Tampa Bay just had one of its warmest winters on record

1 big thing: Winter's warmer in Tampa Bay

A new career is waiting for you

Make a proper St. Patrick's Day cocktail with Strandhill Public's help

2. 🍸 A proper St. Patrick's Day cocktail

3. The Pulp: Ooh, it feels so good I had to jump the orange

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4. Quack the case

Sounds like: "Nonsense," Sabrina Carpenter.

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🔥 Ben is reading Dante's "Inferno” and picking up litter.

🤓 Selene forgot to write an outro so Ben did it for her.

Today's newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia and copy edited by Carolyn DiPaolo.

Plus: 🇮🇪 A St. Paddy's Day cocktail

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1 big thing: Cheap living with a catch

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Sneak peek: Outback Steakhouse's throwback menu

2. Sneak peek: Outback's throwback menu

3. The Pulp: Nani lime down low

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4. 📸 1 calypso photo to go

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📚 Ben is finishing Dante's "Inferno" and moving on to "The Three Theban Plays," by Sophocles but was almost sidetracked by "Dante's Indiana."

🧀 Selene is obsessed with Trader Joe's bread cheese. 

Red tide threatens spring break on Tampa Bay's southern shores

1 big thing: Red tide spring break

2. Jane Goodall comes to Tampa Bay

3. The Pulp: Don't rind on my parade

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4. Tell us your spring break secrets

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Is a new job in your future?

5. 👟 1 Skyway shot to go

Hey, Monday. If you're here for spring break, welcome.

Today's newsletter is 853 words, a 3-minute read.

❤️ Ben is glad to have Asher home from college for a few days. 

Women's History Month: Honoring the women who helped shape Tampa Bay

1 big thing: Our statuesque women

2. What we're watching

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3. ⏳ One flashback to go

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 Sunday, don't forget to reapply that SPF.

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Ben would support a statue of Emma "Grandma" Gatewood.

This newsletter was edited by Hadley Malcolm and copy edited by Carolyn DiPaolo.

Postponed Gasparilla Music Festival to return to Tampa in April

1 big thing: Gasparilla Music Fest is on

2. The fight over sunlight

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3. The Pulp: You can jive, having the time of your lime

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4 things to do in Tampa Bay this weekend: Strawberry Fest and markets

4. Things to do this weekend

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New jobs to check out

5. What the duck?

Friday has arrived. Let it wash over you.

☔️ Chance of showers and thunderstorms starting this afternoon. 82°/67°.

Today's newsletter is 881 words, a 3.5-minute read.

🏔️ Ben is planning to fast-pack the Tour du Mont Blanc in August. Tips? 

World-renowned ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall will give two talks in Tampa this month.

What's happening: She'll host a March 28 fundraiser at the Florida Aquarium, and a March 29 talk for students and educators at the Tampa Theatre — just days before her 89th birthday.

Details: The Tampa Theatre talk, titled "Growing a Compassionate and Sustainable Future for All," is sold out, but students can enter a short essay contest to win one of 50 remaining tickets.

The March 28 fundraiser at the Florida Aquarium starts at 6pm and promises an intimate evening with Goodall, remarks and a question and answer period, plus a vegetarian and vegan dinner and an auction of items from the Jane Goodall Institute archive. Tickets are $1,000 per person, $10,000 per table or $15,000 to sponsor a table.

Context: Goodall is best known for her groundbreaking insights and observations of chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania.

She became an activist in the late 1980s, and now travels the world sharing her hopeful lectures about conservation.

What they're saying: Longtime Goodall friend and volunteer Joe Tatelbaum tells us Goodall wants to leave a lasting legacy in the Tampa Bay area.

He adds, "We strive to have her visits bring about the beginning of things."

Jane Goodall to visit Tampa Bay ahead of her 89th birthday

She'll host a fundraiser at the Florida Aquarium, and a talk at the Tampa Theatre this month.

Jane Goodall speaks in 2013 in Miami Beach. Photo: Aaron Davidson/Getty Images

Environment

World-renowned ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall will give two talks in Tampa this month.What&#x27;s happening: She&#x27;ll host a March 28 fundraiser at the Florida Aquarium, and a March 29 <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="talk for students and educators at the Tampa Theatre" data-vars-click-url="https://tampatheatre.org/live/jane-goodall/" data-vars-content-id="394301d3-48cd-45ce-8c0c-ab4bb1f71289" data-vars-headline="Jane Goodall to visit Tampa Bay ahead of her 89th birthday" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://tampatheatre.org/live/jane-goodall/" target="_blank">talk for students and educators at the Tampa Theatre</a> — just days before her 89th birthday.

Things to Do

Axios Tampa Bay, anchored by Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice, is here to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news and developments unfolding in their own backyard.

Red tide is roaring to life on the southern shores of Tampa Bay, and threatens to ruin spring break for many at the busiest time of year for local tourism-oriented businesses.

Driving the news: Samples taken last week showed a strong presence of red tide around Anna Maria Island and Manatee County beaches.

Manatee County has cleaned up around 3.5 tons of dead fish in the past two weeks, per the Bradenton Herald.

Reports of respiratory irritation and dead fish have come from as far north as the Dunedin Causeway in Pinellas County, and south to Monroe County, as the enormous bloom lingering off the Southwest Florida coast grows bigger and its toxic fumes intensify.

Context: Red tide is a naturally occurring organism in the Gulf of Mexico that sometimes blooms to toxic levels.

A bloom developed near Fort Myers last fall and hasn't subsided.

Between the lines: Research shows that nutrients from agriculture, lawns and septic tanks fuel red tide blooms close to shore.

Scientists believe intense runoff from heavy Hurricane Ian rainfall has carried nutrients to feed the lingering bloom, making it explode in size and toxicity.

The latest: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tide, in 157 water samples along Florida's west coast, per its most recent report.

Beach and water businesses are already feeling the impact, with reports of cancellations.

What they're saying: "The legislative session is underway in March and it's time for Florida lawmakers to take action to stop these red tide outbreaks that hurt our environment, tourism and economy," said Jon Paul "J.P." Brooker, director of the Florida Conservation Program at Ocean Conservancy, via email.

What we're watching: The University of South Florida's short-term red tide forecast predicts that the upper water column will move offshore red tide to the east and south over the next few days.

FWC's red tide status map, with info on fish kills, respiratory irritation and forecast.

Samples taken last week showed a strong presence of red tide around Anna Maria Island and Manatee County beaches.

A large red tide bloom has worsened in waters around Anna Maria Island and Lower Tampa Bay as it drifts northward. Photo: Tiffany Tompkins/Bradenton Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Red tide is roaring to life on the southern shores of Tampa Bay, and threatens to ruin spring break for many at the busiest time of year for local tourism-oriented businesses.Driving the news: Samples taken last week showed a strong presence of red tide around Anna Maria Island and Manatee County beaches.

News

Outback Steakhouse — born in 1988 on Tampa's Henderson Boulevard — is celebrating its 35th anniversary next week by reviving a handful of popular menu items from years past.

The latest: I got an early taste last week at the Carrollwood location and flashed back to family meals in suburban Oklahoma City in the 1990s.

Details: Here's what to look for March 20-26, when Outback's "boomerang menu" features throwbacks the chain's fans have been lobbying for:

Walkabout Soup — Very creamy onion soup on the original menu.

Aussie Twisted Ribs — Ribs fried in Bloomin' Onion batter.

Toowoomba Pasta — Fettuccine in a tomato cream sauce with shrimp.

Alice Springs Sirloin — Like Alice Springs Chicken, but on a beef sirloin.

Sydney's Sinful Sundae — One of three original desserts.

Outback's "boomerang menu" features fan favorites like ribs fried in Bloomin' Onion batter and an original dessert.

The Twisted Ribs on Outback Steakhouse's throwback menu. Photo: Ben Montgomery/Axios

Food

Outback Steakhouse — born in 1988 on Tampa&#x27;s Henderson Boulevard — is celebrating its 35th anniversary next week by reviving a handful of popular menu items from years past.The latest: I got an early taste last week at the Carrollwood location and flashed back to family meals in suburban Oklahoma City in the 1990s.

Food and Drink

Rory Martin grew up above a pub, poured his first Guinness before he hit puberty and hates it when Americans say St. Paddy's Day like it has two Ts — St. Patty's Day. 

What's happening: The proprietor of two of the area's most authentic modern pubs, called Strandhill Public — on Causeway Boulevard in Brandon and Palm Avenue in Tampa — seemed like the perfect Irishman to ask for a cocktail recipe to help set us right for next week.

His pick: The Shergar. Martin concocted the drink and named it after the legendary Irish racehorse, "a big stallion with a feckin' dangler," he says.

The bright lime juice balances the sweetness of the liqueurs and centers the rum-flavored whiskey.

The recipe: Shake the following vigorously with ice and serve in a cocktail glass with a twist of lime.

1.5 ounces Tullamore D.E.W. XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish

Bonus points if you toast Sligo, Martin's hometown on Ireland's northwestern coast.

🇮🇪 What's ahead: Both Strandhill locations are offering Irish whiskey promos and Paddy's Day swag all day on March 17.

The drink's bright lime juice balances the sweetness of the liqueurs and centers the rum-flavored whiskey.

Rory Martin mixes a Shergar. Photo: Ben Montgomery/Axios

Alcohol

Rory Martin grew up above a pub, poured his first Guinness before he hit puberty and hates it when Americans say St. Paddy&#x27;s Day like it has two Ts — St. Patty&#x27;s Day. <ul><li>Incorrect.</li></ul>

Tampa's homegrown Gasparilla Music Festival has been saved.

Driving the news: Organizers announced Thursday that GMF will return to downtown Tampa's Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park on April 29 and 30, and early bird tickets go on sale Friday at 10am.

Why it matters: Fans had worried the decade-old music festival would be canceled after the city found structural issues under the elevated Kiley Garden plaza at the base of Rivergate Tower, where GMF has placed two stages in years past.

Flashback: The city told GMF earlier this year that the festival would not be allowed to use the space due to the "water intrusion issues," forcing organizers to postpone the festival originally slated for late February.

GMF had assured fans they were working on an alternative plan.

The latest: The Kiley Garden closure has "opened up some new opportunities to expand our footprint and create some exciting new experiences for GMF 2023," organizers said in an emailed statement.

Curtis Hixon Park will again host the festival's main stage, and additional stages will be added downtown nearby, Creative Loafing reports.

What to watch: Festival organizers promise more details in the coming weeks.

A band plays on the Kiley Garden stage during Gasparilla Music Festival 2022. Photo: Ben Montgomery/Axios

Music

Tampa&#x27;s homegrown <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Gasparilla Music Festival" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay/2023/01/09/gasparilla-music-festival-2023-location-issues" data-vars-content-id="f476fb87-1fd2-4af2-83a9-4e3504d8113a" data-vars-headline="Postponed Gasparilla Music Festival to return to Tampa in April" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/tampa-bay/2023/01/09/gasparilla-music-festival-2023-location-issues" target="_self">Gasparilla Music Festival</a> has been saved.Driving the news: Organizers announced Thursday that GMF will return to downtown Tampa&#x27;s Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park on April 29 and 30, and early bird tickets <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="go on sale Friday" data-vars-click-url="https://www.tixr.com/groups/gasparillamusic/events/gasparilla-music-festival-2023-64967" data-vars-content-id="f476fb87-1fd2-4af2-83a9-4e3504d8113a" data-vars-headline="Postponed Gasparilla Music Festival to return to Tampa in April" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.tixr.com/groups/gasparillamusic/events/gasparilla-music-festival-2023-64967" target="_blank">go on sale Friday</a> at 10am.

Ben Montgomery

Stories

Sneak peek: Outback Steakhouse's throwback menu

Red tide threatens spring break on Tampa Bay's southern shores

Jane Goodall to visit Tampa Bay ahead of her 89th birthday

Postponed Gasparilla Music Festival to return to Tampa in April

Make a proper St. Patrick's Day cocktail with Strandhill Public's help

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