NICEVILLE 🗣

Niceville City Manager to hold ‘coffee and conversation’ event, open to the public

The City of Niceville is inviting residents to join City Manager Lannie Corbin for coffee (Black Rifle Coffee Company) and conversation on Thursday, January 27 from 7:30-9:30 a.m.

• The event will take place at the Niceville Senior Center, where Corbin hopes engage in conversation, gather feedback on City programs and services, and to answer and questions are concerns residents might have.

The session is open to the public and is an unstructured open-dialog, drop-in format, according to the city. A Q&A session will begin at 8:15 a.m.

The Niceville Senior Center is at 201 Campbell Drive.

EVENT 🎭

Fort Walton Beach announces 2022 Mardi Gras Parade and Downtown Party

The City of Fort Walton Beach is gearing up for their 2nd Annual Mardi Gras Parade and Downtown Throwdown on Sunday, February 13, 2022, at the corner of Ferry Road SE and First Street SE from 1-5 p.m. 

Hear live music from Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe, as well as DJ Zoran, on Ferry Road between First Street and Miracle Strip Parkway. 

• The event is free and and the parade kicks off at 1 p.m., with music being played until 5 p.m.

The parade route starts at First Street and Eglin Parkway with floats lining up on First Street between Eglin Parkway and Perry Avenue. The parade will travel up Eglin Parkway, right on Perry Avenue, slight right on Ferry Road, ending at First Street. 

Making Super Bowl plans? You can still be part of the event and then head to your favorite local establishment to watch the game!

Interested in having a float in the parade? Download the application at www.fwb.org/mardigras. There is no entry fee.

Click here for more details on the parade

MARINE 🌊

Local first responders receive maritime search and rescue training

Area first responders from three local and D.O.D. agencies completed maritime search and rescue training this week. 

• The teams were composed of personnel from the Okaloosa County SO, Destin Fire Department, and United States Air Force SERE School.  

The week-long course provided specialized search and rescue training designed to strengthen partnerships and promote mission success in the Search and Rescue mission, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. 

The training, dubbed the “Boat Operator Search and Rescue (BOSAR)”, was presented by instructors from United States Coast Guard Station Destin. 

• It is a nationally accredited curriculum that allows federal, state, and local responders to work seamlessly together in responding to mariners in distress.  
• It also provides responders with state of the art tactics and techniques needed locate and rescue people at sea.  

The United States Coast Guard has designated the training as the National Standard for maritime first responders.

“The rigorous training involved many hours of waterborne drills and scenario driven exercises,” wrote the U.S. Coast Guard in a statement. “It not only tested the responders’ capabilities, but that of their equipment while underway in the waters of Choctawhatchee Bay near Destin.”

FOOD 🍤

The Wharf 850 in Niceville temporarily closed due to remodeling

The Wharf 850 in Niceville will be closed for “remodeling, renovating and renewing” from January 17 to February 1, 2022.

According to The Wharf 850, new improvements will include:

• Expanded bar seating and oyster bar.
• Expanded beer selection on tap.
• Expanded kitchen and new equipment.
• New hours that include being open 6 days a week.

The Wharf 850 is located at 821 Bayshore Drive in Niceville and serves a wide variety of cuisine, mainly focusing on seafood. Oysters, burgers, soup, salad, flatbreads, breakfast, and steak are just some of the many options available. 

In a brief statement on their Facebook page, the staff at The Wharf 850 have said, 

We would like to thank our guest for their understanding and patience as we take time to improve The Wharf 850 experience in 2022. See YOU Soon! Love Ya, Mean it!

The restaurant will reopen at 10:30 am on February 2nd.

DOLPHINS 🐬

Gulfarium breaks ground on new Dolphin Oasis as park visitors reach record numbers

First reported in December 2021, the Gulfarium on Okaloosa Island is planning to build a new Dolphin Oasis as part of their expansion. On Tuesday morning, a groundbreaking ceremony took place on-site. 

• The build has been in the making for about 10 years. 
• The actual design process started about two-and-a-half years ago.

“For the past few years now, we have seen the park visitation increase significantly year-over-year,” said Patrick Berry, Director of the Gulfarium. “This last year being our largest attended year ever in the history of the Gulfarium.” 

• From an economic standpoint, the Gulfarium is excited about the number of jobs this project will create in the local area, not only during construction but jobs that will be created after completion, as well.

As for the Oasis, Berry says they designed the habitat with three things in mind:

• Animal welfare.
• The guest experience.
• Conservation education. 

The habitat will have over 1 million gallons of water, which is about three times the amount of water inside their current habitat. It will also house anywhere between 11-15 dolphins “very comfortably,” said Berry. 

Building off of the existing park features, Berry says there were a couple of elements from the current park that they knew wanted to carry over to the new Oasis:

• Dolphin presentations.
• Animal interactions.

“With our new presentation habitat, we will have seating for 480 people,” said Berry. “We can put 480 people in our existing habitat, but that would be standing and sitting. In the new one, we can sit 480 people with more standing room behind that.”

In addition to more seating, the viewing experience will get a massive upgrade thanks to a large acrylic window to see inside the Oasis. 

As guests make their way to the encounters habitat, not only will they have close, intimate interaction with the animals, but the Gulfarium will be able to educate guests on conservation.

On the animal welfare side of things, the Gulfarium is starting with life support systems and cutting edge technology. 

“When we bring in water from the Gulf of Mexico, we clean it and push it to the rest of our habitats,” said Berry. “With this new habitat, we will use sand filters, which is a traditional way that we can clean the water, but we also purchased defender filters.”

Defender Filters is a brand new, cutting edge technology that helps clean the water for the animals and will enable the Gulfarium to use less oxidants in the water. Additionally, Berry says the filters will reduce their energy consumption by 50%.

• The defender filters will also give the Gulfarium the ability to have live fish inside the habitat. Currently, this is not possible due to the very small amount of chlorine used to help keep the habitat clean. 

Other animal welfare aspects of the new habitat include more areas for staff to interact with the animals and build on the relationships that they currently have with them. Additionally, they will have areas where they can connect things to the bottom of the habitat for the animals to play with.

• The exhibit habitat will also allow births, as well as “slipstreaming,” which allows the baby dolphin keep pace with the mother in order to nurse. 

“Having the groundbreaking ceremony to kick things off, for what will be a 12 to 14 month build, is exciting for our entire staff,” said Berry. “We’re very excited for what it will mean for our local economy.”

“The Gulfarium is absolutely the number one attraction in Okaloosa County, if not all of Northwest Florida,” said Ted Corcoran, CEO of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce. “Adding-on and taking advantage of this wonderful space for the new dolphin encounter is going to be spectacular.”

Corcoran added that the new Dolphin Oasis will bring in more guests to the area, in addition to promoting more overnight stays on Okaloosa Island. 

“There’s no doubt about it, the Gulfarium will bring more and more guests to our area, and that’s why we love the Gulfarium, and we love dolphins,” he added.

SHOPPING 🛍

Destin’s longest standing boutique prepares for big move as it celebrates 40 years

After 22 years in The Shoppes at Paradise Key in Destin, Today’s Boutique formally announced that they will be moving their luxury boutique to a new location in 2022. 

• In the final stages of confirmation, the new location will be officially unveiled this spring.

This decision will bring this locally-owned store a fresh new space to better serve their loyal clientele, many of which have been shopping with them since their opening in 1981. 

Founded in 1981 by Kim & Jim Dettle, Today’s Boutique was initially located in the Harbor District of Destin, where Target and Hobby Lobby currently stand today. Today’s occupied this location from 1981-2000 and made countless memories during this time including starting Destin Community Cares, an organization that mobilized numerous fundraisers to help local individuals and families that faced hardships. 

Kim & Jim expanded their family with the gift of their two children, Jameson and Kristin, who spent many of their childhood days in the boutique. In 2005, Jim was honored as the Businessman of the Year by the Destin Chamber of Commerce. The Today’s booth was the focal point for fun at Destin Seafood Festival, with ladies lined up to get their hair spray painted by Jim. 

Throughout the years, the Dettles also owned multiple other retail stores including Naturally White (all white clothing), Something’s Fishy Gifts, Fresh Produce clothing store, as well as the first Brighton store in the area. 

In 2000, Today’s moved to their current location in The Shoppes of Paradise Key and over time, the Dettles streamlined their efforts to focus on their flagship store. 

• Over the 22 years in this location, Today’s held over 200 fashion events and trunk shows within the store, including their annual anniversary party, an opportunity for the Today’s family to celebrate their long-time clients who have been such an integral part of the boutique’s history. 

They have hosted numerous opportunities to give back to the community, including a clothing drive for Save the Closet, which generated 50+ massive bags of gently used clothing donated by their clients to support those affected by Hurricane Michael. 

Even through the uncertainty of the pandemic – a shutdown, supply chain delays and staffing challenges, the local boutique credits the support of their loyal shopper for helping them thrive.

In their new location, Today’s will continue to offer the luxury brands for which they are known – including Joseph Ribkoff, Planet, Clara Sunwoo, Alembika, Liverpool and more, as well as plans to add new brands. 

• Today’s last day at their current location in The Shoppes at Paradise Key will be February 12. 

Now through the final day, the Today’s family will celebrate their move with 40-70% off storewide, also available online through todaysboutique.com. 

During the transition period, Today’s says that shoppers will have access to shop online through their website with free local shipping while they get their new location ready. 

Here Today…where tomorrow? 

“The Dettle family and the team at Today’s Boutique look forward to sharing the location of their new home and continuing their tradition of dressing the fashionable and confident women of the Destin area,” said the company in a statement. “Follow Today’s on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date or go to www.todaysboutique.com to shop online.”