Jeffery Belco is no stranger at Bloomingdale Ace Hardware.
As the owner of Beautiful Yards, a relatively new landscaping business, Belco has bought and continues to buy just about everything he needs at the store.
But at 10 a.m. today, Belco is going to get everything he needs from Ace Hardware without spending a dime.
Belco is the winner of a store promotion that will give him two minutes to fill as many shopping carts as possible. This, of course, is tantamount to letting me loose in the dessert room at Bern's.
Belco already knew the store well, but on Thursday, he went in to again plan his strategy.
He has designs on a ratchet set and one of those little machines that quietly moves around your pool. He can tag one item too big for his cart. We agreed it should be the $2,200 stainless steel grill.
You might think Belco is the last person Ace Hardware officials want to see racing through one of its stores on a free shopping spree. Not only does he have a genuine love for hardware stuff, but he also needs edgers, blowers and backpack sprayers for his company.
I don't know what this is going to do for Ace Hardware, but it's going to do wonders for Belco's business. He's going to clean out the store so he can clean up some yards.
Plus, he was given two tickets to the Bucs-Colts game and a football autographed by pitchman John Madden.
And to think, he almost didn't return the call. "When she first called, I wasn't going to call her back," Belco said. "My first thought was,"What's the catch?' "
With Belco, Ace Hardware is going to need a computer to calculate the losses. They would have been so much better off if they had picked someone like me, a mechanical illiterate who has trouble telling the difference between a Phillips and a flathead screwdriver.
I strolled through the store the other day, and the first thing that got me excited was six giant bottles of Tide. All I could think was, "Free detergent for a year."
But you know what? Ace Hardware isn't complaining about Belco.
He says that if there is one person more excited than him, it is store owner Bruce Korte. Korte isn't worried about Belco emptying his shelves; he's just happy a friend got the grand prize. And even if Belco hadn't won, he still would pledge allegiance to Korte.
"It's more personal," Belco said when asked why he chooses the smaller Ace Hardware store over the huge warehouse home stores. "You get to know people. He lives right here in my neighborhood. In fact, we go to the same church (St. Stephens Catholic )."
This isn't a so much a story about a grand prize winner as it is a shining example that even though the Brandon area grows bigger every day, in a lot of ways it's still a small community.
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You always expect a hearty performance from accomplished pianist and band leader Dennis Pupello. The hands he uses to cut up on a piano are the same he uses when performing cardiac surgeries. (A couple of more puns and my boss is going to pull her hair out.)
What you might not expect from Dr. Pupello is a daughter with just as much talent, maybe more. Angela Pupello Cisone is a music/comedy performer with the Broadway Experience in New York City.
Pupello and Cisone are among the headliners set to perform at a benefit concert for the Arts Education Fund Committee at 8 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The Fabulous Rockers, Chuck Boris and the Hillsborough County Music Educators Orchestra also will be a part of the show.
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She has already received enough bouquets to cover a stage, but let me throw one more. Susan Haig, new associate conductor of the Florida Orchestra, impressed during a recent open house concert.
I liked the way she handled herself in educating the audience and explaining the significance of the different pieces.
The open house was a prelude to a series of morning concerts the orchestra will play for schoolchildren. I'm sure they will enjoy Haig's demeanor as much as I did.
