This weekend is the official beginning of Beaches to Woodlands, a monthlong schedule of fun things to do in Santa Rosa County. Saturday begins Fish Navarre Weekend with free admission to the pier Saturday and Sunday. And, you can purchase your annual walking or fishing pass for 10 percent off. If you already have an annual pass, you can purchase at the discount and the county will send you a new pass with your new extended expiration date. I for one, didn’t know you could buy an annual walking pass. I walked it this week to see how many steps I could get out of one lap up and back and I got more than 1200 steps. I found others on the pier that were walking for exercise on the pier as well.
I am very proud of the Navarre Press staff with the outcome of our 18 awards presented last week in Sarasota. However, the awards we received were for our work in 2015. We are much better now in 2016 because we are always getting better. We don’t have time to rest on our laurels – and what fun would that be anyway? While it is nice to be recognized, we don’t do what we do for the awards. We have a passion for informing our community and we live by our core value of “excellence is our ordinary.” Recognition is just icing on the cake. Maybe next week we will share with you some of the things we learned from our sessions. Better yet, we will show you in the weeks and months to come.
Santa Rosa County raised the percentage of voters actually voting in the 2016 primary more than 10 percent from 2014 to 2016. I’d like to say congratulations – except that is still only one in four eligible voters – voting. At least it is a step in the right direction. So in 2014, less than 15 percent of eligible voters chose the elected officials we have now. That is a sobering thought. (I will not use my circling the toilet bowl comment because someone might use it out of context like he did the last time – and continues to do so.)
Come out and enjoy a concert in Navarre Park tonight. There are only two concerts left for this year’s free summer concert series. Highway 95A will play Country and Southern Rock and concessions will be provided by Pizza Hut and Kona Ice.
Believe it or not – this is the last Thursday of August. The next Navarre Press will be dated September 1. Time flies when you are having fun – and even if you aren’t. Lucky for us – we are having fun!
We saw a lot of discussion of last week’s editorial on Facebook but we do not have any letters to the editor regarding their discussions. People do not realize that Facebook isn’t real. People say things they wouldn’t say otherwise and assessing your worth or your opinion’s worth by how many likes someone gives you is superficial at best and at worse – a psychosis. What is said on Facebook – does not count. I’ve gone up to people and asked them to repeat to me what they have said on Facebook and they can’t – or won’t. Some are very brave behind their keyboards, but not in person. We stand behind what we write. We did get one item regrettably wrong in the editorial. Tony Alexander was fired in 2015 not 2014. We will be sure to make the official correction. We already corrected our online versions which will last – a lot longer than Facebook.
Never a dull moment in Navarre. I leave town on a Wednesday and on Thursday there is a coup attempt at the Navarre Chamber – by starting another chamber – in Navarre? Funny, I heard about this three months ago and thought it was a stupid juvenile move by a former Chamber employee.
This weekend is tax-free weekend in the state of Florida to assist with back-to-school needs. You will find all of the back-to-school supply lists, information on orientations and more in this issue. School begins a week from Monday – believe it or not. My experience lately has been that a lot of people felt that back to school snuck up on them. I’ve heard of businesses like hair cutters, eye doctors and orthodontists have been a little slow until this past week – when the panic sets in.
We have a new retail store in Navarre at Palm Harbour Plaza across from Publix – Wave Outfitters. They are a family owned company that has been open about a month. Their grand opening is this Saturday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. with food and prizes. Wave Outfitters carry a lot of brands that you would normally have to drive 30 or more miles down the road to find. One brand I like is TASC because it is made from Cellulose bamboo fibers. I’m not sure how – but it is a great-feeling fabric. Outfitters also have Pelagic, Southern Marsh, Southern Tide, Kavu and more. They also have SUP boards. See the story about the family’s move from Georgia and more on Page A3.
