Where Music Meets the River: The Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest Comes to Lake Park
The Suwannee River has inspired poets, painters, and musicians for generations. On September 12, six of those musicians will take the stage in Lake Park, Georgia, to share what the river means to them.
The WWALS River Revue, part of the annual Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, takes place from 5 to 9 PM at the Lowndes County 4-H Club in Lake Park. The evening opens with a sit-down dinner, cash bar, two speakers, and a silent auction before six finalist songwriters perform the songs they wrote inspired by the Suwannee River and its tributaries.
This year’s finalists bring a range of voices and styles, from a Chattanooga-based singer-songwriter whose song captures the feeling of returning to the Suwannee after time in the city, to a husband-and-wife duo from Tallahassee whose song about the crystal-clear Ichetucknee River draws on childhood memories of floating its spring-fed waters. A retired Florida veterinarian wrote about falling in love with both his wife and the Suwannee River in the 1970s. A retired educator and founding member of a northwest Georgia bluegrass band portrays the river as a living storyteller. The range of perspectives reflects just how wide the Suwannee’s reach truly is.
Behind the event is WWALS Watershed Coalition, a nonprofit that has been advocating for clean, swimmable, fishable water across the Suwannee River Basin since 2012. Their 10,000-square-mile territory stretches from the Okefenokee Swamp to the Gulf of Mexico, covering tributaries that run through south Georgia counties including Lowndes, Clinch, Ware, and beyond. Proceeds from ticket sales, sponsorships, and the silent auction support WWALS’ ongoing conservation and advocacy work.
Join WWALS for good music, a good cause, and a reminder of how much South Georgia’s natural resources are worth protecting.
Tickets and more information are available at wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2026.
Courtesy of WWALS Watershed Coalition| South Georgia Magazine