⛲️ The underwater restaurant that never was

Plus, a tribute to Central Florida's "Hidden Figures".

By Katie Johnston

We made it to the weekend. 

And we survived yet another April Fools’ Day amid a pandemic where life seems anything but funny most days. In all sincerity, congratulations are in order. 

The City of Orlando was able to pull a fast one on some folks with its joke about building a restaurant under Lake Eola, but for the most part, I think we all realized that would be a silly idea. 😉

While April Fools is over, the joke’s on us with these cooler temps. Brrrr! We’re looking at a high of 64 today and a low of 48. But don’t sweat it (see what I did there?) ‘cause we’ll be back in the 80s by next week. 

Alright, moving right along to today’s news: We’re talking vaccines for 16 and up, new kits from Orlando Pride, where to find Easter eggs, a pop-up fair by furloughed Disney cast members, and what’s going down this weekend.

What Orlando is talking about 

💉 Orlandoans 16-years-old and up can register to get the COVID-19 vaccine today. The portal opens up at 9 a.m. and there are 8,000 appointments available. For clarification, these appointments can be scheduled for Monday and after and are able to be booked starting today. Here’s a link to the portal. (WFTV) 

⚽️ Orlando Pride debuted new kits aka jerseys on the ‘gram yesterday. The Ad Astra design is “a tribute to Central Florida’s iconic Space Coast and the many trailblazing women whose accomplishments inspired generations.” Ad Astra means “To the stars,” and the three stars surrounding the logo represent the “Hidden Figures” of NASA — Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Get yours for $99. (Orlando Pride on Instagram) 

🌈 The city of Orlando debuted its new Transgender Pride flag at city hall on Wednesday, tying in with National Transgender Day of Visibility. The National Trans Visibility March, or NTVM, announced on the same day that its third annual march would happen here in the City Beautiful. It’s the first time the gathering will take place outside of Washington, D.C., and it’s currently scheduled for Oct. 9, 2021. (The City Beautiful on Instagram, Forbes)

🍿 Mark your calendars: WUCF is airing a never-seen-before documentary about the life of Ernest Hemingway on Monday. It’s a six-hour film divided into three parts, and it’s airing at 8 p.m. on April 5. (Bungalower) 

🐰 If you’re like me and the week got away from you, Sunday is Easter Sunday, y’all and our local food bloggers have got us covered on tasty, time-sensitive treats. The team over at Tasty Chomps rounded up 10 local places offering Easter specials, and Scott Joseph has an ever-expanding list of his own. (Tasty Chomps, Scott Joseph’s Orlando) 

• Related: The Winter Park Easter bunny is hopping along several different bunny trails tomorrow. The four-car “parades” are taking place in lieu of the annual Easter egg hunt and will be cruising along three different routes throughout Winter Park neighborhoods. (Bungalower) 
• Related: According to Google, Florida’s Easter candy of choice is caramel eggs. I don’t know how or why Reese’s Easter egg didn’t make the list, but at least we aren’t North Carolina or Arizona in this situation. (Thrillist) 

🛍 Furloughed Disney cast members are holding an Easter local-maker fair tomorrow in Kissimmee. More than 50 vendors will be on hand sharing their wares from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Facebook)

🎉 Winner, winner, chicken dinner + Members, we planned your weekend

Things to do

Submit your events to our calendar.

Today

🎬 Hey cinephiles, watch this year's Oscar shorts on the big screen at the Enzian or stream 'em to your living room through April 8 (Maitland/Online)

🍔 Grab some lunch and settle in to talk about the history center's year-long collection of the pandemic (Online)

🐝 Learn the basics of beekeeping like what goes into maintaining a hive and how to acquire bees (Online)

Tomorrow

🏑 Ready your quarenteam and head to the shuffle courts for a good ol' fashioned-game of shuffleboard (SoDo)

🚲 Go on a bike tour and learn about some of your favorite spots in Ivanhoe Village (Ivanhoe)

🌸 Spring Fiesta in the Park is back at Lake Eola and you're invited through Sunday (Lake Eola)

🍿 Head to The Nook for a night of movie trash (they're watching "Catwoman") and tasty local brews (Milk District)

🎶 UCF Choirs invite you to an evening of music celebrating unity and the 100th anniversary of the women's suffrage movement (Downtown)

📚 Check out this day-long celebration of books including writing workshops and a panel of bestselling authors from all over the country like NYT best-selling author Angie Thomas, in conversation with Ayana Gray (Online)

🐰 Hop over to Delaney Street Baptist Church for Easter Fest '21 including games, crafts, an egg hunt, and lots of fun for the whole family (Delaney Park)

Sunday

🖼 Take a guided tour of the Orlando Museum of Art's current exhibit: A Boundless Drop to a Boundless Ocean (Loch Haven Park)

🍻 Sunday Funday proper with fitness first followed by brunch and brews at Orlando Brewing (SoDo)

👋 Make friends with other couples in Orlando over a virtual coffee chat (Online)

Monday

✔️ Learn the basics of composting from Charlie of O-Town Compost (Online)

Thursday

💉 Share your ideas about education and vaccines in this open civil discourse forum at the Winter Park Library (Winter Park/Online)

One more thing

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and April is Autism Awareness Month. To honor this month and neurodiverse Orlandoans, we want you to send in suggestions for local advocacy groups, artists, educators, friends, and loved ones to shoutout and celebrate.

Note: we are looking for groups that advocate for, involve, or are created by the autistic community here in Central Florida, and which directly benefit this community. If you need some examples to get you started, this article is a really great resource. 

So send along your suggestions, as well as a couple of reasons why they deserve a shoutout and we’ll put something together for an upcoming newsletter.  

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you back here on Tuesday if I don’t see you first in your earbuds come Monday! 

– ✌️ Katie at Pulptown

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