Adult Moonlight Egg Hunt | The Ranch St. Cloud, 5452 Jones Rd | 7pm

21 and up only. An egg hunt after dark at The Ranch, because adults deserve the fun too. $15 online or $20 at the door.

Tickets and details here: Get Tickets.

Spring Festival | The Ranch St. Cloud, 5452 Jones Rd | 10am–2pm

Bounce houses, crafts, games, and egg hunts for kids ages 2–12 starting at 11am sharp. The Easter Bunny will be on site and food and vendor trucks round it out. $15 in advance, $20 at the door, kids under 2 free.

Advance registration closes Friday March 27 at 5pm. Call 407-957-7243 to register.

Water Lantern Festival | St. Cloud Lakefront Beach, 1104 Lakeshore Blvd | 5–9pm

Decorate a lantern, set it on East Lake Toho, and watch the water light up. Live music from Josie and the Latu Band from 6:30–7:30pm, followed by a guided lantern launch at 8pm. Food trucks on site. Arrive before 7:30pm, tickets required. Lanterns are biodegradable and the crew retrieves every one after the event.

Details and tickets: here.

Peghorn Nature Park | 2101 Peghorn Way | Sunrise onward

One of St. Cloud's best-kept secrets. 58 acres of preserved Florida wetlands sitting right in the middle of the city, with a boardwalk trail winding through native plants and wildlife habitat. Keep your eyes open for river otters, alligators, osprey, and the butterfly garden near the entrance. There's even a restored Florida Cracker Village with original buildings from the early 1900s on site. Late March is ideal before summer heat moves in. Free and easy.

Big news for anyone who's driven past Orlando Health St. Cloud hoping they'd never need it. The hospital's new $32 million expansion is open. Two new cardiac catheterization labs and 10 new ICU smart rooms are now operational on 17th Street. Heart attack patients who used to face a 90-minute ambulance ride to Orlando can now be treated right here. The hospital is working toward full STEMI certification, which means local fire rescue can bring cardiac emergencies directly to our hospital around the clock.

The lakefront stays free. Council voted this week to approve a city fee schedule update but specifically pulled a provision that would have introduced paid parking at the lakefront. You can keep parking there at no cost.

Last week we mentioned the digital billboard coming to US-192 and Hickory Tree Road. Council finalized it this week. Five existing billboards around the city come down in exchange, and the city gets guaranteed free space on the new board for community announcements and emergency alerts.

A new drive-thru coffee spot is coming to the 192 corridor. Ellianos Coffee broke ground this week at 4940 E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, a Florida-born specialty coffee chain expanding across the Southeast for over 20 years. No opening date yet but construction is underway and expected to open later this year.

If you haven't found Madilynns yet, this is your sign. It's the kind of downtown coffee shop that actually feels like it belongs here. Craft drinks, a relaxed vibe, and the sort of place where you don't feel rushed out the door after you order. Perfect for a slow Saturday morning before the rest of your Easter weekend kicks in.

Open Saturdays 8am–4pm, Sundays 9am–1pm. madilynns.coffee

Most people drive right past it without knowing what's there. Mount Peace Cemetery, just off East 10th Street near Historic Downtown, holds the remains of 427 Union Civil War veterans, making it one of the largest concentrations of Union soldiers buried outside a battlefield in the entire United States. Among them are three members of the United States Colored Troops, fifteen documented survivors of the Andersonville prison camp, and one Medal of Honor recipient. The veterans who built this city are still here.

Sources: Mount Peace Cemetery historical marker, Florida Department of State / Osceola History (osceolahistory.org)

We're looking for a few St. Cloud businesses to come on as founding partners. Want your business in front of St. Cloud homeowners every Thursday? Apply here today to get your business in front of locals!

If someone forwarded you this and you missed Issue 2, here's what you need to know. The Waterlin development from Gentry Land Co. is underway off Canoe Creek Road, St. Cloud City Council moved forward with an economic development consulting firm, and we spotlighted Madilynns Craft Coffee right here in downtown. Catch the full issue at thecloudlocal.com.

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Your Cloud Local Team

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