The Escalante Arts Festival offers four Hands-On classes this year recognizing art in its many forms. Participants will have their own art to take home
DAYTONA BEACH Every night for five years, Madeline Mendez had to push aside toys, books, DVDs and all the other trappings of her living room to clear a space where she could drift off to sleep.
Just a few feet away, her three kids would snooze in the two small bedrooms inside her cramped South Daytona apartment.
It was spartan living, but it was a step up from the eight months prior to that she was homeless and bouncing from one family member s house to another to avoid living out of her car, on the streets or in a shelter.
DAYTONA BEACH Petra Smiley s new home isn t exactly one of those tony riverfront estates with lush tropical landscaping, a backyard pool and deck for moonlit parties, and a dock to park the family yacht.
Her house is a 1,250-square-foot concrete block structure built when Richard Nixon was president and located in a no-frills neighborhood just east of Nova Road near Bellevue Avenue.
But to Smiley, a longtime dweller of cramped apartments, it s the castle she s been dreaming of for more than a decade. The four-bedroom home has plenty of space for her and her two small children, there s a yard complete with a huge oak tree in back, a carport will protect her from the rain, and interior upgrades give the home a modern, polished look.