2022 Volunteer Awards at Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park
Volunteer Saylor Ashton’s Sunrise Café at Bud and Mary’s
Saylor Ashton’s Sunrise Café at Bud and Mary’s is the recipient of the 2022 Best Local Business Partner Award for its support of the park.
Chef Jeremiah Martin and his wife, Carey, bring their special talents from the food trailer world. They have spent the last couple of years traveling the United States going from festival to festival. Together they make an incredible team and have established a restaurant and catering business in Islamorada.
For National Public Lands Day in 2022, Jeremiah and Carey offered to provide picnic lunches for the cleanup volunteers. The offer of free lunch boosted the number of participants to 25. The value of service was around $300. Jeremiah and Carey also provided large coolers and ice for the park rangers to take lunch to Indian Key Historic State Park for volunteers working there.
Volunteers and staff had all their dietary requirements met and enjoyed a lovely picnic under the historic tamarind trees.
Jeremiah and Carey didn't stop at just providing a free lunch for one event. They maintained contact with the Friends of Islamorada Area State Parks. When the friends decided to bring back their community event, Lignumvitae Christmas, they asked Jeremiah if he would be interested in cooking for the event that is held on another off-the-grid island.
He and Carey came out to the island and assisted with the planning for event setup as well as bringing a grill and cooking supply set up for making quesadillas and hotdogs on the day of the event for reasonable prices. This allowed the CSO to provide food for visitors that was safe and delicious.
Lignumvitae Christmas
The Lignumvitae Christmas event is the recipient of the 2022 Special Event of the Year for Cultural Resources.
Lignumvitae Christmas was a popular event for more than 10 years but was discontinued after Hurricane Irma in 2017. In 2022, the Friends of Islamorada Area State Parks started the event again.
This event offered more than 160 visitors a chance to hear live old-time music; play games with their kids that were popular in the 1930s like croquet, badminton and marbles; experience the historic Matheson House Visitor Center decorated for the holidays; enjoy stories told by a local historian; and take ranger-led tours through trails normally off limits to the public. More than 25 volunteers worked the event providing music, leading games with visitors, and helping with hikes, recycling, setup and break down.
Through dedication of a small number of friends board members, local band members, a local restaurant and a local boat company, we were able to bring back Lignumvitae Christmas! The friends group is already recruiting volunteers and planning the event to be bigger and better next year.
