A steer on the loose at Colony Plaza on Wednesday afternoon poignantly pointed out the ongoing culture clash in The Villages.
The steer was photographed roaming the parking lot of Mezza Luna restaurant and it didn’t take long before it became a star on social media.
Colony Plaza is located on the eastern Sumter County line at Lake County. The steer appeared to have roamed away from the pasture located on 27 acres which is soon to be home to a new AdventHealth free-standing emergency room, which is next door to the 7-Eleven at Colony Plaza. Perhaps, the steer caught wind of the fact the bulldozers would soon be arriving to claim its home. Workmen were spotted repairing the barbed wire fence at the new future medical site, after the steer had been retrieved.
The disappearing pastureland swallowed up by The Villages and other developments has long been a sore point in the area. While Brownwood was intended to salute the area’s long history with cattle, it’s a bit ironic that the pastureland has been forfeited in the name of glitzy restaurants, shopping and music 365 nights a year.
The particular area from which the steer wandered Wednesday afternoon, is seeing rapid development.
Last year, a developer snapped up a pasture on nearby Lake Ella Road, as it was the last piece of the puzzle enabling the massive Hammock Oaks development to stretch from County Road 466 to Lake Ella Road. The donkeys that formerly occupied that pasture have disappeared.
