Nature Coast – Page 10

St. Patrick’s Day in Crystal River

March 18, 2015 by KTgreen

(set to the tune girls, girls, girls by Motley Crue)

dogs,

dogs

You know I love a parade.

And dogs. Yes, love those pooches.

What could be better than a PARADE of DOGS!

Terry and I traveled up the road a bit to finally, after all these years, see the St Patrick’s Dog Parade hosted by Burke’s of Ireland Pub in Crystal River.

And it was better than even I expected!

First we watched the pre-parade entertainment from Muttsville Comix. Dogs did some death-defying tricks on the high wire, up ladders, and hoisted into the air. A conga line, some jumping in and out of boxes and through hoops.

It made me kind of sad because those dogs–in all shapes, sizes, and breeds–didn’t look like they were enjoying it.

But then came the best part. The entire pack just ran amuck. Led by a very brave Jack Russell. Three times. Three times they broke through the barrier and went out to meet the audience. Dogs gone wild!

The trainer wasn’t too happy. Told everyone in the audience to keep their dogs back. Way back from his show.

Come on. He didn’t know that we were at a DOG PARADE?

And then we met a bunch of pooches…

dogs And the parade started!

Not just dogs, but people!

People in the parade — The parade was on the sidewalk! No traffic problems! We can try this in Old Homosassa when we get our sidewalks!

But the dogs were the best.

dogs After the parade the party continued.

We stopped in at the wine bar and then took a walk through Burke’s of Ireland.

But I just wasn’t ready at 10:30 am for a green beer or even a Guinness.

But this guy must have already been hitting the bar….

Too many green beers?

Total fun on a sunny Tuesday morning!

2015 Shrimpapalooza and Homosassa Heritage Day

March 16, 2015 by KTgreen

My favorite parade of the entire year! The weather was great. The turnout was fantastic. And how many golf carts does Homosassa actually have?

Since this is a “local” parade and a lot of the participants are from right here in Old Homosassa, I’m putting up a lot of pictures!

First Terry and I stopped at the Old Homosassa Heritage Council’s booth at the festival to make a donation and pick up our freshly printed t-shirts!

OHHC T-SHIRT — Terry is modeling the back of the t-shirt.

Got any donations, just pop them into the newly created replica of the Old Homosassa water tower!

This is the first year that we actually went to the staging area for the parade. That place was crazy cakes!

Anne and Carly getting ready to get in their golf cart and hand out beads.

We usually stand in front of the Starting Gate cafe to watch the parade but this time we stayed in the shade right at the beginning of the parade under the beautiful oaks on Yulee Drive.

tree canapy — Always like to throw a pic or two of the tree canopy in.

Someone forgot to stop the traffic and it was a little entertaining to watch vehicles pull up, drivers curse and then turn around and attempt to find a different way out of Homosassa. Really, this is the FOURTH annual Shrimpapalooza and it’s very well advertised. There are people standing along the parade route plus Mason Creek Road is blocked off. How any one that was back in Old Homosassa on Saturday morning not know that there might be a traffic issue?

Rosie and Clyed — Rosie and Clyde, they must have forgotten to bring Bloody Mary’s for Terry and me!

And then the parade started!

2015 Shrimpapalooza

Looks like a cooler with ingredients and beer… but for what?

2015 Shrimpapalooza We not only have a bunch of golf carts and shrimp in this parade, we have dogs.

It’s a PUPALOOZA!

2015 Shrimpapalooza Lab

After the parade we headed over to the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park to check out Homosassa Heritage Day. DeeDee Pierce Wilcox, a co-chair of the Old Homosassa Heritage Council, was promoting the new organization and had a bunch of her own personal treasures from the early days of Homosassa.

Homosassa Heritage Days — That’s DeeDee on the left , her mom Judy Pierce in the middle and her daughter Caitlin Wilcox on the right.

Saturday was a fun day in Homosassa!

Town Hall Meeting

March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 by KTgreen

We had a very exciting town hall meeting with District Two County Commissioner Ron Kitchen yesterday.

Exciting because there were so many attendees and our new commissioner seemed eager to talk about Homosassa’s unique issues.

I’m guessing we had over 60 people for this meeting. And most of them were from the Homosassa River area. Much better than the “meet and greet” we went to with J.J. Kenney last July. I think there were 8 concerned citizens for that one. The sidewalk meeting the same month drew about 30 people.

Commissioner Kitchen opened this meeting by saying he could not talk about the Halls River Project–a 110 room hotel being planned right across the street from the site of the former Marguerita Grille. This was a disappointment to the audience since many came just for that purpose. The commissioner could not discuss it because of the public hearing that is coming up on April 14th. He did invite us all to come to the hearing and I think just about everybody in that room will be there.

The commissioner was assisted by Toby Phillips, County Information Officer. She listed all of our questions and issues on the wall–26 bullet points with the really important items starred. Randy Oliver, the county administrator, was also present.

Since the majority of the people attending the meeting were from the Homosassa River area, that’s what most of the questions were about. From traffic on Halls River Road, to what was going on with our sidewalks and trees, and how do we get the county to focus on Old Homosassa?

The area is not incorporated, we have no merchant organization, our main community groups are the Civic Club, the River Alliance, and The Old Homosassa Heritage Council and we have no common voice between these three groups. Commissioner Kitchen stated several times that the more meetings we attend and the more noise we make, the more we will get in return.

So let’s make some noise!

On a side note, don’t forget the Shrimpaplooza on Saturday. I said earilier this week that the parade starts at 10:30 which is what I pulled off of the Rotary’s website. Today’s paper lists the time at 10 am. The Old Homosassa Heritage Council (OHHC) will have a booth on Mason Creek. Stop by and say hi, buy a t-shirt, or/and make a donation to help us with our current project–buying, restoring, and maintaining the Water Tower.

DeeDee Wilcox, co-chair of the OHHC, will be at the Visitor Center of the Homosassa Wildlife Park for Homosassa Heritage Days on Saturday. Besides handouts and information, DeeDee will have an original painting by Gil Watson of the Water Tower on display.

Have a great weekend!

Kathy