Cutler Bay’s fourth annual Founders Day Celebration on Feb. 20 had picture-perfect weather and a crowd of about 1,800 people who turned out to enjoy the old-fashioned neighborhood event.

Founders Day is the celebration honoring the first official meeting of the town council on Feb. 6, 2006. To celebrate the occasion the town threw a huge party at Cutler Ridge Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring picnic food, local entertainment and displays of animals, police and fire equipment.

Diane Kessell sang the National Anthem to start activities, followed by Caribbean music by Panman Steel Drums and jazz by the Robert Morgan Educational Center Orchestra. Then at noon Mayor Paul Vrooman welcomed everyone to the event and introduced the other members of the town council — Vice Mayor Edward MacDougall and Councilmembers Timothy Meerbott, Peggy Bell and Ernie Sochin, as well as town manager Steven Alexander.

Mayor Vrooman said that the Founders Day Celebration was an important opportunity for residents to have fun, especially in light of recent national and international problems.

“An event like this brings us back to our roots,” Vrooman said. “It brings us back to our fundamentals about people getting together in a community and having a good time. We’ve got the Women’s Club that spent all week baking for this event. We’ve got kids from their high school bands here. We’ve got families just out having a good time.

“With everything that this country has been through in the last year and a half to two years, or decade, nobody can take this away from us. So we’re going to celebrate that.

President Clinton once said that there’s nothing wrong with this country that can’t be cured by what’s right with this country. What you see here is what’s right with this country.” MacDougall agreed with that view and was pleased with the turnout and the level of fun residents were having.

“I think it’s a wonderful event,” MacDougall said. “It brings people together. It’s one of the things the whole town needs to make sure its residents are in touch with each other and understand that it’s, as it’s always been, a good neighborhood.”

Under the big tent attendees enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken paella, potato salad, baked beans, potato chips and watermelon, with sodas, punch, lemonade and water to drink. For dessert literally thousands of cookies, cupcakes, brownies and other sweet treats were provided by the Whispering Pines Woman’s Club and the Cutler Ridge Women’s Club.

Ongoing entertainment included the rock band “Medallust,” a Karoake contest, the Mocko Jumbie Stilt Walkers, a rock climbing wall, bounce house, super slide, video game arcade and face painting. Hot air balloon rides were planned for the first time, but windy weather conditions made that impossible.

Public Works director Ralph Casals and staff members handed out “Green Bags” to everyone to commemorate Cutler Bay’s Silver certification in the LEED program by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Parks and Recreation director Alan Ricke commented on the new arrangement of the food, entertainment and display booths this year.

Louise Lockwood (left) and Jean Welsh of the Whispering Pines and Cutler Ridge Women’s Clubs display a sampling of the desserts their groups provided.

“We decided to switch things around this time because we wanted people to get acquainted with the new soccer field,” Ricke said. “Also, we wanted to use the new pavilion building for the food. It all worked out pretty well.”

As usual the big event concluded with the infamous Town Council Pie Auction, in which anyone could place a bid to hit the official of his or her choice with a pie in the face. But in a new twist, an alternate form of public humiliation was offered in which the official could choose to sing the auction winner’s favorite song in lieu of taking a pie hit.

MacDougall, Meerbott and Sochin went for the Karoake option, but Vrooman and Bell good-naturedly accepted pies in the face.

“I love our residents too much to inflict my singing on them,” Vrooman explained.

The annual Food Fight wrapped things up as those residents who dared participated with messy but gleeful enthusiasm.

During a special groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, Mar. 23, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, Cutler Bay Mayor Paul Vrooman as well as other council members took the first step that will bring long-needed street lighting to residents of Cutler Bay’s Lakes by the Bay subdivision.

The morning ceremony at SW 216th Street and Old Cutler Road near the Lakes by the Bay entrance included Vice Mayor Ed MacDougall and councilmembers Tim Meerbott and Peggy Bell as they joined the Miami-Dade County Public Works Department in the project, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Street Lighting Improvement.

The streetlights will brighten SW 216th Street from Old Cutler Road to SW 87th Avenue in Cutler Bay. For this project, Commissioner Sorenson committed $571,159.84 from ARRA funds. ARRA money totaling $2,839,223 was used to fund that project, another street lighting project on Franjo Road from SW 184th Street to S. Dixie Highway, three roadway resurfacing projects on SW 104th Street from SW 117th Avenue to SW 107th Avenue and ADA bus stop access, internally illuminated street name signs, and pedestrian crossing signals (LED countdown).

“Thanks to ARRA, we had the funds necessary for vital street lighting improvements in Lakes by the Bay as well as other public works projects in District 8,” Commissioner Sorenson said.

Councilmember Bell was instrumental in making the Miami-Dade County streetlight project happen, according to town clerk Erika Gonzalez-Santamaria and Public Works director Rafael G. Casals. “Since the Town’s incorporation, Councilmember Bell and town staff have been involved with the Lakes by the Bay Homeowner’s Association and attended several HOA meetings, concerning the lack of streetlights along SW 216th Street,” Casals said. “Originally, the Lakes by the Bay developer installed solar lights along SW 216th Street that were very dim and some that were inoperable.”

After Bell and Casals met several times with Miami-Dade Public Works Department’s Street Lighting Division and Sorenson’s Office, everyone was in agreement that the existing dark unsafe conditions along SW 216th Street needed to be addressed. Plans were completed by Miami-Dade County Public Works Department, but they still needed a funding source.

“Once the federal stimulus funding became available to Miami-Dade County, both town staff and Councilmember Bell continued to express the need for funding this project,” Casals explained. “The SW 216th Street project was selected as one of the countywide street lighting improvements, within the county’s ARRA allocation.”

Bell explained her commitment to the project and the need for improved lighting in the area.

“For many years the Lakes by the Bay Homeowners Association and I have been working on acquiring street lighting for SW 216th Street,” Bell said. “This county road is a main thoroughfare for traffic heading to the local elementary and middle school, as well as Black Point Marina. As the road is located in the Town of Cutler Bay, I asked for help from our staff. Though there was no money available for the project, I enlisted our Public Works director, Ralph Casals.”

Bell said that they worked cooperatively with the county to accomplish this goal once the county was able to secure a stimulus grant to pay for the lighting. She appreciated Commissioner Sorenson’s efforts to improve the lives of Cutler Bay residents.

“This goes to show how great things can be done when the right people work together,” Bell said. “I thank our commissioner and her county staff; the HOA president, Jackie Shand, and her board, and our town for getting this project off the ground. The lighting will be finished in 120 days, which means our children will no longer be waiting for the bus in the dark when school begins next fall.”

Katie Edwards, executive director of the Dade County Farm Bureau, will be the keynote speaker at the next meeting of the Cutler Bay Business Association on Thursday, May 13.

The meeting will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Palmetto Bay Village Center, 18001 Old Cutler Rd.

Edwards, in addition to managing the 4,000-plus-member Dade County Farm Bureau, maintains governmental, media and industry relations. She joined the Farm Bureau staff as director of communications in July 2003 and was promoted to executive director in January 2004. She has a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Clemson University, and is the founder and past president of Florida Agri-Women.

“I’m going to give an overview of different business opportunities in agriculture, and emerging trends,” said Edwards in an Apr. 20 interview. “It’s coming on the heels of the county’s passage of three ordinances that pertain to expanding opportunities for agribusiness — like the bed and breakfast — and trends in agriculture that include things like being able to process more food products than what we grow here locally, and also expanding agricultural land uses.”

Edwards was honored as the 2005 Agriculturist of the Year by the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be inducted into the Farm Bureau’s prestigious Hall of Honor in 2008.

The Dade County Farm Bureau was established in 1942, the first county Farm Bureau in Florida. A variety of tropical fruits, exotic plants and winter vegetables are produced in Miami-Dade, providing roughly $2.5 billion locally and statewide. Edwards believes that her presentation will be of interest to a variety of people in South Florida.

“The topic is not just for farmers, but also for people who want to get into the culinary side or the marketing side,” Edwards said. “We need help to keep these growers in business, so hopefully it will resonate with the majority of the folks there.”

For more information about the meeting or the CBBA in general, call Cyndi Rogg at 305-609-1096 or send her an email at < Sencyn1@bellsouth.net >.