Here are upcoming Crestview Public Library-related events. The library's address is 1445 Commerce Drive.

AGES 0-2 LIBRARY CLASS: 9:15 a.m. Tuesdays, Crestview library. Topics: Aug. 11, All About Me; Aug. 18-25, People Working; Sept. 1 and 8, Grandparents (bring biological or honorary grandparents if you like); Sept. 15 and 29, Mice; Oct. 6 and 13, Piggies; Oct. 20 and 27, Autumn and Halloween (wear non-scary costume if you like).

AGES 3-5 LIBRARY CLASS: 10:15 a.m. Tuesdays, Crestview library. Topics: Aug. 15, Flap Your Wings; Aug. 29 and Sept. 5, Grandparents; Sept. 12 and 19, Magic Pasta Pot; Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, Hats Off to You.

FAMILY LIBRARY TIME: 6:30-7:15 p.m. Aug. 22, Crestview library. "Miniature Horses." For first 20 kids to register, for ages 4 and up. Visit the library for details as the date nears.

FAMILY LIBRARY TIME: 6:30-7:15 p.m. Sept. 22, Crestview library. The Library Run is a tour of the library. Learn to use the catalog and race to find items. For ages 4 and up. Visit the library for details as the date nears.

READ TO DOZER: First Saturdays, 10-11 a.m.; for children ages 4 and up.

COFFEE & CRAFT: 10 a.m. second Saturdays, Crestview library. Call 682-4432 to reserve your spot.

TEEN TIME: 2-4 p.m. Fridays in the meeting room, Crestview library. Wii and virtual reality games, etc. For grades 6-12. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: LIBRARY EVENTS

CRESTVIEW — Wayne and Jo Ann McClellan, of Crestview, are celebrating their 50th year of marriage throughout 2017.

They married Aug. 11, 1967, at the courthouse in Fort Gaines, Georgia.

Wayne worked for the Okaloosa County School District for 35 years. 

He and Jo Ann owned Panhandle Pampas Nursery for over 20 years. Since retirement, the couple has enjoyed traveling and visiting with friends and family.

They have two children, Hollea (Kevin) Ryan and Heather McClellan. They also have two grandchildren, Evan and Charlotte, and are expecting their third in December.

The News Bulletin publishes North Okaloosa County residents' special occasions — birth, centenarian, engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements — at no charge. We may edit submissions for length and style.

Call 682-6524 or email news@crestviewbulletin.com for more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: McClellans celebrating golden anniversary

CRESTVIEW — English Farm of Laurel Hill and Beattie’s Woodworking of Crestview donated seven Large Black Heritage hogs to Okaloosa families in July and recently contributed 150 pounds of pork to Sharing and Caring, a Crestview nonprofit food bank.

Rob and Patty English own and operate the farm just north of Crestview. They specialize in Large Black Heritage hogs, which are known for their succulent meat and bacon, according to a media release.

The hogs are free range, raised without using hormones or antibiotics. The Englishes provided the hogs for the donations and Beattie’s Woodworking took care of the butchering costs. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Area residents boost Crestview food bank

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Historic Preservation Board will recognize the 100th anniversary of the Women's Club of Crestview with an Okaloosa historical marker.

The dedication ceremony is 11 a.m. Aug. 8 at the club house, 150 Woodlawn Drive, Crestview. A reception with refreshments follows.

Club member Linda Parker said the club's existence since 1916 is a landmark.

"The goals and missions may be different from its beginnings, but we're doing something right as a club if we're still able to provide those same services, with a few temporary interruptions," she said.

The group disbanded briefly in 1941 so the clubhouse could be used as extra classrooms. The building also served as a USO post during World War II, and as a community center at one point.

The marker to be unveiled Tuesday states: "The first official meeting was held in early 1917. The club was federated in 1921 as the Woman's Home Club. The original log cabin was located on US Highway 90, moved to the current site in 1955, and is the GFWC Women's Club."

The new marker is the fifth one the preservation board has placed.

"This one is coinciding with the Crestview women's club's centennial anniversary, so our board is honored to be able to place the marker particularly in conjunction with (it)," Ann Spann, CHPB member, said.

The other four markers were installed at the JRL Conyers Masonic Lodge 364, the Old Bethel Cemetery, the Concord Lodge 50, and the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.

"We have had requests (for markers) as people have seen those. We have several other markers planned. We just have to spread them out according to time and funding," Spann said.

Club members work on civic projects that benefit the community and promote citizenship. They have Sunday dinner sales and other benefits to raise money for scholarship donations and other club programs.

The group's work has helped area residents in numerous ways, some of which are listed below. Members:

•Created the city's first mosquito management program in 1935, according to a previous News Bulletin article (http://bit.ly/1Tc7v4P).

•Sponsored the city’s first Memorial Day observances and sold poppies to benefit war widows and orphans

•Started a lending library in the 1940s that ultimately became the Robert L.F. Sikes Public Library.

•Sourced a building to serve as the Crestview High School's lunch room, which is now the group's club house

•Helped plan, provide meals and services, and volunteered at events for the city's centennial celebration. Also made and decorated Main Street with banners and closed the city's millennial celebration at the end of 2000

The incorporated organization is part of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Its members meet in the spring, fall and winter. Visit http://www.gfwccrestview.com for more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Preservation board recognizes woman's club history

CRESTVIEW — Here’s a calendar of upcoming events in North Okaloosa County and surrounding areas. 

‘HERITAGE ALIVE! CRAFT CLASS SERIES’: Learn a new skill and make something uniquely yours at the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required for all classes.  Call 678-2615 for more information or visit www.heritage-museum.org.

Upcoming events include:

• Mosaics — 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 16. Create your own unique design using various objects. Bring your own mementos to incorporate. Cost: $30; or $25 for museum members.
• Basket weaving — 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 19. Make a Corner Keeper Basket. Cost: $35; or $40 for museum members.
• Jewelry Making — 5-6 p.m. Aug. 25. Make your own matching necklace and earrings. All supplies included. Cost: $30; or $25 for museum members.
• Pine Needle Basketry — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 26. Using the original Seminole technique, weave your own pine needle basket. Cost: $60; or $55 for museum members.
• Mosaics — 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 2. Create your own unique design using various objects. Bring your own mementos to incorporate. Cost: $30; or $25 for museum members.
• Knitting — 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 16, Learn basic stitches and begin a project of your choice. Bring yarn and size 8 circular needles. Cost: $20; or $15 for museum members
• Loom Weaving — 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 20. Weave on a loom with Sandy Sutton. Cost: $70; or $65 for museum members.

The museum is at 115 Westview Ave., Valparaiso.

AUTHORS MEET, GREET & EAT: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 19, Café Bienville, 314 Bayshore Drive, Niceville. Northwest Florida writers will chat and sign books for attendees. Includes North Okaloosa authors Devin Lee Carlson; Tammie Hunter; Tami Kidd; Angela Yuriko Smith; Jeff Janes; Nikki Bitioker; Terry B. Miles; Ashley West; Bob Newkirk; and DeLois Jackson.

PENSACOLA BAY ALZHEIMER'S WALK KICKOFF: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 22, The Bridge Bar, Gulf Breeze.

SISTER CITY FRANCE TRIP: The Crestview Area Sister City Program welcomes residents to join the Sept. 7-18 journey to Noirmoutier, France. Participants stay with host families in this immersive cultural and educational experience. They must join the Crestview Area Sister City Program and assume responsibility for their own air travel arrangements to and from France. Dues are currently $20 per individual, $2 per full-time student, and $30 per family. Details: www.CrestviewSisterCity.org.

HISPANIC FEST 2017: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 10, Emerald Coast Convention Center,1250 Miracle Strip Parkway SE, Fort Walton Beach. Family-oriented, cultural and educational event showcases the best of Hispanic folklore; features live and DJ music, food and culture. Performances from start to finish, and 60 vendors. Includes a tribute to military by the Village Belles. Inlcludes facepainting, games, clowns, magicians, piñatas. Proceeds benefit the 13th Annual Emerald Coast Christmas Miracle Needy Children’s Fiesta.

BAKER GATOR REUNION: Baker School Class of 1967 graduates seek classmates for their 50-year reunion Sept. 9 at the Baker Arena Community Center, 5503 U.S. Highway 4, Baker. Call 537-9191, 758-7966, 978-2135 or 978-1974 for details.

ARMY REUNION, 100TH ANNIVERSARY:  Sept. 13-17, Arlington, Virginia. The Second (Indianhead) Division Association is searching for anyone who served in the Army's 2nd Infantry Division at any time. The association will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the division, which was formed in France during World War I. Details: Secretary-treasurer Bob Haynes at 2idahq@comcast.net, 224-225-1202, or visit www.2ida.org. 

MA-CHIS POW WOW: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 15 and 16 at Troy University's main campus practice field, 601 University Ave., Troy, Alabama. Parking and admission for the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama event are free. Vendors include food, jewelry, Native American items and pottery, among other things. Demonstrations of Southeastern Indian skills and daily life activities are scheduled. Small gifts will be given to children at the event. 

TRANSPORTATION TOWN HALL: 1-3 p.m. Aug. 7, Warriors Hall, 201 Stillwell Blvd., Crestview. Florida Sen. George Gainer will attend this town hall on city transportation issues.

OKALOOSA AVIATION BOARD: 10 a.m. Aug. 14, Sunshine Aero Industries, Bob Sikes Airport, 3164 Airport Road, Crestview. Multiple members of the Board of County Commissioners may also attend and there may be discussions relating to matters that might subsequently come before the BOCC.

HEALTHY OKALOOSA TOWN HALL: 6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 5 at The Barn at Water Oaks Farm, 4080 Second Ave., Laurel Hill. RSVP required to HealthyOkaloosa5210@flhealth.gov or call 344-0662. The Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County will have a town hall meeting on making Okaloosa a healthier place to live, learn, work, and play. Community members will review draft copies of the 2017 Community Health Assessment, and ask attendees to provide feedback on the CHA and help identify priority public health issues.

This article was updated Aug. 7 to put the omitted date into the Healthy Okaloosa Town Hall brief. The News Bulletin staff apologizes for this omission.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: What’s Happening in North Okaloosa County

THE ISSUE: Niceville's rebranding as a luxury inland community has sent housing costs there soaring. 

LOCAL IMPACT: More people with middle incomes are moving to Crestview, and the number of homes sold has increased significantly compared to last year.

—

CRESTVIEW — Average housing costs in Crestview have increased 13 percent this year, according to the data of Jeremy Fretwell, a broker at RE/MAX Gulf Coast Realty in Fort Walton Beach, who last week conducted a study of market places in Okaloosa County.

“Our average price went from $155,000 to $178,000 — that’s an increase of 13 percent in one year. That’s pretty healthy.” He added, “The number of homes sold went up 12 percent from 1,149 houses to 1,299.”

According to Fretwell, some first-time home buyers are heading north through Okaloosa County to Crestview to purchase homes as area properties surrounding military bases increase in price.

“The coast is getting more expensive; Fort Walton, Niceville and Destin, all the areas close to the military bases are getting more expensive,” he said.

“You have an area like Fort Walton, where you look at it geographically and you say, ‘okay that’s kind of boxed in by the Gulf on the south side and the military base on the north side.’ So what you’ve got in the middle there is what you’ve got in Fort Walton.”

First-time and mid-level home buyers are being priced into Crestview, where housing is more affordable.

“Niceville is pricing itself as more of an inland luxury market. Their prices are routinely now hitting — in some of the new construction — $175-$200 per square foot, which is head-and-shoulders over some areas which are inland and not near the beach, that is,” Fretwell said. “With those markets increasing in pricing, your typical consumer in the housing market, say, your entry-level to

“With those markets increasing in pricing, your typical consumer in the housing market, say, your entry-level to mid-level buyer, where are they left to go? They have to go farther north, which is Crestview.”

Bill Reddington, an associate at RE/MAX Southern Realty in Destin, said that a decrease in the quantity of housing in Crestview has not hampered sales in the area.  

“There are over 400 properties actively for sale now. Last year, they sold over 13,000 over the course of the year. That would tell me that inventory is low,” he said.

In response to the question of whether the sale of lower-cost housing (such as mobile homes) indicates that the economy of Crestview is improving, he said, “There are 41 houses for less than $100,000. You can buy a house as inexpensively as $24,900, but it needs work.”

Reddington added that although the “world slowed down” during the housing market crash of 2008, the market has since improved dramatically in the city. 

“When the crash happened, the world slowed down, and when 2010 happened, and the oil spill, it slowed the world dramatically. It’s picking up in Crestview, which is down to 17 foreclosures.  So that’s got to be good for Crestview,” he said. 

However, he added, “People are still afraid of the economy.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Real estate agents: Crestview housing, prices attractive to first-time buyers

CRESTVIEW — If you have an event you would like to submit, send your first and last name and information about the event to news@crestviewbulletin.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 3 things to do this weekend in Northwest Florida

CRESTVIEW — A car wash with a bake sale, raffle and other activities will help raise money for a nonprofit organization's homeless shelter building fund.

The Bright Future Ministries benefit is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 5 in the parking lot of McDonald's, 302 James Lee Blvd. W, Crestview. All proceeds go to the BFM Homeless Shelter Building Fund.

Crestview firemen and police officers will fellowship with area residents at the event, and a One Blood mobile will be on site.

Volunteers are needed. Go to www.facebook.com/BrightFutureMinistries to sign up.

BFM is a nondenominational Christian-based nonprofit opened last year. Its goals include assisting homeless people in emergency situations with housing and other necessities. Visit the Bright Future Ministries Facebook page for more information.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Nonprofit sets car wash benefit

HOLT — Telecommunications, or lack thereof, have raised concerns for a number of Holt residents.  

Joseph Soley says internet and telephone service has been so unreliable that it is impeding his ability to sell his Sundance Way home.

“After a lightning strike, there is no dial tone for 10 or 12 hours,” he said of service provided by CenturyLink. “Here, lately, we have been having more trouble with it because of the rain. And the other day when it was raining, it was really ‘staticky.’”

Soley’s neighbor, Gene Criswell, 79, of Fox Lane, also has concerns.

“It goes out at least once a week, the internet or the phone,” Criswell said. “There’s poor service down here. The wires down the road are not covered up; when it rains, it rains on them and the sun deteriorates them.

“I worked for the phone company for 34 years and I know a little bit about repairing phones and I’ve reported it since the cable has been cut by the so-called workers.”

Sundance Way is an uneven dirt road; along it are exposed telephone wires and boxes full of wires smashed into the ground or covered with neoprene, a synthetic rubber material.

Criswell and Soley said that a year ago a worker putting asphalt down on the road tore one of CenturyLink’s cables in half, and it hasn’t been fixed since then.   

“They come down and splice through the cable and then throw a piece of plastic over it; we call it a ‘flap rag,’” Criswell said. “And a few days after they covered it up, it was uncovered and left out to the elements, the weather, the sun and everything else.”

Soley’s wife, Lynn, said that she called the telecommunications company a number of times requesting a new modem that was never delivered, although they were charged for it in their most recent bill. 

“They were supposed to be here on the 10^th [of July], between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. with a new modem and they never showed up,” she said while holding up a Post-it note where she jotted down the date she called the buisness and its estimated time of arrival.

In Criswell’s view, the business has not provided adequate or timely service to those living on dirt roads. 

“We are second-class citizens because we live on a dirt road and we pay the same taxes that they pay in Bluewater Bay and we don’t get any of the same services,” he said.

He then added jokingly, “They call it ‘high-speed internet’ and it’s like a turtle crawling. I tell them with two pieces of string and two tin cans I’d have better service.”

Mark Molzen, CenturyLink’s issues management, sustainability and diversity media contact, sent the following written statement to the News Bulletin after taking the account information of both Soley and Criswell:

"We are actively working to resolve our customers’ concerns,” the statement said. “The lines in the area are along a private road not maintained by the city and the lines have been cut numerous times, reportedly by graders.

"Efforts have been made to bury the lines, but this requires approval. We will continue to work to address the issue."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Internet, phone outages raise Holt residents' concerns