Mark Spano's love of horses blooms into a carriage tour into downtown Brooksville.
By LISA CAWLEY
Published July 23, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - Mark Spano burst into the room, beaming. "They took my offer!" he shouted as he hoisted Devin, his 7-month-old daughter, into the air, swinging her around like a toy plane.
"We're getting new horses, kiddo!"
With a new team of horses, St. Francis Carriage Services will soon be back in business. And if it succeeds, the company, which provides tours of historic downtown Brooksville, will be the first of its kind.
Mark Spano, 51, and his wife, Cindy, 40, started offering horse-drawn carriage tours June 20 at the monthly Bandshell Bash. But the two Percheron horses that came when they bought out an existing carriage business were a little past their prime.
After a couple of days of pulling the carriage, middle-aged Molly injured her hoof, and Mike, nearly an equine senior at 19, was still strong but a little too old to work every day.
So, the Spanos decided to donate the 1,900-pound male to Reins of Hope, a therapeutic horse riding program for disabled children, and began searching for new horses on the Internet.
It hasn't been the smoothest of starts in Brooksville for the Spanos, who moved from Baltimore in January 2005.
Cindy Spano has relatives here and Mark Spano's ailing father wanted to move to Florida. Business endeavors weren't a part of their original plan. The only thing they thought about starting here was a family.
The couple wanted a rustic, ranch-style home, with a couple of acres of roaming room, and they found one, built in 1889.
She wanted the donkeys and chickens and a rooster that crows, not only at daybreak, but also at 4 in the afternoon when her husband is trying to catch a nap. He wanted horses. They kept Molly and got a 2-year-old Appaloosa named Antique Collection, or "Tiki" for short.
But Mark Spano loves historic buildings. And when he saw that the old Brooksville Lumber building at 158 S Main St. was up for sale, he had to have it.
Visions of an ice cream shop, and a Christian bookstore and horse and buggy rides danced in his head. He imagined a place where local merchants could rent out wooden stalls to sell their goods, a place where the community could gather on weekend nights to square dance or bid at an auction or share their love for hot rods.
He imagined a place where teenagers could get summer jobs working with a carpenter or running the register at the ice cream counter, while learning the trade. Something family-friendly with small-town charm.
He had blueprints, both in his head and on paper. The Spanos applied for the permits needed to make it happen.
After months of back and forth with the county building department, they learned that the building, constructed in 1914 as a livery stable, would first need to be brought up to code.
Frustrated by the long, bureaucratic process and discouraged at the thought of having to modernize the building, the Spanos put the building up for sale.
"I didn't buy it to tear it up," Mark Spano said. "I bought it to preserve it."
They almost abandoned their plans altogether, but, they said, overwhelming community support made them reconsider.
City officials suggested that the Spanos proceed with the carriage service, because that only required a fee for a license, no permits.
"We've encouraged him since he first presented the plan," Brooksville City Manager Richard Anderson said. "I think everybody thought it was a great idea."
And so, with the patron saint of animals as its namesake, St. Francis Carriage Services was born.
The 30-minute tour of downtown starts and ends at the lumberyard building on Main Street and highlights area merchants and points of interest, such as the various murals, Rogers' Christmas House, the May-Stringer Heritage Museum and the Russell Street Train Depot.
The Spanos plan to offer tours Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.
Merchants are looking forward to the tours' bringing business to downtown.
"We would love to have them come down and bring their guests and have them shop around," Ann Chapman, marketing director for Rogers' Christmas House, said. "I have the perfect place where they could park (the carriage) in the shade. I think it would be wonderful."
Visitors and locals have very limited options for touring Brooksville. Bus tours are sometimes offered during special events, such as the Founder's Week Celebration in October or the Christmas Festival, but the rest of the time, the only option is to pick up a brochure at City Hall or the Chamber of Commerce and take a self-guided walking tour, said Pat Jobe, planning and zoning coordinator for the city of Brooksville.
A few years back, a trolley business offered narrated tours of downtown, but there has never been a year-round, horse-drawn carriage tour - at least as far as anyone can remember.
Virginia Jackson, executive director of the Hernando Historical Museum Association, took a tour with the Spanos.
"My great-granddaughter went with me," Jackson said. "And she's a little talk-talk-talk-all-the-time kid. And she was quiet the whole time. She was so excited about it."
Mark Spano went to Chattanooga this past week to pick up his new team, two 5-year-old, 2,000-pound Belgian horses that he found on a Missouri breeder's Web site. He had considered getting another pair of Percherons, but Belgians are a stronger and heartier breed, he said.
Molly and Tiki will have to be sold to make time and space for Quill and Luke.
Now, Spano says he hopes to have the carriage service up and running again by Friday.
The Spanos haven't decided if they will revisit their plans for the lumberyard building. A lot of it will come down to whether they are eventually able to get the permits, which they would have to reapply for, and whether the "for sale" sign that is still tacked up on the side of the building a few feet away from the carriage service sign attracts a buyer.
In the meantime, they are pressing ahead with the tour business and leaving everything else in God's hands.
"If it sells tomorrow, we'll put up a sold sign and find out where He wants us next," Mark Spano said.
"We are really at peace with whichever way it turns out right now," Cindy Spano said. "No matter what, the Lord has an awesome plan for us."
