The month of April will be chocked full of events thanks to action last night by the Avon Park city council. They gave the go-ahead for three major festivals in the City of Charm.
Vet Jam 2022 will start the month off with music, food and vendors in Donaldson Park. This will be the first such event since the death of Annie Marie Feeny – who inaugurated Vet Jam. It will be designed to commemorate her and veterans.
The 11th Annual Avon Park Rotary Club’s Bluegrass and Blueberry Festival will held April 23rd at Donaldson Park – last year more than 4,000 people attended the event.
The Liqui-Moly Pro Watercross event will kick off their season in Avon Park on April 30th. Professional riders and teams from all over the United States will be in for that event.
Without comment, Highlands County commissioners this morning approved a $12,000 grant to buoy up the Sebring Sodafest event.
Earlier, commissioners heard a report from Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman on All Terrain Vehicles in the count and heard a presentation from Grants Specialist Liz Barber on the dispensation of American Rescue Plan Act money in Highlands County.
The controversial waterfront project will be at the forefront tonight when Sebring city council members get together in their regular session. There has been a push by members of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency to level much of the Alan Altvader Cultural Complex so people on the historic Circle can see Lake Jackson from where they’re standing.
The idea is to entice them to walk from downtown to the waterfront area and vice versa.
Firefighters across the county were busy yesterday with brush fires as the annual dry season gets underway. Units from Desoto City, Lorida, Highlands Park, Lake Placid and Florida Forest Service crews responded to a call at County Road 721 and Wheeler Road. That one reportedly charred some 26 acres.
Units from Venus, Sun ‘N Lakes South and Florida Forest Service crews worked a second blaze off Old State Road 8 near Venus. That one consumed a couple of acres before they got it out.
The cause of both fires remain under investigation. No buildings were damaged and no injuries were reported in either incident.
Polk County authorities now say a 15-year-old Babson Park youth has died as a result of that two-motorcycle accident on Lewis Griffin Road. Reports identify the youth as Landen Cole Jackson. His Kawasaki reportedly was hit head-on by a motorized bicycle ridden by 33-year-old Merrill Faison jr. of Lake Wales.
Both riders were airlifted out. Faison remains in critical condition. Reportedly, neither of the riders had helmets, safety gear or lights on their bikes.