The dinner event is Oct. 1, beginning with an hors d’oeuvres reception at 5:30 p.m., at the First Baptist Church of Milton – Family Activities Building, 6797 Caroline Street, Milton, Fl.  Tickets are $50, with table sponsorships available for $500. For ticket information call (850) 623-5300. For other information contact: Paula Lou Mapoles (850) 626-9567 or pmapoles@mchsi.com.

Visitor can also find something sweet at the annual favorite Bakery Booth, offering favorites such as Kahlua cake, chocolate chip cake, Russian tea cakes, assorted pound cakes, coconut cloud cookies, and assorted breads, jams, pies and candies. This year’s festival also includes a 1950s style Coffee Café with coke and root beer floats.

The event celebrates the multicultural diversity in the community and in the parish.

Shoppers live plant Booth, and Rosa Cottage Crafts Vendors offering homemade and specialty jewelry, toys, decor, health items and more. A children’s area offers a variety of games and carnival rides. The event also includes a Best Dressed Pet Contest and offers visitors a chance to win cash prizes, with a drawing held on Sunday evening. Visitors do not need to be present to win.

The festival is also the host of the Sunset 5K, which takes runners through downtown Milton.

Proceeds from the event go toward building a new community and family life center at the church, which is a center for parish and community activities.

Celebrate food, fun and culture from around the world where they all converge in Santa Rosa county.

Colorfully decorated booths feature Polish, Italian, Cajun, Hispanic, and Filipino specialities as well as seafood chowder & Fish Po’Boys, and fair food favorites like Elephant Ears, Ice Cream, and fried Twinkies.

Visitor can also find something sweet at the annual favorite Bakery Booth, offering favorites such as Kahlua cake, chocolate chip cake, Russian tea cakes, assorted pound cakes, coconut cloud cookies, and assorted breads, jams, pies and candies. This year’s festival also includes a 1950s style Coffee Café with coke and root beer floats.

The event celebrates the multicultural diversity in the community and in the parish.

Shoppers live plant Booth, and Rosa Cottage Crafts Vendors offering homemade and specialty jewelry, toys, decor, health items and more. A children’s area offers a variety of games and carnival rides. The event also includes a Best Dressed Pet Contest and offers visitors a chance to win cash prizes, with a drawing held on Sunday evening. Visitors do not need to be present to win.

The festival is also the host of the Sunset 5K, which takes runners through downtown Milton Friday night.

Proceeds from the event go toward building a new community and family life center at the church, which is a center for parish and community activities.

Annual St. Rose of Lima International Fall Festival - 6450 Park Avenue, Milton, Fla. Admission: Free.

Colorfully decorated booths feature Polish, Italian, Cajun, Hispanic, and Filipino specialities as well as seafood chowder & Fish Po’Boys, and fair food favorites like Elephant Ears, Ice Cream, and fried Twinkies.

Visitor can also find something sweet at the annual favorite Bakery Booth, offering favorites such as Kahlua cake, chocolate chip cake, Russian tea cakes, assorted pound cakes, coconut cloud cookies, and assorted breads, jams, pies and candies. This year’s festival also includes a 1950s style Coffee Café with coke and root beer floats.

The event celebrates the multicultural diversity in the community and in the parish.

Shoppers live plant Booth, and Rosa Cottage Crafts Vendors offering homemade and specialty jewelry, toys, decor, health items and more. A children’s area offers a variety of games and carnival rides. The event also includes a Best Dressed Pet Contest and offers visitors a chance to win cash prizes, with a drawing held on Sunday evening. Visitors do not need to be present to win.

The festival is also the host of the Sunset 5K, which takes runners through downtown Milton Friday night.

Proceeds from the event go toward building a new community and family life center at the church, which is a center for parish and community activities.

30th Annual St. Rose of Lima International Fall Festival & 5K, 6450 Park Avenue, Milton, Fla. – .Friday – 5 to 10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. The 5k run is 8 a.m. on Saturday. Cost for run is $17 through Oct. 7 or $20 day of the race. There will be music, awards ceremony and a pancake breakfast after the race. Register at active.com. Event features international foods, bakery booth, bingo, live entertainment, dancing, bingo, petting zoo, children’s activities and raffle. Admission: Free. Details: Kate Lewis (850) 983-9936 or (850) 982-4345 or www.parishesonline.com/scripts/hostedsites/Org.asp?ID=14423.

Experience the finer things Navarre and Santa Rosa have to offer at A Splash of Spirit Silent Auction and Wine Tasting, St.. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Oct. 1, 6 to 8:30 p.m..

The event will be held at St.. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 7810 Navarre Parkway, Navarre Fla.

Not only is the are home to a wide variety of woodland and seashore species year round, during October species from all over the continent make a stop here on the way to their winter homes.

The Gulf Breeze Zoo will be offering birding exhibits and information throughout the month. And the lush garden landscape at the zoo and its raised boardwalk make it and excellent place to check out our native and migrating feathered friends in addition to the usual exotic residents of the park.

Gulf Breeze Zoo is located at 5701 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, Fla. For more information, visit www.gulfbreezezoo.org.

Come get creative –and green – at the sale, Oct. 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Oct. 8, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Blackwater Folk Art is located at 5863 Stewart St., Milton, Fl.

For more information, call (850) 623-3470.

Planning for the 8th Annual Beaches to Woodlands Tour of Santa Rosa County, staged each October, is in full swing.

The self-guided tour offers events and activities from the sugar white sands and emerald green waters at Navarre Beach, Fla., to historic Milton and north into farm country and the many treasures of the Blackwater River State Forest.

The tour is a favorite stop for visitors and locals after who take advantage of cooler Fall temperatures and low rates at area accommodations including beach rentals, hotels, campgrounds and RV parks.
Visitors can take a Fall Foliage Zip Line Tour high above the trees in one part of the tour and dip their toes into the Gulf of Mexico waters and learn about sea life in another.

Be sure to click this link and “Like” our Facebook page where we will be posting information throughout the tour. For information call 800-480-SAND or 850-939-8666. Book your trip at www.floridabeachestorivers.com.

The event showcases the natural coastal resources of Santa Rosa County, and wide variety of wildlife, plants and geology that exist along our shorelines and beyond the water’s edge. Navarre High School Marine Biology students present hands-on activities such as: shark myths, marine debris, fish painting, shell identification, sea turtles, shark dissection, fishing, seining, craft activities and more.

One of the event’s most popular features is the touch tank, which allows kids and adults to handle creatures that are usually best left alone in the wild. Participants will be able to tour the Marine Science Station. The event is aimed at educating the community about the economic and biological impacts of coastal resources to promote stewardship and conservation of these resources.

For more information, visit www.navarresciencestation.org.

When:
Oct. 1 – Nov. 6

Hours of Operation:
Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Weekday field trips by appointment only

Location:
2260 Horn Road
Milton, FL, 32570

For more information:
www.sweetseasonfarms.com/

Corn maze offers a day of country adventure

Spend an hour or spend a day lost in adventure at corn maze at Sweet Season Farms.

Sweet Season Farms owners Trent and Sharon Mathews and their children, Morgan and Lucas, have worked as a family to create a full day of fun in Milton that includes not only the maze but hayrides, a barrel train, a farm-themed playground, acorn cannon and a corn crib “sandbox.”

“We have always wanted to do some agri-tourism, and when we had a chance to visit a corn maze, we just loved it,” said Sharon Mathews.

This is the third year for the event, which has drawn thousands of visitors out to the farm for a day of country fun.

The Mathews planted the 5-acre field, and when the corn reached eight inches tall, a team from The Maize, a professional corn maze company, came to Milton and cut their custom design.

The rest of the summer was spent watching the design take form as the stalks grew.

The maze offers a couple levels of challenges.

“We have a small kiddie maze that will only take a few minutes,” Mathews said.

“The majority is the big maze, which can take up to an hour,” she said. “It depends on if you follow the straight path. If you know where you are going, it can take 20 to 30 minutes. For most people, it will take about an hour.”

If you get lost, there is trivia passport to help direct you to the exit. And don’t forget to ring the bell at the maze exit when you are done.

Sweet Season Farms was founded in 2008. The Mathews hope the month-long event gives visitors not only an opportunity to tour a corn maze, but to get a close look at how food is grown and learn why agriculture is important in our daily lives.

Corn mazes are big business across the country as farmer look both to diversify and to remind people of the importance of family-run farms.

The Maize company calls the mazes “agritainment.” The company has designed about 220 mazes this year across the United States, Canada and even in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Poland.
Simple designs with ties to the community have the most “wow factor,” said Maize marketing and public relations director Kamille Combs.

“We can design almost anything,” she said. “People can come to us with a sketch or photo, or even just describe something to us, and we can go back and forth until they are happy.”

The Maize was first introduced in Utah in 1996 with the largest human-size cornfield maze in the western United States. Owner Brett Herbst’s first maze drew more than 18,000 visitors in only three weeks. Since 1996, Herbst has designed more than 1,200 mazes.

Aside from being a fun family adventure, mazes are also a great way for the community to get a first hand look at family farming, Combs added.

“Educating people about farming is very important to many of our maze clients,” she said. “Many of them host field trips, and teach kids about where their food comes from. They love what they are doing and sharing it with the public.

“Many years ago, the majority of the population lived on the farm or in a rural environment, now very few have that experience,” she said. “It’s important to expose people – and especially children – to farming.”

After you have made your way through the maze there is more family fun.

“We’ll have a small concession stand with food and drinks,” Mathews said.

There will also be a barrel train painted to look like a cow, hay rides, and a “corn crib box” – which is like a sand box, but filled with corn.

While parents relax after their maze journey, kids can play on the little farm playground.

And for the kid in everyone, there is a corn cannon, where visitors can try their luck launching ears at distant targets.

“We’re very excited about the maze and all the fun we have planned around it,” Mathews said.