Merritt Island Wildlife Association

MIWA at Grant Seafood Festival
2024-03-02 09:00 - 2024-03-03 17:00 (America/New_York) | Grant Seafood Festival, 4580 1st Street, Grant, FL, 32949, United States
Merritt Island Wildlife Association will have a booth at the 2024 Grant Seafood Festival on Sat March 2 (9am – 7pm) and Sun March 3, 2024, (9am-5pm). Come visit and bring a friend. We will have merchandise for sale from our own Nature’s Treasures Gift Shop.

Leap Into Dine to Donate at Texas Roadhouse Viera
2024-02-29 17:00 - 20:00 | Texas Roadhouse, 1975 Viera Blvd, Rockledge, FL, 32955, United States
Celebrate Leap Year with Merritt Island Wildlife Association (MIWA) at Texas Roadhouse Viera between 5 to 8pm, February 29, 2024.
Be part of Dine to Donate by mentioning MIWA to your server and dropping your dining receipt in the basket as you exit. The restaurant will donate 10% of all food purchases to help us preserve wetlands, salt marsh, and other vital habitat at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Commemorate Leap Year with fellow wildlife enthusiasts. Dine with a purpose to help protect reptiles, amphibians, birds, and other species who call the Refuge home.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 for the protection of migratory birds.  Consisting of 140,000 acres, the refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater marshes, managed impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks. These habitats provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals and 14 federally listed species.

Visit Our Booth: Pioneer Day at Sams House and St. Luke's Episcopal Church
2024-02-10 10:00 - 16:00 | Sams House, Pine Island, 6195 N. Tropical Trail, Merritt Island, FL, 32953, United States
12th Annual Pioneer Day Festival Celebrates Merritt Island History
Celebrating the early settlers of Merritt Island on Pioneer Day at two of their historic sites will take guests back in history through Florida living history demonstrations, 19th century architecture, house/cabin/chapel/cemetery tours, antiques/artifacts on display, music, and nature. Festival will be held at both Sams House/Pine Island Conservation Area and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Events at Sams House (10 am to 4 pm):

Florida living history demonstrations and educational exhibits that include archaeology and anthropology, historic reenactors, encampments and artifacts on display
New: Captain Kim Cullers, with his 22 ft sailboat on display, will discuss river travel and the importance of the postal route that was maintained by sailboat (as early as the late 19th century locally).
Live music throughout the day by Celery City String Band, Chris Kahl, Pine Trio, and Boylston Fish
A Pioneer “parade” throughout the grounds at 11 am, led by drum and fife, of those dressed in historic attire
Local exhibitors on history and nature from Brevard’s historical societies and museums as well as from Brevard’s Indian River Lagoon, natural lands, and environmental organizations
Brevard Veterans Memorial Center with a World War II Jeep on display
Vintage, crafts and farmer’s market vendors (baked goods, quilts, local honey, herbs, Florida paintings, books, etc.)
Pine Island guided nature trail hikes throughout the day
1888 Sams House tours with rarely seen antiques on display
1875 Sams Cabin with exhibits on the Sams family pioneers, early Native Americans, and Ice Age fossils
Pine Island Preservation Society tent with vintage items, hiking sticks, t-shirts, gifts, etc. for sale; raffle items include a local fruit basket

Children’s crafts and games – Hay Dive, Steer Roping, Cornhusk Dolls, “Cow” Milking and Tic Tac Toe
Heidi’s Miniature Goat Petting Farm until 1 pm
Local food trucks and kettle corn!

Events at St. Luke’s (10 am to 4 pm):
Perrine Hall: Lunch includes a variety of homemade chilis (traditional, white and vegetarian), grilled hot dogs and loaded baked potatoes.
**10:15 am CEMETERY: Guided Tour *“Military and Space” ***Highlighting a few of our military veterans from the Civil War to Vietnam as well as people associated with the Space Program11:00 am CHURCH: “Life on the Indian River Lagoon” Dixie Crossroads proprietor and environmental activist Laurilee Thompson will talk about growing up as a 4th generation Floridian in Brevard County’s seafood industry over the past six decades
11:30 am CEMETERY: Guided Tour “Founding Families” Early Merritt Island settlers who were also the founders of St. Luke’s
12:00 to 12:15 pm CHURCH: “Community together in Prayer”
12:15 pm CHAPEL: “St. Luke’s Chapel: A Gem of Carpenter Gothic Architecture” Jonathan Rich, author of Spires in the Sun: The Carpenter Gothic Episcopal Churches of Florida, will give a talk on how this unique style of architecture came to the Florida frontier of the 1800s. Signed copies of the book will be available for sale
1:00 pm CHAPEL: Pioneer Music
1:30 pm CHURCH: “Ais, Indigenous People of Merritt Island” Before pioneers, the Indigenous people called “Ais” lived on Merritt Island. Learn more about the original settlers from David McDonald
2:00 pm CEMETERY: Guided Tour “Through the Ages” A glimpse of Brevard History from the life stories of locals spanning the decades
Ongoing Events: Self-Guided Tours of St. Luke’s Historic Chapel and Cemetery
About St. Luke’s Episcopal Church:
The historic chapel onsite was built in 1888 with the help of Sams, LaRoche, and Porcher families. Many early pioneers, including John Sams, are buried in the church’s cemetery. The church is located at 5555 N. Tropical Trail, just 1.1 miles south of Sams House at Pine Island. For information call (321) 452-5260 or visit our website at http://www.stlukesmi.org.

Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival (Jan 24 to 28)
2024-01-25 08:00 - 17:00 | Radisson Resort at the Port, 8701 Astronaut Boulevard, Cape Canaveral, FL, 32920, United States

Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival (Visit our booth at the Expo Center)
2024-01-24 08:00 - 19:00 | Radisson Resort at the Port, 8701 Astronaut Boulevard, Cape Canaveral, FL, 32920, United States

Beer with a Biologist
2024-01-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Playalinda Brewery Hardware Store, 305 S Washington Ave, Titusville, 32796, United States
Beer with a Biologist flyer

Butterfly Walk
2023-12-20 10:00 - 12:00 | Merritt Island NWR Visitor Center, 1987 Scrub Jay Way, Titusville, FL, 32782, United States
We will start with a short education session to learn butterfly basics including differences between skippers, swallowtail and whites/yellows. Photos of butterflies commonly seen in our area will be shown along with tips on how to attract them to your yard. After the presentation we will explore an area in the Refuge to observe butterflies in wild spaces.
Event is free and open to all ages. No prior experience or knowledge about butterflies is needed.
About our instructor (Ed Perry): Ed Perry recently retired as a 31-year Park Ranger at Sebastian Inlet State Park. He enjoys fishing, butterfly gardening, growing & grafting tropical fruit trees, beachcombing (for sea-beans!), tropical fish aquaria, wildlife photography, and sharing life with his twenty-four-year-old daughter Gayle (single father). Ed is a 56 year-old Florida native that graduated from the University of Florida in 1988. In his retired life he became interested in being involved in butterfly counts and protecting tracts of native, wild lands within our beautiful state of Florida.
