner and five runners-up will appear in the society’s monthly newsletter.