Summer has arrived, and with it, so have many activities and events. A few days ago, the Secretary-General of the “Word Tourism Organization” was extremely impressed during his tour of Abaco. The “Hope Town Junior Regatta” season closed a few weeks ago with the winner of the “Derek Lee Trophy” being Noah Albury. Last week the Department of Environmental Health Services celebrated “World Environment Day” with its second annual awards ceremony. The theme was “Deserts and Desertification” and its slogan was “Don’t Desert Drylands!”. Friends of the Environment.org is a great resource for more information on wet and dryland management and also on invasive species and what not to plant.
The communities of Little Abaco recently held its 13h Annual “Home Coming Festivities” under the theme “Working Together for a Better Future”. The festival was a huge success and brought many people of the community together. The “Junkanoo Summer Festival” began its 2006 season with a great program on June 9th. There were many excellent performances including the “Royal Bahamas Police Marching Band, the smaller “Royal Bahamas Police Pop Band”, the New Wave Dancers from Freeport, the “Spring City Rackers Junkanoo Group” and the Green Turtle Cay “Gully Roosters”. Also held was a “Teen Entertainer of the Year” contest, a new edition to the program. The next Summer Festival will be on June 23rd. Sixteen forefathers of the Marsh Harbor community will be honored on July 8th when the Marsh Harbor Memorial Garden will be dedicated. They will be honored for the contribution they made to the growth of the settlement. On May 17th, friends of the Environment held a Native Plant Expo. The show held in their Marsh Harbor conference room drew about 35 interested botanists and gardeners. Guest speakers included Mrs. Martha Smith, an expert on native plants and “bush medicine” and Mr. Keith Bradley of the institute for Regional Conservation in South Florida, who is knowledgeable on “Environmentally Friendly Landscaping”. Abaco Club on Winding Bay recently enjoyed a performance by Rock and Roll legend Rod Stewart and his eleven piece band on June 22nd. This historic first for Stewart gives Abaco and the club bragging rights as the first Family Island to host an international performer of Mr. Stewart’s caliber. Mr. Stewart performed songs like “Maggie May”, “You’re Forever In My Heart” and many other timeless classics.
On June 5th, the “North Abaco Summer Festival” and “Power Boat” committee held another fund raiser in the form of a beach picnic and it was a great success. Abaconians from all over the island came out to support the event. The “Sandy Point Home Coming Celebration” was held June 2nd-4th. The “Home Coming” attracted about 200 people from Nassau and 500-600 people from all over Abaco. The festivities went on for three days from 12 noon to midnight. It was such a success that the organizing committee is already looking forward to next year. The 27th Annual Bertram-Hatteras Billfish Invitational Shootout was held on Abaco beach Resort and Boat Harbor on May 6th-13th. This tournament has developed over the past 26 years into a unique event and draws the most well known and successful anglers in the world. The tournament also included many various activities like a Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament and a 50’s theme party. This year a total of 57 billfish were caught and released: 22 blue marlin, 29 white marlin and 6 sailfish. The first place winner was “Wynsong’ with two blue marlin releases and one white marlin release. In second place was “High Price” with two blue marlin releases. Third place was “Intermission” that had two blue marlin releases.