CRESTVIEW — A woman seeks information on her missing dog who was last seen on Old Bethel Road in Crestview.

“My husband and kids were visiting family in Crestview and our puppy went missing around 1-2 (p.m.) today,” Emily Crumnow said in a Facebook message to the News Bulletin.

“Everyone is frantically searching for her.”

Roxy is a 2 and 1/2 month old Belgian Malanois, Crumnow said.

Please call 706-573-4207 if you’ve seen her.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dog missing off Old Bethel Road in Crestview

MUNSON — Members of the Brake family are planning a reunion.

The event is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 16 at Bear Lake Recreation Area pavilion Bear Lake Road, Munson. It includes a covered dish meal.

For more information, call 957-4082.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Brake family reunion scheduled

FORT WALTON BEACH — United Way of Okaloosa-Walton Counties has approved the allocation of funds from the 2015 campaign to be disbursed to the 40 United Way partner agencies. 

Allocating funds to the partner agencies’ programs is a very involved process.  Many trained volunteers from within our community serve on the Fund Distribution Committee, which focuses on three key areas: Children & Education; Financial Stability & Disaster Preparedness; and Health & Prevention.

Committee volunteers annually evaluate the community problems and direct your dollars given to the Community Care Fund to the area of service that will make the greatest impact.

The agencies will receive the following allocations:

●2-1-1 of Northwest Florida, $5,500; American Red Cross, $11,293; AMIkids of the Emerald Coast, $12,789; The Arc of the Emerald Coast, $30,646; The Arc of Walton County; $14,531; Big Brothers Big Sister of Northwest Florida, $10,903; Boys & Girls Club of the Emerald Coast, $25,664.

●Boy Scouts of America Gulf Coast, $13,045; Bridgeway Center, $10,787; Catholic Charities of NWF, $21,165; Chautauqua Offices of Psychotherapy, $19,146; Children in Crisis,$43,132; Children’s Home Society of Florida, $16,836; Children’s Volunteer Health Network, $15,748.

●Covenant Alzheimer’s Care, $6,267; Covenant Hospice, $39,177; Crossroads Medical Center, $20,336; Early Learning Coalition of Okaloosa-Walton, $26,985; Elder Services of Okaloosa, $15,360; Eleanor J. Johnson Youth Center, $28,638; Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center, $34,975.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: United Way announces Okaloosa-Walton fund allocations

CRESTVIEW — Fred Astaire in Crestview is participating in the seventh annual Dance for Life, a charity event benefitting Covenant Care.

It begins 6:30 p.m. April 16 at Crestview High School, 1250 N. Ferdon Blvd., Crestview.

Dance for Life is a showcase by Fred Astaire students and instructors.

General tickets cost $15 each, and VIP tickets cost $50 each. The VIP purchase includes an after party with Dance for Life performers at the Elegant Vue Center, 544 Main St.

To purchase tickets or get information on sponsorships, go to http://fredastairecrestview.com/event/, call 682-1455 or visit the office, also at 544 Main Street. 

Correction: This event was updated April 11, 2016 to correct the ticket price and start time.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Dance for Life benefit scheduled

CRESTVIEW — Poets and musicians can read, perform, improvise and play together during an open-microphone event 6 p.m. April 12 at the Crestview Public Library.

April is National Poetry Month; bring in favorite poems written by yourself or other favorite poets. Prizes will be awarded!

The poetry starter is " Don’t Get Fooled by Fertilizer." Anyone can attend, and admittance is free.

The library is located at 1445 Commerce Drive in Crestview. Contact Esther Hurwitz, 682-4432 or ehurwitz@okaloosa.lib.fl.us; or Rick Sanders, 585-6399, for details.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview open microphone night scheduled

CRESTVIEW — Sometimes Main Street chocolatier Julie LeFevre’s customers can’t get enough of her truffles, barks and clusters.

“I love to experiment with my chocolate,” Julie said. “People call me with their ideas for special mixes. Like my Mexican truffles. They have a pinch of cayenne and cinnamon in them. It’s kind of like my passion.”

It all began about 30 years ago when Julie was a military wife. “I raised our son, Derek, pretty much by myself,” she said. “I had to do something, so I started trying to mix different flavors with chocolates.”

Now, Julie sells her eclectic creations of smooth Belgian chocolate that has been mixed in small batches from her stall at Rustic Reflections on North Main Street.

“I try to do diverse things with my chocolate,” she said. “There’s so much to try. I keep switching it up. It’s endless.”

Sometimes, ideas just pop into her head, like her newest recipe. “It sounds really weird: it’s potato chips and pecans in a white chocolate cluster,” Julie said. “When I first made that one, I couldn’t keep up with the demand.”

And the demand keeps growing, she said. The Baron’s Tea Shop and Hub City Smokehouse have approached her about selling chocolates in their businesses.

The Green Bay, Wisconsin, native has lived all over the world, including Saudi Arabia — “The Saudis loved my chocolates,” she said — Dubai, Europe and the Pacific, but loves having settled down in Crestview near Derek and his children, Bentley, 4, and Landyn, 6, who live in Baker.

“Everyone’s got their niche and I finally found mine,” she said. “I’m really not making a lot (of money) doing it, but I just love it. And who doesn’t like chocolate? Well, I know a few who don’t. It’s a sad thing.”

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GOT CHOCOLATE?

Julie LeFevre creates special flavors and batch sizes to order, and caters parties, weddings and events. Visit Julie’s Sweet Kitchen stall at Rustic Reflections, 267 Main St. N., call 428-1223, or email juliessweetkitchen@yahoo.com.

Julie LeFevre creates special flavors and batch sizes to order, and caters parties, weddings and events. Visit Julie’s Sweet Kitchen stall at Rustic Reflections, 267 Main St. N., call 428-1223, or email juliessweetkitchen@yahoo.com.

GOT CHOCOLATE?

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Globe trotter brings chocolate treats to Crestview's Main Street (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — Okaloosa Master Gardeners Bob Bayer and David Stever are guest speakers for a local lecture.

The two will present information on the Okaloosa County Native Plant Trail from 10-11 a.m. April 20 at the Okaloosa County Extension Office, 3098 Airport Road, Crestview.

The lecture includes a quarter-mile stroll along the trail, weather permitting; a brief description of the trail's history; and information on how it provides compost project material.

If weather is inclement, a PowerPoint file of pictures taken during the trail's development will be presented.

There is no cost to attend but space is limited, so registration is required. Call 689-5850 to register.

For more on the Master Gardener lecture series, which lasts through October, see www.ocmga.org for additional information on topics, speakers and locations.  

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Okaloosa Master Gardeners plan Crestview lecture, trail walk

Need something to do this weekend? Check out these fun events: 

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

CRESTVIEW — When Hub City Smokehouse owner and pit master Mike Carroll couldn’t convince Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce Triple B Cook-Off organizers to extend the festival an extra block south, he organized his own event.

Families rolled around in KnockerBalls by Carroll’s South Main Street restaurant March 19 while others strolled the block-long “extra” event admiring classic cars and vendors’ wares, including the Crestview Community Garden’s member-grown plants and produce.

With barbecue’s aroma in the air, along with music, street vendors and outdoor tables, little differentiated Carroll’s block party from the Triple B two blocks north.

A disc jockey and the First Baptist Church of Holt youth band filled the block with music. The band’s director, Boe Miller, said the group checked last month if they could play at the Triple B but “but they were all booked up.”

As for Carroll, he may make the event a regular occasion. “We’re hoping to do this the first Friday of every month,” he said.

Former chamber president Derek Lott, whose wife, Valerie, is the chamber CEO, said organizers tried to get Carroll to participate in the Triple B, “but he didn’t want to.”

Carroll said after the Main Street Crestview Association extended the 2015 Fall Festival an extra block south, he hoped the chamber of commerce would do the same.

Though the Triple B in the past has stretched from the courthouse south to the railroad tracks, this year it stopped at Woodruff Avenue, leaving an empty block between the festival and Carroll’s event.

Had the Triple B extended south to encompass the extra block, Derek Lott said, Carroll couldn’t participate as a competitor out of his restaurant under the Florida Barbecue Association’s rules, which the Triple B follows. The FBA forbids pit masters from working out of their permanent locations. All competitors must set up mobile kitchens on Main Street the night before the festival.

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Correction: Two quotes from Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce President Valerie Lott were included out of context. We regret the error and have removed the quotes. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview restaurant's street festival could become monthly event (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

UPDATE: See the cookoff's winners at left (desktop) or at the bottom of this page (mobile users). 

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CRESTVIEW — The weatherman may have said rain storms but organizers of the 12th annual Triple B barbecue festival ignored him. And they were right.

A sunny, breezy day greeted attendees at Main Street’s biggest event Saturday and as the day went on, the Blackwater, Bluegrass and BBQ Cook-Off crowds grew bigger.

“Nobody thought it was going to be this nice,” Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Valerie Lott said. “We thought it was going to be all wet and yucky, but it turned out great.”

The weather may have cooperated, but it was a neighboring event that drew some of the hoped-for barbecuers. Pensacola’s seventh annual Smokin’ in the Square ran the same day.

“We have seven competitors this year,” Lott said, noting the number was down from the 2015 Triple B’s 17 competitors.

GETTING SANCTIONED

“It’s amazing what was lost this year because of Pensacola having theirs the same day,” Boy Scout Troop 773 parent leader Mike Banks said. The troop is an annual fixture at the Triple B, selling camp cards as a fundraiser.

But that may change next year. Lott said.

“We’re looking into getting sanctioned (by the Florida Barbecue Association) next year,” she said. “Membership would guarantee us competitors. But it’s a long process.”

That’s one of the main reasons the festival remained unsanctioned, though it follows Florida Barbecue Association rules, said Cal Zethmayr, one of the cook-off’s founders. Another reason is it allowed the then-small local event to draw non-member backyard smokers, he said.

Today, many pit masters only compete in officially sanctioned cook-offs, Lott’s husband, Derek, a former chamber president, said.

Among the barbecuers who appeared in Crestview again this year was “BBW-ologist” Po Wigg, whose Two Brothers Barbecue came up from Fort Walton and drew a long line outside their family-run food stand.

LONG AND SLOW

Like other pit masters, Wigg had set up Friday and evening and started smoking. The secret to good barbecue is taking your time, “long and slow,” he said.

“You don’t come for the grill,” he said. “You come for the barbecue. We’ve been cooking all night.”

Annie and Robb Bush and their six children savored barbecue from the Little Smokehouse with a sugar-dusted funnel cake for dessert, clustered around a shady patch of sidewalk near the bounce houses.

“We frequently come to the festival,” Annie Bush said. “It’s fun for the kids, and this was good brisket.”

With lots of “long and slow” barbecue and festival food to choose from, and vendors including community service organizations, crafters, martial arts academies, auto dealers and politicians seeking votes, there was plenty to do for families strolling up and down Main Street.

“It was a great day for us,” chamber Triple B committee chairman Mike Roy said.

Grand Champion: Ranch House

Reserve Champion : Little Smokehouse

People's Choice: Little Smokehouse

Chicken:

1st place: Two Brothers BBQ

2nd place: Ranch House

3rd Place: Matthews BBQ

Ribs:

1st place: Two Brothers BBQ

2nd place: Ranch House

3rd Place: Little Smokehouse

Pork:

1st place: Little Smokehouse

2nd place: Ranch House

3rd Place: Matthews BBQ

Brisket:

1st place: Little Smokehouse

2nd place: Ranch House

3rd Place: Matthews BBQ

WINNERS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Triple B BBQ festival fills Main Street (PHOTOS, VIDEO)