We’re horse and biking country, and yes, that’s one of our neighbors with her Golden Retriever, on a kayak, petting a manatee. And July means scallop season! Let’s go scalloping in the Gulf of Mexico!

Smiles. You see a lot of ‘em here. It’s because we live in a truly remarkable, majestic place. Other counties claim it, but Citrus County is really Florida’s Nature Coast – with more than half of our county designated as state or federal lands and parks – never to see development.

And yet we’re an hour north of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater beaches and their 5 million inhabitants via a no traffic light parkway, but we seem like hundreds of miles away. There’s a pace of life here that’s almost like an escape to an easier, peaceful time – the days when you stop and say hello to neighbors, and make chit chat at the grocery. Here hugs last a little longer, and handshakes and smiles are believed.

If you have never swam with manatee, went scalloping, kayaked in natural crystal-clear water springs, or biked while spying Osprey’s nesting, you will soon. And better – your children will be making childhood memories of a life like nowhere else. Nature everywhere, a water lifestyle, “being one with nature,” a rare chilly winter night around the fireplace! A drive to the Ozello Keys will capture your heart, and make you want to live here. Our smiles are symbolic of how good life is, and our willingness to share it with you. We offer an “Old Time Florida” lifestyle with small towns dotting our landscape but and “rural chic” fringe.

Tampa’s International Mall offers premier shopping – under an hour from Citrus County

• Imagine a morning swim with manatee, and then about an hour later enjoying premier shopping, a major art exhibit, professional sporting event, or picking up family coming to visit at a major international airport. You can’t do that anywhere else in the world except here in Citrus County, Florida.

Or just as easily, go fishing with your best friend, or a new one, either for river trout or try for a world-record tarpon catch in the Gulf of Mexico, biking with your family along Florida’s longest stretch of bike trails, a refreshing horseback ride, or a round of golf at the country club. It’s your choice. And our people are friendly!

Location:

Here’s where we are – Tampa is just an hour south of us –and Orlando is just 2 hours east

7:30 am at Fort Island Gulf Beach Park for the Annual Crystal River Triathlon

The Plantation Resort & Spa – one of the top resorts in all of West Florida

The 4th generation family-recipe crab cakes at Peck’s Old Port, on the Ozello Keys – visit this
incredible place in Life in Crystal River

Of course, we have plenty of modern shopping here, too – we cover this in Life in Crystal River

The Suncoast Parkway – the connector to Tampa that continues to promote our growth:

The Suncoast Parkway is a no-traffic-light, “straight shot” toll road right into downtown Tampa, which is expanding through Crystal River and will end two miles north of Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center onto US 19 (which continues north to Tallahassee). We are now a growing community not-too-far from Tampa’s metro amenities and Clearwater and St. Petersburg beaches, but we’re far enough away so we aren’t a suburb.

Photos from the Suncoast Parkway

Neighbors and Their Perspectives

“With our infrastructure in place, access to metro areas is easier, but you can still live in a place that promotes a quality of life you can’t get in a city.” - Ron Kitchen

“For professionals who work long hours, they like to think their family is safe. Being from New York City myself, here there is not the ‘urban expectation’ of crime nor suspiciousness of others…. The ‘aging of America’ is a national issue, and impacting our population…. New physicians don’t need to advertise for business and specialists can ‘write their own ticket.’” - Gerry Mulligan

“My sons had the ‘Tom Sawyer – Huck Finn’ exposure of being in and on the river. In fact, my best memories are of going fishing with my father, particularly off-shore for grouper, and seeing the big schools of mullet under the boat and all the birds in the sky.…” - KC Nayfield

“The Florida Community College System is the premier community college system in the nation (and) the sense of community here is stronger than any other I have known. Don’t give (moving to our area) a second thought – The community is very inclusive oriented. You will be made to feel at home very quickly.” - Vernon Lawter, PhD

Ron Kitchen
Mayor
City of Crystal River
CEO, Barbaron, Inc.

Gerry Mulligan
Publisher
The Chronicle
NYC Transplant

Carol Kimbrough
Owner
Specialty Gems
Neighbors at the
Grocery

KC Nayfield
Veterinarian
Midway Animal
Hospital
“King’s Bay Kids”

Vernon Lawter
Provost
Central Florida CC
SRRMC Board Member

Josh Wooten
President
Chamber of Commerce
Our Compelling Growth

Kevin Jenkins
Copper Sculptor
Riverworks
Gallery Photos

More Neighbors you will meet in our presentation in Life in Crystal River – get ready to have some fun!

Daryl Seaton, Proprietor/Outfitter, The Nature Coast Fly Shop
Tammy Woodburn, World Champion, Half-Arab Working Hunter Category/Owner Blueberry Hill Farm
Charles Beyerkin, MD, Retired Surgeon and Pathologist/Volunteer Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Jennifer and Rodney Carr, Restaurant Owners Vintage on 5th/ Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Tampa Region
Howard Harrison, Retired Educator, NY University System/Art Center of Citrus County
Donna Copp, Wine Maker, Copp Winery
Dick Yant, Captain, Nature Coast Charters – Captain Dick took us scalloping!
Christopher Moling, President, Citrus Road Runners – Chris invited us to the annual triathlon.
Ken Spilios, American Lung Association Chapter President/Biking Fanatic/PA Crystal River Family Practice
Veronica "Ronnie" Duurloo, Dance Instructor/Educator/Ronnie's Academy of Dance
Dan Lyons, VP of Crystal River Little League
Charles Butler (Civilian Prosecuting Attorney), Hannah Hoffman (Southern Belle), Curtis Peters (Chairman, Nature Coast Civil War Committee) and President Abraham Lincoln at the Civil War re-enactment!
Sharon Padgett, Coastal Heritage Museum/Chairman of Citrus County Historical Society
Richard Mayor, Docent, Citrus County Courthouse Museum
Captain Mike & Captain Wayne, Sunshine River Tours (come swim with manatee!)
Tom Gilbert, Pilot for our aerial photos

You will also meet School Principals and Teachers, Students, Hospital Staff, and Physicians!

At wine tastings and eateries Harley’s park next to limos – usually in a gravel parking lot. Now that’s “rural chic!”

Be prepared to play outside!

The majesty of the Ozello Keys…

Liberty Park in Inverness is one of many of our parks along the Withlacoochee State Trail, a 46-mile bike, walking and rollerblading trail with portions of horseback trail along an historic railroad. On right is the sunrise to the east on Fort Island Trail, across from our Fort Island Gulf Beach Park.

Unlike many other hospital websites, all the photos in our presentation are authentic, and they were taken especially for you during an on-site production visit. Our friends and neighbors were excited to be a part of this when they learned it is to recruit the best healthcare professionals to our area. Enjoy meeting all of your “future neighbors!” Will you come and join us here in Crystal River? We hope you will!