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Santa Fe Lake Dwellers Association - News and Events


13th Annual Santa Fe LakeFest and Clean-up

Saturday March 31st 2012

Melrose Bay Park

Melrose, Florida

Santa Fe Lake Clean-up from 9AM to 12 - Fritzi Olson of Current Problems, originator of our LakeFest event, will again manage the Clean-up at the Trout Street Boat Ramp (Melrose Bay). Bring your lakeside harvested collections of exotics, recyclables, refuse, or evidence thereof, to the ramp by 11AM.

The 13th Annual Santa Fe LakeFest will be held just down the street at the Melrose Bay Park from 11AM to 3PM.  Our lakeside event is a fun day of hands-on activities and nature oriented displays, kayaks to try out on the Bay, gardening and composting advice, and free pontoon boat rides. Some of our area's most talented singer-songwriters, including David Beede and Whitey Markle, will entertain and inspire with their original music celebrating our unique part of Florida.  As always, there will be face painting and art activities for the kids' enjoyment. We're so pleased to have Keystone Heights Culinary Arts students cooking up burgers and hot dogs again this year, with their luscious strawberry shortcake for dessert! All are welcome, so invite your friends and neighbors. 

Last year we chose the threat of exotic plants as the theme for our LakeFest. This year we will focus on our endangered water supply, and on much needed water conservation initiatives.  Come out and talk to some of the folks who have been working to protect this most basic of our natural resources, and learn how you can stay current on the latest developments on this issue.

Details are available in the current newsletter, click here! 

 For additional information, please call Jill McGuire at 352-475-1567. 
 

Since the year 2000, annual lake-wide cleanups have been held each spring on Lake Santa Fe. On the last Saturday in March, local civic organizations, interested citizens, and volunteers living on the lake go out and collect trash (and sometimes water hyacinths or other invasives) along the shore. Over the years we have had many successful clean ups, but in recent years the amounts collected have decreased dramatically. Hopefully this is because our past efforts have really had an impact. From 2009 to 2011 we decided to give the organized clean-up a break, but we do urge all Lakedwellers to continue to collect trash on your own, as so many have done these last ten years.
Our recent Lakefest events were bigger and better than ever. They have been fun days of hands-on activities and nature-oriented displays, with good food, kayak demonstrations, gardening and composting advice, free boat rides to the beautiful Reynolds Preserve, and some terrific live music. Face painting, an art area, games and projects, live animals, and a poster show by local children kept the youngsters busy. Florida Wildlife Care's Tina Brannen and her rescued raptors fascinated us all. 


For additional information, please call Jill McGuire at 352-475-1567.

Boat Parade
A long-standing tradition on Lake Santa Fe is the annual 4th of July boat parade. Typically the circumnavigation begins in Melrose Bay at 11 am. Or when the brightly decorated boats motor by your place, feel free to jump in your own vessel and come along!

SFLDA Annual Meetings
Each summer the Santa Fe Lake Dwellers Association has its annual business meeting in Melrose. The 2011 Annual Meeting was held on Friday, August 26th, at the Trinity Episcopal Church on S.R. 26 in Melrose.   This is always a fun and informative meeting for local lake issues. We had informative talks from Ryan Hamm, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's Biologist in charge of Aquatic Plant Management and Permitting, who educate us about problem plants such as torpedo grass and some beneficial native grasses. Ryan also explained about some methods to tackle invasive plants, and let us know how to get a removal permit (it is easy and free!) through his department.  Our second speaker was Wendy Wilbur, Alachua County Extension Agent. She is known to many of you through her many gardening clumns in the Gainesville Sun and through the Master Gardener's program whih she runs for the county. Please join her for a Free Tour of Local Landscapes, presented by the UF/IFAS Alachua County Extension Office and guided by Alachua County Master Gardener Volunteers. Saturday, September 24, 2011 9:30am & 10am (choose one); Call 352-955-2402 to pre-register (required)!


Winter Social
Every winter we have a Social with less business and more time for interaction among members. Our 8th Annual Chili and Cornbread Supper was held on Friday, January 28th, 2011 , at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Melrose from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. We showed the short film, "Springs Heartland" with photography by the legendary Wes Skiles. It was a lovely evening of fellowship and good food.


For more information: email.