CRESTVIEW — The potential for this year’s Triple B Festival attendance to top last year’s 13,000 means more than folks enjoying food and music.

The Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s largest fundraiser — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 19, downtown — brings a proverbial rising tide that floats many boats.

Some downtown businesses seize the opportunity to open on Saturday to show off their wares and services. Exhibitors sell everything from hand-crafted ceramics to new cars and trucks. Attendees window shop and plan to return later to visit shops that interest them.

In other North Okaloosa County towns, community festivals are opportunities for neighbors to gather, local vendors to showcase handmade crafts or produce, and civic organizations to raise funds, selling everything from burgers and barbecue to boiled peanuts and pork cracklin’s.

Here are some area festivals and their impact:

Triple B: Blackwater, Bluegrass and BBQ Cook-off, March 19: During this daylong barbecue competition, Crestview’s biggest annual downtown festival, two stages on both ends of Main Street provide live music while the aroma of smoky barbecue fills the air.

Artists, crafters, community organizations and vendors line the street, and new and classic cars are on display, drawing folks from throughout Northwest Florida, south Alabama and beyond.

“We drew people from all over,” chamber of commerce President Valerie Lott said. “And getting some of the bands we got this year, they’re really popular in festivals around the area. And of course people aren’t just going to listen to the band. They’re going to buy some stuff and hang around.”

Profits are cycled into chamber community events and programs, benefiting members and the community as a whole, Lott said. “It’s a good impact for downtown and for the entire city,” she said.

2015 attendance: More than 13,000

2015 revenue: $34,000

Average Joe Car Show, April 16: More than 100 classic cars and trucks will line Main Street for the Spanish Trail Cruisers’ 16^th annual event, a fundraiser that will primarily benefit the Okaloosa School Nutrition Association Scholarship Fund.

This year, the Crestview Centennial Committee will partner with the Cruisers to celebrate the city’s 100th birthday with a party — and cake — toward the end of the car show. And, for the first time, “we will have cash prizes for the top entries,” member George Kennedy said.

2014* registrants: approximately 130

2014 attendance: 5,500-7,000

2014 revenue for charity: $2,500

* Note: The 2015 car show was canceled due to severe weather

Laurel Hill Arts and Heritage Festival, April 30: The festival, presented by the Laurel Hill and Crestview Presbyterian churches, “is an opportunity to bring artists, crafters and live music to folks in the rural northern part of the county,” the Rev. Mark Broadhead, pastor, said.

Organizers charge no booth space fees or commissions on vendors’ sales, but through selling of baked goods, hamburgers and plants, the churches usually recoup expenses and have some money leftover for community service work.

2014* attendance: estimated at 300

2014 revenue: approximately $100

*The 2015 festival was canceled due to severe weather

Military Appreciation Recognition Celebration, May 21: The daylong festival in Spanish Trail Park features live music, food, classic and show cars, games and static military displays.

“This year we will feature the North Okaloosa Community Band,” MARC founder and coordinator Bob Lynn said. “We will have three Mustang clubs there with their cars, and we are supposed to have two motorcycle groups as well.”

This year’s MARC is an official Crestview Centennial Military Event. Admission, food and games are free.

2015 attendance: More than 1,000

2015 revenue: $10,000, benefits local service members and organizations

Hobo Festival, Oct. 1: Gene Clary Park sets the stage for live music, arts and crafts, food and games and bounce houses. Balancing the festival’s fun side is a mission of community improvement through revenue raised by festival sponsorships and booth space rentals.

“We’re trying to take money to do improvements at Gene Clary Park, and we’re considering doing a scholarship this year,” Mayor Robby Adams says.

2015 attendance: 1,750

2015 revenue: $0

Downtown Fall Festival, Oct. 29: The Main Street Crestview Association’s annual event focuses on Halloween-themed fun with crafts, food vendors, trick-or-treat opportunities at each booth, and a costume contest.

2015 attendance: 10,000-12,000

2015 revenue: $2,500

Baker Heritage Festival, Nov. 5: This annual fall event, a Baker Block Museum and North Okaloosa Historical Association fundraiser, celebrates all things North Okaloosa.

The festival, held among old buildings in the museum’s adjacent Heritage Park, features folkways demonstrations, regional music, food, Indian heritage displays and presentations, and displays by school and community groups.

“It draws a large crowd to the Baker community, and it also showcases the museum’s many exhibits and the heritage skills and traditions that are demonstrated,” museum Director Ann Spann said.

2015 attendance: 3,000

2015 revenue: $7,000

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Festivals' financial impact on North Okaloosa communities

CRESTVIEW — Why was a recreational vehicle parked at the North Okaloosa Fire District’s John King Road station?

That’s one Facebook user’s question.

Jerry Litynski‎ posted this photo on the News Bulletin’s Facebook page of an Aurora RV parked at the station.

“Nice place to store your motor home — a taxpayer structure that is supposed to be used for fire-fighting equipment,” he stated in a publicly visible post.

Litynski did not direct his complaint to the fire district, according to NOFD Chief Ed Cutler, who said neither he nor other NOFD firefighters or administrators have received complaints about the incident, and encouraged residents to contact NOFD when they have concerns.

The fire district has four stations, three of which have been unmanned since the late 2000s, but are equipped with one fire engine each. At the John King Road location, that left a vacant bay, where a deputy fire chief temporarily parked his vehicle overnight March 7, Cutler said.

The bulk of NOFD’s firefighting fleet and all personnel are housed at the Bob Sikes Airport station, which is staffed 24 hours a day.

If there’s a fire, professional or volunteer firefighters respond to the fire station nearest the emergency, taking the fire engine to the site of the fire. Firefighters also generally respond from the airport main station.

A call to Litynski for further comment was not immediately returned.

What do you think? Should the RV have been parked there? Leave comments in the box below.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Why was an RV parked at the North Okaloosa Fire District station?

LAUREL HILL — Engine 52 is ready to serve residents protected by the Almarante Fire Department.

Thursday afternoon, the new, $250,000 truck pulled into Winn-Dixie’s Crestview parking lot, where Almarante firefighters, supporters, family members and county officials cheered.

“It’s a treasure for us,” Almarante Fire Chief Charles Carroll said. “And we got it at almost zero cost to the taxpayers.”

The department purchased the engine with a FEMA Assistance for Firefighters Grant, which covered 95 percent of the cost. Almarante put up $12,500 toward the remainder.

It is the first new fire truck Almarante ever owned, Carroll said.

“This is brand new,” Carroll said. “It was built over the last six weeks on a brand new 2016 Kenworth chassis. It’s going to be a fine truck.”

The Kenworth, built by Deep South Fire trucks of Seminary, Miss., replaces Almarante’s oldest fire truck, a 1983 model that must be retired due to its age.

“We’ll be retiring it and selling one other truck off,” Carroll said. “We’ll be streamlining our fleet because now we have some really fine equipment.”

Okaloosa County Commissioner Wayne Harris congratulated Carroll on the achievement.

“The leadership of this department is phenomenal,” Harris said. “They have worked so hard to bring the district up to this level.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Fire department in Laurel Hill acquires first new engine

CRESTVIEW — Once Molly Cleek starts chatting about her five years in the British Army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, the memories come flooding back.

“I was born in a pub — the White Lion — in a village called Blagdon Hill in Somerset,” the 94-year-old Crestview Manor resident said. “My grandfather ran the pub.”

Serving her king and country was an exciting opportunity, so Cleek left home to serve at a rural anti-aircraft battery outside London.

Life was different from the warm, cozy pub in which she grew up.

“There were four of us on the radar,” she said. “We had to get up every four hours to start the generator. We’d sleep in an old barn in the middle of a field. We didn’t get much sleep because the horses would keep kicking the barn.

“It was so cold, that place. They’d bring us a bucket of cocoa at night. It was the most awful, bitter stuff because there was no sugar to be had. But we drank it because it was hot.”

Two years later, Cleek transferred to a stenographer’s post at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s London headquarters. As the D-Day invasion approached, “There was plenty of excitement there,” she said.

By that late stage of the war, the Blitzkrieg was over. Instead, Londoners “kept calm and carried on” under occasional V1 and V2 missile attacks.

“A few rockets came over, but it wasn’t too bad then,” Cleek said. “The sirens would go off and you’d go down in the basement.”

After the war, she accepted a secretarial position with an American firm in Germany, where she met and married Everett “Red” Cleet, an American soldier from Indiana.

After a couple of years in Norway, the couple moved to Red’s home state and had three children: Colin, a retired Air Force master sergeant who lives in Crestview; Warren; and Nora.

Crestview Manor Director Becky Brice-Nash, a fellow veteran, finds Molly inspirational.

“My 24 years in the Air Force were formed by women like you,” she told Cleek.

“You paved the way for women to be the professionals they are today.”

The Auxiliary Territorial Service, the British Army’s World War II women's branch, formed as a voluntary service on Sept. 9, 1938 and merged into the Women's Royal Army Corps on Feb. 1, 1949.

Due to shortages of men, ATS and other women's voluntary service members tackled support tasks, working as radar operators, anti-aircraft gun crews and military police.

Source: Imperial War Museum, London

FYI

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Manor resident recalls serving during World War II

CRESTVIEW — Cage Wars, a mixed martial arts competition, is coming to Crestview.

The event is 7 p.m. March 19 at the Crestview Community Center, 1445 Commerce Drive. Doors open at 6 p.m.

General admission tickets can be purchased at the door only for $25 each.

Advance VIP tickets cost $35, and a table for 10 costs $350. Call 333-8620 to make a reservation. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview mixed martial arts competition scheduled

CRESTVIEW — Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge Zoological Park will have its annual Easter fest, with free activities while supplies last. Bring your own Easter baskets and cameras.

An egg hunt, crafting, egg decorating for zoo animals are planned, and visitors can meet the Easter Bunny.

The event is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 19 at the park, 5262 Deer Springs Drive, Crestview.

Admission costs $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 2-10. It is free for younger children.

The schedule includes:

● Animal Encounter, reptiles, 10-10:20 a.m. and 1:30-1:55 p.m.

●Keeper Talk, otters, 10:30-10:50 a.m. and 3:15-3:40 p.m.

●egg hunt for ages 8-12, 11-11:10 a.m.

●egg hunt for ages 0-3, 11:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

●egg hunt for ages 4-7, 11:40-11:50 a.m.

● Keeper Talk, lion and tigers, 12-12:15 p.m.

●Animal Encounter, small mammals, 12:20-12:45 p.m. and 4-4:30 p.m.

●Keeper Talk, birds of prey, 1-1:20 p.m. and 2:30-3 p.m.

●Keeper Talk, bears, 1-1:30 p.m.

●Keeper Talk, patas monkey, 2-2:20 p.m.

●Keeper Talk, lemurs, 3:45-4 p.m.

For more information call 682-3949 or visit www.ecwrzoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview zoo sets Easter schedule

CRESTVIEW — It's almost time for the 12th Annual Triple B BBQ Festival. The family-friendly event is free of charge.

The event, which is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 19 on Main Street, offers entertainment, a barbecue competition, a car show and more to festival goers.

A Crestview centennial stage is part of the event, and music from different decades will bring fun and memories forth for all ages.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Triple B Festival includes centennial activities, car show

Pat Hollarn will speak on "Event Planning: The Crestview Centennial Promotion"  at the next Emerald Coast Public Relations Organization membership meeting.

The meeting is 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 22. The group's new lunch location is Chapala’s Mexican Restaurant, 67 Eglin Pkwy. NE, Fort Walton Beach. Lunch costs $15 for members, $20 for non-members and $10 for students.

If you do not want to eat but want to hear the program, the cost is $10. Guests are always welcome and should bring business cards for networking.

Hollarn owns Integrity Unlimited LLC, Consulting Services, in Shalimar. Before starting her consulting business in 2008, she served as the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections for 20 years. She also taught in Idaho and Florida for more than 20 years.

She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, and attended graduate school at both New York University in New York City and St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She has a certificate from the Florida Center for Public Management at Florida State University and is a Certified Election and Registration Administrator, Auburn University.

Hollarn belongs to many organizations throughout Okaloosa County and has received numerous honors and awards for her commitment to the community. Among her top skills are government, public speaking, public relations, fundraising and event planning.

For more information about ECPRO, contact Kathy Morrow at 974-3662, or visit www.ecpro.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Emerald Coast public relations group to discuss Crestview centennial

CRESTVIEW — A Yeti cooler, valued at $349.99 and donated by Ace Hardware, is part of a raffle.

All proceeds will benefit the Kiwanis Club of Crestview, and used toward one of its key projects, revitalization of the John McMahon Environmental Park.

Tickets are $5 each or five for $20 to participate. A drawing for the winner will take place at the March 19 Triple B Festival.

All funds remain in Crestview.

Click here for more information>>

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Enter to win a Yeti cooler, support Crestview improvement projects

CRESTVIEW — The fair is in town!

James Gang Amusements LLC is hosting the event, which is 6 p.m. nightly through March 12 at Old Spanish Trail Park.

Parking and admission are free. Arm bands for rides cost $15 per person Wednesday and Thursday, and $20 on weekends. Coupons available at businesses throughout town offer $3 off the armband price. 

The types of rides available include swings, a boat ride called the Sea Ray and a scrambler. "It's like an egg beater. It spins around with tubs on it," Rodney James of James Amusements LLC said. 

The park is located on Stillwell Boulevard. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Enjoy the fair in Crestview through March 12