October
Soul Food Festival attracts 4,000 despite soggy weather
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Despite the cloudy, overcast, and rainy weather, the annual Soul Food and Music Festival went on without a hitch on Oct. 4 with more than 4,000 people in attendance.
The 24th installment of the free event began at noon with a parade along Palmetto Avenue and west on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Parade Grand Marshall Tony Battle, a retired Clay County District Schools coach and physical education instructor, led a variety of floats and cars through the streets as onlookers watched. Parade participants included the National Guard, Clay County Fire Rescue, Green Cove Springs City Council, Lake Asbury Junior High cheerleaders, Duval Kountry Stepperz and the Bucket List Travelers of America, who came from Orlando to join the event.
Following the parade, the crowd gathered at Vera Francis Hall Park to enjoy a variety of booths and vendors, food trucks, a dance contest, a barbecue rib cook-off and a horseshoe toss. Live music was performed throughout the event by numerous artists, including the Special Formula Band, Soulful Roots Band, Jimmy Brown and Curtis Reynolds. Brown is from the iconic ’70s funk and jazz band Brick, while Reynolds is known for his time in Kalmozoo’s Ripple.
Chamber Awards highlight top businesses, nonprofits and business leaders
ORANGE PARK – A plethora of local business owners took home plenty of bragging rights at the Clay County Chamber of Commerce’s Awards Gala on Oct. 9.
Held at Center Court in the Orange Park Mall, five businesses across Clay County earned the Small Business of the Year title: Orange Park’s SouthState Bank, Keystone Heights’ Air Innovations, Middleburg/Oakleaf’s Healthy is Beautiful, Fleming Island’s Event Divas and Green Cove Springs’ Premier Gas and Grills.
Nonprofit of the Year went to the Father’s Heart, while Orange Park Woman’s Club President Constance Higginbotham took home Ambassador of the Year. Community Service Member of the Year went to Cheryl Kennedy, a Green Cove Springs-based business that offers professional video, film and media content transfer, as well as video production and post-production services.
Achieve Fitness’s Mike Glickman, also Chamber Treasurer, won the Chair Award. WGI’s Walter Kloss became the chamber’s new Board Chair. Past Chair and Orange Park Mall General Manager Randy Bowman passed the baton to him.
Owner and CEO of the Rolling Stoves, Sheena McLevy, took home the President’s Award, while Business Excellence of the Year went to Assisted Living Local’s Janet Peterson.
The last award of the night was the Louis L. Huntly Pacesetter Award, which recognizes community leaders who demonstrate the highest level of integrity, visionary leadership, the ability to turn visions into realities and a commitment to their community. It went to newly retired Orange Park Furniture owner Elmer James.
GCS City Manager Steve Kennedy to tackle new challenges in retirement
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – It’s time for Steve Kennedy to focus on more meaningful numbers, like the ages and birthdays of his grandchildren, his golf handicap and the things on his honey-do list.
No more annual budgets. No more city council meetings. No more planning and zoning meetings.
At 72, Kennedy is ready to travel, sit in a deer blind, help more often at church and do things he’s put off for half a lifetime.
“I’m 72, for one reason, and I’ve been doing this for 48 years,” Kennedy said. “My wife and I, when we came to Green Cove, were potentially planning to retire in this area anyway.
There were 72 applicants for the Green Cove Springs job in 2018. That number dwindled to 40, then to 20, then to 12 and then to 10. The city council then announced its final five candidates, and Kennedy was among them.
Although Kennedy only served as city manager for seven years, he left an indelible mark. During his short tenure, he has created a team that has achieved unparalleled growth while preserving Green Cove Springs’ small-town atmosphere.
“If I had to point to one thing, it would be creating a very solid management team that is ready for the growth that’s coming,” Kennedy said. “They’re very qualified. They have a high degree of passion for the city. If they work together, topical engagement is one thing. The knowledge of the job, the experience and building a cohesive team, to me, are big things to work on.”
November
Food pantry resources stretched by holidays, government shutdown
CLAY COUNTY – The line stretched across the parking lot at the Clothes Closet and Food Pantry of Orange Park. Nobody complained, because patience came easy with growling bellies.
The holiday season, economic strife and government shutdown created a record demand for every food pantry in Clay County. All reported additional signups and pickups. Local charities worked to fill holiday boxes to feed families for Thanksgiving. As the need grew, so did the response.
“At the beginning of the year, we were averaging 39 clients a day,” said Dan Stevens, who tracks donations at the Food Pantry of Green Cove Springs. “In the middle of October (when the shutdown started), we averaged 50 clients a day. In the first two weeks of November, we averaged 63 individuals a day visiting for food. So that’s how the numbers have progressed. It spiked during the shutdown.”
Thousands of turkeys were donated, including 1,100 by the First Baptist Church of Middleburg. The Clothes Closet gave away 300; another 120 went to the Food Pantry in Green Cove Springs and 150 were handed out at the Springs Church in Orange Park.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 1.4 million government employees weren’t paid during the shutdown and another 42 million didn’t receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Oakleaf, Middleburg ousted in football regional games
Middleburg High traveled to Larry Kelly Field at Daytona Stadium on Nov. 14 and lost to Daytona Beach Mainland, 34-13 in the 5A Region Quarterfinals, while Oakleaf lost on the road at Nease, 45-7, in a 6A playoff game.
Both teams finished 8-3.
“When you get in the playoffs in Florida, we’re getting the best players around,” said Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe. “We had a good plan. We held a lead and we were close. They had a great quarterback, a gigantic offensive line that was the best we’ve ever seen. That’s why they are the two-seed and a state champion team (2023).”
Oakleaf had numerous errors – interceptions, blocked kicks, sacks, dropped passes, penalties and allowed breakaway touchdowns.
“We played about as bad as we could play all in one game,” said Knights coach Chris Foy. “They were physical, and they executed. That was it. We got beat in all phases of the game.”
Fleming Island’s band to march in Madrid’s 2027 King’s Day parade
FLEMING ISLAND – Having appeared in parades in London and Rome, and playing at Carnegie Hall, bands at Fleming Island High have become accustomed to accolades.
They loudly accepted another offer to play an international gig.
Bob Bone is the President of the Youth Music of the World and Destination Events. He was at the school to formally invite the Golden Eagles Marching Band to Spain’s grandest national events, the Cabalgata de Reyes, a street show celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings on Epiphany, on Jan. 5, 2027.
Bone said parades are staged throughout Spain, but the biggest is in Madrid, where the three-mile route will attract more than two million spectators.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and the parade organizers also shared an invitation to Fleming Island, Bone said.
Fleming Island was one of two bands from the United States – and there are more than 5,500 marching bands in the country – that were invited to perform at the Cabalgata de Reyes. In all, Bone said only six bands will participate from around the world.
The band will depart on Dec. 30, 2026, and arrive the following day. They will tour Madrid, Toledo, Segovia and El Escorial. They will be treated to a variety of Spanish cuisine, including a selection of tapas, as well as an evening of traditional flamenco dancing.
Band director Alexander Buck said the band will fundraise during the next 14 months to cover the trip costs. He estimated the cost to be $650,000.
December
Volunteers, community, relatives breathe life into Pleasant Point Cemetery
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Former Green Cove Springs Mayor Connie Butler had tears in her eyes as she roamed around Pleasant Point Cemetery.
There was a connection that she couldn’t shake. A joy that she couldn’t help but feel.
After years of abandonment, the place where her great-great-great-grandmother, Maggie Andrews Lewis, was laid to rest had finally been restored. She could see very clearly where her roots came from.
Everyone’s spirits were high as community members gathered on Dec. 20 to honor Lewis and others buried in the historic Black cemetery. More than a year ago, amateur archaeologist and former U.S. History teacher Steve Griffith began his quest to restore the abandoned space.
Pleasant Point Cemetery, located on County Road 209, is a burial ground for some of the county’s most significant Black figures. U.S. Navy Veteran George Elias Forrester, along with some of his family members, is buried at Pleasant Point. He served with the Union in the Civil War. The son of Cyrus and Dorcas Forrester, his family was the first free Black family in the county.
Not too far from them also lies Pizel and Mary Ambrose Robinson, the great-grandparents of R&B singer Patti LaBelle and local educator Thomas Hogans. Since beginning the restoration process, a total of 41 individuals have been identified.
Clay County firefighters reunited with Baby Vianca 16 months after rescue
ORANGE PARK – Firefighters who were more accustomed to pulling victims from wrecked cars and burning buildings, gently clinched Baby Vianca with the kind of attachment they’re taught to resist.
The little girl will always be the department’s miracle. Every member of Clay County Fire Rescue is an honorary uncle to the tiny girl who was pulled from the brackish waters of Black Creek on Aug. 25, 2024, after being trapped under an overturned pontoon boat for more than 13 minutes.
In an incredible twist of fate, Baby Vianca was brought back from death, defied odds during a two-month stay at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and returned home to continue her improbable recovery.
All were reunited on Dec. 19 at Kids Care of Orange Park for a Christmas party. Hardened rescuers who played a role in the unexplained recovery trembled as they each took turns to hold her.
Baby Vianca is now 2 and a half years old. Her rehabilitation will continue for years, but the connection between her family and CCFR will last forever.
Santa arrived at the school/day care in one of the agency’s fire trucks. He handed toys to each, and everyone enjoyed meals provided by Sal Luliano’s Cucina and Vianca’s family.
Lt. Thomas Gill jumped into the black water and spent minutes reaching under the vessel before he finally grabbed a leg. When she was taken to the surface, she was gray with no pulse or blood pressure.
Gill had to be resuscitated as well because he had ingested so much water.
Lt. Joe Hutchins immediately started CPR as a father and son pulled Gill on board. When they got to shore, other CCFR firefighters instantly continued CPR and quickly transported her to Baptist Medical Center Clay.
Then her hand twitched. Baby Vianca suddenly found new life. Her recovery since has been nothing short of a miracle.
Rotarians break ground on Echo Lake Farms for foster children
MELROSE — With tears in his eyes, Rotarians for the Development of Youth (RDY) nonprofit President Larry Klaybor looked on at the stretches of land surrounding him.
Klaybor and others with the RDY broke ground on their inaugural project, Echo Lake Farms, on Dec. 12.
It’s a place soon to be scattered with hope, joy and community. More than 220 acres of farmland in Clay and Putnam counties will soon host mini-farms for foster parents and children to live on. The mission: to encourage well-rounded young people through exposure to agriculture and the local community.
And help them find their forever family and home.
Currently, there are 99 children in licensed foster care in Clay County, while Putnam has 72. There is also a shortage of foster homes in both areas.
Each mini farm will host a foster couple willing to accept children adjudicated by the court. They will live on about five-acre plots with about 2,500 square feet of living space, surrounded by animals and hands-on farming.
Each home will feature four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and a social room.