CRESTVIEW — Riders in the Farm-to-City mini-parade that rolled up Main Street Friday morning didn’t toss candy to the few residents who paused to watch.

What they distributed was far healthier: fresh-from-the-farm produce.

“We always celebrate Farm-City Week by distributing fresh vegetables to those in need,” said Molly Huffman, chairwoman of the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee.

“We like giving people a taste of fresh vegetables instead of something out of a can,” she said.

The parade’s two trailers, towed by shiny farm tractors, were packed with sweet potatoes, kale, cabbage, turnips, collards, and grits and corn meal ground from Okaloosa County-grown corn.

“We also (had) peanut butter we gathered with the county extension’s Take a Bite Out of Hunger (collection),” Huffman said.

“It’s all locally grown produce,” University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension agent Jennifer Bearden said. “Some places serve breakfasts or lunches. A food giveaway is what we choose to do” during Farm-City Week.

The parade paused at Richbourg E.S.E. School, where students, accompanied by their teachers and aides, poured out the front door to select a fresh sweet potato to take home from the lead tractor’s front bucket.

At Woodlawn Baptist Church, the parade came to a halt and remaining produce, grits, corn meal and peanut butter was given to the church’s soup kitchen volunteers for distribution.

DID YOU KNOW?

Supporting local farmers means you can eat fresher, tastier food.

That's because crops don’t have to be picked before they’re ripe to be shipped to distant markets, according to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension agent Jennifer Bearden.

And it’s healthier.

“People don’t understand that ‘organic’ produce has more bacteria than conventional produce,” she said. “I know farmers around here are not going to use excess chemicals to grow their crops, so I prefer to just buy local.”

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

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Farm to city to table: Area celebrates Farm-City Week (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

The Crestview Public Library will be closed Thursday, Nov. 27 and Friday, Nov. 28 for Thanksgiving.

We are thankful for you, our patrons, and hope your Thanksgiving is filled with good food and fellowship!

So, that's the big news this week. Next month, it's carols, crafts and cookies! How can you miss? Celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa with us on Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Crestview Public Library.

The 11th annual Noel Night begins at 6:30 p.m. and wraps up around 7:15 p.m. Soloist J.R. Lewis and the youth worship team from Emmanuel Baptist Church, led by Kyle Boone, will fill the library with Christmas music.

Crafters, come early! We’ll do crafts while supplies last. Scavenge the library and win a prize! You can also win a prize by playing dreidel! We may even have a surprise visit from… well, you’ll just have to see for yourself!

This event is geared for age 4 and up and is free for you, thanks to our Friends of the Crestview Library (who will bake us yummy cookies)! Registration is not required.

If you’d like to give back to your community, please bring a nonperishable item, and we’ll make sure it gets to Sharing and Caring. Please call 682-4432 with any questions.

Heather Nitzel is the Crestview Public Library's youth services librarian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Thanksgiving hours and holiday celebrations

VALPARAISO — Yule of Yesteryear, a traditional Christmas festival, is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida.

The museum will be open all day for traditional craft demonstrations, ornament making for children, and free photo opportunities with Santa Claus.

Visitors can enjoy a bake sale and shopping for unique gifts and affordable stocking stuffers in the museum’s gift shop. Local art & craft vendors also will be present. 

A Holiday Victorian Tea is at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.  Visitors who pre-register  (visitors, $15; museum members, $12) can enjoy teatime and refreshments while learning about Victorian costume, etiquette and holiday traditions. 

The Walton Guard will present a reenactment of the Civil War Christmas of 1861 and local choirs and musicians will perform. A Christmas tree lighting and caroling in Perrine Park begin at 4 p.m. 

Call 678-2615 or see www.heritage-museum.org to register for paid events.  

This event is sponsored in part by the city of Valparaiso, the city of Niceville, and Trinity Presbyterian Church. 

The Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida is located 115 Westview Ave., Valparaiso. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Yule of Yesteryear set Dec. 13

FORT WALTON BEACH — By the spring, snorkelers and divers should have two new artificial reefs to explore.

Okaloosa County has teamed up with Eglin Air Force Base to construct the two reefs 2 to 3 miles south of East Pass. The areas will be known as Fish Havens 13 and 14.

“We’re taking Eglin’s concrete rubble that they’ve generated in their activities on base,” said Jim Trifilio, coastal management coordinator for Okaloosa County. “This saves Eglin Air Force Base a considerable amount of money in removal costs, and we get absolutely ideal material for creating reefs.”

In recent years, the county has stepped up its efforts to create artificial reefs in an effort to stimulate tourism.

The two reefs are being funded with a $140,000 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a $175,000 from county bed tax revenue.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 2 new reefs coming to the Emerald Coast

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Centennial planning committee will focus on significant events that, over a century, defined Crestview as they plan for the city's 100th birthday in 2016.

The group of community leaders, business owners and history buffs — chaired by former Supervisor of Elections Pat Hollarn — met Wednesday morning at city hall for preliminary discussion on the 2016 celebration.

The group will have a $30,000 operating budget. Since 2013, the Community Redevelopment Agency has annually allocated $10,000 for the Main Street Crestview Association’s centennial celebration fund.

Now, members are determining how to put that money to use.

“We need to address the things our community was founded on,” Main Street President Ellis Conner said, turning discussion to area history, the observance's likely foundation.

Railroads, the county seat's establishment, and the prosperous local timber industry are notable early influences that helped shape Crestview, Conner said.

Okaloosa County grew from Crestview, Baker and Laurel Hill's railroad communities, he said. The only early south county community of any significance was Boggy Bayou, now known as Niceville.

Committee members agreed that Crestview’s centennial events should last throughout 2016, including the city’s actual April 11 birthday. Events should be planned well in advance and be “branded” to associate them with the centennial, they said.

The Baker Block Museum, bound editions of the Crestview News Bulletin and other archives at the Crestview Public Library, and privately held historical records will be planning resources, the committee agreed.

ESTABLISHING A RAILROAD TOWN

Main Street Crestview Association member Cal Zethmayr, poring over the “Crestview: The Forkland” history book, noted that even before the city's April 11, 1916 establishment, it had been a thriving Walton County railroad community for 33 years.

Situated on a 236-foot crest, it was a prime location between the Yellow and Shoal rivers, he said, which are at much lower elevations.

“When those steam engines would chugga, chugga, chugga up that hill, they needed a break and there was a pond there,” Zethmayr said.

The spring-fed pond, used originally to water the trains, is today Twin Hills Park's ponds, and was an integral influence on establishing a rail stop that became Crest View Station.

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 Centennial planning committee begins discussions for 2016 celebration

FORT WALTON BEACH — An aquatic center for disabled people and a new office building to better serve domestic and sexual violence survivors now have additional financial support thanks to 250 Northwest Florida women.

For the past three years, women in Impact 100 have contributed large grants for local non-profit organizations. As part of joining Impact, each member gives $1,000 to go toward the big checks handed out.

Shelter House, which serves domestic and sexual abuse survivors, is among the winning organizations to receive a grant. With the $125,000, the nonprofit organization will move to a new office building in Fort Walton Beach. It'll have enough space for its growing staff, a children's waiting room and adult therapy room.

Horizons, which provides services to more than 400 people with cognitive, intellectual and developmental disabilities, will use the grant toward an aquatic center that offers recreational and rehabilitative health benefits.

There were 35 applicants for the Impact grants, which were narrowed down to five on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 2 Okaloosa non-profits receive Impact 100 grants

CRESTVIEW — Pack 530 Cub Scouts may have had Veterans Day off from school, but that didn’t stop them from continuing their education.

Crestview Mayor David Cadle visited the pack and discussed the benefits and responsibilities of good citizenship with the boys, according to Den Leader Don Snyder.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview mayor discusses citizenship with Cub Scouts

CRESTVIEW —  Kirby Locklear, a Lumbee Native American, will share his culture and teach people how to dance like a Native American.

His presentation is from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Nov. 25 at the Crestview Public Library, 1445 Commerce Drive.

This free program is designed for ages 4 and up. 

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview library offers presentation on Native American culture

CRESTVIEW — Mae Retha Coleman is living proof of what one resident on a fixed income can do to help neighbors of lesser means.

Currently, her living room is a little hard to get through. That's because more than a dozen boxes partially filled with holiday food radiate from the fireplace into the center of the room.

By next week, the boxes will be filled and distributed to families from the Okaloosa County Head Start program and other people in need.

“I’m loading up a lot of things for people,” Coleman said, displaying two frozen turkeys that will also help the needy have a Thanksgiving feast. “I’ve got boxes everywhere.”

For more than 40 years, Coleman has prepared boxes of food for Head Start, and she’s been helping other needy folks get food even longer.

But the community activist’s generosity isn’t confined to the holidays.

"I do it every day," Coleman said. “A person don’t just get hungry at the holidays, so if I know about it, I fill up a grocery bag with uncooked food from my house for them."

SHOPPING FOR TWO

Despite losing her beloved husband, Ulysses, in 2006, Coleman still shops for two.

“When I go grocery shopping, I always buy in twos; one for me and one for somebody who might need something,” she said.

Needy folks learn about Coleman's contributions primarily from word-of-mouth, including from Head Start families and through her Mount Zion A.M.E. Church.

“The people who come by and ask, I know them,” she said. “What I most like is to give to mothers with children."

Head Start's Crestview families appreciate the thought.

“They look forward to Miss Coleman coming,” Head Start receptionist Cherry Parker said. “She does it every year and we just appreciate it…"

Coleman, a retired nurse, said everybody has the opportunity to do something for fellow residents.

“I’m on a fixed income, but God has enabled me to pass it to others,” she said. “There’s a lot of things you can do for your community. This is what I do and this is what I love.”

“She’s just a community person,” Parker said. “She’ll help anybody.”

HOW TO HELP

Crestview resident Mae Retha Colemansaid there are many ways that residents can help the less fortunate, and not just during the holidays. She suggests:

• Shopping for two, putting extras aside for the needy

• Donating non-perishable items to the Sharing and Caring community food bank, church food pantries or Head Start

• Volunteering at a church soup kitchen or cold weather shelter

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 woman has fed the hungry for 40+ years