Welcome to Monday Morning in Orlando
In last Thursday’s issue, I shared how the Orlando Public Library downtown is getting a $18 million first-floor makeover, and Friday, the renders finally arrived. Turns out "snazzier entrance" was doing a lot of heavy lifting. See what's coming.
In today’s issue: 👇
- No Elves Required
- Wine Star Pet
- Tortilleria El Progreso
- ….and much more
Did someone forward this email to you? Join over 20K insatiably curious Orlandoans, right here.
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 ⏪
Meet the Post Office That Takes Christmas Seriously
(All Year)
There's a real town in Florida named Christmas, and its post office has been stamping holiday joy onto envelopes since 1892, just 25 miles east of Orlando, no elves required.
The name traces back to Fort Christmas, a stockade thrown together in a single frantic day, December 25, 1837, during the Second Seminole War, then deserted just months later. The fort vanished. The name didn’t.
Enter the Tuckers, who kept the mail moving for generations, especially postmistress Juanita Tucker, appointed by Herbert Hoover and unstoppable for 42 years straight. She turned a dusty rural mail stop into a full-blown phenomenon, hand-canceling up to 300,000 cards a season pouring in from Japan, England, even the USSR, each one dressed up with her own signature green tree stamp.
In 1969, the town landed a first-day postage stamp release, cementing its place in postal lore.
These days, Christmas goes all in: Blitzen Avenue, Santa letters pinned to a bulletin board, a tree lit year-round, and a December festival with the whole town leaning into the bit.
It’s definitely worth the detour off Highway 50.
🔥 Fancy a trip through the history of the Christmas Post Office? Check out my expanded version, right here.
THE SQUEEZE 🍊
Eight Sloths Are Slowly, Very Slowly, Winning Their Comeback Story
Eight sloths at the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford are doing what sloths do best: taking things one impossibly slow day at a time, and, against the odds, improving.
The animals arrived in late April as survivors of the ill-fated Sloth World attraction in Orlando, a canceled exhibit linked to at least 57 animal deaths. Five of the 13 originally brought to the zoo didn't make it.
Now, staff are coaxing the remaining eight toward recovery using desensitization training, a process of gradually introducing the animals to human presence and medical equipment until neither triggers panic. The goal is for the sloths to voluntarily participate in their own care, one unhurried, hard-won step at a time.
🦥 Check out the sloth care update journal, right here.
(Hang around and learn a ton more about the sloths with Molly Duerig, right here)
Orange County Checks Into a $13M Hotel
Orange County commissioners dropped $13 million on a 200-room Wyndham hotel sitting right next door to the county jail. No debate, no questions, just a unanimous vote and a very large check.
The Baymont by Wyndham in the South John Young area started life in 1973 as a flagship Days Inn built to scoop up Disney-bound tourists. A $3 million facelift landed it inside the Wyndham family in 2024.
Now Mayor Jerry Demings wants to turn it into transitional homeless housing, and honestly, the county is desperate for it.
Orange County is short roughly 800 shelter beds, a previous 300-bed shelter plan got killed by neighborhood opposition, and a nearby Hilton was already flipped into permanent housing for homeless veterans.
An official decision is still pending, but the writing's on the wall.
Your Pet Could Be a Wine Star
Calling all dog and cat parents! Quantum Leap Winery and Pet Alliance are searching for the face of their 2026 My Best Friend Wine Label Contest.
Now in its 13th year, the contest is simple: submit a photo and your adoption story by July 19th for a $5 entry fee.
Public voting runs July 20th through August 2nd, with every $1 vote going straight to Pet Alliance to help shelter animals find loving homes.
The winning dog and cat score their very own wine label sold year-round Quantum Leap Winery’s website.
👉 Learn more and enter here. Fame awaits. 🍷
👉 Partner With Orlando Signal 👈
💼 This Week’s Curated Jobs
Sourced from the Orlando Signal Job Board!
🥭 Retail Marketing Manager National Mango Board | Orlando (Hybrid)
Get paid to make mangoes famous nationwide by managing retail promotions, Nielsen data, and a team of regional account managers at a USDA-backed commodity board.
💰 $100K-$110K/year | 👉 Learn More & Apply
🧩 Center Operations Supervisor BlueSprig | Orlando
Keep an ABA therapy center running smoothly behind the scenes so clinicians can focus on changing kids' lives, managing schedules, staff, and everything in between.
💰 From $50K/year + daily pay option | 👉 Learn More & Apply
🎨 Branding & Creative Sr. Specialist (Remote) BlueWave Resource Partners | Remote (EST hours, 30 hrs/week)
Wrangle digital creative projects from kickoff to delivery for a hospitality brand, coordinating emails, landing pages, and banner ads without ever picking up a design tool.
💰 Competitive hourly (W2 contract) | 👉 Learn More & Apply
🏐 Communications & PR Intern Orlando Valkyries / Major League Volleyball | Orlando (Seasonal)
Cover a professional volleyball season from the press box, writing recaps, managing credentials, and building the media muscle that launches sports communications careers.
💰 College credit + free match tickets | 👉 Learn More & Apply
💊 Client Strategy Manager - Pharma PwC | Orlando (Up to 20% travel)
Drive pharma revenue and brand growth at one of the world's most prestigious consulting firms, building client relationships and leading strategic campaigns that actually move the needle.
💰 $73.5K-$212.2K/year | 👉 Learn More & Apply
Tap/click here for lots more opportunities. Over 100 added last week!
✈️ Orlando’s best flight deal - Fish tacos and ocean breezes edition
Seventy-five degrees in mid-August. Every single day. While the rest of the country sweats through summer, San Diego's just out here being effortlessly perfect and not making a big deal about it. Balboa Park's got more museums than you can hit in a weekend, the fish tacos in Ocean Beach will ruin you for life, and Coronado Island is right there if you need a postcard moment. It's relaxed without being boring, beautiful without being pretentious, and just far enough from LA to have its own whole personality.
Orlando (MCO) → San Diego (SAN) for 325 bucks* (non-stop!), round-trip Thursday through Sunday, mid-August. See the deal.
*Price shown above is accurate as of the time this newsletter was sent.
TASTY NEWS 🧑🍳
Orlando Area Eateries Coming & Going
1️⃣ OPENING SOON: Koa Sushi - A New Flavor Hits Mills 50
The fusion spot that's been turning heads at The Great Southern Box Company Food Hall for a few years already is finally getting its own place. Koa Sushi (Insta), where Japanese, Latin, and Hawaiian flavors collide in the best way possible, is planting its flag in Mills 50, with a mid-month opening goal.
2️⃣ OPENING IN A FEW MONTHS: Desi Chowrastha Indian Eatery - Your Biryani Craving, Sorted
Desi Chowrastha Indian Eatery (Insta), named after India's legendary town crossroads where good food and good company collide, is opening in a few months, bringing biryanis, samosas, dosas, curries, and tandoor classics to Orlando's Westwood Boulevard.
#ORLANDOSIGNAL 📸
Pizza sign inside John & John’s Pizza Shop (yummy spot!)
📷 via @orlandosignal |📍SoDo
Tag @orlandosignal to get your photo featured in the newsletter!
FOODIE FIND, FORK YEAH! 🤩
Tortilleria El Progreso Mexican Restaurant
📍6096 E Colonial Dr, Azalea Park, FL 32807. Map to this location.
Right next to a Home Depot sits Orlando's most unlikely Mexican food obsession: Tortilleria El Progreso.
It's a restaurant, bakery, and grocery store crammed happily into one building, complete with a butcher counter and chairs someone clearly had fun painting.
They press their own tortillas daily, because store-bought is for amateurs.
The menu goes big: tacos, tortas, mariscos, molcajete, breakfast all day. Order the Torta Cubana or Burrito Norteño and thank us later.
👉 Check out the menu, right here 👈
Source: Tortilleria El Progreso Mexican Restaurant
MORE PULP! 😎
Weekday things to check out
🏺 Gettin' Glazed: Fantasy Edition
📅 Tuesday, July 14th | 6-8pm
📍 All Fired Up, West Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park
Paint dragons, mermaids, and fairies on your own ceramic piece, get it professionally fired, and soak in a therapist-led talk on staying radiant. Mocktails included!
👉 Get Magical
🎵 Quentin Avery: Quintessential Soul
📅 Tuesday, July 14th | 7pm
📍 Judson's Live, Dr. Phillips Center
Celebrate the legendary sounds of Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Al Green, and more with this powerhouse performer making his Judson's Live debut.
👉 Soul Shakedown
🍔 Tasty Takeover in The Milk District
📅 Tuesdays | 6:30-10pm
📍 The Milk District – 2424 E Robinson St
Orlando's premier weekly food truck block party featuring diverse culinary offerings behind the shops and bars.
👉 Dine Alfresco
🌾 Cooking with Confidence: Exploring Ancient Grains
📅 Tuesday, July 14th | 6-7pm
📍 Center for Health & Wellbeing – Nutrition Theatre, Winter Park
Certified nutrition consultant Sarah Santa unlocks the delicious world of farro, freekeh, sorghum, millet, and quinoa. Grains with history and serious flavor.
👉 Grain Revolution
🎨 Summer Family Programs: Inspired by the World
📅 Tuesday, July 14th | 10am & 1pm
📍 Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
Explore multicultural influences from Tiffany's Laurelton Hall and design your own Japanese tsuba in this guided family tour with take-home art activity; $5 deposit, reservations required.
👉 Family Art Time
🎵 Music and Story Time with Mark DeMaio
📅 Wednesday, July 15th | 11-11:30am
📍 Mennello Museum of American Art
Percussive sing-along and story time exploring visual and musical arts. Perfect for tiny art lovers with big imaginations!
👉 Kid-Friendly Fun
🏛️ Access for All at OMA
📅 Thursday, July 16th | 10am-8pm
📍 Orlando Museum of Art
Monthly free community day with gallery talks, sketching materials, docent tour at 7pm, and occasional avant-garde film screening with Enzian.
👉 Art for Everyone
🎭 Want to share an event? Use this link.
THANKS!
✅ Want to connect with 20K+ curious Orlandoans for your business?, start a conversation here.
🌟 Know a community superstar? Tell me about them, right here.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you again on Thursday’s weekend fun issue.
My Best,
Philip - Publisher, Orlando Signal
