Celebrating Four Years of Palm Harbor Local

Send us a text

Reflecting on four impactful years, we share the growth and evolution of Palm Harbor Local, celebrating community stories while looking toward a promising future in 2025. We explore the importance of community engagement, upcoming events, and opportunities for local business partnerships.

• Reflecting on the podcast's origin during challenging times 
• Highlighting early guests who shared their inspiring stories 
• Plans for more community events in 2025 to deepen engagement 
• Exploring potential partnerships for local businesses 
• Envisioning a vibrant downtown Palm Harbor as a destination 
• Requesting volunteers for events and community initiatives 
• Encouraging listeners to subscribe for updates and engagement opportunities

Stroll through the laid-back streets of the Palm Harbor community with this informative podcast, proudly brought to you by Donnie Hathaway with The Hathaway Group, your trusted guide and local expert in navigating the diverse and ever-changing property landscape of Palm Harbor.

Work with me + FREE Resources

Would you like help buying a home in Palm Harbor? - Buyer Consultation
Would you like help selling your house in Palm Harbor? - Seller Marketing Consultation
Download our free buyer's guide today - Buyer's Guide

Episode Transcript

Donnie (00:00):
Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, where we bring you
inspiring stories from the heartof our community.
I'm your host, donnie Hathaway,and today we're doing a solo
episode to kind of recap thelast four years, look ahead to
what's coming up for 2025, andlet you know how you can get
involved in joining the PalmHarbor Local community.
So, as you know, our show isall about celebrating those who

(00:23):
put in the sweat, overcome thehurdles and still find time to
give back to our community.
If you want to be inspired byhow they got started, what keeps
them going and what they'redoing to make Palm Harbor even
more awesome, you're in theright place Now in today's
episode, like I said, we'regoing to recap.
I want to recap the last fouryears, how Palm Harbor Local got

(00:44):
its start back in 2020.
Look ahead to 2025 and what wehave planned for you guys there,
and then, like I said, how youcan get involved and join this
Palm Harbor Local community, ifyou're not already a part of it.
So be sure to follow us onInstagram at Palm Harbor Local
and for any behind the scenescontent, and then sign up for
our weekly newsletter atpalmharborlocalcom let's get

(01:08):
started.
So, as I was thinking about thisupcoming year and the fact that
this is like the start of yearfive that I've been doing the
podcast.
Now I couldn't help but thinkback to the beginning and what
it was like how we got startedwith this podcast, with titling

(01:28):
it Palm Harbor Local and thefocus and direction of the
podcast.
So it was back in 2020.
This was just before COVID wasreally getting started.
Something I was passionateabout was the local business,
small business community, butalso like the business owner,
and learning more about them,like why they got started, why

(01:49):
they decided to start thisbusiness, what inspires them,
what keeps them going, how theygo about operating some of their
wins, some of their losses justlearning as much as I could
from the small business owner.
And so that's where the ideawas born.
And to start a podcast formyself back then was something
that I never thought that Iwould find myself doing.

(02:10):
I never thought that I would behere five years in to a podcast
and continue doing it andreally, really enjoy doing it.
It's been a passion of mine forthe last four years, so I'm
excited for that and I'm trulygrateful for everybody that is
tuned into an episode shared, anepisode for all the guests that
have come on to share theirstories and sit down with me,
have a conversation with me.

(02:31):
It's remarkable that we'vegotten to this point and I'm so
excited for what's coming up in2025.
Some of our first guests on theshow Essie Burgin.
She's been a friend for thelast four or five years now, um,
and does some great things inour community with her artwork
and everything that she's beendoing.
Uh, zach Feinstein, with theFeinstein group was one of, I

(02:52):
think, the very first episodethat I did for those people
those those first, you know, 10to 15 episodes when we really
didn't have, uh, any directionor understand, like, what the
podcast was going to be about.
For those people to put theirtrust in me was really, really
special and I'm forever gratefulfor, for those few folks that
have done that and and, ofcourse, for you, for you

(03:16):
listening to this episode, foryou listening to all any of the
episodes you've had in the past,sharing the episodes.
We appreciate the support andwe're looking forward to 2025.
So, speaking of 2025, we reallywant to grow the community of
Palm Harbor Local and really getmore involved with what we're

(03:36):
doing right, we've been hostingthe podcast for the last four
years, we've had the socialmedia channel, uh, as well.
Uh, we're now growing toYouTube so you can find us and
watch us on, uh, our YouTubechannel, um, where you can
actually see the guest in in thestudio, and we want to do more
community events, right?

(03:56):
So it's one thing in my mind tohear the story of a business
owner, hear what they'repassionate about, hear their
wins, hear their losses andexperience that, but then it's
one thing to experience it inperson, and I've had the
pleasure to get to know a lot ofthese business owners over the
last four years and get to usesome of their services and get

(04:23):
to use some of their services,purchase some of their products.
We have a great community ofcreative people, smart people
and people that are reallypassionate about our community,
and I want to be able tohighlight some of these
businesses in our community andbring you guys out there with me
to experience it for yourselves.
So we're going to be differentcommunity events throughout the
year, whether it's some of themarkets that we've started doing

(04:44):
in January.
I think it's going to beJanuary 29th.
Don't quote me on that date yet, but I believe it'll be January
29th.
We'll keep you guys updatedonce that is finalized.
But we're going to be going outto own meditation, for a
meditation class with amytriplet and to experience the
own meditation and wellness thatshe's created there in safety

(05:05):
harbor.
So that is an incredible placethat we're going to go um and
and experience on january.
At the end of january there'sgoing to be like 15 16 open
slots available.
So if you're interested, feelfree to reach out to us if we
can get you the sign up form toget signed up for that.
So we're going to be doing moreevents like that, more markets,
just trying to get out in thecommunity more and showcase some

(05:27):
of these small businesses thatwe, that we all love.
We've also opened up the doorfor sponsorship opportunities in
2025.
So if you're a small businessor looking to start a small
business and you're a smallbusiness or looking to start a
small business and you'reinterested in sponsoring the
podcast, feel free to reach outto us.
We have a great opportunity toto partner with local businesses
.
You know, a lot of our gueststhat come on the show end up

(05:48):
getting referrals that comethrough the podcast.
Somebody listens to an episodeand they end up using that
service or product, buying aproduct from that that business.
So we, so we want to help thesesmall businesses grow and we
feel like that we, what we canoffer through our podcast,
through our social mediachannels, through our weekly
newsletter, that we can reallyhelp them grow, more so than

(06:10):
other avenues, other marketingavenues that some of them are
already spending money on anyway.
So we're excited for thatsponsorship opportunity.
If you're interested inlearning more about that, feel
free to reach out to me andwe're happy to get the
information over to you.
Now the last thing I want totouch on and it's something that
I'm really excited for, becauseI think there's a ton of
potential for the Palm Harborcommunity.
I really think Palm Harbor hasthe potential to be like the

(06:31):
next desirable destination spotfor people looking to visit, for
people who are inviting theirfriends and family to the area,
and that's the downtown PalmHarbor community.
You know there's been a lot ofundeveloped opportunities, a lot
of missed opportunities indowntown Palm Harbor over the

(06:52):
years, and I think we're at aposition now where the community
really understands and wantssomething to be downtown Palm
Harbor and wants there to be aspot to go to and hang out with
their friends and family andjust enjoy on the weekends
outside of their home andoutside of their work.

(07:15):
Anytime we do events indowntown Palm Harbor or Pop
Sanctal Park or really gettingthe community together, there's
always a great turnout.
So I know there's greatpotential for what the downtown
Palm Harbor community can be andwe just got to get everybody on
board and moving in the samedirection to really reach it,

(07:35):
for Palm Harbor to reach itsfull potential right.
There's a lot of vacant landdown there right now, a lot of
undeveloped properties, a lot ofvacant properties that are just
sitting there and it's kind ofit's honestly it's sad to see.
You know, my office is now herein downtown Palm Harbor so I'm
able to walk through downtownand you know you could see the
potential walking down thestreets of Palm Harbor and what

(07:59):
it can be.
So, and I know that thecommunity wants it and looks
forward to that day when thathappens.
You know we're doing somethings with the Florida Main
Street Program, which I thinkhas some power to make some
things happen, and I'm lookingforward to what we can create
and what all the business ownersand community can kind of
create together and create thisdowntown experience that we all

(08:24):
are looking for.
If you're interested in beinginvolved in anything, in any
events and volunteering andstuff we always need volunteers
for downtown Palm Harbor eventsthroughout the year.
So feel free to reach out to usand we'll put you in touch with
the right people to help youget involved in the community.
You can obviously, like I said,sign up for our weekly
newsletter.
We do put out a lot ofinformation on their events

(08:46):
happening in downtown, eventshappening in the community and
just kind of updates on what'sgoing on with the Florida Main
Street program, with Parks andRec or anything going on kind of
in downtown.
So be sure to sign up for thatweekly newsletter if you're not
already and and stay in the know, because we're excited for what
2025 is going to bring for PalmHarbor.

(09:07):
So again, I just want to saythat I'm extremely grateful for
everybody that has tuned intothe episodes and listened to the
podcast and discussed it withtheir friends and family.
Subscribe to the podcast.
We appreciate you.
We're excited for 2025 and whatthat's going to bring to us.
Next up we have the presidentof the Palm Harbor Chamber, matt
Meninga, on the podcast.
That's a great episode that Iknow you guys will enjoy, so be

(09:31):
sure to tune into that one.
Subscribe to our podcast,subscribe to our YouTube channel
and let's have a great 2025.
See you.