Good afternoon, East of Tampa family.
Nine local teams play a preseason kickoff classic tonight, and the heat index is forecast to hit 110 before any of them take the field. The National Weather Service has a Heat Advisory up for Brandon, Riverview and FishHawk until 7 p.m. Saturday is forecast hotter than today. Bring more water than you think you need.
Bill Boje and his son Jeff built Brandon Crossroads Bowl in 1990. Forty lanes, 40,000 square feet, on Crater Lane in Brandon. In 2008 the family built The Alley at SouthShore on Big Bend Road in Riverview, another 42,000 square feet. Same family, two buildings, thirty-six years in.
Here is the case for this weekend. It is 96 today and 97 tomorrow, and the heat index is forecast at 110 and 111. There is a limit to how many hours anyone can spend outside in that. Forty lanes, a pub and grill and cold air is a reasonable answer to a Saturday afternoon.
Both centers run leagues for all ages and abilities, and the fall season is forming now. Call Brandon Crossroads Bowl at (813) 621-2363 or The Alley at SouthShore at (813) 672-8353.
Photo: The Alley at SouthShore
Locals doing business with locals.
🌩 Friday: 96, 40% rain. Scattered storms with sun in between. If you are at a game tonight the sun is off the bleachers by kickoff and it will still be 90.
☀️ Saturday: 97, 20% rain. Isolated storms after 2. Do the outdoor thing before 11 or after 6.
☀️ Sunday: 96, and no rain chance in the forecast. Sunny all day. This is the one to spend indoors.
🥵 Heat index: 110 Friday, 111 Saturday. The Heat Advisory runs until 7 p.m. tonight.
(Source: National Weather Service Tampa Bay)
High school football is back tonight. Nine local teams play preseason kickoff classics. Plant City hosts Nature Coast Tech at 7:30. Newsome hosts Northeast of St. Petersburg. Durant hosts Bloomingdale. East Bay hosts Robinson. Lennard hosts in Ruskin. Strawberry Crest is at Gaither, Brandon is at Seminole in Pinellas, and Spoto is at Riverview. Armwood is the outlier, on the road at Edgewater in Orlando with a 7:00 kickoff. None of tonight counts. Week 1 opens Friday, August 21.
Teacher’s Happy Hour at Bullfrog Creek Brewing. Friday at 2 p.m., 3632 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Valrico. They are pitching it at teachers, school staff and anyone who survived week one, and it is open to everybody. The Queen of Hearts drawing follows at 7:30, tickets $2 each or 12 for $20. Taproom is open until 11.
Plant City Strawberry Classic Cruise-In. Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m. in historic downtown Plant City. Third-Saturday car meet run by the Plant City Chamber. Classics, sedans, daily drivers and half-finished projects. Free to walk around.
Hats, Heels, and High Tea. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the GFWC Women’s Club of Plant City, 1110 N. Wheeler St. $25 a person, ticketed, open to the public. Contact Arlene at 813-850-4917.
Adoption fees are waived through August 31. The county Pet Resource Center at 440 N. Falkenburg Rd. says it is over capacity for both dogs and cats. Open Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The waived fee still covers the rabies tag, vaccinations, spay or neuter, heartworm test, microchip and county tag. (813) 301-7387.
Paint party at Bullfrog Creek Brewing. Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Valrico taproom. Call 813-703-8835 to hold a seat.
Made in Florida at the Riverview library. A Tampa Museum of Art poster exhibition drawn from its permanent collection, up at 9951 Balm Riverview Rd. Free, no registration, open Friday and Saturday 10 to 6. The branch is closed Sunday.
Running a business that wants the Friday night crowd? East of Tampa Local Sports does game cards, final scores, Athlete of the Week and school calendar posts across Hillsborough high schools, and some of them run 10,000 to 50,000 impressions. One school, football and volleyball plus school calendar and admin posts. $250 a month for about 6 posts, $500 for about 12, three month minimum. Details are here.
North Kings Avenue is closed at Victoria Street in Brandon. It went down Tuesday morning at 6 and it is not a one-night job. Victoria Street is also closed to through traffic between Limona Road and North Parsons Avenue, Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If you have a kid at Brandon High, the student and teacher lots are reachable from the west using Limona Road and Meade Street. This is South Hillsborough Pipeline work, and the full detour list is on the project’s alerts page.
Presented by WeWed.
Ask your person this tonight. “What did I do this week that bothered you, and you said nothing about?”
Whatever comes out of that is not the problem. The problem is that it has been sitting there since Tuesday. Coach Lovey has been doing preventative relationship work on the east side for twenty years, and that question is the one she starts with.
Her free guide has four more like it, plus the rules that keep the conversation from turning into a fight. Get The 10-Minute Check-In.
Photo: WeWed
Where to go this weekend.
Allegria Italiana is at 518 Oakfield Dr. in Brandon, run by the Dragonetti family. Dinner only, doors at 4, open until 10 Friday and Saturday. Veal parmigiana is $32 and the shrimp scampi is $26 with wild caught Key West pinks. They take reservations online, which on a Saturday night is the whole ballgame.
Photo: Allegria Italiana
La Septima Cafe is at 702 W. Lumsden Rd. in Brandon. Cuban, open since 1995, and the Fernandez family signs their own story. Order the Walk Around La Septima if you cannot decide, or the lechon asado if you can. They close at 8, so this is an early one.
Photo: La Septima Cafe
The Fish House is at 1902 W. Shell Point Rd. in Ruskin. Family owned since 2002 and open Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, 11 to 8, with last orders at 7:45. The fresh red grouper dinner is $16.50 for the 8 ounce and $24.25 for the 12. Get a croquie for $4.75 while you wait.
Photo: The Fish House
The school board reversed its leggings ban. The board voted 5-1 on Aug. 4 to undo dress code restrictions it had approved about two weeks earlier, which barred leggings and spandex unless worn under something reaching mid-thigh. The pajama and slipper bans stayed. Board members said they will revisit the dress code at a Sept. 29 workshop.
Photo: FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Plant City High is requiring clear backpacks this year. Clear bags and clear lunchboxes are the rule for 2026-27, which started Monday. The school posted the allowable-bag guidelines in English and Spanish to its live feed.
A 340-home plan is back at Walden Lake, and there is a public open house Aug. 27. Walden Lake, LLC resubmitted a rezoning request covering roughly 319 acres of the former Plant City golf course, down 220 units from the last version. The plan adds a new nine-hole course and clubhouse and keeps at least 40 percent of the site as open space. The open house is 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Walden Lake Elementary cafeteria.
Riverview’s Moseley homestead is trying to open for public tours. The Timberly Trust is raising money to open the Julia Moseley Homestead at 1820 W. Brandon Blvd., where the buildings date to the 1880s. A Labor Day picnic fundraiser is set for Monday, Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Winthrop Barn Theater on Bloomingdale Ave. $20 in advance, $25 at the door, $10 for ages 6 to 16, free under 5.
The businesses that keep this free.
Roof Rejuvenate SH is Jeff’s, out of Lithia, veteran owned, and they treat asphalt shingle roofs instead of tearing them off. A replacement around here runs $15,000 to $30,000. Rejuvenation is a fraction of that and adds five years per application, up to fifteen. The formula is 96% bio-based and USDA certified, and the warranty is transferable for five years. The 21-point inspection is free. (813) 652-2777.
Photo: Roof Rejuvenate SH
Environmental Protective Solutions started in Lithia on May 5, 2005, which makes this year their twenty-first. Adam Key and his crew handle mold removal, water damage and leak detection, odor removal and crawl space encapsulation, and they do the repair work to put the house back together afterward. Adam is a certified mold remediator, CMRC #62388. Mold remediation carries a one-year warranty and the emergency line runs 24/7. The Brandon office is at 2708 Broadway Center Blvd. (813) 438-5937.
Photo: Environmental Protective Solutions
Fix It Today Plumbing is the plumbing side of the same shop, family owned and licensed, covering Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, Plant City and the rest of Tampa Bay. Leaks, drains, water heaters, sewer lines, repiping and water filtration, on flat-rate pricing with financing available. Handy pairing: the people who stop the leak are the people who dry the house out. (813) 743-7793.
Tabatha Pugh is a broker associate with Keller Williams Realty Smart, working Plant City and the east side. Reach her at 813-476-8457 or [email protected].
The #1 Meat Man is Shawn McCranie, and the Premium Family Meat Box is $220. That is 24 steak burgers at 12 pounds, 24 all natural chicken breasts at 9 pounds individually packaged, and a 10-pound box of Duroc pork tenderloins. It orders off one page, no phone tag.
Photo: The #1 Meat Man
Madison Patron does residential real estate with Foundation Realty Group, working the same east side footprint. Cell 813-955-9092, office 813-729-6000.
Action Karate is at 4365 Lynx Paw Trail in Valrico, in River Hills Plaza. 5.0 across 55 Google reviews, twenty years in the area, and Tampa Bay Best of the Best in both 2024 and 2025. (813) 535-4191.
Stoner’s Pizza Joint is Allison Hardy’s shop at 3428 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Bloomingdale. Pizza, wings and calzones, and the Pick 2 is $6.99 each. (813) 436-0016.
Glaros Law is Steve Glaros, with a Brandon office at 350 E. Robertson St. Family law, personal injury and estate planning. Florida Bar admitted in 2005 and a Florida Supreme Court certified family mediator. Personal injury consults are free. (813) 854-1234.
Maid Pure Cleaning is Dionne Cona, a former teacher and a mother of four, and she is up over 250 local customers across Brandon, Riverview and Valrico. Bonded and insured, with a 24-hour satisfaction callback. She also partners with Cleaning for a Reason. (813) 670-2004.
Journeys by Jess is Jess, planning cruises, all-inclusives, Disney and group travel out of Riverview. Florida Seller of Travel ST15578 and a Certified Family Travel Advisor. Reach her at [email protected].
K&D Law is Kou Jacobo’s general practice in Riverview, with a focus on immigration and asylum. Florida licensed since 2019 and in good standing. (786) 496-2918.
Team Plumstead Danielle with Red Sash Realty for all of your buying and selling needs.
Free to list. In front of 5,000+ local inboxes. Send it here.
If somebody you know is still finding out about all this from a neighbor, forward it to them.
See you Tuesday.
John
The East of Tampa Guy
P.S. Bloomingdale at Durant is my game of the week. Hopefully the weather clears up by kickoff. I’ve got former players on both teams!
