Together With:
Welcome to Thursday Morning, Orlando!
Hello. This is Philip’s air-conditioning unit chiming in this morning. Can someone tell this crazy dude I need a break? He’s working me non-stop with zero breaks. Report him for poor labor practices!
Now, in today’s issue:
- The Women Who Served
- Oddities and Curiosities Market
- A Summer of Wellness
- + lots of weekend recs
Did a neighbor forward this to you? Subscribe here.
Let’s roll!
- Philip
P.S. Want some hawt community sourced foodie recommendations? Check out the Orlando Signal Restaurant Guide, right here.
P.P.S. Check out tons of open Orlando area jobs at the Orlando Signal Job Board, right here.
TOGETHER WITH: CFCARTS BIG BAND
American Evolution: America's Soundtrack in One Night
There are moments in history you can hear before you can name them: a brass swell, a guitar riff, a single voice carrying a movement.
📆 So pick a night on Friday (tomorrow), June 26th at 7:30 pm or Saturday, June 27th at 2:00 pm or 7:30 pm, as the CFCArts Big Band and special guests crank through thirty years of American life (1939 -1969) at Trinity Preparatory School Auditorium in Winter Park.
We're talking Harlem Renaissance jazz, the swing of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and the Andrews Sisters, the rock and roll swagger of Chuck Berry and Elvis, the soul of Sam Cooke, plus the Beatles and Woodstock by way of Blood, Sweat & Tears.
History buff, classics lover, or just itching for a great night out? Come on down. Tickets are crazy affordable, too!
🖱️ Tap/Click Here to Get More Info & Grab Tix →
3 QUICK NEWS BITS ⏲️
Once a Month, a Parking Lot Becomes a Lifeline
When Annie-Grace Funderburg started her new job with Orange County in August 2025, she noticed the services existed, but the people who needed them most weren't getting there.
Transportation, money, and impossible work schedules stood in the way.
So she started making phone calls.
Now, on the second Wednesday of every month, nine organizations converge on the Centers for Addiction and Mental Health Programs along Orange Blossom Trail.
From 2 to 6 p.m., they offer HIV and Hepatitis-C testing, primary care connections, mental health resources, and case management, deliberately timed to catch people who work the earliest mornings and latest nights.
Consistency, Funderburg believes, is part of the medicine.
Orlando Bets Its History on a Three-Year Gamble
Orlando's City Council voted 4-2 to hit pause, for three years, on the review process protecting the city's Downtown Historic District, its oldest preservation zone, dating to 1980 and packed with roughly 80 buildings built between the 1880s and 1940s.
Supporters say empty buildings rot faster than occupied ones. One developer burned through over $1 million navigating a process he found needlessly brutal, though he ended up loving the result.
Critics aren't buying it. A dissenting commissioner warned that gutting preservation rules is basically an open invitation to demolition.
A local historian said losing these buildings means losing Orlando's soul.
And a restoration contractor had the most colorful take: studying the moratorium's effects while protections are down is like leaving the henhouse open to see if foxes are actually into chickens.
The ordinance kicks in August 10th.
(Learn lots more about Orlando's three-year bet on its own past with Molly Duerig, right here)
The Women Who Served
Last week, roughly 40 people packed into Orlando's Women's History and Cultural Center for the opening of She Proudly Served: Women in the Military.
Hosted by the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council and emceed by retired Air Force officer Susan Aungst, the ceremony featured an impressive roster of speakers, including Girl Scouts CEO Jennifer Wilcox and four Florida Women Veterans Hall of Fame members: Sue Roper, Daila "Dee" Espeut-Jones, Lorraine Holland, and Deloris "Dee" Quaranta.
Inside, Kevlar helmets, folded flags, military pins, and nearly 100 portraits tell the stories of women whose contributions span from the Revolutionary War through the Iraq War, and whose service history has too often glossed over.
Florida ranks second in the nation for women veterans, topping 170,000 as of 2023, a number that still manages to surprise people.
Stop by Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., through September 30 at 341 N. Mills Avenue.
These stories are worth the visit.
WEEKEND SPOT HIGHLIGHT 🔦
The Orlando Oddities and Curiosities Market
Source: PrometheusEsoterica
📍Osceola Heritage Park, 1901 Chief Osceola Trail, Kissimmee, FL 34744. Map to this location.
🕐 Saturday, June 27th, 8 a.m.
Over 200 vendors of the weird, the wicked, and the wonderfully strange are taking over Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, and you won't want to miss it.
Florida's largest oddities market brings together bone art, taxidermy, occult treasures, antique curiosities, and things you genuinely can't explain.
Add live performances, hands-on workshops, and a full bar to the mix, and you've got one seriously good time.
Oh, and it's fully air-conditioned. In Florida. In June. You're welcome.
👉 Check It Out
TOP 3 FUN RECS FOR THE WEEKEND 🍊
Health & Nutrition Class: A Summer of Wellness
Source: 4Roots Farm
📍4Roots Farm Campus – Education Building. 1101 N John Young Pkwy Orlando, FL 32804. Map to this location.
🕐 Saturday, June 27th, 10 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., then Farmers Market until 1 p.m.
When summer hits, healthy habits are often the first thing to go. Alesia New, Director of Health & Nutrition Education at the Culinary Health Institute at 4Roots Farm, wants to change that.
Her free 30-minute community class, Health & Nutrition: A Summer of Wellness, covers five pillars of everyday well-being: nutrition, movement, stress, sleep, and social connection, with practical strategies that actually stick.
Afterward, explore the 4Roots Farmers Market, open until 1 p.m. Free and open to all.
👉 Get more info, right here
Plaza Live: Summer Concert - Indie Rock
Source: Plaza Live
📍The Plaza Live. 425 N Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL 32803. Map to this location.
🕐 Friday, June 26th, 7 p.m.
One Stage, Three Bands, One Summer Night
There's something a festival lineup can never replicate: a hometown show. Tomorrow (Friday), The Plaza Live hands its stage to three of Orlando's own, Streetracer, Beemo, and Weatherboys, for an indie night built entirely on local talent.
No headliners flown in, no algorithmic curation. Just three bands, one room, and a crowd that knows their names.
👉 Get the full details
West Side Story - School Edition
Source: Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
📍Steinmetz Hall. 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801. Map to this location.
🕐 Friday & Saturday, June 26th (7:30 p.m.) & 27th (7:30 p.m. & 2 p.m.)
Where Shakespeare Meets the Streets
In 1957, a musical about feuding teenagers in New York City upended Broadway. Now, Florida Musical Theatre Intensive is opening its inaugural season with that same story.
West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein's music, Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, Shakespeare's heartbreak, follows two young people torn between rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, in 1950s Manhattan.
Featuring pre-professional performers from across Florida, FMTI's first full-scale production brings the iconic score, including "Tonight," "America," and "Somewhere," to life with precision and purpose.
👉 Check It Out
THIS WEEKENDS HAPPENINGS 🎭 🥁
Multi-day
World Cup Soccer Match Watch Parties | Thur, Fri, Sat | Lake Nona | More
Put a Bird on It Art Show @TheFalconBar | Fr, Sat, Sun | Thornton Park | More
Friday
Fairy Night | 6:30 pm | Leu Gardens | More
Jeff Rupert Quartet | 8:00 pm | Winter Park | More
Urban Kiz Beyond Basics Series w/Matrix of Movement | 7:00 pm | Oviedo | More
Matt Schofield | 7 & 9 pm | City District | More
idobi Radio Summer School w/ Honey Revenge & more | 5:00 pm | Lake Buena Vista | More
12th Annual Orlando Japanese Arts, Collectibles and Sword Show | 12:00 pm | South | More
Anime Art Class With Jamile Johnson | 2:00 pm | South | More
Michael Blackson | 7:30 pm | I-Drive | More
Saturday
🔥 Romeo & Juliet | 11:00 am, 3:30 p.m., 7 p.m. | Winter Park | More
Audubon Center for Birds of Prey: Rainbow Raptors | 10:00 am | Audubon Park | More
Hidden Treasures Thrift Boutique | 10:00 am | Audubon Park | More
Pancakes & Booze Art Show | 7:00 pm | Thornton Park | More
The Ascent | 7:00 pm | Lake Formosa | More
Saved By The 90's | 7:30 pm | Lake Buena Vista | More
MC Chris in Orlando | 7:00 pm | Winter Park | More
6th Annual Wellness Extravaganza | 10:00 am | West | More
How I Learned (Not) To Drive, a NYC Fringe Festival award-winning play | City District | 8:00 pm | More
Sunday
🔥Sparkle in the Summer Bridal Expo | 11:00 am | Casselberry | More
Orlando Jazz Orchestra Celebrates 10 Years for the Blue Bamboo! | 3:00 pm | Winter Park | More
Local Author Festival | 2:00 pm | City District | More
2 Girls and a Market Summerween: A Halloween Preview Market | 1:00 pm | Packing District | More
Orlando City B vs. Columbus Crew 2 | 7:00 pm | Kissimmee | More
Worm - Total Possession of America Tour in Orlando | 7:00 pm | Winter Park | More
American Girl Friendship Club | 2:00 pm | Maitland | More
Exotic Cars & Coffee | 10:00 am | Celebration | More
🎭 Have an event to share?Submit it here.
THANKS!
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We’ll see you on Monday.
My Best,
Philip - Publisher, Orlando Signal
