Category Archives: Festival

Video: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest (all of it) 2021-08-21

We livestreamed the Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest over facebook live and zoom. This is the zoom video, for those who want to see how the whole thing went.

[Musicians, others, and winners]
Musicians, others, and winners

Yep, this is the whole thing, from soundcheck to teardown. In between, headliner Little Perks in Paradise plays, three judges perform as a band, then nine finalists perform for the judges, the judges pick winners, and the First Prize winner, Sweet William Billy Ennis, sings again.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

Videos: Boomerang paddle race, mine too close to Okefenokee Swamp, Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2021-10-19

On his radio show Monday morning, Scott James and I talked about the WWALS Boomerang paddle race, coming up this Saturday, 9AM, October 23, 2021, at State Line Boat Ramp, aka Madison Highway Boat Ramp or Mozell Spells or GA 31 Ramp or CR 145 Bridge Launch. We’ll paddle downstream into Florida and back up into Georgia! Food, drink, and a silent auction. Fun for the whole family.

The overall winner wins a $100 First Prize. Others will win in many categories.

[Radio, WWALS Boomerang paddle race]
Radio, WWALS Boomerang paddle race

Tickets for this WWALS fundraiser are available online or at the event.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wwals-boomerang-paddle-race-2021-tickets-168646372841

Registration opens at 9AM, where you can say whether you want to paddle 1, 2, or 3 miles downstream, and the same back up.

Everything about the Boomerang is here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-10-23–boomerang/

Below are links to each of the video segments about the Boomerang on the radio, followed by a WWALS video playlist. Continue reading →

WWALS at Brooks County Skillet Festival 2021-10-16

Get some fresh-fried food at the Skillet Festival, and come by the WWALS booth, in Quitman, Georgia, this Saturday. Yes, we will have the raffle kayak, the $950 value Vibe Yellowfin 120. And what will NextEra be up to this year?

When: 9AM-5PM, Saturday, October 16, 2021

Where: Brooks County Courthouse, 100 Screven Street, Quitman, Georgia 31643

What: Brooks County Skillet Festival is an artisan craft fair, food festival and vintage market, all tied up in a pretty burlap bow.

Volunteer: You can help at the WWALS booth. Send us email to contact@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.

Event: facebook

Froggy toss was very popular, WWALS booth
WWALS at the Skillet Festival in 2018.

Continue reading →

Pictures: Hahira Honeybee 2021-10-02

First time we were a dignitary in the parade at the 40th Annual Hahira Honeybee Festival.

[Parade Float, WWALS Booth]
Parade Float, WWALS Booth

Here’s a video Gretchen took:

Continue reading →

WWALS at Hahira Honeybee Festival 2021-10-01-02

Join us at the 40th Annual Hahira Honeybee Festival, at the WWALS booth about water quality testing, water trails, paddle outings, holding polluters accountable, all to make sure that water in our area is swimmable, fishable, drinkable. Come help us spread the water word.

Volunteer: You can help at the WWALS booth; send us email to contact@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.
Do you want to parade with us Saturday, with our truck, trailer, and a boat? Need to be lined up by 10AM for the parade at noon.

When: 10AM-6PM, Friday, October 1, 2021
9AM-6PM, Saturday, October 2, 2021

Where: West Main Street, Hahira, Georgia

Theme: “Protecting our Youth Preserving our Future!” honoring the Georgia Sheriffs’ Boys Ranch located in Hahira Ga.

Event: facebook

Families, Gretchen making rain, Enviroscape
Photo: John S. Quarterman, of Gretchen Quarterman making rain on the Enviroscape for a family, Honeybee 2018. Thanks for the donation of the EnviroScape, Savannah Barry and Nature Coast Biological Station.

Hahira is in between the Little River and the Withlacoochee River. Continue reading →

First Prize, Sweet William Billy Ennis, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest –VDT 2021-08-23

Below there is WWALS video of the winning song, described by Amanda M. Usher, Valdosta Daily Times, August 23, 2021, By the Riverside: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest winners revealed,

VALDOSTA — Sweet William Billy Ennis of Palatka, Fla., is the first-prize winner of the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

[First Prize Winner Sweet William Billy Ennis]
First Prize Winner Sweet William Billy Ennis.
Top: receiving the prize from Judge J.J. Rolle, introduced again by M.C. “Big Country” Wes James WAAC FM to play again.
Bottom: Sweet William Billy Ennis and his band playing his winning song, “Flat Bottom Boats.”
Photos: Angela Duncan for WWALS.

The annual competition was sponsored by WWALS and took place Saturday Continue reading →

J.J. Rolle, singer, actor, Judge at Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest –VDT 2021-08-29

Amanda M. Usher, The Valdosta Daily Times, 29 August 2021, Soul Man: Rolle makes his mark singing, acting,

John Jeffery ‘J.J.’ Rolle is a performer and judge at the recent Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest. Rolle has been a musician for decades.

VALDOSTA — “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages … put your hands together for Valdosta’s very own, J.J. Rolle,” emcee Wes James called out at the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

[J.J. Rolle: judge and performer; Photo: Angela Duncan]
J.J. Rolle: judge and performer; Photo: Angela Duncan

John Jeffery “J.J.” Rolle, longtime entertainer and one of three judges at the contest held last week, strummed an upbeat tempo to the tune of “Blackwater” by the Doobie Brothers.

Though the guitar was Rolle’s choice of instrument, he doesn’t consider himself a guitarist.

“I play enough to write songs and accompany myself while singing,” he said. “I do consider myself a singer. I guess my voice would be my instrument.”

There’s more about J.J.’s background in the article, singing and acting.

The article continues: Continue reading →

O’Brien man places in songwriting contest –Lake City Reporter 2021-08-24

Staff Report, Lake City Reporter, August 24, 2021, “O’Brien man places in songwriting contest: Wingate one of nine finalists from across the southeast.” [See also Valdosta Today.]

VALDOSTA — Chosen from a record number of finalists, an O’Brien man was one of three winners named Saturday night at the fourth annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

Out of the nine finalists that competed at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts’ Art Park, O’Brien’s KJ Wingate won for the best song from inside the Suwannee River basin. Wingate won a $50 prize from the WWALS Watershed Coalition for his folk/country song, “The Hymn of Convict Spring.”

[Lake City Reporter, KJ Wingate, Rachel Grubb]
Lake City Reporter, KJ Wingate, Rachel Grubb
Finalists that competed in the fourth annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting contest included O’Brien’s KJ Wingate (from left), Katherine Ball, David Rodock, Sweet William Billy Ennis, Jimi Davies and his brother, Kathy Lou Gilman and Rachel Hillman. Not pictured are Brandon Fox and Lake City’s Rachel Grubb, who could not attend. Angela Duncan Courtesy of WWALS.

Other winners Saturday included Continue reading →

Winners: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021-08-21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hahira, GA, August 23, 2021 — Chosen by three judges from a record number of Finalists from Atlanta to Palatka, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) is pleased to announce the winners of the Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest.

[All winners]
All winners.
L-R: KJ Wingate, Katherine Ball, David Rodock, Sweet William Billy Ennis, Jimi Davies and his brother, Kathy Lou Gilman, Rachel Hillman.
Photo: Angela Duncan for WWALS.

The winner of Continue reading →

Livestreams: The Fourth Annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2021

Tickets are on sale now, $10 online; they will be $12 at the door.
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

VIP tables seating six in front of the stage are $150; inquire to song@suwanneeriverkeeper.org.

The Finals will be a fun festival for the whole family, Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Turner Center Art Park, 605 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia, 31601.

We are taking every pandemic precaution recommended by the CDC and local doctors.

We ask you to help by wearing your mask when closer than six feet to anybody not in your party. And please stay home if you are sick in any way.

If you want to watch and listen without physically going there, we offer two livestreams.

But please buy a ticket: it’s a fundraiser.

[Banner]
Banner

All about the Contest is here:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-08-21–songwriting/

About WWALS: Continue reading →