Talk of the Town
Blue Angels AFCEA Chapter meets today

The Blue Angels Pensacola chapter of AFCEA will meet today, Thursday April 3 at IHOP in Pensacola at the corner of Navy Boulevard and Barrancas Avenue from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The group will see a presentation by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and install its new board of directors for 2008. Col. Lou Ramos, USAF (Ret.), Western Florida Regional AFCEA Vice President, will be in attendance to install the new board of directors.

Craig Dalton will deliver the Chamber's presentation. Dalton is the vice president of the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, assigned to military affairs. He is the leader of the Pensacola Chamber's Defense, Aerospace, and Technology Committee (DATCOM) and a regular spokesman to the media.

Dalton will explain recent developments at Saufley Field: the Saufley Field Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) and the Saufley Outlying Landing Field (OLF). The EUL is a program whereby a significant number of Saufley Field assets will be leased to a competitively chosen public or private entity for development and use. Dalton will describe the rules and strategy behind the EUL, the assets involved, and the benefits that local businesses and the Pensacola community should realize from the EUL. He will also describe how the EUL competitive selection process will be conducted. The OLF is administered by NAS Pensacola and is approximately 866 acres and operates two active runways, has in excess of 34,425 square feet of hangar space and is accessible traveling west on Saufley Field Road.

The Blue Angels Pensacola chapter of AFCEA will get a new state of officers as well as benefit from Dalton's speech and enjoy the International House of Pancakes food. Lunch will be at each attendee's expense. For more information, email Allan Alderman at allan.alderman@ gdit.com.

Santa Rosa Woman's Club Membership Tea

The Santa Rosa Woman's Club held a Membership Tea at the home of Barbara Oliver on March 19. Membership Chairman Jane Parker was in charge of the event and greeted guests, Gail Mayfield and Susan McCorkle. The new members present were Betsye Haddock, Tracie McMahon, Sue Simco, Brenda Sadler, Heike Appelt, Jane Bennett and Jean Yuill. Members and sponsors present were Jane Parker, Shirley Gaddis, Sherry Mc Reynolds, Wendy Brandon, Barbara Gonshor, Barbara Miksch, Sally Stanford, Barbara Oliver, Anna Campbell, Lolly Sandfort, Polly Thompson and Marion Ginn.

Submitted photo The Perdidi Grande Dames Red Hatters from Lillian, Ala., including Mary Lois Jacobs, Alma Lohman, Marjorie Veras, Betty Browne, Ruth De Vow, Pat Essys and Jenny Moore, attended the Gulf Isle Neighbors Flash 'N Fashion show.

The program included a 10- minute recording of the history of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and a presentation by president Marion Ginn of the 47 year history of the Santa Rosa Woman's Club and their projects on a local level. Shirley Gaddis, who explained the different departments in the club as well as the importance of the yearly reports, assisted Ginn with the presentation. While refreshments were served, both old and new members expressed satisfaction with how much they had learned about the club.

Submitted photo Marge Cumpston, above, made inspirational remarks to the audience at the Gulf Isle Neighbors' Flash 'N Fashion show.

Evenings in Navarre III

Mark your calendars! The 2008 Evenings in Navarre III concert series continues with the following concerts scheduled: April 5 - University of West Florida "Canticle," April 19 - Perdido Brass and April 26 - First City Five. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. and are held at St. Sylvester Catholic Church located at 6464 Gulf Breeze Parkway. Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for children. Tickets are available to everyone in the community after masses, in the parish office by calling 850939-3020. Don't miss this springtime collection of beautiful music.

Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce

The Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce is set to present its marketing series, "Short Seminars to Boost Your Sales," which is a five month long series of seminars designed to help local businesses. The short seminars will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the chamber office, located at 409 Gulf Breeze Parkway. Each session is $20 or only $90 for the entire marketing series. Sessions will be limited to 20 attendees. Lunch will be provided.

The series will include branding today, Thursday, April 3 presented by Christopher Davis of Clever Branding Associates; "Strategy and Tactics" on May 1 presented by Bill Eveleth of ActionCOACH; "Developing an Advertising Plan" on June 5 presented by Trudy Romjue of Romjue Advertising and Co.; "Search Engine and Website Marketing" on Aug. 7 with Kara Szostek of GrendelFly Studio; and "PR and Free Marketing" on Sept. 4 presented by Don Ruth of Covenant Hospice. To register for the marketing series, or for more information, contact the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce at 850-932-7888 or go to: www.gulfbreezechamber. com.

Heritage Festival in Milton

The Milton "Scratch Ankle" Heritage Festival is a great event and is the only festival of its kind in Santa Rosa County. On Friday, April 25 the festival will begin at 4 p.m. and last until 10 p.m. and on Saturday, April 26 the event will be from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. It is a two-day happening full of music, entertainment and heritage. The Santa Rosa Living History group will be there to demonstrate some "Old fashioned techniques" and give us a glimpse into the life of early settlers of Scratch Ankle.

The Scratch Ankle Festival was started in the early 1970's by a group of students at Milton High School and was originally held on Stewart Street. It is now held on Willing Street along the beautiful Blackwater River in Historic Downtown Milton. It is called Scratch Ankle because the original settlers unloaded their goods at the high point of the Blackwater River, which is thought to be around the downtown Milton and Bagdad areas. As they unloaded their boats, the blackberry briars would scratch their ankles; therefore they named this place "Scratch Ankle." Scratch Ankle was a popular place to barter or sell goods. As the mill industry progressed this area was named Mill Town and later became Milton.

Milton and Bagdad have so much history and architectural beauty that is very important to remember and recognize the influence of the past on the future. It has been said that there were real pirates on the Backwater River and at times, that neck of the woods was a pretty rough place.

There are six candidates who are running for Scratch Ankle King and Queen. The female and male candidates that raise the most money will be awarded King and Queen and will ride as honored guests at the Milton Mardi Gras Parade. Fun activities, such as an old-fashioned hot dog eating contest at the Main Street Cafe and karaoke contest in mid-April, are scheduled ahead of time to raise money.

This year's festival will be better than ever with lots of entertainment, arts and crafts and vendors on both sides of Willing Street along the Blackwater River in beautiful historic downtown Milton. They are looking for heritage artists, crafters, basically anyone who makes anything locally. There is still some room for food vendors and children's activities.

This is a call for vendors! The planners are calling all businesses, civic groups and community organizations to sell their items or introduce their business to over 5,000 people who will attend the Scratch Ankle Heritage Festival. The community and non-profit groups are encouraged to sign up as vendors. If a business, group or organization is interested in becoming a vendor, please call Connie Clark 850-380-9507, Kim Cato at the Main Street office at 850-626-6246 or visit www.mainstreetmilton.org for more information.

Gulf Isle Neighbors

The Gulf Isle Neighbors (GIN) members have done it again. They held their 12th annual fundraiser at Pensacola Civic Center on Wednesday March 12, and it was a sell-out smashing success.

President Nancy Wyse welcomed the group and Marge Cumpston gave words of inspiration. The fashion show began at 1 p.m. with fashions by Brenda Carraway from Fashion Connection. Make-up was done by Jennifer Johnson and Brenda Griffin of Merle Norman Cosmetics Studios of Gulf breeze and Pace. The models were Carol Ascherfeld, Millie Burk, Angela Craig, Fran Fletcher, Mary Jo Hall, Jackye Jensen, Jonnie Pewitt, Nell Servold, Gwen Smith, Nancy Teston and Barbara Viksne.

The costs of the raffle tickets were $5 for one, $10 for 3 and $20 for 8. The raffle drawings totaled $5,505.00 and the raffle choices were outstanding. The prize packages included a week at a Hilton Head Island condo, a weekend or several days in various resort areas in Biloxi, two days at Pensacola Beach, special dinners, gift certificates and many more fun things.

GIN plans to make presentations to their chosen charities at the May meeting. The charities, the Zoo and the Salvation Army, will be pleased with the gift from this hard-working club.