Tag Archives: Bret Wagenhorst

Spaces are filling up for the Ninth Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race

Update 2021-04-25: BIG Little River Paddle Race is cancelled due to weather.

Postponed due to weather to 2PM, Sunday, April 25, 2021: BIG Little River Paddle Race.

Adel, Georgia, April 19, 2021 — Southwell Medical of Tifton and Adel has become a sponsor of the annual WWALS and FORB race and leisurely paddle three miles down the scenic blackwater Little River in Reed Bingham State Park between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia.

“Spaces are going fast, with only four heats of ten people, so sign up soon!” said event mastermind Bret Wagenhorst, an eye doctor in Tifton, GA, and a charter board member of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS). “First Prize is $100, and another $200 if the winner beats the record.”

All tickets are $30 online in advance, and you can also rent a boat online from the park and pick it up at the start at Red Roberts Landing. For tickets, boats, and all event details, including sponsor opportunities, see:
https://wwals.net/pictures/2021-04-24–blrpr/

Photo: Phil Hubbard, of Dan Phillips placing second in BLRPR 2018.
Photo: Phil Hubbard, of Dan Phillips placing second in BLRPR 2018.

You could win in any of a dozen categories, or up to $300 if you Continue reading →

Fun race or paddle for the whole family: the Ninth Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race

Update 2021-04-25: BIG Little River Paddle Race is cancelled due to weather.

Postponed due to weather to 2PM, Sunday, April 25, 2021.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)

Adel, Georgia, March 22, 2021 — You could win in any of a dozen categories, or up to $300 if you beat the previous winning record time. But you are not required to race: it’s a nice spring paddle anyway! On Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia, it’s the ninth annual BIG Little River Paddle Race. There will be lunch and a kayak raffle. You can just paddle along this scenic three-mile stretch of tea-colored river on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail among cypress trees, turtles, birds, and yes, alligators. (Don’t pet the alligators and they aren’t likely to bother you.) This race also has fierce competitors, with one past winner finishing in barely more than half an hour.

BLRPR mastermind Bret Wagenhorst, an eye doctor in Tifton, GA, and a charter board member of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS), said, “After having to cancel last year’s event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we found a way this year, with staggered heats and limited boats, to try to keep the event within Covid guidelines for outdoor activities. This is a great opportunity to learn about the joys of paddling canoes and kayaks, to see the natural beauty of our region’s blackwater rivers, and to have fun while getting some outdoor exercise with family and friends.”

There are several categories in which you could win, from fastest paddler, one and two person canoe (male and female), solo or tandem kayak (male and female), youngest paddler, oldest paddler, paddler from furthest away, and slowest paddler.

[Tandem female canoe, orange (BW)]
Photo: Bret Wagenhorst, of 2019 First female tandem kayak: Megan Robinson & Lily Robinson, of Tifton, GA.

Dianne Walters, president of Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), said, “This is a great community event, with volunteers from all around helping paddlers from everywhere.”

Wagenhorst added, “in 2019, the first woman across the finish in a solo kayak was Nikki York, of Adel, GA. And for the first time, a canoe finished first to win the $100 cash prize. It was a two-person canoe of gentlemen from Gray, GA: Continue reading →

Pictures: Berrien Beach Boat Ramp Cleanup 2020-09-12

Nine people collected 304 pounds of trash at Berrien Beach Boat Ramp in Berrien County, Georgia, and at Berrien Beach in Lanier County, downstream across the river.

[Boat Ramp, Berrien Beach, bags of trash, bottles]
Boat Ramp, Berrien Beach, bags of trash, bottles

We got a picture with banners early before anybody left, and more later, with the trash and the beautiful Alapaha River. See also the real trash problem, the companies that make it.

[Before]
Before
Photo: John S. Quarterman, L-r: Dan Phillips, Dylan Phillips, Bret Wagenhorst, Bobby McKenzie, Shirley Kokidko, Cindy Leighton, Becky Garber, Donald Roberson.

WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst handed out t-shirts from the Georgia statewide Rivers Alive program, from our last cleanup near this location, Continue reading →

Winners: Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2020-08-22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Winners and excellent music from the judges and headliner, too, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest

Hahira, GA, August 24, 2020 — Everyone went away happy. The finalists got prizes, and the audience was impressed with the song each judge played, and with the headliner. The audience was impressed that one contestant, who couldn’t come due to the virus pandemic, was projected on the bandstand via zoom anyway.

[Winners*: Brian Barker* via zoom, accepting for, Scott Perkins*, Laura D'Alisera, Kathy Lou Gilman*, John S. Quarterman, Billy Ennis*, Ronni Dillon (not present)]
Winners*: Brian Barker via zoom*, accepting for him, Scott Perkins*, Laura D’Alisera, Kathy Lou Gilman*, John S. Quarterman, Sweet William Billy Ennis*, Ronni Dillon (not present)

The winners are: Continue reading →

Bird, rock, plant, platform: Within These WWALS #7 2020-06-20

You’ve probably seen all these things before. Well, maybe not the last one.

So you can answer Within These WWALS #7, using this form:
https://forms.gle/vMW4f37MNBSv9mii7

[Flying, Porous, Carnivorous, Sleeping]
Flying, Porous, Carnivorous, Sleeping

Please answer by midnight at the end of Saturday, July 11, 2020.

Please identify (by scientific or common name) each of the items highlighted in a set of photos and then come up with the name of the WWALS waterway where all the photos were taken.

The first correct set of answers wins a packet of WWALS photo notecards from that watershed, sent via postal mail from WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst.

There’s also a facebook event this time, but remember to answer in the google form.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

WWALS Trivia Online Tuesday, 2020-06-02

It was fun last time, so let’s do it again: WWALS Trivia Online Tuesday. Follow the above link for the zoom parameters to join us 7PM Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

Our host, new WWALS board member Shelby Miller, will lead us through questions about rivers, plants, animals and minerals.

[Shelby Miller to draw]
Shelby Miller to draw

When: 7 PM, Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Where: Online.

Event: facebook

WWALS Advisor Joe LaForest will be behind the scenes keeping everything running.

Most of the questions came from charter board member Bret Wagenhorst.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

Winner: Raptor, flower, paddling organization, tree base: Within These WWALS #6 2020-05-16

The winner of Within These WWALS #6 is…

Emmy Kidder.

She wins a packet of WWALS photo notecards from that watershed, sent via postal mail from WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst.

Swamps and Springs WWALS picture notecards

Here are the answers to Within These WWALS #6.

Name this native raptor that can dive into water and catch live fish, has white under its wings making it easier to identify from below, and builds its nests atop trees over bodies of water, like this one shown atop a cypress at dusk.

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus.

We paddle by this nest most every time on our Banks Lake Full Moon paddles. The next one is coming up Continue reading →

Winner: Butterfly, bridge, pointy, flower, what river? Within These WWALS #5 2020-05-09

The winner of Within These WWALS #5 is…

Sara Jones.

She gets a packet of Withlacoochee and Little River picture notecards from the WWALS photo notecards, sent via postal mail from WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst.

WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River picture notecards

Lots people who were on #PaddleGA2019 knew Spook Bridge, but apparently the plant spooked them. Continue reading →

WWALS Trivia Online 2020-05-19

Update 2020-05-18: facebook event.

Tuesday at 7PM, May 19, 2020, you can join new WWALS board member Shelby Miller for a half hour of fun online, as she conducts the first-ever WWALS Trivia Online!

Shelby will introduce each multiple-choice question about rivers, shoals, and other things in the WWALS Watersheds, which include the entire Suwannee River Basin. You get 20 seconds to answer. Fastest right answer wins that question.

[Yay winner!]
Photo: John S. Quarterman, Yay winner! Shelby Miller drawing the winning WWALS kayak raffle ticket, at Griffis Fish Camp, Suwannee River 2019-12-07

Follow this link to Register for WWALS Trivia Online.

Yes, this is different from Continue reading →

Raptor, flower, paddling organization, tree base: Within These WWALS #6

Update 2020-05-30: The winner.

Many of you saw many of these things just a few days ago, or saw pictures of them taken by those who were there.

So you can answer Within These WWALS #6, using this form:

https://forms.gle/BQgTiRRThpBgWLZN8

[Bird, flower, org, base]
Bird, flower, org, base

Please answer by midnight at the end of Saturday, May 16, 2020.

Please identify (by scientific or common name) each of the items highlighted in a set of photos and then come up with the name of the WWALS waterway where all the photos were taken. The first correct set of answers wins a packet of WWALS photo notecards from that watershed, sent via postal mail from WWALS charter board member Bret Wagenhorst.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!