Roman Street will perform Sept. 5

Enjoy a movie and concerts under the stars!

As the summer comes to a close, Seaside keeps the events coming. Join us as the family fun continues as we invite you to curl-up with a blanket during Central Square Cinema on Friday night, enjoy fresh produce and other local finds at the Seaside Farmers Market on Saturday morning and rock the night away with live music on both Saturday and Sunday evenings. Just because school may have started doesn’t mean the events are over!

Fri. Sept. 3 – 8 p.m.
Movie: Grab your blankets and head to the Amphitheater for a movie under the stars. Enjoy this Academy Award Winning Disney film that will take you up, up and away!

Sat. Sept. 4
8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Seaside Farmer’s Market  Get your pick of fresh produce, baked goods, dairy products and other unique offerings during the Seaside Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. Located on the Seaside Amphitheater, directly behind Raw & Juicy, you’ll find local specialties that will help sustain our growers! Enjoy made from scratch breakfast at the market and other activities sure to liven up your morning!
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Posted under Outdoor Family Fun

What better way to spend the day than exploring the outdoors!

Walton Outdoors and the Walton County 4-H Program announce Explore The Outdoors Festival at Camp Timopoochee 4-H Center on Sat. Oct. 9, 2010 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Join us for a day of fun filled activities for youth and adults. Discover the wonders of the outdoors right here in Northwest Florida. Activities will include kayaking, fishing, YOLO boarding, nature walks, archery, wildlife and sea life presentations, forest ecology, geo caching, nature based games and more.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and drinks will be available. This fun event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted at the door. Registration is required. Click here to download registration form

Camp Timpoochee 4-H Center is a camping retreat owned by the University of Florida 4-H Foundation with acres of live oaks and nature trails along the Choctawhatchee Bay on the Walton/Okaloosa County line. ::MAP::

For more information, contact Lori Ceier, event organizer via email at: info@waltonoutdoors.com or at (850) 267-2064 or Suzanne Wilson 4-H Youth Development Agent at (850) 892-8172.

Posted under Eco tourism adventure, Nature, Outdoor Family Fun, Parks, Trails/Hiking

Lace up your running shoes and get set to run or walk around historic Lake  DeFuniak

Loop the Lake 5K Run/Walk and 1 mile Fun Run on will be held Sept. 18 from 7 – 10 a.m. The event is a fundraiser for the 2010 American Heart Association Heart Walk, will be scored by RunItByUs, Atlanta, Ga., using Bar Code Bibbs technology.

This year marks the fourth year of the race. In 2009, slightly more than 300 runners and walkers participated in Loop the Lake and helped raise more than $8,000 for the American Heart Association.

Information about the run, as well as the race course and registration form click here. Click on the Loop the Lake logo on the left side of the page. Early registration costs $15 and ends Sept. 12. Registration from Sept. 13 until 7 a.m. on race day will be $25. The fun run for kids 10 and under costs $10. In addition, a group discount is available. Read More…

Posted under Outdoor Family Fun

Indigo bunting towers over the entrance to the exhibition hall at the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center.

Enjoy hiking, films and activities for all ages

The E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center at Nokuse Plantation will host its first “Annual Open House” Event on Saturday, September 11, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.  The exhibit hall will be open, guided hikes will be available, scheduled films will be featured, and activities for all ages will be scheduled.  Drop in anytime from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. or pack a lunch and stay a while.  Public is welcome.

For more information, please visit the E. O. Wilson Biophilia Center website at www.eowilsoncenter.org or call 850-835-1824.
Open House Schedule

Posted under Eco tourism adventure, Environment, Nature, Outdoor Family Fun, Trails/Hiking

Coco Robicheaux will be a featured musical guest at Clean Coast Music and Art Fest.

A benefit event in Destin for the Northwest Florida coast to clean, restore and protect

HarborWalk Village is hosting the Clean Coast Music & Art Fest on Sunday, August 22, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Clean Coast Music & Art Fest will give everyone the ability to help organizations that have been impacted by the oil spill, while spending a great day with family and friends overlooking the oil-free beaches of the Gulf.

Clean Coast will be a day-long extravaganza of live music in all genres on 4 stages, artists on display in all mediums, a kid’s zone and a variety of fun happenings. Kicking things off at 11 a.m. is a full Gospel choir and a blessing of the event and fishing fleet.
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Posted under Outdoor Family Fun

Enjoy a weekend of history, live music food dancing, arts and crafts

Come and enjoy a fun celebration at Gulf Place Sept. 11-12 as the community of Santa Rosa Beach celebrates 100 years.

Local community members have organized a two day celebration filled live music, food, dancing, history, art and crafts and much more. Local historians Chick Huettel and Brenda Rees will share their knowledge and history of life in the community of Santa Rosa Beach over the last century with a display of hundreds of pictures.

Gulf Place is located in Santa Rosa Beach on the corner of Scenic Hwy. 30A and CR 393. ::MAP::

Event Schedule
Sept. 11 – 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
11:00 – 11:30: Grit & Grace: Walton County’s Official Folk Life Production
12:00 – 12:45: Mike & The Yellow Flies
1:15 – 2:00: The Nashville A-Team (featuring some of the Music City’s hottest talents!)
2:30 – 3:15: Blackwater
4:00 – 4:45: Eric Lindell
5:15 – 6:00: Cadillac Willy
6:30 – 7:15: Duke Bardwell & Washboard Jackson & Friends
7:15 – 9:00: JAM SESSION with Greg Barnhill & His Nashville Friends
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Posted under Outdoor Family Fun

Learn about park life at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

Location: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on Scenic Road 30A, Santa Rosa Beach

Saturday, Aug. 14 – 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Come and join the Rangers of Topsail Hill and ask them all the questions you can think of about park life. To cover the cost of food please bring $4, which goes to Friends of Topsail Hill Preserve State Park to enhance the park, or bring your own breakfast. Park at the Day-Use area off Hwy 30A and take a short hike to the clubhouse. Outside tours canceled during severe weather. Call 267-8330 for more information.

Contact: (850) 267-0299. ::MAP::

Posted under Outdoor Family Fun, Parks

Posted under Fishing, Outdoor Family Fun

Learn about these fascinating mammals and what they eat

Saturday, Aug. 7 at 1:30 p.m.

Come and join this fun for all ages program on dolphins. Learn about their habitat, what they eat, and which ones you might see while visiting Florida. Park at the Day-Use area off Hwy 30A and take a short hike to the clubhouse.

$6.00 entry admission per vehicle into the park. Outside tours canceled during severe weather. Call 267-8330 for more information.

Outside tours canceled during severe weather ::MAP::

Posted under Eco tourism adventure, Nature, Outdoor Family Fun

Spring on Econfina creek. ©Lori Ceier/Walton Outdoors

Not only our most valuable water sources, spring fed waterways provide extraordinary adventure

Some of the most beautiful places to explore Northwest Florida are along our spring fed waterways. These creeks, streams and rivers provide incredible recreation and eco tourism along with the valuable drinking water our communities rely on.

Florida boasts more than 700 springs, with close to 40 in the Walton, Holmes, Washington and Bay counties. Blue Spring and Jackson spring in Holmes County feeds into the Choctawhatchee River and is Florida’s 12th largest spring with 122 million gallons per day discharge. Holmes Creek has more than a dozen springs and is the largest tributary into the Choctawhatchee River. The Gainer Springs Group on Econfina Creek (including springs locally known as McCormick and Emerald) is the most significant, measuring a first magnitude flow of 114 million gallons a day (mgd). Econfina creek feeds into Deer Point Lake which is the major source of water supply for Bay County.

Karst diagram courtesy U.S. Geological Society

What are springs?
Springs are portals where water in the earth’s aquifers, rises to the surface and escapes into our streams, lakes and coastal waters. There are two general types of springs in Florida, seeps (water-table springs) and karst springs (artesian springs). The springs in Northwest Florida are karst springs. Karst topography is a landscape created by groundwater dissolving into sedimentary rock such as limestone. This creates landforms such as shafts, tunnels, caves, and sinkholes. The Dougherty Karst Plain underlies our area.

What is a spring classification?
Springs are most often classified based upon the average discharge of water. Individual springs exhibit variable discharge depending upon rainfall, recharge and groundwater withdrawals within their recharge areas. One discharge measurement is enough to place a spring into one of the eight magnitude categories. However, springs have dynamic flows. A spring categorized as being a first-magnitude spring at one moment in time may not continue to remain in the same category. This can result in a spring being classified as a first magnitude spring at one point in time and a second magnitude at another.
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Posted under Birding, Eco tourism adventure, Environment, Kayak/Canoe, Nature, Outdoor Family Fun