SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla. — South Walton-area motorists who utilize a navigation app or system during their drive now receive advance-warning alerts from South Walton Fire District apparatus responding to emergencies. These Safety Cloud alerts aim to better protect motorists and first responders, as well as assist in improving emergency response times, by giving drivers more time to safely comply with Florida’s Move Over Law. This law requires motorists to slow down and move over for emergency vehicles with activated signals. The Safety Cloud system alerts drivers who are actively using Waze, Apple Maps, Google Maps, vehicles equipped with Ford’s Blue Oval Intelligence system and any Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram vehicles. Motorists using any of the methods listed will receive a hands-free alert that notifies them of an approaching SWFD emergency vehicle or scene. Safety Cloud developers have stated they are working to add new vehicles and navigation apps onto the platform to increase the number of people receiving alerts. In March 2023, the HAAS Alert system alerted 4,405 total drivers about 307 incidents involving a responding SWFD apparatus. SWFD would like to remind motorists to obey all traffic laws while slowing down and moving over for responding emergency vehicles. Also, motorists should ensure that all emergency vehicles have passed before pulling back into the flow of traffic.   Read More

  Pickle’s, located at 2236 East County Hwy. 30A, is celebrating three decades in business at their original Seaside Central Square location. Founded in 1993 by Bill and Heavenly Dawson, of The Dawson Group, Pickle’s began with only 48 square feet and a limited menu consisting of hotdogs, beer, and pickles. The locally owned and operated eatery quickly became famous for their burgers and hand-spun milkshakes. Throughout the years, Pickle’s has become an unofficial historical landmark in the Seaside community and is one of the few establishments that has remained in the same location along Seaside Square. In 2023, 30A’s® Hot Spot Awards named Pickle’s the Hottest Spot for Burgers.   After 32 years in business, the Dawsons sold their company consisting of the five notable Seaside restaurants, including Dawson’s Yogurt, It’s Heavenly Shortcakes and Ice Cream, Pickle’s, The Shrimp Shack, and Wild Bill’s Beach Dogs, to Clark and Ashley Beecher of Houston, Texas. Through a chance meeting and mutual friends, the Beechers met the Dawsons while they were living in Seaside during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. The Beechers have been longtime visitors and homeowners in the Seaside area, so they were very fond of the Dawsons’ restaurants. They knew that the Dawsons were looking for a special family to take over their company and find someone with local ties that would honor the legacy they had established. “When the opportunity arose, we knew they needed someone special to take over,” said Ashley Beecher. “These restaurants were like Heavenly’s... Read More