When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Jon Wayne, co-owner of The Venue at Friendship Springs in Braselton, shut his events facility down for five months.
Freshmen start, seniors cap off COVID-19 college experience
Both classes lost a significant year to the COVID-19 pandemic March 17, 2021 | 6:15am EDT
A lone man is seen walking through Turlington Plaza at UF in Gainesville, Fla., on August 31, 2020. The plaza, which is usually filled with people, remained relatively bare on the first day of fall classes. Photo by Samantha Harrison | The Independent Florida Alligator
Gator chomps, late-night laughs at Pod Market, the smell of Starbucks Coffee at Library West and other elements of UF life pre-pandemic now stand as cherished memories for the class of 2021.
Students sitting on shiny bleachers in The Swamp cheered “C’mon Gators, get up and go!” right before wrapping their arms aro
New food park opens in Gainesville’s Innovation District
Midpoint Park & Eatery provides the community with a unique option for food and leisure Midpoint Park & Eatery hosts a unique variety of restaurant and seating options.
For Gainesville residents in need of an outdoor space to unwind and grab a bite to eat, the Innovation District’s latest addition is open for business.
Midpoint Park & Eatery, Gainesville’s newest food and leisure destination owned by Trimark Properties, opened March 1 and is located at 931 SW Second Ave.
The fully fenced park offers a recreational green space equipped with hammocks, giant Adirondack chairs, misting fans and shaded outdoor seating for up to 80 people. Locals can gather, relax and experience some of the area’s most unique flavors with the park permanently hosting four stationary food trucks.
perspective this terry jones pastor is no billy graham. even the mayor admits he s an embarrassment to the community. reporter: yeah, that s right, kyra. in fact, when we went over to this prayer service yesterday, this interfaith prayer service in downtown gainesville where about 300 people gathered to talk about unity and tolerance and peace, people from all faiths. when i asked the ministers, i said have any of you reached out to terry jones? was he invited? no, he wasn t invited. no, we haven t reached out. they have distanced themselves as far as they can from jones. i said, have you tried to talk sense into him? and the mayor said, i m not the right person to do that. i said why. he said during the run up to the
episcopal church in downtown gainesville and theirs was a message of love and tolerance. i am here because when there is an opportunity to stand for love instead of hate, and peace instead of discord, i want to be here. reporter: all of this uproar over jones and his plan may, many people here say, provide an opportunity for better understanding of the muslim faith. the shame in it is that the pastor is burning a book he has not read, so that the natural inclination is for somebody to, you know, be aroused by curiosity wise and say, what is in this book? reporter: jones has collected 200 korans he intends to burn, and he says he has not read one of them. now, jones does not have a permit to burn the books on saturday night, but he says hi will go ahead with it anyway. i asked the mayor of gainesville this afternoon, what if anything do you plan to do to stop him. wolf, the mayor would not tip his hand.