Holy Week in the WG

I love Winter Garden. I might be biased in that statement, having lived here for over 30 years. However, it doesn't change that simple fact: I love Winter Garden.

City of Winter Garden website

It's been years in the recovery process.
I remember when Russ, Elisha, and I used to walk from school at Dillard St. Elementary to Julie's house. We had lots of options on which direction we could go, but invariably we would take the route that went through downtown Winter Garden. Back in 80's it looked nothing like it looks today. Most of the shops were empty. McClung's still had a store open on Plant St. at the time, and we'd go in and get a slushie if the three of us could scrape together enough change. Or we'd drop by the corner drugstore (on the southeast side of Main and Plant) and get a handful of chiclets from the penny gum machine. As disgusting as this sounds, we actually drank water out of the sprinklers on "water day", which was what we called the infrequent times when the downtown area would be irrigated.
There was very little going on in the downtown area at the time. Part of our entertainment was peeking into empty storefront windows and imagining what used to be in there. A particular favorite was the storefront of what is now Sweet Traditions French Bakery.
In the window was a little ice cream salesman and his ice cream cart.

We'd stare at that thing and wonder at the idea of having an ice cream parlour in the downtown.
Of course, now there's several places where one can get such a confection.

I tell you all of this because this week is Holy Week, and we've put together prayer stations again. We've sized it down considerably, so it took us a lot less time to set up. However, we still have to sit at church and man the stations all day on Thursday and Good Friday. So, lunch has to come from somewhere close by.
Enter in one of the reasons why I love Winter Garden.

Like I said, it used to be that NOTHING was downtown. For a brief period there was a restaurant called "The Orange Crate Cafe".  They had pretty good burgers, but they didn't last long (especially after having to recover from a fire in the building).

Now however, there's all kinds of options downtown.

Moon Cricket Grille

JR's Attic Door

Harry and Larry's BBQ

Winter Garden Pizza Company

And this is just a select few. I left out the Thai restaurant, the French Bakery mentioned earlier, Urban Flats, The Chef's Table (as well as A Taste of the Chef's Table), Scoops, Jojo's Smoothies and Frozen Yogurt, Pilars Martini Bar, Al Fresco, Axum Coffee shop, Miss Bee's Gourmet Popcorn and Candy, and Sweet Ashley Ray's Cakes.

All of these are a block away from my office. A short walk, and I'm there. Not only that, but the whole aura of the downtown has changed from bleak and drab to welcoming, vibrant, fun. Add in a kid's splash park, the West Orange Bike trail, and the Winter Garden Farmer's Market (voted America's Favorite) and the whole place is COMPLETELY different from the WG that I grew up in.

But it's still Winter Garden.
My home, the place where my friends and family are.