The Ian Lockwood Memorial run is this Saturday at Navarre High School. You can register online at Active.com or register the day of the event from 6 until 7 a.m. The timed 5k begins at 8 a.m. There will also be bounce houses for children and 10-15 vendors.
Today is May Day – May 1. We don’t celebrate May Day – like it used to be celebrated. However, early European settlers in America celebrated with “May Baskets.” These were small baskets filled with flowers or treats and left at someone’s door. The giver rings the bell and runs away. If the person receiving the basket catches the fleeing giver, a kiss was exchanged. Sounds like the early beginnings of ding-dong ditch. May 1 also means four more days until Cinco de Mayo – and margaritas. Let me make it easy on you. May 5 is Monday.
This weekend Friday afternoon – Saturday evening is Fun Fest in the main parking lot of Navarre Beach. There is a lot of information in this issue about the line-up of artists that will be taking the stage. There are 44 arts and crafts booths and 19 commercial type booths along with a great children’s area and food vendors. There is a map inside of “Who is Where.” There is a 5k run Saturday morning (for those of you that wanted to go to Boston) and the event will end with fireworks Saturday evening. Navarre Press will be there and ready, willing and able to take your subscription renewal. We usually come up with some kind of value added prize for subscribers that renew. Just so our subscribers know – we do not give a better deal to people that are new subscribers. We want to reward our loyal subscribers. Our subscribers have access to everything our new subscribers get – if not more. A lot of our subscribers are locked it at the rate that they first subscribed at because they are on auto renew of their subscription. Please make sure you ask us about that when you are meandering through all of the booths at Fun Fest. I heard that there will be a lot of candidates at Fun Fest. This would be a good time to you to talk to them in person. Bring a list of questions with you. I’m sure they would love to answer any/all questions you have.
White Wilson Medical Center in Navarre is growing! Their new pediatrics department is slated to open April 23. You can see their really cute ad in this week’s issue for more information.
The Holley Navarre Senior Center will host a pancake breakfast and sale this Saturday from 7 to 10:30 a.m. You can enjoy some great pancakes or a spring quiche and then do a little shopping! They have an ad in this issue if you want more information. Make your plans now for their Easter Fun Fest Saturday, April 19. They will have games, prizes, egg search, face painting and you can even have your photo taken with the Easter Bunny.
There is never a dull moment in Navarre or Navarre Beach. Our paper is full of courthouse drama – which is different from courtroom drama. Included is information on your water rates as compared to our neighbors, the Blue Angels, incorporation information, the Highway 87 project delay, sentencing, fatal crash, military voters, fire department, traffic lights and a land purchase at Hidden Creek Golf Course. Not to mention all the news you can use on the ramifications of Santa Rosa County winning the lawsuit versus the Navarre Beach Leaseholders on whether or not the land and improvements is taxable. We have an entire editorial on that subject.
Navarre Beach is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves. We received the TripAdvisor® press release on press day that Navarre Beach was named the No. 25 beach in the Travelers’ Choice™ Awards for Beaches in the U.S. We barely made the list – but we made the list which is an accomplishment. Last Thursday my daughter called me to say that the water at Navarre Beach was especially beautiful. She told me it looked like what magazines always depict for Caribbean resorts. I called the office because I was traveling and sent one of our photographers out to get pictures and three hours later I received a call he hadn’t returned. I forgot all about it until Monday afternoon when I remembered to look at the pictures. I have lived here for more than 20 years and I was blown away by the pristine beauty of Navarre Beach all over again. I was gasping at every picture because the water was crystal clear and was a beautiful emerald green and turquoise opalescent color. And then there was the sea turtle that popped up out of the water, schools of fish that swam by, the jellyfish that appeared, and the heron that landed on the pier railing by our photographer. It was almost as if nature was showing off. We definitely got a “snapshot” so to speak – of our beautiful area.
Just when you thought it wouldn’t happen…foundation plans for the new hotel to be constructed on Navarre Beach have been submitted to the county. Doster Construction Company is the contractor of record.
We received an email from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and then they followed up with a phone call asking if we received it sounding indignant. They wanted to make sure that we received it and hoped that we would report on it. Apparently a Boy Scout troop based in Navarre was treated to some freshly roasted rabbit and PETA thought we should write about it. So for those of you faint of heart you may want to stop reading now and skip down to “in other news.”
