Welcome to Monday Morning in Orlando
We took a lovely stroll through Ivanhoe Village this weekend and indulged in some local yummies. First stop was Rye Row by Olde Hearth during their soft opening for some pastries and brought home a monster loaf of rye bread to boot. Then, a few doors down, we stopped at Aguila for some Mexican coffee!
In today’s issue: 👇
- 54 Years of Pure Fun
- Keys in Hand
- Jiang’s Kitchen
- ….and much more
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Let’s dive in!
- Philip
P.S. Want some hawt community sourced foodie recommendations? Check out the Orlando Signal Restaurant Guide, right here.
(GREATER) ORLANDO REWIND ⏪
Five Bucks, Three Tracks, and 54 Years of Pure Fun
Lil 500 Go-Karts opened in February 1968 on U.S. 17-92 in Fern Park, and Ron and Mary Kline built it right.
The main circuit was a love letter to Daytona International Speedway, complete with its own pit area. Ron ran the place on three rules: welcome families, treat women well, and keep the women's restroom clean. Mary reportedly handled that last one personally. Standards were standards.
The track shaped Orlando's amusement landscape in ways most people never knew. A college kid named John Arie Sr. picked up work there in the late 1960s, and Ron liked what he saw enough to invite him to run the mini-bike concession, a gig Arie has credited as the spark that eventually led him to found Fun Spot America.
For nearly 54 years, locals brought their kids, who brought their own kids, who eventually brought theirs. Four generations, same asphalt, same smell of exhaust and pure joy, all for $5 a ride.
When the Klines finally closed on January 8, 2022, it wasn't financial trouble. Ron and Mary had both passed, the family operators were in their 60s, and no next generation was ready to take on the long, hands-on days a kart track demands. They chose their own finish line.
Long lines formed that final Saturday. The property has since been slated for a self-storage facility. The engines are quiet now, but those laps still count.
🏎️ I kept it tight, but the full article goes the distance, including the iconic steel slide, the three-track setup that made Lil 500 work for every age, and the bittersweet closing weekend that brought out four generations of the same Orlando families. Buckle up and read it here.
THE SQUEEZE 🍊
Orange County's 20-Year Plan to Beat the Heat
Orange County is tired of all that relentless Florida sun, and it's fighting back with trees.
The county just launched its first-ever Urban Forest Master Plan, a 20-year push to grow the tree canopy from 35% to 48% by 2050.
Think of it as infrastructure, just with leaves: more trees mean cooler streets, cleaner air, better stormwater management, and higher property values.
Planners are mapping every corner of the county. Urban, suburban, and rural, to find where shade is needed most.
Tree planting is already underway at Great Oaks Village, with the broader plan guiding how Central Florida's booming growth and its greenery can actually coexist.
Keys in Hand: Orlando's 407 Connect Is Lapping Itself
More than a year in, Orlando's 407 Connect program has already done what it set out to do in three, moving 169 people from homelessness into housing, and it's not slowing down.
The setup is clever: nights aboard specially outfitted buses, paired with real case management, rental assistance, and family reunification. A $3 million Community Redevelopment Agency investment keeps it running, with a third of funds dedicated to actual move-in costs.
Of 260 people served, 169 have keys in hand. Twelve got housed just last week.
City and Christian Service Center leaders credit teamwork and relationship-building for the results. Now Orlando wants other cities to steal the playbook.
🚌 Hear a few of the success stories, right here.
Dengue Crashes the Party in Central Florida
For the first time since 2011, Orange County is under a mosquito-borne illness alert, but right now, the uninvited guest is dengue.
Three locally acquired cases have turned up in Apopka and Pine Hills, a disease pattern that officials say has no business being this far north.
Hillsborough County has it considerably worse, logging a record 120 cases and one death, an 80-year-old woman. Florida's statewide tally of 152 cases ranks as the second-highest ever recorded.
Recent rains sent mosquito trap counts soaring from 13,000 to 23,000 in a single week. Orange County Mosquito Control is sweeping affected neighborhoods and asking residents to ditch any standing water on their property, even a bottle cap is basically a five-star resort for these insects.
(Get the full buzz on Central Florida's dengue outbreak with Joe Mario Pedersen, right here)
👉 Partner With Orlando Signal 👈
💼 Who’s Hiring in Orlando?
Sourced from the Orlando Signal Job Board!
🏢 Office Services Supervisor CBRE | Orlando
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🥃 Events Operations Supervisor Caribbean Moonshine Craft Distillery | Florida (Statewide travel)
Lead a crew of 15 to 25 Shine Slingers across up to 15 simultaneous Florida festivals, managing P&Ls, coaching the team, and bringing the Caribbean Moonshine brand to life at every event.
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🌴 Director, Marketing, B2B Travel + Leisure Co. | Orlando (Up to 25% travel)
Lead B2B and partner marketing for the world's leading vacation ownership company, shaping go-to-market strategies that send millions of families to their dream destinations.
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🎓 Learning and Development Manager Holiday Inn Club Vacations | Orlando (Up to 20% travel)
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Hiring? Post a job
Hunting? Peep 100’s of jobs on the Orlando Signal Job Board, right here.
Know someone looking? Send them here.
✈️ Orlando’s best flight deal - Maple leaves and market halls edition
Toronto in late October is a revelation. The fall colors along the Distillery District's Victorian brick lanes are genuinely stunning, Kensington Market is one of the most eclectic neighborhoods on the continent, and St. Lawrence Market, consistently ranked one of the best food markets in the world, deserves an entire morning of your time. The CN Tower's still worth it for the views, Chinatown and Little Italy are within walking distance of each other, and the restaurant scene rivals any major American city. It's bigger than you expect, more interesting than you've been told, and the exchange rate doesn't hurt either.
Orlando (MCO) → Toronto (YYZ) for 227 bucks* (non-stop!), round-trip Thursday through Sunday, late-October. See the deal.
*Price shown above is accurate as of the time this newsletter was sent.
TASTY NEWS 🧑🍳
Orlando Area Eateries Coming & Going
1️⃣ SOFT OPENED: Rye Row by Olde Hearth - The Bakery Behind the Bread
We hit this spot over the weekend for some yummy pasteries, but for 28 years, Olde Hearth quietly supplied artisan bread to Orlando's best restaurants, never with a storefront. That changes now. Rye Row by Olde Hearth (Insta) is soft open on N. Orange Avenue in Ivanhoe Village, serving sourdough, croissants, coffee, pastries, and homemade dog treats. Expect a little chaos.
2️⃣ NOW OPEN: DiVino by Grappolo - Maitland's Moodiest Pizza Night
Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza has officially arrived in Maitland, and it came with a whole wine cellar. DiVino (Insta) is now open inside Maitland Social, serving naturally leavened pies like salsiccia e friarielli hot from a Fiero Forni oven, alongside house-made antipasti and classic Italian desserts. all in a moody, candlelit room begging you to stay another hour.
#ORLANDOSIGNAL 📸
It’s been a while, but here’s Luna, the silly girl in all her glory
📷 via @orlandosignal |📍Catistan
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FOODIE FIND, FORK YEAH! 🤩
Jiang’s Kitchen
📍27 East Robinson Street, Orlando, FL, 32801. Map to this location.
At Jiang's Kitchen (Insta), one number defines everything: 18, the pleats hand-folded into every Xiao Long Bao, daily, without exception.
Michelin-trained executive chef Miaozhen Zhang brings 15 years of soup dumpling mastery to a city that didn't know it was missing them.
Paired with premium sushi and an open kitchen where the craft unfolds before your eyes, Eric Jiang's latest venture doesn't ask Orlando to lower its expectations. It raises them.
👉 Check out the menu, right here 👈
Source: Jiang’s Kitchen
MORE PULP! 😎
Weekday things to check out
🎭 Energy Follows Thought: Mind Body Connection
📅 Tuesday, September 29th | 1-2:30pm
📍 Orlando Museum of Art
Museum educator Janice Stieber Rous guides you through breathwork, mindful practices, and art-making between the galleries and studio. Come ready to slow down and reconnect.
👉 Breathe and Create
🎭 Forgotten Broadway
📅 Tuesday, September 29th | 7pm
📍 Judson's Live, Dr. Phillips Center
No script, no setlist, just Orlando's best improvisers turning YOUR audience suggestions into legendary Broadway showtunes on the spot. No two shows are ever the same!
👉 Unscripted Magic
🎭 Hamilton
📅 Tuesday, September 29th through Sunday, October 18th
📍 Walt Disney Theater, Dr. Phillips Center
The show that changed Broadway forever comes to Orlando! Hip-hop, history, and heartbreak collide in Lin-Manuel Miranda's 11-time Tony Award-winning masterpiece.
👉 The Room Where It Happens
🧛 Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors
📅 Tuesday-Thursday, September 29th through October 1st
📍 Orlando Shakes
Five actors, dozens of characters, and 90 minutes of gender-bending, quick-changing, laugh-out-loud vampire chaos. Perfect for audiences of all blood types!
👉 FANGtastic Fun
🎸 Free A&H History Talk
📅 Wednesday, September 30th | 6-7pm
📍 Art and History Museums of Maitland
Free gallery admission, curator-led tours or expert lectures, a cash bar, and the most beautiful garden in Maitland at sunset. Your Last Wednesday just got a major upgrade.
👉 Art After Hours
💐 Pilates and Fall Florals
📅 Wednesday, September 30th | 6:30-8:30pm
📍 132 East Colonial Drive
Beginner Pilates to get out of your head, then fall floral arranging to fill your hands. Leave with fresh flowers, a Salt and Stone goodie, and a brain that feels lighter.
👉 Move and Bloom
🌟 LE SSERAFIM: PUREFLOW TOUR
📅 Wednesday, September 30th | 7:30pm
📍 Kia Center
K-pop powerhouse LE SSERAFIM brings their fearless energy, powerful choreography, and chart-topping hits from "FEARLESS" to "EASY" to Orlando!
👉 Pureflow
🕺 Footloose: The Musical
📅 Thursday, September 24th through Sunday, October 11th
📍 Garden Theatre on Plant, Winter Garden
Cut loose! City teen versus small-town dancing ban in this high-energy musical rebellion with powerhouse hits and pure feel-good energy.
👉 Everybody Cut Loose
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THANKS!
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Thanks for reading! I’ll see you again on Thursday’s weekend fun issue.
My Best,
Philip - Publisher, Orlando Signal
