County to recycle Christmas trees
St. Johns County Parks & Recreation is hosting its free Treecycling program, which allows residents to recycle their Christmas trees into mulch for county parks. All trees brought to Treecycling stations must be real and free of holiday decorations.
This annual event’s goal is to keep real Christmas trees out of landfills and utilize them in a way that benefits St. Johns County even when they’re no longer lighting up our homes. Treecycling will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at the following locations:
For more information, contact the St. Johns County Parks & Recreation Department at 904-209-0333.
Club plans Gatsby Gala
The Ponte Vedra Woman’s Club is planning its Great Gatsby Gala, to be held 6-10 p.m. Feb. 22 and featuring The Chris Thomas Project. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.
The annual gala is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year with a goal of raising $50,000 for local women’s and children’s charities. This year’s gala will be held at The Yards Greenhouse, 254 Alta Mar Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach.
Travel back a century to the Roaring Twenties — with a modern twist. Break out your 1920s-style wardrobe and get ready for a night of glitz, glamour and giving back. There will be dancing, live music, auctions and delicious food and drink.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite. Club members can purchase tickets without Eventbrite fees by going to pontevedrawomansclub.com.
Attendees must be 21 years of age.
County notes $15.1M developer-funded parkway widening
On Dec.19, St. Johns County held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Longleaf Pine Parkway Widening project. This $15.1 million project widened more than four miles of roadway from Roberts Road to Veterans Parkway and included a new traffic signal at Shetland Drive.
This project was entirely paid for by developer funding and was completed before the planned development was added to the area, according to the county. Officials say this marks a major step forward in holding developers in St. Johns County accountable.
“The developer’s contribution demonstrates a model partnership, one that aligns with our county’s vision for responsible growth and development,” said Commissioner Christian Whitehurst.
In addition, only 1% of the cost of this project was spent on change orders due to proper design and planning by the county.
Speakers included Whitehurst and Greg Caldwell, director of Public Works.
England-Thims & Miller (ETM) was the civil engineering team on the project, with C.W. Matthew Contracting Co. Baker Division leading construction.
Palm Valley Market every Tuesday
The Palm Valley Market is held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Tuesday inside the Palm Valley Community Center, 148 Canal Road. The market offers fresh produce, baked goods, local honey, tea, seasonal treats, soap, jewelry, plants and more.
Bolles senior’s app wins congressional district contest
U.S. Rep. John H. Rutherford recently announced the winner of Florida’s Fifth Congressional District’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge. Eesh Majithia, a senior at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, earned first place for his app, “Notecandy,” which provides a variety of notetaking services to users with various learning styles.
Notecandy was inspired by Neil Fleming’s visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinesthetic (VARK) model of learning preferences, which was introduced to Eesh by his health and wellness teacher. Notecandy was designed to accommodate each of these styles of learning for students as they take notes in class. Eesh was selected as the winner by a panel of IT specialists.
The app will be featured on the Congressional App Challenge website and is eligible to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol, alongside other national winners.
The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide competition designed to encourage student participation, providing an opportunity to develop valuable technical skills in computer science and coding regardless of prior experience. Student participants compete against their peers to create an application or “app” for mobile, tablet or computer devices.
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge opens for student submissions on May 1.
— Compiled by Shaun Ryan
