In a regular City meeting on Monday, September 17, 2018, the City of Vernon, Florida received a check from Aaron Miller, Park Manager for Falling Waters State Park in Chipley, for the sum of $50,000.
This grant is given to a local government through the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP), providing financial assistance for acquisition or development of land for public outdoor recreation.
Eligible participants include all county governments, municipalities in Florida and other legally constituted local governmental entities with the responsibility for providing outdoor recreational sites and facilities for the general public.
Incorporated municipalities in the state of Florida bear the legal responsibility for the provision of outdoor recreational sites and facilities for the use and benefit of the general public, and this grant enables this process.
Miller told the Vernon City Council, ‘This money is the result of a competitive grant program, and this $50,000 will go toward the development of sports facilities, soccer fields, playgrounds, picnic facilities, basketball court, security lighting, track and restroom’.
Attendees discussed the commencement in earnest of work on the Highway 79 project in Vernon, with many pieces of road-building equipment in evidence, and the general feeling is that progress will be very visible going forward.
A campaign titled ‘Why Not Vernon?’ is being developed by public relations firm The Goulding Agency, coinciding with the completion of the Highway 79 four-lane project.
‘We were fortunate enough to be a part of the planning for the “Bridge Festival”, working with the Vernon Historical Society in September, 2010’, said Paul Goulding. ‘Then again in February 2013 we participated in the ribbon-cutting for the newly completed bridge project, and the completion of the four-lane through Vernon is no less of an opportunity to celebrate’.
‘The message is that you can invest in reasonably-priced real estate here in Vernon, enjoying the quality of life and low cost of living available, but still enjoy all that the Gulf has to offer, along with access to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, and with the four-lane highway, you can traverse easily from one to the other’.
‘Initially we suggest the use of a slogan such as “Why Not Vernon?”, said Goulding, but input from the community will be essential.
In 2017, Vernon City Commissioners voted unanimously to hire Chipley, Florida public relations firm to help educate the public and the business sector about the opportunities afforded by the City, including the four-laning of State Highway 79 through the city.
Providing public relations, media production and social media efforts for Northwest Florida entities over the past decade as diverse as Family Dollar in Marianna, WestPoint Home in Chipley, the Washington County, Florida School District, Early Learning Coalition of Northwest Florida, Florida Panhandle Technical College in Chipley and the tourism industry in Jackson County, Florida, the firm has become adept at identifying the positives, capitalizing on opportunity and producing compelling content illustrating these highlights of an area or a business.
The firm has provided unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly referred to as ‘drones’, in conjunction with Florida Panhandle Technical College, to photograph and video what is commonly called ‘the Highway 79 Project in Bonifay, Holmes County and Washington County, just north of Vernon, and more recently have provide aerial photos of all the Washington County schools as a part of the Florida School Safety initiative.
The firm recently released a short, upbeat ‘teaser’ aerial video clip of this highlight of the Vernon area, and the response has been commensurately energetic, and Vernon officials are excited.
‘We are excited to have The Goulding Agency on board’, said Vernon Mayor Tina Sloan, ‘and we look forward to shining a big spotlight on the positive future we enjoy here’.