Category Archives: Festival

Lower Suwannee Art & Nature Festival, Suwannee, FL 2025-03-08

We just heard about this one today. Since WWALS already has a booth at a big festival this weekend, it’s difficult to do another one.

But if you can get to Suwannee, Florida, this Saturday, please do head for Glen Dyals Park, 21354 SE Hwy 349, Suwannee, FL 32692.

If you’re a WWALS member, we can probably supply you with some WWALS materials.

[Lower Suwannee Art & Nature Festival 2025-03-08, Glen Dyals Park, Suwannee, Florida]
Lower Suwannee Art & Nature Festival 2025-03-08, Glen Dyals Park, Suwannee, Florida

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1484291172239666 Continue reading

Azalea Festival, One Mile Branch, Drexel Park, Valdosta, GA 2025-03-08

Come help WWALS celebrate spring with 30,000 of our south Georgia and north Florida friends.

When: 9 AM-6 PM, Saturday, March 8, 2025
9 AM-5 PM, Sunday, March 9, 2025

Put In: Drexel Park, 1401 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, GA, 31601

GPS: 30.846771, -83.285066

[Azalea Festival, One Mile Branch, Drexel Park, Valdosta, GA 2025-03-08-9]
Azalea Festival, One Mile Branch, Drexel Park, Valdosta, GA 2025-03-08-9

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On The Spotlight Show, Talk92.1 FM: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, WWALS River Revue, and Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2025-03-06

Join us on The Spotlight Show on talk921.com at 6 PM, Thursday, March 6, 2025.
https://talk921.com

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and “Diamond” Jim Halter will talk about

[Mayor and Chairman's Paddle, WWALS River Revue, etc. on The Spotlight Show, Talk921.com, Thursday, March 6, 2025, 6-7 PM]
Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, WWALS River Revue, etc. on The Spotlight Show, Talk921.com, Thursday, March 6, 2025, 6-7 PM

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1164828191815898

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Food and drink, speakers and song: WWALS River Revue 2025

Hahira, Georgia, February 19, 2025 — Back again on the first Saturday in September, it’s the WWALS River Revue, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. Featuring food and drink, speakers and new songs about waterways in the Suwannee River Basin. Plus a silent auction and plaques and prizes for the songwriting winners.

[WWALS River Revue 2025 logo]
WWALS River Revue 2025 logo

WWALS President Sara Jay Jones said, “it will be even more fun this year!”

There will be food and drink while you listen to speakers about the Suwannee River Basin.

You can bid on items in the silent auction.

Tickets are $65 each.
https://app.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2025

For how to sponsor or provide an item for the silent auction, follow the QRcode or go to wwals.net and scroll down to WWALS River Revue.

WWALS Board member Scotti Jay Jones said, “Don’t forget the music!”

A headliner will play, followed by finalists in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. Song submissions will open April First (no fooling). Three judges will decide who wins in several categories of songs about waterways in the Basin or Estuary.

Organizing Committee member Janet Martin said, “Maybe you’d like to join the organizing committee!”

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Pictures: WWALS at Hahira Pride 2024-06-01

Thanks to Rindy and Jo for organizing the WWALS booth at South Georgia Pride, art of Music and Art on Main, in Hahira, Georgia.

[WWALS Booth, Pride Festival, Hahira, Georgia, June 1, 2024]
WWALS Booth, Pride Festival, Hahira, Georgia, June 1, 2024

Thanks to Margaret Stewart for helping.

This is on the WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail. Hahira is about in the middle between Folsom Bridge on the Little River to the west and Hagan Bridge on the Withlacoochee River to the east, around 8 miles either way.

For more WWALS outings and events, see:
https://wwals.net/outings Continue reading

Thatcher Keeps the Music Coming –The Lookout Mountain Mirror 2024-09-07

Ferris Robinson, The Lookout Mountain Mirror, December 2024, Pages 18-19, Thatcher Keeps the Music Coming,

Lookout Mountain native and longtime Signal Mountain resident Robert Thatcher has always loved writing, poetry in particular. Coming from a very musical family, he probably learned to play the guitar before he learned to ride a bike. Those were always two separate activities, and Robert wrote poem after poem in various notebooks and on scrap sheets of paper and whatever was handy when the words came to him. And he has played guitar for a lifetime, strumming other folks’ songs.

[Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown profiled in hometown paper, After winning prize in Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest]
Robert Thatcher and Tom Brown profiled in hometown paper, After winning prize in Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

His uncle is the late legendary Fletcher Bright of The Dismembered Tennesseans fame, and his cousin is Frank Bright, a great musician and songwriter. Both encouraged Robert’s music, but Frank planted the seed that Robert might want to try writing some tunes on his own, something that simmered for a while on the back burner.

But then things changed when he went to college. Continue reading

WWALS Day of Giving 2024 #GAGIVES

You don’t have to be in Georgia, and you don’t have to wait until Tuesday, to donate to this fundraiser to support WWALS:
https://www.gagives.org/story/Wwals-Gagives2024

[Day of Giving 2024: Banks Lake, Alapaha River Rise, Juneteenth, Festivals, Chainsaw Cleanups, Sewage, Water Quality, Okefenokee Swamp]
Day of Giving 2024: Banks Lake, Alapaha River Rise, Juneteenth, Festivals, Chainsaw Cleanups, Sewage, Water Quality, Okefenokee Swamp

WWALS Mission

WWALS advocates for conservation and stewardship of the surface waters and groundwater of the Suwannee River Basin and Estuary, in south Georgia and north Florida, among them the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, Santa Fe, and Suwannee River watersheds, through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Advocacy

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Pictures: Alapaha Station Celebration 2024-11-09

Back at the first festival WWALS ever attended, it was fun. Thanks Jo Ford, Rindy Kennedy, Heather Brasell, and Gretchen Quarterman for helping.

[Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen]
Alapaha Station Celebration, Alapaha, GA 2024-11-09 Thanks, Rindy, Jo, Heather, and Gretchen

Rindy and Jo moved quite a few kayak raffle tickets, and one small boy insisted on getting one while Heather and I were packing up at the end of the day. That’s only $10 for one or $50 for six tickets. It’s a slightly used Skimmer 128 Hurricane kayak, which lists new for $1,399. The drawing is December 15, so get your tickets now. Continue reading

WWALS Booth at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2024-10-19

It was busy and fun, one of the few festivals that did not cancel after Hurricane Helene: the Brooks County Skillet Festival in Quitman, Georgia, on Okapilco Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River.

[WWALS Booth at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2024-10-19 Praying Mantis. Stop the Mine (Okefenokee).]
WWALS Booth at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2024-10-19 Praying Mantis. Stop the Mine (Okefenokee).

Featuring Gretchen’s Praying Mantis.

Thanks to Michael Bachrach and Gee Edwards for helping.

Honorable Mention to Cindy Vedas for attempting to get there.

Special Award to Elleanor Williams for being the new poster child for Stop the Mine too close to the Okefenokee Swamp.
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

For more events and outings, see:
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Videos: Rachel Grubb, Lake City, FL, First Prize, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024-09-07

Back again after several years, Rachel Grubb came from Lake City, Florida, with her song, Cruising Down the Suwannee, and won not only Best Americana Indie-Folk Song, but also First Prize, in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2024.

She got plaques for both, and a $300 check for First Prize.

[Rachel Grubb, Lake City, FL, 2024-09-07, Best Americana Indie-Folk Song, First Prize: Cruising Down the Suwannee, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest]
Rachel Grubb, Lake City, FL, 2024-09-07, Best Americana Indie-Folk Song, First Prize: Cruising Down the Suwannee, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Here are videos of her song and her awards:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QwHgcxLdwOzUQNJDAj4zEi3&si=S6_kNrttvtPm5nd3 Continue reading