Before a town can grow, it has to believe in itself. Taking place alongside Florida City Week, Civic Pride Night asks what becomes possible when a community decides its story is worth preserving.

Towns rarely lose confidence all at once. It erodes quietly. A building is neglected. A public space becomes somebody else’s responsibility. A business closes, complaints replace participation and disappointment eventually becomes part of the town’s identity.

“That is just how it is here.”

“Nothing ever changes.”

“Why would anyone invest in this place?”

In his essay “Low Civic Self-Esteem,” civic strategist Jeff Siegler gives language to something many American towns feel but struggle to name. He argues that communities are not machines that can be repaired solely through grants, planning documents or outside expertise. They are collections of people, and their confidence must be rebuilt through local effort and visible progress.

DeFuniak Springs
This is a town with an extraordinary story, but history can become so familiar that it disappears into the background. Residents travel the same streets, pass the same buildings and circle the same lake without always seeing what those places reveal about the community that formed around them. At the center of DeFuniak Springs lies a rare, nearly perfect circle of water.

Lake DeFuniak has served as a gathering place and cultural heart for generations. Settlement, architecture, civic traditions and personal memories developed along its shore. The town did not simply grow near the lake. In many ways, it grew because of it.

That history is explored in The Lake That Built a Town, a short documentary produced by HWY 331 with grant support from the SOWAL Foundation. Through interviews with historians, civic leaders and longtime residents, the film considers how one body of water helped shape the identity of a Southern town.

On October 20, the story will return to the community when Forward DeFuniak presents Civic Pride Night at the Florida Chautauqua Theater. The evening will include a screening of the film followed by a conversation with residents and historians featured in it.

The gathering is part of Florida City Week, observed October 19 through 25. The statewide initiative encourages residents to understand municipal government, recognize the people and services that shape daily life and become more involved in their communities. Civic Pride Night adds another dimension to that invitation.

Civic life is not confined to council meetings, elections or government offices. It also lives in the stories a community preserves, the places it chooses to maintain and the expectations residents hold for their town.

Forward DeFuniak was formed around that understanding. The nonprofit organization encourages civic engagement, supports economic vitality and works to preserve the historic and cultural assets that make DeFuniak Springs distinctive.

Civic pride does not mean pretending everything is perfect. It means believing a place is worthy of the effort required to improve it.

A community can acknowledge what is broken without deciding it is beyond repair. It can welcome growth without surrendering the character that made the place meaningful. It can honor its history without becoming trapped in the past.

In a region experiencing rapid change, DeFuniak Springs offers a timely reminder: progress is not only about what gets built next. It is also about understanding what came before, why it mattered and what deserves to be carried forward.

A film cannot restore a building or revitalize a downtown. It can, however, help a community recognize what is worth preserving. Before people can shape a place’s future, they must understand the history that gave it meaning. That is why the community will gather on October 20 to experience the film together and hear from the people whose memories and insight helped tell the story.

Residents will see a familiar lake through the memories of people who understand its place in the town’s story. When the lights come back on, the conversation will turn toward what that history means now. The future of a town is secured when the people already there decide it is worth showing up for.

That is where civic pride begins.

Civic Pride Night featuring The Lake That Built a Town
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
5:30 p.m.
Florida Chautauqua Theater
DeFuniak Springs, Florida

The screening will be followed by a community conversation with residents and historians featured in the documentary. Seating is limited. RSVP HERE