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Good morning!
The City of Destin cut the ribbon Tuesday on its $15 million Norriego Point Recreation Area, formally marking the completion of the long-anticipated project. The Destin Charity Wine Auction raised a record $4 million for Northwest Florida children, Amy Meyer was named the new principal of Niceville High School, and ERA American Real Estate’s VIBE team won a national marketing award for the third consecutive year.
A Niceville High senior is heading to college after he and his tutors teamed up to clear a graduation hurdle, Choctaw’s Blake Peters earned Athlete of the Week honors after his first career home run, and Okaloosa schools are celebrating student artists at the 26th annual K-12 Art Show. Also, an inside look at how Mimy Kincaid blends branding, growth, and community impact at The Jay Odom Group.
HOW I WORK
How Mimy Kincaid blends branding, growth, and community impact at The Jay Odom Group
“How I Work” is brought to you by the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce. Join the most influential organization in Okaloosa. Learn more here.
Mimy Kincaid’s path to the Florida began in Okinawa, Japan, where she was born while her father served in the Air Force.
- After moving to Florida as a teenager, this area became home and over the years, the people and community around her only deepened that connection.
Mimy serves as Marketing, Sales and Business Development Director at The Jay Odom Group, helping guide strategy across a wide portfolio of developments and brands. These include Zatitude Luxury Apartments, Freedom Tech Center, Holiday Inn Express, Home2 Suites, Hammock Bay, Raider Village, NatureView, Pigeon Forge RV Resort, Bay Vita, and several other current and future developments.
Her days can move quickly from campaign analytics and copywriting to walking job sites, leading meetings, and helping shape how projects grow and connect with the community.
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GAMES
WordroW: April 29, 2026
WordroW is brought to you by Fort Walton Beach Chiropractic – keeping your mind sharp and your spine aligned, one game at a time.
Can you guess today’s 5-letter word in six tries?
WordroW is Get The Coast’s daily word puzzle featuring local words, places, and phrases from our community. You have six guesses to find the mystery word – green letters are correct and in the right spot, yellow letters are in the word but wrong position, and gray letters aren’t in the word at all.
SCHOOL
Niceville High senior headed to college after school, tutors team up to clear graduation hurdle
Santiago Gavidia will walk across the Niceville High School graduation stage this spring and head to Northwest Florida State College in the fall, the result of years of support from his school, his family and a local tutoring center that helped him clear Florida’s final graduation hurdle.
- Gavidia, who moved to the United States during middle school, had taken Florida’s FAST Grade 10 English Language Arts exam 17 times without meeting the passing score required for graduation. He has been enrolled in Niceville High’s ESOL program since his freshman year in 2022, working with the school’s ESOL contact, Izzy Norman, on an individualized plan.
After Niceville High reached out to Niceville Tutoring for ACT preparation, tutors Theresa Morvay and Dalia Warda worked with Gavidia for roughly six weeks. He met the benchmark needed to graduate. He is now planning on going to NWFSC!
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Blake Peters’ first career home run a Choctaw moment years in the making
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In 2016, a young Blake Peters rode piggyback on Myles Betts as Choctaw celebrated a district championship. Ten years and 10 innings later, Betts was back at Choctaw to watch Peters and his teammates clutch a district title of their own.
- For a senior whose family has been stitched into Choctaw for decades, it was the kind of moment you can’t script.
Peters grew up right behind the school. His dad, Jeff, was a football star there. His mom, Heather, went there. His brother, Brady, played there. His sister, Brooklyn, teaches there now.
“Bloodline’s a big thing,” Peters said. “I bleed green from head to toe.”
Last week, Peters launched the first home run of his career in Choctaw’s 9-0 Sweet 16 win over Baker County, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. The week prior, he scored the winning run in the Indians’ 9-8 extra-innings district title win over Escambia, despite playing through a quad injury most of the season.
“He’s no doubt a 100 percent kind of guy,” head coach David Weber said. “He’d run through a brick wall for the program.”
SCHOOL
Amy Meyer named new principal of Niceville High School
The Okaloosa County School Board on Monday night unanimously approved the appointment of Amy Meyer as the new principal of Niceville High School, filling the role after Charlie Marello was named the district’s director of human resources earlier this month.
- Meyer, a Niceville High graduate, most recently served as principal of Destin Elementary School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of West Florida.
“Standing here tonight, being named the next principal of Niceville High School — the very place where I once walked as a student — is something my teenage self would never, ever have seen coming,” Meyer said.
BUSINESS
ERA American Real Estate’s VIBE team wins national marketing award for the third consecutive year
No company in ERA Real Estate’s history had ever won the same national award three years in a row. Then they called ERA American’s name again.
- The Marketing Excellence Award, presented at ERA’s national conference FUEL, went to ERA American Real Estate’s VIBE team for the third consecutive year. Catherine Gauthier, the company’s Director of Marketing and VIBE, said the moment hit differently this time around.
“When they announced ERA American again, it was incredibly rewarding and honestly a little surreal,” Gauthier said. “It felt like a true reflection of the consistency and effort our team has put in over time.”
The win is the latest marker in what has quietly become one of the more unusual stories in local real estate: a brokerage that built its own full-service, in-house marketing agency, and named it with purpose.
GIVING BACK
Destin Charity Wine Auction raises record $4 million for Northwest Florida children
From giving back to investing in the future, FPL is powering strong communities. Learn more here.
The 21st Annual Destin Charity Wine Auction presented by the Jumonville Family raised a record $4 million for children in need in Northwest Florida, the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation announced Tuesday.
- The total represents a $550,000 increase over the previous year and the most ever raised at an auction in DCWAF history.
Proceeds will benefit the foundation’s 16 partner children’s charities across Northwest Florida.
The highest single-selling lot of the night was a nine-night, fully guided trip to Italy donated by Marilisa Allegrini, which sold for $400,000. Two other lots sold for more than $100,000, marking the first time in DCWAF history that three single-selling lots sold for six figures.
SCHOOL
Okaloosa schools celebrate student artists at 26th annual K-12 Art Show
The Okaloosa County School District and the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation showcased the work of student artists from across the county during the 2026 K-12 Student Art Show, held April 22-23 at the Destin Fort Walton Beach Rigdon Center.
- The annual exhibition featured more than 2,000 artworks from students at over 14 elementary schools and 15 secondary schools. The free public event drew families, educators and community members to view the pieces and recognize student achievement in the arts.
PARKS+REC
City of Destin cuts ribbon on $15 million Norriego Point Recreation Area
The City of Destin held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday morning for the completion of the Norriego Point Recreation Area, a project years in the making that was officially opened on March 5, 2026.
- Mayor Bobby Wagner welcomed attendees to the event, acknowledging that the project had been more than a decade in the making with contributions from past and present leadership.
The park includes dune walk-overs, a boardwalk that loops around the property, designated parking, restrooms and showers, a pavilion and ADA access. The project also included shore stabilization.
Wagner shared a message from one fisherman who said he had fished out of the area for 30 years and had never seen a wheelchair at the end of the point until recently.
OK, that’s all I have for you this morning! I hope you have a great Wednesday. Help us shape the future of local news and make a meaningful impact on your community. Click here to learn how you can support us!
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Jared
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