Alachua County Today

Fudge shop to open on High Springs corner

HIGH SPRINGS – Donnie and Shauna Lee Smith, owners of Vintage Fudge, will be opening their doors with a ceremonial ribbon cutting by the High Springs Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 11 a.m.  The celebration will include free samples of the tasty treats.

Located at 90 North Main Street at the corner of Main Street and 1^st Avenue, the new shop will bring a bit more sweetness to High Springs, offering more than a dozen types of fudge, sure to cure anyone’s sweet tooth.  The shop is expected to be open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.

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TEAM TUMBLEMANIA earns top spots at championship competition

Front L-R: Team members Hannah Tapia-Ruano, Austin Benkoczy and Allison Vargas. Middle L-R: Rachel Morrison, Emma Scott, Madison Weber and Kayley Halbrook. Back L-R: Katie Vaughn and Mary Jo McGrath

MADISON, Wis. – TEAM TUMBLEMANIA of High Springs brought home 12 Top Ten Trophies from the USTA National Trampoline & Tumbling Championships.  Over 2,200 athletes from throughout the United States competed in the individual events of Power Tumbling, Trampoline, Synchronized Trampoline and Double-Mini at the National Championships, held June 18-23 in Madison, Wis.

Individual highlights are as follows:

Allison Vargas (Newberry) NATIONAL CHAMPION! 1st Overall Sub-Advanced Trampoline & Double Mini;

Austin Benkoczy (Fort White) 4^th Overall Sub-Advanced Trampoline, 6^th Overall Novice Tumbling & Intermediate Double Mini;

Kayley Halbrook (High Springs) 1^st in flight & 2^nd Overall Advanced Double Mini, 2^nd in flight & 7^th Overall Advanced Trampoline;

Mary Jo McGrath (Fort White) 2^nd in flight & 5^th Overall Sub-Advanced Double Mini, 11^th Overall Advanced Trampoline;

Rachel Morrison (Fort White) 5^th in flight Novice Double Mini, 6^th in flight Novice Trampoline;

Emma Scott (High Springs) 4^th in flight Novice Tumbling, 5^th in flight Intermediate Double Mini;

Hannah Tapia-Ruano (High Springs) 1^st in flight & 5^th Overall Novice Trampoline, 6^th in flight Novice Double Mini;

Katie Vaughn (High Springs) 4^th in flight & 7^th Overall Intermediate Trampoline, 3^rd in flight & 8^th Overall Novice Tumbling;

Madison Weber (Alachua) 4^th in flight Advanced Trampoline, 5^th in flight Sub-Advanced Double Mini;

Mary Jo McGrath and Madison Weber 2^nd Overall Advanced Synchronized Trampoline.

Team coaches at the National Championships included head coach Marci Schneider and assistant coach Josh Gillen.

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Construction on Alachua Welcome Center to start

ALACHUA – Construction on the new Alachua Welcome Center, to be located in the former Alachua Police Department building on Main Street, could begin in as few as two weeks, according to Linda Chapman.

According to Chapman, the city hired BDI Construction to renovate the building over two years ago but could not get building permits authorized by the Alachua Chamber of Commerce.

City of Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper said BDI’s current price is $80,000 for the entire job, which he said the city hopes to negotiate down to around $50,000.

“We’re not happy with the prices we’ve got from the construction company,” Chapman said.  “We’re going to try to negotiate those down.  After that we’ll get our permits and we should be able to start working.”

According to Chapman, the city will pay the construction firm and be reimbursed by the Alachua County Tourist Development Council.

Coerper said members of the Alachua Chamber of Commerce met Wednesday, Aug. 15 in order to set a more concrete construction start time.

Chapman said the city has received free architectural and electrical planning work from local professionals, and she said once these plans and the building permits are prepared construction should start.

Coerper noted that he hopes more local businesses will offer in-kind donations in order to help the city construct the welcome center more efficiently.

“We’re looking for help from businesses,” Coerper said.  “We may need a few donations to help upgrade to welcome center affordably.  It all helps.”

“I think we’ll be able to start building in two weeks,” Chapman said. “We’re waiting for an electrical overlay plan,” referring to free electric planning donated by Leon Burgess.

“Once we have the electrical overlay and we have the permits, we should be able to start construction.”

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Herring honored by Turkey Creek Lions Club

  L-R: Club secretary AnnaMarie Martin; Bill, Debbie and BJ Herring and student awards chair Tony Stefanowicz

ALACHUA – William “BJ” Herring was recently named Student of the Quarter by Santa Fe High School and honored by the Turkey Creek Lions.

BJ and his parents were dinner guests at the Turkey Creek Lions Club meeting at Brown’s Country Buffet. He was presented a monetary gift for furthering his education and a Certificate of Achievement for fulfilling the four Lions’ Pillars: Community Service, Academic Performance, Citizenship and Behavior.

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