YOUR POSITIVE, HELPFUL PARTNER FOR MICHAEL SIMPSON REALTOR COLDWELL BANKER REALTY BUYING OR SELLING A HOME CALL TODAY! 850.206.4553 3B 2B Navarre Park Navarre raises SEE AD ON COVID-19 Cases $10,000 for PAGE: Cases by County turtles wrangled, Escambia ................................ 14,495 relocated paralyzed surfer 8A Santa Rosa ............................. 6,301 Okaloosa ................................ 7,195 Walton ................................... 3,088 Santa Rosa County Cases by Zip Code inside 32566 ....................................979 WEEKLY IN PRINT • DAILY ONLINE 4 sections 32563 ....................................728 32561 ...................................250 32565 ....................................170 32571 ....................................1,329 32570 ....................................1,191 32583 ....................................542 20 NAVARRE YEARS PRESS Blackwater Correctional ............152 Santa Rosa Correctional ..............808 Non-Florida ............................. 74 Residents NOVEMBER 12-18, 2020 $1.25 NEWS & INFORMATION These detailed numbers are as of 2:30 p.m. 11-10-2020 County tourism cashes #Help Gulf Breeze businesses in $3.5 million By Jamie Gentry [email protected] Tourism losses from COVID-19 in Santa Rosa County were only a fraction of what was pro- jected. The fi nal tourism tax report for fi scal year 2019-2020 presented Nov. 5 left Tourist Develop- ment Council (TDC) members smiling. The year totaled more than $3.5 million of revenue to the county’s tourism promotion arm. That’s down less than 10% from last year, and the total still blows past revenues from two years ago. Tourist Development Director Julie White ini- tially projected COVID-19 related losses could be as much as $1.5 million, more than a third of the typical year’s revenue. “We were very conservative,” White told the TDC. Photos by Wendy Victora Rudman March through June showed signifi cant loss- Business is down at American es, including revenues plummeting by 79% in “Whenever you love what LubeFast, which is just east April when beaches closed. But by July, growth of the bridge in Gulf had returned. Combined with a strong winter, you do, you’re going to Breeze. This No the year cruised in about $408,000 less than the Wait sign spells out previous year. make that sacrifi ce.” the obvious lack of customers in See TDC 4A —Raelynn Paul, fl orist either bay. A few moments later, Raelynn Paul works on they got several a homecoming corsage customers. Salter leaves lasting legacy at Flowerama in Gulf Breeze. Of the eight By Wendy Victora Rudman employees who worked By Wendy Victora Rudman [email protected] there before Hurricane [email protected] Sally, she is one of three For 20 years, District 3 Coun- who remain. Late on a Friday afternoon, when U.S. Highway ty Commissioner Don Salter has 98 would usually be clogged with traffi c, the bays at been a force moving Santa Rosa American LubeFast are empty. An employee, hold- County forward. Nov. 12 will be ing a large yellow ‘NO WAIT’ sign sits curbside. The only ones waiting at many Gulf the last time he takes a seat at the Salter Board of County Commissioners Breeze businesses these days are the long table. folks who work there. The swearing in of new commissioners mid- They’re waiting to see if they will still month will also mark the end of his fi fth term as have jobs, if the bridge will really re- chairman of the board. open in March, if community support is Salter, who was born on a farm in Jay in the enough to keep the doors open. 1940s and lives there now, said when he took the “It’s a great time to fi lm a zombie gavel at the beginning of 2020, he was hoping apocalypse movie on U.S. Highway for a peaceful last year. 98,” joked Michael Hutchins, assistant Instead, he got the Avalon-Garcon Point manager at American LubeFast. “It feels wildfi re, coronavirus and an above-average weird opening up now. I (used to feel) hurricane season, including a sideswipe by like I was playing Frogger trying to get Hurricane Sally. across the road.” The McDonald’s in Gulf Breeze closed recently, See SALTER 5A sending customers to its location at Tiger Point. See GULF BREEZE 4A Potential grocery store mired in complications By Jamie Gentry [email protected] Navarre Press ISSN 2688-6316 Copyright © 2020 Navarre, FL 32566 The entrance to Santander Estates wel- 7502 Harvest Village Court comes residents and visitors under a cano- py of oak trees. A sidewalk runs along the shoulder of the road, complete with a bench, doggy potty station and Little Free Library stand. Resident Lorraine Nagy lives with her family in the fi rst house on the left. They walk their rescue dogs along the sidewalk each day. “You’ve got the school buses in the morn- ing and the afternoon, but it is relatively a quiet neighborhood,” Nagy said. “And that was one of the reasons we moved here be- Photo by Wendy Victora Rudman cause it is in the back and out of the way.” Potential development of a new grocery store complex just outside the Okaloosa County line is See STORE 4A set to include demolishing the bank that has sat vacant at the corner of Rosewood Avenue. Subscribe Now! navarrepress.com 2A / NAVARRE PRESS NOVEMBER 12-18, 2020 What’s up with Dickey’s By Kaitie Meyer [email protected] Dickey’s Barb ecue is still coming to Navarre. The opening is just taking lon- ger than expected. There have been a few holdups due to Hurricane Sally and sorting out logistics with the landlord. Managing partner Karen Edwards said they have made some progress on the structural repairs in the kitchen, but still have to work on other parts of the restaurant be- fore it will be ready for the grand opening in the spring of 2021. Owner Wendy Williams is thrilled about opening a Dickey’s in Navarre. “I’m super excited about it,” she said. “It’s going to be one of the most fun places to go in Navarre.” The new Navarre location will be located right next to Dewey Destin’s in the old Helen Back building on the south side of U.S. Highway 98. Dickey’s in Navarre will be 6,000 square feet and will have the option for live music and movie nights, Edwards said “We’re going to have a game room as well,” Wil- liams added. “A game room for big kids and l ittle kids.” It doesn’t stop there. A new bakery called The Sweet Shoppe will open inside of Dickey’s location in Navarre. This shop will sell baked goods, ice cream, Photo by Kaitie Meyer Dickey’s B arbecue is opening a location in Navarre this spring in the old Helen Back Building. specialty coffee drinks and milkshakes. “Sweet shoppe is one of ey’s Barbecue this spring. already. It’s keeping me up Williams said she had to “It makes it that much Williams and her crew the things we’re most excit- “We’re going crazy to get at night.” get the roof repaired after sweeter when we do open, fi led for a business license ed about,” Williams said. it open. I got a lot of balls in The building withstood the storm because it was because of all the trial and for The Sweet Shoppe on Williams and Edwards the air,” Williams said. “It’s Hurricane Sally, although leaking “by waterfalls and tribulations that we’re Sept. 30. plan to open the new Dick- killing me not to be open it did suffer some damage. buckets.” climbing over,” she said. Navarre Beach Chamber offi ces fi ll up By Jamie Gentry [email protected] Business is booming at the Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s Prado Street offi ces and it’s more than just the chamber doing business. Last month, all of the Navarre Beach Chamber Information Center offi ces were offi cially rented out, completing the vision for the chamber’s new home. When the building was purchased in 2019, cham- ber leadership envisioned the back offi ces becoming Photo by Jamie Gentry a rentable workspace for Offi ce rentals in the Navarre Beach Area Chamber Information Center have all fi lled up. businesses in need that did not want or could not afford included a co-work space, larger offi ce space. Paul to businesses is the prima- work. A lot of volunteers put In addition to the new en- to sink capital into their Ryan said that ended up Semmes is the regional ry goal, the added bonus of in sweat equity,” Ryan said. gineering partnerships, other own building. not panning out. manager for Anderson. He additional revenue means Now, the once vacant occupants range from a va- “We worked with the “When COVID-19 hit, said this location was per- paying the building’s mort- building is a hub for local riety of industries including Small Business Develop- (co-work) was something fect, “right there in the heart gage is a lot easier. That’s business. real estate, air conditioning ment Center to create a that was unpopular,” she of things.” a boost considering how “Any kind of engineering repair, health care and more. business plan around rent- pointed out. “We wanted to posture much labor and cost went services someone can need, The Navarre Beach Chamber ing out those back offi ces,” A cooperative of engi- ourselves clearly in Navarre,” into getting the building they can get it right here at Foundation and Small Busi- chamber executive director neering fi rms, led by An- he said. prepped. the Navarre Beach Cham- ness Development Center Chanda Ryan said.