Continuing on with the mural tour is another favorite, Slice of Happiness. It is the newest mural…read moreto downtown and it was commissioned by the Lake Wales Main Street, Inc. and sponsored by Florida Natural's Growers and its Members, and The Ellis Family. The mural is 25 feet x 97 feet. It is the work of native Lakeland artist Gillian Fazio. Fazio received her Bachelors' Degree in Fine Art from the University of Florida in the Spring of 2017. About the mural Fazio has said "the butterflies reference a re-birth and new life. The mural is a nice indicator of what is happening in downtown Lake Wales. Kudos to Lake Wales Main Street and the community leaders for investing in downtown. The mural is an indicator that there are awesome things coming to Lake Wales." Slice of Happiness features Florida oranges and Fazio's signature butterflies. The mural fits in with Lake Wales theme, a city in a garden. I love the subject and bright colors. It makes the perfect backdrop for photos.

Beautiful mural that you can't miss if you're visiting Lake Wales. It really captures the Florida…read morevibes and makes for a great Insta shot. We had bookmarked it and were in the process of looking around for it, when we just walked right by. It's hard to miss if you just wander around the small downtown area for a bit. I love seeing public art like this all over Florida!

The Bowling Ball House in Safety Harbor is one of the wildest, most chaotic, and unforgettable…read morethings you'll ever come across hands down a five-star experience just for the sheer creativity and madness of it. This place is packed with personality from every angle. Bowling balls are everywhere stacked, lined, and worked into the yard in ways that make you stop and stare. It feels like someone took a simple idea and just ran completely wild with it in the best way possible. Then you start noticing all the unexpected details: random statues scattered throughout the property, SpongeBob characters popping up in places you wouldn't expect, and CDs hanging from strings that catch the light and move with the breeze. It's like stepping into a fully DIY art installation where anything goes and more is more. What makes it so great is that nothing about it feels normal or restrained. It's loud, weird, colorful, and totally unique. Every time you look around, you notice something you didn't see before, which makes it feel like the house keeps changing as you explore it. Overall, the Bowling Ball House is pure creative chaos in the best way possible. It's fun, bizarre, and completely unforgettable a true local landmark that proves art doesn't have to make sense to be amazing.

Like stepping back in time. Being in the Hippy era. Cool house and decorations. Bowling balls,…read moremermaid, lots of decorations on the trees. Great for taking pictures. We didn't know you could go inside but someone later told us you could. Not sure but I bet it would be cool.

I always enjoy discovering public art and this stunning mural really caught my eye. You can find…read morethese gorgeous monarch butterflies flying around pink flowers on a wall that separates Allan Kruger Park from the Lake Mirror Tower Apartments. Monarch Butterflies was commissioned by the Lakeland Community & Economic Development Department from Lakeland artist Gillian Fazio. Fazio received her Bachelors' Degree in Fine Art from the University of Florida in the Spring of 2017. The butterflies in the mural represent re-birth and new life. I plant milkweed in my garden for monarch butterflies so I really connected with the subject matter of this mural and I was already a fan of Gillian Fazio's art after discovering her mural Slice of Happiness in downtown Lake Wakes. I love the detail in the butterfly wings and there are even monarch caterpillars. Many people in the park were using this mural as a backdrop for their photos. This gorgeous mural adds beauty to the park and brightens it especially on the drizzling rainy day I visited.

Say it without saying it is a mural by artist Chad Mize that is a part of the creative infusion…read moreDisney Springs Art Walk. The pieces area spread through the popular Disney springs outlet shopping and entertainment district. This particular piece features several cartoon like figures and drawings and uses a variety of great colors to make It pop. Overall a really good piece that is part of a cool art initiative in an area that will attract a lot of viewers.

Along the Lemon Street Promenade you can find the 24th annual Florida Outdoor Sculpture…read moreCompetition. Out of 60 sculptures submitted for review, 11 were chosen for display by a committee of community members and Polk Museum of Art staff. The Lemon Street Sculpture project is a part of the Parks & Recreation budget. Each artist chosen receives a $1,500 honorarium which they use to get their pieces to Lakeland and for the installation costs. A crane is made available through Lakeland Electric for installing larger pieces. The app Otocast will give you mor information on the art as each artist describes their piece. All of the art pieces will be on display until the end of 2024. Lakeland residents are able to vote on a People's Choice Award and this year the winner selected was Live Large by local Lakeland resident Keith Williams. The sculpture is based on a smaller piece the artist made in 2017. Keith welds and fabricates his art pieces out of recycled metal. His art studio is called 4th Dimension Art & Fab which offers public art and custom fabrication and welding services for the public. As soon as I saw this delightful piece I had no trouble understanding why it won because it was my favorite sculpture too. The piece features a hiker with his faithful dog at his side. The dog has so much personality I couldn't help but fall in love with him. Live Large will be on display in Lemon Street Promenade until the end of this year. Hopefully Lakeland finds a permanent home for him nearby.

Amazing light show with synchronized music! The Burton family is incredibly kind to devout so much…read moretime and effort to put this together for the community. They bring much joy and the donations collected go to good causes. Thank you!

One of the best residential light shows in the area! I made a short list of free Christmas light…read moreshows near me and discovered this location. We were met with perfectly synced house and long distance beams of light dancing to the beat of popular Christmas, Christian and Hits from today. We stood outside the home being serenaded and gobsmacked by the lighting for about 35 minutes before we felt satisfied. Definitely will return before the season ends. Parking along the street can be challenging as people line up their cars to check out the view. Recommend patience and not minding parking further away . If you choose to stay in your car and watch you can tune into 92.3 FM to listen to the music as you watch.

A lot of great vendors and we had perfect weather today. We managed to get a good parking spot -…read morebest reason for going early. The craft fair (Fiesta in the Park) at Lake Eola has lower prices. One vendor even admitted they raise their prices for mount Dora. But there were a lot of vendors with lots of great crafts Best kettle corn I e had in years

Will NEVER spend another dollar in this town again! We took our Therapy Dog to the Craft Fair with…read moreus for having a Certified Therapy Dog, training is never over and felt this would be perfect environment to have him around a lot of people and distractions for Therapy Dogs need to be able to ignore distractions. Therapy Dogs are Not Service dogs, so they have to special access that a service dog has, in fact a Therapy Dog is used to provide emotional support to OTHERS not it's owner. The police told us to leave for dogs are not welcome in Mt Dora. Rude ass police officer that didn't have an ounce of tact in his veins. He suggested that it could be dangerous if someone stepped on our dog. Are you kidding me? We've had our dog all around downtown Orlando and Winter Park, which are both dog friendly. He's been in airports, city buses, hospitals, retirement homes and many many other "more dangerous" environments than Mt Dora. This town is NOT a dog friendly town and I wouldn't spend another dollar in this town or any business in this town again. The officer said it's posted on their site: no dogs. Well if you didn't look up their site to decide if you wanted to drive 50 miles to attend their craft show, I guess you just drove 100 miles round trip for no reason!

Just minding my own business at guest services on the Islander and snapped a picture. Next thing I…read moreknow I'm on the front landing page for this site feeling cruise ready:)

A fun and certainly tourist driven gimmick, Radio Margaritaville your feet tapping and hopefully…read moreinspires you to buy more drinks and food from Margaritaville. Again, this is a tourist driven shtick, but we are in a tourist area.

5 Stars for a highly-anticipated craft market that delivers year after year!…read more This is my third time going to the annual Grandma Party Bazaar and as usual I was not disappointed! The Grandma Party Bazaar (GPB) is essentially a local artisan market. It is held at the Stardust Cafe parking lot (where the Audubon Park farmers' market is held on Mondays) and is comprised of tents under which are fabulous decorations, jewelry, vintage clothes, and other oddities. They also have a stage where local bands perform throughout the day. Not only was the bazaar a great place for me to finish some local holiday shopping but it was also a gathering place for Orlandoans on a lovely December day! I ran into tons of Yelpers and local personalities. I can't give this bazaar anything lower than 5 stars. I always feel inspired when I leave and I keep going back year after year!

Always a fun time at this annual event. It takes me back to my college days where we always had…read moreopen markets every Wednesday in the Student Union. Such a cool thrift store with friendly interesting vendors. It makes me wish I didn't have such a corporate professional job because I really have a hippy heart, and I feel like they are my people....and that's what this festival reminds me of, just a natural, authentic group of cool hippies selling their wares. A true community. The nostalgia of some of the items makes me smile. Unfortunately I had my husband with me and he has low patience with shopping and outdoor markets so I was rushed but I was able to score some cool 80s style new wave buttons before he dragged me outta there.