Five Things We Learned on Patch this Week

: Tampa Bay Fashion Week wraps up tonight with its runway shows at Innisbrook Resort. This is the fourth year of the event which also includes St. Pete Beach Designer, Renee Scarborough of Two Coconuts Swimwear. Scarborough's designs are unique and have been used in various businesses around the beach, including the Undertow Beach Bar. 

: White banners floated up in the air along Gulf Way. Colorful pinwheels with hand-drawn peace symbols spun in the gulf breeze. Children wore the peace sign on their foreheads and on their clothing.  The parade of children from Montessori by the Sea shared their peaceful message on Pass-A-Grille Beach.

: The first shipment of boxes for servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan with ties to Indian Rocks Beach residents, called Beach Boxes, will go out this week, according to Indian Rocks Beach Home Owners Association President Becky Griffin.

As the sun peeked out from behind a cloud about 8 a.m. Saturday, Donna Scharrett was wide awake with 11 volunteers preparing breakfast for a cause she never envisioned herself being part of sixth months earlier. The pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Church of Isles on Indian Rocks Beach honored Kelly Rothwell, 35, a former St. Pete police cadet and resident of Indian Rocks Beach who disappeared March 12. 

Debbie Vandaveer is living her dream. The lifelong entrepreneur always wanted to have her own art boutique. Three weeks ago her dream expanded, when she moved Blue Sky Boutique down a block on Corey Avenue. Her new shop, which is about five times larger, still offers the work of more than 70 artists.