Good morning, East of Tampa family.
FEATURED LOCAL BUSINESS
PattiCakes Custom Cakes, Brandon
Custom cakes, cake pops, cookies and full dessert tables for every occasion, made right here in Brandon. She has 53 reviews on Facebook, and every one recommends her. Local businesses order her custom logo cookies too, including Kanji Sushi & Ramen, The Shining Vine and Tampa Children's ENT. This summer WFLA's Daytime show featured her Christmas ice cream cone cake pops. This week it's mystery dumpling cake bites: a chocolate shell around a big cake pop, and you don't know the color or flavor until you bite in. Birthday, shower, office party or just because, call (352) 942-3455, email [email protected], or find PattiCakes Custom Cakes on Facebook.
Photo: PattiCakes Custom Cakes
Maid Pure Cleaning | A former teacher with four kids, and a crew that shows up.
Dionne Cona taught school before she started Maid Pure Cleaning, and she is a mother of four, which means she knows exactly what a house looks like at 6 p.m. on a Thursday. That is the house her crews clean. More than 250 local customers now, across Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, FishHawk, Lithia, Apollo Beach and Plant City.
The company is fully bonded and insured. If something is not right, you call within 24 hours and they come back and fix it. That is the whole policy, and it is printed on their site.
She also partners with Cleaning for a Reason, which gives free house cleanings to families going through cancer care. Somebody in this county is getting a clean kitchen this week because a neighbor booked a regular one.
If the weekend already looks like rain, which it does, this is the week to let somebody else handle the inside. Quotes are by home size, no hidden fees. Call Maid Pure Cleaning at (813) 670-2004.
Photo: Maid Pure Cleaning
⛈️ Friday: 92, 60%. Heat index to 104. Dry through lunch. Anything after 2 p.m. is not.
🌧️ Saturday: 93, 80%. Morning yard sales and the Heroes Run are fine. Wrap up outdoor plans by early afternoon.
⛅ Sunday: 92, 70%. Same shape. Church and brunch clear, storms after 2.
(Source: National Weather Service Tampa Bay)
Patriot Day remembrance at Veterans Memorial Park. Today, Friday, 10:30 a.m., 3602 N. US 301, Tampa. Color guard, rifle salute, Taps, bell ringing, and the escort of a 135-pound section of World Trade Center steel. Meet the first responders afterward. Free. Hosted by Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Veteran Community Services and the Veterans Council.
9/11 Heroes Run at Park Square, FishHawk. Saturday, ceremony at 8 a.m. and the run at 8:46, 16132 Churchview Dr., Lithia. Travis Manion Foundation's 25th anniversary run: 5K, a 5K ruck, and a one-mile. Medals for everyone. Registration is $46 for the 5K, $51 for the ruck, $26 for the mile. Spectators free. Packet pickup runs through Saturday morning. Register here.
Bloomingdale community garage sale. Saturday from 8 a.m., homes across Bloomingdale East and West in Valrico. The Bloomingdale Neighborhood Association's annual sale, with a seller map on the BNA site. Go early. It rains at 2.
Friends of the Riverview Library book sale. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Community Room 109, 9951 Balm Riverview Rd. Free to walk in, cash for the books, and every dollar stays at the branch. Details.
Fandom Friday: Twilight, for teens. Today, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Bruton Memorial Library, 302 McLendon St., Plant City. Free, no registration. Details.
East of Tampa Local Sports. Game cards, final scores, Athlete of the Week and school calendar posts for Hillsborough high schools, some reaching 10,000 to 50,000 people. A business sponsors one school, football and volleyball plus the school calendar. $250 a month for six posts, $500 for twelve, three-month minimum. See the cards and the schools still open.
Photo: East of Tampa Local Sports
Thursday night, Week 4 finals.
Every game in the county moved to Thursday for Rosh Hashanah. Here is how they ended.
Lennard 28, Newsome 7. The Longhorns, newly ranked No. 19 in the Tampa Bay Top 25, hand Newsome its first loss after a 3-0 start.
Armwood 51, Spoto 0. The No. 2 team in Tampa Bay follows the 35-0 win at Plant City with another shutout.
Sumner 27, Durant 14. Sumner jumped seven spots to No. 10 this week and backed it up.
Plant City 37, Riverview 7.
Bloomingdale 53, Leto 3.
Hillsborough 20, East Bay 17. East Bay came in 3-0 and No. 25.
Strawberry Crest 35, King 18.
Brandon 10, Kathleen 0.
Next Friday, Sep 18, back on Friday night. Jefferson at Newsome, 7:30. Bloomingdale at Brandon, 7:30. Morgan at Riverview, 7:30. Plant at Durant, 7:30. Steinbrenner at Spoto, 7:30. Lennard at East Bay, 7:30. Sumner at Armwood, 7:30. Plant City at Wiregrass Ranch. Strawberry Crest at Blake.
Coaches, parents, student journalists: send scores and photos to the submission form.
Donneymoor Drive is closed at Boyette Road in Riverview as of yesterday morning, for up to two weeks, while the South Hillsborough Pipeline crew digs a tunnel shaft. Riverglen is reachable from McMullen Road. Crews work Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Two more coming Monday: a new construction zone opens on the east side of Boyette near Rhodine Road on Sep 14 for four to six months of tunneling, and the South Kings Avenue lane closure goes 24 hours Sep 15 through 18. Project alerts here.
Presented by WeWed.
You get your teeth cleaned twice a year and you have never had a cavity. You service the truck at 5,000 miles and it has never left you on the side of Boyette.
Then there is the most important relationship in your life, which gets attention only when something is already wrong. Coach Lovey at WeWed calls the fix preventative relationship care. Ten minutes a week is the starting dose.
Photo: WeWed
Where to go this weekend.
Allegria Italiana, 518 Oakfield Dr., Brandon. The Dragonetti family's place, dinner only, open until 10 Friday and Saturday. Baked clams oreganata to start, linguine carbonara for about $23, veal Valdostana if it is a real occasion. This is the one that takes reservations, online or by text at 813-720-1373, so book it before the sitter does.
Photo: Allegria Italiana
Jesse's Steak and Seafood, 524 W. Brandon Blvd. Since 1980, which makes it older than most of Brandon. Open to 10 Friday through Sunday. No reservations and no call-ahead, and the whole party has to be there to be seated, so go as a couple and go early.
Sushi Ushi, 1713 SR 60 E, Valrico. Dinner 4:30 to 10:30 Friday and Saturday, one of the latest kitchens on the 60 corridor. Sushi and hibachi, closed Mondays. The after-the-movie answer.
Winthrop Restaurant Week runs Sep 17 to 27. Eight restaurants in Winthrop Town Centre, Riverview, run special menus for 11 days: Acropolis, Cali, Cappy's, Donovan's Meatery, Himes Breakfast House, Longshots, The Patio and Tutto Tavola. The launch party is Tuesday Sep 15 at 6:30 p.m. at The Patio at Winthrop Liquors, free, kids and dogs welcome, with gift certificate giveaways. The lineup.
The Greater SouthShore Chamber has a new headquarters at 226 W. College Ave. in Ruskin. The rope-cutting came with a sea-shanty scavenger hunt and overflow parking. Chamber line is 813-645-1366. Osprey Observer.
ACEing Autism tennis clinics come to Apollo Beach. Six Saturdays, Oct 10 through Nov 14, at Apollo Beach Racquet and Fitness Club, 6520 Richies Way. Ages 5 to 13 at 11 a.m., 14 and up at noon. $120 for the six weeks, scholarships available. Sign up.
Twelve Riverview dancers are going to Bolivia. Ruby Dance Center, ages 13 to 18, perform in November at the Teatro Municipal in La Paz alongside two guest artists, one of them from the Metropolitan Opera, with outreach to a children's foundation while they are there. They are raising travel and costume money here. Osprey Observer.
Photo: Osprey Observer
Free food pantry in Plant City next Thursday. Hope Lutheran, 2001 N. Park Rd., runs a mobile pantry Sep 17 at 6 p.m. with produce, meat, dairy and bakery. No ID needed. Third Thursday every month. 813-752-4622.
The businesses that keep this free.
Environmental Protective Solutions has been doing mold and water damage work out of Lithia since 2005. Adam Key is a certified mold remediator, the work carries a one-year warranty, and the emergency line runs 24 hours. Brandon office at 2708 Broadway Center Blvd. (813) 438-5937.
Photo: Environmental Protective Solutions
Tabatha Pugh is a licensed Florida broker associate with Keller Williams Realty Smart, working Plant City and the east side. If you are on the Plant City side and thinking about a fall listing, she is the call. 813-476-8457.
The #1 Meat Man is Shawn McCranie and a $220 family box: 24 steak burgers, 24 individually packaged chicken breasts and a 10-pound box of Duroc pork tenderloins. That is a month of dinners in one delivery. Fill out the order form to get in touch with The #1 Meat Man.
Photo: The #1 Meat Man
Glaros Law is Steve Glaros, the 2026 Honorary Mayor of East Hillsborough, at 350 E. Robertson St. in Brandon. Family law, personal injury and estate planning. Two of those pick the date for you. The third one you handle on an ordinary week with nothing wrong. (813) 854-1234.
Photo: Glaros Law
Madison Patron with Foundation Realty Group works the same Bloomingdale, Valrico and Riverview streets you live on. Comment MADISON on any of her posts for a free home value report, or call her cell, 813-955-9092.
Stoner's Pizza Joint, 3428 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Bloomingdale. Allison Hardy runs it. Pizza, wings and calzones, Pick 2 for $6.99 each. The rain hits at 2 Saturday and the pizza does not care. (813) 436-0016.
Photo: Stoner's Pizza Joint
Fix It Today Plumbing is the sister company to Environmental Protective Solutions, same people. Leaks, drains, water heaters, sewer lines and repiping, flat-rate pricing with financing. The people who stop the leak are the people who dry the house out. (813) 743-7793.
Team Plumstead is Danielle Plumstead with Red Sash Realty, a licensed Florida agent living and selling in FishHawk and Lithia. If you want to know what your house is worth before the fall market, that is a 20-minute conversation. (813) 495-2136.
Just listed with Team Plumstead: 5924 Cherry Oak Dr, Valrico
The River Hills pool home from Tuesday's issue is still available. 5924 Cherry Oak Dr, Valrico: 5 beds, 3 baths, 2,654 sq ft, single story, 3-car garage, one-third acre, and the back yard is the 14th hole. Roof 2017, AC and water heater 2020, new windows 2025. $797,000, $300 a square foot. Listed by Danielle Plumstead, Team Plumstead, Red Sash Realty. Call or text 813-495-2136 for a showing, or reply to this email and we will pass it along. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Photo: Team Plumstead
Brandon Crossroads Bowl has 40 lanes and the BCB Pub and Grill at 609 Crater Ln., built by the Boje family in 1990. Bowlapalooza is Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m., $6.99 plus tax with free shoes. If you are in South County, The Alley at SouthShore is the same family at 10221 Big Bend Rd. in Riverview, with Team Trivia every Wednesday at 7. An 80 percent rain Saturday is a bowling Saturday. (813) 621-2363 in Brandon, (813) 672-8353 in Riverview.
Photo: The Alley at SouthShore
Got an event, a score, a new business or a neighbor doing something worth knowing about? Send it here and it goes in the next issue.
See you Tuesday.
John
The East of Tampa Guy
P.S. Twenty-five years ago this morning, I was a 10th grader in Mr. Kennedy's U.S. history class when the first plane hit. Today is about the 2,977 people we lost and the first responders who ran toward it. For me, it is also about more than that one morning. 9/11 started the Global War on Terror, and that war shaped 20 years of my life. It gave me the greatest friendships I have ever had. It also brought some of the darkest days, and the long emotional road that comes with being a veteran. So today I am remembering all of it. Never forget.
