Community

The Bay County Public Library Foundation, Inc. recently received a grant from St. Joe Community Foundation. This grant will fund the purchase of additional book inventory for “FLOW,” the Foundations’ Free Library on Wheels. This is the second grant awarded by the St. Joe Community Foundation. In 2019, the...

By Brooke Loyed, Principal, Patronis Elementary School As we begin the new school year for 2021-2022, our school is buzzing with excitement….excitement for a new year and excitement for what we hope to be a “normal” year. I can honestly say we are already getting a head start due to...

By Julie McConnell, UF/IFAS Extension Bay County As we suffer through the Dog Days of Summer it may not seem intuitive to start planning a Fall and Winter vegetable garden, but now is a great time for that task. There are a lot of vegetables we can grow as the...

By Jack Smith Last week I had to travel from Lake Powell to Panama City to see a client. We all say that we love and need the tourists, however they have turned a fifteen minute drive into an hour. After sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for 55 minutes...

By Marta Rose-Thorpe Christopher Warren Gough comes from a family of military and criminal justice officers. He is a licensed broker within Florida, Washington, and California, with 27 years of experience in many areas of the real estate industry including training and motivating countless Top Producers. He recently joined the...

By Abigail Davis We’ve always been told to ‘not judge a book by it’s cover’ and The Salt Shed & Company is a perfect example of why you must first take a look inside. The Salt Shed, a locally owned and operated home and garden boutique, is now partnering with...

By Panama City Beach Mayor Mark Sheldon Panama City Beach is currently experiencing its biggest tourist year on record. We have had more visitors on the sandy beach in 2021 than we have ever had before. Ever. The numbers started growing in March, with a large influx of visitors during the...

By Bill Husfelt, Superintendent, Bay District Schools By the time you read this we will have welcomed back our students and staff for the 2021-2022 school year. I know you join me in hoping and praying for a more “normal” school year this year for our students, our staff and...

By Ed Offley It’s been a record year for tourists visiting Panama City Beach, but thanks to stepped-up water safety measures, the area has evaded the spike in drownings that occurred all too frequently in recent years. But the path has not been easy, says the city’s Beach Safety Division chief. “It’s...

By Marta Rose-Thorpe Suzy Nichols has been fishing since she was four years old, and her fondest memories go back to when she was a kid fishing with her dad. “I have always been my dad’s fishing buddy,” she says. She recalls a memory of when she was nine years...