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Community briefs 7/27/17

Clay Today
Posted 7/26/17

Orange Park Fall Festival snags accoladeATLANTA – A travel industry organization has selected the 35th Annual Town of Orange Park Fall Festival as one of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast for …

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Community briefs 7/27/17


Posted

Orange Park Fall Festival snags accolade
ATLANTA – A travel industry organization has selected the 35th Annual Town of Orange Park Fall Festival as one of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast for October 2017.
The Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Festival and Event Awards have highlighted programs around the Southeast since 1985.
Travel industry experts select 20 events per month, and STS publicizes them throughout the United States.
The Town of Orange Park Fall Festival is Clay County’s oldest and largest arts and crafts festival. This year’s festival will take place on Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 22 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The Fall Festival is located at Town Hall Park on the corner of Kingsley Avenue and Park Avenue/U.S. Highway 17.
“The Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Festival and Event list is an excellent guide for the Southeast’s visitors, residents and travel writers. The events selected represent the best, and often most unique, activities in our region,” said Bill Hardman, president and chief executive officer of the Southeast Tourism Society.
Events considered for the STS Top 20 recognition must be at least three years old and have attendance of at least 1,000. The online nomination link and submission deadlines are available at SoutheastTourism.org or by calling (770) 542-1523.
STS, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Atlanta, is a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism to and within Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Chorale seeks director
ORANGE PARK – The Orange Park Chorale is seeking a highly qualified and dynamic Artistic Director for the 2017-2018 concert season.
In its 24th year in operation, The Chorale is looking for candidates that support its mission to provide excellence in the choral arts to communities in Northeast Florida and to maintain its goal of being one of the area’s premiere community choirs. If you or someone you know is interested in this unique opportunity, contact Cindy Crothers at opcboard@gmail.com to set up an interview.
The Artistic Director’s main duty is to select chorale members through an audition process that may include theory test, vocalization, language facility and sight reading. The position also involves selecting music for each performance in consultation with the board of directors, as well as interpreting the music and more.
The Orange Park Chorale currently holds a two-semester season. Each season – fall and spring –
has 10 rehearsals, which take place on Monday evenings from 7-9:30 p.m. and two performances or 4 total performances per calendar year. In addition, there is a charity benefit concert after the spring performances which may require additional rehearsals, as needed.
The Orange Park Chorale is an auditioned chorale with a vision of giving our audiences an opportunity to hear an eclectic mix of music performed by a fine ensemble. The Orange Park Chorale was founded in 1993 by Carole Clifford as a performance and education organization for the promotion of the choral arts in Clay County and the surrounding Northeast Florida area.

5,000+ lionfish removed in Lionfish Challenge
PANAMA CITY – Interested in removing lionfish? There’s still plenty of time to compete in this year’s Lionfish Challenge, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s statewide removal incentive program. The program started on Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day, May 20, and ends Sept. 4. Over 5,000 lionfish have been removed from Florida waters thanks to the program, including nearly 3,700 recreational fish removals and more than 1,200 pounds commercially, which equates to about 1,400 fish.
The challenge rewards lionfish harvesters with prizes such as t-shirts, tumblers, heat packs for stings, pole spears, an extra spiny lobster per day during the two-day sport season, and much more. It only takes 25 lionfish (or 25 pounds commercially) to qualify for the program and the more lionfish you enter, the more prizes you will receive. Plus, all participants are entered into a raffle to win even more prizes such as Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium gift bags, ZombieStickz pole spears and customized ZooKeeper Lionfish Containment Units.
The persons with the most lionfish at the end of the competition will be crowned the Lionfish King or Queen (recreational category) and the Commercial Champion at the Lionfish Safari tournament in St. Petersburg the weekend of Sept. 9.
Sign up and learn more today by visiting MyFWC.com/Lionfish.

Orange Park Medical Center honored by AHA
ORANGE PARK – Orange Park Medical Center is the only hospital in the Greater Southeast, a network of more than 800 hospitals across six states, to earn the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines and Mission Lifeline Recognition Awards for performance in all five of their programs – Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation Gold Award, Get With The Guidelines-AFIB Gold Quality Achievement Award and Mission: Lifeline Silver Receiving Quality Achievement Award.
“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. The Stroke Gold Plus recognition shows our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Kelly Lindsay VP of Operations.
To qualify for these awards the hospital must meet quality measures developed by the American Heart Association for each category. Earning all five awards demonstrates Orange Park Medical Center’s commitment to their community and to not only provide quick and quality treatment to those suffering from a stroke or heart attack but recognizing illnesses such as Atrial Fibrillation that can be the root cause and prevent a stroke or heart attack.
The Greater Southeast area includes hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Puerto Rico.

Stick on a decal for Florida’s manatees, sea turtles
TALLAHASSEE – There are more manatees and sea turtles in Florida than in any other state. More than 6,000 manatees swim in its coastal waters, rivers and freshwater springs, and thousands of sea turtles nest and hatch on its Atlantic and Gulf coast beaches.
It’s easy to show support for these iconic Florida species by sticking on a decal.
Every July, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission introduces new manatee and sea turtle decals available with a $5 donation.
The colorful, waterproof decals are designed to look great on a vehicle’s bumper or the side of a boat. Get them when registering or re-registering a vehicle or boat at local tax collectors’ offices across the state.
“Florida is home to more manatees and sea turtles than anywhere else in the U.S.,” said Carol Knox, who leads the FWC’s Imperiled Species Management Section. “Public support has been critical in helping us conserve these imperiled species. So please ‘stick on a decal’ and show support for our manatees and sea turtles.”
Decals generate funding for research, rescue and management efforts that help Florida’s manatees and sea turtles survive. For instance, when someone calls the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) to report an injured, entangled or sick manatee or sea turtle, FWC staff responds with efforts to rescue and rehabilitate the animal.
The decals also address important conservation issues.
“Look out for manatees” is the message on the new manatee decal, which shows boaters in the distance as a manatee mother and calf swim along with only her back above water. When boating or using a personal watercraft in Florida waters, it is important to look out for manatees.
“Helping sea turtles survive” is the message on the new sea turtle decal, which shows a green sea turtle. Green sea turtles nest on Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coast beaches, and until recently were classified as endangered. Now after years of conservation efforts, the number of nesting green turtles has increased substantially.
Learn about other ways to help conserve manatees and sea turtles at MyFWC.com/Manatee and MyFWC.com/SeaTurtle, where you also can click on “Decals” to order new or past editions of decals. Go to BuyaPlate.com to purchase a “Save the Manatee” or “Helping Sea Turtles Survive” license plate that supports those species.