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Winter Park Magazine

Winter Park Magazine is a beautiful, content-rich magazine celebrating historic Winter Park, Florida, the region's intellectual and cultural heart.

11/17/2025

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11/14/2025

SOME PIECES
By Billy Collins

I forget who claimed he loved books, he just didn’t like reading them. I feel the same way about chess. And bridge. I used to have my poetry students read the play-by-play annotations in the New York Times bridge column. We had no idea what they meant, but we could tell some kind of struggle was going on. Akin to some poems. I do like chess as a subject or metaphor. In another poem, I wrote about finding a lost chess piece in a park and imagining that a salt shaker had taken its place on the board.

Some Pieces
The knight turns his horse
with invisible reins.

The bishop lifts his robes
and slides across the board.

That the castle budges
at all is impressive.

The unhurried pawn
moves an inch at a time

toward the square
of its sudden removal,

while the king and queen
quietly discuss the ending.

Billy Collins served as a two-term U.S. Poet Laureate (2001–03) and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His most recent book of poems is Water, Water (Random House, 2024), and forthcoming later this year is Dog Show, a collection of his poems about dogs, with watercolors by Pamela Sztybel. “Some Pieces” is a new poem written for Winter Park Magazine.

11/10/2025

Despite its founding by progressive New Englanders and its reputation for enlightenment, genteel Winter Park was inexorably part of the Jim Crow South. From privately funded swim clubs created to exclude Black families to the grassroots movement that built the West Side Pool, our city’s waterlines reveal powerful truths about segregation, community, and change.

In this deeply researched piece written by Randy Noles, uncover how civic leaders, local residents, and determined activists shaped access to recreation- and how those decisions still echo in swimming disparities today.

Learn more and read the full article on our website: https://winterparkmag.com/2025/09/26/water-line/

11/05/2025

The Park Plaza Hotel, scene of this issue’s fashion feature, epitomizes Old Winter Park.

Built in 1922 by the Orlando & Winter Park Railway as the Hamilton Hotel, it was later renamed the Park Plaza. Today, it's the only hotel on Park Avenue and offers just 28 rooms with all the modern luxuries you’d expect—plus balconies overlooking the city’s signature shopping and dining district or the southern reaches of Central Park with its spectacular rose garden. You can check in, but we guarantee you won’t want to check out.

All clothing and accessories provided by Bebe's and Liz's

PHOTOGRAPHY: Carlos Amoedo
STYLING: Fused Fashion
MAKEUP/HAIR: Lindsay @ Park & Swoope Salon
MODEL: Adriana Lutringer
LOCATION: Park Plaza Hotel

11/02/2025

“For the love of all that is holy, stop backing into parking spaces!”

Writer Greg Dawson has had it with back-in parkers, especially the ones clogging up the Trader Joe’s parking lot. From “Redneck Dave” to “Gigi the ER nurse,” he hit the parking lots of Winter Park to uncover why some drivers swear by it… and others swear at it.

Read the full story at https://winterparkmag.com/2025/09/26/hey-back-in-parkers-back-off/ then tell us in the comments: Are you Team Back-In or Team Head-First?

10/28/2025

Through the window of Major General John C. Raaen’s suite at The Mayflower at Winter Park, an American flag waves - a fitting tribute to a man who stormed Omaha Beach at 22 and still embodies courage at 103.

Now among the last surviving Army Rangers of World War II, the General has been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal - the same honor once bestowed upon George Washington.

Read more about his remarkable life and legacy at https://winterparkmag.com/2025/09/26/the-last-of-the-d-day-heroes/

10/27/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us last Thursday at the Winter Park Farmers’ Market to celebrate the 2025 Most Influential People. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet new friends who make Winter Park such a special place to live, work, and create.

A special thank-you to our presenting sponsors, AdventHealth, The Mayflower at Winter Park, and Hill Gray Seven, for helping make this celebration possible.

Enjoy a few favorite moments from the evening!

10/26/2025

Bonus Best Bite of 2025 OUT of the 32789 - Kook'n With Kim

If you’re a fan of Southern cooking—fresh collards cooked ‘til tender with pork, crispy fried chicken, dreamy banana pudding—make the short trek to Kook'n With Kim in nearby Eatonville, where feisty Kim Middleton is in the kitchen every day and her grandson, Marcel, runs the front of the house.

There are no tables; get in line and place your order for generous, packed-to-go helpings of meatloaf, candied yams, rice and gravy, mac and cheese, black-eyed peas and other soul food classics. Order whatever suits your fancy. We promise you’ll have leftovers.

10/25/2025

Best Bites of 2025 in the 32789 - The Chapman.

The menu can be hit or miss in this newish Park Avenue space, so just order the Colossal Lump Crab Cake, a dry martini, and call it a day.

Savor each bite of the lightly packed, tender blue crab with a toss of lemon dijonnaise sauce, the crunch of freshly roasted sweet corn, a flourish of toasted butter crumbs on top and little else. The slightly sweet, smoky, ancho-chili remoulade and roasted chili purée are nice extras.

“There’s no bread filler as it’s not designed to stay together like a traditional cake,” says Chef Cliff Pleau. This is crab cake heaven.

📸: Carlos Amoedo

10/24/2025

Best Bites of 2025 in the 32789 - KrungThep Tea Time.
Keep an eye out for the little pink building on West Fairbanks and tuck into a super-satisfying Gra-Pow Chicken sandwich. The crunch of hot grilled sourdough, warm chicken, stretchy melted mozzarella, fresh basil, crisp onion, a little red pepper and a backbeat of Thai spices in the basil mayo make this sando our favorite.

If you like it hot, ask for a side of Thai chilis. Iced Thai coffee is an oddly perfect pairing. You can get it to go, but we suggest you take a seat and enjoy it piping hot from the kitchen. (Krungthep is short for Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, the capital city of Thailand, also known as Bangkok).

10/23/2025

Best Bites of 2025 - Soseki

Chef Michael Collantes is seemingly everywhere with his multiple culinary concepts, always with a smile, creating beautiful dishes with ease and grace.

But Soseki is home base, where his exquisite omakase and top-notch service earned his team a Michelin star plus a Michelin Sommelier Award in recognition of their sake and wine program.

And with all the hoopla, there’s nothing stuffy about the intimate evening, with sushi chefs and staff conversing with up to 10 guests and sharing insights about each dish, many with ingredients that are locally sourced (and served on beautiful hand-made ceramics from a local artist).

The experience consists of 11 small, exquisite courses, each featuring the freshest seafood, local produce and eggs—but if we have to pick, we pick the Caviar Donut Explosion, a crisp, bite-sized donut with crème fraîche, caramelized onion jam and a dollop of Petrossian caviar.

Good news: they serve this little gem next door at their sister restaurant Bar Kada, so you can taste without the extravagant omakase. Hard to top this one-bite beauty.

10/22/2025

Best Bites of 2025 in the 32789 - Chayote
Chef Mario Pagan is a superstar in his homeland of Puerto Rico, and his striking Winter Park restaurant in Winter Park Village is stateside space for his Nueva Mesa Latina.

And here’s where we go beyond a single bite—the prueba tasting menu is a three-course, delectable bargain ($65) not to be missed. And it so happens that our favorite dish—and Chef Pagan’s signature—is the menu: the over-the-top black Chilean sea bass with truffled yuca mousse and port foie gras. Worthy of an Instagram snap.

📸: Carlos Amoedo

Address

201 West Canton Avenue , Ste. 125B
Winter Park, FL
32789

Website

http://www.winterparkmag.com/

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