The Laker/Lutz News

Cheval Boulevard

Region offers plenty of ‘Independence’ celebrations

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Residents within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area will have plenty of options for celebrating the nation’s independence this year.

With various Fourth of July celebrations occurring, one common event will be fireworks shows, illuminating the sky with much color. (File)

Some festivities are being held before the Fourth of July, some are scheduled on the holiday itself, and there are a couple being held at the end of the holiday weekend.

Whether you enjoy watching a parade, like to run, enjoy listening to live music or get a kick out of fireworks — you’ll be able to find a place locally, or within the region, to celebrate the way you like best.

Enjoy the festivities, and be careful out there.

Here’s a roundup of area and regional activities:

LAND O’ LAKES
Connerton’s Independence Day Party
Where: Connerton Community, 21100 Fountain Garden Way, Land O’ Lakes
When: June 29 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: The public is welcomed to a pre-Independence Day celebration consisting of games, live music, local crafters, food trucks, bounces houses and fireworks.
Info: Call (813) 996-5800

Fourth of July Concert for a Cause Celebration
Where: Bexley by Newland Communities, 16950 Vibrant Way, Land O’ Lakes
When: July 4 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: The event will be comprised of a concert, food trucks, a kids’ bike parade and fireworks.
Info: Call (813) 425-7555

LUTZ
Red White & Blue Sunday
Where: CrossPointe Family Church, 919 Debuel Road
When: June 30 at 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cost: Tickets are $7 per person; $25 per family
Details: Celebrate Independence Day early, with a Sunday service followed by a barbecue meal.
Info: call (813) 949-7727 or email .

Lutz Family Fireworks Celebration
Where: Idlewild Church, 18333 Exciting Idlewild Blvd.
When: June 30 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: Enjoy an evening filled with a choir and orchestra performance, a guest speaker, topped off with a fireworks show.
Info: Call (813) 264-1515

Lutz Independence Day Race
Where: Lutz Train Depot in front of Lutz Branch Library, 101 W. Lutz Lake Fern Road
When: July 4 at 8 a.m.; yoga stretches will proceed the race at 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m.
Cost: Online: $25 for the 5K; $10 for the 1-mile; $27 for both 5K and 1-mile run
Same day registration: $30 for the 5K; $15 for the 1-mile; $27 for both
Details: Participants can either walk or run in the 5K run or the 1-mile sprint that follows.
Info: To register, visit  https://www.active.com/lutz-fl/running/distance-running-races/lutz-independence-day-run-2019.

July 4th Parade
Where: The parade begins at the intersection at Lutz-Lake Fern Road and Crooked Lane heading east to U.S. 41. (Most spectators gather along the parade route, or near the Lutz Branch Public Library)
When: July 4 at 10 a.m.
Cost: Free
Details: The parade will consist of dozens of floats. There will be vendors, a cake/bake competition, snow cones and other foods. The winner of the title of the honorary Lutz Guv’na also will be announced. Trophies and prizes also will be awarded that day for runners and for winning parade entries.
Info: Call Jennifer Rankin at (813) 240-5492 or email

Fourth of July Celebration
Where: Cheval Golf & Athletic Club, 4312 Cheval Blvd.
When: July 4 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: Celebrate Independence Day at the golf club with food, games, water slides, bounce houses, a live band and finished off with fireworks.
Info: Call (813) 949-4231

WESLEY CHAPEL
July 4th Picnic
Where: Wesley Chapel District Park, 7727 Boyette Road
When: July 4 from noon to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free
Info: Call (813) 907-9081

Fourth of July Celebration at Avalon Park West
Where: Avalon Park West Community Center, 5227 Autumn Ridge Drive, Wesley Chapel
When: July 4 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Fireworks show at 9 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: Guests can enjoy Independence Day with a bike parade, a pie bake-off, live performances, food trucks and fireworks.
Info: Call (813) 783-1515 or email

ZEPHYRHILLS
Fourth of July Celebration at Skydive City
Where: Skydive City, 4241 Sky Dive Lane, Zephyrhills
When: 8 a.m. July 6 to 9 p.m. July 7
Cost: Free
Details: The one-day event will have an open field for recreational vehicles to park. Patrons can enjoy custom-made hamburgers and adults will have special beverages reserved.
Info: Call (800) 888-5867 or visit www.SkyDiveCity.com/Event/4th-of-July-Celebration/

DADE CITY
El Cuatrofest
Where: Barrington Hill Farm, 16117 Lake Lola Road, Dade City
When: July 4 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Cost: $30 per ticket
Details: At this outdoor event, guests can listen to live music while enjoying watermelon-eating contests, artisan vendors, food trucks, various games and topped off with a fireworks show.
Info: Call (727) 643-6128; for tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/el-cuatrofest-food-trucks-fireworks-fun-at-the-farm-tickets-61433026837?aff=ebdssbdestsearch.

REGIONAL EVENTS
American Victory’s Freedom Fest
Where: American Victory Ship, 705 Channelside Drive, Tampa
When: July 4 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: $13 for age 13 and up; $7 for ages 4 to 12; $10 for active military or veterans
Details: Aboard the historical World War II ship SS American Victory, guests can enjoy live entertainment, food vendors, a kids zone, games and view a fireworks show.
Info: Purchase tickets at http://bit.ly/2KnjcYh. For further inquiries, call (813) 228-8766 or visit www.AmericanVictory.org.

Tampa Red, White and Blue Fest
Where: Grand Central at Kennedy, 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa
When: July 4 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: Celebrate America’s birthday with southern food, ice cream, a dog walk and prize giveaways.
Info: Call (813) 226-0988

Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Competition
Where: Armature Works, 1910 N. Ola Ave., Tampa
When: July 4 at 4 p.m.
Cost: $25 per ticket
Details: Hosted by local comedian Chuck Glass, the contest will offer both beef and vegan hot dogs to choose from. Contestants will have the chance to win a $500 gift card, a $100 gift card, a championship belt and t-shirts.
Info: Email . Tickets can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fourth-of-july-hot-dog-eating-competition-tickets-62875790181?aff=efbeventtix&fbclid=IwAR3nKaUVDR3g1GMkBQjmHVaLhophgDf3EJISD78VSDw97DidaaO2fyiTRAA

Published June 26, 2019

Player returns to soccer, after 17 broken bones

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Jim Harte did not expect Spencer Peek to be playing soccer this year.

That’s because the head soccer coach for Carrollwood Day School didn’t see how Peek could recover from the 17 broken bones the teenager sustained in a single-car accident on Aug. 17, 2014.

Peek, 16 at the time, broke both arms and legs. He also broke his sternum and pelvis.

Carrollwood Day School’s Spencer Peek launches a kick during a soccer game from this past season. The senior center midfielder broke 17 bones in a car accident in 2014, and recovered in time to play in the 2015-2016 season. (Photos courtesy of Alyce Peek)
Carrollwood Day School’s Spencer Peek launches a kick during a soccer game from this past season. The senior center midfielder broke 17 bones in a car accident in 2014, and recovered in time to play in the 2015-2016 season.
(Photos courtesy of Alyce Peek)

The accident, occurred near Cheval Boulevard, at Wimbledon Court, in Lutz, when Peek’s car hydroplaned because of rainy conditions. The car hit a speed limit sign and an oak tree before sliding about 70 feet sideways on the road.

“To watch him come back was hard to imagine,” said Harte, who has coached at Carrollwood for four seasons. “I honestly thought he wouldn’t play again.”

The Patriots’ soccer season is over. The team fell 3-0 to St. Petersburg Catholic on Jan. 29 in the Class A region quarterfinals.

But, that doesn’t overshadow Peek’s impressive battle to get back onto the field, including four surgeries and extensive rehabilitation.

“When he first came out of the wheelchair, and I watched him move — and I’m an optimist — I was looking at him moving, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know how he’s going to do it,’” the coach said. “To expect that he could be our starting center midfielder is amazing. He has come so far.”

The accident left Peek wheelchair-bound for about a quarter of his junior year.

Unable to play soccer during the 2014-2015 season, Peek helped Harte on the sidelines, serving as a sounding board, of sorts.

Harte often turned to Peek for advice on in-game strategy and the use of personnel.

“I would consult him during the games,” Harte said. “He was very engaged on that level. He was like an assistant coach.”

Peek said the opportunity to view the game from afar turned out to be a “pretty unbelievable experience.”

“Coach Harte is such an amazing coach, and for him to show me the respect that he did — being a junior in high school — and he still listened to me,” Peek said. “I did learn a lot from a different perspective, because I’ve always been a player on the soccer team. For him to have the conversations with me, to include me the way he did was…eye-opening.”

Peek’s work on the sidelines helped him gain a deeper understanding of the game, helping to offset his initial loss in foot speed, athleticism and conditioning.

Spencer Peek gets some instruction during a game from Jim Harte, head soccer coach at Carrollwood Day School.
Spencer Peek gets some instruction during a game from Jim Harte, head soccer coach at Carrollwood Day School.

“He got by on his will and his brains. He’s a very smart player, and he reads the game very well, which means he doesn’t have to run as much as someone who doesn’t read the game as well as he does,” Harte said about his team captain. “He anticipates and knows where to find a play, and think two or three passes ahead. He studies the opponent, and within the first 10 minutes of each game, he’s kind of got the opponent figured out.

“Getting up and down the field was very challenging, but he mitigated that by his ability to read the game,” Harte said.

Peek, also a former standout football player at Carrollwood, said one of the biggest challenges of performing on the soccer field was getting back into his “physical being.”

Before the car accident, Peek was a well-built 6-foot, 190-pound teenager. By the time he started walking again, Peek had withered to 140-pounds.

“I had lost so much weight, I was almost a skeleton. I felt so much skinnier and so much weaker,” said Peek, who has since returned to 190 pounds. “It was just physically about gaining back my size, my legs, getting my mass back. I feel much more solid than I did five months ago.”

Peek said the rehab and recovery process was a battle, and noted that being stuck in a hospital bed after the accident was tough.

“When you’re in that situation, at least for me, I couldn’t dwell on it,” he said.

Instead, Peek focused on the future.

“It was about mentally keeping myself on the track, and not straying off and feeling sorry for myself,” he said.

“I was unbelievably blessed to have my family and friends really rally around me. That was my source of strength,” he added.

Rendered completely immobile for three weeks after the accident forced him to “see the world through the eyes of somebody who’s permanently handicapped,” he said.

That broadened his understanding, he said.

“To even get a glimpse of what (handicapped) life is like just really shows you how strong the people are that face that situation permanently,” he said.

Despite the trials and tribulations, Peek said he wouldn’t change what he has gone through.

“The way I saw life before compared to now — you think more about things after experiencing something like that,” he said.

“I just feel like I’m more conscious of what I’m doing,” Peek said.

“Your entire outlook changes and you understand how quickly everything can be taken away,” he said. “I’m so much more grateful for everything now.”

Published February 10, 2016

 

Cheval Cares 5K battles pediatric cancer

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When the Peck family joined the Cheval Athletic Club, their daughter Callie was 2.

They took an immediate interest in the community’s Cheval Cares 5K event to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

It wasn’t just a good cause. It was personal.

Callie Peck survived leukemia, and her entire family participates in Cheval's annual 5K to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. (Courtesy of Vividivity)
Callie Peck survived leukemia, and her entire family participates in Cheval’s annual 5K to benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
(Photos courtesy of Vividivity)

“When we joined there a few years back, (Callie) was bald. It was no surprise to anybody that she had cancer,” recalled Callie’s mother, Amber Peck.

Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Callie had to endure frequent trips to hospitals, spinal taps and surgeries. For lengthy periods, she endured chemotherapy treatments daily.

Just a toddler, she received treatment for more than two years. And despite the challenges, the Pecks consider themselves fortunate.

“We were actually very lucky in the fact that the cure rate for her type of leukemia was greater than 90 percent,” Peck explained. “Seeing the other children in the hospital, their diagnoses were a lot more devastating. We had everything quickly put in perspective for us. All of a sudden, we felt fortunate.”

Callie is now well past her treatments. Her chemotherapy ended last April, and she now just has monthly blood tests to check for recurrences or side effects. But her family is still active in the community’s 5K event. The Fourth Annual Cheval Cares 5K will be on Sept. 26 at 8 a.m., at the Cheval Athletic Club, 4142 Cheval Blvd., in Lutz.

Callie, now 6, will be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony to begin the race, while her brothers, Gavin and Cole, and her parents, Amber and Scott, participate in the 5K.

Lindsay Whitney helped create the 5K and used to work at the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. The Cheval resident still serves as event director for the event, which raised around $25,000 last year. Her time at the foundation put her in close touch with families going through the emotional challenges of childhood cancer.

“It’s been a big passion of mine, knowing the families that have been affected and being part of their lives,” Whitney said. “I’ve been on many hospital visits and funerals, but also end-of-chemotherapy parties, graduation parties and birthday parties.”

For the Peck family-- Amber, Scott, Gavin, Cole and Callie -- the 5K is an annual tradition.
For the Peck family– Amber, Scott, Gavin, Cole and Callie — the 5K is an annual tradition.

She hopes the money raised for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation’s research will lead to more of the happier occasions. The foundation focuses on research, fast-tracking treatments and launching clinical trials in the hopes of developing effective options quickly.

Speeding up the process of finding effective treatments helps with more than just the obvious health concerns. Families dealing with childhood cancer face other stresses and challenges the public might not consider, Whitney said.

So much time is spent on appointments and treatments that parents sometimes have to quit their jobs to manage care properly. That adds financial and emotional strain to an already difficult process.

The race itself has a cap of 450 runners due to the logistics of having the event at Cheval.

So, they’ve come up with some new ways to raise money. On Sept. 23, an Italian buffet dinner will be served at the Cheval Golf and Country Club, 4312 Cheval Blvd., from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. The cost is $16.99 for adults, with $5 of that amount going to Cheval Cares.

The event has set a goal of nearly $30,000 for this year, Whitney said. And, she hopes they’ll reach both their runner cap and fundraising goal, because childhood cancer is something that thousands of families face each year.

According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, nearly 16,000 people between the ages of birth and 19 years old are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. One in every 285 people will be diagnosed with cancer before age 20.

And cancer isn’t picky about who it attacks, Whitney said.

“That’s the thing that we always say: Cancer knows no bounds in terms of money, ethnicity, race, gender, whatever it is. It doesn’t seem to matter,” she said.

The annual 5K race matters to many people in Cheval and in the surrounding areas, including the Pecks. While Callie participates every year, Amber would love to see her join the rest of the family and actually take part in the 5K at a future event.

“The day that she’s actually running will be very meaningful for us,” she said.

The cost for the race is $30 for adults, and $20 for children 12 and younger. Each participant receives a T-shirt and goodie bag.

Registration for the race is available on the website through Sept. 24. After that, those not living in Cheval can register in person at the Cheval Athletic Club on Sept. 25 from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. On the day of the race, registration is only open to Cheval residents, but donations can still be made on the website.

The 5K event also will include an activity area for children, with a bounce house, face painting and balloon animals.

For more information, visit ChevalCares5K.com, or email .

Published September 23, 2015

Steinbrenner’s band needs big bucks for bowl trip

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The Steinbrenner High School Band is planning a trip to perform at a college bowl game later this year. To get there, they’ll need hard work and determination.

They’ll also need more than $70,000.

When the Steinbrenner High School band isn’t performing, they’re practicing. And when they’re not practicing, they’re raising money for their trip to the Liberty Bowl later this year. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
When the Steinbrenner High School band isn’t performing, they’re practicing. And when they’re not practicing, they’re raising money for their trip to the Liberty Bowl later this year. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

That’s the cost to accommodate more than 90 people traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, on Dec. 29.

“It is a lot of money,” admitted band director Nicole Conte. “We’ve done some smaller trips that have cost about half that, but this is a pretty big one.”

It’s so big that the band is getting creative about raising funds. They’ll host a casino night on Nov. 8 at Cheval Golf and Country Club, 4312 Cheval Blvd., in Lutz, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. On Nov. 16, they’ll have a mattress sale at the school’s gymnasium from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Current fundraising and early payments have helped the band get close to half of their goal, leaving plenty more money that needs to be raised. But from personal experience, Conte feels it’s worth it.

“We did several things like that when I was in high school band, too, and those are memories that I’ve carried with me all my life, and some of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” she said.

When Conte was going to school in Naples, her high school band performed at a Miami Dolphins game. She was excited to play in front of such a large group, and wants her band to share that kind of experience.

That doesn’t mean the entire trip will simply be a vacation for the band. There are competitive elements to the event as well. In addition to participating in the halftime show with other bands from different states, they’ll also be part of a field competition before the event. The winning band gets to perform solo as part of the pre-game ceremony.

Conte wants to win that competition, and continue the tradition of success she’s established at Steinbrenner. She’s been with the school since it opened in 2009, and has 17 years of experience leading bands. They consistently earn a rating of “superior” in their assessments, and they won their division at the Lion’s Pride band competition this year at King High School in Temple Terrace.

Three years ago, Steinbrenner also was named grand champion of that event.

To stay focused for their upcoming performance and prepare to face some tough competition, Conte is putting the band through their paces in practices and going over segments of their musical routines repeatedly to ensure their playing is sharp and their timing is right.

In her experience, that’s the only way to achieve the kind of success she wants.

“It’s practice and hard work. I think talent really has little to do with success,” she said. “It really boils down to determination and willingness to work hard to get the job done.”

Band members have displayed a willingness to work hard because of Conte’s leadership. Sam Goldstein, who plays tuba among other instruments, said the band has seen Conte’s experience in action, and knows that her decisions lead to good outcomes.

“She’s done it for 17 years, and she doesn’t have to think about anything that she does,” he said of Conte. “She tells us what to do and somehow everything works out. I look up to her as a third parent, almost.”

As a result, band members believe Conte when she says the practices and the fundraising will be worth the effort once they set foot in Tennessee for the school’s first band trip to a college bowl game.

“This is our first one,” Conte said. “I’ve never done one before, either. I’m very excited, and the kids are very excited.”

For more information about the Steinbrenner High School Band and its fundraising efforts, call Steinbrenner at (813) 792-5131, or visit SteinbrennerBand.com.

Published November 5, 2014

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