On Thursday afternoon, Gary Woodward slipped on a white t-shirt with a crossed-out “WildFlowers Music Park” message as he joined over 50 other people at Melrose Heritage Park to protest the music and art event center’s addition to the area.
Woodward, 58, is a lifelong resident of the rural unincorporated community, which 5,600 people across Alachua, Bradford, Clay and Putnam counties also call home. He said this is the first project he’s ever been angry about.
WildFlowers Music Park aims to bring music, art and conservation together on a 270-acre nature park at 4107 NE 255th Drive in Melrose with an annual music festival and year-round outdoor recreation.
Planning began in 2024 and organizers have since secured the property for $2.6 million, with $1 million from a local donor. The first WildFlowers Festival of Music & Dance is slated for March 13-15.
Woodward and other protesters said they will attend the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on Feb. 10, objecting to a temporary use permit for the park which the board will vote on.
A petition calling on government officials to block all permitting for the venue has garnered over 1,000 signatures.
“We’re a little country town; we like it quiet, peaceful,” Woodward said. “Don’t want the traffic, don’t want the amount of people, just not for it. 150% against it.”
Melrose resident Anne Rudig helped organize Thursday’s protest through Connecting Melrose, an informational group that started in response to WildFlowers Music Park’s acquisition of the property. Members of the group said it’s not music and arts they’re against, but the scale of the venue compared to the size of Melrose.
Rudig said some of her biggest concerns are that the park is surrounded by neighborhoods, that its land is zoned agricultural, Melrose’s limited infrastructure to accommodate the 5,000 anticipated attendees and jurisdictional proceedings.
Even though the property falls inside its borders, she said the Alachua County BOCC shouldn’t be determining its fate when the majority of Melrose residents are zoned in other counties.
Michelle Baer lives a few houses down from the music park. She echoed many of Rudig’s concerns, saying she moved from South Florida to Melrose seeking out a rural community.
Baer said she worried the park would ruin the rural feel of Melrose and preferred the property be developed into housing instead of the park, which would seemingly bring new safety concerns with more people than the city could hold.
Rudig said Connecting Melrose doesn’t plan to take legal action yet, but that it did hire an attorney to create a land and regulatory document containing the legal argument to refuse the permit if granted.
“It’s not a destination for music yet,” Rudig said. “WildFlowers has no name recognition. We have no name recognition. We just don’t see how it’s going to be helpful economically, or maybe even viable economically.”
Catherine Booth, WildFlowers’ chief communications and community engagement officer, also attended Thursday’s protest to provide information about the park.
She said the feedback she’s received indicates that about 80% of residents support the park, which she said is not a commercial entertainment venue as some claim.
Booth said WildFlowers is a small non-profit of community members who banded together to save the property from housing developments. She said all existing offers looking to purchase the property were from developers.
Booth said 90 acres of the property will be used for events such as the annual winter music festival in March. The other 180 acres will be dedicated to conservation, featuring equestrian trails, an archery station, fishing and hiking that can be accessed year-round.
Booth said with over 300 live oaks growing on the property, WildFlowers formed the Melrose Live Oak Society to care for them. Crews are removing invasive species and propagating wildflowers to bring in pollinators.
At the festivals, Booth said the organization is prioritizing local artists. There will be music, dance, art, and beekeeping workshops, as well as children’s activities. WildFlowers is gifting tickets to the property’s neighbors and seniors can receive 25% discounts.
Booth said the organization has hired police and fire personnel for events, as well as a traffic engineer. A new entrance will be added to bring traffic in from 35th Avenue.
“[This isn’t] the average festival,” she said. “This is going to really bring in art and gardening and community and beekeeping and everything that’s from this area. It’s very truly North Florida.”
