SO U T H W E ST O RA N G E
Observer
LOCAL
Windermere, Horizon West, Dr. Phillips
MOTION AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO LIFE IN WEST ORANGE COUNTY
2023-2024
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 8, NO. 42
FREE • THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023
Your guide to everything
Observer
1
LOCAL MOTION 2023
Local Motion, our annual guide to life and living in West Orange, is here! INSIDE.
In the game
Tanja Gerhartz retiring from Winter Garden
The longtime economic development director is stepping down after 13 years in the role with the city and 40 years in the industry. PAGE 2A.
YOUR TOWN OCOEE TO THROW PARTY
Photo courtesy of Trinspace Digital
Windermere High School rising junior Sarah Kirk was selected to participate in EA’s “Get in the Game” STEAM annual summer camp. STORY ON PAGE 4A.
WGLL’S FEMALE PHENOM Blakely Olszewski, 9, is the only girl on the Winter Garden Little League’s 2023 9U All-Star team. SEE PAGE 1B.
Crenshaw School seeks to build new campus in Southwest Orange The school is requesting to add a private, K-12 school as a permitted use in the Buena Vista Commons Planned Development. SEE PAGE 6A.
Students are returning to school in a few weeks, and the Ocoee Police Department wants to help them get prepared with a Back 2 School Bash Saturday, July 29. Students ages 5 to 18 are invited to visit the police station and Healthy West Orange Park, 646 Ocoee Commerce Parkway, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to receive their bookbag and supplies. The event will include free haircuts, dental hygiene supplies, ice cream, food and music, as well as face painting, bounce houses, bike helmets and car seat installation.
OBSERVERS WIN STATE AWARDS The West Orange Times & Observer and Southwest Orange Observer won several awards for its journalism and design in the Florida Press Association’s 2023 Better Weekly Awards Contest. The awards were presented Friday, July 21, in Sarasota. The papers won first-place awards for Overall Graphic Design (Jessica Eng); Community History Reporting (Amy Quesinberry); Sports News Reporting (Andrea Mujica); and Faith & Family Reporting (Annabelle Sikes).