Month: April 2011

Jazz Fest was UP 25% this year!

The Seabreeze Jazz Festival this year was a huge success.  The fun thing about this event is that it’s a ticketed event and with that we know exactly how many people attended.  This year there was approximately a 25% increase in attendance over last year.  There were 7200 people in Aaron Bessant Park on Saturday and 6900 on Sunday.  The Border’s Friday Free Sneek Peak netted around 250 attendees and resulted in patrons doing the electric slide in between the book shelves to tunes from Brian Culberson.

There’s no question this event is a huge asset to our area.

If you had a great visit and fun weekend, you’ll probably be interested to know that tickets for next years festival go on sale on Sunday May 1, 2011 – that’s right, this Sunday!  I’ve been told the VIP tickets are the first to go, so if you want ’em, you better get them soon.

Here are some more pictures – enjoy!

We’re giving away an iPad 2 [UPDATE]

Yep, you read that right – we’re doing an iPad 2 giveaway.

We didn’t reach our internal minimum entrant requirement to do the iPad 2 giveaway so we’re opening it up to other local businesses!

Now, this giveaway isn’t for everyone.  This giveaway is for businesses.  In order to be considered a qualified entrant, you have to be a business or the decision maker of a business.

So, what do you have to do to enter?  We’re running a survey!  Aren’t surveys awesome?

To take the survey (and enter the contest)
  • CLICK THIS LINK
  • Follow through with all the questions (they’re all mandatory, sorry in advance!)
  • Share the love by telling all your business friends about the survey so they have a chance to win too!

Continue reading “We’re giving away an iPad 2 [UPDATE]” →

Gulf Coast Marine Institute Receives $10,000 in Donations

Governor Rick Scott and members of the Cabinet presented Ron Hardy, co-owner of Gulf World Marine Park, a check for $5,000. This money was contributed to Gulf World Marine Institute Inc. Gulf World Marine Institute Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to assist in the rehabilitation of sick and injured marine animals. Gulf World Marine Park serves as the area coordinator for the Southeast Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Gulf World’s standing team has assisted in the rehabilitation and release of several marine mammals and hundreds of sea turtles over the past few years.  During the presentation Peter Miller, host of Bass 2 Billfish television show announced that he would match the $5,000 denotation. The entire $10,000 will be applied to our Marine Institute. These funds will allow us to purchase medical equipment and supplies in the continued efforts to help injured animals along our coast.

Vote Panama City Beach for the Ultimate Fishing Town USA

We all know Panama City Beach is one of the best fishing towns in the country, and now we have a chance to prove it!  We just discussed 4 Reasons PCB’s THE BEST Fishing Spot in the USA, today YOU have to go vote!

Yesterday we were in number 3, today we’ve slid to number four – BEHIND KISSIMMEE!  Kissimmee isn’t even a coastal town!

Alright, so you can tell I’m a bit disappointed.  We have to get the word out on this, we have to let people know that we’re in the running!  Destin is over 1,000 and I know we can catch up.

This is what I need everyone to do.

  • Follow this link to go to the voting page for Panama City Beach -> click here
  • Vote by entering your name and email address
  • Make sure you confirm your email address the first time you vote
  • Go back and vote during every time block you can, here are the four voting blocks
    • 12:01 am est to 6 am est
    • 6:01 am est to 12 pm est
    • 12:01 pm est to 6 pm est
    • 6:01 pm est to 12 am est

The way it reads is that you can vote up to four times a day – we need to come together and do this so we can win!

The winning town gets $25,000 community donation and the title of the Ultimate Fishing Town USA!  How’d THAT be for tourism.  (no question mark intentional)

So, what are you waiting for? Get on over and VOTE!

4 Reasons PCB’s THE BEST Fishing Spot in the USA

This article was contributed by Brad Stephens from Sunjammers Watersports.  Sunjammers is the best place to buy or rent kayaks, buy fishing gear, get the most accurate fishing advice and talk about where to get the most fish in Panama City Beach.  You can visit their store a few hundred yards north of Back Beach Road on Highway 79 or you can visit them online at Sunjammers.com or Facebook.com/Sunjammers.

Panama City Beach and the immediate surrounding area offers some of the top fishing in the country.  It doesn’t mater if you want to stalk the redfish on the flats of West Bay in inches of water, look for that gator trout in slightly deeper water or slide into the Gulf of Mexico and try your hand at bottom fishing or blue water trolling.  Don’t think that salt water is all PCB has to offer, within a very short drive you have numerous fresh water lakes and rivers to target all the major species of panfish, bass, and strippers.

Here are four fantastic reason’s Panama City Beach is THE Ultimate fishing town in the good ‘ol US of A.

Continue reading “4 Reasons PCB’s THE BEST Fishing Spot in the USA” →

Seabreeze Jazz Festival [PICS]

Click here for a full schedule of the 2012 Seabreeze Jazz Festival! 

Wow, what a fantastic weekend.  The Seabreeze Jazz Festival was clearly more packed this year than it has ever been.  Crowds extended past the perimeter sidewalk and “into the forest.”  With artists from Bryan Culberson, Euge Groove and Eric Darius, the weekend was rocking, smoothing, and grooving and could be heard from miles away.

Continue reading “Seabreeze Jazz Festival [PICS]” →

Market Update – Recovery? What Recovery?

This post originally appeared on PanamaBeachRealty.com’s blog.  For more information about real estate in Panama City Beach, current market conditions, and other things happening in real estate locally, you should check it out.

Each month we hear stories about how the real estate market in Panama City Beach is bottoming. We are continually told that it is ready to bounce back at any time. How much longer are we going to listen to this while watching prices drop quarter after quarter? Potential buyers should not be focusing on the overall market. They should instead be looking at the specific condominiums they are interested in. On the whole, the real estate condominium market in Panama City Beach continues to fall. The average price per square foot of a 700 square foot or larger gulf front one-bedroom condo has dropped another $18 per square foot during the first quarter of 2011. These dropping rates do not indicate that the market, as a whole, is bottoming. A large number of floor plans and buildings across the beach are showing no signs whatsoever of bottoming.

Continue reading “Market Update – Recovery? What Recovery?” →

Free Shipwreck Island Passes THIS WEEKEND

In celebration of their grand opening this weekend, Shipwreck Island Waterpark is running a contest on their Facebook page.

They did three questions Wednesday, three questions yesterday, and they’re doing three questions today.  Whoever gets the questions right will have a chance to win passes to Shipwreck Island tomorrow.

Continue reading “Free Shipwreck Island Passes THIS WEEKEND” →