Bonifay, FL

Bonifay is the Holmes County seat in Florida’s Panhandle, with U.S. 90 through the southern side of downtown and I-10 just beyond it. The 2020 census counted 2,759 residents. The town grew after the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad reached the area in 1882, and its name honors Frank Bonifay, a railroad figure. Waukesha Street—also State Road 79—still carries the older town grid. Bonifay became the county seat in 1905, built its first courthouse two years later, and was incorporated as a city in 1921. Local landmarks give the place some texture: the Keith Cabin is a nineteenth-century log cabin, and the Waits Mansion dates to the 1920s.

ATTRRoyalbroil / CC BY-SA 4.0

Current gatherings tend to spill into the same central spaces. Veteran’s Memorial Park hosts the Down Home Street Festival each March, with a 5K, cars, food, and vendors, while Memorial Field on Veterans Boulevard is the base for the Northwest Florida Championship Rodeo and its downtown parade in October. Bonifay also serves as the county’s school center, with Bonifay K-8, Holmes County High, and Bethlehem School in the local mix. It is a small courthouse-and-railroad town that still organizes its calendar around county business, school life, and big seasonal weekends.