The twelfth annual Beaches to Woodlands tour begins again this Friday, September 18 with Bands on the Blackwater and the Riverwalk Market in downtown Milton. According to Karen Harrell, tour coordinator for her seventh straight year, more than 40 events will be showcased in Santa RosaCounty including new events like a country music festival in NavarreBeach and old favorites like the 26th annual Jay Peanut Festival.
Harrell said, “Traditionally, the tour has been held weekends in October but some of our big agri-tourism events always spread from late September into early November. When the weather gets cooler people are ready to get outdoors and back to nature and we serve up many opportunities to do just that.”
The NavarreBeach music festival, “Country on the Sound,” runs Sept. 25 and 26 featuring headliners Trace Adkins and Big & Rich along with numerous up-and-coming country artists. “The country concert will be held at the NavarrePark, which will be a wonderful backdrop in late September with our sugar white beaches bordered by the Santa Rosa Sound and the Gulf of México,” Harrell said. “This event has received a wonderful welcome by the community.”
Also new to the tour is the Sonshine Farms Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch, September 19 to November 8, with a salute to first responders theme. Two other farms feature corn mazes in the tour as well, Sweet Season Farms Corn Maze honoring the success of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and Holland Farms Pumpkin Patch and Maze also with a first responders theme. They both start September 26.
Harrell said the Panhandle Community Theater has a show at the ImogeneTheatre this year. Don’t Touch That Dial runs September 24 to 27 and is a television musical variety show.
Also new this year, according to Harrell, is the inclusion of the second annual Navarre Fishing Rodeo October 3 to 4, which features a variety of options including kayak fishing, shore fishing, pier finishing and more. The annual Take a Kid Fishing event is also included the same weekend. The annual Holley-Navarre seventh annual Fire Prevention Festival, October 10, and the ChristUnitedMethodistChurch’s annual Pumpkin Patch, October 2 to 31, also join the tour for the first time. Also new are the Gulf Breeze Community Expo, October 2 and 3, and the Navarre Women’s Expo October 17.
Halloween events this year include the new “Haunted Woods: Deadly Games” staged throughout October in Bagdad, the popular Ghost Walk in downtown Milton October 24 and 25, Boo at the Zoo October 18 to 19 and October 24 and 25, and the Science Spooktacular by the Sea, October 30 and 31.
“The best part of our event schedule is that it develops organically and that’s what great about the tour,” Harrell said. “Visitors and locals have a chance to experience so many of the people, places and things that make Santa Rosa County an exceptional place to be, particularly in the Fall season.” Keep up with the Santa Rosa Press Gazette online and in Wednesday editions for each week's Beaches to Woodlands schedule.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 12th Beaches to Woodlands Tour kicks off next weekend