©2020 Wellington The Magazine. All rights reserved
Message From The Publisher
Annual Faces Of Polo Issue: We Welcome
Back All Of Our Equestrian Friends!
Dawn Rivera
Dawn Rivera,Publisher
Picking right back up where we left off, the new equestrian season returns to Wellington with much anticipation for completing competitions interrupted by the pandemic. We are always happy to see horse trailers and riding boots throughout the community, but this year it means so much more. With all the uncertainty of what the season would bring, Wellington The Magazine continues to partner up with all of the major venues throughout Wellington to highlight the best of what we are known for all across the world — equestrian sports!
Featured on this month’s cover is longtime polo star Jeff Hall, who remains at the top of his game after more than 20 years of competing in Wellington. Yet so much has also changed. In 2005, Hall made People magazine’s list of “50 Hottest Bachelors.” Now he and wife Michelle have settled down and are raising sons Luke and Eli. Also with deep ties to Wellington, we sit down with the Escobar family, a force in the local polo community since the 1980s when patriarch Francisco founded the Santa Clara Polo Club. Today, his son Luis Escobar can still be found competing, now alongside his sons Nico and Lucas.
Also in this month’s issue, we visit with the World Polo League, which begins 2021 with Gaston Dorignac as the new head umpire for this growing high-goal polo organization. Moving away from polo, we stop by the Royal Poinciana Plaza in Palm Beach to explore this legendary shopping destination. When looking for sweet treats here in Wellington, we stopped by the new Factory Donuts store, which is serving them up any way you like, made-to-order, fresh and hot. Finally, we profile the new Wellington Youth Council, which aims to get high school students interested in local government while also providing village leaders with an important teen perspective.
As we move into 2021, we take a moment to look back over the past 17 years of publishing Wellington The Magazine and feel so much gratitude for a village that really got behind having its own community magazine and continues to give us the inspiration, motivation and advertising support to be able to bring you interesting features from school awards to the equestrian fields and everything in between. Thank you, Wellington, and may everyone have a very happy and healthy new year.
executive editor
Joshua I. Manning
publisher
Dawn Rivera
senior graphic designer
Stephanie Rodriguez
graphic designers
Nancy Pobiak
Yolanda Cernicky
account managers
Betty Buglio
Evie Edwards
Joetta Palumbo
bookkeeping
Jill Kaskel
Carol Lieberman
photography
Abner Pedraza
contributors
Matthew Auerbach
Rebecca Baldridge
Meredith Burow
Denise Fleischman
Melanie Kopacz
Mike May
Callie Sharkey
M. Dennis Taylor
Y.A. Teitelbaum
Deborah Welky