A restaurant, a gym and an art studio will complement bowling and movies. The Main Street director calls it a "positive sign."
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published May 21, 2003
ZEPHYRHILLS - The recipe for revitalizing downtown: add one restaurant, one gym and one art studio. Mix well.
Zephyrhills' city center will have some new attractions in the next few weeks, as three businesses open their doors for the first time.
Pancho's Villa, the much-adored Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, will expand its operations with a location on Seventh Street. A health club is set to open a few doors down from the Home Theater on Fifth Avenue, and across the street art enthusiasts soon will be painting ceramics and crafting hand-made paper.
"I think that's a very positive sign, not only for the Main Street district, but for the Zephyrhills economy as a whole," Main Street Inc. director Cynthia Craig said Tuesday.
Corinne Vasquez, co-owner of Pancho's Villa, said she and her husband have been looking in east Pasco for several months for a place to expand.
"Zephyrhills just happened to be the one that worked out," Vasquez said.
The restaurant, on Seventh Street behind the Best Western hotel north of downtown, will open in about three weeks, Vasquez said. The menu will mirror that of the San Antonio location.
Tacy Oleson has been taking recycled paper and turning it into artwork for several years. Soon, she'll share her techniques in papermaking classes in an old house she and fiance Kenny Schneider purchased.
Outback Pottery and Papermaking Studio will offer classes in ceramics, papermaking and mosaics. Customers also can buy pieces of pottery, paint and decorate them at the studio, then pick up the glazed and fired finished product a few days later.
"It's going to be kind of different" from anything else in Zephyrhills, Oleson said.
She got the idea to open a studio when she had to travel to another county to find anyone who knew about arts and crafts.
"There's nothing like this out here," she said. "About all we have in Zephyrhills is the movie theater and the bowling alley."
The studio, at 5225 Eighth St., is being remodeled to give it a "country cottage" atmosphere. Soon it will have a glassed-in porch, tile floors and rose bushes in the yard. Oleson plans to serve complimentary coffee and refreshments to patrons, with an eye toward adding on a small coffee shop next year.
"You'll be able to sit at the table and paint and look out at the flower garden," she said.
The studio should be open for business by the end of June.
Main Street Fitness owner David Brown could not be reached Tuesday. But renovations going on at 38529 Fifth Ave. promise to add yet another flavor to the downtown mix. Brown's business card advertises Jazzercise classes, personal training and free weights.
Said Main Street Inc.'s Craig: "This shows that somebody's got some faith in what's happening in Zephyrhills."
