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16 things we love about Wekiva Island for our 16th anniversary

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Home The Island 16 things we love about Wekiva Island for our 16th anniversary

Every year, the Kona Luau marks the end of summer at Wekiva Island, but it also marks something special for us: Our birthday! This year, it’s extra sweet, because we are celebrating 16 awesome years at Wekiva Island.

On Sept. 30, 2008, Bill Weinaug and his family purchased the old Wekiwa Marina with a dream—to show that a business could be truly sustainable while being profitable and fun.

We like to think we’ve achieved that goal in the years since. We’ve also learned plenty and made some amazing memories with our guests. In honor of the achievement, we wanted to share a few things we love about the Island with you.

The Wekiva River—This Wild & Scenic River was what drew us to this location to begin with. We believe everyone who ventures out to explore it in a kayak or canoe immediately understands that. Even 16 years later, we’re reminded of the incredible beauty and diversity of the Wekiva every day.
The chance to serve as an example of sustainability—We always knew we wanted to be a green business. It’s part of our mission, and it’s been a driving force from the start. We’re proud to have a LEED Platinum building (our Classroom), as well as solar panels, recycling bins and signage around the Island to share what we’re doing and what our guests can do to make the world a little better.
Serving as a place to help creativity grow—In addition to sustainability and education, art is part of our mission. We have hosted the Wekiva Paint Out for 15 years, and in 2021, we opened Gallery CERO above the Tooting Otter bar. We love fostering artists and creatives and helping them share their gifts with a bro ader audience.
Live music—It’s not just visual artists we love to support. We also love having musicians share their talent at the Tooting Otter every Friday and Saturday. If you’ve ever gathered your friends, pulled up a chair, and sipped on a cold one while enjoy the Sounds of Wekiva, we know you love it too.
Our partners—Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to build some amazing partnerships, from our friends at Wayne Densch who stock our bar to the brands who appear in our General Store. We’ve also built partnerships with other community organizations doing awesome things out there, like O-Town Compost and the Florida Springs Council. We’re thankful for the chance to work with those in our community to further our mission.
Amazing eats—We couldn’t write this blog without mentioning our friends at Without a Paddle Café…and the amazing food they cook up. From vegetarian options to burgers and even surprises like ahi tuna, there’s so much to love.
The chance to make memories—Over the years, we’ve heard countless stories from our guests of spending time riverside with their families. We feel blessed to be part of that and look forward to many more memories to come.
Idea Bar Summer Camp—Did you know we have partnered with Idea Bar for a summer camp at Wekiva Island three years in a row? It’s so rewarding for us to watch the kids who attend explore nature, learn things and become passionate about the environment. If you have little ones, be sure to keep an eye out for registration!
Cabana days—The gang gathered ’round, the grill fired up, your spot saved in the shade. What’s not to love about a day in a Wekiva Island cabana?
Sharing great beer and wine—We love being your local watering hole, but do you know what we love more? Sharing your next favorite pour or sip. We work with local breweries to carry their products and train our staff to give great recommendations. We even travel to Napa regularly to stock our wine on tap and bottle offerings.
Leaving things better than we found them—This goes right along with our sustainability efforts and love of the river. We want to share it with generations to come, so we always want to leave it better than we found it. We love working with Keep Seminole Beautiful on regular river clean ups. Join us for one sometime!
Being your local place—We love being your special place where everybody knows your name.
Hosting fun events—From Otter Fest, our craft beer celebration, to Winter Wonderland, our holiday spectacular, special events are some of our favorite things we do all year long. We love planning new and fun things for our guests to experience. Please keep tabs on what we have going on here and grab tickets to our lineup of fall events.
Sharing holiday joy—Speaking of fun events, Winter Wonderland really does put us in a warm holiday mood. Our family is from western New York, and we love sharing the magic of a “white Christmas” with our Florida friends. It makes all of our hard work worth it to see the kids who visit light up as they explore Santa’s Workshop and meet the big man himself to share their holiday wishes. We’re celebrating again from Dec. 1-25, 2024, so be sure to come by!
Bonding as a family—As you can see, Wekiva Island really is a family business. Nearly all of our family members have worked at the Island at some point, whether that’s as your bartender or the masterminds behind it all. So many of our family memories are woven into the Island. We love creating new moments there just as much as you do.
Building our community—For us, all of these things add up to one thing: Community. We’re proud to be part of Seminole County and Central Florida as a whole, and we’re honored to be part of what makes this area special to you, our guests.

We have loved the ups and downs over these sweet 16 years. Thank you to all of you who have been part of it. Here’s to another 16—and many more.

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16 things we love about Wekiva Island for our 16th anniversary

WEKIVA ISLAND CLOSED SAT, NOV. 1 UNTIL 5:00 P.M.