Baseball Camp

There will be a Baseball Camp held next week at New Smyrna Beach Sports Complex for kids 7-14 years of age. The camp is Tuesday, June 7th - Thursday, June 9th from 9am-1pm. The cost is $100.00 and includes a camp T-Shirt. Please register at the NSB Parks & Recreation Department at 1000 Live Oak St. they are open Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm. 

Camp Staff includes NSB Coaches Jose Fernandez and Kenney Lutz, Father Lopez Coach, Nick Regilio and former Deland Coach Lonnie Tidmarsh. 

If you have questions: Contact Kenney Lutz (610) 905 2341 or A.T. Marucci (386) 424 2175.

You can download a registration form here.

19th Annual New Smyrna Bike & Bar Tour

The 19th Annual Bike & Bar Tour is Saturday, June 18th. This event starts at J.B.'s Fish Camp at 10:30am and continues up A1A to So Napa, Chase's, Off The Hook and on down Flagler Avenue ending up at Merks on the North Causeway. This tour gets bigger and better every year. You can get updates and more information on their Facebook Group Page.

This is a great, fun way to support your local business!

Memorial Day Ceremonies

In addition to the Memorial Day Ceremony at Riverside Park today at 11am there will be a ceremony recognizing the fallen at NSB’s Glencoe-Geiger Cemetery on Sugar Mill Drive at 10am.

A third ceremony in Southeast Volusia will be presented by American Legion Post 285 at the Edgewater-New Smyrna Cemetery on U.S. 1 in Edgewater. Edgewater Councilman Mike Ignasiak will speak at the event, beginning at 11am. I took my children to that one last year and it was very nice. There were many Veteran's present and were most appreciative to see children attending honoring the service of others. That ceremony will get underway at 11 a.m. at 700 South Ridgewood Avenue in Edgewater.

Have a safe Memorial Day!

Memorial Day

"America will only be the land of the free so long as it is the home of the Brave" ~unknown~

Memorial Day is Every Day

Memorial Day from a Chaplain's Foxhole

Thank a Soldier, Thank a Veteran and their families, not just on Memorial Day but every day!

Welcome to the Weekend!

Summer vacation is here! Lots to do this weekend!

FishStock is going on all weekend at Riverside Park, the 5K race is tomorrow morning.

The May Wine and Art Walk is tomorrow on Flagler Avenue from 10am-5pm.

Farmers Markets are being held in Old Fort Park and in Hawks Park in Edgewater.

Hidden Treasure Bar and Grille in Rose Bay has a full weekend of entertainment planned...come by boat, car or bicycle!

New Smyrna Speedway has racing tomorrow night in the Brighthouse Challenge Series.

Enjoy the weekend and support your local business!

750 Miles

Did you know it is 750 miles between New Smyrna Beach and Olmstead, KY?  

Jeri Taylor is a Kindergarten Teacher in Olmstead, KY, she also lives part-time here in New Smyrna Beach. Jeri is trying to instill living a healthy lifestyle in her young students and that includes exercise. Her class decided to walk the miles from Olmstead, KY to New Smyrna Beach, FL during this school year.....they walked 15 minutes at a time and multiplied their distance by the number of walkers to get the total miles walked per day. On nice days they walked outside, they used Kid’s Walk Videos on not so nice days. They tracked all their progress on their class website so they could share all their progress with their parents. 

On Thursday, May 19^th they passed their 750 mile goal! The class actually walked 766 miles!!

They celebrated their tremendous accomplishment with a New Smyrna Beach – BEACH PARTY!

On Friday, May 20^th the beach celebration began in this kindergarten classroom in Kentucky!  The students came to class with flip flops, sunglasses, beach towels, and custom created shirts.  Their shirts( in the picture above) showed footprints going from Olmstead, Kentucky to New Smyrna Beach, Florida with the 750 miles distance on the front.   Jeri had the New Smyrna Beach live webcam projected on the board as the excited students arrived.  She also had a map of NSB on the wall and they watched videos from the Visitor’s Center website.  

The afternoon was the highpoint of their NSB beach celebration.  Some parents in the classroom set up beach games on the playground, including looking for sea shells that actually came from New Smyrna Beach.  The final part of the beach celebration day was made possible by the very generous contribution of the New Smyrna Beach Visitor’s Center (they are awesome).  The Visitor’s Center provided sand pails, shovels, Yo Yos, Frisbees, bookmarks, magnets, and maps for the children.   Each child went home with a backpack full of New Smyrna Beach souvenirs, shells, and huge smiles on their faces.   

What an awesome teacher Jeri Taylor is! How very fortunate are her students in Olmstead, KY to have such an innovative, creative teacher. How fortunate are we that we live in New Smyrna Beach and get to share this wonderful accomplishment with these terrific students!

           

Memorial Day - Riverside Park

There will be a Memorial Day Ceremony in Riverside Park on May 30th beginning at 11:00am. There will be a motorcycle escort of the Memorial Wreaths to Riverside Park for the ceremony. Bikes will line up at VFW Post 4250 beginning at 9:00am. The bikes will be escorted by the New Smyrna Beach Police Department at 10:00am.


For more information call VFW Post 4250 at 386-423-1789 or visit their website. 

Congratulations!

CONGRATULATIONS! 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH GRADUATES!

Youth Dodgeball

New Smyrna Parks & Recreation Department is now registering for its summer youth Dodgeball League. The league is for ages 5-15.  The cost to register is $40 for New Smyrna Beach residents & $48 for non residents. Practices & games will be held in the evening at the City Gym located at 1000 Live Oak St. If you have any questions please contact A.T. Marucci at (386) 424-2175 or amarucci@cityofnsb.com.

The registration deadline is Friday, June 3

Coast Guard Open House

The US Coast Guard Station, Ponce Inlet, will host an Open House this Saturday, May 21st from 10 am - 3 pm. This event is free and includes a tour of the Station and Coast Guard boats and visitors will receive safe boating information. The Coast Guard will also be providing free vessel examinations, either dockside or on trailers.

The Coast Guard Station is located at 2999 N. Peninsula Ave.

Summer Camps Slippage

I just got an email from someone asking me about Summer Camps. I must apologize. I have failed miserably this year on the Summer Camp front. The time I would normally have used to compile all those summer camps I was organizing an event for the Cudas Baseball Program.

Never fear, my friend at Volusia County Moms has got it covered. She has put together a list of local camps and is adding to them as she hears about them. A few that I know about from past years are:

Hidden Lakes Golf Camp - call Rob Schwab at the Golf Course for more information. I know Rob personally and he is a great golfer, super nice guy and he is great with the kids.

Showdolls Boot Camp - This is held July 11th-July 14th at NSB High School. It is 9am-5pm. The Prices is $80.00 for the 4 days. You can call Heidi at 386-690-9692 for more information and a registration form. You can also register the day of for that camp.

Marine Discovery Center has GREAT camps.

Take a run over to Volusia County Moms and check out the other great camps going on this summer!

Surfside Chorus Free Concert

 The Surfside Chorus will be presenting a free concert of Barbershop music on Tuesday, May 31st at 6pm. This will take place at Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach. The mall is located right across from the airport and the speedway at 1700 W. International Speedway Blvd.

Is It Over Yet?

This will shock my friends and surprise even the most casual observer. I am ready for school to be out. Why, you ask?

1. No one wants to get up
2. No one wants to get dressed
3. I had to Febreze my son's gym shorts this morning because of my lack of interest in laundry
4. I am sick of parent drop off and I am sick of parent pick up (thank goodness for car-pools)
5. I suck at Algebra
   

Please remind me of this in a few short weeks when I am complaining that:

1. They are fighting
2. They are bored
3. They have nothing to do
4. They spend all day foraging for food

           ...oh and they are fighting.

Fishstock

The 9th Annual FishStock Salt Water Fishing Tournament returns to New Smyrna Beach May 26-29th. This years event will feature a 5K Run on Saturday morning, along with plenty of fishing, food and entertainment. Check out all the events and register for the run on their website.

Wine Tasting to Benefit Heart 2 Heart Children's Charities

Come out and support Heart 2 Heart Children's Charities on Tuesday, May 17th at Peter's Wine Shop in Port Orange. 

Heart 2 Heart is a not for profit organization that organizes fundraising events in order to benefit local children in Volusia and Flagler counties.  These events raise needed funds for local children's charities such as, Grassroots Giving, Children's Advocacy Center, and Cudas Unhooked.  These are all wonderful non profit charities benefiting children in our community.

Family Movie Night

Saturday, May 14th at 7:30 come out to the soccer fields at Hawk's Park in Edgewater for Family Movie Night. The movie is free and concessions will be available. Bring your chair or blanket and enjoy Shrek, Forever After. This is sponsored by the City of Edgewater and The Edgewater Fire Department!

East Coast Cruiser Night

Saturday, May 14th will be the next East Coast Cruiser's Night on Canal Street. Starting at 4pm walk up and down Canal Street and check out some of the hottest rides in town. Along with some great cars and motorcycles, there is entertainment, food and some good family fun!

Buckler's Craft Fair

The Buckler's Craft Fair is holding their Spring Craft Show May 14th and May 15th at the Volusia County Fairgrounds in Deland. Admission is $6.00 per adult and parking is free. Kids are free and you can get $3.00 off your admission if you bring a canned good. Print a coupon here. 

Destination Cruise

Marine Discovery Center and Turtle Mound Tours is featuring several Destination Cruises to local restaurants up and down the Lagoon. You can get complete information here. The next one is May 12th to JB's Restaurant, followed by a trip to Inlet Harbor Restaurant on May 13th. There is no better way to see the Indian River Lagoon!

River Cleanup

Saturday, May 14th is the 23rd Annual Halifax/Indian River Cleanup. There are several locations in New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Edgewater and Port Orange to participate. You can get registration information and full details here. Please consider taking time to help cleanup our river!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

A very extra special Happy Mother's Day to my Mother. During good and bad times she is always there to make it better, tell me I am an idiot, buy me groceries, help me be a better parent, listen to me whine and so much more. I am thankful that I can talk to her every day, live around the corner and most importantly my children are growing up with her in their life. Thank you Ma for everything you do!

Photo courtesy of my Dad!

Daytona Shrimp Festival

Saturday, May 14, the first Daytona Shrimp Festival will be held on Manatee Island from 11:00am-10:00pm.

A great day of food, entertainment and fun for kids of all ages is planned, gates open at 10:30am.

A variety of shrimp dishes will be offered, featuring local and Gulf shrimp dishes prepared by international chefs from more than 10 countries, including signature dishes like Shrimp Tacos, BBQ Shrimp, Po Boy Sandwiches, grilled shrimp kabobs and more. In addition, other festival food favorites will be offered.

Kids activities include face painting, clowns, balloons, games, a rock-climbing wall and floating human-size Hamster Balls, an invention that lets you to run and float in a pool of water without getting wet. (this I must see, just because of the name.)
Manatee Island Park is on the Halifax River in the heart of Daytona Beach, with an entrance at 325 North Beach Street.

Cinco De Mayo

Cinco De Mayo is this Thursday, May 5th. Ever wonder what it is all about? (besides Margaritas and celebrating) Find out here .

Once you read all about it head on down to Flagler Avenue this Thursday, starting at 5:00pm for food, entertainment and dancing.

Support your local business!

2nd Annual Business Expo-Edgewater

The 2nd Annual Business Expo will be held at the ParkTowne Business Center on Saturday, May 7th. This event will showcase some of the areas best businesses. It runs from 10am-4pm. The Business Center is on Park Avenue directly across from Mango Tree Drive. Check out the City of Edgewater Events page for more information or to reserve a booth.

Help for Alabama

As you are surely aware parts of Alabama have been completely devastated by last week's tornado's.  Crossroads Christian Church is responding to the call for help. Next Sunday a team from Crossroads will head to Huntsville to help in the clean up and bring some hope to those who have lost everything. 

They are also collecting items to bring to Huntsville including; socks, Gatorade, bottled water, all types of toiletries, underwear, rakes and more. If you are able to help you can bring donations by the ministry center this week. You can also contact Andy Ellingwood at the church if you would like to donate or attend this trip to Alabama and serve our neighbors.

Crossroads is located at 3838 State Rd 44 in New Smyrna Beach. The office number is  386-427-3312. 

 

Erie Peeples Surf Camps

It is that time of year again! What to do with the kids all summer.....A great choice is learning to surf. What better way to pass the time when you live at the beach than surfing. With several dates to choose from and very reasonable rates this is a great camp choice for this summer vacation. They also offer standup paddle lessons and Ecotours. Complete details can be found on their website.

Their school is located at the 27th Ave Beach approach on the no-drive area of the beach.