Last week I wrote about local stores & restaurants, which was a good time - several of those spots are among my favorite places.

But this is not a newsletter just about food and drink. There are plenty aspects of the county which don’t involve either of those things at all.

Today we’ll dive into some activities, some history, and some interesting oddities of the county.

As always, before we get into it - subscribe below if you haven’t already ! It goes a long way to support our publication.

The Palm Beach Lake Trail

Palm Beach Island is typically viewed as the ritzy, extremely rich, restaurants & steakhouses part of Palm Beach County, moreso than anywhere else. So journalistically speaking, I had to raise the question - is there anything worth doing on the island for free?

While I imagine there are several good answers to this, the Palm Beach Lake Trail comes to mind as a beautiful place for a walk or jog, on the inland side of Palm Beach Island. Cross either of the northern bridges, find parking, and make your way down to the waterway and you’ll inevitably run across this trail, which hugs the shoreline. 

Ride a bike, go for a walk, and enjoy the views of the water on one side & the beautiful homes on the other. It really is a trip walking along this trail - one of the most scenic walks in Florida, for the price of 0 dollars and 0 cents. 

The trail itself is 5 and a half miles long, so you’ll have plenty of room to get a sweat in when you make the trip over.

After you’ve worked up an appetite, you can step off and go to Field of Greens or elsewhere for a bite & a refreshing drink after. 

The Story of the Palm Beach Kennel Club

Long have I been intrigued by the Palm Beach Kennel Club, which sits across from PBI airport. Greyhound racing is banned in Florida, along with 41 other US states - and this facility was built in 1932 for exactly that purpose.

So what is it still doing there? And why are there still cars in the parking lot?

The club originally opened with over 4,000 people on its first night - in its first year of existence, the club saw over 72,000 people pass through its front doors to place bets & watch the races.

Ownership has changed hands a few times since then, but has been owned & operated by the Rooney family (of Pittsburgh Steelers notoriety) since 1970, and now has more offerings than just the dog races. 

In 1997, the Kennel Club first opened their 64 table Poker Room, which is the main source of attraction today aside from their restaurant. The World Series of Poker has hosted events there - the first non-casino venue on Earth to host a WSOP tournament.

On any given night of the week, you can pop in and play poker with whoever else shows up, from beginner to more expert levels. They also offer a variety of other table games and host events.

If you’re interested in testing your poker skill against other locals, daily hours are a 9am-3am, staying open ‘til 5am on the weekends. A great recipe to win or lose money, if that’s your style.

You can check out their website right here.

The Jai Alai Arena

Speaking of old Palm Beach County gambling haunts, have you ever driven up 45th street from the Northwood area to I-95?

If you have, you may have looked to your side near the Mangonia Park tri-rail station and seen the Ozymandian wreck of a building sitting amidst a cracked and overgrown parking lot, leering at the road. 

This was once Palm Beach County’s very own JaiAlai Fronton. Jai Alai a basque sport which seems to be a mix of lacrosse & racquetball, somehow tailored to betting. This sport was a phenomenon back in the day, now mainly recognized for the Jai Alai beers you can find at local grocery stores.

The only operational “Frontons” that remain are one in Miami and one in Dania Beach. Our particular, local fronton was open from 1955-1994, excluding 1978 due to a catastrophic fire that led to a temporary shutdown of operations. Interestingly enough, this fire has been labeled as arson, although no culprit was ever found.

Jai Alai was popular along the East Coast all the way up to Connecticut, but a player strike in 1988 was the beginning of the end for the sport’s popularity, leaving many of these buildings vacant by the end of the following decade. 

Several of the other frontons have been repurposed into hotels, casinos, event spaces, museums, and in Tampa, a home depot - but ours sits vacant, distanced from the road, a clear marker of a forgotten time whose days are done.

Several proposals for redevelopment have come and gone, but for now it sits still waiting for new relevance.

The Busch Wildlife Sanctuary

Busch Wildlife Sanctuary is a little known gem of Palm Beach County, up in the Jupiter Farms area. While we know that South Florida is home to diverse and protected wildlife, you don’t actually see a lot of it if you spend all your time on the beach.

Busch plays a key role in the preservation of these animals - particularly, taking in and helping to rehabilitate sick & injured animals found in the wild.

The place is set up like a zoo - but admission is free. All they ask at the door is a donation if you’d like to make one, which feels good to pay once you see what it’s going towards.

You can walk all around the relatively small premises seeing the animals - snakes, gators, birds, and a variety of other local creatures that live in the area. Since 1983 Busch has kept the lights on via donations, and made a tremendous impact as far as both helping animals & educating locals about the environment.

In 1998, the sanctuary partnered with the Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District to secure an 11 acre campus for their activities, and in 2020 they purchased a 19.4 acre lot due to increasing demand for their services.

Once an animal is rehabilitated, they return it to the wild - this is not a rescue & enclose mission, but rather a rescue & reintroduction mission. In one of Earth’s most unique environments, seeing folks do necessary work like this is awesome.

If you’d like to donate, you can check out their website here.

Tidbits & Events From Around The County

• July 12th - Busch Wildlife Sanctuary is hosting “Relax For A Cause” - a yoga/somatic therapy session which aims to relax the mind & body. If you’re interested, you can register here

• The “Caribbean Chillers,” a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, will be performing at the Abacoa Amphitheater Saturday night. Free admission !

• The FAU Summer Concert Band is performing at Mizner Amphitheater on Sunday 6/29 - show starts at 5pm!

• If you’re behind on your summer body, Traphouse Palm Beach is hosing a HIIT workout at CityPlace Sunday morning at 9am. You can click here for more information

Did You Know …

Palm Beach County enjoys an average of 2,900 hours of sunlight annually. If you’re Vitamin D deficient around here, all you need to do is get outside !

To wrap up:

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We are community and I’m excited to hear your feedback…besides that, I’ll see ya next week.