[Bogie Shooter]

Official Web Site
http://www.wildwood-fl.gov/

[katezbox]

Wildwood is a part of the "real" Florida. Yes, it is poor. Yes, there is crime. But unlike most of us in our beautiful bubble in TV, many inhabitants of Wildwood have never lived elsewhere.

We love Cotillion and one of the service stations removed our old license plates at no charge (it was corroded on) and put on the new ones. The people I have met there are warm and friendly.

I grew up in a depressed part of Mass - so I see a place where we can help by shopping, eating, attending church, volunteering.

drr47 - thanks for calling us out.

k

[rshoffer]

Wildwood-->real
The Villages-->fantasy

[katezbox]

Originally Posted by rshoffer

Wildwood-->real
The Villages-->fantasy

i agree

[BobKat1]

All of the pros and cons could pretty much be said about any town or city.

[billethkid]

I suspect more of our generation have roots in towns and cities much more like Wildwood than TV-bubble....I betcha!!

btk

[katezbox]

Originally Posted by billethkid

I suspect more of our generation have roots in towns and cities much more like Wildwood than TV-bubble....I betcha!!

btk

Yep - and he said exactly what I did with much greater efficiency!

BTK - I agree with you totally - and I did come from a small city much like Wildwood.

[graciegirl]

Now I really feel bad. Especially to the folks who grew up in Wildwood. I am very sorry that I said it was kinda crummy.

It is all relative. The Villages is so pretty, and green and trimmed and new and flowered and pristine.....but, BUT there are a lot of old people walking and riding around...You notice that?????

[Taj44]

I agree with all the comments on Wildwood depicting it as essentially a "slice of small town Florida life". For those of us who grew up or lived in small towns, there are always a few negatives but we are familiar with a lot of the positives. I'm heartened to see Villagers apologize for the dissing, and their acknowledgement of the nice things about Wildwood. I never knew Wildwood had a farmer's market, for example - worth checking out!

[KathieI]

I absolutely LOVE going into our surrounding towns, Wildwood, Fruitland Park, Tavares and Leesburg. After all, they are the heart of what original FL was all about. All of the people treat me with that wonderful Southern hospitality, and I love being called ma'am.... Believe me, if you think those towns should be dressed up because they surround TV, you should see some of the neighborhoods that surround Beverly Hills, CA....

We should support those towns with our presence and treat the people there with the same respect that they treat us. I apologize for my friends in TV who insulted some of the residents, I love you guys and am very happy that I live near 466A so I have the opportunity to frequent these towns often.

[marianne237]

When we first visited TV about 10 years ago after some friends moved here, we drove through Wildwood. At that time, the Main street had an arts and crafts store and one or two artist type stores. There were a couple of small restaurants too.

On later visits, the town had declined, but as others have stated, so had their home towns back north.

With more folks moving into this area, and with patience and a better economy, I suspect Wildwood, Oxford and all the small towns around here will have a rebirth.

[Larryandlinda]

Originally Posted by Taj44

I agree with all the comments on Wildwood depicting it as essentially a "slice of small town Florida life". For those of us who grew up or lived in small towns, there are always a few negatives but we are familiar with a lot of the positives. I'm heartened to see Villagers apologize for the dissing, and their acknowledgement of the nice things about Wildwood. I never knew Wildwood had a farmer's market, for example - worth checking out!

It's refreshing to see the growing sentiment for tolerance and diversity coming out in this topic. (Which emoticom is best for that?)
I'm reminded of my days at OU in Athens in the 70's.....most of the 17,000, especially us in Fine Arts, were from metropoli and civilizations like NJ, NY, DC, Cleveland, and Cinti.

It was fascinating travelling out into the surrounding 'developing' Appalachia on our bicycles, motorcycles, Corvairs, and VW buses to find subject matter for journalism and photography. Social landscapes were my specialty, and like the areas surrounding TV, Southeastern ohio and West Virginia were paradise.

Many of us were addicted to the abundance of thrift shops, rummage sales, carnivals, and country auctions as well. I collected thousands of old books and records for nickels and dimes.

People would often ask..."y'all from the city?"
We'd answer "Nossir, Athens"

They come back with "that's what I meant"

Just as many of us would like to have a friendly, accepting presence in our surrounds here in TV, we wanted the 'townies' to accept the long hair hippie freaks in the day. Most of us were fine folk and learned more about life outside the classroom than in.

Those that stayed in the campus bubble never knew.

Two of our off spring went to college deep in South Central LA - a great experience for two kids growing up in a rural Md county with little ethnic and social diversity.

Leaving our compound provides us with great therapy and fine shopping.

L&L

Let's

[Boomer]

I do not live in TV, at this point, and I do not live in Wildwood. But I could write a dissertation on this general topic, as it applies everywhere.

But for today, no dissertation from me, but I would like to say that I was so glad to see so many positive comments about Wildwood.

And now I would like to add my own.....

When we were in TV in early November, we made sure that we sought out Traditions, a new restaurant located in Wildwood, above a shop that I did not have time to visit, but I will next time. It looks like one of those places where you might find a little treasure.

On the day we went to Wildwood, we were on a mission to find some real Italian food and Traditions had been talked about in a thread here on TOTV, with many good comments.

So anyway, we went to Traditions for lunch. And although the lunch menu was mainly sandwiches and such, there was one wonderful pasta dish and also some delicious mushroom soup. The dinner menu is more extensive and although we wanted to return to try them again, we just ran out of time.

I like restaurants where there is somebody in the kitchen really cooking. And this is one of those restaurants. I hope they do well.

I found the original thread about Traditions and I am linking it here. When I read back through it, I noticed a couple of questions about the upstairs location of the restaurant. I asked them when I was there how they handled that for people who could not climb the stairs. They have some tables located downstairs for that reason.

Anyway, I hope Traditions is doing fine over there in Wildwood. I would call ahead for their hours. It seems like they may be open only at certain times. And my guess is that the dinner menu will still be the one with more choices of the real Italian food. The lunch offering of the real Italian was really good, and next time, we are in TV, we will go there for dinner.

So maybe take a break from the bubble and take a walk on the Wildwood side. And find some wonderful Italian food, and it sounds like lots of other good things, too.

Here's the link to the restaurant stuff:

Traditions Cafe - Wildwood

Boomer

[Taj44]

Originally Posted by Larryandlinda

It's refreshing to see the growing sentiment for tolerance and diversity coming out in this topic. (Which emoticom is best for that?)
I'm reminded of my days at OU in Athens in the 70's.....most of the 17,000, especially us in Fine Arts, were from metropoli and civilizations like NJ, NY, DC, Cleveland, and Cinti.

It was fascinating travelling out into the surrounding 'developing' Appalachia on our bicycles, motorcycles, Corvairs, and VW buses to find subject matter for journalism and photography. Social landscapes were my specialty, and like the areas surrounding TV, Southeastern ohio and West Virginia were paradise.

Many of us were addicted to the abundance of thrift shops, rummage sales, carnivals, and country auctions as well. I collected thousands of old books and records for nickels and dimes.

People would often ask..."y'all from the city?"
We'd answer "Nossir, Athens"

They come back with "that's what I meant"

Just as many of us would like to have a friendly, accepting presence in our surrounds here in TV, we wanted the 'townies' to accept the long hair hippie freaks in the day. Most of us were fine folk and learned more about life outside the classroom than in.

Those that stayed in the campus bubble never knew.

Two of our off spring went to college deep in South Central LA - a great experience for two kids growing up in a rural Md county with little ethnic and social diversity.

Leaving our compound provides us with great therapy and fine shopping.

L&L

Let's

Great stories. Thanks for sharing!

[Martha Kaye]

I have my dry cleaning, nails and hair, massages, etc. in Wildwood because I find the prices better than in the Villages.