The Downtown Kissimmee Council recently awarded their Downtown Beautification & Innovation Award to White Rose Books & More, Downtown Kissimmee’s first independent bookstore.
Throughout the year, the Downtown Kissimmee Council will take notice when businesses make strides to enhance the Downtown area with projects that include either physical upgrades or improvements to their properties or innovative programming that improves the Downtown experience. For their first presentation of 2025, Downtown Kissimmee Council Chair Candice Shields of the Osceola Library System and members of the DKC Board dropped by to present White Rose with a signed letter and certificate as well as an a-frame sign that is theirs to display until the next award is presented.
White Rose was opened in Downtown Kissimmee in 2023 by former school media specialists Erin Decker Kratter and Tania Galiñanes. They got the keys and in two short weeks in November 2023 transformed the space into a working bookstore. Out front they added storefront signage. Inside, they create a children’s corner in partnership with the Early Learning Coalition, decorated with artwork by local artists, and have kept their shelves stocked with popular first-run books, used books, items from local vendors, and more.
They have brought novel (excuse the pun…) programming to Downtown Kissimmee in the form of book-related events and activities that have included everything from book fairs and author signings to book clubs and audio book walking groups, and several projects in partnership with other local businesses.
In addition, White Rose accepts the DKC’s Downtown Dollars, has an in-house coffee cart, and offers a personal greeting from canine mascot Teddy.
Applications are available now for the 2025 Poinciana Council Scholarship!
This year the Poinciana Council Board of Directors will award (at minimum) two (2) $1000 scholarships to graduating seniors who reside in the following zip codes: 34758, 34759, or 34746, and two (2) $1000 scholarships to students already enrolled in a technical education program, two- or four-year degree program, or Master’s program at a post-secondary educational institution.
All winners will be honored at a luncheon at Poinciana High School on April 22, 2025.
If you meet the qualifications and are interested in applying, please click on and complete the application below by Sunday, March 23, 2025.
CLICK HERE TO FIND AND COMPLETE THE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR APPLICATION
CLICK HERE TO FIND AND COMPLETE THE POST-SECONDARY APPLICATION.
Donations are accepted to the Poinciana Council Scholarship Fund. Donations are accepted HERE, or contact us f you wish to donate a specific amount.
On Saturday, February 8th, The Osceola Chamber celebrated our 100th Annual Meeting at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort with the theme “Boots to Suits – 100 Years of Osceola Heritage.”
We filled a ballroom with 500 Chamber members and community partners who gathered to watch the gavel officially pass from 2024 Chairman of the Board Carlos Velez, Vice President of the Osceola Magic, to our 2025 Chairman Tim Weisheyer with Dream Builders Realty. Under the leadership of Chairman Velez, an Innovation Committee met regularly to review and make fresh the Osceola Chamber membership and maintain the Chamber’s status as an “Accredited with Five Stars” Chamber.
Prior to the evening’s formal program, guests gathered in the foyer for a cocktail reception that included opportunities for souvenir photos with Woody and Jessie from Disney’s Toy Story franchise, as well as photos with a themed backdrop or AI Photobooth sponsored by Orlando Health and HCA Florida Healthcare, respectively, and administered by RTW Photography. Themed bars in the foyer and ballroom served an “Osceola Old Fashioned,” sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union, as the evening’s specialty cocktail.
Inside the ballroom, themed centerpieces assembled by Kissimmee Florist and sponsored by AdventHealth brought the “country-elegant” theme to further life, along with decorations and lighting designed by Disney. Attendees reflected the night’s theme with their fancy cowboy and cowgirl-inspired attire. Micky Mouse even got in on the theme when he joined Elizabeth Watkins, Government Relations Manager at Walt Disney World Resort, onstage to welcome everyone to Coronado Springs. She then shared some of the exciting things we can expect from the Walt Disney Company this year.
Chair Velez kicked off the awards for the night by presenting the 3rd annual Chairman’s Award to Shawn Savage with ABC Paving & Sealcoating. The Chairman’s Award is presented by the outgoing Chairman to an individual they believe has gone “above and beyond” in service to the Chamber, especially throughout the past year.
In honor of our 100th Annual Meeting, tribute was paid to our history throughout the night. A record number of past-Chairs participated in this year’s gavel pass, and they were assisted by none other than Mickey Mouse! A video highlighting the Chamber’s initiatives 100 years ago in 1925 – a year of change much like 2025 ahead of us – played early in the evening as Chamber President/CEO John Newstreet shared facts about the “Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce” in 1924-25. A series of video’s highlighting Osceola County’s commercial and community history over the past 100 years played throughout the evening. County residents and business people shared their memories and experiences with Osceola’s early years in agriculture from 1924-1970, tourism heyday from 1970 to around 2010, and the amazing changes coming as part of technology and industry diversification in places like NeoCity at present.
The Chamber also took the opportunity to honor long-term members. Representatives from member businesses who have been a part of the Chamber for 45 years or more were surprised to be brought up and recognized on stage with a plaque. This award of longevity was sponsored by HCA Florida Healthcare – themselves a 50+ year member of The Osceola Chamber – and HCA Poinciana‘s CEO Cullen Brown also helped us recognize all members with 20 years or more of Chamber membership. They will receive a certificate in the mail in coming weeks. The longest-tenured member was found to be Conrad & Thompson Funeral Home.
The Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award is named after Linda Goodwin-Nichols, two-time Chairman of The Osceola Chamber Board of Directors, and a stalwart of Osceola’s Business Community for 50 years. Throughout her career, Linda has epitomized community involvement and giving back selflessly, and this award honors an individual who will carry on her legacy. This year’s finalists for the Linda Goodwin-Nichols Service Award were Samantha Giel with AdventHealth, Martin Levert with Florida Technical College Kissimmee, Angie Rench of Hope Partnership, and Vicky Santamaria with AdventHealth. Sponsored by Orlando Health, the award went to Angie Rench, who as co-founder and Chief Development Officer of Hope Partnership has impacted the lives of over 100,000 of our most vulnerable residents.
To recognize the importance of the Chamber’s core values of “Embracing Heritage,” “Creating Opportunity,” “Building Unity,” and “Membership Value,” and our partners who promote them, in January of 2018, Chairman Tim Finkenbinder announced the creation of an award to emphasize these values – particularly “Building Unity.” The very first Unity Award was presented to Guillermo Hansen and last year the award was renamed in his honor. Finalists for the award this year were Leslie Fletcher, owner of Wide World of Adventures, Inc.; Danny Ruiz Manrique, founder of Total Industrial Supplies; and Hans Steinbrenner, President of the Osceola Magic. Presented with support from AdventHealth, the Unity Award went to Leslie Fletcher, who extolled the importance of always infusing fun into work and service.
Throughout the night, including during dinner, the crowd was entertained by the band Hayfire, whose appearance was sponsored by Strategic Advantage Consulting and whose lead singer is herself a graduate of Osceola High School. After the formal program, attendees took part in a line dancing lesson sponsored by Kissimmee Utility Authority, then put their skills to the test as Hayfire took the stage again. The one-man Sleight-of-Hand Magic Show, sponsored by ABC Paving & Sealcoating, also made the rounds around the ballroom to entertain guests who preferred to stay off the dance floor, which was a perfect way to cap off a completely magical night!
Additional sponsors for the evening were Comcast Business, Osceola Magic, Valencia College, Toho Water Authority, Addition Financial, Florida Technical College, Sunbridge, Bank Florida, Austin Commercial, City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, Overstreet Law, and the University of Central Florida.
Find more photos of the event from RTW Photography here.
Find more photos with Woody & Jessie here.
See the videos that played at the 100th Annual Meeting below:
