Community Archive

Out with the old and in with the new at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. The team is always working to improve their facility and make it more enjoyable for its animals and its guests.

There’s a new sheriff in town. Or rather, a group of new patrollers.

On Friday, Oct. 4, Woodlawn Beach Middle School welcomed its first class of AAA Safety Patrollers with a graduation ceremony. The ceremony featured the students’ official pinning as patrollers, a presentation by Safety Patrol sponsor Deputy Noel Sevilla, and a keynote address from Daniel Hahn, Santa Rosa District Schools’ director of safety.

Each year, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Northwest Florida puts on a cycling event to raise funds for its organization, which serves children and families across five counties, including Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa.

Over the weekend, many honored law enforcement officers who lost their life in the line of duty last year by participating in the 2024 End of Watch Memorial Ruck.

While it only lasted a few innings, before rain forced their game’s postponement, Miracle League of Santa Rosa County participants were having a blast playing baseball Thursday, Oct. 3.

Pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, play an important role in the lives of plants and, by extension, humans.

The University of West Florida Historic Trust recently received a $110,000 gift from the McMillan family and $400,000 from the late Barbara Goggins estate in efforts to enhance the train exhibition and improve the outdoor space around the Museum of Industry. The new train canopy area includes a locomotive and flat car formerly owned by the T.R. Miller Mill Company as well as an L&N caboose. The new space will be named the Barbara Goggins Train Pavilion in recognition of her support for the project.

With animal shelters across the nation facing an overcrowding crisis, thousands of highly adoptable pets are waiting for their second chances. Santa Rosa County Animal Services (SRCAS) is proud to partner with BISSELL Pet Foundation, a national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending pet homelessness, for its Fall National “Empty the Shelters.” From October 1 – 15, BISSELL Pet Foundation will sponsor reduced adoption fees of $50 or less at more than 390 shelters in 44 states. All adoption fees at SRCAS will be just $10 for both cats and dogs, October 1 – 15. View adoptable pets online at www.santarosa.fl.gov/405/Search-Adoptable-Pets.

It’s been two decades since graduation, but the Navarre High School Class of 2004 picked up right where they left off at their 20-year reunion Sept. 20 and 21.

IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, an organization of philanthropic women who offer grant funding to local nonprofits, has announced the finalists for this year’s round of grants. The grant recipients will be announced next month.