Good morning, East of Tampa family.
Three buildings you have been guessing about are settled. A 50,325 square foot Publix opened at Wolf Creek Commons in Ruskin on August 13. Ford's Garage is under construction at U.S. 301 and Alder Green Drive in Riverview with a December opening planned. And Swig is on the coming soon list at The Yard at Waterset. It is 93 today with storms after 5, and twelve local football teams play Friday night.
Here is your week.
Glaros Law | He is the honorary mayor. He is also a Saints fan.
I met Steve Glaros on a flag football field, coaching against him. In July he was named the 2026 Honorary Mayor of East Hillsborough after raising $121,746 for High 5, the Impact Program and Raining Cats and Dogs. That is the most any single candidate has ever raised in that campaign.
Photo: Glaros Law
He grew up in New Orleans, which explains the one real flaw. The man is a Saints fan. I try not to hold it against him and most weeks I manage it.
The work is family law, personal injury and estate planning, which are the three moments a family's shape changes. A marriage ends. Somebody gets hit on 301. A parent dies without anything written down. Two of those pick the date for you and the third one does not, so estate planning is the one you handle on an ordinary Tuesday with nothing wrong. Glaros Law is at 350 E. Robertson St. in Brandon. Consultations are free on personal injury. Call (813) 854-1234.
⛅ Tuesday: 93 and 30 percent, storms mainly after 5. Heat index up to 101. Morning errands are fine. Evening practice is a gamble.
⛈ Wednesday: 94 and 60 percent, storms likely after 2. Anything outdoors goes in the morning or it does not happen.
⛈ Thursday: 93 and 70 percent, storms likely after 2. Wettest weekday of the six. Plan indoors and be pleasantly surprised.
⛈ Friday: 93 and 60 percent, storms likely after 2. Kickoff is 7:30 and the afternoon line usually moves through before then. Take the poncho anyway.
⛈ Saturday: 94 and 70 percent. The 8 a.m. cleanup in Apollo Beach beats the rain. The afternoon is a coin flip.
⛈ Sunday: 93 and 70 percent. Same shape as Saturday. Get out early or stay in.
🥵 No heat advisory is in effect as of this morning. Tuesday's forecast heat index is 101, and advisories get issued the morning of, so check before you commit to a long afternoon outside. (Source: National Weather Service Tampa Bay)
Murder, Denied at the Firehouse, Friday and Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 3. MacBeth & Cheese stages a psychological thriller at the Firehouse Cultural Center, 101 1st Ave. NE in Ruskin. Friday seats run $25 to $30 and the theater lists them as very limited. This is the actual night out on this week's list. Tickets and showtimes.
Photo: Firehouse Cultural Center
Community cleanup in Apollo Beach, Saturday at 8. The South Shore Legacy Fund meets at the Dollar General, 610 Apollo Beach Blvd., and works until noon. Free, with food and drinks from local businesses, ice cream and raffle giveaways. 64 people had already marked themselves interested by Monday. The group is here.
Fill a grocery bag for $3 at the Ruskin library, Friday and Saturday. The Friends of the Ruskin Branch run their mini book sale 10 to 6 both days at 26 Dickman Dr. SE. Cash only, and the bag is the unit of measurement. Friday's listing is here.
Free movie at the Bloomingdale library, Thursday at 3. The Super Mario Bros. Movie runs 3 to 5 in Room 219 at 1906 Bloomingdale Ave. in Valrico. Ages 6 to 12, free, registration required, and about 40 seats were still open Monday. Register here.
Book club at Brandon Regional Library, Wednesday at 6. The Wedding People, one hour, 619 Vonderburg Dr. Free, no registration, walk in and sit down. The library has the listing.
Game of the week: Tampa Bay Tech at Sumner. Both teams are 1-0 and neither one squeaked. Sumner put 55 on Strawberry Crest and did not give up a point. Tampa Bay Tech beat Lake Gibson 27-6, and that win moved the Titans to No. 8 in the Class 5A Power 10. It is at Stingray Stadium in Riverview, and it is not a district game for Sumner. Nobody is protecting anything yet.
The rest of Friday night. Twelve local teams are playing. Newsome hosts Freedom, Riverview hosts Parrish Community, Spoto hosts Robinson and Lennard hosts Morgan. Durant is at Strawberry Crest, Bloomingdale is at Middleton, East Bay is at Chamberlain and Brandon is at Mulberry. All of those kick at 7:30. Plant City opens its season up at Fletcher in Neptune Beach at 6:30, and Armwood is flying to Ramsey, New Jersey to play Don Bosco Prep at 7:00.
Week one went like this.
Sumner 55, Strawberry Crest 0
Durant 49, King 7
East Bay 43, Riverview 7
Newsome 31, Land O'Lakes 24
Bloomingdale 26, Hillsborough 15
Armwood 17, Lennard 7
East of Tampa Local Sports is selling ad packages. Game cards, final scores, Athlete of the Week and school calendar posts across Hillsborough high schools, with some posts landing between 10,000 and 50,000 impressions. One school, football and volleyball plus school calendar and admin posts. It is $250 a month for six posts, $500 for twelve, three month minimum. Details are here.
Photo: East of Tampa Local Sports
Got a score, a photo, a student journalist or a coach who will talk? Reply to this email. That is how the sports section gets better.
U.S. 301 is getting repaved in two separate stretches at once. From SR 574 down to SR 60 in Riverview, crews work nightly 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. through Thursday. From the Manatee County line up to SR 674, it is nightly 7 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. through Saturday. Same road, two crews, both overnight.
The 301 and Big Bend intersection is closing lanes nightly through Thursday, 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. If you come home late through Apollo Beach, that is your route.
SR 60 from Buckingham Place to Lithia Pinecrest is nightly repaving through Thursday, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. That is the Brandon and Valrico stretch most of us drive without thinking about it. FDOT posts the full state road list weekly.
Give yourself the extra ten minutes after dark this week. You are going to need them.
SOL Mexican Restaurante, 702 Railroad St., Wimauma.
It started in 1993 as a food truck in Wimauma. Thirty three years later it is a full restaurant on Railroad Street run on family recipes, open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. That last part matters more than anything else on a Tuesday.
Order the chile rellenos at $14, three poblano peppers battered and fried in their own sauce. If you are feeding more than yourself, the fajita mix at $23 comes out in a skillet with steak, chicken and shrimp on it. Corn tacos are $2.50 apiece, which is how you keep a table of kids quiet while the adults read the menu.
Photo: SOL Mexican Restaurante
Why tonight. It is 93 with a heat index near 101 and storms rolling in after 5. Nobody in your house wants to turn an oven on, and the kitchen is open until 10 no matter how late practice runs. (813) 633-2777.
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
Ruskin got a Publix on August 13. The new store at 3050 19th Ave. NE in Wolf Creek Commons runs 50,325 square feet. That is a full size store, not a small format, in a part of the county that has been driving for one. Publix announced it here.
Photo: Publix
Ford's Garage is going up at 301 and Alder Green in Riverview. About 7,000 square feet on the northwest corner, opening in December, the 24th in Florida and the fifth in Tampa Bay. Separately, Swig has landed on the coming soon list for The Yard at Waterset in Apollo Beach. The Observer has the construction details.
Photo: Ford's Garage
There is a 46 foot wide surf wave in Brandon now. EpicSurf opened inside Heroes Paradise at 733 Knowles Rd., a deep water standing wave running 3 to 5 feet deep, built for first timers through adaptive riders. Hours are 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Photo: Heroes Paradise
Winthrop is running its first Restaurant Week September 17 through 27. Seven Riverview spots are in, including Acropolis Greek Taverna, Cappy's Pizzeria, Cali Brandon and Longshots Sports Bar, with prix fixe menus and dishes that only run that week. The Osprey Observer has the full list.
Plant City is still working through the Flock camera question. Residents asked the city commission on August 6 to suspend the license plate reader contracts. A Flock camera presentation was back on the agenda Monday night as item 26-388, filed under reports of officers rather than as a vote. The city posts its agendas here.
The businesses that keep this free.
Environmental Protective Solutions was founded in Lithia on May 5, 2005, which makes this year 21. Adam Key runs the Tampa side and he is a certified mold remediator. Mold and mycotoxin removal, water damage, leak detection and crawl space encapsulation, plus the repair work afterward, with a one year warranty on mold remediation and a 24/7 emergency line. (813) 438-5937.
Photo: Environmental Protective Solutions
Tabatha Pugh is a broker associate with Keller Williams Realty Smart and a licensed Florida broker associate since January 2017. That is nine years of watching this market do what it does. Plant City is her home base. 813-476-8457.
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 packaged individually, and a 10 pound box of Duroc pork tenderloins. With storms every afternoon this week, a freezer that is already handled is worth something.
Photo: The #1 Meat Man
Roof Rejuvenate SH is Jeff, out of Lithia, and it is veteran owned. A shingle roof usually fails because the asphalt dried out, not because the shingles wore through, and rejuvenation puts the oils back for a fraction of the $15,000 to $30,000 a replacement runs. Five year transferable warranty, and it can be done three times. The 21 point inspection is free. (813) 652-2777.
Photo: Roof Rejuvenate SH
Stoner's Pizza Joint is Allison Hardy at 3428 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Bloomingdale. Pizza, wings and calzones, and the Pick 2 runs $6.99 each. Order it before the 5 o'clock storm, not during it. (813) 436-0016.
Photo: Stoner's Pizza Joint
Madison Patron is with Foundation Realty Group and works the same east side footprint you live in. Residential real estate, and she answers her own phone. Cell 813-955-9092, office 813-729-6000.
Maid Pure Cleaning is Dionne Cona, a former teacher and a mother of four, with 250 plus local customers across Brandon, Riverview and Valrico. Bonded and insured, with a 24 hour satisfaction callback if something got missed. (813) 670-2004.
Photo: Maid Pure Cleaning
K&D Law is Kou Jacobo in Riverview. General practice with a real immigration and asylum caseload, and he has been a licensed Florida attorney in good standing since 2019. (786) 496-2918.
Fix It Today Plumbing is the sister company to Environmental Protective Solutions, same family, same people. Leaks, drains, water heaters, sewer lines, repiping and water filtration, flat rate pricing with financing. The useful part is the pairing. The people who stop the leak are the people who dry the house out. (813) 743-7793.
Team Plumstead is John and Danielle with Red Sash Realty. Residential real estate across FishHawk, Lithia, Valrico, Brandon and Riverview. (813) 495-2136.
Brandon Crossroads Bowl and The Alley at SouthShore are the same family. Brandon Crossroads has been at 609 Crater Ln. since 1990, 40 lanes across 40,000 square feet with a pub and grill. The Alley is 42,000 square feet at 10221 Big Bend Rd. in Riverview. Bowlapalooza runs Monday through Friday 3 to 5 at $6.99 plus tax with free shoes, and Team Trivia at The Alley is Wednesday at 7. With a 60 percent storm chance every afternoon, indoors is the whole pitch. (813) 621-2363.
Photo: The Alley at SouthShore
Journeys by Jess is Jess, out of Riverview, a registered Florida Seller of Travel and a Certified Family Travel Advisor. Cruises, all inclusives, Disney and group travel. School just started, which means you are about eleven weeks from wishing you had booked something. [email protected].
Photo: Port Tampa Bay
Running something the rest of us should know about? A fundraiser, a grand opening, a game, a market, a meeting. Send it in here and we will get it in front of 5,000 of your neighbors.
See you Friday.
John
The East of Tampa Guy
