Florida 4-H Centennial

4-H in Florida is 100 years old! Well, the program is 100 years old, the young people are ages 5 through 18! We are celebrating the centennial year with special events, banners, themes for our programs and events. I had the pleasure of judging the clothing construction projects at the state-wide Congress this week. Young men and women from all over Florida meet for one week to demonstrate their project work, participate in leadership events, interview for scholarships and honors, and celebrate being in 4-H. Nassau County youth just returned with awards, trophies, scholarships, and a whole lot of memories. Amanda Thien, our Nassau County 4-H program leader, served as Dean of Women for the event. To find out more about 4-H in Florida and the centennial celebrations still going on, visit http://florida4h.org/.

Goffinsville Park

In 1992 I had the pleasure of reviewing preliminary planning documents for Nassau County's Goffinsville park and boat landing. At the time, we did not have a county coordinator, we did not have a parks and recreation department, and we did not have a county office of management and budget. Nassau County has grown. We have all of those departments now, and we also have a beautiful new park. On Wednesday, July 22, 17 years after we began the planning, I attended the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremonies at Goffinsville Park, Nassau's newest county-managed property. The park boasts a boat ramp, fishing pier, and playground. There are picnic areas and comfort facilities. Our Environmental Horticulture agent, Becky Jordi, was instrumental in identifying the flora species and the nature trails are posted with identification markers. Take some time this weekend to check out the new park, and let us know if you spot other species that could be highlighted on the trails.

County Commission Updates

The Cooperative Extension Service is a partnership between the University of Florida (your land grant university) and the Board of County Commissioners. This helps ensure that the local programs provided by the faculty of the Extension Service are grounded in the research base of the University, and that they meet the needs of the local citizens. We have recently been invited to present monthly updates to the Nassau County Board of Commissioners. These updates will provide our elected decision makers with a glimpse into the monthly activities and events sponsored by our office. We hope to also highlight significant outcomes and impacts of our programs. You can view these updates each month at http://www.nassauclerk.com/video/video.livemeetings.cfm. This month we presented at the July 15 meeting, and you can skip to our presentation and our documents at "Tab C."