Year: 2008

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.

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.

Continue reading “Circus is running full steam ahead” →

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” →

Debi Knight Resigns as President of Panama City Beaches Chamber

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL (July 1, 2008) – It is with much regret the Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce accepted the resignation of Debi Knight, President of the Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Knight has served as President for sixteen years and has been instrumental in building the Chamber of Commerce membership to over 950 members, as well as the recent relocation of the chamber office to the new Chamber Centre on Beckrich Road. Her energy and enthusiasm will be missed.

The Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will work closely with an Executive Search Committee to recruit candidates for this position.

In moving forward, The Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce will continue to provide the same excellent standard of service to its membership and this great community.

During the transition and search for a new President, all inquiries should be directed to Beth Oltman, Director of Operations at 850-235-1159 or Al McCambry, Chairman of the Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at 850-215-4842.

Elvis will be entertaining on the Pier Park Express July 4th!

On Friday, July 4th, the Pier Park Express will feature entertainment from none-other than Elvis himself.  That’s right folks, Elvis has come back from the dead to sing right here in Panama City Beach, Florida on the Pier Park Express.

Press Release:

Bring the whole family and ride to Pier Park this weekend for “Lunch and a Movie!”

We will have an Elvis on both Pier Park Express trolleys, which will depart on the hour and half hour every 30 minutes, from Pier Park (north of the Grand Theater) and in the Southwest parking lot of the Walmart on Panama City Beach, Front Beach Road.

Each Elvis will be entertaining Bay County locals who Park and Ride at the Walmart, or out-of-town guest walking over from their resorts, to ride to and from Pier Park for lunch/shopping/something to do/movie.

Below are the websites for the two Elvis’s:

·         jeffgoldenmusic.com
·         toddallenherendeen.com
·         gulfworldmarinpark.com

July 4th at Pier Park

Be sure to come to Pier Park for the July 4th festivities.

Every year the fourth of July festivities at Pier Park on Panama City Beach goes out with a bang, literally. They will be shooting the fireworks from the beach, and the party will be at Aaron Bessant Park.

Starting at 5 and going to 9:30, there will be performances by Herd of Turtles and Stillhouse, and Veterans Memorial Rededication, and a Patriotic Pet Parade and Golf Card Decorating Contest.

Be there or be square.

TDC/CVB Approves $60,000 October Festival Funding

The CVB Board voted 5-0 on 7/1/08 to approve a request for $60,000.00 in funding for the Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine and Music Festival to be held October 10-12, 2008 (Columbus Day Weekend) at Frank Brown Park. Absent were Mayor Oberst, Yonnie Patronis, Rick Russell, and Buddy Wilkes. Mike Nelson voted via telephone. The festival will be promoted by a group including Jack Bishop, C.J. Ryan, and Steve Pizza. All board members involved in the discussion seemed very supportive of the festival and funding request.

Although the festival schedule is still tentative, the promoters currently anticipate the following festival elements:

Continue reading “TDC/CVB Approves $60,000 October Festival Funding” →

Peter Bos Interview with Destin Log

Destin Developer Peter Bos interviewed with the Northwest Florida Daily News last week and talked about the current state of the real estate market, where we’ve been  and where we are going.

I’ve included some excerpts, but for the whole story, you’ll have to visit the newspaper’s website, link provided at the end.

DAILY NEWS: Since we’ve had so much growth and development here in the past 25 years, are we going to be competing for a smaller slice of the pie in the next 25?

BOS: I think we’ve had some horrible growth in the last 25 years. I think what happened was this spike in demand, where a second home became everybody’s entitlement, and financing was readily available. And we had an explosive mark at rental, too, which helped subsidize the carrying cost of these homes for people. I think we ended up with a lot of people developing who really shouldn’t have been in the development business.

DAILY NEWS: Real estate sales along the Emerald Coast have plummeted from where they were in 2004 and 2005. How has that affected the higher-end development like Emerald Grande, or Turnberry, or some of the things that you as a developer have been involved in? Has it been as tough for you as it has for everyone else in real estate?

Continue reading “Peter Bos Interview with Destin Log” →

Panama City Beach is Getting Lifeguards

Well, the Panama City Beach City Council decided that we need lifeguards, but they don’t know how they will pay for it yet.

Mike Hudson, a resident of Panama City Beach, started a beach rescue service – Bay Medical Center EMS Surf Rescue Unit. His team put together a lifeguard program proposal with was the topic of discussion Thursday’s meeting.

After discussion is was decided that they would push through an already approved budget item to hire lifeguards at the City Pier. They also decided that they will put pressure on Bay County for them to follow suit with similar lifeguard placement actions. As part of discussion it was decided that they would update the existing ordinances that require beach service vendors to be lifeguard trained and update equipment that may be more suitable for current lifeguard needs.

Continue reading “Panama City Beach is Getting Lifeguards” →