from Staff
The City of Jacksonville’s Clean It Up!, Green It Up! Division will partner with the First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation to observe Surfing Magazine’s “International Surf Day” with activities Thursday and Saturday.
Events will include a showing of “An Inconvenient Truth,” a Sundance Film Festival, Paramount Classics and Participant Productions documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring former Vice President Al Gore. The film will be shown at Twisted Sisters restaurant in Jacksonville Beach Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
The beach cleanup and surf session (waves permitting) is Saturday from 8-11 a.m. Litter bags and gloves will be distributed to volunteers at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park Gate 1, the Neptune Beach lifeguard station, the Jacksonville Beach Pier and the Jacksonville Beach lifeguard station.
Cleanup participants must be at least 18 years old or accompanied by an adult and should bring water and wear sturdy footwear and sun protection.
Following the cleanup, surfers are invited bring their own boards and enjoy the ocean. Each location will have a first aid kit and site captains standing by.
Volunteers are invited to attend an awards ceremony featuring free refreshments at the Jacksonville Beach Pier at noon. Awards will be presented to cleanup volunteers, sponsors and partner organizations for their efforts to preserving the communities’ beaches. The First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will also announce the preliminary results of its comprehensive water testing program.
The cleanup will only be canceled in the event of severe weather warnings.
Partnering organizations include From Jax with Love, Sisters of the Sea, the St. Johns River Water Management District and Wavemasters.
The event is sponsored by the City of Jacksonville, First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Green Team Project, Robin Shepard Group and Twisted Sisters restaurant and nationally by Billabong, Islands Restaurant, Surftech, Life Water Simple, WaveWatch, Earthpack and PacSun.
For additional information call 630-3420, visit www.coj.net, key words “International Surf Day”, or www.surfriders.org.