Wednesday, April 12th - 2023 - Tortuga is back in town, Food Trucks are rallying to the north and south, and the world's most famous... ukulele player is in town this weekend! But that's not just the half of it. Enjoy this week's basket of goodies 👇
Stuff You Won't Want To Miss:
- This weekend is the big Tortuga Music Festival Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tons of people will be coming to Fort Lauderdale Beach, headlined by names like Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, and Shania Twain (I bet she will be impressed now... with FTL 😉). The event features music on the beach and champions ocean conservation. (Tickets are already sold out)
- With so much happening down by the Beach for Tortuga, you might want to take the Water Taxi to avoid the traffic. Special rates for the Festival. Or you could just enter their free giveaway!
- Seems like just yesterday, but Friday is Food In Motion at Peter Feldman Park again. Join local artisans, farmers, and food trucks on the second Friday of each month. (Free)
- If you are closer to the south side of FTL, you can also go to the "Rock The Block" Food Truck rally in Dania Beach (Saturday). There will be music, games, dancing, and free parking. (Free)
- Got an animal lover (or two, or three) in your house? Come out Thursday night to meet some of the K9 Heroes working on behalf of the City, including Sepot - the FTLPD's Therapy Dog. This event is from 4-7pm at the city Grass Lot on North Andrews. (Free)
- Looking for a fun little escape from all this rain? Visit the gem of a movie theater (Savor Cinema) right in the heart of downtown FTL, and watch the new Bob Ross movie Paint, starring Owen Wilson. Happy little trees all around and for everyone! Running until April 20th.(Tickets)
- Maybe you want to create your own 'Happy Little Trees' and more? Saturday marks the beginning of a 4-week workshop on Colored Pencil Drawing at the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. Learn colored pencil techniques that will help you create great-looking artwork without years of experience. (Tickets)
- Or... on Friday night you could come out to the Charity Art Exhibit at the Tower Club, and support the South Florida Symphony Orchestra's "Symphony in the Schools" program. (Tickets)
- TONIGHT (Wednesday), you can still get out for the free Shake Off Stress Zumba with Sandra Fuller at the Greenwise Market on 3rd Ave. First, it is a great little market if you haven't been (one of my favorites). And there is an outside space on the corner of 3rd and SE 2nd Street, perfect for some heart-thumping fun! (Free)
- Also TONIGHT, visit Plunge Into The Arts at the Plunge Beach Resort (Lauderdale-by-the-Sea) for their Artists With Autism. This artist open house features a talented group of Artists with Autism, showcasing their unique and diverse perspectives through a wide range of creative mediums. (Free)
- Remember Pat Tillman? Saturday is Pat's Run at Broward College in Davie, South Florida's support of the Pat Tillman Foundation. This Run/Walk event will help us provide scholarships for students who are veterans attending Broward College. With your contributions and support, we can identify and empower the next generation of leaders dedicated to service beyond self. (Registration)
- Lastly - Sunday marks the Fort Lauderdale appearance of Jake Shimabukuro at the Broward Center. Don't recognize that name? Jake is to the ukulele, what Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and Slash are to the guitar. There isn’t a style of music that he can’t play – whether it’s jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk or even classical – on perhaps the unlikeliest of instruments. (Tickets)
FEATURED Fort Lauderdale
Since the Water Taxi shows up in this newsletter is several places, we thought it would be fun to revisit this podcast interview with Chloe Dossett. It was from this past holiday season so some of the discussion was about the Holiday Lights tour, but seeing Fort Lauderdale from the water is always an interesting way to the city. Plus... did you know you can go all the way down to Hollywood and the Broadwalk?
Do you have a favorite event, place, business, or organization you would like to see featured on the podcast? HIT REPLY and let us know!
So... You Think You Know Fort Lauderdale?
You probably know... Florida is famous for a number of cities that started as a Fort (Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, etc).
But what you might not know is... The City of Fort Lauderdale is named for a Second Seminole War fortification built on the banks of the New River in 1838. That year, Major William Lauderdale led a detachment of Tennessee Volunteers south along the east coast of Florida to capture Seminole agricultural lands and battle the elusive Indian warriors.
Classifieds & Giveaways
- We posted it up above too, but make sure you submit your name to the Water Taxi and their giveaway. This is a chance to win a 3-day pass as part of the Tortuga Festival celebration.
- Looking for some comfort food - visit New York Grilled Cheese in Wilton Manors, for their melted cheese over waffles and more!
Quote Of The Week
Here's something to ponder that might surprise you...
“In ten years, half of the world's jobs will be in prompt engineering,” declared Robin Li, cofounder and CEO of Chinese AI giant, Baidu. “And those who cannot write prompts will be obsolete.”
This is especially interesting to us at AAFTL as next week we start our second round of "Writing With Robots" as part of our Session 6, "E-Ship" (entrepreneurial) Quest. Our learners will be co-writing business plans with GPT to see how they can leverage the creativity of using a "calculator for words."
All of this builds up to our Children's Business Fair on Saturday, June 10th.
Flotsam & Jetsam
Speaking of AI (but not specifically related to FTL) - our Flotsam and Jetsam section always displays cool stuff we found in our weekly research, that we think you might be curious to see.
This week's collection includes two examples of how AI is being used for... meditation apps. The first one is called Ogimi and enables you to create your own customized meditation sessions, such as this one for dealing with family challenges.
The second example is also unique and creative. It is called the Qi Meditation Garden, and they are AI-created meditation sessions that put you in peak stress (like being chased by dinosaurs) and then helping you learn to manage that stress by deep breathing and positive visualization. Personally, I am going to try the "Abducted By Aliens" option. 👽