Community Archive

Connor Black is a leader on the football field. He’s also an example to follow off the field.
His play in one of his games for the Navarre Raiders last season at Bennett C Russell Stadium caught the attention of young Joey Nandin, who is autistic, and a friendship was formed that night.

More than 600,000. That’s how many people go missing in the United States each year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons (NamUS) database. While most of those missing persons are recovered, either dead or alive, (89 to 92 percent according to NamUS) there are still plenty of people who remain missing for years. One such missing person is Tiffany Daniels, a then 25 year old woman from the Pensacola area.

Since 2000, with the exception of 2020, the Navarre Beach Autorama has been an annual staple of car enthusiasts in Navarre and along the Emerald Coast.

Held the second weekend in October at Navarre High School’s parking lot, the event promises to feature a variety of vehicles including antique cars, custom cars, street rods, as well as motorcycles and trucks of all types and styles. The event regularly brings people from across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama to Navarre.

If you think it’s been hot this summer, imagine what you’d feel like if you were covered in fur. This August in Milton, where the county animal shelter is located, the temperature has hovered in the high 80s and 90s. Santa Rosa County Animal Services’ dog population, of which they have about 86 dogs, has had to deal with those temperatures in the animal shelter, which despite being inside, isn’t closed in. SRCAS has worked hard to keep the dogs in relative comfort, but it has been tough sledding, especially in August. That’s when a local A/C company stepped in to help.

The crowning of Miss Santa Rosa County, Miss Escambia County, Miss Pensacola, Miss Pensacola Beach, Miss Milton, Miss Pace, Miss Navarre, Miss Navarre Beach and Miss Gulf Breeze was held Sunday, Aug. 27, at Gulf Breeze Middle School. 28 young women were crowned in total.

Every year, Pregnancy Resource Center of Navarre (PRCN) puts on their annual benefit event to raise money for their mission – saving babies, one mother at a time. This year’s event was a Marital Bliss Comedy Night featuring pastor and comedian Phil Gungor from Green Bay, Wisconsin. The sanctuary at Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze was packed August 24.

The Beaches to Woodlands tour is back for its 20th year. The annual tourism initiative, which runs from September through November, features various activities across Santa Rosa County including concerts, outdoor markets, beer and wine festivals, pumpkin patches, the Navarre fishing rodeo and the Juana Good Time Regatta, just to name a few. This year, the tour kicks off with Bands on the Blackwater Sept. 1 in Milton.

In September 2020, Hurricane Sally landed near Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Northwest Florida suffered millions of dollars in damage. Along with structural damage in the Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Navarre areas, the newly built Pensacola Bay Bridge, also known as the Three-mile Bridge, was partially destroyed by loose barges leading to financial damages to businesses.

If you had stopped by Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge Saturday, Aug. 12, and Sunday, Aug. 13, you might have heard the sound of wood being knocked and cut. Despite what you might be thinking, this wasn’t the work of a woodpecker or beaver, but a (soon-to-be) Eagle Scout named Kevin Corcoran, 17.

Northwest Florida has had its share of notable historical moments and places, which have quite often been captured by postcards.