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Election draws near, Wekiva Culinary hosts first community tasting event
The Apopka Chief Newsletter: March 6 Edition
Sarah Merly
March 06, 2026
Welcome to The Apopka Chief weekly newsletter!
Happy Friday! Harry Styles released Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally today, so it’s a pretty happy day for me. My plan is to visit Jeff’s Bagel Run to try their watermelon sugar bagel to commemorate the occasion and then listen to the new album on the way to Disney. Even if you don’t happen to be a Harry Styles fan, though, I hope you find a way to give your day a dose of joy!
~Sarah Merly, Editorial Assistant and Reporter
Front Page
John Cloran (right) waves alongside Commissioner Alexander Smith (left) outside the Apopka Community Center. | Photo by Dana O’Connor
Other Front Page News:
Lifestyle
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Local Sports
Blue Darters yell, “Boom!” in celebration of Anthony Raymond’s (43) game-ending grand slam against Wekiva. | Photo by Vinnie Cammarano
Apopka Historical Fact: Fern Monument
“This is a replica of the Boston fern, the first plant to be grown commercially in Apopka. The monument, dedicated on October 22, 1982, has 18 stainless steel fronds 10½ to 14 feet long, standing in a four-foot concrete pot. Ferns helped Apopka become known as ‘The Fern City’ (1924), the ‘Indoor Foliage Capital’ (1950s), and in the 1980s, the ‘Indoor Foliage Capital of the World.’
“Harry Ustler, a flower company order clerk from Springfield, Ohio, moved to Florida in 1912 and found that ferns could be grown here for only 10 to 20% of their cost in Ohio. He became a waiter at the Altamonte Hotel, and while there shared this information with hotel guest W.P. Newell. These two men began growing ferns in a shed near Lake Eola in Orlando, then moved to Apopka. Ustler’s two brothers joined him here by 1920, and the family started its own fern business.”
~Apopka Historical Trail by Steve Rajtar