{"id":553,"date":"2021-11-18T16:26:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T16:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newboppersite.048566e.netsolhost.com\/?page_id=553"},"modified":"2021-11-23T18:44:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T18:44:53","slug":"a-new-home-base","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/?page_id=553","title":{"rendered":"A new home base"},"content":{"rendered":"

A NEW HOME BASE<\/h2>\n

July 4, 2000: another chapter begins. In Lady Lake, Florida, a sprawling retirement community is growing at an amazing pace; selling 100 or more homes per month.\u00a0This\u00a0new\u00a0development concept features a town square for entertainment, executive (9 hole) golf courses,\u00a0championship 18 hole golf courses, tennis, pools, polo stadium, convention\u00a0facilities and more. \u00a0On this date, “Cactus Jack and\u00a0the Cadillacs” had their debut performance at “Katie Belle’s Dance Hall” in the Spanish Springs town square.<\/p>\n

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The Villages, FL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Villages is a 55+ Community populated by people who refused to slow down. \u00a0Much of the transportation is via golf cart. \u00a0If you’re ready to retire, and are ready to enjoy the good life, the Villages is the place for you.
https:\/\/thevillages.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Performing at Katie Belle’s was very much “old home week”. The venue was somewhat reminiscent of the “Cheyenne Saloon” and “Orchid Garden Cafe” venues at the now defunct Church Street Station. \u00a0 Although smaller than the Cheyenne Saloon or the Orchid Garden, Katie Belle’s featured\u00a0two floors of seating, a huge dance floor, \u00a0and a friendly, relaxed, casual atmosphere. \u00a0The food was\u00a0pretty\u00a0good. \u00a0Adult beverages were cheap. \u00a0It\u00a0didn’t take too long for our\u00a0high-energy Rock-N-Roll style to start packing the place. \u00a0Eventually we found ourselves performing one full weekend in Katie Belle’s each month along with a couple outdoor gigs at one or more of the town squares.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Interior View: Orchid Garden 1986<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Special Event at the Cheyenne Saloon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Interior View: Katie Belle’s Music Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Good Times are being had by all. \u00a0The weekend gigs at Katie Belle’s were great setup once; then play Friday and Saturday nights. \u00a0Crowds were\u00a0getting so\u00a0large that often there was an hour or more wait to get a seat. \u00a0And, for a few more years, we had a comfortable situation at the\u00a0Villages with great venues and great fans. \u00a0We also still\u00a0had\u00a0many of our annual large venue gigs like the Lakeland Margarita Ball (27\u00a0consecutive years) and the annual Mother’s day oldies dance for the Space Coast Street Rods (25 consecutive years). \u00a0This continued for several years. \u00a0Eventually, some of the long-term clients stopped holding the big annual events; some decided to go a different directly. \u00a0We were humming along,\u00a0especially at the Villages, but another change was coming.<\/p>\n

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Friday Night at Katie Belle’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Spanish Springs Town Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lake Sumter Landing Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Brownwood Paddock Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three Squares and Katie Belle’s: \u00a0Rock-N-Roll The Villages style.<\/p>\n

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A NEW HOME BASE July 4, 2000: another chapter begins. In Lady Lake, Florida, a sprawling retirement community is growing<\/p>\n

Continue readingA new home base<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-553","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761,"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/553\/revisions\/761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bopper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}