Chick-fil-A has not run Cow Appreciation Day since 2019. Seven years. In that time your kid learned to read, the Rays moved out of the Trop and moved back in, and Boyette Road became a personality trait.

It is back. Today. Dress like a cow, eat for free.

In today's East of Tampa:

This is the one you want to read.

Tampa Bay Water's contractor was scheduled to tunnel under Boyette Road near the 7-Eleven just east of Bell Shoals. Schools along the corridor, and the parents of the kids who attend them, said the same thing loudly: you cannot do this to Boyette in August.

The contractor met with school officials and rescheduled it. The tunnel work is off the calendar until after Boyette reopens.

Read that again. A public utility's contractor changed a construction schedule because local parents made noise. That does not happen often. It happened here.

The catch, and there is one. The open-trench work and the current lane diversion on Boyette are not going anywhere. Tampa Bay Water now expects those to run until approximately February 2027. So the pain continues. It just will not get worse the week school starts.

Read the announcement

Bayberry Glen Drive is closed at FishHawk Boulevard through 6 a.m. Monday, July 20. Crews are fusing pipe staged along FishHawk Boulevard so they can pull it into the tunnel under Little FishHawk Creek.

Everything on that road is still open. You just have to get there differently. FishHawk Family Dental, Starbucks, Bayberry Dental, and Women's Care Florida are all reachable via Hammock Crossing Drive or FishHawk Crossing Boulevard.

The businesses are open. The road to them is not. Go the long way and buy the coffee anyway.

Also, if you live near Buckhorn Creek: the pipeline crew went to 24-hour operations at the Buckhorn Creek crossing west of South Kings Avenue starting yesterday. Monday through Saturday, up to four weeks. They are running nights specifically to get ahead of the school year. You may hear backup alarms. The lights are supposed to be aimed away from your house. If they are not, the project line is 813-485-6480.

Detours and alerts

Not "have a couple." Lead. Five selections, more than any team in the AL. More than the Yankees.

They go into the break 56-38. First in the AL East. Best record in the American League. Yankees are two back.

Caminero hit the Home Run Derby last night in Philadelphia. He lost the final last year, and at 23 years and 8 days old, winning would have made him the youngest Derby champion in history and the first Ray to ever take it.

27 days until the first bell.

Hillsborough County schools open Monday, August 10. That is four weekends. That is one Publix run before the good backpacks are gone. That is 27 mornings before you find out whether your Boyette workaround actually holds up at 7:15 a.m. with everybody else on it.

Nobody is ready. Everybody says they are.

We are in the part of summer where the sky opens up every afternoon at three and your roof either handles it or starts a conversation you did not want to have.

Roof Rejuvenate SH. If your roof qualifies, their treatment may add 5 to 15 years of life to it. They can treat a qualifying roof up to three times, and each service carries a five-year warranty. That is a very different number than the one your roofer quoted you for a full tear-off.

Ask for Jeff. 813-652-2777 | roofrejuvenatesh.com

The cheapest roof is the one you did not have to buy twice.

The FishHawk Spartans start practice Wednesday at the FishHawk Sports Complex. Pop Warner. Kids who spent all summer telling you they were ready are about to find out what a July two-a-day in Florida actually feels like.

If you have never stood on that sideline in the middle of a Hillsborough County August, understand what these kids and these volunteer coaches are signing up for. Nobody is getting paid. Everybody is out there anyway.

Business owners: you can hang a banner at their fields. It is one of the best local advertising buys in FishHawk and the money goes straight back into the program. Reach out to the Spartans directly.

FishHawk Spartans on Facebook | fishhawkspartans.com | 813-325-5626

We love football around here. Youth sports, high school sports, all of it. High school sports in this county are the closest thing east Hillsborough has to a town square.

And we are not covering it well enough.

Newsome, Bloomingdale, Riverview, Durant, Strawberry Crest, Spoto, Sumner, Lennard, Plant City, Armwood, Brandon, East Bay, Morgan. Thirteen schools. Thousands of kids. Volleyball, cross country, swimming, and bowling all start alongside football. Right now there is no single place a parent in this community can go to see all of it in one place.

We want East of Tampa to be that place. We cannot do it alone.

So here is the open call. If you want to help us cover high school sports, reply to this email.

We are looking for:

You will get credit. First name, last name, school. Every single time.

Reply to this email with "SPORTS" and tell us what you want to cover.

Nobody outside this community is going to tell these kids' stories. So we will.

First pitch is 8 p.m. You have a Rays third baseman starting for the American League. You are not watching that alone in the kitchen.

BLVD Supper Club. The pizza and the burgers are why people keep coming back, and it is a genuinely fun room for a night out with friends or a casual date night that does not require a reservation and a blazer.

813-657-5700 | blvdsupperclub.com

Worth putting on real pants for. Not a full cow costume. Real pants.

TODAY (Tuesday)

WEDNESDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Got an event? Put it in front of 5,000+ inboxes. Free. Submit it here

Twenty-seven days until school starts, and the question we get most this time of year is some version of "which side of the street am I on."

It matters more than people think. School boundaries in this county move home values by six figures, and the lines are not where you assume they are. One ZIP code in Riverview can feed four different high schools depending on your street.

Danielle raised four boys through these schools. She is the president of the FishHawk Spartans. She will verify the school zone on any address before you write an offer, and she will tell you the truth about the school even when the truth is not the answer you were hoping for.

teamplumstead.com | 719-237-2398

Made you smile? Forward this to the neighbor who is still driving Boyette like it is 2024.

Get 5 friends to subscribe and we will promote your business for free.

Reply with "SPORTS" if you want to help us cover the fall season. And reply with a photo if you actually dressed like a cow. We are publishing those. First name and city. Some judgment.

See you Friday.

-John The East of Tampa Guy

FishHawk Spartan 11U Coaches…Let’s Gooooo!!!!!

For 10 days during the World Cup knockouts, Kalshi is giving away a signed, authenticated jersey from a different soccer legend every 24 hours. One winner per day. The roster: Di María, Ochoa, Dempsey, Modrić, Falcao, Varane, Ferdinand, Villa, and the grand prize: Messi's actual game-worn jersey from the match he scored his 800th career goal. It's free to enter in the Kalshi app. Every daily check-in earns you an entry toward Messi. The more days you show up, the better your odds. Download the app and start entering now.

Download and Enter Free

_{Free to enter. App required. No purchase necessary. 18+, U.S. only (excl. NY & FL).}