HIGH SPRINGS – Spanning from Miami to California, the Irish Water Dogs, a network of outdoors enthusiasts, is now headquartered in High Springs.

The headquarters was moved from Jacksonville to High Springs about two months ago, and the organization held an open-house event on Saturday, Sept. 7, celebrating the official opening of the branch that came to town in February.

Irish Water Dogs organizes kayaking trips and other nature excursions. The group was founded by David McDaid about seven years ago as a commercial venture. The nonprofit division, Irish Water Dog Warriors, was created later specifically for connecting veterans with the outdoors.

“The quiet that nature provides, the stillness,” said Water Dog kayaker and army vet Clinton Williams, “it’s a very grounding experience.”

The open house went on from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with snacks and beer brewed by the Jacksonville chapter master.

Appalachian music filled the room as the three-piece band from Jacksonville, Streak of Lean, played in the corner while people mingled.

As the chapter grows, founder David McDaid hopes to bring in more local musicians for the gatherings.

F.E. Lam, a detention officer for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, got involved with the Irish Water Dog Warriors about two months ago. Lam, who served in the army for 21 years, said he has seen the Warriors program improve the mood of the veterans that go.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive changes,” he said.

McDaid said the trips to the rivers and springs are therapeutic for the former service members. People with post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues benefit from the outings.

Japa Magyer, videographer for the Irish Water Dogs, said the trips help the veterans bond with each other, loosen up and be more open.

“When they get there, they’re kind of uptight,” he said. They start relaxing as the day goes on, he added.

High Springs Mayor Sue Weller came to the event at about 3:30 to support the group and call out the winners of the raffle.

“The Irish Water Dogs – their mission is something that really blends in with what High Springs is all about,” she said. “It’s not just fun and games. It can be used to soothe the soul,” she said of the program.

At about 4 p.m., the winners of the raffle were called. There were 20 winners, with the prize ranging from gift baskets, cash, shirts and even a rifle.

Over 100 people showed up for the open house, McDaid estimated. The turnout shows how interested the citizens of High Springs are in the organization, Weller said.

McDaid plans to grow the High Springs chapter, capitalizing on the unique geography and natural beauty of the area.

Anybody interested in joining a trip can check in with the High Springs chapter for information on upcoming gatherings. The Warriors division of the Irish Water Dogs meets on the first Sunday of every month. Each chapter is sustained largely by that community, and individuals or businesses can donate or sponsor their chapter, McDaid said.

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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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LACROSSE – Lofting through the air, the aroma of fermenting grapes fills a vineyard just north of Gainesville near Lacrosse. The sweet fruit falls off the vines and gets mashed into the ground by the boots and shoes of visitors.

The Loftus Family Farm has a vineyard that spans 14 rows, each about 420 feet in length. When the grapes come in season, the farm is open for anybody to come and pick them at the price of $1 per pound. From about the beginning of August to the end of September, people come from all over the county to harvest the fresh produce.

“These are coming along nicely,” said owner Don Loftus, as he walked through the vineyard to examine the grapes.

Humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy them. Sometimes, wasps find fermenting grapes with holes in them and go for the nectar. Intoxicated from the alcohol content of the juice, the wasps will fall down and flail around. “We have drunk wasps sometimes,” Loftus said.

It’s been a good season for the vineyard. Loftus had around 100 visitors last weekend. Some families go and pick a few pounds. Some come to get a bulk deal. There is one family of about five or six people that come nearly every weekend and pick over 100 pounds each visit, he said, to share with the extended family.

Loftus doesn’t use insecticides and sprays as few chemicals on the vineyard as possible. The visitors to the farm like knowing where their grapes come from and enjoy eating something without chemicals in it, he said.  

Three kinds of grapes grow at the farm. Supreme grapes, a common variety, the Delicious, a self-pollinating muscadine developed by the University of Florida and the Ison grape, good for making wine.

Loftus and his wife planted the seeds for the vineyard in 2004, but the payoff would come three years later, in 2007, when the Loftus Family Farm opened for the public. Even then, the vines wouldn’t be in full production until 2008. The harvest has gotten a little better each year, and now seem to be leveling off, Loftus said.

They started the vineyard as a retirement plan. Don Loftus gets a pension from the University of Florida, where he worked as a TV producer out of the education department, but the farm provides extra income.

“It definitely keeps me busy,” Loftus said.

With the season being so short, the window of opportunity for picking fresh grapes is narrowing. Most visitors only pick off the fruit at the beginning of the vineyard, so finding grapes there is harder, Loftus said. He recommends going toward the back, to the places the other visitors ignore. Walking toward the end of the vineyard, he pointed out clusters of dark-purple grapes.

A family at the entrance to the farm weighed their haul for that day. It came to about seven pounds. Patricia Ashley, her husband and two granddaughters, spent a part of their afternoon at the Loftus Family Farm. It was her granddaughters’ first time.

“It’s enjoyable to pick something fresh,” Ashley said.

The vineyard is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Appointments can be made for other days.

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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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