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What better gift for the holidays than a little piece of South Walton? Here's a quick list of highlights for you last-minute shoppers looking for an authentic SoWal gift.
 

There's a lot of great music in the SoWal Area but homegrown Dread Clampitt's style of bluegrass meets the beach has wide appeal.
http://www.dreadclampitt.com
 

The Seaside Merchants invite everyone out for Countdown Seaside! A New Year's Eve Celebration, a family-friendly party featuring live entertainment, kid's art projects, street performers and an amazing fireworks display over the Gulf of Mexico. Festivities for this fabulous family event begin at 7 p.m. and last until midnight New Year's Day. Make it your resolution to start 2012 off with a bang.

It's that time of year again and several SoWal-area restaurants have won the coveted Golden Spoon award from Florida Trend. Each year their dining editor eats his way across the state - tough job!

This year's winners are Cuvee Bistro in Destin, Vint'ij in Miramar Beach, Firefly in Panama City Beach, and Fish out of Water at WaterColor Inn & Resort.

Tis the season of giving and there are plenty of places in SoWal to spread your cheer. Please feel free to add any info you have! See the list!

Our friends at Amavida Coffee have created an international project to change lives and communities - one cup of coffee at a time. “Cup By Cup” is a coffee brand created to finance the project. Beach-based charity Global Effect buys the coffee beans from growers in the southern Dominican Republic; Amavida imports, roasts and packages the coffee at its beach warehouse. The product is marketed to churches in the United States, and proceeds are invested in poor communities in northern Dominican Republic to create businesses and provide for families and children.

Through October of this year the number of single family resales is ahead of last year in all the major panhandle counties. While Escambia (2%), Leon (5%), and Santa Rosa (8%) are only up single digits YTD other markets are beating last year’s sales by healthy margins. Okaloosa and Walton Counties are ahead of last year by 14 percent while Bay County has 22 percent more single family resales than this time last year.
As reported by Metro Market Trends, http://www.mmtinfo.com.

The E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center in SoWal is an amazing place, named after one of America's premier biologists. You may have heard it is one of the must-see attractions in SoWal for locals and visitors. Well, now you have an even better reason to go and something that will no doubt be a magnet for the wildlife and education facility.

For the past several months, there has been a flurry of exciting activity at the Center.  Some of you may have noticed the construction activity centered between the grass mounds and the classroom buildings. 

As winter sets in across the country, here's a warm look back at the perfect summer job for one lucky SoWal local, Laurel Abbe.

When I saw the SoWal Forum posting for “Brand Ambassadors – South Walton Tourist Development Council”, I read it as Beach Ambassadors and I applied right away.

The job description included phrases like “Representing South Walton …on-site at the beaches… interviewing families… taking photographs… distributing promotional materials”. Who could pass that up? It would be a pleasure. So I applied and happily, I got the job.