GIVING BACK

‘Bikes or Bust’ is back!

Highway 98 Country’s 11th Annual Bikes or Bust starts today, Friday, December 2nd.

• Highway 98 Country’s morning personality Bo Reynolds will spend 98 straight hours suspended high above Fort Walton Beach to collect new bikes and raise awareness for Toys for Tots Fort Walton Beach/Destin.

To ensure every child along the Emerald Coast gets a new bike this Christmas, Reynolds will spend 98 continuous hours camping atop a 30-foot-tall scissor-lift, with only a tent and sleeping bag to protect him from the elements! This event will encourage listeners, community members, and local businesses to donate new bikes and helmets for children of all ages.

Bikes or Bust will take place at Uptown Station, located at 99 Eglin Parkway NE in Fort Walton Beach. Reynolds will go up on the scissor-lift at 10am on Friday, December 2nd and will arrive back down to solid ground on Tuesday, December 6th.

• Local volunteers along with representatives of JVC Broadcasting Fort Walton Beach will be on site collecting donations and assembling bikes for Toys for Tots.

More information about the event can be found at Highway98Country.com and @Highway98Country on social media.

ARTS+CULTURE

Shop local at the Holiday Arts Gallery

The Holiday Arts Gallery is happening this Saturday, December 3, 2022, from 10am to 7pm at HH Arts Gallery, located at 100 Beal Parkway SW, FWB.    

• The Holiday Arts Gallery is free & open to the public. 

Guests will be able to holiday shop from local artists and learn about art classes/events happening in Okaloosa County. Local artists will include:

• Pat Roberts
• Blair Supplee
• Dawn Paul
• Evelyn Espinoza
• Jamie Melton
• Breanna Trent
• Ursel Behnken
• Teddie Ciudad-Real
• Kim Dague
• Jaime Melton

Art includes pottery, jewelry, ornaments, all media of art prints and originals, as well as the works of the artists displayed in the gallery. Refreshments, wine, and live holiday music by local artists including Grow Your Gift Conservatory of Music and the Emerald Coast Chorus will also be available.

Guests can also enter the drawings to win prizes and tickets including Mattie Kelly Arts Center, Sinfonia, Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, and more.  This event will benefit the Okaloosa Arts Alliance. 

For more information about the Holiday Arts Gallery, click here.

PARADE

Fort Walton Beach Christmas Parade is this Monday

The 2022 Fort Walton Beach Christmas Parade will take place on Monday, Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m. along Eglin Parkway from First Street to Hughes Street. 

• This year’s parade is sponsored by Eglin Federal Credit Union.

The road closures will begin around 6:00 pm with the parade route starting at 6:30 pm. The Fort Walton Beach Police Department wants to emphasize that anyone who travels on the “local only” roadways will not be able to access Eglin Parkway or US Highway 98. (see below)

As usual, the public is invited to line the street along Eglin Parkway to watch the parade and cheer on their favorite floats!

THINGS TO DO

The 5th annual ‘Grinch Glow Ride’ is back in Fort Walton Beach

It’s that time of year again when local kids are needed on their bikes to chase the Grinch to stop him from stealing Christmas!

• Meet at the Livin’ Right Real Estate office in FWB to decorate your bike with glow sticks (provided!), and then chase the Grinch through the neighborhood and back. Afterwards, join in the festivities at the block party.

“This will be our 5^th year doing it,” says Matthew McGee, Broker at Livin’ Right Real Estate. “It is a spinoff of the Grinch stealing Christmas. We give the kids glow sticks and help them decorate their bikes. Then they chase the Grinch, and eventually the Grinch gets caught and arrested by the Fort Walton Beach Police to stop him from stealing Christmas. It’s just a fun concept to get outside and have some fun.”

The Grinch Glow Ride started from the real estate company wanting to do something around Christmastime to give back to the community and build some community support and interaction. They came up with the concept of the Grinch Glow Ride.

“It started off with about 75 kids,” says McGee, “and now we’re up to about 500-600 who show up to participate.”  

• “I have parents tell me in July that their kids are asking when the Grinch Glow Ride is this year,” added McGee. “I told my wife, ‘I may not be remembered for anything in my life except for this Grinch Glow Ride.’”

The ride has always been a free event, and McGee emphasizes it is not a race. All bikers, runners, or walkers are encouraged to participate. McGee explains that this year they have added a lot of fun little things to the ride. 

“We have opened it up from being just a free community event to teaming up with the FirstFamilies Network,” he said. “They have a toy drive every year, and they asked if we could make it part of the Grinch Glow Ride and we said absolutely!” 

• Families are asked to contribute a new unwrapped toy to benefit our local foster kids.

“The Grinch will ride off on his bike from our office with a police escort because the kids like to try to chase him down,” laughs McGee. “Everybody follows the Grinch through the neighborhoods, and then he’ll circle back around and we’ll have a police blockade to arrest him.” 

Afterwards, there will be a block party with the movie playing outside, Christmas lights, hot chocolate, popcorn, food trucks and vendors, and local business tents.  

“Tijuana Flats is selling tacos, and we have the Cheesus food truck,” says McGee. “We’ll have the FirstFamilies Network here to talk about the foster networks and adoption services in our area. The Florida Department of Health will be here. Santa will be here, and a professional photographer will be taking pictures. It’s just kind of a fun Christmas tradition now.”

McGee is a local from our area who wanted his real estate company to be involved the community and do something to bring people together.

• “To have parents come up to me in the summertime telling me that their kids are talking about it tells me that we’re accomplishing that in a little way,” he said. “Helping this community build its culture and sense of pride is a big thing for us.”

Livin’ Right’s office is located at 102 Buck Dr. in Fort Walton Beach.

COASTAL RESOURCES

Agencies continue to monitor oil discharge from artificial reef in Destin

The Coast Guard and Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are continuing to monitor periodic discharges of oil from the Liberty Ship Thomas Heyward.

• The World War II-era vessel was sunk in 1977 to serve as an artificial reef approximately six miles southwest of Destin, Florida. 

Get The Coast first reported on the slow leak back in October 2021. Okaloosa’s Coastal Resource Manager Alex Fogg was alerted to the leak by local dive operator Nancy Birchett of ScubaTech Northwest Florida. (Read original report)

Following Hurricane Sally in September 2020, the National Response Center (NRC) began receiving reports of pollution in the vicinity of the artificial reef. According to a press release from the Coast Guard, personnel conducted preliminary investigations.

Since receiving initial reports of pollution, the Coast Guard, together with federal, state, and local stakeholders, continued to monitor the situation. Earlier this year, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) was utilized by the Coast Guard for further assessment and potential cleanup operations.

• According to the Coast Guard, the OSLTF was established as a funding source to pay appropriate assessment, removal costs, and damages resulting from oil spills or substantial threats of oil spills to navigable waters of the United States.

In August and September of 2022, the Coast Guard received additional NRC reports of pollution in the vicinity of the artificial reef. The Sector Mobile NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator and Coast Guard members again assessed the site in September 2022.

The Coast Guard reports that an oil sheen was observed in the vicinity of the artificial reef and a sheen sample was collected for laboratory analysis. Lab results identified the surface sheen sample as consistent with a heavy marine fuel oil. A follow up assessment in November 2022 indicated no sheen in vicinity of the reef.

In the press release, the Coast Guard states that “the periodic discharges appear to be seasonal in occurrence and may be associated with warmer weather and higher sea temperatures that would allow the residual oil remaining in the artificial reef to move more freely and ultimately discharge from any tank openings.”

• They added, “these discharges may result in visible surface and, or subsurface expressions of oil.”

All mariners are recommended to avoid contact with any product discharged from the artificial reef. Mariners are encouraged to report signs of pollution to the NRC at 1-800-424-8802. The NRC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.