Tag Archives: Bret Wagenhorst

Thanks, Sponsors of Songwriting Contest!

Especially thanks to top tier sponsor Georgia Beer Company, and to all the rest, who are listed on this poster for the Contest this Saturday, 1-5 PM, at The Salty Snapper in Valdosta.

Tickets are still $10 online or $12 at the door. Seven headliners and finalists will play for three judges and you, with radio personality Chris Beckham as Master of Ceremonies, with prizes awarded, silent auction, kayak raffle, and food and drink.

Thanks Sponsors

Pre-sales will sit closer to the stage. The tables of eight right in front of the stage are sold out, but individual tickets are still available.

Everything else about the Contest is here: Continue reading →

Before the day 1 route of Paddle Georgia 2019-06-14

Down at the Little River Confluence, Troupville Boat Ramp, and downstream to Spook Bridge. Before #PaddleGA2019.

Downstream Withlacoochee River, 10:48:15, 30.8469550, -83.3478100

While WWALS was welcoming Paddle Georgia boats and boaters, Emma Wheeler of WCTV came to visit, greeted by Shirley Kokidko of WWALS. Continue reading →

WWALS Advisory Committee 2019-05-11

On May 11, we met to organize the WWALS Advisory Committee. Agriculture, Forestry, and Water were big topics. Thanks to Joe West, Assistant Dean of the Campus at the University of Georgia, Tifton, for many good suggestions of Committee members, and the use of his office for the meeting.

Photo: John S. Quarterman, of Advisory Committee Chair Dave Hetzel, WWALS Board Delegate Bret Wagenhorst, Committee Member UGA Tifton Asst. Dean Joe West, Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman (hat).

We will meet there again on Thursday, June 13, 2019. If you would like to be a WWALS Advisor, helping us out with advocacy, events, legislation, and yes, undraising, let us know. See our Vision, Mission, Goals, Issues, Outings and Events, and Fundraising. Don’t worry: nobody has to try to do all that. Advisors can specialize.

Here Joe West looks out of his office window at the Centennial Garden, which was dedicated one week before, at his suggestion. Continue reading →

Winners, BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019-04-27

For Immediate Release

Tifton, Georgia, May 1, 2019 — “This was the first year a canoe finished first to win the $100 cash prize,” said Bret Wagenhorst, main organizer of the BIG Little River Paddle Race, last Saturday, April 27, at Reed Bingham State Park. “It was a two-person canoe of gentlemen from Gray, GA: Wayne Hale and Terry Donahue.”

Tandem male canoe, green (BW)
Photo: Bret Wagenhorst, of Wayne Hale and Terry Donahue winning the BIG Little River Paddle Race. They won in the male tandem canoe category last year, and they won overall this year.

Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman said, “Thanks to the paddle race sponsors, Dr. Bret Wagenhorst, Georgia Beer Company, and Cook Medical Center.”

Dr. Wagenhorst added, “Thanks to all the paddlers from across Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, as far away as Mexico, who came out on a glorious south GA spring day to help raise money for the WWALS Watershed Coalition and the Friends of Reed Bingham State Park group by paddling a scenic and winding stretch of the Little River. Lots of fun in the sun for friends and families.”

Below the bridge (BW)

First woman across the finish in a solo kayak was Continue reading →

Tomorrow! BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019-04-27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, Georgia, April 26, 2019 — We’ll get a nice cool spring morning start Saturday, as paddlers from Georgia and Florida race (or saunter) down the tea-colored Little River through Reed Bingham State Park, in a friends and family fun event.

“Thanks to Georgia Beer Company for being a sponsor of this seventh annual BIG Little River Paddle Race!” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.

Photo: Bret Wagenhorst, of BLRPR 2018.

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.”

BLRPR mastermind, Tifton eye doctor Bret Wagenhorst, said, “Some come to try for the $100 cash prize for first boat to cross the finish in around 35-40 minutes. Others come to do a leisurely 1-2 hr paddle with friends or family and take in the incredible subtropical scenery. Some do it to support the Friends of Reed Bingham group and the WWALS Watershed Coalition.”

Many others win in categories: Continue reading →

The limpkin likes the BIG Little River Paddle Race

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tifton, Georgia, April 16, 2019 — Bret Wagenhorst calls this limpkin, “One of the many local spectators along the upcoming BIG Little River PADDLE RACE on Saturday, April 27 at Reed Bingham State Park. Come experience the beauty of a south GA blackwater river. Come have fun with family and friends. Come see if you can paddle fast enough to win the $100 to the first boat across the finish line. Come help support our region’s state park and the WWALS Watershed Coalition.”

Photo: Bret Wagenhorst

The event is entirely within Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia, on the Little River in Cook and Colquitt Counties.

Dianne Walters, president of Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB), said, Continue reading →

Seventh Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race 2019-04-27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (PDF)

One month before BIG Little River Paddle Race

Hahira, Georgia, March 27, 2019 — It’s one month until the Seventh Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race (BLRPR) in Reed Bingham State Park, between Adel and Moultrie, Georgia. You can just paddle along this scenic stretch of tea-colored river on the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail among cypress, turtles, birds, and yes, alligators. (Don’t pet them and they won’t bother you.) This three-mile race also has fierce competitors, with last year’s winner finishing in barely more than half an hour. Plus lunch, a silent auction, and a kayak raffle, at this family fun sporting event in support of two local nonprofits.

Photo: Bret Wagenhorst, of paddlers in BLRPR 2018

BLRPR mastermind Bret Wagenhorst, an eye doctor in Tifton, GA, and a charter board member of WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS), said, “You can win in any of a dozen categories: one- or two-person canoe or kayak, male or female or mixed, as well as oldest, youngest, and from farthest away.”

Continue reading →

Raffle Kayak Delivery 2018-12-13

She was waiting by the phone when we called her from the Suwannee River, and we delivered the raffle kayak to Sebrina Mack of Berrien County, Georgia, a few days later.

Thanks to all who donated to get raffle tickets: it helps all our advocacy and stewardship. Continue reading →

And the WWALS kayak raffle winner is…. 2018-12-09

In the middle of our Okefenokee Campout and Paddle, we stopped at Griffis Fish Camp, with the Suwannee River behind us, to pick the long awaited winner of the fall 2018 WWALS kayak raffle, who is….

Sebrina Mack, of Nashville, Georgia!

Sebrina Mack wins a Sundolphin Trek 10 Kayak, contributed by WWALS board member Bret Wagenhorst at the Berrien County Harvest Festival, in Nashville, Georgia.

We thank everyone who got a raffle ticket. All the proceeds go to supporting the activities and advocacy of WWALS Watershed Coalition.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

7th Annual BIG Little River Paddle Race, silent auction, raffle 2019-04-27

You could win in any of a dozen categories. But you are not required to race: it’s a nice spring paddle anyway!

With the silent auction afterwards and a kayak raffle: it’s the seventh annual BIG Little River Paddle Race, a fundraiser for WWALS and Friends of Reed Bingham State Park (FORB).