Downtown Crowd, January 2022

JAN. ‘22

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A Reimagined Cultural Hub

an Armed Forces News Section

PLT Renovates Cultural Center

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DOWNTOWN CROWD January 2022 Publisher Malcolm Ballinger Owner Malcolm Ballinger

Editor’s Letter

Executive Editor Kelly Oden Editor Morgan Cole Art Director Guy Stevens

Morgan Cole, Editor

Graphic Designer Josh Warner Editorial Assistant Dakota Parks

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CONTENTS

Well folks, another year has come and gone. As we enter 2022, many of us find ourselves looking back at the past year and jotting down a list of resolutions that we would like to accomplish in the upcoming year.

New year, new me, or so we’d like to think!

Let’s be honest with each other, we would all be lying if we said we have never made a New Year’s resolution list in order to “better ourselves” in the year to come. While each neatly constructed and personalized New Year’s resolution we set for ourselves has great intent, the likelihood of most of us actually following through with it is unfortunately slim.

I can personally attest to this statement because I, too, have made my fair share of goals I planned to conquer in the year to come; however, like most lists, they always find their way neatly tucked away at the bottom of my desk drawer until I finally decide to clean it out. If you have set a New Year’s goal for yourself and can honestly say you have accomplished it or are still striving towards a said goal, then I salute you. For us less enthusias-

tic individuals, most New Year’s resolutions seem like just another item to add to an already overloaded list of to-do’s.

6

8

While it may be difficult to admit to ourselves, New Year’s resolutions just might not be for everyone, and quite frankly, why do we have to “better ourselves” at the beginning of a new year as opposed to attempting to be a little bit better than who we were in days past?

10

15

18

22

6 5 Questions with Creatives

15 New Year, Same You. Trash Your New Years Resolutions

I say, enough with the resolutions and unattainable goals. Just because a new year is on the horizon doesn’t entirely mean we change along with it. Here’s to 2022, but remember, just because it is a new year, doesn’t mean we have to become someone new.

For this issue, we’ve brought you a slightly different perspective on setting resolutions. So, put down the pen and paper, forget about that list of unattainable goals and simply enjoy the year to come!

Until next time, Cheers!

8 When Queens Link Up: Empowering Black Women Entrepreneurs 10 A Reimagined Cultural Hub: PLT Launches Capital Campaign to Renovate Cultural Center

18 Plant the Republic: Plant Exchange at Emerald Republic Brewing Co. 20 January Events Calendar 22 Military Matters

ON THE COVER - Illustration

by Josh Warner

DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM | 5

5 QUESTIONS WITH

CREATIVES J A M I E L E AT H E R N

BY MORGAN COLE

Until recently, you couldn’t hear the word “macramé” without it conjuring up visions of thrift-store place mats, summer camp friendship bracelets or that dusty oversized wall-tapestry hanging in aunt Sue’s house. But thanks in part to creatives like local macrame artist Jamie Leathern, this once nostalgic medium is having another day in the sun.

Jamie’s passion for this ancient form of fiber art first began about three years ago when she stumbled across some old macrame plant hangers that her mother had made back in the 60s and 70s. Inspired by her mother’s trendy creations, Jamie decided to give macrame a try for herself and she began making her own plant hangers for her beloved plant babies.

Today, Jamie is now the proud owner and operator of her own macrame business called Macrame by Jamison. Check out her complete line of trendy macrame plant hangers available for purchase at Millie's Garden Boutique located at The Garden at Palafox + Main in downtown Pensacola or shop online at macramebyjamison.square.site/. For more custom designs and creations, follow @macramebyjamison on social media.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and what brought you to Pensacola?

I grew up in a tiny farm town in the middle of Kansas. My hometown is only one mile wide with a population of just a little more than 1,000 people. I graduated in 2012 and moved to San Diego, CA where I met my husband who serves in the U.S. Navy. We lived in San Diego for four years and then Washington State for another four years before my husband’s military orders finally brought us to sunny Pensacola, where we have lived for almost two years now.

plants. Plants and gardening have always been a huge part of my life thanks to my green thumb parents. My dad is very good with his hands and taught me at a young age that if you want something durable it's sometimes better to just make it yourself. This is one of the main reasons I started to make my own macrame plant hangers. I never thought that I could actually make money doing something I love.

What types of things do you make out of macrame and what’s your specialty or most popular item?

The first item I created, which is also my top seller, are macrame plant hangers. I started to run out of floor and window sill space for my 60-70 indoor plant babies so I needed to find an alternative.

Hanging my plants was that alternative! Plant hangers are definitely my specialty but I also make keychains. I also have goals to start creating more wall pieces in the future.

What inspired you to start your own macrame business and how did you get started?

I started making and selling macrame about three years ago for an extra source of How did you first become inter- income. I didn’t really start ested in macrame? to get fully into it until I met In between transferring to an amazing person through Where can readers shop for your duty stations, I was living in the Pensacola plant commu- macrame products locally? my hometown in Kansas for nity on Facebook. Melissa Yes, I sell my plant hangers six months. During that time, (owner of Millie’s Garden in Millie’s Garden Boutique. my mom and I happened to Boutique) offered to let me Millie’s carries a wide variety come across some macrame sell my pieces in her booth at of my products. I also particihangers she had made back a couple of the local markets. pate in Palafox Market as well in the 60s and 70s. She hadn’t That gave me the confidence I as other local markets with crafted anything in a really needed to realize that I’m actu- Millie’s Garden Boutique a long time, so we decided ally pretty good at this! Since few times a month where my to learn how to macrame then my business has steadily products are also available for together. Another reason I increased and we have now purchase. really got into macrame was become great friends and partly due to my love for business partners.

6 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

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ince 2019, the quarterly marketplace and social event, When Queens Link Up, has been growing and prospering across Pensacola. When Queens Link Up (WQLU) not only boasts everything from artisan goods, organic and natural beauty products to clothing, spiritual items, crystals and jewelry, but it is also dedicated to uplifting and empowering Black women entrepreneurs.

Event curator, Tuesday Night, is a mother, teacher, author and poet, owner of the boutique PR firm PUSH Publicity Inc. and owner of Waist Me Knot, a handmade African waist bead company.

When

Queens Link Up

EMPOWERING BLACK WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

By Dakota Parks

8 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

Knight gained her entrepreneurial spirit from her mother, who raised her as a single parent while managing and spearheading her own commercial and residential cleaning business in Pensacola.

Inspired by her mother, Knight first founded the Queen Up Foundation as a summer camp in Tallahassee to empower young Black women before expanding from her nonprofit to help eliminate resource gaps and barriers to entrepreneurship in her hometown.

“I was mentoring young girls, and I knew I had to reach the mothers too,” Knight explained. “I saw this problem in our community. There were a bunch of women circling around looking for business resources that were right in front of their faces.

I wanted to get them in a room together where they would be able to bounce off each other, spread information they knew, and then, I could help them fill in what was missing.”

The quarterly event features live music and entertainment, a marketplace with more than 20 vendors, where the public can shop locallymade goods, and business workshops to help the small businesses grow. These workshops include promotion, social media, Google business and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) basics as well as a quarterly challenge like exploring a partnership, launching a new product or editing business websites to keep the companies progressing.

According to American Express, Black women are the largest group of minority entrepreneurs in the country and they are opening businesses faster than any other race in America. For Knight, these workshops and challenges are fundamental to curbing disparities in minority entrepreneurship in obtaining credit, mentorship and a lack of education in financial literacy.

“While we are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, we

The December event featured a showcase of women poets called Queens of the Mic, in which Hodge shared some of her work. In addition to the marketplace, each event features live entertainment, music, food and drinks. In April 2022, the WQLU event will coincide with a natural hair show at the Pensacola Fairgrounds for one of the biggest events yet. At the end of the year, Knight will also be hosting a twoday retreat featuring various business and self-care workshops.

are also the ones who plateau the fastest within six months to a year, because we don’t necessarily have “This event is for everyone—a place the adequate tools or the adequate to bring your best friends for a girl’s setup to be successful,” Knight day out, your husband or anyone you said. “We have an idea or we have love that wants to pour back into the a talent, but we often hit a plateau community. We are all the people or get burnout from not planning that surround you—from your teachahead or utilizing resources. What ers and bankers to your educators we try to do is prevent the burnout. and physicians. We all understand This event is a platform where these what it means to come together, and women can speak, network, build, if you come out and support us, I buy and grow.” promise you will see change in our community,” Knight said.

Through this event, Knight is helping carve out a space for Black women When Queens Link Up entrepreneurs to network and grow Event Dates: with likeminded peers, while creating a unique social event for patrons January 22, 2022 to support women-owned and April 23, 2022 Black-owned businesses.

“At WQLU we create a beautifully warm and welcoming space,” Vendor and Entrepreneur Ericka Streeter Hodge explained. “The challenge and power in stepping up and out in our individual crafts generates a shared strength. When I present my unique jewelry, SoulStonesbyEricka and collection of poetry, Soul Fire: Prose of Passion and Peace, I’m offering an effervescent experience and a bit of my own soul’s fire.”

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A REIMAGINED CULTURAL HUB PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE LAUNCHES CAPITAL CAMPAIGN TO REDESIGN CULTURAL CENTER By Morgan Cole

F

rom avant-garde, thought- until 1949 when the theatre’s Board provoking productions and of Directors developed a plan for a beloved theatrical classics to home that PLT could call its own. In children’s productions and everything January of 1952, PLT hosted its first in between, Pensacola Little Theatre show in a World War II-era Quon(PLT) has been providing diverse set hut, and the theatre’s all-voluncultural experiences in Northwest Flor- teer productions continued there ida for more than 30 years. through the 1970s. After more than two decades, the Quonset hut began The humble beginnings of PLT date to deteriorate and the Board of Direcback to 1926 when a group of indi- tors felt that renovations would be viduals at the old San Carlos Hotel too costly, so they began to search established the Pensacola Civic for a new home for the theatre. In Drama Players organization which 1977, the Quonset building was sold, performed dramatic theatre for three and PLT moved into the old Florida years before the onset of the Great Movie House on Palafox Street, but Depression. In 1936, after a period board members and devoted volunof “dark years,” the organization was teers never gave up the dream of established through the Works Prog- moving the theatre into its own ress Administration, which provided home again. funding to create theatre companies across the country as part of Through a commissioned study, the federal government’s recovery PLT later found that numerous efforts following the Great Depres- local arts organizations had similar sion. The new organization became needs. After convincing the Escamofficially incorporated one year later bia County Commissioners that a as Pensacola Little Theatre, Inc. central location with space and facilities for existing and new arts groups Early performances were held in the was needed, PLT was awarded the old Chamber Commerce auditorium deed to the old Escambia County and later at Pensacola High School, Court of Records Building and Jail.

10 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

S Rendering of a view of the renovated Clark Family Cultural Center. Courtesy of PLT/ Carter Quina

‣

Illustrated rendering of the newly-designed atrium in the Clark Family Cultural Center. Courtesy of Pensacola Little Theatre.

Constructed in 1911, the long-abandoned landmark was renovated into what is now the Pensacola Cultural Center and in 1996, PLT proudly hosted its first production—The Wizard of Oz —in its new permanent home at the Pensacola Cultural Center in the heart of downtown Pensacola.

Today, the non-profit community theatre serves as a cultural gathering space for the community and is host to numerous musicals, comedies, dramas, children’s shows, youth acting classes as well as a variety of volunteer opportunities and mission-based fundraisers throughout the year.

The cultural center remains PLT’s permanent home for its ambitious annual mainstage production schedule. Armed with a mission to use the theatrical experience to enhance the cultural agenda of our community and develop future generations of performers and patrons of the arts, PLT continues to serve as a mecca of local volunteerism and cultural opportunity for individuals from all walks of life.

In early December of 2021, PLT announced the launch of a $3 million capital campaign to redesign the

W Rendering of a view of the new rooftop lounge atop the Clark Family Cultural Center. Courtesy of PLT/Carter Quina.

the new campaign. So, while the renovations have been ongoing, this reimagination of the building is a complete redesign to better suit the cultural climate and progression of Pensacola and its people.”

The $3 million in renovations to the Clark Family Cultural Center will include: Rooftop venue: water-front, roof-top terrace, lounge and performance space

Pensacola Cultural Center following a generous $1 million donation from the family of Dave and Cynthia Clark, who are long-time supporters of the theatre.

In honor of the family’s gift, the cultural center will be renamed the Clark Family Cultural Center.

tal campaign to raise funds to renovate the Pensacola Cultural Center to include new gathering spaces, an art gallery and a rooftop lounge boasting views of Pensacola Bay.

“The Clark family’s $1 million gift was introduced to the public by the unveiling of an outdoor digital graffiti display, live indoor performances and confetti-filled presentation of digital renderings of the facility’s proposed renovations,” PLT Executive Director Sid Williams-Heath said. “The S Illustrated rendering of redesigned theatre Clark’s ties to the theatre and interest space at the Clark Family Cultural Center. in redesigning our home to create a Courtesy of Pensacola Little Theatre. grander sense of arrival to Pensacola while providing a home for the arts, “So far, the theatre is a little more motivated their generosity.” than halfway to its goal, including 100 percent participation amongst This contribution serves as the kick-off the PLT Board of Trustees,” Williamsto the theatre’s newly-announced capi- Heath said.

The idea was driven by the board of directors and was formalized in part with local branding experts at idgroup, which the theatre has worked with for the past year through funding from their ‘Brand on Us’ grant. The grant is awarded to one local non-profit each year and has been instrumental in helping PLT tell its story and develop awareness throughout the capital campaign.

Williams-Heath explained that the campaign centers on the renaming of our city’s cultural hub—The Clark Family Cultural Center, affectionately known as The Center.

“From funding the original multimillion dollar adaptive reuse of the building in the late 80s to paying off the mortgage in 2009, the theatre’s resilience continued,” WilliamsHeath explained. “The next goal of the theatre was to fund an endowment, which was successful through 2010. In 2018, the organization began to replace its entire roof, airconditioning units, fire escape and rigging systems in preparation for

Theatre overhaul: Upgraded seat upholstering, lighting, flooring, color palette and acoustics Atrium redesign: collaborative gathering hub and public parlor Courtroom enhancements: new paint and drapery, versatile illumination and accessibility to the building’s exterior for increased capacity and flow Gallery repurposing: installation of art gallery hanging system to showcase fine art, removal of the drop ceiling and a restroom renovation Building-wide installations: selfguided tours throughout The Center showcasing the history of the building alongside various displays of art, culture and heritage Terrezza expansion: entryway addition to allow seamless interior and exterior access to the building’s old courtroom to better accommodate private events DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM | 11

S Dave and Cynthia Clark present the Pensacola Cultural Center with a $1 million check. Courtesy of Kristina Wright/Pensacola Little Theatre.

“From the flow of the building, the The theatre’s renovation will be acoustics of each room, the ability to the largest interior portion of the collaborate in public parlors for draw- project, which will begin the day

ing inspiration, the installation of self-guided history tours and the New York City aesthetic to complement and match the big-city talent of our artists—this renovation means growth, sustainability and excellence for everyone we represent,” Williams-Heath explained. “By supporting our vision, that means you are preserving an iconic staple of the community while investing in the future of creativity and culture.”

after PLT’s final holiday performance. Construction on the rooftop venue will follow shortly after, with a scheduled completion date of January 2023.

“The community helped us create the Cultural Center 30 years ago, and now we humbly ask for your support—big or small—to help expand that vision and secure our legacy—your legacy,” WilliamsHeath said.

The theater will continue its fundraising efforts well into 2022 For more information on the projas they prepare to celebrate ect and how to get involved, visit their 85th season this coming findyourcenterpensacola.com.

July. The Center is expected to remain operational as construction kicks off in December 2022.

12 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

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New Year, Same You. Trash Your Resolutions

by Dakota Parks

S

o, you’ve maxed out a credit card holiday shopping, gained a couple pounds from pumpkin pie and sugar cookies and spent the last month trying to avoid a fight with your problematic uncle over the dinner table—and now, the world wants you to become a better person in less than a week. As if the holidays weren’t whiplash enough, now you’re making a list and checking it twice for things to change about yourself.

Did you know humans have been failing resolutions for more than 4,000 years?

Why start now? According to U.S. News & World Report, around 80 percent of people fail their New Year’s resolutions by mid-February. Who says you need selfimprovement? Throw out that self-help book your high school friend on Facebook recommended and indulge in the same old you. Don’t break any habits or try to be a better human. Trash your New Year’s resolutions for a more enjoyable way to spend January—recommended by zero doctors, MLM schemes or concerned mothers. Cheers to being the same old, terrible you in 2022!

Get Organized?

Remember to always tr eat yourself to some lil' sc reen after staring at th e medium sc reen.

You know what’s better than taking a label maker to your spice cabinet or sparking joy by color coding your linens in the hall closet? Have a self-care-induced shopping spree. I bet Marie Kondo has never heard about Crazy Cazboys, Dirt Cheap or the T&W Flea Market. Go dig through bins and mystery boxes at Pensacola’s premiere retail liquidation stores or shop the stalls at the flea market and find everything you never knew you needed.

Less Screen Time?

So, your eyeballs feel like the Sahara Desert and you’re thinking about all the productive adult things you could accomplish in the seven hours a day you spend staring at screens? Don’t be a wuss! Grab a pair of blue light glasses that all the tech bros wear and go binge watch the new season of Tiger King.

Bonus points if you actually put on a pair of jeans and go to a movie theatre like the good old days. Think of that buttery AMC popcorn and those sticky soda floors calling your name!

DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM | 15

New Year, Same You. Drink More Water?

We all know the drill—when your mouth is dry, you have the twinge of a dehydration headache and you haven’t peed all day, it’s time for an iced coffee! Don’t listen to the health nuts that say you need to nourish your body with superfluous things like water. Beer is 95 percent water and coffee is 98 percent water.

Give your body what it really needs.

And here we see a woman in her natural habitat at a watering hole

Lose Weight?

Forget being held hostage on a Peloton or having a stalker watch you through the hi-tech Lululemon workout mirror that looks like its straight out of Disney Channel’s possessed Smart House. Take your body-ody-ody down to Bluejay’s Bakery, or any local confectioner, and shove a cake pop in the next cardio Karen’s mouth that tells you to slim down in the New Year.

Fa t , h a

ppy an

d cuter

than yo

u!

Spend Less Money?

l and st a bil h...

She's ju fire...oh oh o n she's o fire!

Who needs a 401K or retirement plan when the l is on il b is h t polar ice caps are melting and the honeybees are

dying? Instead of saving or investing it, take that fat wad of cash that your family gave you for the holidays because “you’re so hard to shop for” and go blow it on those glorious after-Christmas sales.

Wipe the shelves clean of all the clearance Christmas candy or start a fist fight at Cordova Mall when you take the last 70 percent off Merry Maple Pancake lotion at Bath & Body Works.

16 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

X marks the spot...to avoid

Spend More Time with Friends and Family?

Let’s pretend its 2020 and social distance. Or, spice things up and send your ex a New Year’s text. Not good enough? As if you didn’t spend enough time with them over the holidays, or with your eyes glazed over on the family Zoom, you can treat your loved ones to an escape room!

Visit Escape on Palafox, and while your family is locked together in a room fighting over clues and how your dad never does the dishes, you can enjoy a nice beer by yourself at one of the many nearby bars. Just tell them you forgot a jacket in the car and never return.

Ask Palafox Street

Travel more?

You just spent all your money! The only place you’re traveling now is your back yard. After you get done fist fighting over lotions and candles in Cordova Mall, walk on down to VR Adventure Zone, or steal your little cousin’s VR headset, and see a whole new world—a new fantastic point of view, a dazzling place you never knew. Behind these WALL-E, trash goblin looking goggles, you can imagine you’re a whole new person, falling in love in Paris or beating up a monster on the Eiffel Tower—all without resolutions or actual plane tickets.

Downtown Crowd hit the pavement during Gallery Night to see what the people of Palafox Street had to say about New Year’s resolutions. What better way to find out how to trash your resolutions than to talk to people getting trashed? No beers were harmed in the conducting of these interviews.

Jerry and Juna Smith, Ages 68 & 70, Retired Do you ever make New Year’s resolutions?

We did when we were younger. Now that we’re retired, nothing ever changes. Every day is Saturday when you’re retired.

Remembering the good old days before his grandkids nicknamed him “Ok Boomer”

Cook More at Home?

Sure, you can give yourself the adult pep-talk that “we have food at home,” or commit to buying more groceries but end up with a random assortment of food that may or may not rot in your produce drawer, or you could join the “Pensacola Foodies” Facebook group, where the camera eats first, and never burn a casserole again! Let strangers on the internet hypnotize you with subliminal messages while you trance scroll for three hours and the algorithm tells you what you need for dinner tonight.

Stop Procrastinating?

You really made it to the end of this article like you’re not reading it in a café somewhere or scrolling on the toilet procrastinating on getting work done. Repeat after me, I’ll stop procrastinating tomorrow.

Gage Rogers, Age 20, Artist

If you made New Year’s resolutions, which one would you immediately break?

I would probably try to eat better then immediately go back to eating trash. I feel like you break resolutions right away. Like you make your resolution, then you break it the next day.

Tom & Chelly Moore, Ages 42 & 41, PhD Student and Delivery Driver

Are you making any resolutions?

Tom: I think I’m going to try the one to one million challenge where you try to take $1 and turn it into $1 million. I have no idea if I’ll be successful.

Do you like or dislike resolutions?

Chelly: I feel like they’re a fun way to get a little insight into your friends. You learn about what your friend’s hopes and dreams are, which might crash and burn but maybe you can help them achieve them or support them when they don’t work out.

Dayna Pinnock, Age 20, Nonprofit work for CARE

Do you ever make New Year’s resolutions?

I stopped believing in New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. I don’t do resolutions; I do game plans. I know exactly what I want to get done and put my mind to it. I want to own my own business and open a homeless shelter to help people.

DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM | 17

ald Republic Brewing Company grace- “Because of this and my own growing interfully tackled the challenge. Despite many est in plants, I really wanted to create a pandemic-related hurdles and the loss space that people could meet in person of its roof during a powerful storm, this to exchange plants, socialize with one neighborhood brewery and taproom has another and provide useful tips on plant continued to thrive. care,” Zayas explained.

LOCAL BREWERY HOSTS PLANT SWAP

By Morgan Cole

W

hen the pandemic hit, craft breweries, like many other businesses, were faced with unprecedented challenges. From restaurant closures and widespread layoffs to state-mandated shelter-in-place orders, the hospitality sector at large has taken quite a beating over the past coronavirus-crazed year.

And just like their less-boozy neighbors, craft breweries throughout the country also struggled to stay afloat amid a sea of uncertainty and ever-heightening restrictions. With bars and restaurants shifting their opera-

tions to take-out and delivery only, while orders began to plummet and the personable neighborhood taprooms that once served as the industry’s lifeblood were forced to hang up their handles for the foreseeable future.

While craft breweries were forced to tackle some of the most economically and socially precarious moments of the 21st Century, many of them weathered the storm by coming up with new and innovative ways to attract customers and get their products out to the masses, even after resuming normal business operations.

Through creativity, ingenuity, community-mindedness and a boatload of cleaning solution, Emer-

18 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

Since its reopening this past December, This is the first time the brewery has Emerald Republic has hosted a multi- hosted a plant exchange, but according tude of unique events and collaborations to Carpenter, they have plans to host even to boost business and help bring people more plant-based events in the near future. back together during these wild times. Carpenter explained that plans are in the One of which is their first annual Plant works to eventually host a plant market at the Republic event scheduled for January the brewery as well.

26 from 6 pm to 9 pm, where individuals are invited to the brewery located at 1414 “Local plant vendors from Uncommon West Government St. in Pensacola, for an Planters and Millie’s Garden Boutique evening of trading plants, tasty beer and will also take part in the event for people good company. who are interested in purchasing plants,” Carpenter said.

For the event, individuals are asked to bring small houseplants, seedlings or In addition to the plant exchange, guests propagated plants to swap with fellow will have a chance to try out Emerald plant lovers.

Republic’s latest craft beer release, the Acai sour. The brewery will also offer $1 “There’s no cost to attend and everyone off all beers for the evening and Eclectic is invited to participate by bringing along Eats will be on site serving up a delicious a small houseplant or propagated plant all vegan menu. and care instructions,” Emerald Republic Private Event Coordinator and Taproom Whether you’re looking to snag some new Manager, Brook Carpenter-Wilson said. plants for your collection, mingle with fellow plant lovers or simply want to enjoy a The brainchild behind the brewery’s unique tasty brew, this event has a little something event concept is Emerald Republic Owner for everyone. Plant the Republic will be held and plant enthusiast, Philip Zayas. Over January 27 from 6 pm to 10 pm at Emerald the years, Zayas has accumulated a Republic at 1414 West Government Street large selection of plants both in his home in downtown Pensacola. and at the brewery and is also an active member of many local plant exchange For complete event details and informagroups on Facebook. His involvement in tion on participating in the plant exchange, plant exchange groups and general love visit emeraldrepublicbrewing.com or follow for plants inspired him to host the event. @emeraldrepublicbrewing on social media.

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Figure Drawing Monday, 6–9 pm February 21 – March 28 April 11 – May 16 May 30 – July 4 Learn drawing techniques through study of the human figure.

Pins and Needles Tuesday, 5:30–7:30 pm February 22 – March 29 April 12 – May 17 May 31 – July 5 Learn the basics to advanced sewing techniques.

Creative Painting: Focus on the Figure Saturday, 1–4 pm April 16 – May 21 Exploring creative painting processes from abstract to realistic depiction of the human form.

Introduction to Boro Glass Sculpting January 11 – February 1 Tuesday, 1-4 pm Introduction to working with borosilicate glass.

Hot Glass Fundamentals: 1 Day Class Offered on Monday and Saturday Three hour introduction to glass blowing.

Pottery on the Wheel, Handbuilding & Sculpture Classes Upcoming 6-week classes starting February 21 & April 11

For more info and class registration, visit

Art Lab Six Week Sessions Starting in January Students explore a variety of mediums such as drawing, painting, collage, pottery, and 3-D design.

Monday 3–5 pm, Grades 1–3 Tuesday 4:30–6:30 pm, Grades 6–8 Wednesday 9–11 am, Grades Pre-K– 3 Wednesday 3–5 pm, Grades Pre-K–1 Thursday 9–11 am, Grades 4–8 Thursday 3–5 pm, Grades 3–5

Yoga and Art for Kids Age 5–12 | 10 am–12 pm | $25 per class Offered on Saturdays each month Breath, movement, and art in this fun one time class!

Creating with Clay Age 5–12 | $45 per 2 part class series 2 part class offered on Saturdays Projects include 3-D creations such as bowls, vessels, boxes with lids, and sculptural pieces.

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January COMMUNITY EVENTS Pensacola Ice Flyers Schedule

For more information and tickets, visit pensacolaiceflyers.com.

January 7 at 7:05 pm . . . . . . . . Birmingham vs Ice Flyers January 14 at 7:05 pm . . . . . . . . . Huntsville vs Ice Flyers January 15 at 7:05 pm . . . . . . . Birmingham vs Ice Flyers January 22 at 7:05 pm . . . . . . . . . . . Macon vs Ice Flyers Constant Coffee Poetry Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 4, 11, 18, 25 Join Pensacola Poetry at the longest running open mic in Pensacola at Constant Coffee & Tea, located at 615 Scenic Highway. Every Tuesday, poets and creatives come to flex their voices through poetry, rap and spoken word. Come out and support the local arts community and hear a beautiful bricolage of words. Doors open at 6 pm and mic starts at 6:30 pm. Follow Pensacola Poetry on Facebook for updates and information.

2022 Pensacola Mardi Gras Kick-Off Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 7 One of Pensacola’s largest outdoor parties is back downtown! Official kick off will begin at Seville Quarter in downtown Pensacola at 5 pm Celebrate the beginning of Mardi Gras at the 2022 Twelfth Night Party featuring live music, food, drink and revelry in the city’s largest street party!

Kansas in Concert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 7 America’s preeminent progressive rock band, KANSAS, will be wrapping up their popular Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour in the United States with one final leg during the winter and spring of 2022. Originally launched as a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the massive hit album Point of Know Return, the band will be performing the album in its entirety. The tour showcases classic KANSAS music including hit songs, deep cuts, fan favorites, and will include selections from the band’s latest studio album The Absence of Presence. The show will be held at the Saenger Theatre at 8 pm.

to 4 pm. Advanced Tickets can be purchased at The Bridal Loft, The Bridal Suite, Penton House Downtown and Pace and Richey’s East on Gregory St. along with The Bay Center box office. Tickets are $10 and kids 12 & under are free and do not need a ticket. The bridal expo will feature wedding professionals with displays, information, samples and more.

Newcomers Monthly Luncheon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 12 Join the Newcomers Club of Greater Pensacola at their monthly luncheon at Pensacola Yacht Club. The Newcomers Club is a women’s social club dedicated to welcoming new residents to Pensacola and introducing new members to Pensacola’s restaurants, theatres, beaches and local history through monthly scheduled events and tours. The monthly meeting starts at 8:30 am if members want to particupate in games before lunch at 11 am. For more information, email newcomersofgreaterpensacola@gmail.com or visit newcomersclubofpensacola.org.

An Evening in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13 The Global Corner will celebrate this year’s Passport Program with a fundraiser on January 13 from 6-7:30pm at The Pensacola Opera Center. Come enjoy “An Evening in Israel” where we will feature authentic Israeli food and signature Israeli wine and take a peek at this year’s in-school curriculum. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Global Corner’s educational in-school Passport Program in area elementary schools. This year, we are showcasing the country and culture of Israel. Tickets are $60 (early bird special until 1/1/22), $70 at the door.

Beautiful Beginnings Bridal Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 9

Gordon Open Mic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13

Please The Bridal Loft for their annual Beautiful Beginnings Bridal Expo held at the Pensacola Bay Center on January 9 from 11 am

Join the Gordon Community Center for this month’s open mic night where musicians, comedians, poets and performers celebrate

20 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

their artistic talents. Open mic night is hosted on the second Thursday of each month from 7 pm to 10 pm the Gordon Community Center located at 306 North DeVilliers Street in downtown Pensacola. If you are interested in performing, you will have a chance to sign-up for a time slot when you arrive. The January classes being offered at the Gordon include beginning belly dancing, neighborhood children’s theatre, community hustle line dancing and ballroom dance. For more information, contact The Gordon at 850-857-8961 or falaprods@gmail.com.

Snowbird Hootenanny - New Year, New Boots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 13

Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Presents Beethoven & Blue Jeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 15 Whether you dress up or dress down, join the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra for this annual celebration of Beethoven, anchored by the composer’s First Symphony. They will explore the pairing of music with poetry and verse in a program curated in partnership with Northwest Florida’s former Poet Laureate. Poets Jamey Jones and Charles McCaskill will read their poems aloud and the orchestra will perform musical selections from George Walker and Tobias Picker.

Soprano Halley Gilbert will perform Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with prose by James Agee set to the music of Samuel Barber. Selections from Leonard Bernstein’s evocative On the Waterfront complement the program.

In-person and virtual tickets are available.

For additional information, visit PensacolaSymphony.com.

The Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce would like to welcome back all the boot-scootin Snowbirds to the Snowbird Hootenanny, held at the Flora-Bama Lounge, Package & Oyster Bar from 11 am to 1 pm.

Come out and experience the essence of the Perdido Key area from Gulf Shores to Pen- Pensacola Little Theatre sacola. There will be plenty of vendors giving presents Matt & Ben away free goodies, along with music, games, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 21-29 and more. Food will be provided by the won- Matt & Ben depicts its Hollywood golden boys derful, famous chefs at the Flora-Bama. You – before J-Lo, before Gwyneth, before Project can register online at www.VisitPerdido.com Greenlight, before Oscar… before anyone or in person at the Perdido Chamber. actually gave a damn. When the screenplay for Good Will Hunting drops mysteriously Bootleg Ball: Spirits of the Speakeasy from the heavens, the boys realize they’re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 15 being tested by a Higher Power. Multiple Over 100 years since prohibition began, the showtimes and tickets are available at penUWF Historic Trust is throwing the soiree sacolalittletheatre.com/shows-and-events/ of the century in 2022. Don your jazziest matt-amp-ben. zoot suits, sequins and pinstripes and join us on January 15 at 7 pm at the Museum of I Love the 90’s Throwback Commerce for a roaring good time. Heavy Comedy Tour hors d’oeuvres and even heavier libations will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 22 be served. Tickets are $200 per person and Need some laughs? This comedy tour feainclude free drinks all night, hors d’oeuvres, tures Micheal Hunter, Dirty South, Steve live music, visits from historic reenactors Brown, Redbone, Doo Doo Brown, Marvin and other surprise prohibition-themed ex- Dixon and is hosted by Double D. It will be periences throughout the night. held at Saenger Theatre at 8 pm. Purchase

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Pensacola Opera presents: The Magic Flute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .January 28 and 30 Premiered during the Age of Enlightenment, The Magic Flute transports us on a mystical journey filled with genies, spirits, and the hilarious antics of a creature who is half man and half bird! The classic elegance of Mozart’s music enthralls us as a young man discovers his humanity during his quest for the truth. Join the fun at the Saenger Theatre; showtimes include January 28 at 7:30 pm and January 30 at 2 pm. Tickets can be purchased at pensacolasaenger.com/events/ pensacola-opera-presents-the-magic-flute.

Island Fights 71 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 29 Head on down to the Pensacola Bay Center for live fights at Island Fights 71, starting at 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased at pensacolabaycenter.com. *Fights to be announced and subject to change.

Pensacola Psychic Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Janurary 29 The Pensacola Psychic Fair, held at Seville Quarter on January 29 from 1pm to 5pm brings speakers, tarot readers, mediums, healers, metaphysical gifts, and even UFO enthusiasts. This event is great for experiencing real intuitive guidance, alternative healing therapies, information, and the wonderfully diverse spiritual community in northwest Florida. Admission is free. Guests can expect psychics, readers, healers, crystals, lightworkers, massage, books, shamans and more. For more information, visit pensacolapsychicfair.com/.

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MILITARYMATTERS

MILITARYMATTERS

AN ARMED FORCES NEWS SECTION

NATIONAL DEFENSE BUDGET INCLUDES $166M FOR AFSOC AIRCRAFT

I

n a move that could have implications for the Hurlburt Field, headquarters of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the federal defense budget for the 2022 fiscal year places some constraints on an “armed overwatch” aircraft acquisition program.

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wants to acquire 75 of the “armed overwatch” aircraft to be operated by AFSOC. They would replace AFSOC's fleet of propellerdriven U-28 Draco intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. All of the U-28 aircraft will soon need to have new wings installed at considerable cost, according to recent reporting in Air Force Magazine.

Seventy-five armed overwatch aircraft would provide AFSOC with four squadrons of that capability plus 15 training planes.

Like the U-28, the armed overwatch aircraft would be propeller-driven and would perform a variety of missions in austere environments, from intelligence gathering and reconnaissance to close-air support — the delivery of weapons fire, bombs and other ordinance — for ground troops.

Among the rationales for the program is that it would replace the higher-end aircraft, including fighter jets, that now perform 22 | DOWNTOWNCROWD.COM

many of the missions envisioned for the less-expensive armed overwatch aircraft.

Additionally, combining functions in a single aircraft could eliminate the need for “stacking” aircraft with different capabilities above an operational location.

The aircraft also would be within reasonable purchasing range for partner nations to The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2022 fiscal year, approved by Congress in recent days and waiting as of Tuesday for the expected signature of President Joe Biden, includes $166 million in procurement funding for the purchase of an initial six armed overwatch aircraft. That's $4 million less than had been requested to get the program underway, but $17 million more than the U.S. Senate had initially been willing to spend.

More importantly, though, the 2022 NDAA — the act serves as both a funding and a policy document regarding America's armed forces — includes a provision that requires SOCOM to provide an “acquisition road map” to the defense committees in the U.S. House and Senate before any armed overwatch program funding is expended or obligated.

Scrutiny of the armed overwatch program also will continue

in another way, as the result of a recent Senate Armed Services Committee instruction for the director of cost assessment and program evaluation in the office of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to review the program.

That review is slated to be presented to the defense committees in Congress in tandem with Biden's budget request for the 2023 fiscal year, which will be made early next year.

The assessment will be required, at a minimum, to “... evaluate the total number of Armed Overwatch aircraft necessary to fulfill the requirements of special operations forces in light of changes to global force posture and increasing threats to manned aircraft since the requirement for such aircraft was validated by the SOCOM Commander.”

Until earlier this year, there had been another local connection besides AFSOC to the armed overwatch program.

The Crestview facility of Vertex Aerospace, a Madison, Mississippi-headquartered defense aerospace company, built an armed overwatch prototype in partnership with Leidos, an information technology and engineering contractor based in Reston, Virginia, and Paramount Group USA, based in Fort Worth, Texas, part of a global aerospace

and technology company. about the mishap at the time, The partnership's Bronco II but a photograph showed the was one of five aircraft selected Bronco II leaning on its left side, for an armed overwatch competi- a wingtip either close to or actution, but it was eliminated from ally touching the ground. consideration in September. Also Remaining in the armed overknocked out of the competition watch competition — with a final earlier this year was Virginia- decision expected in the spring, based MAG Aerospace. according to Aviation Week The five aircraft were be- — are Kansas-headquartered ing tested at Eglin Air Force Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Base earlier this year when the Texas-based L-3 CommunicaBronco II experienced a run- tions Integrated Systems L.P. and way mishap. Neither Leidos nor Nevada-headquartered Sierra SOCOM provided any details Nevada Corporation.

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