By Will Estell
If you’re a fan of the arts—whether visually, musically or through their power of healing, and if you live anywhere in Okaloosa, Walton or Bay Counties, then you’re likely already familiar with Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (MKAF)—the outreach and events this organization has been bringing to Northwest...
On Sept. 6, Sharing & Caring of Okaloosa County, Inc. commemorated the completion of its recent building expansion project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house to show off Fort Walton Beach food bank’s new facilities. The project included a 900-square-foot addition to the east end of the building...
By Frank Berte
Way back in 1948, the very first Fishing Rodeo was held in Destin! Seventy-five years ago, this bustling international hotbed of the world’s vacationing elite was an entirely different scene. Northwest Florida was still a wild place, full of pine forests, large land animals and a staggering...
By Kenneth Books
The average human body contains about 60 percent water. And we die after about three days without ingesting liquids.
Yet, most of us take water, the most crucial element in the world, for granted.
The Choctawhatchee Bay Estuary Program is designed to create awareness of that body of water and how...
Stories from the Fort Walton Beach Chamber Members
Resilience and Courage Define One Hopeful Place’s Sherry Jones
By Doug Stauffer
This story began four decades ago and details the extraordinary journey of a local girl who, at the tender age of 18 and fresh out of high school, found herself unwittingly intertwined...
By Christopher Manson
In January 2022, a partnership between Okaloosa Island’s Gulfarium and the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Tourism Department was launched. “C.A.R.E.”ing for Turtles takes place at the Gulfarium every Wednesday through the end of July; then every other Wednesday in August. The hour-long program is $15 for ages eight and up.
Jessica Valek, Coastal Resource Coordinator...
By Barb Palmgren
Shalimar Pointe Golf Club recently announced the re-opening of its award-winning, 18-hole, 6,767-yard, par 72 golf course to the public. Located adjacent to the shores of the beautiful Choctawhatchee Bay in Shalimar, the course opened after extensive renovation on Father’s Day weekend, June 16. Of course, fathers...
By Doug Stauffer
America, the beautiful birthed in 1776,
Immediately the world their focus did affix.
Yet, with two hundred forty-six years now past,
It’s time to be born again for America to last.
Through wars and tumults, patriots braved,
The voices against tyranny constantly raised.
An adage of old, from Benjamin Franklin’s quill,
“Rebellion to tyrants...
By Lori Leath Smith
The Northwest Military Officers Association (NWFMOA) Annual Scholarship and Awards Luncheon in May saw eight scholarships awarded totaling $25,500 to JROTC cadets at six of our communities’ local high schools and one $4,000 scholarship awarded to a local ROTC cadet at the University of South Florida.
NWFMOA...
By Will Estell
If you’re a music fan and live or play anywhere along the beaches of Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast, you likely already know about country music’s biggest party at the beach, Gulf Coast Jam. The festival, which takes place in Panama City Beach annually, is now one of the...
