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Mayfaire by-the-Lake makes welcome return By Paul Catala For about 25 years, Lakeland acrylic gouache painter Stephen Koury has shown his realism wildlife and landscape artwork at the annual Mayfaire by-the-Lake art festival. For the past five years, Koury’s daughter, Sage, has taken to the festival stage to entertain the crowds with her singing. This year, on Mother’s Day weekend, the Kourys once again were off Lake Morton Drive, simultaneously showing and performing their talents. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Mayfaire by-the-Lake was cancelled. Held Saturday and Sunday around Lake Morton on Lake Morton Drive just south of downtown Lakeland, since 1971, The Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College’s Mayfaire by-the Lake has become one of the United States’ most acclaimed juried outdoor art festivals. The free show is held each year on Mother’s Day weekend and this year, artists are competing for part of $17,000 in total prize m ....
LAKELAND In 2019, Lakeland’s renowned art show Mayfaire by-the-Lake attracted upward of 75,000 visitors over the weekend of May 11 and 12. A year later, there wasn’t a single person looking at a single art piece by a single artist. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 edition of Mayfaire was cancelled. But this year is different. Because of easing of restrictions by the state of Florida, Mayfaire is on again, with precautions in place to ensure the safe and sanitary return of the May 8 and 9 Mother’s Day weekend art show. Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College’s (PMA) Mayfaire by-the Lake is a free, juried art show held each year on Mother’s Day weekend and is one of the United States’ most acclaimed juried outdoor art festivals. In 2019, it was ranked 36th of 200 art shows in the U.S. by Sunshine Artist Magazine. ....
In addition to showcasing their new Super Hornets, this year the Blue Angels are featuring Fat Albert, the team’s newly acquired C130J Hercules transport. The plane is noted for its short takeoff and landing abilities. Originally scheduled to arrive at the airport at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, the team was delayed by about 2½ hours because of severe weather sweeping through Pensacola, where the team is based. However, Fat Albert crewmembers were on hand by 10 a.m. That plane arrives in advance of air shows caring U.S. Navy aircraft maintenance personnel to prepare show sites for the jets’ arrivals. ....
At 42, Damon Fowler has already had more than 30 years of the blues. Since he began playing guitar in his Brandon home at 10 years old, Fowler has progressed to become one of the Tampa Bay area and Central Florida’s most renowned blues-rock guitarists. Fowler along with bassist Chuck Riley of Zephyrhills and drummer Jason Headley of Pensacola will bring the blues to Lakeland Live at 8 p.m. Friday, April 9. The show will showcase songs from Fowler’s CD “Alafia Moon,” and the Lakeland performance will also be the CD release party. Recorded and mixed in 10 days at Largo’s Creative World Recording, Fowler said his eighth studio album on Landslide Records combines all the influences that have shaped his blues career. He also co-produced it along with producer George Harris, who has worked with Cheap Trick, Rick Derringer and Brian Johnson of AC/DC. ....
A lifetime in the making: 3 sisters meet for the first time in Polk Paul Catala Three sisters met for the first time Feb. 21. Sharon Koller, 83, and Linda Clark, 75, flew to Orlando from Muskegon, Michigan, and then traveled to Winter Haven to meet their sister, Judie Randall, 80. The women had the same father but grew up in separate families in separate cities. The reunion began when Koller s brother, Curtis Carlson, began searching the internet and joined Ancestry. “Even though we had never met before, we fit together like a puzzle right out of the box that was finally completed,” said Koller, a retired restaurant owner and food-service manager. “I’m always getting teary-eyed about separating from them. I was waiting so many years to meet my family; I had a wonderful upbringing, but there was always something missing.” ....