Community Archive

Another sea turtle nesting season has come and gone. This year, there were 17 total nests on Navarre Beach, with an estimated 1,700 eggs in total. All were loggerhead sea turtles.

While it was a relatively high number of nests compared to recent years, the promising season turned sour in July. A series of storms inundated 13 nests with water, in essence destroying them. Hatchlings breathe through their porous shells before emerging and crawling to the sea.

If last year was any indication, this year’s Rural Roots Day Agriculture Expo seems to be another hit in northern Santa Rosa County.

A line of cars stretched a quarter-mile down Commerce Road Oct. 24 as a Pensacola-based ministry handed out hundreds of pounds of food to those in need as Santa Rosa County recovers from Hurricane Isaias.

Thirteen nonprofits serving Northwest Florida are celebrating after they each received $101,000 from a local organization.

The funds came from IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, a women’s philanthropy group that collects donations and distributes them to nonprofits each year through grants. Most of the organization’s money comes from its members, each of whom pays $1,000 annually.

The citizens of Bay County know what it’s like to be in the position of asking for help following a hurricane. On Oct. 26, they decided to help pay it forward.

Sheena Locklin was driving back to Jay from Milton on the Monday after Hurricane Isaias hit the region hard as a Category 2 storm. She looked out at the blanket of darkness covering the country roads.

Locklin is from Jay. Her family goes back a few generations here in this rural Santa Rosa County town. So, the emotion of seeing darkness hit a little harder.

Hurricane Isaias blew open the front doors of Bagdad Methodist Church and tore siding from the steeple, but the historic church, according to its lead pastor, seems to have survived the storm.

On Oct. 17, from 3 to 5 p.m., Spirit Stables in East Milton will host a “Wild West Hoedown” to support Horse Healing, a nonprofit connecting people with equine therapy resources.

The hoedown will include face painting, kids crafts, a feeding station, hayrides, a chili competition and games for children. There will also be a “jailhouse” where you can lock up friends and family. While the event is free to attend, the activities are ticketed.

When doctors sent Kathy Troup home on hospice care after emergency spinal surgery in May, she was told she might have two months to live. Her daughter left college in Gainesville to care for her and pushed for a second opinion.

Eight additional harvest days have been added to the 2026 Gulf private recreational red snapper season, allowing harvest to remain open continuously from Oct. 9 through Oct. 22.

These additional days will align recreational red snapper fishing opportunities across Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts.