Tampa Is…?

Sticks of Fire is proud to be a sponsor at the upcoming International Cane Spirits Festival and Tasting Competition.

The Judging Competition takes place at Ybor City’s Cuban Club on Thursday and Friday, March 22 & 23, and the festival will be held at the Cuban Club in Ybor City on Saturday night, March 24.

Dozens of world class sugar-cane-based spirits will be available for your tasting pleasure. The spirits come from all over the world, including a handful of cachacas from Brazil, and many Rums and Rhums from South America, the Caribbean Islands, and Tennessee! Taste all of them!

In addition, you can hang out with world renowned Master Distillers & Blenders, authors, and rum aficionados. There will also be a silent auction for charity.

Get your tickets now for the International Cane Spirits Festival on Saturday, March 24, at the Cuban Club / 2010 Avenida República de Cuba (14th & Palm).

TAMPAGOLD.COM will again host live online forums for both remaining council seats. ALL runoff candidates have agreed to attend.

Both Forums will be held on Tuesday, March 13

The District 7 Race with Joseph Caetano and Frank Margarella will be broadcast online at 10 AM. (Sticks contributor and State of Sunshine writer Jim Johnson will be one of the panelists.)

The District 1 Race with Gwen Miller and Joe Redner will be at 3 PM.

Should you miss the live broadcast, they will both be posted on TAMPAGOLD.COM later in the same day for your viewing. Again, thank you to Tampa Digital Studios for helping us to make this happen.

*Editor’s Note: We could only find the campaign websites for two of the candidates. If Gwen Miller and/or Frank Margarella have websites for their campaigns, please let us know about them in the comments, and we will update this post.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

You know what today is - the day you go and buy your sweetheart some flowers, chocolates, jewelry or maybe take her/him to a romantic dinner somewhere to show how much you care. If you are tired of doing the same old thing every V day (I would never suggest you haven’t already made fantastic plans), why not take your sweetie to the Performing Arts Center tonight for the Cigar City Chronicles Preview.

You and your sweetie can learn about the history of Tampa through song and dance by the Center cabaret performers. Tickets are $50.00 per person OR $100.00 per couple (what a deal!), and that benefits the Ybor City Museum Society.

Enjoy free valet parking, a gourmet buffet and a cash bar. Also, ladies will receive one long-stemmed rose and gentlemen will receive a complimentary Tampa Sweetheart cigar. What else do you need?

Disclosure: We do have a promotional agreement with TBPAC for this play. This valentine’s day special is not part of our deal. Just want you to know.

Mix and mingle with other smart (Tampa?) lovers from 6:30 - 7:30pm, and the show starts at 7:30pm. For more information contact the Ybor City Museum Store at (813)241-6554.

The fresh air outside your house is provided free of charge. Get off the couch!

You might remember we wrote about Buddy & Bear way back in December.

Hillsborough County Animal Services reports that Buddy and Bear are still in the system:

Take a look at the photos of Buddy & Bear.

He is 9 years old and 60 lbs. Mom is 11 and 40 lbs. They are both chowchow mixes rescued by Hillsborough County Animal Services. They were left in the yard after their owner died unexpectedly and were in horrible condition but VERY sweet and docile.

A big THANKS goes to ALMOST HOME PET RESORT (yes, they do grooming!) of Valrico for giving them a doggie-spa day and making them gorgeous again.

The dogs are very socialized, and just need a special home for their remaining days TOGETHER. Yep - that means they need to go home as a pair.

The dogs have been relocated to our adoption partners at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay on Armenia. They are offering a special rate for these sweeties, too.

Call (813) 876-7138.

This adopt-a-pet post is sponsored by Downtown Dogs. Visit Downtown Dogs in Hyde Park Village to get your pet (or Buddy & Bear!) some special treats.

Jobsite Theater is offering buy one, get one free tickets to the remaining shows of All the Great Books (abridged). It’s a hilarious show, and they have received nothing but great feedback on it.

If you want the buy one, get one free deal, just to go to the ticket window, call 813.229.STAR or visit TBPAC.ORG and use promo code BOOKS.

This discount basically makes the tickets $10.75 a pop, which is quite a bargain.

Only two performances remain!  This Satuday at 10p and Sunday at 7p.

You’ll remember that SohoTampa and Sticks of Fire were named to Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay list for 2006. Sticks of Fire was chosen the Best Local Blog by readers of Creative Loafing, and SoHoTampa.com was the CL staff pick for Best Local Cultural Website. 

I went over to American Stageon Monday evening to accept awards on behalf of both websites.

It was a rainy night that scared a few away, but there were many spirited, community minded that showed up.  There was great food, interesting conversation, top class drink and more.  Without question, the entire affair was nothing if not fun.

And isn’t that at least part of what Creative Loafing is known for?  Well, that and covering stories like neither of the dailies do.  And that is why receiving this recognition is quite an honor.  They speak up - in depth - when everyone else seems to stay silent.

Thank You Creative Loafing for all you do!

Almost a year ago, we asked you to leave some basic information about yourself - just to get a better idea of what sort of people stumble upon Sticks of Fire.  We learned just a bit about the average visitor here, and were surprised at some of the results.

We think we picked up three or four more readers since then, and would like to see how they effect those statistics.  Of course, prospective advertisers are curious about you too.  (I know - many of us hate advertising, but if we are going have ads here, I’d much prefer that you see things you might actually be interested in, rather than offers for a weekend resort stay in, say, Iowa.)

Take the survey now!

Now, we don’t send ad cookies, we’ll never have popups, and your answers will not be tied to any of your personal information.  And the questionairre can be completed in less than four minutes.  Plus in a lame attempt to be entertaining, there are some goofy answers available instead of “none of the above.”

Whether you got here by accident, and it’s your first visit, or if you check in several times a day, it really would help us out if you go click a couple buttons.  This also goes for those of you who read but don’t comment.  Please - no matter how you got here or why, we sure would appreciate if you took a few seconds to answer the questions.

Feel free to use the comments below to tell us anything else you would like to see on Sticks of Fire, too!

On to the questions!

SoHoTampa and TampaGold are in the midst of updating their Business Directory Information for 2007.  You can sign up for a FREE business listing right now.  To receive your FREE listing send your business category, company/business name, address, and phone number to directory@tampagold.com

Businsses also have the option to upgrade the entry to include links to a website, logos and more for only $99 for the year.  See TampaGold for an example of an upgraded entry and to find out how you can make your business stand out.  These prices are increasing in 2007.

And while we are talking about advertising, now is a great time to consider banner advertisements on SOHOTAMPA.COM, SticksofFire.com and TampaGold.com.  Those start as low as $100 per month, and buying a full year in advance gets you a 20% discount.