🌅 🕊️ Granny's Kitchen Owners Pass Away

It's Friday! and I think we may have a new show on our hands! I shot an episode of what can only be described as Sunland Cribs lol (watch it here). It was for the Parade of Homes starting today actually. I have entirely too much fun "window shopping" homes. And apparently everyone here does as well. People started sending me homes I should tour yesterday! But what do you think, is this a good idea? I feel like we could spice up the real estate tours locally, do something fun. Anyway...

In today's newsletter:

🕊️ Fort Pierce lost two legends. Charles and Hassie Russ of Granny's Kitchen.
🍦 Five restaurant updates including Cantown Creamery and Swift Grill
🏙️ PSL pitches HUD Secretary on downtown Opportunity Zone
✈️ Vero Beach leaders want public input on airport growth
⚾ St. Lucie Mets fell short in Daytona

📅 ICYMI: Yesterday's events newsletter - Over 35 Events!

☀️ Day: High of 82°F | A mix of clouds and sun. 19% chance of rain.
🌙 Night: Low of 67°F | Mainly clear. Winds ESE at 5-10 mph. 15% chance of rain.
🌅 Sunrise: 6:54 AM | 🌇 Sunset: 7:47 PM
🌙 Moonrise: 6:43 AM | 🌚 Moonset: 8:18 PM
🎶 Sounds like: "The Glamorous Life" — Sheila E. (I’ve been on a Prince kick, but specifically all of the records he wrote for other artist! Also, I refuse to listen to this song if I don’t hear the version with the saxophone intro.)

Charles and Hassie Russ, the beloved owners of Granny's Kitchen, passed away within days of each other after more than 60 years of marriage and more than 53 years of serving the Fort Pierce community 🕊️.

For those who didn't grow up coming through the doors at 901 Avenue D, Granny's Kitchen was the kind of place that we don't see as much anymore. Charles and Hassie started with a mom and pop grocery store, and the legend is they would pay neighborhood children a penny per soda bottle and make them learn to count before they could buy homemade cookies. Sound about right. They opened the restaurant in 1975, named it after Hassie's mother Helen Morris, and never looked back.

For 43 years they served oxtails, smothered steak, fried chicken, chitterlings, collard greens, lima beans, candied yams, cornbread and every other thing your grandmother made on Sunday 🍽️. When Avenue D changed around them they stayed. When the 2004 hurricanes hit they closed the restaurant, cooked, and gave the food away for free.

Charles said it best when asked why they never left 💬

"This is home. The people paid for my house. They paid my bills. They put my children through college. This is where I belong."

Hassie put it just as simply.

"At the heart of what we do is people. They were not just customers, but family."

They retired in 2018 after 43 years in the same location. Fort Pierce gave them a block party on the last day. The line to get in one final plate never really ended.

Rest well, Charles and Hassie. Fort Pierce knows what it had in you 🙏🏾.

One more thing worth knowing: before Granny's Kitchen ever opened, a young Hassie Russ used to bring dinner across the street in Means Court to her neighbor and former Lincoln Park Academy teacher, a woman named Zora Neale Hurston. Stewed tomatoes over rice with sausage. Zora's favorite. I'm sure they'll meet again. At least that's what I hope.

💬 Share a memory of Granny's Kitchen or the Russ family right here

Vero Beach city leaders are planning public workshops and online surveys to get resident feedback on the airport's future after JetBlue and American Airlines started service at the once quiet regional hub. Councilmember John Carroll said major questions about expansion haven't been discussed publicly, with the comprehensive plan not anticipating recent growth.

👉 Read more (WQCS)

Port St. Lucie hosted HUD Secretary Scott Turner April 14 to pitch designating Walton & One as an Opportunity Zone for downtown development, though the area's median income is too high and poverty rate too low to qualify under federal guidelines.

👉 Read more (TCPalm subscription may be required)

Vice Mayor Sean Reed brought up a previously undisclosed $125,000 theft from Stuart in 2021 through a Paymentus system flaw, questioning why the public wasn't notified at the time. Interim City Manager Roz Strong said staff didn't disclose it publicly because it was an active investigation involving multiple jurisdictions, with Mayor Christopher Collins supporting a future presentation on what happened.

👉 Read more (SAVE)

Final score: Mets, 6 — Tortugas, 8

Julio Zayas, AJ Salgado, and JT Benson all went 2 for 4 at the plate. JT Benson, Randy Guzman, and Branny De Oleo all sent one flying over the fences. A pretty productive game offensively, but our pitching suffered for 1.1 innings costing us 5 vital runs.

That's alright though! As does love, that's the way baseball goes! (Shoutout Miss Janet lol)

We'll get em next time! Just gotta sharpen things up. We'll be continuing this 6-game series in Daytona for the next three days. Let's Go Mets! ⚾ - darius garrido

Check The Score

👋 Thanks for reading! If you found it useful, consider sharing it with a friend.

📱 Keep up with the Sunland News: Send comments & suggestions to [email protected] Follow us on, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube

🙋‍♂️ Did someone forward you this? Subscribe Below!