As 2025 comes to a close in a few weeks, it’s time to look back at some milestones this year and to be grateful for the national park we have in our own back yard.

We kicked off the year in January with a 50th anniversary celebration for Canaveral National Seashore in the park with many residents and dignitaries joining us. In March, Friends of Canaveral sponsored a thank-you lunch for park volunteers. Later that month, Miami artist Dani Amaro was the ACA Soundscape Field Station Artist in Residence who spent several weeks in the park creating an environmental storytelling performance for the public. Fittingly, it was held at the former residence of celebrated artist Doris Leeper, who once lived in what is now Canaveral National Seashore – which she helped establish.

The Friends of Canaveral’s annual meeting was hosted in April by the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library and featured guest scientists Wendy Noke and Teresa Jablonski from Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, who presented on their work with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon.

During the summer months, Canaveral National Seashore hosted its Junior Anglers program, teaching kids the basics of fishing and how to fish responsibly. And on July 1, with bipartisan support, Florida’s Senate passed House Bill 321, banning the intentional release of balloons. This was significant because the park’s 24 miles of beaches are the most productive nesting grounds for sea turtles at any National Park Service site. One of the species that nests here is the leatherback sea turtle, which eats jellyfish – a marine animal that can be confused for a popped balloon floating in the water, thereby endangering the life of the world’s largest sea turtle.

Sea turtles returned to the National Seashore in abundance this year, with a total of 13,271 nests and a record-breaking 42 leatherback nests on Canaveral’s beaches. (See Conservation Corner for full details.) Unfortunately, strong high tides blasted the shoreline in October, compromising a significant number of nests that were lost to the sea.

Friends of Canaveral worked hard to prepare for its inaugural Colors of Canaveral event – a fundraising effort as the national park’s nonprofit. The event was to be held at Seminole Rest historic site in Oak Hill – part of Canaveral National Seashore – but a government shutdown lasting for more than a month changed that plan. Unable to hold Colors of Canaveral on a national park property, the event shifted to Arts on Douglas in New Smyrna Beach with great success.

Businesses and individual donors stepped up to support the initiative, repeatedly telling us, “We love Canaveral National Seashore and we want to support it.”

Because of their tremendous generosity, Friends of Canaveral was able to raise funds that will support the park’s educational programs in 2026 – paying for items and services not included in the park’s budget.

And that brings us to December, with 2025 soon coming to a close. As has been tradition, Friends of Canaveral will decorate Eldora House in the park and invite the public to come help celebrate the season on Sunday, Dec. 14, from 1-4 p.m., at the annual Eldora Holiday Open House. There will be music, art activities for kids and refreshments. The house will be decorated for the holidays and open for guests to enjoy.

And while one might wonder what’s the fuss about an old house all gussied up for Christmas, Friends of Canaveral sees Eldora House a little differently. It was the Friends’ group that restored the old Florida home 26 years ago and that lovely old former residence by the Indian River Lagoon was listed on the National Register of Historic Places with a commemorative plaque last year.

It is part of the history of the former Eldora community that became Canaveral National Seashore. And the Eldora House was a labor of love by Friends of Canaveral when renovation funds were raised to keep it standing more than a quarter of a century ago.

Eldora House still stands today to welcome both community residents and guests to Canaveral National Seashore, celebrating not only the holidays, but a place in history tucked into a national park that we can call our own.

Certainly, 2025 has been a busy and productive year. Thank you if you were a part of our efforts with Friends of Canaveral and we hope you will join us again in the new year.



Lisa D. Mickey

President, Friends of Canaveral

Lisa D. Mickey is a Florida Master Naturalist / Florida Land Steward