Pier Park Pier – Bait, Tackle Shop and Cafe Coming this Summer

Last summer our white sand beaches were blessed with a new pier.  The Russell Fields Pier was returned to us after a few years of damaged use.  The pier was open just in time for the Fourth of July celebrations, but it wasn’t done.  There was still something missing.

The arrival experience was still broken.  We had a beautiful pier, but in order to get to it, we had to walk around a chain link fence and crushed rock paths.  Well folks, that was all temporary AND necessary for us to enjoy the finished product that will open at the beginning of summer this year.

We’ve talked about the beach front improvements before, but today the actual structural and architectural components of the amenities are really coming together.  While the contract hasn’t been assigned for who is going to run it all, what’s actually going to be there has.

Here are the main components that the new Pier at Pier Park will have.

• Fixed pier ticket booth – a fixed and architecturally beautiful place to purchase your ticket to gain access to the pier.
• Cafe and concessions – expect a burger and sandwich joint along with soft drinks, chips, candy bars and other concessions.
• Bait and tackle shop – rumored to be Half Hitch Tackle, this will be a full blown tackle shop fit with everything you would expect to find at a Pier tackle shop, including those funky lures that are bringing in all the big ones.
• Restroom facilities – nobody likes it when you pee in the water, now we’ll have restrooms that are beautiful to look at (at least from the outside 😉  )
• Beach services – including beach chair rental, jet skis, and parasailing

The new pier at Pier Park has been a huge revenue generator for the City of Panama City Beach, which comes as an always needed shot in the arm when it comes running a city municipality.  The beach improvement amenities will serve as another dynamic source of revenue for the city.  We’ll discuss that in more detail later.

For now, let’s look forward to walking on the large open boardwalk area and having a blast this summer in the warm summer breeze on the Gulf of Mexico with our families.