The Land O’ Lakes Church of God has welcomed Rick and Wanice Fowler as the church’s new pastoral team. The Fowlers are both graduates of Pasco High School and continued their education at Lee University, according to a news release. They have previously pastored in New York, Kentucky, Illinois and Florida. The couple has three children and four grandchildren. They invite all to the Land O’ Lakes Church of God, at 8337 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes.
Land O' Lakes News
New coffee shop, daycare may be coming soon to Land O’ Lakes
The Pasco County Commission has approved a rezoning to allow commercial development on 4.99 acres at the northwest corner of State Road 54 and Livingston Road, in Land O’ Lakes.
The application for the rezoning indicates that the site will be used for a coffee shop with a drive-thru, an eight-bay tire store, and a 10,000-square-foot day care.
Access to the site will be from State Road 54, Livingston Road and 20 Mile Level Road, according to the county board’s July 11 agenda item. The board approved the item as part of its consent agenda. Items on that agenda are approved in a single vote without discussion, unless someone asks for an item to be pulled.
In other action, the county board:
- Confirmed the appointment of Pasco Sheriff’s Office Capt. Eric Seltzer to serve as director of the department of emergency services. Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco selected Seltzer for the position.
- Approved a rezoning on 2.11 acres at the northeast corner of Jerry Road and Paul S. Buchman Highway to allow general commercial uses. The applicant indicated the site would be used for a Dollar General Store.
- Approved the purchase of a Gradall Hydraulic Excavator for $493,426. The purchase is being made by using a Florida Sheriffs Association’s contract, and the unit will replace one that has reached the end of its life cycle.
- Approved an agreement between the Florida Department of Transportation and Pasco County for the design of the School Road multi-use path, from Community Center Road to U.S. 41, also known as Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. The project will add an 8-foot concrete multi-use path along the east side of School Road, for a distance of slightly under two-tenths of a mile. The estimated design cost is $99,000; FDOT has agreed to pay up to $99,000 for the design project.
- Approved the purchase of two Skeeter wildland fire apparatuses from Ten-8 Fire & Safety LLC, for a cost not-to-exceed $642,960. The brush trucks are used for Pasco Fire Rescue wildland firefighting needs. The new units will replace two existing units.
- Provided a letter of support and agreed to provide $25,000 in funding for an effort by the University of South Florida to be selected as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program. The U.S. Economic Development Administration is seeking applicants for the program. Pasco’s portion of the matching funding will come from Penny for Pasco proceeds intended to promote the county’s economic development.
Published July 26, 2023
Traffic at median on U.S. 41 and Asbel Road to be redirected
The U.S. 41 median at Asbel Road in Land O’ Lakes closed and began reconstruction work July 10. It will remain closed to all vehicles around-the-clock until approximately the afternoon of July 17.
The Florida Department of Transportation recommends the following detours for drivers and residents of these adjoining neighborhoods:
- Northbound U.S. 41 to westbound Asbel Road: Continue north past Asbel Road, U-turn at Mossy Timber Boulevard., go south on U.S. 41 and turn right onto westbound Asbel Road.
- Southbound U.S. 41 to eastbound Asbel Road: Continue south past Asbel Road, U-turn at Ensemble Boulevard, go north on U.S. 41 and turn right onto eastbound Asbel Road.
- Eastbound Asbel Road to Northbound U.S. 41: Turn right from Asbel Road onto southbound U.S. 41, U-turn at Ensemble Boulevard, then go north on U.S. 41.
- Eastbound Asbel Road continuing east across U.S. 41: Turn right from Asbel Road onto southbound U.S. 41, U-turn at Ensemble Boulevard to go north on U.S. 41, then turn right onto eastbound Asbel Road.
- Westbound Asbel Road to Southbound U.S. 41: Turn right from Asbel Road onto northbound U.S. 41, U-turn at Mossy Timber Boulevard, then go south on U.S. 41.
- Westbound Asbel Road continuing west across U.S. 41: Turn right from Asbel Road onto northbound U.S. 41, U-turn at Mossy Timber Boulevard to go south on U.S. 41, then turn right onto westbound Asbel Road.
For U.S. 41 project information and to sign up to receive alerts, visit FDOTTampaBay.com/project/257/256324-2-52-01.
Published July 12, 2023
Construction to reroute U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes
The northbound U.S. 41 left turn lane to Sunterra Drive, in Land O’ Lakes, will close for reconstruction work beginning around 7 a.m. on June 5. Northbound U.S. 41 access to Sunterra Drive is expected to be closed approximately into the last week of June.
Access to Sunterra Drive will continue to be available from southbound U.S. 41, while northbound drivers can access Sunterra Drive by taking a U-turn onto southbound U.S. 41 at the Ensemble Boulevard intersection or by continuing north and turning left onto Asbel Drive to access the Tierra Del Sol and Asbel communities.
For information on this construction, visit https://www.fdottampabay.com/project/257/256324-2-52-01.
Published June 07, 2023
She wrote her way to an all-expenses paid trip to the Netherlands
Amy Lewis initially noticed the AAA contest on her Facebook feed.
Then, the Land O’ Lakes woman saw it again, about a month before the contest’s deadline, in AAA’s magazine.
She encouraged her 14-year-old daughter, Sky, to give it a try.
The eighth-grader, who attends Pasco eSchool, got busy doing her research and composing her submission.
She turned it in and they waited.
Amy was sitting in a doctor’s office when she got the word that Sky had been selected.
“It felt like she won the lottery. My heart was racing out of my chest,” Amy said, who couldn’t wait to get home to share the news.
Sky recalled that moment: “ We were jumping around and yelling and screaming.”
“My husband (Richard) just sat there, dumbfounded,” Amy said.
Sky was thrilled.
“They picked 60 eighth-graders for the trip, out of 800 applicants,” Sky said. (There were 13 winners in Florida, including two in Tampa.)
She was excited, but she had a dilemma.
“She had to pick a chaperone. She was so upset,” her mom said. “She couldn’t choose.”
Her dad saved the day.
“He saw that she was upset. He stepped up,” Amy said.
Richard told Sky: “‘There’s no question. You and your mom are going,’” Amy said.
Preparations for travel begin
Once they knew they’d be making the trip, they got busy.
“We needed big puffy coats,” Sky explained, noting the Netherlands gets much colder than Land O’ Lakes.
“We don’t own those kinds of clothes,” Amy added.
They hit thrift stores to assemble their winter wardrobes.
They also needed passports: AAA took care of that.
In fact, AAA partnered with AmaWaterways and Allianz Global Assistance to cover all of the costs of the nine-day, all-inclusive trip.
Sky and Amy departed from Tampa International Airport on March 11 — which just so happened to be Amy and Richard’s 23rd anniversary.
“So, he drove us to the airport. He was like, ‘Happy Anniversary — bye,’” Amy said, with a laugh.
Sky had traveled to places such as Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, but she’d never been out of the country before, had never been on an airplane and had never taken a cruise.
They jetted from Tampa to Atlanta to Amsterdam, meeting some members of their travel group in Atlanta, and the rest of them when they arrived in Amsterdam.
Their travel group was dubbed Discovery Crew, and they journeyed on the Amalucia, during an AmaWaterways river cruise. They followed a custom-designed itinerary, with ports of call and excursions focused on local history, science, nature and food, according to a AAA news release.
Each morning, tour guides led the travelers — sharing the sights, sounds and history of Dutch culture.
A jam-packed itinerary
There was so much to see and do, they headed out early in the morning and often didn’t wrap up the day until late evening, Sky said.
They had breaks for meals and a smidgen of personal time, too.
The pace was brisk.
“We were running some of the time. They were going so fast,” Sky said.
They barely had time to take photos and sometimes the itinerary was so tight they couldn’t even finish lunch, before heading off on another excursion.
At the end of each day, they were exhausted.
“The second we hit the pillow. We were just done. Every night,” Amy said.
Before the trip, Sky had pictured Holland primarily as a place of windmills and tulips. And, in her mind’s eye, Amsterdam was more rural in nature, instead of being the big city that it is.
Sky was surprised by the relative lack of cars and the hordes of bicyclists — racing past at breakneck speeds.
“The bikes have the right of way — over pedestrians and even cars,” Sky said. “They told us: ‘Be careful for the bikes. They’ll run you over.’”
Both Sky and Amy were fascinated by the housing, the architecture and the historic landmarks.
“They don’t have sprawling space like our country does. There aren’t houses with yards and gated neighborhoods. It’s all high and tight,” Amy said.
Some homes date back to the 1400s, and people live on houseboats because there’s nowhere left to build, Amy added.
Plus, there are canals everywhere.
Both Sky and her mom thought they might encounter language barriers, but that didn’t happen.
“We had downloaded a translating app, so we could talk to them. We didn’t use it at all. Most people spoke English,” Sky said.
And, while they dined on foreign food, it wasn’t Dutch. They took advantage of the French cuisine served to them, as part of the all-inclusive package, on the Amalucia.
“We got to try lots of new things,” Amy said, noting they particularly enjoyed the bread and desserts.
Sky added: “One of the nights they had a chocolate buffet. They had chocolate fountains.”
Memorable places, people
The trip included a visit to the Anne Frank House, the place where Anne Frank and her family hid, and where she wrote her famous diary.
The Franks, another family and a single man hid in a secret annex, from 1942 until 1944, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.
A year after they were discovered, Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
But Anne’s diary survived and bore witness to life during those times.
Sky said she saw where Anne and the others hid and the bookcase that swung open to their hiding place. Sky and other students in her tour group also saw where Anne slept and the desk she used, when she wrote in her diary.
Other trip highlights included a chance to learn about the craft of lace tatting, chocolatier tours and a chance for the students to meet their Dutch peers.
The group also visited windmill and tulip farms.
They stopped at Pilgrim Fathers Church, the final prayer site for the pilgrims before they set off for the “New World.”
Their travel group included people from big cities and little towns, wealthy people and people of moderate means. There was a good mix of moms and dads on the trip, too.
Beyond expanding their horizons, the memories and the mementos — Amy and Sky said they both returned from their trip with something else of great value, too.
“We both met some nice friends,” Amy said.
Published May 31, 2023
Planning board recommends OK for Plantation Palms cell tower
The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a 195-foot cell tower to be erected on land at the Plantation Palms Golf Club, 23253 Plantation Palms Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes.
That decision came after the planning board’s second hearing on the request. Planning commissioners delayed action on the request at their April 6 meeting — requesting additional information on a cell tower’s potential impacts on the property values of neighboring properties and investigating another siting option.
At both public hearings, a couple living near the proposed tower urged the planning board to consider the impact the tower would have on their view and also potential negative consequences it could have on their property values.
The proposed anchor tenant at the Plantation Palms cell tower site would be T- Mobile, which currently has antenna equipment on a flagpole-style cell tower at the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex, at 3032 Collier Parkway, in Land O’ Lakes.
Mattaniah Jahn, representing the applicant, Vertical Bridge, brought in an expert to address the property values issue.
David Taulbee told the planning board that he has compiled data for years relating to property values. He said “there’s no indication that this tower is going to have any impact, whatsoever, on property values.”
During the April 6 meeting, planning board member Jaime Girardi asked if an alternative site had been considered, on another site at the county’s Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex.
But according to testimony provided on May 4, the parks department has no interest in adding another cell tower at the recreation complex site.
Another issue that came up at the previous meeting was whether the revenue was needed to support the golf course’s maintenance.
Plantation Palms has more than 800 homes whose values were threatened when the golf course previously closed.
During the April 6 meeting, Charles Grey, the planning board’s chairman, said he thinks the revenues from the cell tower likely would help to maintain the golf course — which is important in maintaining property values throughout Plantation Palms.
Grey reiterated that position on May 4: “I don’t know anyone that’s getting rich off of running a golf course. If I were living there, it would be important to me to keep the golf course. I’ll put up with the tower rather than lose the golf course.”
But one of the neighboring opponents disagreed with Grey’s premise, noting that he’s a golfer and it can be hard to get a tee time at the course.
Bill Place, owner of Plantation Palms, described the golf course’s need for revenues in an April 25 letter that Jahn read for the record.
Place led the efforts to restore the golf course, after it had been closed for two years.
The initial estimate of $2.5 million to restore the golf course was too low, according to Place’s letter.
“Damage from two years’ of closure and neglect resulted in the need to replace all 18 greens, AC systems, irrigation pumps, most drainage pipes, and fixing just about every square foot of the course and clubhouse,” the letter says.
“Over $3 million has been invested so far, and deferred maintenance remains that will take at least five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the letter continues.
Residents invested in helping to repair the golf course, but that golf club subsidy ended in 2020, according to Place. However, Place’s letter says, “repair and renovation continues with more drainage work, turf improvement, roof replacement, irrigation system restoration and bunker repair work.”
“Plantation Palms knows what it’s like to lose their golf course and see the property values plummet. They’re also very aware of the high cost of restoration,” Place wrote
“When the opportunity to gain some recurring revenue by hosting a cell tower presented itself, we enthusiastically supported the proposal, especially since it could be located in a remote area, near our maintenance barn.”
Place attended the meeting virtually and confirmed he’d submitted the letter.
While opposed to the placement of the tower near their home, the couple also asked the planning board to allow Plantation Palms homeowners to weigh in on the tower’s design — if one is to be erected.
Jahn presented four potential designs which can accommodate T-Mobile’s service goals: a monopole, a shrouded monopole, a bell tower and a monopine design.
Planning board member Derek Pontlitz said he understands the couple’s concern.
“No property owner wants to have anything unsightly in their backyard,” he said, whether that’s electrical lines or something else.
“At the same time, the world is changing, technology is changing every minute and there are ramifications to the other side as well, if we don’t have this technology,” he continued.
The planning board has “to think about the greater good,” Pontlitz added. He called upon his colleagues to recommend approval of the request, with the stipulation that Plantation Palms residents are allowed to weigh in on the cell tower’s design.
Planning board member Chris Poole seconded the motion, saying he could support it, as long residents have a say in the cell tower’s design.
The issue now goes to the Pasco County Commission for final action.
Published May 31, 2023
Connerton Elementary competes at world finals
They’re set to take a real odyssey — not just one of the mind.
Connerton Elementary School’s Odyssey of the Mind team is competing at the World Finals, from May 24 and through May 27 at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
It’s a major accomplishment for a relatively new team.
Team members collaborated to use creative problem-solving to tackle a predefined long-term problem, involving many months of writing, design, construction and then, a theatrical performance.
“Usually, Odyssey of the Mind teams, they’re together for four or five years, and never make it this far (to the World Finals),” Connerton co-coach Deidre Ruland said. “For them to do this well and make it this far in the first year, we’re so proud.
“It is a pretty big deal,” she added. “They use everything they learn in school towards this and it involves a lot of thinking on their feet and problem-solving, so it just shows how well they all work together.”
The Connerton team won at the state finals at the Orlando Convention Center in April, securing a trip to the exciting event in Michigan. The team also came in third at regionals, held at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School in February.
The team is made up of five third-graders and two fifth-graders. Team members are Abigail Sherburne, Alaina Marsh, Grayson Eaton, Mallory Zoller, McKinley Ruland, Noah Philpot and Riley Ruland. The coaches are Krissie Marsh, Tricia Sherburne and Ruland
“They really had to work hard, together, to figure it out,” Krissie Marsh said. “They used it as a way to find their voices, their wits, their charm and creativity and once they did figure it all out, they did so well.
“Just seeing how they came up with making everything for the skit and all the writing, it was very creative.”
The team started on their project, or skit, back in October, with the first month dedicated to team building. During that time, they came up with a theme and plot, then started working on a script. Then, they moved on to designing the props and costumes for their skit.
Their dramatic performance is set against a rocket ship backdrop, to create a place called Zlupnark’s. There, an outer space restaurant patron is continuously ignored, unable to get what she wants from the establishment.
“The team is very theatrical, especially since we have a lot of great actresses,” Sherburne said. “I think that if the boys had their way, they would have done a lot more Lego building, but all the boys are great actors, too.
“So, as a project and as a team, they use everything from math, engineering, reading and writing, and then they’ll practice and practice and make sure all the props and costumes are done, so it’s a lot of work — and a lot of it on the weekends — all year-long.”
Odyssey of the Mind competitions, and judges, are keen on teams using creative problem-solving and on recycling materials to create sets, props, costumes and anything else their skit may need.
Connerton’s team accomplished that.
The students used Doritos bags, pool noodles, milk crates and other items “nearly considered trash” to design everything they needed — constantly refining the various elements until the next competition, the coaches said.
“All the kids, they look like aliens in their costumes,” Sherburne said. “Then they had to go online and research dramatic styles — both comedy and drama — as well as research ideas on how to use recycled materials. They did all the research and then figured it out themselves before winning the (state) competition.”
The team also must be prepared to stand in front of judges to respond to situations where they’ll need to problem solve, on the fly. That section of the competition is intended to demonstrate their ability to think on their feet.
“It’s a lot of critical thinking, but they are a very creative, quick-thinking team,” Sherburne added.
That will come in handy at the World Finals, a once-in-a-life trip for the team that needed to raise nearly $15,000 to attend.
Ruland said the achievement and the opportunity are huge.
Odyssey of the Mind is “an extracurricular activity that uses a lot of academics and problem-solving, so for a small team from Land O’ Lakes to go to the World Finals, it’s very impressive.
“Especially since they never quit, figured it all out and did it on their own.”
Odyssey of the Mind World Finals
When: May 24 to May 27
Where: Michigan State University
Details: A creative problem-solving program where team members present their solution at a competition to a predefined long-term problem that takes many months to complete and involves writing, design, construction and theatrical performance. A spontaneous portion of the competition requires the team to generate solutions to a problem it has not seen before.
Info: Visit OMWorldFinals.com.
Published May 24, 2023
The Let Us Do Good Village in Land O’ Lakes growing
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Sualauvi Tuimaleali’ifano and his family received a new mortgage-free smart home in the Let Us Do Good Village, on April 29, from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
This is the first smart home the nonprofit has given away and the second home it has given away in the new Land O’ Lakes community, off Parkway Boulevard.
Retired Army Staff Sgt. Danielle Thornton and her two kids received the first mortgage-free home in the community in late December 2022.
Tuimaleali’ifano, who lives life from a wheelchair, received a home outfitted with automatic doors, and wider hallways, allowing him to move more freely. The kitchen features lower counter space, pull-down cabinet shelves and a stove that raises and lowers to wheelchair height. The home’s lights, thermostat and security system can be controlled via an app — enabling him to control many aspects of his daily life independently.
Born in American Samoa, Tuimaleali’ifano moved to Hawaii when he was a child. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from high school. He served in three combat tours, first to Iraq in 2003 and then to Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007.
In July 2007, just a month before the end of his third deployment, Tuimaleali’ifano was wounded and due to undiagnosed previous combat injuries, he was left paralyzed with no sensation or function from his chest down.
After many difficult years of surgery and rehab, Tuimaleali’ifano found a new passion as an adaptive athlete, participating in the Warrior Games as a player, coach and ambassador from 2014 to 2020. He competed with Team USA in the 2016 and 2018 Invictus, bringing home the gold medal for Wheelchair Rugby.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation Let Us Do Good Village will be a community of nearly 100 homes provided mortgage-free to catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, as well as America’s Gold Star and Fallen First Responder families.
Published May 17, 2023
A remarkable reunion
For years, Orlando has been known as the place to take your family.
For Lynette Anderson, it’s where she found her family.
Anderson was given up for adoption when she was young, and as she grew older, she longed to find her birth family — specifically her birth mother.
“She was just 23 when she gave me up,” the 57-year-old Land O’ Lakes resident said. “I always told my husband that if I did (find her) I’d reach out, and even if I didn’t meet her, I’d just tell her, ‘I’m OK,’ and close that chapter of my life.”
After years of searching, it turns out her birth mother was closer than she could have imagined.
As Anderson was visiting her daughter and grandkids in Orlando in December 2022, she got an email from the popular DNA testing kit, 23andMe. They found a direct match — to a cousin.
It took one phone call to connect, then learn her birth mother — plus a half-sister — were, incredibly, just 20 minutes away.
“It was a whirlwind from there,” Anderson said. “I opened the results and in a few hours I’m talking to a new family member and already planning a meeting.
“What are the chances they live so close, but I was in the same town when I found out about them?!”
Anderson’s birth mother, Sandy Teal, and her half-sister, Megan Teal, live in the north Orlando suburb of Longword.
In less than 24 hours of receiving the email — and after searching for more than 30 years — Anderson’s family expanded.
Adopting a search
Anderson, growing up in Oregon, had always noticed the difference.
She was adopted, but so were two of her three siblings.
“My friend asked me in Pre-K why I didn’t look like my parents, so I asked my parents and they told me I was adopted,” Anderson said. “I didn’t look like my siblings either. As I got older, I told my best friend I was adopted, and she’s been obsessed with finding my birth mother — she just looked in Yellow Pages, but I was like, ‘I don’t know her name!’”
Anderson and her best friend kept looking.
Oregon opened its adoption records in 1991 to public searches — if parties involved in the adoptions consented. Almost immediately, Anderson went back to the adoption agency and requested those records.
But nothing ever revealed itself, even when she moved to Florida in 2004.
They had been looking in the wrong place — because they had the wrong age and birth year for Sandy, Anderson explained.
“It was all miscommunication,” Anderson said. “Because they requested records, too, and neither one of us ever got them even though, when I moved, I requested any updates. It just never happened.”
Anderson lived her life, got married, raised her children and became a grandmother.
But she never stopped looking.
Her best friend — the one who had initially encouraged her search — also persuaded her to take the DNA test.
“The test sat in the drawer for a while, and when I did it, I didn’t even tell my husband,” Anderson said. “When I got that email and called my friend, she was like, ‘Open it, open it, open it!’ and, yeah, I was nervous, but when we met, it was emotional, but I think it was more emotional for (Sandy and Megan).
“I could tell, for Sandy, it was.”
“It was all very exciting,” Sandy said, “and it was something I had looked forward to for a long time — I really did think it would never happen.”
Family matters
Anderson had a great family life.
Her adoptive parents provided for her, lovingly.
Finding her birth parents was never about the fear of what she missed out on — it was always about just getting a little closure and putting to rest any remaining curiosity that lingered for decades.
“She made the right decision to not be a single mom and put me up for adoption,” Anderson said. “I had a great upbringing in a very idyllic home and family with friends and everything.
“I’m more happy for her, because it brings it to a closure and now she has the answer of if she made the right decision.”
Megan Teal said gaining a new sister has been an “incredible gift.”
“I didn’t know I had a sister until my mom told me, geez, 20 years ago about the adoption,” Megan added. “I didn’t know the DNA test could be so fast and outreaching, but in the matter of a day, I had a half-sister. … And to just see the resemblance, it was remarkable when we met.”
Anderson agrees.
“Megan is very much like my personality,” she added. “When I met Megan, I really clicked with her — because she is a lot like me. I can see it.
“In an adoptive family, you are nothing like your parents and siblings, but here is someone I just met and we’re so much alike!”
Now, this newly formed family will spend time getting to know one another.
Anderson, in seeking closure, is now bonding with her birth mother — and Sandy is delighted.
“It’s just been so exciting, but it was such a wonderful gift to get more family,” Sandy said. “Some people might not think getting more family is — but I do. It was so good to hear she had a great family, a great life growing up, so I don’t think — ‘What if?’ — anymore.
“The weight is off my shoulders now.”
Published May 10, 2023
All business at this clubhouse
There’s no kidding around in The Kidpreneur Club.
There are plenty of kids, a.k.a. the kidpreneurs themselves, but the nonprofit has grown so rapidly that it needed a space of its own to provide more services to budding entrepreneurs.
The Kidpreneur Club (TKC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs. It organizes marketplaces featuring businesses created and launched by local children.
The nonprofit’s new headquarters had its grand opening celebration on April 29 and will use office space in 4 & Co. Coworking Spaces, a co-op working space recently constructed at 16703 Early Riser Ave., in Land O’ Lakes. The building offers office space and other business services.
The new “K-Club HQ,” says TKC founder, owner and CEO Danielle Cannon, will, eventually, host the Children’s Business Fairs, classes, Kidpreneur networking meetings and other activities.
“With the co-working space we can utilize now, we can offer so much more now than just the business fair,” said Cannon, a Land O’ Lakes native. “In the individual offices (in the co-working space), there are a lot of entrepreneurs here that want to mentor the little ones and share their services.
“Now, there’s all the extra opportunities because of the physical space, so we get to make the foundation of the club the best for the kids and grow it to their needs and develop them into the kidpreneurs they’ll become.”
A lot has changed since Cannon launched the nonprofit in December 2021.
She initially started the Children’s Business Fair as a way to help the neighbor’s kids sell bracelets they had made. She thought of having a neighborhood kids’ market, as her two children wanted to sell stuff, too. The neighborhood kept having the market and each time, it got bigger.
Eventually, that morphed into the very popular Children’s Business Fair, such as the one held Nov. 29 at the KRATE in Wesley Chapel featuring more than 30 kid-owned businesses with booths, at the outdoor shopping plaza.
Cannon never imagined those business fairs would attract so much interest, or that there would be this many kidpreneurs with the full backing of the community.
“We’re so popular, and it’s so exciting,” Cannon said. “I knew there was a gap in the marketplace for something like this — I had done my research to find options available for the kids to sell their businesses and goods.
“But I couldn’t find anything,” she said. “This was created to fill that gap that existed here, but I had no idea so many people were going to want to be a part of it — it’s all so heartwarming because it’s truly a community nonprofit because we’re all working on this and growing this together.”
As “crazy a ride” as it has been for Cannon and TKC, the club is showing no signs of slowing down. For starters, the next business fair will be June 4 back at the KRATE.
Cannon said she plans on spending the summer “developing the foundation of what The Kidpreneur Club is going to be” and “focus on the fundraising efforts” now that the headquarters is open. Cannon also will work on “getting more shoppers to come to the fair to support the kids there and their businesses.” She said she’s also excited about hosting a business fair at the 4 & Co. Coworking Spaces.
Besides, she’s no longer fooling herself. She knows full well she’s become an entrepreneur herself, just like the kiddos.
“I never intended to start a business or nonprofit — I just wanted to help our neighbor’s kids sell bracelets and it turned into this huge passion project,” she said. “But we really get to impact the community and its young business owners, but it is definitely going at warp speed, and it’s amazing that it’s become something the community has really embraced and supported.”
The Kidpreneur Club
Where: 4 & Co. Coworking Spaces, 16703 Early Riser Ave., Land O’ Lakes, 34638 (in Bexley Neighborhood off State Road 54 and the Suncoast Expressway
Details: The Kidpreneur Club (TKC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has the sole purpose of empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. It organizes marketplaces featuring businesses created and launched by local children. Kidpreneurs, ages 6 to 16, develop a brand, create a product or service, build a marketing strategy, plan the cost of goods and pricing, and then open for customers at a fair. Now with a new headquarters in Land O’ Lakes, TKC will have its markets at the co-working space building, as well as various remote locations.
The next kid business fair is scheduled for June 4 at the KRATE at the Grove at Wesley Chapel.
For more information, call 813-825-3793, email , or visit TampaCBF.org.
Published May 10, 2023