The Loop | July 2, 2026 | No. 5

From our desks at The Baker County Press...

Welcome back to The Loop — your weekly Baker County cheat sheet for local news, weekend plans, community chatter, and the occasional archive discovery that makes you stop and say, “Wait…Sanderson almost got what?”

This week, America is turning 250, and Baker County understood the assignment: fireworks at the Duck Pond, Freedom Fest at Soul’s Harbor, a two-day American Legion celebration, food, music, roadkill bingo and at least one guaranteed “it’s too hot out here” from somebody’s uncle.

We’re also following the money in county commission races, catching up on court cases, welcoming a new Bobcat baseball coach, peeking into Sound Off, and revisiting the very weird summer when Baker County was almost in the running for a Bible theme park.

Grab a lawn chair, your bug spray, and maybe your imaginary private detective trench coat.

Let’s get into it.

🏛 In The Loop

Campaign budgets are in. We can finally say we're gonna “follow the money.”

Grab your imaginary trench coat, Baker County. Campaign finance reports are in, which means voters can now see who’s funding who — and where that money is going.

The big takeaway: local county commission candidates are spending on the usual campaign starter pack: signs, newspaper ads, websites, videos, T-shirts, palm cards and voter outreach.

The Aug. 18 Republican primary includes two commission races: Jimmy Anderson vs. Ricky Horne in District 2, and Blake Iverson vs. C.J. Thompson in District 4.

For voters who don’t live and breathe campaign reports (let's be honest, that's most of us), the money tells a few things: who has the widest variety in their donor network, who is somewhat self-funding, and who is putting cash mostly into materials before early voting begins.

Early voting runs Aug. 8–15 at the Supervisor of Elections Office in Macclenny.

Read the full breakdown here:

Who is funding who? Candidates ramp up spending ahead of primary

Us, begging you to get informed.

🚓 Court roundup: missed hearings, major sentences and one case headed toward trial

The courthouse schedule was doing the absolute most last week.

The misdemeanor docket included probation violations, trespassing, suspended-license cases, resisting without violence, a property-damage crash case and one indecent exposure probation violation — which is probably not the kind of “public appearance” anyone meant to schedule. Several people also failed to appear, reminding us that skipping court can turn a smaller charge into a bigger problem fast.

Get the full rundown and look for names you recognize — we know you do it — here and here.

One more closely watched case: The murder cases against Travis Roberts Jr. and Jamarian Byrd, connected to a fatal 2025 Macclenny shooting, are set for jury trial beginning July 13, 2026.

A judge recently denied the defense’s Stand Your Ground motion, finding that while the defendants were initially entitled to defend themselves when a shotgun was raised and fired, that protection no longer applied once the person began retreating and was no longer an imminent deadly threat.

Roberts and Byrd still face charges including first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and shooting-related counts. The case remains pending, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

🧇 Fireworks, food trucks, and freaking out the ducks.

It’s that special time of year where the whole county turns up at the Duck Pond and traumatizes our feathered friends with hundreds of loud explosions. Unclear if the ducks actually care.

Baker County’s Independence Day Celebration is set for Friday, July 3, from 6–10 p.m. at Memorial Park, better known to locals as the Duck Pond. Yes, we said July THIRD, not 4th for those confused deep in the Facebook comments.

The free event, hosted by the Baker County Florida Chamber of Commerce, will have live music from The Y’Allternatives — sounds like they’ll fit right in — bounce houses, arts and crafts, food vendors, community exhibits and fireworks.

Fireworks start at 9 p.m., so bring lawn chairs, gather the family and prepare for small-town Fourth of July magic: kids running around, everybody waving at everybody, and at least one person saying, “Put it in reverse, Terry!”

Lighten The Loop

New season, new Bobcat baseball coach

BCMS baseball has a new head coach, and he’s already got hometown roots in the dugout.

Former Wildcat alum and longtime coach Jamie Courson was announced as the new head coach in June after 15 years coaching baseball at different levels, including the last nine at middle schools.

Courson has already spent time with the Bobcats as an assistant coach, and he said coming back to coach his hometown program was an easy call.

The team will be young this season, but Courson says there’s plenty of talent returning — which is coach-speak for “we have potential, now please show up to offseason workouts.”

The Bobcats still have a little summer left before things ramp up, but baseball season is officially on deck.

🔥 What’s Happening

Fourth of July plans, because freedom needs snacks

Baker County is going full red, white and boom this week with several ways to celebrate America’s birthday. Never fear, there will be multiple chances to eat, sweat, socialize and pretend the mosquitoes are not personally targeting you.

⚡ Loop Around Town

July events coming in hot... check out what’s going on around town before it happens.

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⚡ Loop Tea Loop

Baker County Lore, Lightly Steeped

Every week, we’ll dig up a little Baker County history, folklore, or old-school community drama from the archives.

The kind of stuff that makes you realize this place has always been a little weird. Deeply interesting. And committed to the plot... I was poking around looking for 4th of July material in the archives, and stumbled upon this gem instead. So, please enjoy:

The time Sanderson almost got a Bible theme park?!

Before Orlando had The Holy Land Experience, Baker County had its own holy plot twist.

On July 4, 1972, Florida Times-Union writer Dick Hagood reported “strictly unconfirmed” talk that a giant attraction might be coming to 60,000 acres just south of Sanderson.

The party line must have been a wild place to experience during this time. How could Sanderson possibly be the “promised land”?

Throughout most of July and August, The Baker County Press was asking the big question: “Is Holy Land Coming?” every week.

The rumored project sounded massive: a $200 million biblical tourist center, possibly on 27,000 acres between Sanderson and Olustee, with restaurants, motels, thousands of jobs and enough buzz that folks were even talking about President Nixon maybe coming to break ground.

Baker County was dreaming big. Like, Old Testament proportions big.

The attraction was called Holy World, and descriptions included Garden of Eden scenes, computer-operated biblical figures and 20 to 25 major attractions.

So, Disney World, but make it Genesis.

Locals had thoughts. Some were excited. Some worried the county would grow too fast. Others were concerned about traffic, prices, law enforcement and crowds.

And one very Baker County reaction from Sanderson?

“Well, there goes the hunting.”

One very ironic and strangely familiar-sounding quote Gene Barber shared was, "The late Claude Fraser, the unofficial mayor of Olustee for many years, stated, 'It's the real McCoy." Mr. Fraser added somewhat ruefully, "I'd hate to see Olustee get overcrowded. I like living here in the country. If I wanted to live in a city I'd move to Jacksonville - or maybe New York City."

Good thing we've managed to keep Olustee from busting at the seams, mayor!

Flock camera footage of present-day Olustee.

Ultimately, the miracle never materialized. Developers kept looking at other Florida sites, including one reportedly offered for free, and Baker County’s biblical mega-park faded into dust (as in "you are dust, and to dust you shall return" -Genesis 3:19).

So, for one very weird summer, Sanderson was almost in the running for a holy tourist kingdom off I-10.

And that, friends, is why we read the archives.

Alright folks, that wraps it up!! Got thoughts? Stories? Feedback? Shoot it to me at sales@bakercountypress.com. Go ahead, I can take it.