By Gail Radley
“Lake Helen-Cassadaga: Where Mayberry Meets the Twilight Zone.”
This T-shirt slogan offers a pretty accurate assessment. Cassadaga is home of the Spiritualists (for more on this psychic enclave,
click here). Tree-lined
Lake Helen, with its scattering of mom and pop shops and comfortable old frame houses, looks as sleepy as the comparison to Mayberry suggests. But that doesn’t mean there’s no nightlife.
If it’s Friday night and you’re in the neighborhood, the
Lake Helen Coffee & Tea Company is the place to be. Weather permitting, each Friday brings new entertainment — rock, jazz, Celtic, Hang Drum — you name it, it’s happening on the restaurant’s long patio before a full and enthusiastic crowd. Still more listeners are enjoying the music from within the air-conditioned shop. In addition to coffee and tea, the restaurant offers an array of smoothies, sandwiches, soup, and salads, all at modest prices. The tuna melt I had on my last visit was so filling, it almost ruled out a pina colada yogurt smoothie for dessert. (Still, I managed.) My friend Dee was quite satisfied with her tasty chicken salad on a bed of romaine and spring mix greens.
Don’t miss the little gift shop, a room connected to the sandwich shop. You can pick up handcrafted jewelry, gift baskets, floral arrangements, knickknacks — and that Lake Helen-Cassadaga T-shirt. If you’re lucky, you’ll win your favorite item when the door prize is announced toward the end of the evening. Like the drawing, the music is free, so mind the tip jar — the musicians are singing for their supper.
Time passes quickly: The music starts at 6 p.m.; by 8 p.m. it’s over, and the Coffee & Tea Company is locking its doors. Lake Helen tucks itself in for the night and goes back to being a sleepy little village. And if this event was the appetizer for another evening adventure, you’ll still have energy for the main course.
Lake
Helen Coffee & Tea Co.:
Mon.-Thurs. 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Fri. 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 386-951-4486; 360
S. Lakeview Dr., Lake
Helen, FL 32706. lakehelencoffee.com.