Brandon Florida

If you prefer beer, then the Brandon Ale House will be your first choice. A friend of mine who lived in Brandon for several months claimed that the local pub is the best place in Brandon to eat and drink. The food is delicious and even the pasta’s OK (he recommended the Cajun chicken pasta). With 1.25 pints of Guinness beer. The crab legs you can eat for $14.99. On Tuesday kids eat free with purchase of adult entrée. 35 shrimps every day only $9.95.

Barnacles is probably the most popular restaurant in the Brandon. You will find it off the corner of Providence Blvd. and Causeway Blvd./Lumsden Rd., behind Walgreens. The restaurant offers good seafood and several hundreds of TVs for the hardcore sports fans to watch a favorite game. It is packed with local during important games. Cuisine: Seafood, Cajun / Creole. Drinks are expensive. The staff is OK, depending on your waiter, and the weekend crowd is mixed, averaging late 20’s to 30’s.

This small city on the outskirts of Tampa has come a long way since the late 1850's, when John Brandon and his family came to the area from Mississippi and started it all with 40 acres of land and a secluded dirt road. Only 12 miles east of the downtown Tampa, Brandon boasts prosperous small town living with easy access to the big city (if you travel outside the peak hours). Its population in 2000 was around 78,000; today more than 110,000. There is plenty to do within the Brandon city limits, but you will also find that you are close to the Gulf Coast beaches (from 50 min). Main Central Florida attraction, Disney World in Orlando is pretty close - the drive takes about an hour and 25 minutes. The near-perfect weather is great for the event Brandon is most well known for – the annual Brandon Balloon Classic. Every April Brandon hosts this two-day celebration that includes over 50 hot air balloons from all over the country. This year it was on April 27 – 29. The event takes place at the local Vandenberg Airport. 2004 marks the 22nd anniversary of the Classic, a significant event for the Brandon community. The balloons come in all shapes and sizes - Tony the Tiger, a Snowman, a Polar Bear, a Pumpkin to name a few. Yes, they offer hot air balloon rides for the brave souls. You can see the balloons lift off at dawn, enjoy activities and refreshments throughout the day and stay for the evening balloon glow. Now you are ready to visit the town. Picture yourself in a car driving from Tampa eastwards along SR60. You see the sign; "Welcome to Brandon" it says "Great Today, Greater Tomorrow". Sounds good, isn’t it? But right behind the shield you will see a local cemetery and the Hillsboro Memorial Funeral Home. Is that the future they are talking about? ...or it’s a Floridian joke?..hmm...I don’t know.

Brandon’s main attraction is the Tampa Bay’s area largest mall - the Westfield Shopping Town (formerly Brandon Town Center). The mall (974,000 square feet under one roof) is located on SR 60 / Brandon Blvd just east of I-75 (if you are coming from I-75 take exit 257). The anchor stores are typical for Florida – the Burdines, Dillard’s, JC Penney, Sears. Most of the stores have unusually large amounts of floor space and plenty of merchandise from which to choose. There are four fountains in the mall, very unusual ones – with moving sculptures. My favorite is the Manatee. You can spend hours sitting here on the leather chair, watching how she moves slowly using her wide, flat tail for power and strong flippers for steering…The food court is the best in the Tampa Bay area. The Mall is open Mon – Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 12am-6pm. On the same gigantic plaza you will find Barnes & Noble, Ross, Target, etc. There is a small lake next to the Center’s parking area. In the end of the day here you can watch wild turkeys, tortoises, cranes, even the rabbits… Among the other public bus routes, there is a direct route #8 linking downtown Tampa with the Mall. On the way the bus stops near the cruise ships terminals bringing hundreds of visitors to the shopping center. Local residents like to visit the Westfield as well.

The Davis Park in the center of Brandon is the oasis of the wide-open space bordered by the centennial oaks. Tranquility rules at this Hillsborough County Park. Here you get a great feeling of real Florida. Davis Park at N. Parsons Ave is situated on 15 acres along the Mead Lake. This is a low-key park with free access. The absence of amenities (except of restrooms) creates limited appeal for attendees. Well, a shelter, open picnic area, grills in some places, and limited play equipment are available. Pack a lunch and a blanket and make it a day of fun for the whole family! This rustic park is surrounded by the lake (do not even think about entering the muddy waters!) and nearby swamp where Florida flora and fauna are abundant. The park offers a great chance to watch wildlife along the lakeshore in the center if the city. First of all, the Davis Park is a bird lover's paradise. Long-legged birds like the Egret or Heron you will see almost immediately upon your arrival. The Egrets sometimes spread their wings, creating shaded areas on the water to attract fish. I saw the Sandhill Cranes several times here. Ducks (Wood Duck, Redhead) are all over the lake. It’s fun to see how they run along the water surface to take flight. And the Gulls are here of course (the Laughing Gulls are most common). On the dry land my favorite is the Marsh Rabbit. The animal with very small tail and short, broad ears is reddish-brown even in December. My wife’s favorite in the park is the Gopher Tortoise. A colony of Tortoises live here for years hiding in their burrows when you come too close. They are long-lived animals (40 - 60 years), so you have enough time to plan your visit. Beware of snakes, though. First of all, you may have a chance to see a water snake (banded water snake, brown water snake, green water snake). Then there are the black snake and swamp snake and …well, enough. Just watch your step. The Brandon area has millions of mosquitoes and invisible biting sand flies (known as "no-see-ums"), especially in the lake and marshy areas, but neither insect carries malaria or other diseases. You should keep these pests at bay with a good insect repellent.

John Brandon, the founder of Brandon town, was born in 1809. John, his wife Victoria and son James Henry came from Mississippi around 1857, bringing with them seven slaves and first naming future Brandon ‘New Hope’. Area was full of palmettos and underbrush and wilderness. James married Johanna Cavacevich, a relative of the first Anglo-American to locate in the Tampa Bay area. James was captured in the Civil War and was a prisoner on Rock Island, Ill. He was released in 1866, arrived home and built a log cabin in the spot that Brandon Bowling Lanes now stands. His son John William Brandon was born in 1867 in this cabin and was the first child born in Brandon. They would not recognize the place now.

Golfing is big in Brandon, with several major golf courses. An unusual monument (see the picture attached) greets you at the Ace Range Golf Club (820 Kings Avenue South). Besides the pirate monument, the club has the popular batting practice center. The club also features many amenities such as night lighting, over 1 acre of Bermuda grass tees, six target greens, and sand bunkers. Miniature golf and batting cages are always busy (mostly children with their parents). Giant oaks, Spanish moss, and alligators provide the backdrop for the golf. Mon-Thu: 08:00am-10:00pm
Fri-Sat: 08:00am-11:00pm
Sun 08:00am-05:00pm
Phone 813/651-4653