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Good morning!
Grow With Us Learning Academy held a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new facility at Freedom Tech Center in Fort Walton Beach, with capacity for up to 300 children. The Fort Walton Beach City Council set a maximum tentative millage rate and voted on service outsourcing proposals, and the Beal Parkway and First Street intersection is now “right turn only” in Fort Walton Beach. Big Kahuna’s and Shipwreck Island will host the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson on Thursday, and a free family movie event will support kindergarten and VPK registration in Crestview.
BUSINESS
FWB Council sets maximum tentative millage rate, votes on service outsourcing proposals
The Fort Walton Beach City Council set a maximum tentative millage rate of 5.69 mills at a special meeting Tuesday, June 23, and voted on a series of service outsourcing proposals carried over from the previous week’s budget workshop.
- The rate sets the ceiling for the FY 2026-27 budget and can be lowered, but not raised, during the remainder of the budget process. Two public hearings on the millage and budget are scheduled for September 9 and September 23.
The current millage rate is 4.3282 mills. The city is operating under a charter amendment, approved by voters, that established a 3% spending cap on annual increases to personnel costs across all city funds and to operating expenses in the general fund.
City Manager Jason Davis told the council the city is approximately $500,000 over that cap heading into the FY 2026-27 budget. Tuesday’s meeting was the first of three council votes required to adopt a final millage and budget.
The meeting opened with a discussion of how city enterprise fund personnel are counted against the operating cap. Davis told the council that all city personnel costs currently count against the cap, including the salaries of employees whose work is fully funded by enterprise funds such as utilities and sanitation. He said he had not seen that arrangement in his prior municipal experience.
Here’s the full recap on:
- Youth sports outsourcing
- Daycare and aftercare
- Senior programming
- Chamber, EDC and pool funding
- Fireworks, concerts and parades
- Cuts already in place
- and the three millage scenarios presented
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GAMES
WordroW: June 25, 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.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Big Kahuna’s and Shipwreck Island to host World’s Largest Swimming Lesson Thursday
Big Kahuna’s Water & Adventure Park in Destin and Shipwreck Island Waterpark in Panama City Beach will participate in The World’s Largest Swimming Lesson on Thursday, June 25, joining waterparks around the world for a coordinated global event focused on water safety and lifesaving swim skills.
The lesson begins promptly at noon at both locations. Big Kahuna’s is located at 1007 U.S. Highway 98 East in Destin, and Shipwreck Island Waterpark is at 12201 Hutchison Blvd. in Panama City Beach.
Every participant will receive a free return ticket to the park as a thank-you for joining the lesson. All guests onsite Thursday are welcome to participate, and parks will register attendees onsite.
SCHOOL
Free family movie event to support kindergarten, VPK registration in Crestview
Families with children entering kindergarten or Voluntary Prekindergarten this fall can attend a free movie event next month in Crestview, where they will also have access to on-site registration assistance and resources from district staff.
The Okaloosa County School District, in partnership with the Okaloosa Public Schools Foundation and the Early Learning Coalition of the Emerald Coast, will host the Kindergarten and VPK Registration Family Movie on Thursday, July 16, at Marquis Cinema, 2828 Richbourg Lane in Crestview. The event begins at 9:30 a.m.
“Kindergarten is the beginning of an incredible educational journey, and we are committed to helping families navigate that transition with confidence, support, and excitement,” said Amy Dale, OCSD director of elementary curriculum.
Attendees will receive complimentary movie tickets, with a maximum of three per household, along with a children’s snack pack.
PROMOTED
A World of Signs to throw a two-day grand opening party in Fort Walton Beach
After 20 years in business locally, A World of Signs is celebrating its new shop at 106 Hill Ave NW (old FedEx building) with a Grand Opening Extravaganza on Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27.
- Friday runs from noon to 7 p.m. with Tiana’s Lunch Box on site. Saturday goes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with Tehillah Coffee & Co. pouring. Both days are free and open to the public — no purchase necessary.
Visitors can tour the new facility, watch live vehicle wrap and shirt press demonstrations, try hands-on sign-making activities, and pick up free shirts and decals. Raffles run throughout the event, including a drawing for up to $1,000 in shop credit toward signs, wraps, apparel and promotional products.
Details and raffle registration: go.aworldofsigns.com/opening
TRAFFIC
Beal Parkway and First Street intersection now ‘right turn only’ in Fort Walton Beach
The intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street is now a right-turn-only crossing after a crew from ACME Barricades began installing traffic separators Wednesday, completing a safety change originally scheduled to start last week before weather delays pushed the work back.
The project is being carried out by the City of Fort Walton Beach, with permission from the Florida Department of Transportation, to change traffic flow and reduce crashes at the intersection of Beal Parkway and First Street.
Under the new configuration, drivers on First Street, both eastbound and westbound, can only turn right onto Beal Parkway. Drivers on Beal Parkway, both northbound and southbound, can no longer turn left onto First Street. A series of flexible barrier posts at the intersection prevents vehicles from crossing oncoming traffic.
GAMES
Jigsaw – “Destin in the 50s”
WordroW is brought to you by Fort Walton Beach Chiropractic – keeping your mind sharp and your spine aligned, one game at a time.
Ready for this week’s Jigsaw puzzle?
Each week, we use local pictures from around Okaloosa County as part of our puzzles. They’ll include current dated photos to historical ones. This week…we take it back to how Destin used to be…in the 1950s!
WEATHER
Today’s weather outlook
TODAY: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7am, then showers and thunderstorms likely between 7am and 10am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. West wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
TONIGHT: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly clear, with a low around 79. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible.
BUSINESS
Grow With Us Learning Academy opens facility for up to 300 children at Freedom Tech Center
Grow With Us Learning Academy will officially open its newest location Monday, June 29, at Freedom Tech Center in Fort Walton Beach, adding a building rated for up to 300 children to the development at 1900 Lewis Turner Blvd.
- The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting at the site Wednesday afternoon ahead of the opening. The event also served as the 2,000th chamber event for ambassador Paul Singleton, a 50-year chamber volunteer who cut his first ribbon.
The Freedom Tech Center site is the seventh open facility for Grow With Us, with an eighth set to open in about three weeks at Hammock Bay in Freeport. The academy serves children from six weeks old through kindergarten, along with school-age care.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Turpin, who joined the company in January, said the new building represents the template for future locations.
“Grow With Us is just not our name, it’s a mindset,” Turpin said. “We don’t stop here. We want to continue to grow and be more and more involved in this community.”
OK, that’s all I have for you this morning! I hope you have a great Thursday! 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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