Welcome to the April issue of Haymarket-Gainesville Lifestyle Magazine!

April is World Autism Awareness Month. On the second, people around the globe celebrate World Autism Awareness Day and, on the 18th, many of us, including me, celebrate Adult Autism Awareness Day. 

My 32-year-old son has autism and I think, if he were still in school, he’d love the cooking classes Cooking with Autism offers (see page 26). He’s never been enamored with horses but, when I told him about Rainbow Therapeutic Riding (on page 10) and the strides their equine therapy is making in the lives of autistic kids, he was thrilled. (Although he also added, “You’re not going to make me get on a horse, right?”) 

I hope you enjoy both these features and all those that appear in this issue. Thank you to all our advertisers for their continued support and to you, too, for reading and writing in with story suggestions. We appreciate you!

P.S. Our very own local artist, Joe Baker of Artfully Joe, is being featured in Autism Speaks newsletters this month! Please pay a visit to his site and support his work at https://artfully-joe.myshopify.com/ Thank you!