Brian: 0:11

All right. Well, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast. I'm Brian.

Shawna: 0:14

And I'm Shauna.

Brian: 0:15

And today we are sitting right here at this now. We're outside sitting. It's a little warm. But hey, we are at Waldo's Secret Garden with the owner, Charlotte. Charlotte, thank you for joining us on the podcast.

Charlotte: 0:27

Oh my God. Thank you guys so much for being here. I hope you enjoy it. I figured I'd just immerse you in the heat. Exactly. But it feels good.

Shawna: 0:34

It's Waldo's Secret Sauna.

Brian: 0:36

Waldo's Secret Sauna. I like that.

Shawna: 0:38

Let's start a whole new business model here.

Brian: 0:41

Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, Charlotte, can you take about 30 seconds to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Charlotte: 0:45

Okay, so I grew up in Vero Beach. I left for a little bit, went to Gainesville, came home, and then I ended up graduating from UCF in digital media. And at that point, uh, we were already in the event venue business here at Waldo's Secret Garden, my mom and I. So everything that I learned at college was really helpful because that was like when social media started blowing up and worked out very well. And then I don't know, I just like blanked and now I'm here.

Shawna: 1:14

That's perfect. That's how I want to tell my life story. Here I am. Let's move on.

Brian: 1:21

So you said you were in digital, like digital marketing, like what like uh digital media and web design. Okay, nice. That's my background. That's what I'm saying. Oh, okay, awesome.

Charlotte: 1:30

But we um we had a friend's wedding here in 2012, I think, or 2009, something like that. And then we just started doing it. I mean, for like dirt cheap too. Like thinking back on the prices, we had full weddings for twelve hundred dollars. What? And we we thought it was great. I mean, because yeah, you're like, what else are we gonna do? Yeah, we're like wonderful.

Shawna: 1:51

Well, you gotta start somewhere, you know.

Charlotte: 1:53

Yeah, and we didn't know really what we were doing, which is most like usually how these kind of farms start out, pretty much. But yeah, it's grown into such a success. And actually, my mom passed four years ago, so I've gotten more control of everything and owner now. My father's like gotten a little older, so my brother and I just helped keep the property up. Gotcha.

Shawna: 2:12

Yeah, also it's really a family business, yeah.

Brian: 2:15

Absolutely. Right now, where are we sitting right now? Because I mean, this is such a cool area that looks like an like an old like kitchen kind of area, and we're outside in this shelter area.

Charlotte: 2:24

Yeah, so this is actually I'm trying to um describe it for the listeners who've been to McKee. So Waldo Sexton built this entire property and he built the driftwood, ocean grill, McKee. This is um slightly a replica. This is all an outdoor Spanish kitchen, and these tables are twins to that giant hall of giants table. Came from somewhere else, but we like to call them like sister tables. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so they're both about 20 feet long, and that's why it's perfect family dining style, like just really lovely.

Brian: 2:55

And there's like this old chandelier that's hanging above us that isn't.

Charlotte: 3:00

Yes, we have raw iron everywhere, everything's original, like we haven't updated anything.

Brian: 3:06

For anybody that's listening that's never been to Waldo Secret Garden. How would you describe the vibe here?

Charlotte: 3:13

I would describe the vibe as just like a tropical oasis. I like to think that the Driftwood and McKee had a baby.

Brian: 3:23

I like that.

Charlotte: 3:24

I love that, right? Because there's like a replica of the driftwood here, and we've got all of these starter plants that they had with McKee and still have there. Of course, they're like far more manicured. Yeah, I would say that.

Shawna: 3:35

I love that. I love that whole idea. And by the way, I like how wild the plants are here because thank you. I really do weird insecurity for me because we yeah. Well, I know you mentioned Linda from Coconut Casita. We love her tropical coconut casita, rinse your Airbnb. Yeah, get there. Even if you live in Vero, you should go there, I think. That's how her, you know, we call it a tropical jungle. I think she calls it that too. But it's like plants aren't supposed to be manicured, they're supposed to be. Yeah, you're right. This is Florida. Yeah, you know, absolutely. And it it's like you walk in and you're just like, I don't know, the possibilities and the beauty and the oh, I just love it. It feels so awesome back here. Thank you. I love it. Don't be insecure.

Charlotte: 4:19

Okay, thank you. Yeah, but this is where we have, this is where the weddings and all the events take place. So we have like bridal showers, weddings, celebrations of life. We've gotten into art festivals. We have a huge art festival in February. Yeah, about 3,000 people that have come.

Shawna: 4:35

I mean, this is sort of like a boring question, probably, but how do you park 3,000 people?

Charlotte: 4:40

Very carefully.

Shawna: 4:41

Yeah.

Charlotte: 4:42

Um we hire the Sheriff's Explorers team, which they are amazing. So we work with the county and they come in and they're they take care of all the parking from the road and genius. Yes.

Shawna: 4:54

It seems like you were really made to do something like this, though, because you're so like go with the flow and like, okay, we'll just work it out.

Charlotte: 5:01

Like, yeah, like I know it can be fixed. And you know, my boyfriend's like a lawyer, so I'm always like, is this allowed? So it's really I've got good people around me that I can talk to that makes me chill.

Shawna: 5:13

That's yeah, that makes sense, though. That's good to have someone like that on your side walking yourself into a lot of trouble.

Brian: 5:19

Can you tell us a little bit about Walden Sexton? Like what kind of mando Sexton? Waldo, what I said, Walden. Waldo, yeah. Waldo Sexton. Is he? I'm new, I'm new. But yeah, tell us a little bit about him. Like, what's his story?

Charlotte: 7:26

Yeah, I mean, he was truly a visionary. So he was my great-grandfather. He came from Indiana. I think he was selling agriculture supplies. I really can't remember so, but I he just saw a huge opportunity here. There was nothing here, and he came in full force and you know, took oxen and paved A1A and created the first real estate companies and developed the beach and built very good lasting structures.

Shawna: 7:53

So was he already wealthy when he started these projects or did he just start little?

Charlotte: 7:58

Oh, I think he just started little and he bought into citrus and cow cows, like he owned all of 48th and from here to uh he owned a lot of land, but often traded for you know wrought iron or something during that time. Wow, that is so interesting. Yeah, wow. So I think from what I understand, he would get rich and like possibly lose a get rich, you know, little by little. As visionaries do, right? Yeah.

Shawna: 8:21

When did you all realize that this could be more than a home?

Charlotte: 8:24

I think the amount of compliments and just like everyone was like, wow, what is this place that we were receiving from smaller events, like the wedding, and um we had a garden fest. So it was just kind of trial and error, it was just having people over, certainly not knowing what we were doing whatsoever. Yeah. And and we know it's amazing, we know it's super cool. I mean, I don't think anybody will ever find anything like this again.

Brian: 8:50

No, this is your very unique.

Shawna: 8:52

And I appreciate you guys doing what you've done because you know, sometimes you find a place and it's so special and so amazing, but people don't want to share it. And I get that impulse. Like, if you have something like, have you been to Bok Tower? Yes, I love Bok Tower. Isn't it amazing? So, you know, one guy put all that together, built all of that, and he wanted the people of the world to be able to experience it. So he opened it up and it's a nonprofit now. But like he could have kept that all for himself, and same with you. You could have kept this all just for your family.

Charlotte: 9:22

Absolutely. I know. All that like I have to kind of tone it down with my ideas, like trying not to pimp out my family, you know, and not be like, but I just want people to see it, and it makes me so happy. And a lot of the property is not because it was abandoned in the back, it's doesn't it's not in great shape. People do not mind, they like seeing history. That's so true. That's so true. Yeah, so where you might think, like, oh, this like yeah, I had to put that away and just be like, people don't mind that stuff, they want to see history in progress.

Brian: 9:52

I mean, I love stepping into a place like this because it is very unique, and that's part of the character, is that it's not all perfect. Like that, you kind of we've kind of lost this, you know. As we get ready to wrap up this episode, I think this is the perfect question, not to brag on myself. I shouldn't have said that, but and now it's in there. I would love to know if Waldo could see what the garden has become today. What do you think he'd say?

Charlotte: 10:17

Oh my god, he would be so happy. I feel like I might be reincarnated him because I'm just like plowing forward, trying to recreate what he did in the 20s. So I think he'd be very happy.

Brian: 10:28

I love that. I love that. Well, that's exciting. Well, I'm excited to get into part two where we're gonna talk about behind the scenes and what it's like to run the Waldo Secret Garden and your antique barn as well, right? So we're gonna get into that in part two.

Shawna: 10:42

So with that, catch you next time, neighbor.