On Saturday, February 18, Polk County’s official visitor information center, Polk Outpost 27, will celebrate the game of baseball with Spring Training Day. The Detroit Tigers, who are celebrating their 76^th Spring Training season in Polk County, will join the Spring Training celebration with a display at Polk Outpost 27 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. with giveaways, a sports themed bounce house for kids, games, a baseball movie, free popcorn and an appearance by the Lakeland Flying Tigers mascot, Ace. Visitors to the event will also be able to register for two grand prize drawings: one prize will be four tickets to see the Tigers play the Atlanta Braves on March 4 at Joker Marchant Stadium and the other will be a game-used Tigers jersey. Visitors who bring canned goods for local food banks will also be entered into a drawing for a $50 Wal-Mart gift card.

Baseball fans that can’t get enough of the national pastime on February 18 can enjoy baseball themed exhibits and memorabilia from February 11-19 at Polk Outpost 27. While at Polk Outpost 27, visitors will also be able to get all the latest information on the 2012 Spring Training season including schedules, Spring Training guides and other baseball information including complete schedules for the 2012 RussMatt Baseball Central Florida Collegiate Invitational that features more than 200 college baseball teams competing in Polk County from mid-February through the end of March.

All of the events and displays are free of charge and will be open to the public during normal hours. Polk Outpost 27 is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and is located on Highway 27 a half-mile South of I-4 at Exit 55. For more information call Polk Outpost 27 at (863) 420-2586.

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Individual tickets for Detroit Tigers Spring Training home games will go on sale Saturday, January 7 at 10:00 a.m. at the Joker Marchant Stadium box office.  The box office is located at 2301 Lakeland Hills Blvd.  Tickets may also be purchased at 10:00 a.m. through the Tigers website, www.tigers.com or via telephone by calling toll free 1-866-66-TIGER (84437).

This spring will mark the Tigers 76^th season at TigerTown in Lakeland, extending the longest-standing relationship between a major league team and a current Spring Training host city.  The 2012 spring season marks the club’s 47^th consecutive season of exhibition play at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers will begin the exhibition schedule on Friday, March 2 as the club plays host to Florida Southern College in the annual matchup against the Moccasins. The club opens the home portion of the Grapefruit League schedule against the Atlanta Braves at Joker Marchant Stadium on Sunday, March 4.

The schedule is highlighted by a visit from the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals on March 17 and a visit from the American League East Champion New York Yankees on March 24. The schedule also features two visits from the National League East Champion Philadelphia Phillies on March 9 and March 25.

Tickets for the 2012 spring exhibition season will be priced at three separate levels, which include Navy, Orange and White levels. Navy level games on March 4, March 9, March 17, March 21, March 24 and March 25 range from $14-28. Orange level games on March 7, March 10, March 14, March 20, March 26 and March 29 range from $12-25. White level games on March 2, March 5, March 12, March 15, April 1 and April 2 range from $9-22.

Full season ticket packages for the 2012 Tigers Spring Training exhibition season are on sale now at the Joker Marchant Stadium ticket office, via phone at (863) 686-8075 or by visiting www.tigers.com. Fans may also now purchase season ticket plans of five-or-more games by calling (863) 686-8075 or by visiting www.tigers.com. Individual game tickets go on sale beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 7^th, and can be ordered by visiting the ticket office at Joker Marchant Stadium, calling 866-66-TIGER (8-4437) or visiting www.tigers.com.  For additional ticket information and special group pricing, call the Lakeland office at 863-686-8075.

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There’s a lot of talk this holiday season about buying local and shopping in small businesses – but do we know why? I thought I’d pull together some information from the Small Business Administration to quantify that “warm fuzzy feeling” that comes from supporting our locally owned businesses.

The SBA classifies small business as having less than 500 employees. Did you know that small firms:

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
• Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

Locally, our Chamber membership employs more than 88,000 folks and77% of member businesses have 25 or fewer employees. That’s 88,000 pretty compelling reasons to support our Chamber members businesses!

This holiday season, and throughout the year, Lakeland businesses need our continued support. Look for local businesses at LakelandChamber.com/search or LakelandChamber.com on your mobile phone!

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The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) announced an upgrade (on August 23, 2011) to its license application process, enabling the majority of applications for food service and lodging establishments to be completed online. The upgrade will have a significant impact on the length of time needed to process applications, allowing online applicants to bypass several components of the paper application system.

“Making the application process easier for licensees and potential licensees will help us keep Florida businesses strong,” said DBPR Secretary Ken Lawson. “The industry asked us to improve this procedure, and I’m pleased our technological upgrades have made this new system possible.”

Applicants for a number of license types will now be able to complete the entire transaction, including document submission and payments, online. DBPR staff will be able to receive the entire application immediately, and applicants will receive instant email verification of their application once the transaction has been successfully completed.

“On behalf of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, I want to congratulate Secretary Ken Lawson and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for their tireless efforts in making the online application process a reality for our restaurateurs and hoteliers,” said FRLA President/CEO Carol Dover. “Tourism and hospitality is Florida’s number one job creating industry and we are proud to have worked with DBPR in making recommendations for this streamlined process. This is yet another example of removing burdensome paperwork that will have a positive impact in putting people back to work.”

Applicants may apply online for all food service, hotel, motel, apartment and rooming house licenses. The Department is also offering a complete option for online plan review submittal, including the application, fees and all supporting documents.

The Department plans to continue upgrading the applications process and will add applications for elevator- and escalator-related licenses in the future, as well as applications for licensed vacation rentals. Applicants for the various licenses can also still apply via paper applications, available online at www.myfloridalicense.com.

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Polk County Tourism & Sports Marketing will host its 3rd Annual PCTSM Business Expo on November 9.

Attractions, Activity providers, service providers, event organizers and restaurants can reserve a six-foot table to promote and network with other representatives from the accommodations industry.

New for 2011, an educational session for attendees focusing on social media marketing will start the event.

For additional information or to reserve your space at the Expo, please click VisitCentralFlorida.org.

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