The state\u2019s erasure \u2013 in the middle of the night on Aug. 21 \u2013 of the rainbow crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the most significant sites in the state for the LGBTQ community, felt like another act of violence in a place now infamous for it.<\/p>\n
And while the city churned with anger, Se7enbites<\/a> owner Trina Gregory took steps, swift ones, to bring some beauty back. Her actions made her a finalist for the Orlando Sentinel\u2019s 2026 Central Floridian of the Year award.<\/p>\n The people had feelings and energy. The politicians kept talking about \u201cpublic property.\u201d It gave Gregory an idea that started with a makeshift crosswalk on her own private property.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, then I thought, \u2018Why am I thinking so small?!\u201d Her\u00a0big idea manifested into one of the city\u2019s largest, swiftest and by-the-people art projects<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not called The City Beautiful for nothing. We are a city that is full of art and color,\u201d Gregory told the Sentinel upon learning she was a finalist. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to downplay anyone\u2019s feelings about the loss [of the crosswalk] or take anything away from people feeling it \u2026 but everyone seemed so [incredibly] angry.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was beyond anyone\u2019s control at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n She did the one thing she could control.<\/p>\n On Sept. 15, Gregory welcomed the Orlando community into the parking lot of her Milk District restaurant for Parking Spaces for Pride \u2013 A Rainbow Connection, where artists painted 49 parking spaces, a number symbolic of the victims killed in the Pulse shooting of 2016, but not, she says, as a memorial.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was and is most certainly a remembrance of the things that happened,\u201d says Gregory, \u201cbut I was thinking beyond that. I was thinking about joy, about bringing joy back.\u201d<\/p>\n Parking Spaces for Pride \u2018just about the community,\u2019 says Se7enbites owner<\/a><\/p>\n And it was, for her nominator, the tip of the iceberg in our consideration of Gregory for the 2026 Central Floridian of the Year.<\/p>\n \u201cTrina responded [to the crosswalk removal] not with silence, but with creation\u2026\u201d wrote Evan Coutts, Gregory\u2019s girlfriend at the time of the nomination (the pair got engaged just last weekend), \u201can initiative that received national attention for transforming private parking spaces into a public statement of belonging\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI see so much hate, and these protests, and the rhetoric of fighting back, but there\u2019s another way to fight back,\u201d Gregory told the Orlando Sentinel back then<\/a>, \u201cwith kindness and love and creating community, and that is where this event comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n In the roughly six months since her Parking Spaces for Pride, Gregory has received letters, postcards, emails and messages from around the world. Some include photos of the lot, taken when people were in town visiting and stopped by for a meal. Others are just notes of thanks from those who read the story, who saw the art. Still more come from artists, hopeful to be included the next time the lot gets painted.<\/p>\n The attention, she says, has been a shock.<\/p>\n \u201cHow does someone in England hear about this? Or Ireland? Or Seattle? The letters give me so much gratitude, to hear that it touched people so much that they want to share it \u2026 to find that it has become this movement of joy in a hate-filled world.\u201d<\/p>\n Gregory has long been known for giving back to the community: through her work with Orlando Youth Alliance<\/a>, her service to the Valencia College Culinary<\/a> Advisory Board and her work on the board of Visit Orlando<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are many more examples, but the impetus for this nod was the color she brought back to a group that felt stripped.<\/p>\n There is a community board inside Se7enbites, a space where, for years, local businesses posted their cards and event notices, as the Milk District and Orlando\u2019s many neighborhoods beyond tend to be places where entrepreneurs hold one another up. But since the parking lot event, the business cards have gotten a little less real estate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had to make room for all the letters and postcards, so that people can read them,\u201d Gregory says.<\/p>\n Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram\u00a0@amydroo<\/a>\u00a0or on the OSFoodie Instagram account\u00a0@orlando.foodie<\/a>. Email:\u00a0amthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>, For more foodie fun, join the\u00a0Let\u2019s Eat, Orlando Facebook group<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2026\u00a0Central Floridian of the Year<\/p>\n Today: Finalist No. 1 \u2013 Trina Gregory \t\t\t![\"PAINTING](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TOS-L-Se7enBites-Pulse_0861f2_237019602.jpg\")
Central Florida artists gather at the Se7enBites restaurant in Orlando for the “Parking Spaces for Pride” project on Sept. 15, 2025. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tos-l-NEW-pulse-crosswalk-before-after.jpg\")
A rainbow crosswalk was removed overnight outside of Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the most significant LGBTQ sites in Florida, as part of state and federal transportation officials’ aim to wipe “political banners” from public roadways. At left, the crosswalk is shown in 2017. At right, the crosswalk is pictured on Aug. 21, 2025. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n
Thursday:\u00a0Finalist No. 2 revealed
Sunday, March 29: Finalist No. 3 revealed
Thursday, April 2:\u00a0Finalist No. 4 revealed
Sunday, April 5:\u00a0\u00a0Finalist No. 5 revealed
Sunday, April\u00a012:\u00a0Winner announced
More about our Central Floridian of the Year program and past winners and nominees at\u00a0OrlandoSentinel.com\/CFOTY<\/a><\/p>\n