HIGH SPRINGS – Classic cars conjuring up images of the 1950s filled the lot outside The Diner in High Springs last week during a celebration marking what the new owners hope will be a new era for the restaurant.

On Friday, Aug. 30, The Diner, formerly known as Floyd’s Diner, had its grand reopening from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The restaurant was bought in late May by husband-and-wife duo Kim and Jerry Wakefield. Though it didn’t really close down when ownership changed, the reopening symbolizes a fresh start for the restaurant, said manager Beth Citta.

“The reputation we got from the old place is not what it should be,” she said. Now all the changes have been finalized.

The new owners plan to use more fresh ingredients from local farmers. In addition, they are using a new distributor for the rest of the ingredients. Some tweaks to old recipes have been made, and new additions can be found on the menu.

“The buffalo chicken sandwich is our top seller,” Citta said, at least when it comes to the new food choices. The new owners hail from Bishop’s Stortford in England, so they have incorporated English elements into the menu, such as fish and chips.

The consensus from several regulars of the diner seems to be that the quality had dipped in the last six or so years.

Customer John Blaine complained about the previous owner using a scale to measure the precise amount of ingredients he put in Blaine’s sundaes.

“This is a real sundae,” he said during the reopening, when the waiter handed him his treat from across the bar.

The food is just as good as ever with the Wakefields as the owners, but Blaine has noticed he gets larger portions.

“They really are on the money,” he said, noting how they no longer use scales to measure content.

“They hire good people here,” Blaine said. “The service is excellent.”

All day, vintage cars, some for sale, were parked outside the diner to drive home the 1950s motif. At 4 p.m., the classic rock, folk and blues band Moondogs took the stage outside. At 7 p.m., the High Springs police brought in the Blues Brothers Soul Band in a police car, reenacting a scene from their namesake film.

“I’ve seen both of them before,” Blaine said of the bands. “Both of them are excellent.”

The Diner plans to hold music events once a month, manager Citta said.

About 70 people had dined at the restaurant by about 3:30 p.m., but Citta said she was hoping for about 500 people.

Jerry and Kim Wakefield lived in France for the past several years, but decided to move to another country.

“The Euro isn’t doing too well at the moment,” said Jerry Wakefield. “We felt like America was a good place to be.”

They looked at several restaurants in Florida, before deciding on High Springs. Jerry said he loves the classic cars and 1950s aesthetic.

The couple came over on a business visa.

“Basically, the idea is we buy a business and employ Americans,” he said.

Aside from the American paperwork, a major challenge for the duo has been reversing the reputation of the restaurant.

“The place doesn’t have a good name, if I’m being honest,” he said.

When Floyd’s Diner opened in 2001, it did have a good name. “For the last six years, it hasn’t had any of that,” Jerry said.

The Wakefields are confident they can restore The Diner to its former glory.

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NEWBERRY – Newberry joined a list of proud cities Friday. That list boasts the likes of New York, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio. They did so with the Easton Newberry Sports Complex receiving a Community Olympic Development Program (CODP) status for archery Friday, Aug. 30. The city is one of only 10 in the nation to receive such a designation and only the second of its kind to showcase archery.

“The city earned this designation after almost two years of working towards it and getting a USA Archery endorsement,” said Bobbi Ullman, a United States Olympic Committee representative.

The ceremony took place Friday morning at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex, located at 24880 NW 16^th Ave. in Newberry. The junior archers kicked things off with an open shooting session that started at 10:30 a.m.

Around noon, the athletes, their families and some Newberry residents made their way into the gymnasium-turned-ballroom for a luncheon and the CODP presentation.

In attendance at the ceremony were Bobbi Ullman, London Olympic men’s team archery silver medalist Jake Kaminski, Easton Sports Development Foundation vice president, Don Rabska, and Easton Sports Development Foundation president, Greg Easton.

Everyone near the event seemed to be brimming with excitement, but it would be hard to match the enthusiasm that belonged to Robert Turner, head archery coach at the complex.

“To try to explain what this means for our kids is incredibly difficult,” Turner said when asked how this could improve the facility. “This will give every athlete the opportunity to try archery in a professional setting, with top notch coaching, equipment and facilities.”

Turner began his archery career at the age of 15, ending up with five national championships in his native Australia. He worked with the Australian National Team before coming to the Easton Foundation three years ago. He has also been involved with the United States National Team, a relationship that helped to put the small-town complex on the map.

When the luncheon was coming to a close, the attendees were moved back into the room where the first shooting session took place so the wall displaying the CODP logo could be unveiled. The junior archers gathered along the wall with Greg Easton and together pulled the covering off. The consensus among the event-goers seemed to be that it was a rewarding moment for those who worked so hard.

“While this is about establishing an Olympic pipeline, it’s also more than that,” Rabska said. “It brings me joy to see a community come together and earn something like this.”

The excitement of the event was also multiplied with the attendance of Jake Kaminski, a silver medalist at the London Olympics. Kaminski has been a professional for seven years and said he wished he could have had the support from a great facility when he was first beginning in archery.

“For these kids to get proper coaching and get started on the right foot is so invaluable,” Kaminski said.

The Easton Newberry Sports Complex is home for upwards of 200 archers for classes each week said Turner. The students range in experience from first-time shooters to having two or three years already under their belt. On top of being honored with the CODP status, the complex will also play host to the Florida Archery Association Federation of International Target Archery State Championship Sunday, Sept. 8.

The motivation behind the United States Olympic Committee creating the CODP designation is not just to expand the Olympic pipeline but also to provide youths with an opportunity to participate in Olympic sports. Now with even greater support, the community of Newberry will be able to continue to offer a high level of instruction to these athletes, Ullman said.

“Going to London and being with track stars and athletes of all sports, and being able to feel the same, was a dream come true,” Kaminski said. “If this kind of program can help someone make the change to being a professional easier, it will be incredible.”

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HIGH SPRINGS – Silver Sovereign, the snow-colored, blue-eyed newly born horse will be making his public debut at O’Leno State Park soon.

The foal, whose barn name is Little Prince, was born the same day and time as the new prince in England. At only 14 inches at birth, he is one of the smallest foals born at Gentle Carousel, a company which breeds horses for therapy. He and his mother, Liberty, will be visiting with kids for a short time early in the day Saturday, Sept. 7 as part of the “Where Tales Meet Trails” event at the O’Leno State Park.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“This will be his first outing,” said one of Little Prince’s owners, Debbie Garcia-Bengochea. “He can only stay a short time because he is so young,” she said.

Children of all ages are invited to the annual event on the grounds of O’Leno State Park, six miles north of High Springs on U.S. Highway 441. Book authors, storytellers and book illustrators will be there, along with games for the visitors to play.

Admission is free by showing a library card, library book or by donating a new or gently used family-appropriate book. Some of the donated books are given out during the festival as prizes, said event coordinator, Cynthia Preston, O’Leno Park Service specialist.

The event is designed to promote literacy and spark an interest in reading among young people.

Any books left over are given to Gentle Carousel to leave with children as they visit children’s hospitals and rehabilitation centers around the country.

Garcia-Bengochea is just one of the authors who will be on hand to read the books they’ve written. Gentle Carousel’s award winning literacy program, Reading is Magic, brings real miniature horses dressed in appropriate character costumes to help illustrate stories for the children in an effort to bring books to life for them.

Each reader has their own booth spread out around the pavilion in the picnic area. Park volunteers will have games set up in the picnic area near the river for kids to enjoy, Preston said. A bean-bag toss and a book walk, similar to a cake walk, but with the prize of a book, will be just some of the games children can expect.

Park volunteer Ann Dominy will lead an adventure walk, where children stop and read sections of a book at certain points in the walk.

Another highlight for older children and adults will be a visit from Valerie Rivers, park manager at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park. She will be reading excerpts from “The Yearling” in honor of the 75^th Anniversary of its publishing. She will be reading in the pavilion and also will have her own booth for those who would like to visit and learn more.

Author and book illustrator Sandra Poucher, who has written “The Taming of the Slough,A Field Guide to the Critters of Florida's Springs” and “Speleological and Karst Glossary of Florida and the Caribbean” will be sharing some of the drawings she did for her books and will work with children to do illustrations of their own.

High Springs’ resident Diane Eastman will be dressed as Mother Goose and will be reading stories to children in her booth. Other High Springs readers will be Nancy Habig and Linda Lenseth, from Sally’s Sensibles in High Springs. “They always decorate their booth to illustrate the book they are reading,” Preston said. “They are a lot of fun and have been doing this for children for several years.”

Also, High Springs librarian Beth Noll will be one of the readers this year.

Linda Williams and several other ladies from the Daughters of the American Revolution will be reading excerpts from historical novels about the Revolutionary War.

Friends of O’Leno will have an information booth set up with cookies and drinks for everyone. For those who want more than a snack, Jeff Runde, from Branford, will have hot dogs and drinks for sale.

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HIGH SPRINGS – Labor Day is coming up, but anybody with plans of visiting their favorite river or spring should check with state park authorities first.

Swimming and boating activities may not be allowed in some areas after last week’s major rainstorms in the county, particularly north of the High Springs area.

After last week’s deluge, retention ponds in the area are filled to the brim, or more likely, spilling over. A sinkhole has reportedly opened up on Poe Springs Road. Despite this, officials at O’Leno State Park, just north of High Springs, said the water levels are average for the first time this year.

Terri Newmans, assistant park ranger at O’Leno, called the rushing waters of the Santa Fe River average, even as she trekked through the water-soaked grounds in the still falling rain.

The rain had been pouring in for more than five hours that day, but the river’s water level was at 35.7 feet. The average is 34 feet.

If the water levels fall too low, the park could be closed to swimmers because the water would be considered stagnant, Newmans said. Swimming in stagnant waters can be a risk because dangerous microorganisms can thrive in those conditions. If the water levels rise too high, parks might have to close trails. About two or three weeks ago, O’Leno had to close trails for a few days when the water level reached 39.7 feet, she said.

For comparison, after Tropical Storm Debbie hit in June 2012, the water level was close to 50 feet. Park management closed down River Rise State Preserve.

Rainfall in Aug. 25, 2012 was about 40 feet. The same day in 2013 was listed at about 37 feet, according to Weather Underground, an online weather service, backing up Newman’s claim that the river is at an average level for this time of year.  

The National Weather Service does not expect that to last, as they have issued a flood warning for the Santa Fe River this week. North of High Springs, the river could approach a flood stage by Tuesday.

The complexity and interconnectedness of the river systems could play a role in any potential flooding.

Between 4 and 8 inches of rain fell in the upper reaches of the Alapaha and Withlacoochee rivers in the last seven days, causing renewed minor flooding on the Withlacoochee River in Valdosta. The Alapaha and Withlacoochee rivers are major tributaries of the Suwannee River, accounting for almost 40 percent of the Suwannee’s watershed.

The National Weather Service warned that swimming and diving on the rivers and springs over the Labor Day weekend might have to be curtailed, due to the rising water levels.

While the levels at O’Leno might be average for this time of year, some people might have to reschedule their plans for the holiday. Park alerts are issued daily, and information about forecasts, rainfall and current river readings are available online at www.mysuwanneeriver.com or at 386-362-6626 or 800-604-2272.

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