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Hay art winners to be announced Oct. 5
Story and Photos
By Jeff M. Hardison © Oct. 3, 2023 at 3:45 p.m.
     BRONSON – The winner of the annual Levy County 4-H Club Hay Bale (Art) Contest is set for Oct. 5 Levy County Extension 4-H Agent Jessica Emerson said on Tuesday morning (Oct. 3).

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     The contest started earlier this week. Some of the hay bales and art show weather wear, such as a sign tilted a little and some bee wings off of the bee art around a bale.
     Emerson said that the way a winner is chosen is from likes, shares and comments on the Levy County 4-H Facebook Page.
     One Facebook entity could “vote” three times by liking, sharing and commenting on one of the nine bales in competition.
     Emerson noted that people can vote on Facebook for all nine hay bales if they want, or however many they want between zero and nine.
     Below is what the hay bale art looked like at about 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 3). The works in their best form can be viewed at the Levy County 4-H

Nocked and Loaded 4-H Club shows a spider with eyes that look like archery target.


Kountry Kids 4-H Club is a planter with flowers.


Outdoor Explorers 4-H Club has bunnies with carrots in the ground (the tops of the carrot plants are showing as well as a couple of complete carrots above gruond.).


Wekiva Run 4-H Club says ‘4-H Sure Is Sweet’ with its big bees and honey theme. They used the rectangular hay bales as well as the round type.


Back Acres 4-H Club has a skeleton theme. 'Back Acres 4-H Is Awesome. No Bones About It' is noted on the sign.


4-H County Council has a turkey portrayed in its hay art.


Creekside 4-H Club has ‘Cooking Up Creativity With Levy County 4-H’ as its hay bale art theme, complete with a pot on a fire and items cooking in it.


Kountry Bumpkins 4-H Club has a very artistic lion created.


Williston Wranglers 4-H Club notes the Levy 4-Hers are Busy Bees. The wind appears to have tilted its sign and blown some bees’ wings off.
 

Grease is slated for performances
on weekends Oct. 6-22
Information Provided
By Members of The Chief Theatre Troupe
Published Sept. 21, 2023 at 11:15 a.m.
Updated Oct. 4, 2023 at 5:30 a.m.
     CHIEFLAND – Grease is the word at the Chief Theatre!
     With a hip-shaking rock 'n' roll score featuring hits like "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightning," and "We Go Together," Grease celebrates Rydell High's class of 1959 in all their duck-tailed, bobby-soxed, gum-snapping glory.
     This play is presented by special arrangements with Concord Theatricals. This play is being directed by M. Lanette Six.
     The Chief Theatre is located at 25 E. Park Ave. in Chiefland.
     The play Grease is scheduled to be performed weekends from Oct. 6 through Oct. 22 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Reserve tickets today by calling 352-493-2787 or visiting https://www.chief-theatre.org/. Tickets are $15, or discounted to $13 for senior citizens, students and active members of the United States military.
     Next on the calendar for actors, will be performances of the play Miracle on 34th Street (This play is schedued for performances Dec. 8-17).
     For more information visit https://www.chief-theatre.org/.

Coyote sings to conclude
harvest of Moon shots

Above is the best of several attempts to show the Full Harvest Moon, a Supermoon. This is from Sept. 29, a bit after 8 p.m. as the Moon was seen from a hayfield south of the unrecorded subdivision known as Jemlands in Levy County.

Story, Photos and Video
By Jeff M. Hardison © Sept. 30, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.
All Rights Reserved 
     JEMLANDS – A few ventures out to take pictures of the last Supermoon of 2023 provided a chance to hear a call of the wild.

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     A lone coyote sang in the distance Saturday morning (Sept. 30) at 6:30 a.m. as a lone traveler ventured a short distance from The Ink Pad to try again for a 2023 Harvest Moon, Blue Moon, Supermoon shot.
     This singular moon shooter is well-practiced in capturing images of Harvest Moons and Supermoons. He sauntered over to a trusted 2013 Nissan Juke to drive a tenth of a mile or so to the east of the unrecorded subdivision known as Jemlands in Levy County that fateful Saturday morning.
     As some people know, this sojourner experiences fateful moments all the time. And it seems that many of them are happy. It generally is just a question of how far on the happiness meter one nanosecond is in contrast with another part of one tick of a clock in this particular human adventurer’s perception of the whole space-time continuum.


By clicking on the PHOTO above, viewers and listeners will see the Moon being brought ‘closer’ by zooming. And they may hear the clicking of a car engine cooling. However, the distant coyote call is not heard in these few seconds of video.


A- The Moon is seen high in the sky and behind some clouds on Sept. 27, two nights before it could be viewed as a Supermoon, if clouds would allow it then.

     This particular venture started on Wednesday night (Sept. 27) before the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team earned their 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. The TV broadcast on Bally Sports TV (owned by Diamond Sports Group) that night showed an almost full Moon shining there.
     Knowing the last Supermoon of 2023 was destined to shine two nights later, on Friday, Sept. 29, he strolled out into the dark just to take a picture of the pre-Supermoon moment that night. It was cloudy. He took a shot anyway.
     Friday night’s moonrise did not show promise, however some time later the intrepid photographer wandered into a field a neighbor owns immediately south of Jemlands. 
     There, he found the big yellow orb – even though it was behind clouds. A number of attempts later, he had a relatively good picture – even though the wispiest of clouds.


Behind clouds, the Supermoon of Friday night (Sept. 29) did not provide the best photo opportunity – except with some patience when there was a click heard round the unrecorded subdivision of Jemlands. Well maybe it was heard by one quasi-feral cat who finds a photographer at night in a hayfield.

     And then, there was Saturday morning at 6:30. He knew the Moon would not have yet dropped below the horizon from his vantage point on Earth.
     There were clouds. He hopped in the Juke and went west to a hill on a lime rock road maintained by the great workers at the Levy County Road Department.
     The noisy ATVers were not yet zipping around the neighborhood. It was quiet. Stepping out of the Juke, the clicking of the engine cooling after its short run was heard,
     There were no owls hooting this morning. Even the relatively quiet of a cat walking on sand would ring out like a clogger at dance.
     But one lone coyote howled in the very far distance.

Any ol’ Moon will work for the shot where the focus is on the leaves in the foreground. So artsy!


The Ink Pad is the place where a lot of things happen – just as a lot of things happen elsewhere. Still, there may be a perception by at least one human of some degree of happiness existing there, just as happiness may be perceived elsewhere.

     Meanwhile, there were clouds. Click. Then back to The Ink Pad. An artistic shot of oak leaves on branches in front of the Moon and a picture of the sign to show it really happened at and around The Ink Pad. Mission accomplished, really.
Harvest Moon
     The musician Neil Young in 1992 released the song Harvest Moon. Its lyrics follow:

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart

But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

     As for the 2023 Full Harvest Moon, as noted by 2023 edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the annual full Moon that happens nearest in time to the fall equinox (Sept. 22 or 23) always takes on the name “Harvest Moon.”
     “Unlike other full Moons, this full Moon rises at nearly the same time—around sunset—for several evenings in a row, giving farmers several extra evenings of moonlight and allowing them to finish their harvests before the frosts of fall arrive,” The Old Farmer’s Almanac noted.
     There are many other nicknames for September full Moon, and if the closest full Moon to the fall equinox is in October, then that month’s full Moon scores the Full Harvest Moon title.
Supermoon
     The last Supermoon of 2023 has happened now, as of Sept. 29.
     The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provides a definition of a Supermoon that is among the most accepted definitions.
     A Supermoon “… occurs when the Moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time the Moon is full,” NASA writers noted.
     The lunar orbit around the Earth is an ellipse, an oval that brings it closer to and farther from Earth as it circles the globe while both objects travel through space over a period of time.
     The farthest point in this elliptical orbit is the apogee and is about 253,000 miles from Earth on average. Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 226,000 miles from Earth.
     The term “supermoon” was coined in 1979, about the time a daily news website owner was taking astronomy at the University of Florida – perhaps too soon for that brand to have been put in those textbooks back so long ago.
     The next Supermoon is scheduled to be visible on Sept. 18, 2024.

The Rock Bluff Pickin' Porch Band
raises $3,000 for Camp Valor 
Monthly events keep entertaining
Concerts thrill crowds

The Rock Bluff Pickin’ Porch Band members are (from left) Charlie Wilber, Dottie South on bass, Dave Roof on drums, Hardee Myer and Dave Figueroa. Here they are seen moments before their hours of performing on Friday night (Sept. 22) in the ForVets Lodge at Otter Springs Park and Campground.

Story, Photos and Videos
By Jeff M. Hardison
All Rights Reserved © Sept. 25, 2023 at 11 a.m.
     OTTER SPRINGS – A monthly dinner-dance event at Otter Springs Park and Campground, 6470 S.W. 80th Ave., Trenton, has generated $3,000 so far, ForVets Board of Directors Member Makenzie Brugger said just before the dancing started on Friday night (Sept. 22).
     Joining Brugger that night was ForVets Board of Directors Member Charity Hall.
     The Rock Bluff Pickin' Porch Band has been performing for whatever tips the crowd puts in the bucket at the front of the stage. Brugger said that with this band’s excellent music, and the delicious meal provided by still other volunteers, the monthly dinner-dance event has helped in funding the Camp Valor Project at the campground.
     And it keeps going as the band plays on – each fourth Friday.
     Held in the ForVets Lodge at the park and campground, this dinner-dance event happens each fourth Friday. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The dinner-dance costs $15 to enter the lodge, even if a dancer does not eat. The band starts performing at 6:30 p.m. (ish) range.
     They played (worked as volunteers) that Friday night until 9:30-plus.


ForVets Board of Directors Member Charity Hall (left) listens as her colleague ForVets Board of Directors Member Makenzie Brugger says she knows of no better deal for a dinner and dance than $15 each, just as everyone enjoyed on Friday night (Sept. 22). In fact, a good time was had by all as a great time was had by some – just as with veterans all gave some, and some gave all.

     The meal of ham and scalloped potatoes that night was excellent. Drinks and dessert are an added fee – paid to the volunteers working for the cause.
     To say the musicians were awesome is an understatement. As many as 10 couples were dancing at some points during the night.
     Dancing is not a requirement to enjoy the music. At least a couple if listeners sat, not necessarily star-struck (well, maybe a little), but some people just are not ready to dance where others can see them.
     At least one dancer was cutting the rug to the point of being so great and impressive with his energy and skill that he might be considered part of the performing artists’ talents that were entertaining folks. Some dance coaches say, “Dance like no one is looking.”
     The Rock Bluff Pickin' Porch Band includes “Cousin” Dave Roof on drums, Dottie South on bass guitar, and Charlie Wilber, Hardee Myer and Fred Figueroa all playing different types of lead guitars. Figueroa plays harmonica as well.


Bob Leichner prepares to play drums with the band on Friday night. After a full day of teaching children in Dixie County and knowing he would be driving to St. Petersburg the next day, this gentleman musician joined the band for a few songs before needing to catch some winks to be ready to be a highway star the next morning. Bob Leichner and his lovely and talented wife Dotti Horn Leichner retired after owning Dixie Music Center in Old Town for many years.


The Rock Bluff Pickin’ Porch Band members (from left) Charlie Wilber, Dottie South on bass, Dave Roof on drums, Hardee Myer and Dave Figueroa perform the song Suwannee River, written by Dottie. This video version, able to be seen by clicking on the PHOTO, is incomplete on this video with a slight jump between two parts, due to a camera’s idiosyncrasy. The whole uninterrupted song is better than this; however, this is a great sample.


The Rock Bluff Pickin’ Porch Band members (from left) {with Kate Figueroa joining for this song} are Charlie Wilber on guitar, Dottie South on bass guitar, Dave Roof on drums, Hardee Myer and Dave Figueroa on guitar. Here, they perform the song Love is Blind written by Fred Figueroa. This video version, able to be seen by clicking on the PHOTO, is incomplete on this video with a slight jump between the two parts, due to a camera’s idiosyncrasy. The whole uninterrupted song is better than this; however, this is a great sample. The band is better live than on videotape.

     Joining the band for a few songs was renowned drummer Bob Leichner, who now teaches students at Dixie County High School as well as volunteering as the sound man for various functions in Dixie County (and more). His wife Dotti wrote one of the original songs the band performed that night – Suwannee River.
     Kate Figueroa, wife of Fred Figueroa, joined the band as a singer during the performance of a song Fred wrote that was performed that night – Love Is Blind.
     Anyone at the event Friday know all of the musicians are stars and as a band they are a full constellation. Fred Figueroa, though, stands out for another reason. He plays guitar and harmonica while having only his left arm.
     All of the musicians performed as a band, while there were points in various songs when one or another stood out with their own amazing singular instrumental jam that melted into the total melody on the moments. A song that had train in its title somewhere was one of the melodies that night where observers and listeners may have perceived the band members knew when one or the other of the four guitarists, and one harmonica player, and one drummer, could have had a spotlight on them.
     The singular best method to capture this dinner-dance concert event is to show up and pay $15. Enjoy the meal and listen, and dance if the spirit moves you.
     Some people might want to go to this monthly concert and then just let every worry and care fade until some point in the future. This concert will be an experience to take participants to a wonderful place of food, music, dance, fellowship and happiness. And all of the proceeds go to help American military veterans and their families.
     And for the folk who like to dance, it can be like Steve Miller sings in his song – Dance, Dance, Dance – where the first set (verse) of that song’s lyrics note:
“My grandpa, he's 95;
And he keeps on dancing;
He's still alive;
My grandma, she's 92;
She loves to dance;
And sing some, too;
I don't know;
But I've been told;
If you keep on dancing;
You'll never grow old.”

     The musicians opened with a couple of songs by Merle Haggard (April 6, 1937-April 6, 2016) – Turn Me Loose and Silver Wings.
     The Merle Haggard genre of music was not the form or artist’s music of the night.
     Songs by Credence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Jimmy Buffet, Bob Seger, The Temptations, Gordon Lightfoot and a bevy of others reverberated through the AmVets Lodge and through the ears, hearts, minds and souls of audience members.
     The evening of music and dance was enchanting and invigorating. For anyone who wants to escape from everything other than excellent musicians performing, as well as having opportunities to dance and to enjoy a wonderful meal at $15 a ticket, this is the place to be each fourth Friday.
     Beyond the benefit to the ticket buyers, there is the more universal idea of helping ForVets with its Camp Valor Project.
     To read more about The Camp Valor Project, click HERE.

On Saturday morning (Sept. 23) after the concert, some views toward the Suwannee River from the area near Cabin #3 of Otter Springs Park and Campground, and elsewhere on the campground show the sun and some fog. There were RVs galore in the campground too.


Cabin #3 sleeps four people. Two can occupy a one bed and two more can sleep in bunkbeds. The five cabins at Otter Springs are for rent at least two nights at a time. This cabin had a stove, refrigerator-freezer combination, a microwave and a coffee maker. There is no TV. Remember, it is a cabin in the woods. And renters will need to sweep floors, etc., before they check out. For more information about Otter Springs Park and Campground, click HERE.


A spider and its web are seen in the woods near Cabin 3 at Otter Springs Park and Campground on Sept. 23. This picture is at dawn and a flash was used to reveal the web.


In this photo, the spider is seen but not its web, which is what it wants to catch other bugs to eat – an invisible web. Some people might cheer ‘Go spiders!’ and others may say ‘Eek! No spiders!’ 


Sharon Hardison enjoys a rocking chair on the porch of Cabin #3. There also is a hanging swing on the porch, which will seat two. She was half of one couple, of the many couples who enjoyed the park and campground, and the concert on a fourth Friday.
     

Inglis Yankeetown
Scarecrow Contest opens
Scarecrow completion by Oct. 27
Judging scheduled for Oct. 28
By Jeff M. Hardison © Sept. 24, 2023 at 8:45 a.m.
     INGLIS – The Withlacoochee Gulf Area (WGA) Chamber of Commerce is at it again, and the doors are open to scarecrows galore again.
     People sauntering, driving, biking, strolling, walking, jogging, frolicking and the like in, about and around the southern region of Levy County may notice flyers proclaiming that “any business or organization can enter” a scarecrow creation contest by emailing their name and location of their scarecrow to dickjaninglis@gmail.com by Oct. 21.
     Just to be clear, for people in Holland, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Colombia or any of the many other countries who are reading this story, and even folks in other parts of Levy County or other counties in the United States of America, the contest organizers want everyone to know this contest is for any businesses and organizations in the Inglis-Yankeetown area of Levy County, Florida, United States of America.
     The idea of noting “any business or organization can enter” is to let those interests who are not yet members of the WGA Chamber of Commerce in this part of Levy County to know they are not welcome to participate in the fun of scarecrow creation for competition – and potential bragging rights.
     Email notification is due by Oct. 21, as noted above, to dickjaninglis@gmail.com. Scarecrows must be completed by Oct. 27. Judging is scheduled for Oct. 28.
     As has become the custom, the first place winner will receive an annual rotating plaque - complements of the WGA Chamber.
     And just to be clear about this plaque, its rotation means it goes from the first place winner one year to the first place winner the next year, and so on, as its rotation.
     This is more like the Earth rotating around the Sun in its orbital tradition, rather than where the plaque itself spins like the planet Earth spins, or rotates. (Flat Earthers can keep comments to themselves on this one.)
     The WGA Chamber of Commerce’s judges base their choice of the winner of the annual scarecrow contest on what the judges rule in regard to Originality-Creativity; Presentation-Crowd Appeal; and Workmanship-Attention To Detail.

Black vultures fly with news car

A group of black vultures fly in front of a 2013 Nissan Juke as a journalist returns to his home office Saturday (Sept. 16) from an event that morning. To see the 11-second VIDEO, click on the PHOTO above.

Story, Photo and Video
By Jeff M. Hardison © Sept. 17, 2023 at 9 a.m.
All Rights Reserved
     Music composed by Alfred Neuman (March 17, 1900 – Feb. 17, 1970), played on the radio of the 2013 Nissan Juke as 1984 University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications graduate Jeff M. Hardison drove southbound on the western border road of Jemlands, an unrecorded subdivision located between the municipalities of Cedar Key and Chiefland in Levy County on Saturday (Sept. 16).
      Neuman was one of the iconic figures of the Hollywood film industry. In his four-decade career, he composed music for more than 200 films, earning 44 Academy Award nominations and nine awards. The music in the background here is in the public domain. All sound recordings prior to 1923 had their copyrights expire in the United States on Jan. 1, 2022, which created a huge and enriching addition to the public domain.
     This intellectual property notation is somewhat of an insider message for people at WUFT FM Radio, located at the University of Florida College of Journalism who were broadcasting movie music at that moment.
     Hardison, a 1974 graduate of Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, was part of the Nor’easter newspaper there, which earned a Florida Scholastic Press Association award during his two-year tenure as a writer, editorial editor and poetry editor of its literary edition.
     Years later, the journalist went on to earn awards as a newspaper reporter from the Florida Press Association and Florida Press Club in the categories of Investigative Reporting (1983 and 2007); and Environmental or Conservation (1990).
     Other FPA awards he earned as a newspaper editor were for Best Use of Full Color (1984); Front Page Layout (1989); Community Service (1989). The Florida Press Club awarded him recognition in 1989 for Best Public Service (1989).
     As a publisher, he earned FPC recognition in 2020, 2021 and 2022 as one of the top three contenders in the category for Online Independent News Site.
     Meanwhile, back in the car on Sept. 16, 2023, the writer-photographer-videographer-editor-publisher and vehicle driver had earlier that day crossed over a five-foot coiled diamondback rattlesnake without injuring it. He had seen a turkey and a number of squirrels also successfully cross his vehicle’s path.
     On the side of the road that morning, there were turkey vultures as well as black vultures eating a wild hog, and a deer, and other creatures who went their own bridges into the dimension after life, while a deceased raccoon was noticed among those life forms that had recently passed away and were next to the Levy County roads, highways and byways over which the man had driven on Sept. 16.
     “Coming in for my own landing, so to speak, at The Ink Pad after another happy day in my life on Saturday,” Hardison said, “and having the vultures give me a fly-over of sorts, was rather spiffy. I thought this may have been captured on the Juke’s dash cam. So, with a bit of sideways bragging, I wrote this very story, and provided a photo and video for folks to scope out all over the world via the Internet.
     “I did not turn around and photograph the rattlesnake which I had successfully straddled with the Juke earlier, because I needed to get to an event to which I had been invited at the last minute that morning,” he added. “Also, my lovely and talented wife of 34 years, Sharon, had told me, a couple of years ago -- after I was taking a picture of an alligator while another ‘gator approached me from behind -- that I may consider practicing a bit more care in my journalistic wildlife adventures.”

‘Skylines to Hemlines: Art Deco Design
from the Permanent Collection’
at the Appleton Museum of Art
On view Oct. 14-Jan. 14, 2024

Demétre Haralamb Chiparus (Romanian, 1886-1947), “Dourga,” ca. 1925, Parcel-silvered and parcel-gilt bronze and ivory on onyx base, 18½ inch. Gift of Arthur I. Appleton.


Chase Brass & Copper Company, Cat Door Stops, 1934, Enameled metal and brass, 8½ inch. Gift of Enrique Conill Mendoza and AnaMari Goicoechea, via Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) 2021 Transfer.

Story and Photos Provided
By CF Marketing, Public and Community Relations
Published Sept. 17, 2023 at 9:45 a.m.
     OCALA -- The Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, presents “Skylines to Hemlines: Art Deco Design from the Permanent Collection,” on view Oct. 14, 2023-Jan. 14, 2024.
     Curated and displayed for the first time ever from the Appleton’s impressive permanent collection of Art Deco objects, “Skylines to Hemlines” offers an introductory overview to early 20th century art, architecture, design, fashion, jewelry, paintings, prints and photographs created in the interwar period.
     Art Deco, or French Arts Décoratifs, influenced everything from high fashion to everyday household objects. Museum visitors can expect to see a broad selection of art and objects that represent the movement, from its beginnings in France to its influences across the world. On view will be vintage garments and accessories, including designers Cartier and Schiaparelli, and Art Deco textiles from Japan; a large variety of objects made by Chase, one of the preeminent producers of American Art Deco metal objects, such as clocks, radios and doorstops; and vintage posters, photographs and other ephemera. Also included in the exhibition are two visitor-favorite sculptures by Romanian artist Demétre Haralamb Chiparus, who is considered one of the quintessential sculptors of the bold design movement.
      “We are pleased to showcase this incredible selection of works from our Art Deco holdings,” said Appleton Director Jason Steuber. “We know that visitors will be delighted and inspired by the striking design that feels both modern and timeless.”
     Regular admission fees apply to visit. Admission is free on the first Saturday of each month for the Free First Saturday program.
Special Events
     Appleton Directors Circle members are invited on Thursday, Oct. 12, for “A Toast to Art Deco” opening reception. From 5:30-7:30 p.m., guests will enjoy a 1920s themed reception with champagne, hors d’oeuvres and the captivating sounds of Miranda Madison. RSVP is required to Colleen Harper, harperc@cf.edu, or 352-291-4455, ext. 1831.
     The Appleton Museum, Artspace and Store are open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. A campus of the College of Central Florida, the Appleton Museum of Art is located at 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, east of downtown on SR 40 (exit 352 east off I-75 or exit 268 west off I-95). Parking is free.
     For more information, call 352-291-4455 or visit https://www.appletonmuseum.org/.
 

FWC hosts Florida State Fish Art Contest

Above, is art of a mahi-mahi created by last year’s seventh-ninth grade, first place saltwater winner, Penelope Horwitz.

Information and Art Provided
By the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Published Sept. 15, 2023 at 7 p.m.
     TALLAHASSEE -- The annual Fish Art Contest is now open!
     Students in kindergarten through 12th grade can create an original piece of artwork and compete in this free contest for a chance to win state and national honors and prizes.
     In partnership with Wildlife Forever, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is excited to announce the second annual category for a Florida Native Fish Award! This State Specialty Award is an additional award to the national Fish Art Contest that participating students will qualify for by submitting a Florida native species from the specified list below. The goal of the Florida Native Fish Award is to celebrate fish species native to Florida’s inland and marine waters.
     “The Florida Native Fish Award is an amazing opportunity to introduce students to some of Florida’s most iconic native fish species in a fun and creative way,” said FWC Commissioner Sonya Rood. “This award helps connect Florida’s students to the fish species that help make Florida the Fishing Capital of the World, which is critical in inspiring the next generation of fisheries resource stewards.”
     One first place winner and one runner up will be selected for each grade bracket (kindergarten through third grade, fourth through sixth grade, seventh through ninth grade, and 10th through 12th grade), one for illustrating the best freshwater fish species and one for the best saltwater fish species.
     Digital artwork will not be accepted this year, all submitted pieces must be created with a traditional media. All first-place winners will advance to the National Competition to be judged for top prizes, such as Best of Show.
     The deadline to enter is Feb. 28, 2024, so start designing!
     To enter, students from Florida should submit their entry at Wildlife Forever – Florida Art, consisting of the following:
     An original piece of physical artwork featuring any fish including one or more of the following Florida native species from the same category: 
     Category 1 – Freshwater: largemouth bass, striped bass, black crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, spotted sunfish, channel catfish, Florida gar, chain pickerel, bowfin
     Category 2 – Saltwater: snook, redfish, spotted seatrout, flounder, tarpon, mahi-mahi, Spanish mackerel, hogfish, queen snapper, black grouper
     A piece of creative writing, no longer than one page, about the chosen species (required for grades 4-12).
     A Florida State-Fish Art Contest entry form. 
     Note: Digital artwork will not be accepted this year, all submitted pieces must be created with a traditional media. 
Florida Prizes
     First-place winners in the 10-12 grade bracket will receive 10 T-shirts printed with their artwork to give to family and friends from our partner The Florida Nomad and the shirts will also be available for sale on their website.
     The two first-place winners from each grade bracket, from each category will have their artwork displayed in FWC’s freshwater or saltwater regulations guide.
     All first-place winners will have their artwork displayed at FWC headquarters in Tallahassee.

Vermont, Maine and Canada
in TS Philippe's forecast path

In this graphic by the meteorologists at the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Service in Miami, the path of Tropical Storm Philippe crosses islands on its way to the Northeast United States and Canada, where it becomes a tropical depression.

By Jeff M. Hardison © Oct. 4, 2o23 at 6:30 a.m.
     MIAMI – Meteorologists at the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami forecast at 4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday (Oct. 4), the path of Tropical Storm Philippe is crossing islands in the Atlantic Ocean on its way to the Northeast United States and Canada, where it is expected to becomes a tropical depression.
     In the key messages for this storm, the only one on tropical outlook maps for this relatively small part of the globe, the NHC notes in advisory 44 for Tropical Storm Philippe at 4 a.m. EDT on Oct. 4, heavy rainfall is expected to produce flash flooding across portions of the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands through today (Oct. 4).
     Gusty winds are likely to continue across portions of the northern Leeward Islands the Virgin Islands through early today, the NHC meteorologists noted.
     The risk increases for tropical storm conditions on Bermuda late this week, the NHC noted.