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Tag: Florida on a Tankful

  • Tampa museum honors the engineers behind vintage, rare automobiles

    Tampa museum honors the engineers behind vintage, rare automobiles

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    PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Say hello to the 1937 Peugeot, with an overhead cam and 4-cylinder engine.

    What You Need To Know

    • Tampa Bay Automobile Museum, Pinellas Park

    • Cerf family collection focuses on innovation

    • Open 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily, closed on Tuesdays

    • Admission prices: $10 – $16

    It’s the first of about 100 cars in Olivier Cerf’s family collection — now the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum.

    Each vehicle is here for a reason.

    “It has to be about engineering and the man behind the car,” said Cerf.

    And it had to leave a mark in its time, like the winner of the Le Mans — the famous 24-hour race in France.

    “This car, the engine has never been rebuilt. And this is the original car, and it still runs today,” said Olivier.

    Andy Kinworthy is one of the mechanics who keeps engines purring.

    Of course, his whip is a fully restored vintage baby.

    He can make anything go fast.

    And he can explain all of it to visitors.

    “I love blowing their mind and showing them how things worked,” said Kinworthy.

    One of his current projects is working on a rare 1909 Elmore two-stroke.

    “Not like a 4-stroke engine like a regular car. It’s like a lawnmower, a weed eater—something like that,” said Kinworthy.

    Back to that 1937 Peugeot — the car that started all this. In 1957, Cerf’s dad Alain bought it at a police auction in Paris.

    “You know he couldn’t afford a new car. So you know that was a used car back then,” explained Cerf.

    What’s it worth now? For Cerf — it’s priceless.

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    Virginia Johnson

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  • St. Pete museum offers comprehensive look at 20th Century American movement

    St. Pete museum offers comprehensive look at 20th Century American movement

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    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Imagine being part of a museum as it begins. That’s how it happened for Andrea Morgan, the Director of Operations at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement is at 355 4th St. N., St. Petersburg

    • Nearly 1,000 works are on display

    The Clearwater native traveled through half a dozen states before her studies and career landed her teaching Tampa Bay residents about decorative art.

    “So the Arts and Crafts Movement comes at the rise of the Industrial Revolution as an answer to not only factory made mass-produced objects, but also as an answer to highly ornate Victorian objects,” Morgan said.

    It was to be simplified designs inspired by nature and one-of-a-kind objects — functional as well as beautiful.

    “And so you can see that they have been used, whether it’s some staining on the top of a table or on top of the sideboard over here,” said Morgan. “And that really just shows that these pieces had a life before they came here with us.”

    Morgan says her return to town is framed by the continuing rise of the arts in St. Pete.

    “And to be part of this museum, which really is one of a kind. We are the only museum in the world dedicated to the American Arts and Crafts movement,” said Morgan. “So to be part of that, I think is really special.”

    Nearly 1,000 works are on display to honor this turn of the 20th Century American movement.

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    Virginia Johnson

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  • Campus Master Plan includes net-postiive energy complex

    Campus Master Plan includes net-postiive energy complex

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    SARASOTA, Fla. — Mike McLaughlin has been looking after the pergola of air plants at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens for more than 20 years.

    The gardens are filled with epiphytes: Plants that grow on plants.

    What You Need To Know

    • Marie Selby Botanical Gardens of Sarasota opened Phase One of its Campus Master Plan in January 2024

    • It includes a $57 million investment with a new research center, welcome pavilion, parking garage and restaurant

    • Net-positive energy complex—producing more energy than it uses

    • Phases Two and Three include a hurricane resilient greenhouse complex and learning pavilion

    At some point in their evolution, they ditched their roots in the ground for a life in the trees.

    “Because in a dense, tropical habitat, there’s plenty of rainfall,” said McLaughlin, the Senior Vice President for Horticulture. “But light is at a premium on the forest floor. So, vines have figured out a way to extend their stem and get light. And the epiphytes — as I like to say—they cut the cord behind them.”

    Learning more about epiphytes drives the group’s work.

    And a new research center will help them show their work to the public.

    McLaughlin’s co-workers are unpacking their liquid preserve collection, called spirits, in the new Steinwachs Family Plant Research Center.

    They are jars filled with preserved flowers in liquid.

    “The vast majority of our collection (are) orchids,” said Elizabeth Gandy, Assistant Curator of Preserved Collections. “We actually have the second largest collection of such spirits in the entire world.”

    Gandy says the new digs mean they can show off their research to the public.

    “Never before in the history of the gardens has all of the staff and all of the collections been in one place at one time,” said Gandy.

    It’s part of their Campus Master Plan. Phase One opened January 11.

    “More than $57 million has been raised for this master site plan,” said Jennifer Rominiecki, President and CEO of the Gardens. “And almost 99 percent of it is from the private sector. So this project truly is a gift to Sarasota and beyond.”

    A welcome plaza, restaurant and parking garage are also part of “Phase One.”

    The new area compliments the 15-acre campus, with family friendly areas like the Ann Goldstein Children’s Rainforest Garden. It’s perfect for pent up energy with some plant learning along the way.

    More than education, McLaughlin hopes people feel a connection to the living things sharing this planet with us.

    “We’d like people to experience nature, relax in nature and gain an appreciation for it,” she said. “I think that’s something that’s really needed at this time in our world.”

    Phases Two and Three of the Campus Master Plan include a new hurricane resilient greenhouse complex and learning pavilion.

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    Virginia Johnson

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  • Florida farm in Manatee is a sanctuary for rescued livestock

    Florida farm in Manatee is a sanctuary for rescued livestock

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    DUETTE, Fla. — There is a new goat in Duette. 

    What You Need To Know

    •  Florida Rescue Farm is in Duette in Manatee County

    •  The farm is a sanctuary for 107 animals right now

    •  Volunteers and visitors learn about animal behaviors

    • The newest resident is Henry the Pygmy goat, and the oldest resident is Moobee the Brangus cow

    “This is Henry,” said Kelly McCormick as she fed the rescued pygmy goat.

    McCormick, the owner of Florida Rescue Farm, started this free-range rescue nine years ago.

    At first, she’d planned to homestead the 5-acre piece of land in Manatee County. But that all changed when McCormick’s partner and fellow owner Glenn Maresca rescued an orphaned newborn calf named Moobee.

    Moobee was lost in a nearby swamp for two days after his mom delivered him and died.

    A grateful rancher offered Moobee as a gift for Maresca to grow and eat.

    See, Moobee is a “Brangus,” a Brahman and Angus breed. Basically, a meat cow.

    But then Moobee did something Maresca did not expect. He nudged and protected Maresca from approaching coyotes.

    “Moobee had seen the coyotes, seen that I did not see the coyotes, and actually circled me to protect me against that threat,” Maresca said. “He was playing with me and the dogs, feeding him, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I’ma be able to kill this animal and eat it’.”

    The farm now has 107 animals.

    “All of these guys have a story. And they all have a name,” said McCormick, throwing out food to the rescue waterfowl.

    And those rescue waterfowl also have wild friends. McCormick points out the three mallard ducks that have been living in the pond crew for some time.

    It’s all part of keeping space for as many wild friends as possible.

    To that end, half of the rescue property is left wild — a “no human zone.”

    Animals graze in it, and it’s a natural habitat.

    “It shows that you can co-exist with wildlife and livestock,” Maresca said.

    Livestock guardian dog “Ripper-do” ensures the balance.

    And the final piece of the pie is volunteers like Lori Desmarais.

    She calls this her happy place.

    “I started coming out to the farm a couple years ago. I thought it was going to be a one-time visit, and I just fell totally in love,” Desmarais said.

    Together, they offer a safe place for their rescues.

    But others can visit the farm, too, for private tours on Saturdays and Sundays from October until May. Those interested can email info@floridarescuefarm.org or call the farm at 941-209-9558 to discuss the sanctuary and arrange a time to visit.

    “Our job is to take care of them, and our job is to give them a good quality of life. So, I mean, that’s what we do,” McCormick said. 

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    Virginia Johnson

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