November is American Indian Heritage Month. Come to the Crestview Public Library and check out the books and DVDs we have on the American Indians’ rich culture.

Not sure what to check out? No problem; we will have a book display for your convenience.

Also, on Nov. 16, join us for the American Indian Living History Hunting Camp. The program begins at 1 p.m. Relive the past with Blue Heron (Wah-ka-chobee), a Seminole/Creek Indian. Farris Powell presents a historical impression of the Seminole warrior at the turn of the 19th century.

You will find yourself back in the 1830s, sampling the food and seeing the clothing, weapons, tools, games and musical instruments from that period.

The outdoor program is designed for school-aged children through adults. Bring blankets or chairs and dress for the weather.

Learn about more library happenings at the Crestview library website, call 682-4432 or visit 1445 Commerce Drive, behind the Crestview post office.

Jean Lewis is the Crestview Public Library's director.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Relive American Indian history this month

CRESTVIEW — Dogwood Garden Club members, who are beautifying local public areas this autumn, seek new members to join the fun.

Tuesday morning, club members worked at Northwood Elementary School and Garden Park. The park, at the foot of Main Street, is one of the club's major projects.

At Northwood, club members planted fall bedding flowers for students to maintain. In the park, the women weeded and planted fall flowers.

Club member Thea Duhaime, who coordinates the Garden Park project, worked with city Public Works crews to have tables and benches pressure washed, and to remove a dead tree and old, scraggly plants.

"They got everything on my list done," Duhaime said. "I am so appreciative of (assistant director) Carlos Jones and (facility maintenance foreman) Kenny Martin for the work they had done."

A goal is to design new plantings for around the park's fountain now that overgrown plants are gone, Duhaime said.

Member Ruth Herington — who is also a Master Gardener — said although she has been in the area for several years, she still is not used to Northwest Florida's fall planting season.

"That's hard for those of us from up north to understand," she said. "We always planted in the spring."

The Dogwood Garden Club welcomes new members, Club President Celia Broadhead said.

The club is open to anyone with minimal gardening skills, member Sarah Petty said.

"We're not like the Master Gardeners where you have to go to school," Herington said. "We're just a happy group. We welcome everyone."

WANT TO JOIN?

The Crestview Dogwood Garden Club meets at 7 p.m. the first Monday each month. Call Ruth Herington, 683-0839, or Thea Duhaime, 682-3629, for location and information.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dogwood Garden Club in Crestview seeks new members

Honoring our local heroes, supporting our Hoboes and spending extra classroom time with our students are among the top items on the Hobo homefront!

Laurel Hill School students will honor our veterans at 8 a.m. Nov. 12, with a performance from the Sugar Beach Choir in the cafeteria. All veterans are welcome, but they must check in at the school’s front office.

Fruit sales, benefiting the Hobo athletic department, end Nov. 22. Payment is appreciated with your order, but Coach Ronnie Smith will work with your needs if other arrangements are necessary.

After-school tutoring for third- through 12th-graders is available through 3:40 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; transportation arrangements are available. The Okaloosa County School Board has funded tutoring for limited grade levels, but teacher Adeana Majors is donating her services for first-graders on the same days and times.

Oct. 22 was the "fall blast" for Laurel Hill School pre-kindergartners through first-graders. Thank you to all teachers and volunteers who organized the event, which included three bounce houses and castles from We Bounce. It would be great if this were an annual activity!

Oct. 23, LHS media center director Hazel Harper, along with Students Working Against Tobacco, presented an anti-tobacco show for kindergartners through fifth-graders. S.W.A.T. — including 25 sixth- through 12th-graders — used puppets and props to perform skits about tobacco use’s harmful side effects.

Oct. 24, Sparky the firedog, Smokey the Bear and the LH Fire Department, among other agencies, taught students the importance of smoke alarms, campfire safety and emergency plans.

Firefighters performed a mock vehicular extraction with the Jaws of Life, the Florida Highway Patrol brought a rollover simulator and stressed the importance of wearing a seatbelt, and Bay County Fire House representatives filled a model home with vanilla-scented "smoke" to simulate a house fire.

Air medics landed a medevac helicopter on the softball field and allowed students to board the aircraft and learn more about the chopper’s features. Did you know that the medevac team could make it from the LHS softball field to Pensacola in 10-12 minutes? Now, that's flying!

Thank you to the Florala, Laurel Hill, Almarante and Bay County fire departments.

The fire marshal, Florida Forest Service based in Baker, Okaloosa EMS, Florida Highway Patrol, Baptist Hospital life Flight, LHS School Resource Officer Joe MacLaughlin and Pastor Mike McVay from First Baptist Church of Laurel Hill also helped make these programs possible.

Amber Kelley lives in Laurel Hill. Send news or comments to Hobo.homefront@gmail.com or P.O. Box 163, Laurel Hill, FL, 32567.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: THE HOBO HOMEFRONT: Students to honor Okaloosa veterans Nov. 12

CRESTVIEW — St. Mark United Methodist Church has additional funding for student ministries following its annual pumpkin patch benefit, volunteers said.

Area students visited the patch throughout October. Like in previous years, the church ordered pumpkins from a Native American reservation in New Mexico. 

Volunteers haven't tallied their collections, but said they initially received donations for 15,000 pumpkins.

In addition to selling pumpkins, the church facilitated games, story time and crafts.

"We have had all of the kindergarteners in this area (visit us)," volunteer Amy Valle said. "The teachers love it because we only (charged) $5 for their students."

Several parents, including Quanisha Patrick, the Riverside Elementary School PTO’s community involvement coordinator, chaperoned.

Patrick, who visited the patch with her 5-year-old daughter, Rielle, said the trip marked a first for her.

"(I’d) never been to a pumpkin patch,” she said, adding that she appreciated that “the church loves the community enough to do something like this.”

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: St. Mark’s pumpkin sales support student ministries

CRESTVIEW — Few Okaloosa residents share bragging rights for having the best Halloween costumes this year, according to judges in the Main Street Crestview Association and city’s 24th Annual Fall Festival.

Costume contest winners, by category, are as follows: Piper Smith, “Poodle Dog,” Age 0-23 months; Mia Ocasio, “Indian Girl,” 2-3 years; Camdon Godwin, “Harry Potter,” 4-5 years; Ernest Anger, “The Rocket,” 6-8 years; Aniston Woolf, “Breaking Amish,” 9-11 years; Hayden Boston, “Uncle Cy from Duck Dynasty,” 12-17 years; and the Doss family, “Scooby Doo gang,” 18 and up.

More than 10,000 people visited Main Street Oct. 26 to see the costume contest, play games, participate in the skillet toss and a pet parade and enjoy food.

“Thank you to the Crestview community for supporting the Main Street Crestview Association Fall Festival. This proved to be the most successful fall event (for Crestview) yet,” Main Street Crestview President Ellis Conner and the promotions committee said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Main Street Crestview members reflect on ‘most successful’ fall festival

CRESTVIEW —The FamiliesFirst Network of Lakeview invites area motorcycle enthusiasts to participate Sunday in the 15th Annual Toys For Kids Motorcycle Run.

Motorcyclists will meet at the Crestview Wal-Mart parking lot, where they can go inside and purchase an unwrapped toy.

Shortly after registration, participants will leave for a scenic route of Crestview, ending at the Crestview Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5450 on James Lee Boulevard.

VFW members will provide lunch to participants, who can win raffle prizes donated from local businesses.

FamiliesFirst works with the Department of Children and Families to assist with the foster care system.

Many of the donations assist foster parents who struggle to provide a Christmas for children in their care, Mary Culbertson, a family services counselor, said.

"This takes the burden off them; it allows them to worry about taking care of the other necessities," she said.

There is one goal for the event: “make sure (foster children) have a great Christmas," organizer Ken Payne said.

Funds raised from the raffle go toward the purchase of items not donated. Last year's raffle raised more than $5,000, Culbertson said.

''We could not pull this off without the community's sponsorship," she said.

WANT TO G0?

WHAT: The FamiliesFirst Network of Lakeview’s 15th Annual Toys For Kids Motorcycle Run

WHEN: Registration is 9:30-11 a.m. Sunday

WHERE:  The motorcycle run begins at the Crestview Wal-Mart parking lot, 3351 S. Ferdon Blvd. The run will finish at the Crestview VFW Post 5450, 2240 W. James Lee Blvd.  

COST: $10 donation and a new unwrapped toy

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 15th Annual Toys For Kids Motorcycle Run coming Sunday

BAKER — Flying cypress chips, bluegrass music and the aroma of fresh pork cracklins and boiled peanuts will fill the air Saturday at the Baker Block Museum and Heritage Park.

The museum's Heritage Day is an annual celebration of Northwest Florida traditions, with demonstrations and displays of crafts, history exhibits, folk music performances and lots of food.

As the festival's popularity grows, more and more groups ask to participate, Museum Director Ann Spann said.

"We have a full park this year," she said. "All our booth space is taken."

Vendors, exhibitors and historic societies fill the park's open areas around historic buildings including an old post office, "dog-trot" house, timber company store and an outhouse.

Historic re-enactors demonstrate blacksmithing, cypress shingle making, soap making, butter churning and quilting.

Vintage, lovingly restored Model T and Model A Ford vehicles will be displayed in front of the museum, which will be open during the festival, Spann said.

History to take home

For the second year, the heritage association will sell its "Lost North Okaloosa Calendar," featuring vintage photos of lost landmarks including schools, churches and stores.

Both volumes of "The Heritage of Okaloosa County" and other local history and heritage books will be available.

Local produce and baked goods will be for sale. Activities include colonial games, pony rides and a petting zoo, Spann said. Live music includes local gospel, folk, bluegrass and country artists.

Regional American Indian groups will share their tribes' traditions. History booths also include representatives from Laurel Hill and the Walton County Heritage Society.

Historians and archeologists will staff two archeology booths to address attendees’ questions, Spann said.

"People can bring artifacts and have them identified," she said.

The annual festival draws attendees and participants from throughout Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties, as well as Alabama.

"People come from all directions for the Heritage Day," Spann said.

Want to go?

WHAT:Baker Heritage Day Festival, sponsored by the Northwest Florida Heritage Association

WHEN:9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 2

WHERE: Baker Block Museum and Heritage Park, State Roads 4 and 189, Baker

COST: Free admission

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Saturday's Baker Heritage Day offers food, music and history demos

BAKER — More than 200 well-wishers celebrated resident Mary Richardson’s 100th birthday on Saturday at the Baker Arena pavilion.

Many friends from Mary's church, PilgrimsRest Baptist Church, the Baker community and other Northwest Florida areas came to express their love for her.

Among attendees were Mary's son, Jim, from Tennessee, and grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren from Georgia, Colorado, Florida and California. 

Lauren Belcher, a long-time friend, drove up just for the day from Live Oak. The Rev.Jerry Haley and Joyce, Mary's former pastor and his wife, came from northern Alabama. 

“Grandma has a terrific sense of humor,” Mary’s daughter-in-law, Mary J. Richardson, said.

"She quipped, 'I've been dragging my feet so 100 wouldn't get here so soon … and all I did was wear out my shoes!'" she said. 

Mary’s son, John, and his wife Mary J. Richardson, granddaughters Michelle Richardson and Jennifer Hagler, and Hagler’s husband, Jon, hosted the event.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SPECIAL OCCASIONS: Baker resident celebrates 100th birthday