Tag: Chefs Kitchen

TAMPA, Fla. — All that glitters is not gold.

Just ask Loren Bracewell, longtime head of costuming at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

“More is more, and more is never enough,” said Bracewell, standing in front of a fluffy mound of feathers, beading and sequins.

It’s his handmade Mardi Gras masks and hats.

Everyone in their weekend Mardi Gras celebrations is wearing a Bracewell design.

It’s his visions on paper that bloom into walking creations — a traditional court jester, a dancing bird, a krewe queen.

And he doesn’t waste — he repurposes.

Applique from a sleeve one year might be part of a necklace the next year.

And unlike a traditional stage show, you can’t hide imperfections in a parade — they’ll do four a day on weekends through March 1.

“The audience is all around them,” Bracewell said. “Everything has to look perfect out there.”

Bracewell credited the Costume Shop crew with bringing his ideas to life, some with tenures as long as Bracewell. That marks three decades of Christmas elves, Halloween zombies and Mardi Gras revelers.

The color schemes and décor continue into the park — along with cuisine choices like beignets and boudin balls.

It’s a way to keep the party going. Mardi Gras celebrations ended in South Louisiana on Tuesday, but the party doesn’t stop at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

TAMPA, Fla. — Gasparilla krewes are the social and service organizations that you’ll see commandeering floats and throwing beads at parades throughout the Tampa Bay Area.

That included the Buffalo Soldiers.

Their float is a moving history lesson about the accomplishments of Black soldiers serving our country in all the nation’s wars, going back to the beginning.

“A lot of them joined to fight for our freedom,” sand Krewe president Chris Bailey. “Once they finished and went back into their community, they weren’t welcome. They were treated like outsiders still.”

The krewe, active since the mid-1980s, teaches lessons that are important to the Black community and the greater community at large, offering scholarships and mentoring for young Black children.

It’s something they want children to learn.

“Hopefully have them ask questions, at least ask us, or ask their teachers when they go back to school. What was it? Who are these people and how come we were never taught about them?” said Bailey.

It’s Bailey’s wish and that of his Buffalo Soldiers Krewe to “Know your history.”

Gasparilla

Clad in a modified 1866 U.S. Army uniforms, the Buffalo Soldiers Krewe are living history.

But in parades, they might as well be gods handing out gold. “Just getting some little plastic beads excites them—if it’s big beads, little beads it doesn’t matter—they just want beads, “ said Bailey. “So going out and handing kids beads or selecting kids out of the crowd specifically to give beads to not just throw them at them—it excites them it excites us it makes it all worthwhile.”

All the fun comes back to this—educating people about history, celebrating where they are now, and helping young community members make their future. 

“I get my feelings—my good feelings — from helping one person at a time. If I could help just one person, I’m good,” said Krewe member Antionette Stokes. “One person, one bead at a time.”

TAMPA, Fla. — Brooker Creek Preserve: To many, it’s a place where humans are invited to observe Wild Florida.

And if you are lucky, you’ll see nature observing you. 

“The preserve is close to 9,000 acres.”  said James Stevenson.  “And here is where you can find real Florida. The plants, the animals.”

James Stevenson has been here 13 years, telling the story of this north Pinellas County spot.

Stevenson is a botanist, so definite apocalypse survival leader material. He can talk about air plants, lichen, uplands and swampy spaces.

In the swamp, he points out that trees will have a wide base to balance in the saturated soil. “That’s a condition called ‘butt swell,’” he said. 

Yes, butt swell.

Now, there’s even more to learn in their education center, a lot of it, through touch.

“They get to pick up snakeskin, who wouldn’t like that- and then they learn that snakes aren’t slimy,” Stevenson said.

Their most popular exhibit: a super-sized gopher tortoise burrow to explore, five times bigger and perfect for littles to explore. And grown-ups too, if you don’t mind crawling in public. (Just do it — and you’ll see snake and a little rodent living there too.)

“During a forest fire, there are about 400 species that will go into a gopher bureau (and) they all play nice,” said Stevenson.

Back in the preserve, a family discovers a full-grown three stripe turtle crossing the nature trail. Crouched and backed away, they watch.

“We’re here to observe, in quiet, in calm. Everything is very unhurried. This is where we can see wild Florida at its very best and at its quietest.”

WILLISTON, Fla. — Welcome to Devil’s Den in Williston, Florida. 

It’s less of a den and more of what’s called a karst- an exposed spring filled with 72 degree water.

“Everything you see and here at one time was soft limerock and it took millions of years to erode away, and eventually sometime between 115 and 126,000 years ago, the roof caved in and exposed the Florida aquifer,” said Don Standridge, one of the Den’s caretakers.

The animals fell in and could not escape.

Their fossils helped date when the top rocks collapsed, exposing the spring.

“Mastodons, saber tooth cats, giant Jefferson ground sloth,” Standridge said. “They took that off the bottom.”

But for Standridge, Devil’s Den was just a local swimming hole.
 
“And would have a blast. We were able to jump from the top. None of this was here—no ladder, stairs,” said Standridge.

A tight stairwell to the spring is a newer edition.

“But we would actually build fires over on that ledge, and you’d swim till you got cold and you’d get up by the fire and warm up and then go swimming again,” said Standridge.

Beneath that ledge, about 50 feet down, is the spring, sending up 72-degree water.

“It comes through nice and slow and goes right back into the aquifer,” said Standridge.

The spring draws an international crowd of about 50,000 people every year.

“The advent of social media getting the word out about this place is insane,” he said.

Standridge added that the Devil’s Den owner will not develop the land, nor sell bottled spring water.

“He’s a conservationist. He wanted people to be able to see it and enjoy it,” said Standridge.

And in 2026, they are creating a museum for the finds from this prehistoric spring to add to the experience at Devil’s Den.