CRESTVIEW — Threatening skies and standing water on part of the festival grounds led organizers to reluctantly cancel the Laurel Hill Spring Arts and Heritage Festival Saturday.

Though a team of four volunteers called and emailed exhibitors to notify them of the cancellation, John Colby of the Crestview Spanish Trail Cruisers Club missed the notification and brought his 1969 Pontiac GTO for the event's planned show-n-shine.

"Oh well," Colby said. "I needed a good drive with the car. It was a great ride out in the country!"

For his dedication, organizers presented Colby the sole dash plaque awarded for the event. Classic car buffs collect the metal commemorative plates from shows at which they exhibit.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Car buff receives dash plaque for attending canceled Laurel Hill festival

The library provides information and resources at no cost to you.

Of course, you probably already knew that. But here's something you may not have realized: The library also is the place to go for many of your business and recreational needs. It is fast becoming the go-to, third great place outside of the home and your office.

Here at the Crestview Public Library, you can enjoy not only books but also meet friends and socialize. You also can participate in a book discussion and view art displays.

We realize budgets are tight and families need a place to go and enjoy their leisure time — a place that does not cost an arm and a leg.

Here are three ways to save money by spending more leisure time at the library.

•Educate and inspire yourself at no cost. We're always programming events for children and adults. Programs geared for adults on educational, enlightening topics are presented every first Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. Children's story time and lap sit programs are held weekly.

•Two words: free music. Our Music in the Library program on Monday and Tuesday evenings offers a relaxing evening of listening to area musicians perform.

In addition, we have a great selection of CDs, from country to R&B, that you can check out and enjoy at home.

•Classic TV on DVD. You will be surprised by the number and range of titles we have. We have classic westerns like "The Lone Ranger," comedies like "I Love Lucy," and many new award-winning titles.

You can reserve something if it's already checked out and, when it becomes available, you will be notified.

•Activities for all ages. The whole family can enjoy an afternoon at the library. Teens can play Wiki games after school and on Saturdays. Mom and Dad can read newspapers and current magazines or check out a great book. Meanwhile, kids can play Wii, do puzzles, and on certain Saturdays read to Dozer, a Great Dane who visits us.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Lewis: 4 ways to save money by using your library

CRESTVIEW — Today's Okaloosa County had several early European influences, including colonial Spain and England, and migrating Scots and Scandinavians. The French didn't get much farther east than Mobile, Ala.

But 20 years ago, French influence at last arrived locally.

In September 1994, Russell Sneddon, chairman of Fort Walton Beach's Emerald Coast Sister Cities, suggested twinning Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, a French island community, with Fort Walton Beach, and three neighboring French communities with Destin, Niceville and Crestview.

In May 1995, a 12-member Okaloosa County delegation visited Noirmoutier. It included Crestview contractor Joe Barley, Niceville Mayor Randall Wise, Cliff Herron of then-Okaloosa-Walton College, and "a group of ladies from Bluewater Bay," Barley said.

"Fort  Walton didn't send anyone and they were the intended partner of Noirmoutier."

STEP-SISTERHOOD

An October 1995 reciprocal visit was postponed when Hurricane Opal struck. In February 1996, the French delegation was charmed by Okaloosa County's beaches and Crestview Mayor George Whitehurst and citizens' hospitality.

The attempt to unite three of the French communities with Destin, Niceville and Fort Walton Beach failed.

In May 1997, Noirmoutier instead formalized a partnership with Crestview under Sister Cities International, an offshoot of President Dwight Eisenhower's "citizen diplomacy" initiative.

"We were supposed to be the step-sister, but we were the ones who got partnered," Barley said, chuckling at the irony. "We've had Noirmoutier for 20 years so we did pretty good."

"The Sister Cities relationship works well and our activities have grown to be quite numerous," said RenéRelandeau, president of Noirmoutier's Sister City Committee. "The frequent exchanges, encounters and contacts generate numerous friendships."

EDUCATIONAL BENEFIT

Crestview High School French teacher Chris Lanoue said students — some of whom are underprivileged and might not otherwise experience foreign cultures — benefit from the program's cultural and educational opportunities.

The Northwest Florida State College show choirs perform every two years in Noirmoutier. Select University of Nantes' business students study at NWFSC and intern at the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce.

On May 6, an 18-member Crestview delegation with 56 college show choir students and faculty arrives in Noirmoutier to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of France's World War II liberation.

In October, 22 Noirmoutrin students will visit Crestview with eight adults. In 2016, a 45-member delegation, led by Noirmoutier Mayor Noël Faucher, will help Crestview celebrate its Centennial.

'DELIGHTFUL PEOPLE'

"They are the most delightful people," Mayor David Cadle said.

Cadle's favorite experience with the relationship was when Faucher made him an honorary Noirmoutrin, draping a red, white and blue sash around his neck before a crowd in Jack Foster Stadium.

"We had that ceremony before the game and we had both flags flying and the band played 'La Marseillaise,'" Cadle said, referring to the French national anthem. "I felt so international."

Barley said he is pleased the program has been so successful.

"It's such a beautiful, interesting place, so full of history," Barley said of Noirmoutier. "The people are wonderful, the food is great. I was just using some of their salt the other night while cooking," he added, referring to Noirmoutier's famous high-grade "fleur de sel" sea salt harvested in the island's central marshes.

BY THE NUMBERS

110: Approximate number of Crestview/Okaloosa County adults welcomed in Noirmoutier homes since 1995

450: Approximate number of Northwest Florida State College show choir students welcomed in Noirmoutier

80: Approximate number of NWFSC faculty welcomed in Noirmoutier

190: Noirmoutrin adult visitors to Crestview and Okaloosa County

63: Noirmoutrin high school students welcomed in Crestview homes

6: French interns at Crestview and Okaloosa County businesses on multi-month internships

3: University of Nantes business students studying at NWFSC

INFORMATION

To learn more about the Crestview Area Sister City Program, contact Pam or Joe Coffield, 682-8437, jcoffield@cox.net, or Isabelle or Jim Mills, 682-8215, isajim1@cox.net

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview, Okaloosa County celebrate 20-year friendship with French island

CRESTVIEW — Elks Lodge No. 2644 in Crestview is hosting  a pancake breakfast for the public Saturday.

The event is 7-10 a.m. April 25 at 127 W Pine Ave., Crestview. Plates cost $6 each. The lodge will be closed afterward.

Funds go to community services and scholarships sponsored by the Elks.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Elks Lodge plans Saturday breakfast fundraiser

CRESTVIEW — Nominations for the next Mae Reatha Coleman Citizen of the Year recipient are due June 1.

Past recipients include the award's namesake, a longtime community activist; former Mayor George Whitehurst; and last year's recipient, educator Dr. Naomi Barnes.

Coleman, who chairs the Citizen of the Year selection committee, encouraged residents to recognize hard-working, often unsung members of the community who volunteer to better the lives of their fellow citizens.

"This is for the people that get things done for our people," Coleman said of the award.

Nominations should be for "specific acts that put others first, overcoming odds, enhancing the quality of life," application guidelines state. They must be for "selfless acts and not related to the person's job."

Nomination forms are available at the News Bulletin office and at City Hall.

FYI

Nomination forms for the Crestview Citizen of the Year award are available at the Crestview News Bulletin office, 638 Ferdon Blvd. N, the City Clerk's office at City Hall, or at www.cityofcrestview.org. Completed nomination forms are due to the city clerk's office in person or by email, cityclerk@cityofcrestview.org, by June 1.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Citizen of the Year nominations are open

Editor's Note: Seeing city crews working between Mapoles street and U.S. Highway 90 this week raised some residents' concerns. You asked what was going on — here's the answer.

Email us if you have a question you want answered.

CRESTVIEW — The sight of a Public Works crew working on the block-long length of Mapoles Street between U.S. Highway 90 and Hickory Avenue has raised some residents' suspicions.

Workers were closing off the block to prevent access to U.S. 90 at the Florida Department of Transportation's request. The work coincided with a project to remove soil contaminated by a gas station that once stood on the location.

The DOT claimed the street posed a hazard for drivers trying to turn onto the highway, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said. The affected block passes between First Baptist Church and the Burger King.

"The church is concerned about the elderly folks in motor vehicles who try to exit at that intersection," Steele said in an August 2014 News Bulletin report. "You have two city streets that try to merge onto Highway 90 at basically the same point. It's very dangerous; you can't see."

Last year, the city offered to vacate the street to the church and restaurant. However, nothing can be built on the strip of roadway because Public Works requires unrestricted access to buried utilities beneath it.

"Both parties responded saying they had no need for the property," Steele stated in an email.

This week, some residents, unaware of the circumstances, thought city workers were performing a service for the church or the fast food restaurant when they were seen paving the block-long section of Mapoles Street.

An anonymous resident, who contacted the News Bulletin's sister, the Northwest Florida Daily News, said the work smacked of "good ol' boy politics" because "lots of prominent people go to that church."

But that was not the case at all, Steele said.

"The r.o.w. (right of way) was not abandoned," he stated. "We just changed that small section of Mapoles to a dead-end street."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will reimburse the cost of resurfacing the street.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: YOU ASKED: State to reimburse Mapoles resurfacing cost

FORT WALTON BEACH — Covenant Hospice now has $9,514 extra to help provide compassionate care for people with terminal illnesses.

Lee Subaru presented the check following the dealership’s 2014 Share the Love campaign. The initiative allowed each person who purchased or leased a Subaru between Nov. 20, 2014 and Jan. 2, 2015 to select a charity from a pre-determined list of non-profits. That charity then received a $250 donation from Subaru of America. Lee Subaru of Fort Walton Beach selected Covenant Hospice as its “Hometown Charity” to be featured on the list of charitable organizations. 

“We are proud to support the mission and work of Covenant Hospice, who was there for my family when we needed them," dealership owner Bob Lee said. "Our experience with their caring staff and services made the choice for hometown charity an easy one.”

Support from Lee Automotive Group — which encompasses five locations in Crestview, Fort Walton Beach and Niceville — will help Covenant Hospice better serve Okaloosa and Walton County residents, according to the nonprofit's spokesperson.

“Programs like our free grief support groups, special outreach for veterans, and programs for kids and teens coping with the loss of a loved one are available to our patients and their loved ones, as well as the community at large, because of these sorts of donations, grants and fundraising efforts," development manager Rachel Mayew said. "This innovative partnership with Lee Subaru could not have been successful without the help of a supportive community who recognizes the importance of what Covenant does each day in the lives of those we serve.”

Contact Covenant Hospice, 729-1800, or visit www.covenanthospice.org for more information on its services.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: This Northwest Florida hospice just got $9K more for its programs

Editor's Note: In 2016, Crestview will observe its 100th birthday with a year-long celebration of events and activities.

The News Bulletin counts down to the city's 100th birthday with a series of monthly Crestview history stories, starting today.

CRESTVIEW — Our town was already a thriving community almost 35 years before citizens gathered to make it official.

Due to their efforts, we can set April 11, 1916, as the birth of Okaloosa County's future seat.

BEGINNINGS

The Crestview area was already settled as early as 1823, when Elijah Ward received deeds to some acreage just northeast of today's city line.

In 1827, a U.S. post office, the fourth in the state, opened north of today's Crestview near a ford in the Yellow River. Ward's house became a voting place shortly after Florida became a state in 1845.

In the 1850s, Wardville and Austinville formed, straddling the site of today's Crestview, with both receiving post offices in 1855.

In 1879, the first community school opened in the vicinity of today's Garden of Memories Cemetery on Ferdon Boulevard North.

THE RAILROAD COMES

Around 1880 or 1881, a Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad surveying party pushed through wilderness east of Pensacola and charted Crestview Station, named for the rise of high ground between the Yellow and Shoal Rivers.

In 1882, tracks were laid through Crestview, reaching DeFuniak Springs by year's end, pausing only when a yellow fever outbreak stopped all travel to and from Pensacola. The first passenger train stopped at Crestview Station in December 1882.

Hamner F. "Doc" Powell, the station's first agent and Crestview's first citizen, built the first house in town, which stood south of the present Alatex Building on Woodruff Avenue.

Crestview's post office opened March 15, 1883. By 1886, Powell had also built a two-story hotel and boarding house at the site of today's Desi's Restaurant.

In 1885, "Webb's Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida" dismissed Crestview as "a small settlement" and the 1886 "Florida State Gazetteer" said it "was only a shipping station."

But by 1889, "Elliott's Encyclopedia" described Crestview as having a 100-person population, with land selling between $1-2 per acre, four general stores, a school and a post office.

A THRIVING TOWN

Crestview Station became Crestview Junction between 1887 and 1894, when the Yellow River Railroad spur was pushed north to Laurel Hill and beyond to Florala, Ala.

By the turn of the century, the town had acquired a drug store, another hotel, a P&A train depot, a Congregational Home Missionary Church, a Masonic lodge, a Baptist Mission (from Milligan), sawmills and several other small businesses.

By 1908, thriving businesses included grocery stores, two barbershops, mercantile stores, the Okaloosa Messenger newspaper, a telephone office, a movie house, general merchandise and hardware stores, a hat shop, several cafés and restaurants, more hotels and boarding houses, a "pressing club" (cleaners), and livery stables.

With Okaloosa County's creation out of Santa Rosa and Walton counties in September 1915, Crestview leaders saw the need to formalize their community, leading to the April 11, 1916 meeting at the Congregational Church on Pearl Street, which for several years served as the temporary city hall.

Some sources said the organizational meeting was held under a tree in the church yard. The church stood where Casey Electric is now, adjacent to the northeast side of the S.R. 85 railroad overpass.

CRESTVIEW'S FIRST MUNICPAL LEADERS

Upon its April 11, 1916 incorporation, these were Crestview's first town officials:

Mayor: W.R. White

Town clerk: Dr. DeLacy

Aldermen: President, C.H. Griffith, J.W. Bowers, L.E. Bowers, Dr. E.R. Marshburn and W.G. Wallace

Town marshal: W.T. Mathis (resigned April 26, 1916) and W.A. Douglas

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at brianh@crestviewbulletin.com, follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview: from 'shipping station' to county seat

NICEVILLE — The Emerald Coast Association of Realtors' May 30 golf tournament at Eglin Golf Course will benefit Emerald Coast Toys for Tots.

Registration will begin at 10 a.m., followed by lunch and a silent auction at 11 a.m. and a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start. The golf course is located at 1527 Fairway Drive in Niceville.

“We have a big need for toys, and with that comes a big need for monetary donations, which is why fundraisers such as our upcoming golf tournament are so important to the Emerald Coast Toys for Totsmission,” said Ashley Botelho, ECAR's Toys for Tots Task Force chair.

During the 2014 holiday season, Toys for Tots provided 16,906 toys to 10,204 Okaloosa and Walton County children. This was an average of 1.66 toys per child, just below the organization’s two-toys-per-child goal. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Eglin golf tournament to benefit Emerald Coast Toys for Tots