Love Affair with Wonderful Walton
Art, culture, and natural beauty in the Paris of Florida
Most people living in Northwest Florida love to live here. Later in this issue, you will read why in our periscope section, which focuses on Okaloosa and Walton counties. In these stories, entrepreneurs and business-minded experts in our community share insights, successes, and opportunities.
I sat down with Uriah Matthews, executive director of Wonderful Walton Economic Development Alliance (Wonderful Walton). Since our last update from Matthews in the summer of 2023, Wonderful Walton has grown to 20 private sector member investors. Economic development requires a team effort to be successful, and leveraging resources from the private sector will expedite growth opportunities.
Matthews’ vision was to metamorphize this organization into a transformation machine that sets the community up for success and diversifies outcomes, continuing to increase wealth prosperity in our area, beginning with a framework for ensuring positive outcomes with our most scarce resource in the region: land.
Economic development deals typically contain sensitive information, where details remain confidential until agreements are finalized. While I cannot specify more, I have learned that Matthews and his team are working to cultivate agriculture produce to become more accessible to the public, similar to an organization in Tallahassee called Red Hills Online Farmers Market, which has created recourses for farmers in Tallahassee. Matthews aims to replicate this model of success for the many farmers in North Walton.
Other improvement efforts are also underway in DeFuniak Springs. Due to the incredible efforts of Mayor Campbell and the City Council, the Triumph Gulf Coast Board has voted to advance the final grant award for up to $4,229,000 to support improvement of the City of DeFuniak Springs Airport, which will bring 100 new jobs to the region.
The aerospace industry has long been touching down in Northwest Florida, but improvement efforts are also underway in Okaloosa County with funds from Triumph Gulf Coast awarded to create 336 high-wage jobs in support of Project Opal, an aviation aerospace manufacturer, in partnership with Florida Commerce, Space Florida, and the University of West Florida. These new jobs will create growth for our region in Niceville and into Freeport and DeFuniak Springs, adding to the expansive community near Eglin.
Freeport is the fastest growing city in the Northwest Florida region, and our community is working hard to ensure the growth is thoughtful and strategic. Partners, such as Florida’s Great Northwest with the leadership of Jennifer Connolly, are generating competitive opportunities for economic development in the region that align with our values and focus on protecting our beautiful landscape.
In the past, I have facetiously referred to DeFuniak Springs as the Paris of Florida. In the early 1900s, many prominent artists, such as Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and even Earnest Hemmingway, were drawn to the South of France for a quieter way of life. Like the South of France, DeFuniak Springs offers vibrancy away from urban life, a unique landscape and charming villages—a creative’s paradise. Similarly, we have a plethora of talented artists and artisans relocating from South Walton to Freeport and DeFuniak Springs. From Tim Jackson’s Storyteller Concert Series to Sylvia Rockwell’s Native American Finger Weaving workshops, artists have a home here with opportunities to display their art at DeFuniak Springs Art Co-op and DeFuniak Springs Art Gallery.
Whether you live in the heart of the Panhandle or along the coast, I invite you to visit and see the Paris of Florida for yourself, and wherever you are get involved in your community, learn of the opportunities for education, connection, investment, and more. We have a special place that is no longer a secret.
May we be thoughtful in how we grow and not take our Wonderful Walton for granted, preserving the natural beauty of our amazing life here.
Best,
McKenzie Burleigh
