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.
This week we say goodbye to our newfound and reluctant reporter Jon Crider who is leaving us for medical school at the University of Mississippi. We tried to talk him out of it, but his response was perfect, of course. He said they haven’t discovered a cure for cancer yet and there was important research being pursued on other diseases. So, he is going to have to leave us for the greater good of all mankind – or something like that. I believe, if he really wanted to follow his heart, and money was no object, that he would stay. However – I know neither to be true, so he is physically leaving the area. However… (to be read dot, dot, dot) he is still writing one more story and it is going to be a-w-e-s-o-m-e when that story is ready for prime time. In fact, it might actually be good enough for prime time – in a TV movie special. Do they still do those?
Regarding the “Pokemon Go” craze – I guess you can tell that we incorporated the theme throughout. The first I noticed something was going on was when I saw people walking down Palafox in Pensacola Friday night with their heads in their phones barely looking up to cross the many crosswalks. Then I noticed some young men walking around the yard at our office with their heads in their phones. They were very excited when I asked them to come inside the office and talk to me about Pokemon. And then, I realized, that was too easy. What if I were a weirdo? OK – I know what some of you just thought…that I am a weirdo. OK – I’m just abnormal – and proud of it. Who would want to be normal anyway? Back to Pokemon Go…I liked one Facebook post that said – how about…”Pokemon Go…do something useful, Pokemon Go pick up trash on the beach and more. And then there was a text I received this morning from my daughter at 12:15 a.m. that said that she and her husband were in Navarre Park playing Pokemon Go. You will read in the story how Navarre Park is the Pokemon Go place to be. Some lucky businesses were able to be special places for the game such as Johnny Huston’s and Lewis Funeral home. We had a few jokes around here about how people would show up at funerals to catch characters in Pokemon – but then they didn’t sound so funny. When you have to write stories about perps, creeps, and offenders on a regular basis – your humor does get a little warped. We did take a family walk last night to try to catch some Pokemon characters – so there is a positive side to the game. I haven’t downloaded it to my phone – and I don’t plan to. But, that’s just me. I just will be busy keeping my eyes open for gamers who aren’t looking at where they are going.
Monday is July 4, one of my favorite holidays. As a child, I liked it because I knew it was 20 more days until my birthday. As I have grown older and wiser, I’ve discovered that July 4 is hugely more significant than my birthday. In my humble opinion, July 4th is a miracle. It is a miracle that men from all walks of life (and the women behind the scenes) were able to come together to accomplish the Declaration of Independence and all that it signifies.
The Navarre Chamber of Commerce is having a Munch & Learn Workshop on “Google Tools for Your Small Business.” Adam McCloskey, FSBDC at UWF will be the presenter on Wednesday, July 6 at 11:30 a.m. See their ad for more details.
