LAKE WALES, Fla. — Downtown Lake Wales is full of locally owned businesses.
Dolores Vogel is the president of Lake Wales Main Street.
WATCH: Lake Wales Main Street helps connect community and local businesses
"We need that influx of people walking around and and and going into stores eating downtown. We need lights on downtown at night. We need people living here. We've got some expansion of apartments on Park Avenue. We have the ability to have more apartments on Park Avenue, and hopefully that will come to pass. Very soon, we've got the hotel that is getting ready to be redeveloped. So all of those things are vital to our growth, and having people come in and explore is important. We can't do it without our community behind us," said Vogel.
Rachel Cullen is a perfect example. She's a Lake Wales native and owns Cocoa Cake Studio, a bakery in Downtown.
WATCH: Lake Wales Main Street helps connect community and local businesses
After spending time in different places across the Country, Cullen decided to come back home and open her bakery.
"Sometimes it makes me cry. It's really special. It's cool. And just knowing the customers, you know they come in, we already know what they want, and we're always like, you can try something. They're new. And they said, No, we, we, you know what we like. So, but yeah, it's, it's, it's great to I was always very I didn't want to be the face of the place. I didn't like to talk, but I've really enjoyed learning the community and meeting more people and being in the business," said Cullen.
If you go, Tampa Bay 28 heard the cream puffs and whoopee pies are fantastic.
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