News November 12, 2021

to marcia, me

This is Marcia Lane, your roving reporter.

The 13th annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival continues today and Saturday at Rodeheaver Boys Ranch south of Palatka. This festival yearly attracts hundreds of bluegrass fans from around the county. Today performers include The Gibson Brothers, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Tim Graves & The Farm Hands, Remedy Tree and The Billy Lee Cox Project. On Saturday Larry Stephenson Band, The Grascals, The Burnett Sisters Band, Colin Ray, Remedy Tree, Wayne Taylor & Appaloosa and The Atlantic City Boys perform. As always, expect to hear lots of the fans playing in pick up sessions around the RV parking area. Also this year enjoy a Classic Car Show with The Atlantic City Boys.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office credits technology and their Real-TIme Crime Center with the arrest of two people wanted on charges in Baker County and for the theft of a vehicle from Jacksonville. David Thompson, 32, and Buffie Simpson, 45, were arrested Tuesday after a silver Toyota with a stolen license plate was spotted by deputies at the Race Trac gas station on Palm Coast Parkway. As they watched the two individuals approached the vehicle and were arrested. Thompson allegedly told deputies the unlocked car had the keys in it when they took it from a business parking lot in Jacksonville and the tag was stolen from another vehicle. Thompson, who deputies said admitted to two residential burglaries in Baker County, was found to have an active warrant and was in possession of drugs. Simpson was also wanted on other charges and now faces additional charges for drugs and grand theft of an auto. The two were taken to the jail where Simpson is being held on a $100,000 bond and Thompson is in on a $320,500 bond.

Coming up Sunday at Florida Agricultural Museum in Flagler County is the second annual Fall Wedding Expo put on by County Wedding & Event Planning and the Museum. The event is from 1 to 4 p.m. rain or shine at the Caldwell Dairy Barn. Outdoor and barn weddings and receptions have become increasingly popular.

Past and present Palatka High School Theatre Department students take part in a worldwide musical event this Sunday at 3 p.m. at the auditorium in the C.L. Overturf Center on South 18th Street. About 60 performers including 43 former students will be performing Broadway songs as part of a show aptly titled All Together Now. It’s part of an effort to get people worldwide back in theater seats with the show taking place around the world at the same time. Call or visit Ralph’s House of Flowers for tickets. The number is 386-325-4734.

River City Players continue their latest production Death by Golf  tonight at the Larimer Arts Center, 216 Reid St. in Palatka. The comedy-mystery also runs Saturday and Sunday. The play will be back on next week as well.

Once again Palatka’s Tilghman House has been transformed into the Holiday House as the Palatka Art League offers up a chance to find the perfect gift in the eight rooms of arts and crafts produced by area artisans and available for sale. Now in its 26th year, the annual event is at 324 River St. This year’s special ornament is created by artist Eddie White and pays tribute to America’s first native-born naturalist William Bartram, who visited the area in the 1770s.

In Ponte Vedra Beach this Saturday and Sunday classic and collector cars will be the focus at the 2021 Ponte Vedra Auto Show presented by Art ’n Motion at Nocatee Station Field, 245 Nocatee Center Way. Saturday is A1A Cruise Night and features a drive-in dinner with 14 vendors at the field plus a poker run and open cruise. On Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Nocatee Station the cars will be vying for show awards. The event is free and open to the public.

By the way, St. Johns County has a longtime history with cars. Back in the early days, racers would bring their modified builds to the flat and hard-packed sands at St. Augustine Beach, New Smyrna and Daytona Beach. And before NASCAR came into being in 1948 St. Augustine Beach was the place to be for stock car races for area drivers.