Portable shower-restroom trailer combination rentals in Bascom, Florida.

A Bascom sturgeon farm reported Hurricane Michael losses before its first beluga-caviar harvest

Hurricane Michael killed fish and damaged Sturgeon Aquafarms, a 130-acre operation in Bascom, WJHG reported in 2020. The farm was still rebuilding when the station visited, after storm losses interrupted years of work raising beluga sturgeon in North Florida.

That year also brought the farm’s first beluga-caviar harvest. WJHG reported that some fish had been raised for about 17 years and described the operation’s work with other sturgeon species and conservation. The station called it the country’s first and only beluga-caviar farm at the time.

Bascom’s recreation-facility grant reached its extended September deadline

Bascom’s $973,116 Community Development Block Grant agreement was set up to beautify the town’s only commercial recreation facility, remove barriers to public access, and address safety hazards. The state record shows the agreement was executed in 2022.

Its original end date of April 2025 was later extended to September 30, 2026. The state’s payment table lists $777,509.38 paid through June 19, 2026, while a September 2025 federal progress report still described procurement as underway after too few responses.

Those records establish funding activity, but do not show the improvements were complete. As of October 2026, the state database continued to mark the agreement active even though its amended end date had passed.

Bascom’s Hurricane Michael recovery bid package covers two demolitions and three business facades

Bascom’s 2025 Hometown Revitalization bid package brought work at several downtown properties together: demolish the Grant Store at 5004 Basswood Road and the Bevis Store, add landscaping, and improve access or facades at Mary’s Daycare, Bascom General Merchandise, and Panhandle Collision and Classics.

The scope ranged from daycare entry access, signs, and fencing to parking, striping, roof, and facade repairs at the businesses. With several storefronts in play, contractors using a portable restroom trailer would need to keep customer entrances accessible. The procurement was in its post-bid stage in August 2025; the cited records do not identify which address has since been completed.

Bascom’s resilience plan request paired adaptation work with stormwater planning

Florida DEP’s FY 2023–24 Resilient Florida planning-grant list includes the Town of Bascom’s $195,000 request for an Adaptation Plan with Stormwater Master Plan. The entry links long-range resilience planning with local drainage planning.

Bascom was one of 66 projects listed statewide, alongside vulnerability assessments, adaptation plans, and flood forecasting work elsewhere in Florida. The table records funding requests rather than construction awards and gives no local schedule, specific drainage work, or findings from a completed study.

Bascom sought funding for a town water system with backup power

A Florida Senate funding request filed in January 2022 proposed a power-resilient water system for Bascom. Its scope included a production well, backup power source, ground storage tank and pumps, six-inch water mains, fire hydrants, and service laterals and meters for homes and businesses.

The request sought $6,921,933 to serve the town and potentially nearby residents, with an estimated 100 to 200 people benefiting. House Bill 9291, the related appropriation, died in committee on March 14, 2022; the documents capture the proposed network and funding request, not a water system built through that bill.

Hurricane Michael left Bascom Town Hall running on a generator during power restoration

After Hurricane Michael, Florida Public Utilities energized the State Road 71 feeder serving Bascom and Malone on October 26, 2018. That brought the main line back into service, but homes still had to be safe to receive power before crews could reconnect them. The utility expected restoration to continue through October 31.

The update captured the uneven recovery in the two towns: Malone Town Hall had electricity, while a generator was still powering Bascom Town Hall. FPU’s deadline applied to properties able to accept service, so energizing the feeder did not mean every home was ready to turn the lights back on.

FDOT selected Oak Lily for milling and resurfacing in Bascom

FDOT’s 2023–24 Small County Outreach Program lists Bascom among District Three award recipients and names Oak Lily for milling and resurfacing. That gives the town a specific road and pavement treatment in the state’s selected-work list, rather than only a town-wide streets allocation.

The award page does not give construction dates or limits along Oak Lily, so it cannot show when crews arrived or how much of the road was treated. A later local notice would be needed for the schedule.

Florida’s 2021 budget allocated $95,000 for Bascom’s school museum renovation

Bascom’s former brick school, built around 1927, was being turned into a museum and cultural center when the town filed a state funding request in 2021. The request said the renovation was nearing its final stage and that the classroom-and-auditorium layout remained intact.

The remaining work included a metal-shingle roof covering about 3,950 square feet, landscaping, display cases, shelving and museum setup. Florida’s 2021 budget later allocated $15,000 through Cultural and Museum Grants and $80,000 through the Cultural Facilities Program, for $95,000 in appropriations.