• Jacksonville’s Downtown Winn-Dixie Store No. 37 is profiled in the August edition of “Today’s Grocer” for its use of urban marketing. The national publication covers the retail food and drug industry and is based in Miami, Fla. Pictures of Store Director Juan Mott and Mayor John Peyton are featured in the article. The article is available at www.todaysgrocer.com.
• Debbie Verges has started her own company, Deborah J. Verges Consultant Firm. The former president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida will provide consultation for the development of nonprofit organizations.
• If it’s your birthday you might consider going to Adams St. Deli & Grill for lunch. The restaurant at 126 W. Adams St. advertises that customers who present a valid I.D. showing it’s their birthday get a free lunch.
• The annual Moonlight Martinis gathering to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has jumped across the bridge. Set for 8–11 p.m. Oct. 18 at Fogle Fine Arts & Accessories, the first four years of the cocktail party charity event were held at different Beaches venues. According to Dana Troeger, special events director at the Foundation, hopes are the event will raise $150,000, that’s $25,000 more than last year. Country singer Tammy Cochran will be the guest speaker and performer. Tickets for the event are $125, with funds going toward research to cure and contain the hereditary disease. Sponsorships are still available. For more information, go to www.moonlightmartinisjax.com or call Troeger at 733-3560.
• The folks at the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization will officially unveil their new brand next Friday during a luncheon at The River Club. They’ll also talk about the organization’s plans for future area transportation projects and how they will be funded.
• Late last month, Theatre Jacksonville reached a year-long fundraising goal with a little help from Jaguars owners Wayne and Delores Weaver. A year ago, the theater group vowed to raise $50,000 and the Weaver Family Foundation vowed to match that dollar-for-dollar. Aug. 30, Theatre Jacksonville made their goal of $100,000 with the money set aside for the theater’s general operating fund.
• Former Duval County Schools Superintendent John Fryer celebrated 47 years of marriage to his wife Carol Tuesday. At Monday’s Downtown Rotary Club meeting he offered a bit of advice to help other couples to reach the milestone: “There will be times when you want to leave the room, just don’t leave the relationship.”
• One of the missions of the Rotary Club is the eradication of Polio through immunizations. Monday’s guest speaker Brian Sexton was given a certificate that stated the Downtown Rotary Club will donate 15 immunizations in his name. Sexton, the sports director at Ch. 30/47, was grateful for the gesture and told the crowd he understood how important the immunizations were because his mother had polio.
• The J Bar inside Juliette’s Bistro in the Omni Hotel had a somber look Monday. It wasn’t just the start of the work week that brought spirits down, it was the black curtains that concealed the bar from the restaurant. The black curtains were put up so people wouldn’t see the plumbing work that was being done to the bar. The work was reported as “regular upkeep.”
• Hurricane Gustav missed the First Coast, so the trail work by the Friends of Hanna Park opened up the bike trails at the City-owned oceanfront park just south of Mayport Naval Station. Over 25 Friends showed up to clean up the trail and install signage. “It was great to meet John White Sr. and Sean Bayot, both of whom were instrumental in designing and clearing the original Hanna Park bike trails back in the early ‘90s,” said Stephen Schultz, of the Friends of Hanna. “They came to work, not reminisce, and led the charge into the woods with chain saws at the ready.” The next clean up will take place in late October or early November and volunteers can contact Schultz at [email protected] for more information.