The Latest Stories from SoWal.com

We're always encouraging visitors and locals to get outside more! That's just what the Explore The Outdoors Festival on Oct. 6, 2012 aims to do. The event will be 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Restaurant Fire is now open for breakfast and the menu is scrumptious. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Before Hurricane Isaac passed by SoWal on his way to New Orleans, South Walton’s sea turtle nests (not including nests in the State Parks) numbered 96, which was a record for our area. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

We love cooking school at Kitchenique! Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

The official results are in for our 2012 "You're So SoWal if..." contest! We had so much FUNN reading all of the GRAYT entries! Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Joanna Cotten & Jimmy Ward performing in the Williams Backyard Boogie at Santa Rosa Beach Florida on August 23, 2012.Joanna & Jimmy ... two awesome songwriters/musicians doing what they do best ... singing their songs. Food plates by Grayton Beach Catering - Chicken and Steak Tacos with all the fixins. http://www.graytevents.com South Walton live music is at http://www.SoWal.com/music. South Walton Live Music Venues are at http://SoWal.com/live-music-venues. If you are a musician or music venue and would like to be featured on SoWal.com, please contact us! We'd like to hear what is your favorite musician, band or live music venue in SoWal...leave us a comment below. Read more and see photos...

As Tropical Storm Isaac veers off his SoWal bullseye and heads west to become Hurricane Isaac, the city of New Orleans braces for a direct hit nearly seven years to the day on which Hurricane Katrina devestated the crescent city. Eerily, Isaac has stalled just off the Louisiana coast as if wanting to make his entry into the city exactly on the seventh anniversary of Katrina. As hard as we try, hurricanes are unpredictable. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Check out the latest forecasts, discussion, and resources at http://www.sowal.com/bb/showthread.php/63227-Tropical-Storm-Isaac

The South Walton TDC has announced the addition of several new employees over the past few weeks. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Wait til you see all the joy on the kids's faces. Cottages for Kids at Rosemary Beach is so fun and rewarding. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Looks like Highland Park is finally going to get moving. Clerk of ourt website says it sold last week to DR Horton. The rumor had been around a while. Get ready Blue Mountain Beach.

Mary A. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Main Image: As the owner of SoWal Pilates, Brittany Lee is ready to share her passion with South Walton as she celebrates her grand opening August 23. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Crust Artisan Bakery has opened on a very visible stretch of U.S. 98, near a big Methodist church (hey, how many times is bread mentioned in the Bible?), and offers bread, pastries, wood-fired pizzas and sandwiches morning to evening, six days a week.My family and I ate at Crust on a recent weeknight, early enough to have the place to ourselves, briefly. In addition to dine-in service, Crust takes call-in orders and sells baked goods, sweet and savory, over the counter. I did not see any beer or wine for sale, but they offer tea, water and some interesting soft drinks, notably San Pellegrino lemon and blood orange sodas.Owner/baker/server/cashier Kim invited us to sit and took our drink orders. The menu is written on a chalkboard, and there’s a printed one as well. There are some daily specials, and the baked items also vary.The restaurant offers a couple of indoor tables, outdoor seating and some tables to the side on a small patio. There’s a cashier’s station, shelves and a glass case for bread and pastries. In the back, there’s a large open kitchen space dominated by a wood-fire oven. The décor is simple and tasteful, and they even play recorded jazz. The scent is just what you’d expect in a working bakery.The menu offers pizzas, sandwiches and salads. Kim also told us she could make two pasta dishes that day if we preferred. My wife was inclined to pizza, I love a good sandwich and the Tiny Diner never met a bread she didn’t like. Kim brought us a basket of baguette slices, some olive oil and seasonings, and let us decide. TD is working on her fifth tooth, and crunchy bread crust is one of her favorite teething tools, especially since she can eat it after use.Pizzas include margherita (tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil); a cheeseless marinara with oregano and sliced garlic; four cheese; arugula and prosciutto; Italian sausage with roasted red peppers and caramelized onion; spicy salami with black olives; wild mushroom with truffle oil, and a white pizza with goat cheese. Pizzas are 9-inch and 16-inch.Sandwich choices are salame with sweet soppressata, pickled eggplant and mozzarella; prosciutto with roasted red pepper and mozzarella; grilled vegetable; and meatball with basil pesto and fontina. There’s also a mixed green salad and arugula with asiago lemon vinaigrette and toasted walnuts. The sandwiches come with a small salad. My wife ordered the prosciutto pizza (to share with TD), and I ordered the soppressata sandwich.While we were waiting for the food, several customers came by to pick up orders, purchase what few pastries were left (they open at 7 a.m.), and dine on the patio. I noticed there were a few dessert items—one muffin and some chocolate croissants. When the muffin was sold, I made a mental note to move quickly if the croissants looked threatened.I don’t eat soppressata that often, but when I do I like it to taste like what I had at Crust. It was thinly sliced, piled up and perfectly balanced by the sweet-tart pickled eggplant. The baguette was crunchy, tender and held the moist filling together securely. I offered some to the TD, but fortunately for me she had a mouthful of Mommy’s pizza.Prosciutto shows up frequently on local menus, and it’s usually parceled out rather sparingly. Crust apparently didn’t get that memo, because their pizza was criss-crossed with thinly-sliced, sweet/ salty ham, along with roasted peppers, mozzarella and a handful of peppery fresh arugula, on a crunchy/chewy browned crust. My side salad was also arugula, with a lemony dressing. That, and a glass of blood orange soda (not too sweet, just bloody enough) was a fine meal for a warm summer night.For dessert, we split a flaky croissant, laced with bittersweet chocolate, and had some house-made nut and dried fruit brittle that had a buttery, toffee-like quality.I don’t care how sophisticated you are or where you have traveled, the scent of handmade, fresh-baked bread can stop you in your tracks. A yearning for too-hotto-handle loaves, boules and baguettes of crusty, chewy baked goodness is embedded in our genes. As much as this area has to offer in the way of eats (seafood, seafood, seafood, to name a few attractions), fresh-baked bread can take some searching out. You have to haunt the farmers markets and specialty stores. Crust Artisan Bakery has done a great deal to simplify your life.Review courtesy SoWal.com Partner The Beachcomber. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Planning is underway for Taste of the Beach 2012 kick off event, "Vine to Wine - A Wine Preview" on Aug. 24th, 2012. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Back in 2005 the small crew at Children's Volunteer Health Network was hard at work starting up their organization and then Hurricane Katrina hit, forcing evacuation in many areas. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Upstairs in the Grayton Beach loft, there’s a stockpile of old musical instruments, rusty lawn tools and disassembled light fixtures. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site. Learn More: Andy Saczynski Studio Gallery Town: Grayton Beach

Pleat & Perry, P.A., a full service law firm with offices in Destin, Rosemary Beach and Navarre, announces the addition of its newest associate, Samuel B. Taylor, Esq. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Back at Indian Pass today after being at Grayton Beach for 10 days. The bite with the fish was Grayt but the weather has not been very cooperative at all for the past two weeks. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

Looking for a way to support the beaches we love? Need community service hours for scholarships or merit badges? Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page. Feel free to share on your site, blog, facebook, or any other site.

In the past, some folks loved to set up a camp on the beach for a week on South Walton beaches and leave all of their stuff so they wouldn't have to lug it back and forth every day. Read more... We'd love to hear what you think...you can comment here or on the story page, or share on your site or on facebook. Learn More: South Walton Sea Turtle Watch

Santa Rosa Beach encompasses quite a bit of South Walton. It can be a bit confusing because it's outline is not perfectly defined like most of our beach towns. Town: Santa Rosa Beach Read more...

It's been one of the busiest summers in South Walton history. More...

Recently released bed tax revenues for June 2012 reflect a 24% increase over 2011, which was the previous record high. More...

It’s sea turtle nesting season in Florida and in South Walton we're having an incredible year with over 100 nests, shattering the previous record of 58. More...