More Info on Pro Volleyball Coming to PCB

The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour will kick off its 2009 season in a unique fashion; the Tour is holding its first-ever Spring Break event in Panama City Beach, Fla., March 27-29. The event will feature the world’s best beach volleyball players, including 2008 Olympic gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, battling it out on the sand amidst the excitement of Spring Break.

Panama City Beach plays host to hundreds of thousands of college students each year, who descend on the Florida coast to soak up the surf and sand, and party on the beach. While the main event of AVP’s Spring Break will be the AVP Crocs Tour Panama City Beach Open, taking place March 27-29, the AVP will head to Panama Beach City on March 7 to start its three-week Spring Break experience.

“We are excited to bring the AVP to Spring Break for the very first time,” said Leonard Armato, CEO and Commissioner of AVP Pro Beach Volleyball. “The biggest beach party in the country is the perfect atmosphere in which to kick off our 2009 season.”

The finale of the AVP’s Spring Break in Panama City Beach will come as the AVP Crocs Tour Panama City Beach Open. A one-day qualifier will begin on Friday morning, March 27, followed by a live band in the evening. Men’s and women’s Main Draw action will start on Saturday morning with both men’s and women’s finals planned for Sunday afternoon. AVP specifically chose the last weekend of March for their tournament because it is both the final weekend of collegiate Spring Break and the first weekend of “family spring break”. The event will be a fun party for all ages.

Prior to the competition, the first two weeks of Spring Break will include numerous promotions and events geared towards Spring Breakers. The third week of the AVP’s Spring Break event will start off with the first-ever Collegiate Beach Challenge. Starting on Tuesday, March 24, college students from across the country will have the chance to participate in a two-day four-on-four beach volleyball tournament. There will be men’s, women’s and coed divisions competing for cash prizes.

The AVP Crocs Tour event will take place directly behind Sharky’s Beach Front Restaurant & Tiki Bar, located in the heart of Panama City Beach at The Towne of Seahaven. In an attempt to revert back to the sport’s beginnings, six of the courts will be set up in “old school” style. This set-up will include minimal bleacher seating, allowing plenty of room for beachgoers to throw down their towels and fully enjoy the beach party atmosphere of Spring Break.

About AVP, Inc.:
AVP, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. One of the fastest growing entities in the sports world, the AVP operates two of the industry’s most prominent national outdoor touring series, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour (1983) and the AVP Hot Winter Nights Indoor Tour (launched in 2008). The AVP is set to stage more than 35 events throughout the United States in 2009 and features more than 150 of the top men and women competitors in the sport. AVP athletes won both the women’s and men’s gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing, marking the first gold medal sweep by a single country in the history of Olympic Beach Volleyball. AVP is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. For more information, please visit http://www.avp.com.

Beckrich Road Opens New Lane

Working under the ever watchful eye of the warm sun, workers barely break a sweat in the mild 59 degree weather. Clear blue skies with a light breeze make for perfect working conditions.

Recently new light posts have been installed along new sidewalks on Beckrich Road as part of the Community Redevelopment Area in Panama City Beach, also known as the CRA.. The posts are stylish and resemble something like what you would find in Stars Hollow, the sidewalks are concrete and whitish-grey in color and will one day very soon be walked on by the size 11 shoe of both tourists and locals alike.

Straining under the weight of the immense weight of the broken bits of road, a Caterpillar tractor lifts itself off the ground as the scoops grow larger and larger. Heavy equipment has just gnarled the section of Beckrich that comes up to Back Beach Road in preparation for a new layer of hot smooth asphalt.

Sod has gone down, curbing is in place and bugs and other creeping things have a new home in the median vegetation that actually looks quite beautiful and refreshing. Neat rows of palm trees add to the feel of modern sophistication Panama City Beach has for so long deserved. No more power or phone lines either. Sweet.

Workers labor diligently to get the new traffic lights installed at the intersection of Middle Beach and Beckrich Road. Panama City Beach Police Department employees have been directing traffic all morning. “It’s pretty dangerous out here. We almost get hit every now and then, ” one officer didn’t tell me earlier.

Starting today, northbound traffic on Beckrich used the newly paved lane with the southbound traffic using the same lane as was used last week. Still only two lanes of traffic traverse the route. The entrance to Edgewater Shopping Plaza was a mud pit as recently as last week, but now it is silky smooth pavement.

Construction should be totally complete in two months.

Photos from You – Watercolors of Panama City Beach

Every week we’ll feature photos from you, the reader, of anything from crowded streets at Pier Park, to finger crabs scurrying across the beach. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, share your words with pcbdaily.com. Submit your photos and share your Panama City Beach pictures.

Submitted by Cora Busch

Above and Below

Good Times Ahead

That’s MY Chip!

The Panama City POPS Orchestra Coming to Arnold High School

Saturday, March 7, 7:30 pm, it’s back to the Beach for more Panama City POPS musical fun at the Arnold High School Auditorium.

The program will be the combination of classical and pops selections that The POPS audiences have come to expect.

“With every concert we try to inject a surprise or two,” states Maestro Eddie Rackley. “A Splash of POPS will be no exception, and the audience will be in for a real treat.”

Mounting the program for the first half of the evening will be a selection of classical pieces. “Espana,” completed in 1883 by French composer, Emmanuel Chabrier, is said to be the perfect musical description of 19th-century Spain.

“Dance of the Hours,” a ballet from La Giconda by Ponchielli, will delight listeners when they realize its influence on many modern musical works.

“He Watching Over Israel,” from Mendelssohn’s oratio, “Elijah,” long considered his greatest work, will feature vocals by The POPS Chorale.

Finally, “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” by Otto Nikolai, will round out the classical program with a musical discussion of Shakespeare’s comedic oeuvre.

The second half of the program will feature an array of popular medleys and two selected vocal performances.

The orchestra will premier “Sky Dive” by composer Jack Jarrett of the Berklee School of Music.

“It’s a special honor for The POPS to debut yet another piece this season,” says Rackley, “and this work will give our audience a taste of what’s to come with the Jarrett-arranged finale we’ll perform on May 2.” That composition, entitled “A Tribute to Gershwin,” has been played and sung internationally.

“Medley from the Sound of Music” will highlight Rodgers and Hammerstein’s perennial favorite from Broadway. Another Broadway favorite, “Evita,” will be featured with the performance of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” sung by local vocalist, Ann Melancon. A second piece featuring vocals, “The Prayer,” will be sung by Carissa Hosea, Ron Bramblett and The POPS Chorale.

The evening will conclude with another medley entitled, “When Bossa Was King.” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s medley, arranged by nationally renowned composer and friend of The POPS, Kevin Kaska, was the first piece commissioned of Kaska by the Boston POPS in 1995. Translated, bossa nova is Portuguese for ‘new trend.’ Despite its rather short-lived movement (1958-1963), the trend contributed a number of songs to today’s standard jazz repertoire. The music is rhythmic at its core, and the genre will be best illustrated by Kaska’s medley featuring four classic Bossa Nova pieces including the first Bossa Nova single and possibly the most successful of all time, “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Individual tickets for the March 7 concert are $25 for adults, $18 for over age 65 or active military, and $10 for ages under 12, and are on sale now at Paul Brent Gallery, Cher’s Hallmark in Lynn Haven and Panama City Beach, The Associates Architects in Panama City and at http://www.panamacitypops.org. For more information see http://www.panamacitypops.org or call (850) 785-POPS (7677).

MTV Picks Cancun over Panama City Beach

Considering that the TDC/CVB has been paying MTV Networks so much money to promote college spring break, I was surprised to see that MTV is filming the 22nd season of their popular show “The Real World” in Cancun during College Spring Break. According to RealityTVWorld.com, “The Real World: Cancun’s participants will reportedly work with spring break resource site StudentCity.com to serve as guides for visiting college students while also enjoying the Mexico vacation destination themselves.”

MTV Networks agreed to promote PCB “as the location to be” for college spring break. So why aren’t they filming the college spring break oriented show here? Then again, I’m sure there are many PCBDaily readers who are glad we won’t be getting additional national coverage as a college spring break destination.

Randy Houser – Another Big Name comes to Tootsies in Pier Park

As the word gets out, Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Pier Park continues its success with another appearance from a big name in the world of honky tonk and country music. Randy Houser recently showed up and played a few sets as fans watched and marveled at how the word has gotten out that little ‘ol Panama City Beach is the place to go if you are a country star and are wanting to go to the beach.

With our sugar white sands and awesome winter weather, who wouldn’t want to come here, right? Alright, enough with the PCB commercial stuff.

According to his web site, Randy Houser was born and raised in central Mississippi. His mentor and main motivation for his musical career came from his father, who was also a singer/songwriter.

With several videos on CMT.com, he seems to be quite popular and definately a welcome addition to the many that have come and will come in the future to Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Pier Park.

Resort Collection – New Community Service Program

Junior Executive Committee (Jr. EC) of Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort, a property of The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach, announces a new community service program to involve all resort staff.

The Jr. EC is a new committee of management staff at Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort, comprised of eight individuals each representing a department of the resort. The committee has taken on the roll of community awareness and support by engaging the more than 300 employees to participate.

The committee’s first endeavor was a food and clothing drive for the Panama City Rescue Mission. The committee organized a companywide drive encouraging each department to compete for the largest donation.

“We are thrilled at the leadership and initiative of this group,” said Tom Sparks, general manager of The Resort Collection. “We hope this will be the beginning to more community involvement on behalf of our staff.”

The food and clothing drive produced more than $1000 dollars of non-perishable food items and 14 articles of clothing for the Mission. The donations were picked up by the Panama City Rescue Mission last Friday February 6.

The Jr. EC is working on several projects for the remainder of the year, planning to complete one community service project each quarter.

More than a Sport, It's a Movement

PCB Sand Sports in partnership with the legendary Sharkys Restaurant and Tiki Bar along with Towne of Seahaven are preparing to add Beach Tennis and Beach Volleyball to their menu for FUN. The first partnership will begin with a “first ever” healthy Spring Break program for college students who visit the beach March 1st-18th with an introduction and “team challenge” to College vs. College competition. Beach Tennis is essentially doubles tennis played sand. Played on regulation beach volleyball court, and using regulation tennis racquets and a slightly depressurized tennis ball, players volley for points without letting the ball touch the sand.

Beach Tennis is easy to learn and most newcomers to the game can be up and running in as little as 30 minutes. Played at its highest pro level, however it is a fast-paced, intensely competitive game that delivers an amazing workout, even for hardcore athletes.

021909_sand_tennis_logo_sm Beach Tennis USA and PCB Sand Sports will be at the beach offering training, along with Pros from Tampa to provide coaching with play leading up to a final tournament challenge on Thursdays each week to give the students something fun to maintain their goal to meet each other and play.

In 2009 Beach Tennis USA will be enlisting the services of students around the country to serve as BTUSA University Directors, who will serve as “brand ambassadors” at their schools and help promote the growth of beach tennis through intramural programs.

Panama City Beach will be the first “event” promoting this concept. Approach to the colleges and is expected to continue to grow with one of the “hottest” new sports in America to foster further events and competition leading into a healthier approach to Spring Break for college students and families who visit our area.

Sharkys will maintain two permanent nets for Beach Tennis and will continue to partner with PCB Sand Sports to develop programming for leagues, tournaments and events
to lead into family spring break and summer. For more information contact beachresearch@yahoo.com.

Okaloosa's Northwest Florida Regional Airport Not Closing

Apparently Okaloosa’s Northwest Florida Regional Airport is not closing, and Okaloosa Airport officials are getting quite snappy about it. I’ve heard this very rumor for quite some time and have actually participated in some of the speculation.

Some believe that it all started January of 2008 with the Panama City Beach’s Chamber let out an email blast to members that stated that Eglin Air Force Base would shut down commercial airport operations in order to preserve Eglin’s incoming Joint Strike Fighter mission. I personally remember the email and thought it quite a bold move, but was unable to substantiate the statement.

Other locals to Panama City and Panama City Beach have been known to question whether the Okaloosa airport would stay open for much longer, including well-known attorney, William Harrison and former Panama City Beach Mayor and local news show host Lee Sullivan. Recently, Sullivan had Panama City Bay County International Airport Director Randy Curtis on his show and made the comment that in the future Okaloosa would have airspace issues with Eglin that may lead to complications in commercial operations. Harrison’s opinion is that it is of the best interest of the Florida Panhandle that Eglin’s military and the Joint Strike Fighter mission is of the highest priority.

Currently the Okaloosa County Commission is investigating the possibility of legal action against the Panama City Bay County International Airport and have also supported seeking the resignation of Jerry Ray from Coastal Vision 3000. Ray is one of the VP’s of St. Joe and a prominent supporter of the New Panama City Airport.

Okaloosa’s Northwest Florida Regional Airport Director Greg Donovan said that they will be launching an advertising campaign to counter the rumors. Recently the Air Force renewed their lease with Northwest Florida Regional through 2032.

2009 Business Expo at Edgewater Beach Resort

It’s that time again…for the Panama City Beach Chamber’s Annual Business Expo, and this year Panama City Beach’s first family entertainment complex, Pier Park, is presenting the event. On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 the 16th Annual Business Expo will be held at Edgewater Beach Resort, from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. Hundreds of area businesses will be showcasing their newest, most innovative products and services. Over three thousand people attended the last Business Expo.

For 2009, Business Expo explores the world of GREEN, with “The Nature of Business” as its central theme. While not distinctively a “save the planet” event, the Panama City Beach Chamber hopes to engage in ‘sustainability’ and ‘going green’ increasingly, and promote those practices in all of its events. Exhibitor Booths cost $250 for Chamber members and $450 for non-members. Double and Triple Booths are also available.

This year the Expo is charging a $1-per-person Admission Fee, which will go to the Chamber’s Education Foundation helping local schools. For more information call the Panama City Beach Chamber at (850) 235-1159.