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The City of Tavares, which sits on the northwest shore of Lake
Dora has built a new 88-slip marina and seaplane base at the
foot of the downtown area.
 The
base serves an east-west sea lane on the lake and includes a
floating fuel dock with 100LL and marine gas, three floating
seaplane slips, a grassy beaching area protected by floating
docks positioned offshore, a new shallow-angle concrete ramp
leading to paved parking for amphibians, and a second set of
avgas and mogas fuel pumps in the amphibian parking area.
A
new Ship's Store also is in place complete with a small flight
planning and lounge area, supplies, snacks and gifts. The
handsome waterfront building is an authentic re-creation of
the Woodlea House, built in 1871 by Captain Melton Haynes.
Haynes is credited with introducing the "sweet orange" to
Central Florida, which led to the area's important citrus
industry.
The Ship's Store houses the office of Jones Brothers * Co. Air
& Seaplane Adventures (863-241-1442). Owners Eric Weaver and
Richard "Ricci" Rowe have contracted with Tavares to operate a
flight-seeing service at the new seaplane base using a Twin
Seabee and two Cessna 180s on Edo straight floats. They also
will conduct multiengine and advanced single-engine seaplane
training, and in the future may offer seaplane charter
service.
Along with constructing the new marina/seaplane base and
Ship's Store, the city built a Children's Splash Park
featuring a shallow wading pool with a big, colorful
twin-engine seaplane that dispenses water out the tips of it's
spinning propellers.
Tavares transformation from a sleepy Central Florida town with
a population of about 13,000 into America's Seaplane City
began in 2006 when then-mayor Nancy Clutts resolved to
establish a "citizen-generated" vision for the city's future.
A series of town hall meetings was held that led to a focus on
"invigorating" the city's down-town by developing waterfront
projects designed to spotlight and greatly enhance activities
that have been a part of the town for decades - boating,
trains (at one time there were five railroads converging on
Tavares; today a waterfront track connects the city with
downtown Orlando and other lake-region towns), and seaplanes.
After agreeing on a vision statement the city undated its
master plan to include waterfront projects, and adopted a new
logo and the "America's Seaplane City" slogan with the tag
line "Land and See". The logo appears on city vehicles
including a pair of recently refurbished water taxis that play
Lake Dora.
The community has embraced the waterfront development,
especially the seaplane base. Three downtown restaurants
display murals on their buildings or signs depicting
seaplanes.
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