Influence Map
Who shapes downtown Lake Wales
The people, organizations, programs, and events that decide what gets built, preserved, funded, and celebrated around the Rhodesbilt Arcade and the historic Northwest neighborhood.
4 entries shown
Events
4 entriesOctober 24–25, 2026 (50th annual)
Lake Wailes Park, 325 S. Scenic Hwy
The Lake Wales History Museum's free heritage festival celebrates its 50th year in 2026 with historical demonstrations, pioneer crafts, a Community Market, live entertainment, and the Pioneer of the Year Award.
Daily, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Bok Tower Gardens
The 60-bell carillon inside the Singing Tower rings out over the gardens twice daily — a Lake Wales ritual since 1929.
Annually, late winter
Lake Wailes Park
The Lake Wales Arts Council's juried outdoor art show draws artists and collectors from across Florida to the lakefront each year.
The network
More local reading
Context for this map comes from a small family of Florida-made sites tracking Lake Wales, the Ridge, and the people building here.
4 of 4 sites
An independent guide to Lake Wales and the Florida Ridge — tonight's music, weekend markets and festivals, restaurants and bars, parks and lakes, and the city government most guides skip. 131 verified places across 10 Polk County cities.
Source: lakewalesguide.com homepage · Updated
A deep-dive editorial documenting Florida cities one at a time — built environment, local history, culture, institutions, and people. Each edition is a lasting city record, not a disposable travel list.
Source: floridaslice.com homepage · Updated
AI visibility infrastructure — helping organizations become discoverable, interpretable, and citable across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and AI Overviews. Also home to the AI Visibility podcast, recorded in studios like this one.
Source: backtier.com homepage · Updated
Jason Todd Wade — Florida writer and publisher, founder of BackTier, and author of AI Visibility Architecture, the Entity Lock Protocol, and the Agentic Visibility Path.
Source: jasonwade.com homepage · Updated

