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| Help us keep our parks clean, safe, and a breath of fresh air for all thepeople of Sarasota. |
Clicking on the images below will bring you to more about our programs and
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| Paw Parks of Sarasota |
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Greetings from
the FRIENDS
of Sarasota
County
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| National Trails Day |
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Not everything grinds to a halt in Sarasota after Memorial Day. In fact, a great deal is happening in June.
First, there’s National Trails Day with a free Bike Rodeo from 10 am to 1 pm at Nokomis Park & Trailhead.
According to Bruce Dillon, FLT and the Friends have raised some $35,000 towards funding the study necessary for the Extension. Another $45,000 is needed for Phase 2 of the study.
The Bonfire Jam Band will serenade the assembled celebrants till 9 pm. Enjoy the day and help extend the trail!
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| June Mecca |
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World Environment Conversation
 Who knew Sarasota County would become a mecca in June? The County was named the North American Host Community for World Environment Day 2014. Join the conversation about our community’s connection to the global environment on Thursday, June 5th, at Mote Marine. The free forum starts at 10 a.m. and will feature local and international experts addressing the opportunities and challenges facing coastal communities around the world. Apparently registration is full – it would be cool if someone would beam it over the Net! Sunshine State Games June 6-8
Other Sunshine sporting events going on around the County include archery, paddleboarding and kayaking, synchronized swimming, raquetball, rowing, lacrosse and rugby.
That’s just Sarasota. If you’re curious about games going through the year in other counties, click here. World Cup Pentathlon
Fencing || Swimming || Riding ||
Running || Shooting
If that’s not enough athleticism for one weekend, there’s more: For the first time in more than four decades, the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final will be held on American soil.
Sarasota-Bradenton has earned the privilege of hosting the 2014 World Cup Final from June 5-8. The whole schedule is here.
Nature Events, Birding, Guides…
There’s plenty more going on in June — everything from Rain Barrel Workshops to searching for the Loblolly Bay. Plus, there’s the Lemon Bay F.I.S.H. project, birding at the Carlton Reserve, and “Dragonflying” at Venice’s Woodmere Park. Bookmark it to refer to throughout the month.
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| Chapter Notes |
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Not yet over
With all the rain of a few weeks’ ago, we thought this fellow trying to break into the
But no, plenty of veggies are still growing there for hungry turtles to dine on, says Catherine Dente, ticking them off: “Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, fennel, some squash, watermelons, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, and more.”
The fence was designed to keep out feral hogs, but it’s helped to keep rabbits, turtles and other vegetarians from devouring the crops.
“There’s wildlife galore at Culverhouse Nature Park,” says Catherine. “Come and sit at the picnic tables and enjoy watching the insects, birds and all sorts of wild animals in the park!” Camp Lekatchka
The Lekacthka Archers have set their summer schedule:
“Our next shoot will be Sunday June 8th. Please come on out and enjoy the great outdoors. We will be having our work party on June 7th, to help put out targets and get the course set up. Both of these start at 9:00am.
Please note that for the summer time, we have limited our Introduction to Archery program to the Saturday before and the Sunday of our shoots.
We look forward to seeing you there.”
Disc Golf Club set for tournaments
Bryan Moore writes…
“The Friends of Disc Golf chapter had a number of clean-up projects at Lakeview Park in preparation for the annual Jim Widick Memorial Sky Pilot Open, a PDGA sanctioned tournament for amateurs and professional players.
 “The event hosted 100 players, many were visiting from outside the area. Our efforts included distributing crushed shell around the tee pads, raking around tee pads and baskets, and removal of fallen debris and garbage from the canal. Our big project was replacing the blue tee box on hole #1. Fourteen volunteers logged 80 volunteer hours.”
No Guts, No Glory
Not to be outdone, a crew from the Friends of the Legacy Trail is heading to Lysefjorden, Norwayto compete in the High-Speed Amateur Downhill Dual Slalom: … ok, ok … NOT.
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| A few more things |
Giving Challenge Results
More than 360 not-for-profits participated in last month’s Giving Challenge, and the Friends did quite well. Here’s Terry Redman’s report: We had 34 donors, one half (17) were for the Chapters and 17 were for the FRIENDS. We had $3,940 donated to Chapters and $1,285 donated to FOSCP for a total of $5,025. This was a great event and I am glad we finished in the top 1/3 of small organizations and had fun. Special Thank You to the present and past park administration (Carolyn Brown, John McCarthy and Walt Rothenbach) for their donations.
Two on Gulf Coast Gives
Coming up
Saturday June 7 at 9 am will be the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Nathan Benderson Park. In addition to the Pentathlon, there’s a host of events coming up:
The next board meeting of the Friends will be on July 24, 4:30 pm, Twin Lakes Park.
The 10th Annual UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardener Plant Sale and EdFest is set for Oct. 11 at Twin Lakes, 8 am – 1 pm. Tom M.
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The Newsletter of the
Friends of
Sarasota County Parks
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