"We don't want entertainment and community events to end in Lynn Haven," Ryan Scray, president of the Lynn Haven Community Fund, said in a news release reported by WMBB in September. "At the same time, we understand that the City doesn't necessarily need to be the organization hosting and funding every event."
That second sentence describes how Lynn Haven's public calendar works now. For years, the concerts, the parades, and the Fourth of July celebration came out of one city budget. As of the 2027 fiscal year, each event needs its own backer, its own sponsors, and its own approvals. The fall concerts at Sharon J. Sheffield Park showed the new setup can work. The holidays will be the next test.
What the City Took Off the Calendar in July
The change started at a late-July commission meeting about property taxes. WJHG reported that commissioners approved a maximum millage rate of 4.65, up from the current 4.05. City Manager Chris Lightfoot explained the reason: keeping the rate flat the year before had left a $2.9 million deficit, and the city had covered it with reserves. He also pointed to debt service on the disaster bond from the Hurricane Michael rebuild, plus several projects that had been put off and could not wait any longer.
Events were part of the cuts. In the same WJHG story, Lightfoot said festivals and parades were eliminated from the next budget, including the Christmas parade, the concert series, and the Fourth of July event. WMBB's coverage quoted Assistant City Manager Jennifer Hodges listing the full package: 28 positions, health care costs, capital improvements, PTO, all events, and "the entire marketing department."
That same WMBB report included a line that matters more now than it did in July. Lightfoot said the city might still host some events, naming the Fourth of July parade and fireworks, the Christmas events, and the summer concert series, if donors and sponsors could be found to pay for them. That made outside funding the official condition for any of these events to return.
The final numbers came in September. According to a meeting summary of the Sept. 21 hearing, commissioners set the FY2027 millage at 4.25 mills on a 4–1 vote and adopted a $54,494,475 general and enterprise fund budget. Staff described that budget as including cuts to capital, events, and personnel.
How the Fall Concerts Got Paid For
The Lynn Haven Community Fund stepped in first. In mid-September it was asking the city to approve concerts on tentative dates and looking for local vendors and sponsors. At the Sept. 21 hearing, the Fund's vice president told commissioners, "The first two concerts are now fully funded through sponsorships and donations from the community." At that same meeting, the commission approved road closures for the concerts on its consent agenda.
That split is the whole new model. The city still controls the street and the park. A private nonprofit raises the money and books the music.
The News Herald reported that Scray's group lined up business sponsors, vendors, and food trucks to cover the series' costs. Here is the lineup as the News Herald reported it:
- Oct. 1: singer Zach Miller opened the series at Sharon J. Sheffield Park, 901 Ohio Ave.
- Oct. 8: Norah Bass, whose songs the paper described as melodic southern-rock-country inspired by Northwest Florida landscapes.
- Oct. 16: Kyle Mitchell, Mitch Pierson, and Alec Kotrous, three country performers who sometimes play together at local venues.
Every night followed the same format. The event opened at 5 p.m., music ran from 6 to 8 p.m., and admission was free. A street market with vendors and food trucks ran alongside the music, and parking was at City Hall or next door at First Baptist Church of Lynn Haven.
The sponsor list for Oct. 8 shows how personal the funding has become. According to the News Herald, it included city commissioners Sam Peebles, Corey Langford, and Jamie Warrick, along with the Florida Off-Road Foundation. The same city leaders who passed a budget without events chipped in personally to put one on.
The concerts also started doing more than music. WJHG covered a packed night at Sharon Sheffield Park that included a supply drive for the animal shelter. Zach Detwiler, the Fund's vice president and secretary, told the station the group was putting together a fall market and planned to keep bringing these events to town "because we feel like it's really what makes Lynn Haven Lynn Haven."
Winter Wonderland Is Still on the City's Calendar
The next big date belongs to a different organizer. The City of Lynn Haven's calendar lists Winter Wonderland 2026 for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lynn Haven Sports Complex, 2201 Recreation Drive. The listing doesn't name a sponsor or a partner group, and it is the only holiday event on the city's November calendar.
For anyone who hasn't been, earlier years show what the event usually looks like. Neither year below is a confirmed preview of 2026:
- 2024: The News Herald reported that the city hosted the annual event with more than 140 vendors selling handmade crafts, jewelry, furniture, preserves, wreaths, candles, and more.
- 2022: WMBB covered shopping from local businesses, holiday music, and performances by local dance groups.
Winter Wonderland is mainly a vendor market. Vendor booths bring in revenue in a way a free concert or a parade route doesn't, and that may help explain why it is still on the calendar while other events are not. Give yourself extra time on the 21st. A Saturday market with more than a hundred booths at the Sports Complex will draw traffic along Recreation Drive.
December Is Still an Open Question
As of the end of October, the city's December calendar showed one entry: a City Commission meeting on Dec. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. No 2026 Christmas parade had been announced by the city or by the Community Fund. That leaves the parade in the situation Lightfoot described in July: it can come back if someone pays for it.
The fall gives a sense of what that would take. The concerts needed a nonprofit to apply for approval, find enough sponsors to cover costs before the first show, and get road closures on a commission agenda. A parade needs all of that, plus a longer route, more street closures, and more people on the ground. The Community Fund has said it plans to bring back other local festivities. Scray told the News Herald that residents should follow the Fund's Facebook page for announcements.
If you want to keep track before December, two places carry the news. The Community Fund's Facebook page is where new events will be announced first. The city calendar is where anything needing city approval, like a road closure, will eventually appear. The September request showed the order: the Fund posted its concert plans, then found sponsors, and only later announced the confirmed dates, places, and performers after approvals came through.
For local businesses, the September sponsor call works the other way, too. The Fund asked businesses, organizations, and family-friendly vendors to contact it directly about sponsoring or setting up at events. Under this model, any business owner who wants a holiday event on Ohio Avenue can help make it happen by offering to fund it.
At Empire Real Estate of Florida, we follow what's happening in Bay County's hometowns as closely as we follow the market, and Lynn Haven's calendar is one we'll keep watching through December. If you have questions about life in Lynn Haven or about a move you're planning around here, Contact Us.
