Mount Dora's waterfront just got a bit more romantic.  This summer the city is hosting a new monthly event, "Movie Under the Stars,"  to provide adults with an escape of their own.

The city's date night will feature a free movie on the waterfront, as well as offer beer, wine and cocktails available for purchase from Pisces Rising.   Movie-goers can bring their own picnic baskets or purchase dinner from a food truck that will be parked at the Evans Park venue at the end of Donnelly Street, downtown.

The movie start at dusk and is recommended for adults only.  After all, this is a date night!  The park will be sprayed for mosquitoes on the day of the event to keep insects to a minimum.  Lawn chairs, blankets, picnic basket and bug spray are recommended, but candelabras are optional.

The featured movies are:
July 15:  "Gods of Egypt" (PG-13)
Aug. 19: "Honky Tonk Freeway" 

The City of Mount Dora will continue the monthly event throughout the year depending on attendance.  Residents are encouraged to request movie titles to the city's parks and recreation department for future showings, according to Roy Hughes, Director of the Parks and Recreation Department.

Stay up-to-date with more news and events for Mount Dora here.

It's not the first time, and it won't be the last.  Artist Amy Sellers can't help but draw inspiration from her downtown Mount Dora surroundings.  Her latest painting is her fifth collage of the city which has been a muse for artists for decades.

Sellers, a downtown gallery owner, spent two weeks painting her multimedia piece titled "Mount Dora: One Taste at a Time."  The oversized original features all 34 restaurants located in the city's popular downtown and uptown districts.  The acrylic painting also used glue and coffee beans from a local coffee shop for added dimension.  
"It was fun discovering the glue gun heated the coffee beans, resulting in an aromatic  experience," said Sellers about the process.

Amy Sellers Gallery is offering smaller reproductions of the brightly colored painting are available from 18- to 30-inch widths with the prices being just under $30 and $60 respectively.  The reproductions will also be dimensional and feature the aromatic coffee beans on the edges.
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It's rare that an idea combines tons of talent and a bit of creative enterprise.

Those are the ingredients required when almost three dozen live performance acts from across the US, converge for the Eustis Buskers Festival on May 14.    

Busking, entertaining in a public place for donations, is sometimes credited with adding charm to intimate  settings, like downtown Eustis.  The city's festival will provide buskers a bigger stage, while giving residents and visitors a weekend to remember.  The acts range from musicians and acrobats to artists and magicians.  

The buskers will compete for over $6,000 in prize money from sponsors, including the festival's grand prize of $4,000.

The family-friendly event will take place downtown on ten outdoor stages, 'busk stops" including Ferran Park. Attendees can vote for their favorite busking act.  

The event is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the finalists competing a Ferran Park at 6:30 p.m.  Admission is free to the public. 

Stay up-to-date on events for Eustis, Mount Dora and Tavares here.

Margaritas, anyone?  Or maybe a cerveza and street taco is how you celebrate.   Stop in these local cantinas this Thursday, May 5, and partake in the fiestas:

Fiesta Grande:
421 N. Baker Street, downtown Mount Dora

Eduardo's Locos Tacos
Drink & taco specials.  Bounce house for the kids. 5-10 p,m.
226 W. Alfred Street, Tavares

La Cabana Mexican Bar & Grill
Food specials starting at $6 and $1 tequila shots
2060 S. Bay Street, Eustis

Plaza  Guadalajara
$3.99 house margaritas
18660 US Highway 441, Mount Dora