The Emerald Coast Association of Realtors recently donated $1000 to CALM house as well as $1000 to A Bed 4 Me Foundation. ECAR Niceville Director Tammy Summers and fellow realtors members and members of the board of Directors were there to present the check. The Emerald Coast Association of Realtors cares about its community!
Niceville was recently named the Safest City in Florida for 2022 according to Safewise, an online resource that provides tools and information for safety at home and in the community. Niceville is the only community in our area to be named to the Safewise Safest Cities list in Florida this year and jumped 14 spots to land at number 1, out of the 143 cities ranked. Safewise cities were ranked based on formulas utilizing FBI crime data as well as median income and poverty data, high school graduation rates, unemployment rates, household access to high-speed internet, redlining practices, and/or city budget allocations. Safewise’s data points for Niceville—Population: 16,345; Median Income: $76,823; Violent Crime Rate 2022, 2021, 2020: 0.6, 0.7, 1.5; Property Crime Rate 2022, 2021, 2020: 2.9, 12.8, 12.0.
The Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida presents a Mother’s Day Tea, Saturday, May 7, from 1-3 p.m. Members $20; Non-members $25. Call (850) 678-2615 to register and pay. 115 Westview Ave., Valparaiso, 32578.
The Niceville Library Friends is hosting a Pop-Up Used Book Sale in the lobby and bookstore of the Library on Saturday, May 7, including a bake sale. The featured sale items will be DVD, CD and Audio books for $.50 and children’s books for $.25.
Attention Golfers, Sponsors and Alaqua lovers! Save the Date for FORE! THE LOVE OF AMIMALS – Alaqua’s inaugural Golf Tournament, Saturday, May 21st. 100% of the proceeds go to help comfort and feed all the animals at Alaqua Animal Refuge in Freeport and those yet to experience a second chance. Golf at Windswept Dunes is $200 per player and $750 per team! Registration is at 8:30 a.m.; Shot Gun Start at 10 a.m., Yappy Hour and Awards from 3-5 p.m. next door at Alaqua. To register, sponsor or donate, visit https://app.eventcaddy.com/events/fore-the-love-of-animals. Sponsorship Opportunities are available and are designed to give you and your company great exposure including golf entries for individuals and teams, logo recognition, social media platforms and the ability to distribute materials and more.
Bless CALM—Crisis Aid for Littles and Moms–and get rid of your unused household items! Bring your furniture and household items to donate and benefit CALM to VenYou201, 201 Redwood Ave. Niceville, meeting and event space between May 18-20 for a community-wide rummage sale to be held on Saturday, May 21st. Proceeds from the rummage sale will be used to benefit and support the moms and kids in CALM House. Contact (850) 585-1665 by Tuesday, May 10th to reserve your spot!
In April, CALM—Crisis Aid for Littles and Moms, hosted its 5th annual fundraiser, raising funds for CALM Village, which will assist future residents to achieve self-sufficiency and independent living. The dinner was a sold-out success! Ed Wrann and the John Galt Band entertained over 72 guests who bid on 27 auction items with Emcee and Auctioneer Jeff Jourdan. Attendees feasted on a delicious meal provided compliments of Café Bienville, Toast Wine Bar, Tisano’s Italian, 790 and 3rdPlanet Brewery. One20Bistro also provided food.
A whopping $47,000+ was raised – an amazing amount that will be used to begin CALM Village. For more information, contact wandanv@cox.net or (850) 543-0534.
The Florida League of Cities (FLC), celebrating its 100th anniversary as the united voice for Florida’s municipal governments, recently recognized Niceville Councilman Bill Schaetzle with a 2022 Home Rule Hero Award for his hard work and advocacy efforts during the 2022 Legislative Session. Councilman Schaetzle worked tirelessly throughout the session to promote local voices making local choices, protect the Home Rule powers of Florida’s municipalities, and advance the League’s legislative agenda. Home Rule is the ability for a city to address local problems with local solutions with minimal state interference. Home Rule Hero Award recipients are local government officials, both elected and unelected, who consistently respond to the League’s request to reach out to members of the legislature and help give a local perspective on an issue. Bill Schaetzle and his wife, Claudene, moved to Niceville in 1999. He was first elected to the City Council in August of 2011.
The Freeport Republicans will meet Tuesday, May 10, in Freeport at the Hammock Bay Clubhouse, 1830 Great Hammock Bend. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.; meeting 6-7 p.m. May’s speaker is Mr. Bryan Jones, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. He will be speaking on his platform and doing a Q & A. The club meets monthly on the second Tuesday, same location and time.
The Walton County Republican Executive Committee (REC) will meet Monday, May 16 at the Hammock Bay Clubhouse, 1830 Great Hammock Bend in Freeport. Registration begins at 5:40 p.m.; meeting 6-7 p.m. and is open to Republicans in Walton County. If you want to know what the various clubs in Walton County are doing, to include speakers and events, this is the place to find out. The REC meets monthly on the third Monday, same location and time.
Dwellics.com recently named Valparaiso the 18th best place in America for outdoor living in its 2022 rankings! Dwellics analyzed more than 50,000 U.S. cities to compile a list of the Top 100: Best Cities for Outdoor Living. Among the ranking factors are the numbers of parks, fields, playgrounds, hiking trails, and other public outdoor spaces; numbers of trees and amount of open spaces; climate, including temperature, humidity, windiness, and cloudiness; air and water quality and risk of natural disaster.
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, yet suicide is preventable.
The Florida Panhandle Chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention invites the community to join them on Saturday, May 21, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., for the Sixth Annual Paddle for Prevention at Juana’s Pagodas and Sailors’ Grill on Navarre Beach. Registration is $30 per person. Participants are encouraged to bring their own board, and rentals will be available at the event with all proceeds benefitting AFSP. Official AFSP t-shirts and merchandise will be available for sale, as well as raffle tickets with packages from several local businesses! Visit AFSP.org/Paddle to register or follow the Florida Panhandle Chapter @AFSPFloridaPanhandle. To become a sponsor, email flpanhandle@afsp.org.
