The Laker/Lutz News

Carnegie Hall

Pasco County celebrates economic successes

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Despite unanticipated challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, Pasco County still had much to celebrate in terms of growth, tourism and economic development.

That was the primary theme of “TeamUp! Building a Strong Economy Together,” an event hosted by Experience Florida’s Sports Coast (FSC) and Pasco Economic Development Council — two marketing organizations charged with driving the success of the county’s economy.

The May 6 event was held at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, with 175 socially distanced guests attending in person, and others taking part remotely.

Various awards were presented during the TeamUp! event. Congressman Gus Bilirakis, third from left, was the recipient of the Experience Florida’s Sports Coast Chairman’s Choice Awards, for his efforts in boosting tourism in the region and state of Florida. Also pictured, from left: Pasco EDC president/CEO Bill Cronin, Experience Florida’s Sports Coast tourism director Adam Thomas, and Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore. (Courtesy of Experience Florida’s Sports Coast Office of Tourism Development)

The evening ceremony highlighted accomplishments of both marketing organizations,  corporate businesses, entrepreneurs, hoteliers, attraction partners and restaurateurs.

The idea for the special gala was spurred from a conversation between Pasco EDC president and CEO Bill Cronin and FSC tourism director Adam Thomas, regarding the economic struggles both corporate businesses and tourism industry partners had faced in the previous year because of COVID-19.

Blending the two brands, TeamUp! featured a figure skating showcase, networking hour, awards dinner and joint economic presentation fronted by Cronin and Thomas, along with other speakers.

Also, FSC and Pasco EDC screened their first collaborative video showcasing Pasco as an attractive place to live, work and play.

The six-minute video takes a bird’s eye and grounded tour around the county, stopping at popular destinations while delving into specific need-to-know information for those looking to relocate their businesses, travel to the destination, or host a conference or event in the area.

Recognizing excellence
Various awards were bestowed, as well, honoring those who have made a lasting impression on the county’s diverse and growing economy:

Experience Florida’s Sports Coast Awards

  • Chairman’s Choice Award: Congressman Gus Bilirakis
  • Lodging Partner of the Year: SpringHill Suites by Marriott Tampa-Suncoast Parkway
  • Tourism Legacy Award: Thomas Dempsey, founder of Saddlebrook Resort & Spa

Pasco EDC Awards

  • Leadership Award: Dr. Arthur Kirk Jr., president emeritus of Saint Leo University
  • Recruitment Project of the Year: Santander Consumer USA
  • Expansion Project of the Year: The Soule Co.

The evening concluded with a special keynote address by Mike Rayburn, who blended comedy, music and thought-provoking messaging — while sharing his story of going from playing guitar for seven people in a bar in Virginia to playing in Carnegie Hall.

New companies, new jobs
Speaking from a well-lit, lifted stage, Cronin detailed how area economic development efforts emerged strong even during 2020’s trials and tribulations.

This included welcoming $104 million in new capital investment and 15 new company projects adding more than 1,400 direct jobs.

In fact, Cronin said these figures yielded the private, nonprofit organization’s “best year so far, for investment and job creation in Pasco County.”

The Pasco EDC’s ongoing efforts required creativity and adaptations to get work done, given various limitations brought about by COVID-19, Cronin explained from the luminated dais.

“The pandemic pushed us all to find new methods to manage old routines,” he said.

“Economic development was no different, and I’m proud to say that our team at the Pasco EDC rose to the challenge and found innovative ways to bring new investment and new jobs to the county.

“Like so many other businesses, we turned to virtual platforms to accomplish things that we could no longer do in person. We hosted site visits, business workshops and special events, all virtually.”

Cronin highlighted other economic-related marks from the past year, including the opening of Pasco EDC’s third small business incubator location — SMARTstart Grove Entrepreneur Center in Wesley Chapel — designed to help entrepreneurs expand their business and turn ideas into realities.

Interestingly enough, desserts prepared for the event were concocted by a trio of SMARTstart restaurant entrepreneur members and alums — Lanky Lassie’s Shortbread in Dade City; Sweet Luminous Bakery in Dade City; and, Hillbilly Farms in Dade City.

Cronin also mentioned how the Pasco EDC partnered with Pasco County government to provide emergency relief to more than 1,200 small businesses struggling to meet the demands the pandemic placed on them.

“Despite the challenges that 2020 presented,” Cronin said, “we kept moving forward.”

Tourism on the rebound?
Likewise speaking to the sizable crowd, Thomas acknowledged Pasco’s tourism “took a hit” from the pandemic, and remains in recovery mode.

However, the county’s tourism brand leader presented a mostly upbeat outlook for 2021 — noting visitor numbers steadily increasing the second half of this year and beyond.

“After a year of strict restrictions, people are itching to get back on the road and back in the air,” said Thomas, also quick to point out tourism industry analysts reporting that nearly 80% of Americans are dreaming of or planning to travel this year.

Thomas added the CDC’s recent guidance indicating vaccinated individuals can now safely travel without risking their health brings “another encouraging sign from our tourism industry for the second half of this year.”

Though the pandemic put a dent into some of Pasco’s original grandiose tourism plans and projections for most of 2020, there were some wins from the prior year.

Among other entertainment venues, shopping and hotels coming online, Thomas in particular highlighted the opening of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis and Wellness Center in Zephyrhills; AdventHealth Sports Arena at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, in Wesley Chapel; and Widow Fletcher’s, a new waterfront restaurant in New Port Richey.

Thomas told the audience how FSC remained aggressive following the pandemic’s initial scare.

It was one of the first tourism agencies in the state to return to marketing after what Thomas labeled “a two-month industry blackout.”

The group ran an outdoor adventure-focused marketing digital campaign promoting the county’s 10-day summer scallop season along the Anclote River.

The campaign resulted in visitation growth of more than 60% and related economic impact, Thomas said.

Pasco, too, was one of Florida’s first to return to hosting sporting events amid the pandemic, Thomas said, with the TORHS 2Hot4Ice roller hockey national championships in July.

The event — with strict pandemic protocols in place — brought together 113 teams who played a staggered schedule over 10 days at AdventHealth Center Ice.

Thomas presented other encouraging tourism-related figures.

More than 25% of county visitors last year were first-timers who plan to return, he said.

Visitor spending was down compared to fiscal year 2019, but tourists still created more than a half-million dollars of economic impact to the county, saving every resident over $260 in their annual taxes, he said.

Though the FSC has mainly focused on youth and amateur sports and outdoor recreational offerings to attract visitation, Thomas indicated the agency next plans to branch into the business meeting marketplace.

The county in October will play host to the inaugural SMERF (Social, Military, Educational, Religious and Fraternal) Express conference — an overnight tourism-based trade show featuring social functions, community service, team building and one-on-one appointments between meeting planners and destination marketing organizations.

And, in January there will be a similar but sports-tourism focused conference called Sports Express-Indoor.

Thomas also discussed how FSC is building on in-state tourism drive markets of Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville, along with out-of-state drive markets of Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham.

The agency also is launching new promotions geared toward people in the New York, New Jersey and the Great Lakes region.

“When they’re ready to travel,” Thomas said, “we’re ready to welcome them.”

The speaker also touted the reach and impact of FSC, which has increased its staffing levels and has received national recognition in the tourism industry for its various campaigns and efforts.

Thomas said: “We focus on telling our community story — the experiences that make Pasco County the best destination in Florida, and the place we all love to call home, whether we’re fishing in the gulf, skydiving in Zephyrhills, or hiking in our nature parks, or playing hockey right here at AdventHealth Center Ice.”

Published June 02, 2021

Irish tenor to perform at St. Timothy Catholic Church

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Emmet Cahill, an internationally known singer, will be performing a holiday concert at St. Timothy Catholic Church on Dec. 10.

It will be the second time in two years that Cahill, a principal performer with the Irish music show Celtic Thunder, will be making a solo appearance at the Lutz church.

As a principal vocalist with Celtic Thunder since 2011, Cahill has performed in more than 350 shows across North America and Australia, including numerous appearances on PBS, The Today Show, Fox and Friends, Home & Family, and QVC, according to Cahill’s website.

Emmet Cahill, principal singer of Celtic Thunder, will perform in a solo concert at St. Timothy Catholic Church on Dec. 10. (Courtesy of Emmet Cahill)

Some of the famous venues where he has sung include St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and Carnegie Hall. He also opened the beginning of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, with a performance of “Danny Boy.”

Celtic Thunder is on a break this year, he said.

“Last year we did our 10th anniversary tour. We did 75 cities and the states of Canada,” the tenor said.

In addition to Celtic Thunder, Cahill also has been a solo artist since 2015, performing in more than 60 cities across North America.

His concert at St. Timothy in 2017 occurred after Chase White, the church’s music director, was contacted by Jeanne Hatter, who helps Cahill line up his appearances.

“At first, I thought it was a scam, but then I learned that he had done a concert earlier in the year at St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Church in Clearwater,” White said. “Their music director is a good friend, and she is the person who referred us to Emmet and Jeanne as a possible performance venue.

“Emmet is a practicing Catholic, and he prefers churches to other concert venues,” White said.

“We typically do not allow tickets to be sold for concerts at our church, but we made an exception for this. Emmet is a young artist, and he needs money to continue his work. We were surprised when he donated a large percentage of all proceeds back to our music ministry,” White said.

White was delighted when Cahill sang at the church two years ago and is pleased the accomplished singer is making a repeat visit.

“I have been a fan of Emmet’s for several years and have followed his career with Celtic Thunder,” White said. “I am a trained singer and have enjoyed much local success; I would have a difficult time naming a singer, professional or otherwise, who is more skilled than Emmet. “Many compare him stylistically to Josh Groban, but I would much prefer to hear Emmet sing any day of the week. His voice is simply unparalleled to my ear,” White said.

Despite being highly skilled, White added, “he is remarkably humble and thoughtful.”

Cahill said he began singing hymns and Irish songs, at an early age.

“My mom was a church singer. My dad was a church organist. Every Sunday we would sing in choir.”

Growing up in a musical family, he said, influenced the course of his life.

He received a five-year “Schola Cantorum” music scholarship at his high school, St. Finian’s College, in Mullingar. At 18, he began professional training at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

His music has taken him far and wide, giving him a chance to travel to nearly every state in the United States four times. “Alaska and Hawaii are the only two I haven’t sung in yet, so we’ll have to get them at some point,” he said.

He enjoys touring, and especially enjoys sharing his music in churches.

At churches, he said, “you hear about the community. You hear about all of the projects they’re doing.

“Churches are the focal point of so many communities, and you wouldn’t really get, I suppose, to get that insight into a community if you were just going to a regular theater, performing a show,” Cahill said.

He also considers music to be the universal language — serving as a conduit for him to get to know people from all around the country.

“I love meeting new people every day and working with new people every day, and that’s the nature of what touring is,” he said.

He acknowledges it was a little odd at first, to be recognized by strangers in public, for his singing.

“I didn’t get into music to become famous.

“Nowadays, some people pursue the fame more than the music. They go on these reality shows and stuff like that,” he said.

While he didn’t avoid public attention, but didn’t invite it, either, he said.

“Celtic Thunder was obviously a vehicle that brought my name into millions of homes in America, and so out of that, people would know me in that context, through PBS and through the show.

“Certainly, the first year or so, it was a little bit strange, you’d be walking down the street and people stop you. Or, they’d figure out that I like coffee and they’re waiting at the Starbucks — something like that,” Cahill said.

But, he added, in his experience “people are generally nice and the reason they pursue you, or come after you, is because they love what you do.

“I’m never going to complain about someone coming up and saying how much the music means to them.”

Plus, he said, “I think if you’re relaxed with people when they approach you, they’ll reciprocate the same thing. People reflect the energy you give them.”

Those choosing to attend Cahill’s concert have the option to attend a pre-show, for an additional charge.

The pre-show is a meet-and-greet, where Cahill does a Q&A, poses for photos and signs tickets or CDs.

“It’s kind of a getting-to-know-you session,” the vocalist said.

But, he added, those attending the concert also get a chance to learn quite a bit about him.

“I talk about my life in Ireland, and my life on tour, the things I’ve experienced,” he said.

He’s not just a performer on a stage — he reaches out to the audience.

“I break down those barriers. I like to see people going away, feeling like they really know me,” Cahill said.

“The guy you meet at the concert is the guy you drink a beer with,” he said.

“Christmas in Ireland” concert
What: Irish tenor Emmet Cahill, Sony recording artist and principal singer with Celtic Thunder will perform in concert.
When: Dec. 10, 7 p.m.
Where: St. Timothy Catholic Church, 17512 Lakeshore Road in Lutz
Cost: Tickets are $35 concert; $50 (concert and pre-show). Tickets can be purchased online, at EmmetCahill.com and at St. Timothy Catholic Church parish office. This is a benefit concert. Proceeds help families in need.
Info: Call St. Timothy Catholic Church at (813) 968-1077, or visit EmmetCahill.com.

Published November 20, 2019

Gaither High wind ensemble to perform at Carnegie Hall

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A group of Gaither High School band students are gearing up this week to perform in a major music festival at one of the world’s most historic venues.

The Gaither High Wind Ensemble, which consists of 50 students, is one of a select group of school band programs invited to the National Band and Orchestra Festival on April 15, at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The Gaither High Wind Ensemble will perform in the National Band and Orchestra Festival on April 15, at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The adjudicated festival brings together high school bands and orchestras from across the country, giving them the rare invitation into one of the most prestigious music venues in the world.
(Courtesy of Penny Brickson)

The adjudicated, unranked festival brings together high school bands and orchestras from across the country, giving them the rare invitation into one of the most prestigious music venues in the world. About 70 other Gaither band students will also be making the trip, but won’t perform, according to third-year band director Luis Alvarez.

The students, along with the band director and several parent chaperones, leave for the four-day New York trip on April 13.

The wind ensemble, the school’s top performing band, was selected for the festival, thanks to an audition tape submitted in 2015.

The tape featured the ensemble performing a couple of selections, including two movements of Howard Hanson’s “Romantic Symphony.”

“The kids are incredibly gifted,” Alvarez said.

At Carnegie, the ensemble is scheduled to play three scores on-stage: “The Crosley March” by Henry Fillmore and Robert Foster; “Irish Tune from County Derry” by Percy Grainger; and, “Fanfare and Allegro” by Clifton Williams.

Following the performance, the ensemble will receive written and recorded comments from a group of renowned adjudicators.

They include: Frank Battisti, conductor emeritus at the New England Conservatory of Music; Craig Kirchoff, conductor and band director at the University of Minnesota; Charles Peltz, director of wind ensembles at the New England Conservatory of Music; and, Robert Reynolds, principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble at University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.

The ensemble, along with Alvarez, also will meet with each adjudicator individually, providing a valuable learning experience.

“These are some of the largest—or most important—names in wind bands,” Alvarez explained. “It’s like if you’re going to a basketball camp and you have (Michael) Jordan and Magic (Johnson) working with you.

“The advice they give us will 100 percent be clinic to practice, and used for the future,” he said.

Members of Gaither’s wind ensemble, such as junior Raina Sparks, are also thrilled for the unique opportunity to perform at Carnegie, and “grow musically.”

“I’m really excited to share that experience with so many musical greats,” said Sparks, who plays the French horn. “It’s really cool that we have the opportunity to do that as a high school group.”

Since March, Alvarez said ensemble practices “ramped up quite a bit,” in advance of the festival, including two after-school rehearsals per week.

“The kids are wonderful—and that’s the fun part,” Alvarez said. “It would be tough to do if I had to pull teeth, but they’re so self-motivated. It’s been a very fun process.”

Besides Carnegie Hall, Gaither band students will also explore various parts of New York City throughout the trip.

The group is planning to visit a pair of museums — American Museum of Natural History, National September 11 Memorial & Museum — and see a Broadway show.

“We’re going to go to a few sightseeing things. We’ll get a chance to experience New York, in general,” Alvarez said.

Over the next several years, Alvarez said he’d like to take the high school band to other music festivals across the country, such as Bands of America in Indianapolis, or the Midwest Clinic in Chicago.

For the time being, his sole focus is the looming visit to Carnegie.

“There are goals that we have for the program,” Alvarez said, “and this is just one other building block towards it.”

Published April 12, 2017

Steinbrenner marching band director has ambitious plans

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Steinbrenner High School’s new marching band director has ambitious plans for the program.

Jason Allgair, who spent the past nine years teaching at Wharton High School, is striving to increase band participation.

He’s also looking to collaborate with the school’s other fine arts programs — orchestra and theater.

The Steinbrenner marching band is looking to raise upwards of $55,000 for a trip to New York City in January. Approximately 120 students are in the band. (Photos courtesy of Ingrid Babajanof)
The Steinbrenner marching band is looking to raise upwards of $55,000 for a trip to New York City in January. Approximately 120 students are in the band.
(Photos courtesy of Ingrid Babajanof)

“I believe that all the arts should be together in regards to doing concerts and performances, and supporting each other,” Allgair said. “I love doing full orchestra, I love the collaboration with theatre, and doing the musicals.

“I’m all about the community environment and the community feel.”

Steinbrenner’s musical faculty, including Allgair, is entirely new. Other first-year Steinbrenner teachers are Grace Jeon, orchestra director, and Corey Poole, choir director.

“All of us are just bonding together, and we want the students to feel like everyone is important, and everyone is involved with each other’s performances,” Allgair said.

At least one band member, James Wall, relishes the idea of more alliances and partnerships with other fine arts departments.

“I think it’s cool that we’re kind of expanding our horizons,” the high school senior said. “Doing more things, using other departments, working together — we didn’t do it that much in the past.”

That philosophy spreads to Friday nights throughout the fall, where the band and Steinbrenner’s cheer squad will no longer be separate entities during home football games. Instead, they’ll be performing jointly — in the name of school spirit.

The band practices Tuesdays and Thursdays during the fall, in advance of Friday night football games. The band’s first major competition is the 20th annual Lion’s Pride Marching Band Festival on Oct. 15 at King High School. The district MPA (Music Performance Assessment) is set for Nov. 5.
The band practices Tuesdays and Thursdays during the fall, in advance of Friday night football games. The band’s first major competition is the 20th annual Lion’s Pride Marching Band Festival on Oct. 15 at King High School. The district MPA (Music Performance Assessment) is set for Nov. 5.

“I believe in the hometown feel,” said Allgair, “where the cheerleaders and the band and that whole atmosphere…is there for the spirit of the school.

“It’s all about the support of the football team and the whole feel of what’s happening on Friday nights at Steinbrenner,” he said.

Doubling the size of the marching band — which has approximately 120 members— is another objective, albeit more long-term, for the new director.

“My goal in the next four or five years is to build this program into a band of 220 to 250,” said Allgair, who’s also the district chair for the Florida Bandmasters Association, overseeing 70 high school and middle school directors. “When I was at Wharton, I started the program with about 49 or 50 kids, and I doubled the program to 110 by the time I left.”

He added: “I’m just excited to take what’s already been laid here as a foundation and build upon that. I have a really good relationship with the feeder middle school and all the surrounding feeder middle schools, and we’re going to try to get the numbers up.”

Allgair, too, has bold plans in store for the band’s ensembles — concert and jazz —over the next few years.

“I’d love for the kids to arrange their own jazz standards, and I can bring in guest artists to work with the ensemble,” explained Allgair. “With the concert ensembles, I’d like to commission new works, I’d like to have composers come in and join us, and actually be a part of the audience as we’re working on their pieces. I have a commission that I’m getting ready…for a composer to actually write a piece — dedicated for the Steinbrenner program — but, I don’t know if that’s going to happen this year or next year,” he added.

Also in the works for Steinbrenner’s band: a field trip to New York City.

Planned for the end of January, band members can expect to visit several of the city’s cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera House, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York Philharmonic, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

They’ll also check out Broadway shows, and may get a tour of Yankee Stadium.

“We’re all really excited about that,” Wall said about the looming trip to NYC. “It should be cool.”

The trip north will ultimately tie in with Allgair’s curriculum, and the band’s marching show.

“I’m going to be bringing things that we learned culturally from New York City and connecting it as we go through the rest of the school year,” the band director said. The band’s marching show is Frank Sinatra and its last song is “New York, New York,” he said.

As opposed to just taking a select few band members to New York, Allgair’s goal is to send the program’s 120-plus kids to the Big Apple.

Approximately $55,000 will need to be raised for the excursion, the band director said.

The cost is around $1,000 per student. Students will be paying for part of it, but the rest will come from fundraising efforts that are already underway, he said.

The band is currently having a mulch sale through the end of September.

Other fundraising opportunities will follow that.

“We’ve got a lot going on,” Allgair said.

The band’s first major competition is the 20th annual Lion’s Pride Marching Band Festival on Oct. 15 at King High School. The district MPA (Music Performance Assessment) is set for Nov. 5.

For more information on fundraising and the marching band program, visit SteinbrennerBand.com.

Gaither High Wind Ensemble fundraiser
Gaither High School’s Wind Ensemble is trying to raise funds to help pay travel expenses for a trip to Manhattan to perform at Carnegie Hall.
Where: Gaither High parking lot, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 33624
When: Sept. 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
How much: Vendor spaces are still available, at a cost of $20 for two parking spaces.
For more information: Contact Melissa Seaman at (786)-514-0128 or .
Want to help? Donations may be sent to Gaither High School, c/o Luis Alvarez, band director, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 33618.

Published September 14, 2016