Sixteen area businesses showed their community spirit and patriotism by participating in Ruskin Memorial VFW 6287's 2009 Veterans Day Parade: Apollo Cellular; Beanie's Family Sports Grill; Bennett Building & Development; Canadian Meds South; D & L Insurance; Dynamic Painting; Flip Flops & Fitness; Freedom Plaza; Jasminelaina Lawn & Landscaping; M & I Bank; Pet Kingdom Grooming Salon; Sanchez Brothers Custom Fabrication; Shell Point Marina; TECO Energy; People's Gas; and Weichert Realtors - SouthShore. ...more

November 25, 2009

If I were a holiday, I wouldn't want to be Thanksgiving, sandwiched between Halloween - the prelude to festivities - and New Year's Eve, the grand finale to it all. Christmas has the starring role, naturally, and as soon as the curtain opens on November, Christmas preparation is the only act in town. ...more

November 25, 2009

When it comes to the Thanksgiving meal, some envision grandmothers wearing flour-dusted aprons preparing homemade turkey giblet gravy or mashed potatoes in the kitchen. ...more

November 25, 2009

complete with a necklace of Gasparilla beads - Andy Nash of Sun City Center held nothing back when he prepared for the combined costume party and pumpkin carving contest at Freedom Plaza. ...more

November 11, 2009

Flocking together has just been made easier for some area residents, those whose preference for song runs to operatic arias. Two local opera clubs are now combined and settling happily in their new nest, Freedom Plaza. ...more

November 11, 2009

I love my home. I can afford my home...barely. Having no children to tell me, "Mom, it's time for you to move to a place where they will make life easier for you," I have long thought I would move to an Aston Gardens or Freedom Plaza by the time I was 70, while I could make the decision with all my faculties. Most of them, anyway. ...more

November 11, 2009

With the swine flu, high unemployment and plummeting housing prices, Sun City Center has not been immune to national problems. Part-time residents here, however, can always count on cheery friends and neighbors to welcome them back every November. ...more

November 4, 2009

Delores Dudzik is not originally from Germany, but she said she felt a kindred spirit with Germans during Oktoberfest as she twirled on the dance floor at Freedom Plaza with her partner, John. ...more

November 4, 2009

Residents at Homewood Residence Freedom Plaza Brookdale Senior Living got a little wild at the residence Oct. 13. Jaime Massey, an animal ambassador with Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, brought a menagerie of six exotic animals to show to about 50 residents in the center's conference room. Massey brought animals from three different species' groups - representing "scales, feathers and fur" - describing the animals' native homelands, diets and unique aspects. Bev Hurley, Homewood's sales and marketing manager, said it was Lowry Park's first visit to Homewood Residence and was part of the center's ongoing speakers series. ...more

October 21, 2009

For four days, he floated in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea after the U.S. Navy cruiser he was on was sunk by a Japanese submarine. ...more

October 21, 2009