Gainesville – A Natural Destination for LGBT Vacation Getaways

            Tucked into the stunning natural environment of North Florida, the college town of Gainesville is an urban oasis where LGBT vacationers will find a warm welcome. This diverse, open-minded community of artists and academicians offers big-city amenities, from professional theater to creative cuisine, in an area of unparalleled natural beauty. From fine art to outdoor adventures to LGBT-friendly inns, shops and restaurants, Gainesville wraps all of its charms in a free-spirited, live-and-let-live atmosphere charged by the vitality of 50,000 students at the University of Florida, the state’s largest university.  

Cultured days

The three facets of Gainesville’s Cultural Plaza encompass the best of art, science and entertainment, with the 1,700-seat Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the Harn Museum of Art, one of the largest campus art museums in the country. With a new contemporary wing, extensive Asian and African collections, a café and a sculpture garden, the sophisticated and spacious museum is the ideal place to spend an afternoon. Take a guided tour for an inside look at the collections and touring exhibits before lunch in the sleek Camellia Court Café overlooking the Plaza’s water and butterfly gardens. www.harn.ufl.edu

Next door, the Florida Museum of Natural History brings Florida’s people, past and places come to life through exhibits that include Native American culture, Florida fossils, a northwest Floridacave and a look beneath the surface of an estuary.

The museum also hosts traveling exhibits from the Field Museum, Harvard Museum of Natural History and more, but its flagship attraction is the Butterfly Rainforest, where visitors can walk through a tropical forest among hundreds of free-flying butterflies. www.flmnh.ufl.edu

Delve deeper into the University of Florida campus, and hidden among the ivy-covered Collegiate Gothic halls are four galleries showcasing cutting-edge work from students, faculty and world artists at the Grinter Gallery, University Gallery, Focus Gallery and The Gallery in the Reitz Union. www.arts.ufl.edu/galleries.asp

Street festivals are always in season in Gainesville, anchored by autumn’s Downtown Festival and Art Show, with a concurrent jazz and blues festival, and the Santa Fe College’s Spring Arts festival. In late spring, the Fifth Avenue Arts Festival celebrates African-American history and art in Gainesville, while on the Gulf coast, Cedar Key’s sleepy fishing village transforms into a bustling arts and crafts marketplace for April’s Old Florida Celebration of the Arts.

Each of the tiny towns surrounding Gainesville has its own charm, but Micanopy, one of the oldest inland settlements in Florida, is the area’s antiquing capital, with a quaint downtown lined with shops, cafes and the historic Herlong Mansion Bed and Breakfast. www.herlong.com

While the area offers 5,000 hotel rooms to choose from, the Herlong and downtown Gainesville’s four charming historic inns all welcome LGBT travelers to their lovingly restored, well-appointed rooms.  www.visitgainesville.com/lodging             

Outdoor attractions

 Whether you prefer exploring by bike, kayak or hiking trail, Gainesville has an outdoor adventure waiting for you. North Central Florida’s breathtaking springs – fonts of fresh water that bubbles out of the earth at a rate of millions of gallons a day -- are the most plentiful first-magnitude springs in the world. With a yearround temperature of 72 degrees, the crystal blue water and abundant wildlife make these rivers and their headsprings a delight to explore. Explore Ichetucknee Springs State Park by kayak or canoe, with a mask and snorkel or, in the summer, from an inner tube on its 3.5-mile tubing run. www.floridastateparks.org/ichetuckneesprings

            Saltwater paddlers can head to Cedar Key, on the Gulf of Mexico west of Gainesville, for a trip to Atsena Otie, where they can explore the ruins of the settlement wiped out by a hurricane in 1896. After paddling, a Gulf sunset and fresh seafood await at one of Cedar Key’s waterfront restaurants.   Another lush oasis is Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, the second-largest garden in the country, with 62 acres of splendor that includes the largest public collection of bamboo in the state and the country’s largest herb garden. www.kanapaha.org The wide savannah of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, where bison and wild horses roam, is another of the area’s natural treasures, www.floridastateparks.org/paynesprairie while at O’Leno State Park in High Springs, hikers can cross a suspension bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, admiring the view of the Santa Fe River. www.floridastateparks.org/oleno

            For walking, cycling or skating, the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail winds 16 miles through Paynes Prairie State Park to the neighboring city of Hawthorne. Just outside of downtown Gainesville, two connecting paths – the Depot Avenue Trail and the Waldo Road Greenway – offer a traffic-free ride near the city’s cultural and entertainment offerings. www.floridagreenwaysandtrails.com

For an off-road trek, head to San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park in Alachua, www.floridastateparks.org/sanfelascohammock which offers 2,000 acres of trails for beginner, intermediate and experienced riders. While you’re in Alachua, don’t miss Mill Creek Farm, the retirement home for horses, where each Saturday, vacationers can visit with the horses for the admission price of two carrots. www.millcreekfarm.org

 Can’t fathom coming to Florida without hitting the beach? Not to worry: The Atlantic Coast’s powdery white-sand beaches are just 90 minutes away.

Delicious date nights

After a full day of sightseeing, downtown restaurants beckon. Start your evening with a stroll through Gainesville’s historic district, starting with the 1920s glamour of the Thomas Center, once a posh hotel favored by Robert Frost. (A cell-phone guided tour of the Thomas Center and the surrounding area is available at www.gainesvillecelltours.com. After you’ve admired the Victorian homes and gardens, choose from a variety of first-class dining options downtown: Tapas at Emiliano’s Café; Asian fusion at Liquid Ginger or Dragonfly Sushi and Sake Company; freshest local offerings at Paramount Grill and Ti Amo or steaks at Mark’s Prime, to name a few.

      Willing to venture further afield? Don’t miss the eclectic blend of live music, local art and scratch-made pizza at Satchel’s, where the adjacent art gallery/curiosity shop/live music venue Lightnin’ Salvage draws just as many customers as Satchel’s legendary pizza.  (www.satchelspizza.com) 

     Art aficionados won’t want to miss the monthly downtown Art Walk, in which 12 studios and galleries give visitors a chance to meet local artists, from landscape painters to printmakers and photographers. Or browse the eclectic offerings at Wild Iris bookstore, a GLBT-oriented, locally owned bookseller and café.

      At the Cultural Plaza, the Phillips Center hosts headline acts from dozens of countries, including headliners from David Sedaris to Kiri Te Kanawa, and touring shows from “The Producers” to “Movin’ Out.” The university’s performing-arts program also commissions and premieres new works by artists from the innovative Ahn Trio to multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. (www.performingarts.ufl.edu)

Gainesville’s own Dance Alive National Ballet (www.dancealive.org) brings classical and avant garde dance to the stage, while the ornate, turn-of-the-century Federal Building houses the Hippodrome Theatre, where professional actors and directors mount dramas, musicals and comedies. At the Hipp Cinema, visitors can catch groundbreaking independent and international films.  (www.thehipp.org)

      For a look at the next generation of performers, take in an experimental theater or dance piece at the University of Florida’s Constans Theatre. Or enjoy a performance in the historic University Auditorium, a soaring cathedral-style building where School of Music faculty and students perform, from clarinet ensembles and classical quartets. From opera to improv comedy, student performances keep the campus performing arts scene lively throughout the year. www.arts.ufl.edu/events.asp

     In Gainesville’s downtown nightlife district, evenings find a crowd amassed at the Bo Diddley Downtown Community Plaza for the “Let’s Go Downtown” entertainment series. From May through October, free Friday evening shows feature a wide variety of performers under the stars. www.gvlculturalaffairs.org  And at Savannah Grande, a downtown reception hall, the Gainesville Friends of Jazz and Blues concert series draws acts from around the country. www.gnvfriendsofjazz.org The LGBT club scene centers on University Club, an institution in Gainesville, where the evening may bring drag shows, dancing or a cabaret, always with a great DJ and a friendly crowd. Check out the latest listings of LGBT-oriented events in the Gainesville area at the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida, in Gainesville’s Liberty Center at 3131 NW 13th St., or on the Pride Center’s web site is: www.gainesvillepride.org

 In a town that has repeatedly stood up for the civil rights of its LGBT residents and where openly gay elected officials serve their community with pride, LGBT vacationers will feel welcome to enjoy the many attractions, from arts and culture to natural splendor, in this peaceful, tolerant town.

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