Wow, I took a vacation and came back to a million little fires to put out. With the lack of new postings last week, there is no newsletter this week.
The regular weekly newsletters will resume next week. I know you guys are totally jonesen.
Month: July 2008
25th Bay Point Invitational Tournament Makes History
Tournament Pays Out Nearly $1 Million and Marks Silver Anniversary with Success of New Community Events
Panama City Beach, Fla. (July 14, 2008) – The Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament made history as 47 boats headed out to fish in the first major all-release billfish tournament on the Gulf Coast. The highly-anticipated tournament welcomed more than 10,000 attendees at Bay Point Marina July 9–13 to enjoy the live entertainment, an artist colony, local food, sponsor displays and, of course, the Friday and Saturday night weigh-ins.
Life is Good took top honors in the Catch and Release category with three blue and one white marlin released for 2050 points. The team walked away with $210,960. Second place went to Wynsong with one blue marlin and one sailfish. Wynsong also captured first place in the Tuna category with a 105.5-pound yellowfin tuna caught by Will Wilson for a total of $208,246, and third place, based on the time of release, went to Jolly-B with one blue marlin for $53,250.
Continue reading “25th Bay Point Invitational Tournament Makes History”
Tropical Storm Bertha update
Ok, back to work, Jason. My vacation has put me a little out of touch, but I really needed it.
The second named storm for the Atlantic Season, Tropical Storm Bertha, with winds at 65 mph, is beating up on Bermuda right now with projections leading it to the east, deep into the Atlantic by Saturday.
Tropical Storm Bertha poses no threat to the Panama City Beach area at this time.
Click the more link for the report from Weather.com
2008 Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament Results
I arrived back in town at the tail end of the 2008 Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament; just in time for the final weigh-ins tonight. No records were broken, but some big fish came in nonetheless.
Click the more link for pictures and the final results from tonight’s weigh-in.
Continue reading “2008 Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament Results”
Better education necessary to diversify Bay County economy
By: Juliann Talkington
Juliann Talkington is the administrator of the Panama City Renaissance School. Reach her on 850-215-8712 or jtalkington@pcrschool.org.
With the state of the economy in Bay County, we are all searching for ways to improve conditions. People talk wistfully about the new airport and what it will do for the area. The champions speak about more tourists, more permanent residents and high-quality employment opportunities.
With rising gas prices and a nationwide recession, many people are starting to wonder how realistic these projections might be. Even though it would be nice to think Bay County is insulated from tough economic conditions elsewhere, it is probably unrealistic. Like other tourist-based economies, Bay County suffers when outsiders don’t have extra money to take vacations.
Continue reading “Better education necessary to diversify Bay County economy”
SAVE THE CIRCUS!!
Well, I had heard that it wasn’t doing that great, but I didn’t know that it was possibly being shut down. What are they doing to be sure the local tourists know about this? Is our local TDC helping? Has the circus asked for help? I see their signs in all the windows, but are they providing enough information to draw people over to the circus? Are the show times even on the flyers?
If something isn’t doing good, it either isn’t being accepted or whoever is marketing it is not doing their job. I’m sorry to be critical at this sensitive time, but we’ve all been yelling for more stuff to do here and now one of the things we got is threatening to leave. Is everything being done to ensure its success?
Below is the press release put out by the Beaches Chamber:
Panama City Beach, July 7, 2008 – Last Thursday night I took my young son to the FSU Flying High Circus at Frank Brown Park. The show was incredible and we had a great time, but as I drove home a déjà-vu sensation hit me, and I remembered the last evening of the Miracle Strip Amusement Park – in late summer 2004. That was an enchanted evening, full of rides, laughter, people…but it was also sad. There was the sense of the passing of time…. nostalgic, sweet but heartrending. After that night it would close down forever. My own family, who has lived in PCB for-almost ever, was with me and introduced me to Buddy Wilkes that night. I couldn’t have known what he must have been feeling. I had only just moved here weeks earlier and had not yet acclimated to the culture, the community, or the multitude of childhood memories existing within the walls of that amusement park.
No Newsletter Tonight
First off, I hope everyone’s Fourth of July was great, mine rocked. I’m on holiday with my family, so I unfortunately did not get to partake in the Panama City Beach Fourth of July celebrations. I heard they were awesome, except one guy said one of the bands wasn’t any good.
Needless to say, I won’t be doing much for posting news this week. I’m on a much needed, long overdue vacation with my family. In addition, for all you Panama City Beach junkies, there will be no newsletter tonight. I’ve been keeping you all up to date with pcbdaily since September 2006 and haven’t missed a newsletter once. On past vacations, I’ve worked right through, but not this time.
If you begin going through withdrawals, take heart, I’ll be back full speed next week. I’ve got many plans for pcbdaily and a few additional ideas that I’m planning on bringing to fruition over the summer.
Have a great week, see ya’ll next week.
TDC Meeting Agenda
AGENDA
COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 9:00 a.m. Council Room, PCB City Hall
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
II. ROLL CALL
A. Invocation
B. Pledge of Allegiance
Circus is running full steam ahead
Almost three weeks into running, FSU’s Circus by the Sea at Frank Brown Park on Panama City Beach is running smoothly and having success.
I was out there today and they were heavy into circus camp with over 20 kids. Nate Stapp, Associate Director of the Flying Circus said that they have a capacity of around 60 kids.
They changed the ticket prices around a little. I was told that locals can get tickets for $15-adults and $10-kids and that it was spelled out on the website, but I couldn’t find anything that said that. On the website, it says that there is an online discount, $18-adults and $10-kids. Close enough.
Land cleared for new Publix on Back Beach Road
The Publix on Middle Beach Road is being moved to Back Beach Road. The new location will be across Beckrich from Home Depot and will likely include other stores.
I’m still unsure as to why they are moving the Publix, I had thought, at one point, that it had something to do with the CRA, but not real sure here.
Continue reading “Land cleared for new Publix on Back Beach Road”
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