Out and About Archive

I had a conversation with a recovering newspaper publisher this past week who was in the newspaper, business journal business for more than 30 years.

He found me because he visited the Navarre Beach Area Chamber and Chanda Ryan, the executive director, told him he should talk to me. We talked for a little bit on the phone but then I invited him to lunch at Panera.

Covering other areas of Northwest Florida is giving us insights into how other cities and government bodies work.

We have covered an incorporated area of Santa Rosa County, Navarre, for 22 years. During that time, we have covered three attempts to move incorporating Navarre into a city.

We were able to get into Aldi two days before it opened and have a tour.

We also did a live video. By the time you are reading this, hopefully you have discovered that we also have Aldi’s inserts. This week there is a $5 off coupon when you spend $30.

The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has changed up their “Tunes by the Dunes” concert series.

This year there will be a six-week spring series kicking off next Thursday, March 10, and a six-week summer series.

Just like the landscape of Navarre is changing, so are we.

With the addition of two papers to our parent company, Sandpaper Publishing, Inc., we have had changes in our staffing. In addition to hiring and getting ready to staff the two new (to us) titles, Santa Rosa Press Gazette and the Crestview News Bulletin, we have had changes in roles in our company.

Good news! Aldi will be providing inserts/advertising to our readers.

They are planning on opening in March. Between Aldi, Publix and Winn Dixie advertisements in Navarre Press, you will have all the information you need to shop in Navarre.

Congratulations to all the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce award winner nominees for 2021.

The winner will be announced at the breakfast that will be held on Friday, January 28, 2022, at 7:30 am at St Sylvester Catholic Church, 6464 Gulf Breeze Parkway.

The zoning board has denied a request for a new RV park on a 20-acre parcel east of Milton, citing environmental concerns.

It will be interested to see whether county commissioners take a different position, as the two boards have so often split in the past.

People seem surprised when I show up at meetings. I’m on the board of the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation and have been on the board for more than 10 years.

When I walked in yesterday, they seemed surprised. They thought I wouldn’t be able to make it with the addition of two new papers.

Surprise! We have two more newspapers and communities to work with every week. It has been a whirlwind and still is.

Someone sent me an email and said, ‘Yay! When can we celebrate?’ I replied with a long list of what I had on my plate and said that me accomplishing that list was all the celebrating I could do right now.