The staff of the Boca Beacon is up for nine awards in the Florida Better Weekly Newspaper contest, held by the Florida Press Association annually. Newspapers from all over the state compete in this prestigious competition.
Nominees from the Beacon who were recently announced include:

The Forum’s upcoming meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 7 in the Houghton Room of the Community Center.
Joan Ardrey and Davis Hammond will offer their interpretation of “Hamnet” by the acclaimed young Irish novelist Maggie O’Farrell.

The first-ever “dog party” at the work-in-progress dog park at the end of Wheeler Road was a big hit, according to party coordinator and dog mom Anne Ikenberry. It took place on Friday, March 25 and was met with howling approval.
“We had over 30 dogs present and some 50-plus poochie parents, family members and even just plain dog lovers present,” Ikenberry said.

 Last week Gary Carlson and his brothers held a celebration of life for Jane Carlson, a long-time resident of Boca Grande. While he was cleaning out her home, he came across three versions of a story she had written in longhand.  It was evidently very important to her, in that she kept them with her […]

In September 1774, John Adams attended the first Continental Congress in  Philadelphia and wrote to Abigail about his encounters with the delegates from 12 of  the other 13 colonies for the first time. Adams wrote: “I flatter myself, however, that we  shall conduct our embassy in such a manner as to merit the approbation of our  country.” In this letter, Adams was quite rightly describing himself and the other Massachusetts delegates to the Continental Congress as if they were ambassadors to a foreign power, explains Peterson. “And when Adams says ‘our country,’ he is referring to  Massachusetts,” not the United States, notes Peterson, who adds that up until the Civil War, both nationally and internationally, Boston and its New England hinterland was thought of as a separate country with its own “national” identity.