Winter Park Magazine, Winter Park, FL (2025)

08/13/2025

It’s the most delicious time of the year! Visit Orlando's Magical Dining is returning for its 20th year and it isn’t just about indulging, it’s about doing good while you dine.

This year’s benefiting charity is REED Charitable Foundation, helping children in Central Florida read, succeed, and thrive through programs with schools, literacy groups, and community partners such as the Winter Park Library.

And of course, we’ve gathered a list of fabulous Winter Park & nearby restaurants serving $40 & $60 prix-fixe menus through Sept 30. Think of it as your culinary checklist for the next month and a half —with every bite helping a child’s future. From Winter Park icons to fresh new flavors, there's something for everyone!

◾Save this list
◾Tag your favorite dining partner in the comments
◾Make your picks, and start booking—because these menus disappear after Sept 30.

08/08/2025

"Following a reading which included this poem, a man came up and handed me his business card, his business being Dollhouse Building and Repairs. “It’s just a metaphor!” I cried out, but he had already put on his literal hat and coat and vanished out the literal door."

SOME DAYS
By Billy Collins

Some days I put the people in their places at the table,
bend their legs at the knees,
if they come with that feature,
and fix them into the tiny wooden chairs.

All afternoon they face one another,
the man in the brown suit,
the woman in the blue dress,
perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved.

But other days, I am the one
who is lifted up by the ribs,
then lowered into the dining room of a dollhouse
to sit with the others at the long table.

Very funny,
but how would you like it
if you never knew from one day to the next
if you were going to spend it

striding around like a vivid god,
your shoulders in the clouds,
or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper,
staring straight ahead with your little plastic face?

Billy Collins served as a two-term 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 Days” is from Sailing Alone Around the Room (2000, Random House).

Photo: Suzannah Gilman

08/01/2025

It’s that time of year, back-to-school shopping is officially in session! Whether you were a Winter Park Mall regular or had a favorite Park Ave boutique, everyone had their go-to spot for a new look before the first school bell rang.

Where did you do your back-to-school shopping? Share your favorite local spots and memories below!

Images courtesy of State Archives of Florida - Florida Memory

07/29/2025

Winter Park Magazine is proud to be the city’s only local publication offering award-winning journalism and thoughtful storytelling inspired by the people, culture, and character of our remarkable town.

For more than a decade, we’ve been a trusted source for original reporting, insightful profiles, and a deeper look at the community we all call home. From historic homes and timeless traditions to modern milestones, we capture the essence of Winter Park with the kind of access and perspective only true locals can provide.

Whether you’ve just discovered us or you have been flipping through our pages for years, we’re so glad you’re here. Follow along for stories you won’t find anywhere else, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/45b7hUe

07/28/2025

Big news! Winter Park Magazine is thrilled to welcome Pam Brandon as our new food and dining feature writer.

Pam is a celebrated food writer, cookbook author, and co-founder of Edible Orlando who has spent her career championing Central Florida’s chefs, farmers, and artisans. She’s penned more than two dozen Disney cookbooks and co-authored the award-winning Field to Feast and Good Catch. Pam is on the board of directors for The Kitchen House at the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Kitchen House and Culinary Garden in College Park. She lives with her husband, Stephen, in Winter Park.

We can’t wait for Pam to bring her passion and palate to our pages!

07/24/2025

In honor of its 85th anniversary, we’re taking you inside the story of Mead Botanical Garden - where passion, perseverance, and a deep love for nature shaped both its founding and its many remarkable transformations.

Meet the local leaders, scouts, scholars, and volunteers who have all helped turn this treasured green space into a living classroom, a peaceful escape, and a vibrant symbol of renewal in the heart of Winter Park.

Read the full story on our website: http://bit.ly/4kRI471

Oil painting of Theodore Mead painted in 1932 by Sam Stoltz - Courtesy of Rollins College

07/20/2025

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

What’s your favorite place—past or present—for ice cream in Winter Park? Tell us in the comments!

07/16/2025

Meet the New President of Rollins College

Brooke Barnett brings a rare blend of intellect, empathy, and infectious enthusiasm to her new role as the 16th president of Rollins College. Handpicked from a pool of 165 candidates, she arrives with deep experience, a journalist’s curiosity, and a communicator’s charm.

In our latest feature, Empathy and Exuberance by Randy Noles, we trace Barnett’s path from small-town Kentucky to Winter Park and explore her bold vision for higher education.

Click here to read: https://bit.ly/4nTbQey

P.S. Don’t miss the heartfelt letter to the community from outgoing president Grant Cornwell at the end

07/15/2025

Big flavors. Bold design. A confident nod to Winter Park’s past. The Chapman is everything we hoped for - and more.

Located on the southern end of Park Avenue, this made-from-scratch kitchen dazzles with standout dishes (hello, citrus pie and bang-bang lion’s mane) and a vibe that’s part old-school elegance, part modern magic.

Designed just for Winter Park by Artistry Restaurants, (Boca Restaurants, Atlantic Beer & Oyster) The Chapman is the kind of place where dinner feels like an occasion - even on a rainy Tuesday.

Read the full review at winterparkmag.com

Photos by Carlos Amoedo, Focus Studios

07/13/2025

All-Time Influential - Harold A. Ward III
Retired Attorney, Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman, P.A.

Harold Ward—the city’s iconic father figure—is among the last of those who can trace their civic lineages to the origin of “modern” Winter Park. A retired attorney, Ward’s best-known clients included the Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, which owns The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, and the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, which, among other charitable activities, helps to support the museum. Ward remains chair of these historically important foundations, which were begun by Rollins College President Hugh F. McKean and his wife, Jeannette Genius McKean. (Jeannette was the granddaughter of Morse and the daughter of Elizabeth Morse Genius.) Industrialist Morse, you’ll recall, bought half the property in the city from the failing Winter Park Company in 1904 and hired Ward’s grandfather, Harold A. “Harley” Ward Sr., to run a new entity, the Winter Park Land Company, which developed the genteel community to his exacting standards. The younger Ward—who earned his law degree from the University of Chicago and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black—continues to quietly nurture worthy local causes. He has served for 42 years (and is a four-time chair) of the board of trustees at Rollins and was previously a trustee and attorney of record for Winter Park Memorial Hospital (now AdventHealth Winter Park). He became the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s only two-term president in 1971 and 1972 as well as its Citizen of the Year in 1999. Rollins presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1986 and its Decoration of Honor in 1998. In addition, Ward was an honoree at the Winter Park Historical Association’s Peacock Ball (along with fellow attorney Kenneth Murrah) in 2009. Another notable success story: Ward’s 66-year marriage to Mary Lewis “Libby” Ward, who passed away in 2024.

07/11/2025

All-Time Influential - Ed Timberlake
Retired Banking Executive

Ed Timberlake retired in 2021 after a 50-year career as a banker but has continued to burnish his legacy as a selfless community builder. His lengthy civic resumé includes chairing the boards of the Heart of Florida United Way (where he remains an emeritus member), the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, the Community Foundation of Central Florida and, as of 2022, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. He has earned such honors as the Tree of Life Award from the Jewish National Fund (2006), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (2009) and the Champion of Service Award from Volunteer Florida (2015). The roster of kudos grew earlier this year when the Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP) presented Timberlake the James B. Greene Award—its top honor—which annually recognizes individuals whose “selfless service and community impact” reflect that of Greene, a civic dynamo who passed away in 1988. (Among the past award recipients: the late hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen.) These days, Timberlake is most focused on the arts center, which is gearing up to develop the remainder of its 9-acre downtown campus. In 2005, when he was president of Bank of America Central Florida, Timberlake orchestrated a $1 million donation to the arts center—which wouldn’t break ground until 2009—and joined the board as a founding member. He ascended to the chairmanship when the legendary Jim Pugh, the founding chair and a fellow Winter Parker, stepped aside after 19 years at the helm. Timberlake, a native of Yakima, Washington, and a graduate of Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, says that banking and civic involvement are symbiotic: “It’s an obligation of leaders to give back,” he says. “But it has also been good for me personally because I’ve learned so much.”

07/10/2025

All-Time Influential - John V. Sinclair
Professor of Music, Rollins College
Artistic Director and Conductor, Bach Festival Society of Winter Park

John V. Sinclair—“Doc” to his friends and colleagues—is perhaps the most recognizable figure in the regional cultural community. He made Winter Park significant in the classical music universe and, over the course of 35 years, transformed the local Bach Festival—founded in 1935 as a weekend event—into an eclectic, monthlong extravaganza with renowned guest artists who perform on their own or in elaborate productions with the festival’s 50-member orchestra and 175-member choir. In fact, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park operates year-round with concerts and educational programs. Sinclair most recently established the Bach Vocal Artists, an elite chamber ensemble, and initiated the inaugural American National Oratorio Competition, which took place during this year’s Bach Festival. The down-to-earth maestro—whose graduate degrees in music education and conducting are from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance—also helms performances by both the International Moravian Music Festivals and Orlando’s Messiah Choral Society. Plus, he has notched more than 1,000 trips to the podium to conduct the holiday Candlelight Processional at Epcot. A master teacher, Sinclair holds the John M. Tiedtke Endowed Chair of Music at Rollins College and, until he recently decided to put aside his administrative duties, headed the college’s Department of Music. “I subscribe to Thomas Jefferson’s quote, ‘I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it,’” says Sinclair, whose seemingly boundless energy delights and confounds his admirers. But he’s not ready to take it easy just yet. After all, he’s still having fun: “I always say our seats should be reserved, but we shouldn’t be.”

Winter Park Magazine

08/13/2025

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