Holy guacamole! Can you believe it? Two manatee festivals take place on the same weekend this month! What were they thinking? (That would be the festival planners, not the manatees; they are just trying to stay warm).
Ah, the choices we’ll have to make, choosing festivals, not to mention a scramble by groups like Save the Manatee to find enough volunteers for both events.
Manatee festivals are family friendly
Ready or not, here they are: Saturday January 22 and 23, Saturday and Sunday from 10-3 p.m. is the Orange City Blue Spring Manatee Festival at Valentine Park on West French Avenue off Highway 17-92. This is a fundraiser for the Orange City community including Friends of Blue Spring State Park, scholarships and non-profit groups.
Admission: $8 adult ($10 if you bring your dog), $2 children ages 4-10, under the age of three admitted free. Lots of family friendly things including arts and crafts, presentations by Central Florida Zoo, SPCA Adopt-A-Pet, sand sculpting, food and entertainment.
Sharp-eyed readers, that would be you, have noticed the manatee festival is not held where the manatees are – namely Blue Spring State Park. But they’ve got that covered with a free shuttle bus to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees.
Note gray log shapes near water’s edge – all are manatees at Blue Spring State Park
On a recent visit we took to the state park over 200 manatees, including a number of baby manatees, lounged in water tinted emerald green and dappled with shadow shapes from trees leaning over the water’s edge.
The other festival is January 22-23, Saturday and Sunday, from 9-5 on Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday, when downtown Crystal River has its 24th annual Florida Manatee Festival. A donation of $3 per person is requested, children 12 and under admitted free.
The two-cay event includes an art show, a beer and wine garden with a live band, a manatee education area with continuous movies, children’s activities on the creative playground behind City Hall and boat rides (additional cost) in Kings Bay to see manatees.
Nearby manatee sanctuaries include Three Sisters Springs at Kings Bay in Crystal River and other manatee sanctuaries set aside in Kings Bay plus Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.
Why have manatee festivals in January? Because winter months are when manatees come into warmer waters like Kings Bay and Blue Springs and you can see them gathered in groups.
Manatee statue at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Be sure to check out the Save the Manatee Club booth at either festival or visit their Web site or call them at 1-800-432-5646. This non- profit group has been champions for manatees since 1981 when the group was started by singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (when he was governor of Florida).
Manatee festivals highlight these gentle giants
We could take life lessons from these gentle giants who wish harm to no one. Their curiosity leads them to come right up to us, trusting souls that they are.
Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammals and they are endangered. They’ve been around for millions of years. Gentleness has worked in their favor until now. Human activity – like running boats at full speed and colliding with manatees – could be the death of them.
They don’t need us. We need them. Everything is connected and West Indian manatees, gentle gray blimps in our waterways, are living proof of that. The Save the Manatee Club web site has many resources for students, teachers and everyday folks including a great program called Adopt-A-Manatee.
Feeding a manatee at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Never seen a manatee? Well, welcome to 2011. New year, time to learn new things. Go to a manatee festival or visit a state park with manatees or take a kayak tour in Crystal River to see manatees. Take your children and grandchildren.
By the way the kayak ecotour is a good way to see manatees with a hands off approach (no swimming with them which is stressful to the manatees). The Save the Manatee club is doing kayak tours. Another good choice for a kayak tour of manatees is going with Lars Andersen of Adventure Outpost.
Lucy Beebe Tobias of Ocala writes, blogs and videos Authentic Florida.
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