This Saturday, Wekiva Island will be closed until 5:00 p.m. for our annual Fall Egg Fest. We’d love for you to join the fun—grab your ticket and be part of the festivities. After 5:00 p.m., the Island will reopen and welcome guests as usual.
At Wekiva Island, sustainability has always been part of our DNA. In fact, when Bill Weinaug had the chance to purchase the former Wekiva Marina, he envisioned a carbon-neutral business that was so successful it would serve as an example to others that it can be done.
Our other business pillars—art and education—have also always been part of what we do at Wekiva Island. But over time, all three of these have grown and changed as Wekiva Island has grown and changed.
Recently, we decided to take these values a step further—to truly codify them and make them part of our business. Because of that, we’ve been working with ESG Advisors from NASDAQ Corporate Solutions to create and publicly declare our ESG Approach. Today, we wanted to share it with you so you can see that we hold ourselves to the highest standards and so you can feel confident knowing, the next time you visit the Island, that we truly care.
ESG stands for Enivronmental, Social, and Governance. Companies might be motivated to complete a formal ESG process for a variety of reasons, often centering around transparency in social values with relation to investors. At Wekiva Island, we like to say “we care”—and really mean it. Our ESG journey is a way for us to embody what we stand for in all we do so we can make a real difference for a better future.
Wekiva Island provides our guests with one of the only public ways to experience the Wekiva River. We want to protect that incredible resource for generations. To that end, we have vowed to go carbon neutral by 2030. We use our trademarked CERO™ strategy (Conservation, Efficiencies, Renewables, Offsets) to help us get there. We’re proud to say that 60 percent of our energy usage is powered by solar. From rainwater collection and reuse to our Wekiva Blooms Community Compost Center, there is so much good happening on-site and so many chances for our guests to learn and be inspired.
We are proud to be part of our community, and we’re dedicated to giving back. We host regular river clean ups through Keep Seminole Beautiful, providing free vessels to get the work done. We also have become a haven for local artists and musicians through Gallery CERO and our Sounds of Wekiva live music nights. Of course, we are also proud to support partner organizations monetarily, including giving more than $87,000 in donations and in-kind gifts in 2024.
Everything we’re able to do at Wekiva Island is because we have an amazing team to help us. As part of our ESG efforts, we seek to create a diverse, inclusive team that aligns with our values. From young team members in their first jobs to our top management, we aim to offer learning and growth opportunities, including bartender training, first aid, CPR and more, as well as to provide health insurance to full-time staff and pay a living wage.
The land Wekiva Island sits on has been there long before we were. We hope it will continue long after. As part of our ESG efforts, we have created a land agreement acknowledging that this land has been the ancestral ground of many indigenous people, including the descendants of the Creeks, known as the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In fact, “Wekiwa” means “spring of water” and “Wekiva” means “flowing water” in the Creek language. We encourage all of our guests to learn about the land we now inhabit and pledge to continue to raise awareness of this history.
At Wekiva Island, we are always looking for ways to grow—to make the Island better for our guests and to make our impact better for everyone’s future. If you have ideas or want to get involved, let us know! We look forward to continuing this journey with you.
This Saturday, Wekiva Island will be closed until 5:00 p.m. for our annual Fall Egg Fest. We’d love for you to join the fun—grab your ticket and be part of the festivities. After 5:00 p.m., the Island will reopen and welcome guests as usual.
Join Wekiva Island and 3 Daughters Brewing this Saturday for a seafood feast benefiting the Central Florida Zoo. Enjoy a pound of jumbo shrimp, clams, corn, potatoes, sausage, and three pours of beer, all for $45!