10/31/24 @ 8:30 a.m. - Several thousand people joined us on Friday, October 25, 2024 for the 4th Annual Halloween Festival. This family-friendly event featured trick-or-treating, kids activities, hayrides, and more. A huge thank you to the 70 businesses/organizations who volunteered their time and efforts to provide a safe outlet for trick-or-treating.

We also appreciate the support from the community for this and other County sponsored events. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the 3rd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting scheduled for Friday, December 6th from 5:00-8:00 p.m. This event will be bigger and better as we end our year of Bicentennial celebrations. Full details about this event will be announced very soon so stay tuned!

-Sabrina Robertson
 Public Information Officer

10/30/24 @ 9:30 a.m. - The Fernandina Beach Library is hosting a special Book Launch Event with RW Herman, award-winning author of "The Unopened Letter". Join them for an introduction of his new book and a book signing on November 9, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. This event is free and open to everyone to attend. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Library at (904) 530-6500 or email [email protected]. 

-Sabrina Robertson
 Public Information Officer

10/29/24 @ 6:00 a.m. - For our final Turtle Talk Tuesday of the 2024 nesting season, below is one final update from the Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch's Executive Director Mary Duffy. 

"Sea turtle nesting season has come to an end on Amelia Island.  Our first nest was laid on May 5 and our last nest was laid on August 14.  We recorded 156 nests for 2024 in the area monitored by AISTW.  Amelia Island State Park recorded 3 nests and Ft. Clinch State Park recorded a record 63 nests, for a total of 222 nests on Amelia Island.

In addition to our common loggerhead species, we documented 1 leatherback nest, 1 extremely endangered Kemps Ridley nest, and 1 green turtle nest.  
 
2024 brought a couple of strange events on our beach.  Among the most bizarre event, was the discovery of a multi-million dollar’s worth bundle of illegal drugs.  When you are the first persons on the beach every morning, there is no telling what you will find.
 
Amelia Island was also fortunate to experience two sea turtle releases by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.  On both occasions, the rehabilitated sea turtles that were released back to the sea, were turtles that had been rescued on the island.  Hundreds of people gathered to watch the releases.
 
2024 was no different from other years when we experienced tropical storms, hurricanes, and king tides.  These events can, and do, have devastating effects on incubating sea turtle nests.  Sea turtles, however, are very adaptable animals.  By laying multiple nests of nearly 100 eggs each in a given season, sea turtles have hedged their bets against the loss of eggs due to tropical events.

Out of 156 nests, 16 were lost to overall erosion, 2 were destroyed by accretion of sand, 3 were lost to hurricane Debby, and 1 was lost to hurricane Milton. 

After each nest incubates and emerges, authorized personnel wait 3 days to inventory each clutch.  As data collectors, volunteers categorize and count all remaining contents. 

In 2024, the following data was collected:
Dead in the nest:  119
Live in the nest:  106
Pipped dead (egg broken open but hatchling is dead):  118
Pipped live (egg broken open and hatchling is alive): 14
Unhatched (egg is infertile or a hatchling is dead in an unhatched egg):  1,607
Live emerged: 12,281

Over the years, we have determined that numbers such as these are common and proportionate to the total number of eggs laid in a particular season. 
 
As we close out the 2024 sea turtle nesting season, our many thanks go out to all the businesses, community members, and governmental agencies that have supported us along the way.  As we approach our 40th anniversary, we are grateful for the extraordinary volunteers who make this group so special.  Thank you to all!" 
 

10/25/24 @ 2:30 p.m. - Below are pictures from the week of October 18-October 25, 2024. 

-Sabrina Robertson
​ Public Information Officer

10/25/24 @ 10:00 a.m. - On Saturday, October 19, 2024, Nassau County Public Works and Keep Nassau Beautiful hosted the bi-annual Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Event. A total of 455 vehicles came through during the 4-hour event disposing of hazardous items such as electronics, paint, aerosols, batteries, used oils and lubricants, and more. 

Thank you to each and every resident that attended and did their part to ensure that harmful items are kept out of the landfill. And thank you to the employees of Nassau County Public Works and the volunteers at Keep Nassau Beautiful for coordinating the event and volunteering their time cleaning out vehicles for residents, sorting materials, and placing them in the proper trucks for disposal. We also want to send a special thank you to the hardworking men and women at Nassau County Fire Rescue Station 71 (Chester Road) and Commissioner Hupp Huppmann for spending their morning helping as well. It was a beautiful day serving the community and we appreciate all the extra help. 

The next Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Event will take place in April 2025. As a reminder, the Convenience Recycle Center in Callahan takes many of these items year-round. Examples include batteries, latex paint, electronics, and used cooking oil. For more information, visit the Nassau County Solid Waste webpage. 

-Sabrina Robertson
 Public Information Officer 

10/24/24 @ 8:45 p.m. 

Early voting for the General Election began on October 23, 2024. The Supervisor of Elections Office reminds you that a voter information card cannot be used as a form of ID when you vote. When voting in person, you must have a valid photo and signature ID from the list below. The SOE also suggests that you review the sample ballot in advance and mark it. Sample ballots call also be viewed on our website at www.votenassaufl.gov/sample-ballot.

-Sabrina Robertson
​ Public Information Officer

At the Wednesday, October 16, 2024 meeting, the BOCC approved Proclamation No. 2024-034 proclaiming the week of October 20 - October 26, 2024 as Breast Cancer Awareness Week and Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at "Pink Day." Below are photos from employees of various County departments showing their support by wearing their pink on Wednesday. 

Employee George Murray and his wife Ashley celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Week by wearing their pink to Yulee High School's Pink Out Night. Upon hearing about the Proclamation, George emailed Public Information Officer Sabrina Robertson and stated, "I wanted to share a short note about the benefits of self exams and early detection. My wife, Ashley, was diagnosed with breast cancer in late June and had a bilateral mastectomy in August at the Mayo Clinic. She found the tumor on her own and thankfully it was still relatively small at stage 1. But based on her age only being 39 she decided to go with the double just to mitigate any risk of future recurrence. But it’s an important story to show it’s never too early to start checking. I’ll be rocking my pink on Wednesday!"

Thank you George for the very important reminder and appreciate Ashley for agreeing to share her story with us. If you are interested in learning more about breast cancer, visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation's website by clicking here.  

-Sabrina Robertson
 Public Information Officer

10/24/24 @ 5:00 p.m. - The Amelia Island Convention & Visitors Bureau has provided 10 "insider tips" for the 10th Annual Dickens on Centre Event taking place in Fernandina Beach December 12-15, 2024. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Britney Guertin with Hayworth Public Relations at (386) 677-7000 ext. 4 or via e-mail at [email protected]. 

-Sabrina Robertson
 Public Information Officer