WALDO - Alachua County Undersheriff Joel DeCoursey, Jr. and the City of Waldo Celebrated Read Across America on Saturday, March 4 at the local library. DeCoursey read “Circle Rolls” and participated in various STEM related activities with youngsters.

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FORT WHITE ‒ The rivers and springs are an integral part of life in North Central Florida. They are the life blood of communities, providing water for plants, wildlife and people. They are also an important part of the economy as Florida leads the southeast in farm income. Tourism brings over 131 million visitors to the state, with an economic impact of $98.8 billion. And North Central Florida brings many tourists to the pristine springs and rivers for camping, kayaking and cave diving.

But periodic droughts, groundwater pumping to satisfy ever increasing residential, agricultural, and industrial water demands, as well as groundwater pollution from urban and agricultural factors impact Florida's spring systems.

Our Santa Fe River (OSFR), is a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 as a grassroots educational organization to help raise awareness of the importance of the springs and aquifer. For the past 10 years the organization has sponsored the RiverFest song writing contest as a way to raise awareness of the rivers and fund projects to protect and preserve the rivers and springs. The contest is open to all songwriters, but the songs have to be original compositions about the Santa Fe River. This year there are 20 songwriters entering the contest. The top three songwriters, as chosen by a panel of judges, receive a cash prize.

The event will be held at Rum 138 in Fort White. Originally a canoe and kayak sales and rental business that offered trips down the river, Rum 138 has grown and diversified over the years, adding a stage for concerts, an art gallery, and a cafe. Rum 138 has also become the headquarters of the local Sierra Club and supporter of the OSFR.

The RiverFest event is a series of events to raise money for OSFR to fund programs, river clean ups and other events.

On Saturday March 18, 2023 the OSFR has organized a hike on the newly acquired ACT Little Awesome Springs Preserve along the Santa Fe River with guide Colette Jacono, Ph.D., a botanist and plant ecologist who has specialized in aquatic and wetland plants in Florida for over 20 years.

The following weekend on March 25, Jacono will lead another hike on the Santa Fe River through shady bottomlands protected in conservation under the Suwannee River Water Management District. The hikers will also negotiate a karst landscape, locally renowned for its unique geologic features, alligator nursery, and turkey population. Both hikes start at Rum 138, 2070 S.W. County Road 138 at 8:30 a.m. Shuttles to the hike areas will leave at 9 a.m. and cost a $25 donation to support the OSFR programs. Both hikes are limited to 25 persons. It is suggested to wear boots or hefty shoes, bring water in reusable water bottle, bug spray, and a sun hat.

Also on Saturday, March 25, from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Master Naturalist Lars Anderson will lead a guided springs paddle tour to visit the many and varied springs on the Santa Fe River from the Highway 27 boat ramp to the Hollingsworth Boat Ramp. Donation fee for this trip is $60.

On Sunday, March 26, the Riverfest song contest will be held at Rum 138 from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m. with an admission fee of $10. In addition to the song contest, other music will be provided before the show by Voices Rising, a 40-member community chorus, and after the show by the Luis Ortiz Jazz Band.

Other activities include a silent auction featuring over 60 items donated by area artists, businesses, and individuals. A variety of food will be available as well as beverages from local breweries, a pop-up t-shirt printer offering this year’s RiverFest t-shirts for sale, a real live mermaid to take photos with and a 50/50 raffle.

This year’s event is dedicated to the late Rhonda Long who previously served as the Riverfest coordinator. All proceeds from the various events will go toward programs to benefit and preserve the rivers.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Tuck Tucker was a musical artist of passion and talent. He toured for over 10 years playing dobro, electric and acoustic guitar with various bands such as Harmony Grits, Dancing Horse, Red & Murphy, and the nationally known Marshall Tucker Band. While he played a variety of stringed instruments, he was known as a dobro player extraordinaire. His talent graced the recordings and stages of many musicians, not only in Florida, but around the country. He played on over 150 recordings by various artists and released three albums of his own original music.

On March 4, musicians gathered at Rum 38 not only to remember Tucker, who had passed away in 2021, but to also raise money to help the widow he left behind.

James “Tuck” Tucker started his musical career in 1975, when he joined the national touring group Harmony Grits Band. Tucker was hired to replace the departing dobro player. At that time Harmony Grits was an all-acoustic Bluegrass band, but, in 1977 they crossed over to Outlaw country. That change doubled their touring dates and destinations to six days a week. In 1980 a record company approach them about a record deal, but after touring for three years straight with no down time for resting, the rigorous schedule took its toll on the band and they disbanded in January 1980.

Tucker immediately started looking for another band, and when a band he was acquainted with came to perform in his hometown, he grabbed his dobro and went to their show. He asked if he could sit in, and by the end of the evening he had been invited back for the next night. By the end of the second night, the band asked him to join them in Dahlonega, Ga. Tucker went on to perform, travel, and record with this group, Red & Murphy & Co. for the next five years.

It wasn’t long after he married his love, Edwoina, that Red and Murphy moved to Winchester, Va., and Tucker decided to stay in Florida. It was a hard decision for him, but he chose to put his musical career on the back burner to work a traditional day job to support his wife and child in McIntosh, Florida.

For the next 22 years he worked hard to keep his music alive. He played with many different groups such as Endless Highway, The Adobe Brothers, The Driftwoods, and Dale Crider to name a few. He also played on multiple CD projects with local Gainesville bands, as well as recording with the nationally known The Marshall Tucker Band.

Tucker continued to work a day job to support the family during these years, but after his son, Cory, left home Tucker returned to playing music full time, which included a year long stint in Nashville. Tucker found he couldn’t afford to live there and he returned to Florida where he continued to play, becoming a local legend.

On Dec. 23, 2021, Tucker passed away and the music stopped. Still, his musical talent was not forgotten by many musicians he had worked with.

A year later, John and Raven Smith, who had worked with Tucker in Harmony Grits, and were now the main players in Quartermoon, sought to create an annual musical event to honor Tucker and help raise money for his widow, Edwoina. Tucker had performed at Rum 138 several times, and owners Doug and Merrilee Jipson offered their venue for a concert, and the call went out to local musicians to play at the event. Eight groups offered to play for free to help, and the March 4, 2023 the event was held under cloudy skies to an audience that also included many of Tucker's fans.

Mike Boulware, another local music legend, opened the show followed by Barbara and Mike Johnson, Smiley Tunehead, Hannah Harber Winn and In The Moment band, with Quartermoon finishing the night in tribute to their friend and former bandmate. By the end of the night, over $1,000 had been raised for Tucker's family.

“We were really pleased with all the support from the musicians, Rum 138 and the audience that came to honor him,” said John Smith. “It was a day of great music, which we hope to make an annual event, bringing back some of the well-known musicians he worked with nationally and grow it to be a musical celebration.”

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ A local youth robotics team is headed to a statewide championship competition. The Swampbots Frogmen Robotics team, a member of the FIRST® LEGO® League, is a youth robotics league supported by the High Springs Parks & Recreation Department. FIRST® LEGO® League introduces youth to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on learning.

Recently, the Frogmen team, made up of nine boys and girls from the area, competed in the Northeast Florida Regional Championship, placing third overall, out of 40 teams. With the Frogmen’s third-place finish, the team has earned the right to compete in the upcoming Florida State Championship, March 31 and April 1, with the overall winner earning a bid to the World Championship in Houston, Texas.

In addition to their state championship appearance, The Frogmen have also been invited to compete against some of the best teams from around the world at the Long Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif., May 12-14. Only 80 teams were invited to participate in this event.

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