Florida is home to the fastest growing cities in the US, according to figures released last week by the US Census Bureau. Florida was home to six of the nation’s 20 fastest-growing metro areas from 2013 to 2014. It seems the beautiful weather, beaches and palm trees in the Sunshine State are drawing more and more Americans and Florida has become the nation’s third most-populous state displacing New York. California and Texas take the first two positions. You can read more on the topic here.
SeaWorld’s Bands, Brew & BBQ loses performers
Country singer Willie Nelson and rock bands Heart and Barenaked Ladies have canceled their planned performances at SeaWorld in Florida. This comes after CNN’s documentary “Blackfish” – focused on Tilikum, an orca currently held by SeaWorld and the way the park treats animal in captivity. The film had huge impact and many petitions had started after its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2013. Willie Nelson is the latest act to cancel a concert at Orlando’s SeaWorld in the wake of CNN’s “Blackfish” documentary. The legendary country singer’s decision comes after the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies pulled the plug on their show at the Florida theme park. SeaWorld spokesman Nick Gollattscheck confirmed Nelson’s decision not to sing at SeaWorld. But the spokesman said the reasons weren’t tied to the recent documentary on SeaWorld’s captive killer whales and a resulting petition calling on acts not to play SeaWorld. Instead, the Sea World spokesman cited scheduling conflicts in the Nelson cancellation. “I understand there are petitions going around with thousands of people’s names on it, so I had to cancel. Also, I don’t agree with the way they treat their animals. It wasn’t that hard a deal for me,” Nelson is quoted as saying. A posting on Heart’s official Twitter page said the decision was influenced by the recently-released documentary “Blackfish.” “The Sea World show was planned long ago as an Orlando show,” the tweet said.”Had we known, we’d have said no then. We said no today. Love you all.” When the Barenaked Ladies nixed their plans to play at SeaWorld last week, they explained that it was a decision made after viewing “Blackfish.” “This is a complicated issue, and we don’t claim to understand all of it, but we don’t feel comfortable proceeding with the gig at this time,” the band said on a Facebook post. Joan Jett on Monday also joined the list of recording artists distancing themselves from the marine park when she sent a letter to SeaWorld President Jim Atchison asking that the park stop using her song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” as the opening music for its “Shamu Rocks” show.
New Florida air services
JetBlue and Spirit Airline added new flight to Florida airports this week. Spirit Airlines will start four seasonal direct routes to warm-weather destinations from the Twin Cities. The nonstop daily flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport g Los Angeles (LAX), Orlando (MCO), Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) and Tampa (TPA). “We’re excited to offer Minnesotans even more low fare options to even more warm and sunny destinations with Spirit’s ultra-low fares and optional add-ons for a total price that’s tough to beat!” said Spirit’s Vice President of Network Planning, Mark Kopcza The new JetBlue services will fly from Worcester, Mass. To two Florida destinations – Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood and Orlando. The daily flights to Orlando are scheduled to depart Worcester Regional Airport (ORH) at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at Orlando International (MCO) at 10:33 a.m. They will leave Orlando at 1 p.m. and arrive at Worcester Regional Airport at 3:38 p.m.