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.
If you’ve ever been to Wekiva Island, you have probably seen our passion for the environment on display. Located near our Solar Array and Without a Paddle Café, we even have a wall of cans, bottles and other litter from our Wekiva River clean ups. This is meant to remind our guests about the effect of litter on the road and in the water.
We partner with Keep Seminole Beautiful and other groups in the area to host regular river cleanups at the Island, because keeping this waste away from our natural resources is so important to us.
This week, we were honored to hear from one of our guests about the difference this is making.
Chad Maggio of Orlando sent us an email saying that he went out on the Wekiva River, paddling from Wekiwa Springs to past Indian Mound. He is a third generation Floridian and was a Boy Scout, so he, too, is passionate about protecting our river and springs. Because of this, he always takes a trash bag and a grabber on the river, cleaning as he goes.
In the past, he has filled a 55-gallon bag with all the trash he’s found. This time, however, the trash from his journey could fit in two hands.
It’s been about six years since Chad canoed on the Wekiva, and he was so impressed. He searched for the reason the river was looking cleaner than ever. We’re delighted he found our efforts to clean up the Wekiva River.
“Thank you for the effort. It shows in a massive way,” he wrote. “I just wanted to drop you a line to say your hard work has made a difference and is being noticed! Keep up the great work, there are no amount of words to express my gratitude.”
We’re thrilled locals like Chad notice the difference in the Wekiva River. When we purchased the Island and started clean ups, we pulled literal TONS of trash out. Now, it’s fewer and farther between. That means so much to us, and we want to keep it that way.
If you want to help, visit https://www.keepseminole.org/ and come out to one of our clean ups. You can also check out our trash wall on your next visit and learn more about our efforts—or do as Chad did and leave the river better than you found it. We can all make a difference.
Thanks, Chad, for your effort and email!
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!