Out and About
Hopefully county officials have figured this out and are meeting regionally. I know there are statewide groups that meet – Association of Counties, Association of Cities, and more. I don’t believe the statewide meetings are as valuable as knowing what is going on in your neighboring counties. I’m sure mayors get together and discuss best practices, right?
Or are they holding their cards close to their chests? Today I attended a Tourist Development Council meeting for Okaloosa County in Crestview. They have just started having occasional meetings on the north end of their county, something Santa Rosa County has been doing for years. Maybe they adopted that after learning best practices from Santa Rosa County?
Regardless, I picked up on a few ideas that I’m going to share with our Santa Rosa County TDC as far as reporting more details. Okaloosa County reports on pre-bookings, which gives an idea of what the next season is going to look like. I don’t remember ever hearing of a similar forecast report in Santa Rosa County.
We have the Jingle Bell Run, the Parade, the Market and this weekend Caring and Sharing will be distributing food to those in need. Company holiday parties are still going on and will probably all wrap up this week so businesses can start concentrating on their families at home, not at work. Though, work families are very important, that is why we celebrate with them as well. What hasn’t happened yet is the announcement of our Holiday Sweepstakes winners.
Our sweepstakes software will be drawing two random winners first thing Thursday morning (today) and they will each have $800 (or more) in gift cards from our local businesses, just in time to bring Christmas cheer to all those they hold dear, or to themselves. Up to them.
We are very happy to announce our new editor, Dusty Ricketts. He is new to us but not to this area.
We have had two false starts this year, but apparently we were just waiting for Dusty to become available.
He is a great addition to our team! Now, Gail can do her job as the Publisher, and I can do my job in Business Development and great things are going to happen for our communities.
Someone commented to me today in Crestview that they were happy to see that we brought Dusty on board and described him as someone that “could write.”
That was a dig at the last couple of hires, who, unfortunately, as it turns out, couldn’t or at least, didn’t write. I didn’t mind the dig. I loved it because they felt like they could be truthful and honest with me and that is the largest compliment anyone can pay me or anyone else.
Quote of the week: “The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 -1894), American physician, poet and humorist notable for his medical research and teaching, and as the author of the “Breakfast-Table” series of essays.