August 27 Issue
Rest of the Best 2026
Round two is here. Last week’s Best of the Coast issue ran 84 pages—about four times the size of a normal Inweekly, and it still wasn’t enough room to cover every category. So we’re back with Rest of the Best, giving this year’s runners-up their own moment in the spotlight and reprinting the complete winners-and-runners-up list in case you missed something the first time.
Outtakes: D4 Mud-Slinging Has Begun
The gloves came off fast. Two days after the Aug. 18 primary, The Floridian published a hit piece on Joe Vinson, the No Party Affiliation candidate challenging Republican incumbent District 4 Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger—an outlet that, aside from two check-passing and challenge-coin stories, hadn’t otherwise written about Escambia County all year.
The article tried to paint Vinson as a closet Democratic Socialist based on his church membership and past ACLU involvement, but the author never actually talked to him.
Who is Joe Vinson? A Pensacola native raised in Cordova Park and East Hill, son of the late federal judge Roger Vinson and longtime elementary teacher Ellen Vinson, with nearly two decades of civic board service across the community:
- Founder of the Pensapedia wiki and the “Lost Pensacola” history project
- Boards for ACE Inc., Rotary Club of Pensacola, Gulf Coast Kid’s House and the Escambia schools foundation
- Twice president of the Japan-America Society
- Married 22 years, three kids in Escambia public schools
“It’s difficult to throw mud without some of it clinging to you.”
- Why now? No NPA candidate has ever won a county commission race, but political watchers point to a few possible triggers: Hofberger’s aide resigning amid a library hiring controversy, the library director’s own recent resignation, or a fundraiser flyer listing 67 well-known District 4 supporters of Vinson that surfaced the same day the hit piece ran.
Winners & Losers
Winners:
- Marcus Michles — Michles & Booth becomes the official law firm of UWF Athletics, naming the press tower pavilion at the new Darrell Gooden Stadium and sponsoring uniform patches as UWF moves to Division I.
- Mike Kohler — Crushed Glenn Dorsey by 24 points in the District 2 primary while incumbent commissioners struggled next door in Santa Rosa County.
- Pensacola Yacht Club Women — Katy Morgan, Mallory Edwards, Celia Houston, Aubin Hattendorf and Linnea Forsberg brought the Knost Perpetual Trophy back to Pensacola for the first time since 1973.
Read the column to learn who the losers are.
The Buzz
Pensacola history shipped out. NAS Pensacola has permanently transferred more than 900 boxes of archaeological artifacts and records to the University of Georgia, moving the collection farther inland and bringing the base into federal curation compliance while still allowing local loans through UGA.
No local upsets. Mayor D.C. Reeves won reelection outright with 53.23% of the vote, avoiding a runoff in a six-candidate field. Mike Kohler won his commission seat with 62%, all three school board incumbents won comfortably, and voters approved returning to an elected superintendent by a 71%-29% margin. Turnout came in lighter than expected at roughly 55,500 votes.
Seven-week delay. County commissioners were blindsided when a finalized Pensacola Bay Center interlocal agreement—signed off on by the county attorney’s office back on June 17—surfaced on the city council’s agenda nearly seven weeks later without ever coming back to the board.
“We weren’t trying to bullrush anybody. We weren’t trying to surprise anybody. We didn’t know there was a surprise to be had.”
Curfew on hold. A proposed juvenile curfew ordinance survived a contentious Pensacola City Council meeting after Council President Allison Patton withdrew her second to the motion, sending it back for revisions rather than forcing a vote. Eleven residents spoke, and only one supported it.
A&E Happenings
Plenty on the calendar this week and beyond. A sampling of what’s coming up around town:
- Save Our Shelters Sip and Shop — 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at 1st Impressions Gift Boutique Nursery, $20, benefiting community spay/neuter
- Play It Forward Mahjong Benefit — 1-4:30 p.m. at Rusted Mercantile, $100/person, supporting Rally Foundation
- Plant Bingo at Odd Colony — 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, $30 for seven rounds
- Leanne Morgan: The Time of Our Lives Tour — Sept. 4-5 at Pensacola Bay Center
- Road to Revolution Exhibit — Pensacola Museum of History, through May 2027, exploring the port’s role in the American Revolution
- The Art of Animation — Gerald and Vicki Adcox illustration collection at Pensacola Museum of Art, through Sept. 6
Full calendar: Nonprofit fundraisers, comedy nights, markets, gallery receptions and more are all inside this week’s A&E Happenings at inweekly.net.