High Tide
Unlike January, February seems to be flying by. We hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day. If you didn’t know yesterday was Valentine’s Day, then there is a good chance you are in a lot of trouble…
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Happy President’s Day! Enjoy the long weekend. This past Monday was the 215th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and next Thursday is the 292nd anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. There will be no jokes about any other presidents’ age. (And, no, that does not count as a joke!)
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It seems that despite what the groundhog had to say, winter is still very much with us. Many learned early on Monday that Tuesday would be a “snow day” for some. When did we learn the day before that it would be a snow day?! NEVER! We had to wake up and listen for our school to be announced on the radio or television. Those days are long gone! Hope everyone enjoyed the day.
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Local swimming wunderkind, Sean Green, will be headed to Indiana this June for the U.S.A. Olympic Team Trials. An unbelievable achievement in and of itself, the Molloy High School Junior will now be competing against the country’s best in the 400M IM, 1500M freestyle, 800M freestyle and 400M freestyle with the chance to make the 2024 Olympic team and represent the U.S.A. in Paris. Bonne chance, Sean! (That’s “good luck” in French.)
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If you are planning to travel next weekend, here’s a heads up that the Marine Parkway Bridge will be closed to all traffic from 10 p.m. Friday, February 23, through approximately 7 p.m. Saturday, February 24. Drivers are encouraged to use the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge as an alternate route. Service on the Q35 bus will also be affected during this period and will be re-routed via the Cross Bay Bridge. Emergency vehicles will be permitted. Make sure to plan accordingly.
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The wait is finally over! The 2024 Rockaway Times Photo Contest is here! Believe it or not, this is our ninth year (WOW!). If we do say so ourselves, The Rockaway Times Photo Contest has become a great Rockaway tradition and one that boasts community pride and talent while also beautifying Rockaway in the process. We are excited and grateful to have our co-sponsors — The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, NYC Ferry, and NYC Parks Department — back on board for what we know will be another great year. We look forward to receiving and reviewing your submissions. To be eligible for the contest, photos must be delivered by e-mail to Contest@Rockawaytimes.com. We will still run our regular Local Color pages, but those photos should be submitted to Mail@Rockawaytimes.com. For more information about the 2024 contest, see page 2.
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RISE, Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability & Equity, is having a raffle to support their Living Classroom. Tickets are $100 each and are available now through April 5, 2024. The drawing will take place on Friday, April 5, 2024, at 10 a.m. Prizes from the raffle include two JetBlue round-trip travel certificates to any city, a Kennedy’s $100 gift card, a one-night stay at The Rockaway Hotel + Spa, and a week of half-day surf camp at Skudin Surf. One hundred percent of all proceeds will support RISE’s Living Classroom, a pre-K to sixth-grade STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) program that brings the great outdoors into the classroom, utilizing the natural shoreline for hands-on experiential learning. For tickets, go to riserockaway.org and click on EVENTS.
