Category: Tourism

Legendary Surfer Shaun Tomson in Panama City Beach

Tomson to Attend Special Showing of Award-Winning
Surfing Documentary ‘Bustin’ Down the Door’

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 10, 2008) — World champion surfer, Shaun Tomson, will be in Panama City Beach, Fla. to attend the showing of “Bustin’ Down the Door” – an award-winning documentary about a pivotal period in the history of surfing.  A hit at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the film documents the rise of surfing as a professional sport.

“Bustin’ Down the Door” will have a special showing in Panama City Beach,  Mon., Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., at the Grand 16 Theater, located at 500 South Pier Park, Panama City Beach, FL 32413. Tomson, the film’s co-producer, will introduce the film and head a question-and-answer session.  Fans attending the showing will be able to get free posters autographed by Tomson.

The film will air in select locations throughout Florida in advance of the Surf Expo, taking place in Orlando, Sept. 10-14.

Narrated by Edward Norton, the acclaimed film takes a look at a dramatic moment in history, during the winter of 1975 in Hawaii, when a group of young South African and Australian surfers sacrificed everything for a dream and changed the sport of surfing forever.

“Bustin’ Down The Door” chronicles a tumultuous two-year period of competitive and cultural clashes in the mid-1970’s in the surfing Mecca of Hawaii’s North Shore of Oahu where a crew of six surfers from Australia and South Africa arrive and set out to change the world of surfing.  Framed around the emerging careers of former professional surfers and world champions Shaun Tomson, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew and Mark Richards, the film documents how these young men risked everything to become the world’s best surfers.  Viewers will see how their determination and vision began a cultural revolution that led to the birth of professional surfing and ultimately to today’s billion-dollar surfing industry.

As a competitor, Tomson’s consistency and longevity marked one of the most prolific careers in professional surfing. He became South Africa’s most successful surfer, winning the country’s largest event, the Gunston 500, six times in a row and taking the World Title in 1977.  Tomson has been called the greatest tube rider of all time and was named as one of the 25 most influential surfers of the century (Surfer, 1999) and one of the 16 greatest surfers of all time (Surfing, 2004).

Australian Mark Richards redefined the limits of performance surfing on the North Shore of Hawaii.  In 1976, he won the richest event on the fledgling IPS professional tour, the Coke Surfabout in Sydney.  Richards began shaping his own boards that year and developed a revolutionary, short, winged swallow twin-fin design that perfectly suited his particular style.  His swooping turns earned him the nickname “The Wounded Gull.” By 1979, with the twin-fin perfected, he won the World Title and for four consecutive years dominated the World Tour, winning in every type of surf. Today, Richards is considered one of the world’s best and most innovative surfboard shapers.

Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew burst onto the international scene in the winter of 1975.   Professional surfing was still just a dream back then, but Bartholomew had the vision and the attitude to make it a reality.  His article “Bustin’ Down the Door,” published in Surfer Magazine in 1976, is the inspiration for the film.  Bartholomew was crowned World Champion in 1978 and remained in the Top Five for seven consecutive years.

Directed by Jeremy Gosch, and produced by Shaun Tomson, Monika Gosch and Robert Traill, the film, was shot on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii and features iconic surf footage from the best of the mid-1970’s films as well as a period soundtrack that includes music artists Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen.  Included among the many notable surfers and pros interviewed for the documentary are: Ian Cairns, Peter Townend, Michael Tomson, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Barry Kanaiaupuni and “Fast Eddie” Rothman.

For more information about the film and to view the trailer visit http://www.bustindownthedoor.com.

Tapestry Park Cinema to Play Alvin and the Chipmunks

Close out Tapestry Park Cinema with Alvin, Simon & Theodore

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL (September 9, 2008) – Join Tapestry Park as we welcome the fall with the final installment of Tapestry Park Cinema on Friday, September 26th. This month’s feature film brings three singing chipmunks to the giant 16-foot screen in Savannah Park. Tapestry Park Cinema will also be offering a cash-only concession stand.

Tapestry Park began hosting this four-part event series in June and has seen tremendous support from the community at large. Tapestry Park is currently seeking local businesses interested in sponsoring Tapestry Park Cinema, and other community events, in 2009. The Tapestry Park community hopes to host this event and add additional educational/cultural events that promote a community atmosphere, and is looking for partners to allow family-friendly events to continue into the future. To inquire about event sponsorships at Tapestry Park, please contact Adam Shiland by calling 850.428.0825.

“Everyone who has taken part in our events have thoroughly enjoyed their experiences,” said Mark Tanney, the developer of Tapestry Park. “I know that there are businesses in the area that see the benefit of supporting these programs and in return they will receive tremendous exposure to our guests.”

The final screening will begin at 8:00 p.m.; however, guests are encouraged to arrive early to secure their spot on the lawn. The cash-only concession stand will feature popcorn, sodas, juices and bottled water. Tapestry Park will be collecting pop tabs from all sodas purchased at the event. All collected tabs will be dropped off at the Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Florida to support their Pop Tab Program.

For more information on Tapestry Park, visit the community online at tapestrypark.com or call us at 850.234.3339. Tapestry Park is located on Clara Avenue, between Hutchinson Boulevard and Hwy 98, in the heart of Panama City Beach. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Savannah Park.
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ABOUT TAPESTRY PARK

Born out of the search for the ideal family neighborhood, Tapestry Park introduces a new approach to the planned community in Panama City Beach, Florida – where owners control the design of their home. Open parks, wide sidewalks, and neighborhood friendliness draw people from all walks of life, and diverse architecture sustains a feeling of individuality. Designed to be primary residences, Tapestry Park offers the permanence of a traditional neighborhood with the beauty of a vacation town setting. For more information, visit http://www.tapestrypark.com.

9/8/08 TDC/CVB: Strategic Plan Adopted & More!

8 of the 9 board members were in attendance. Rick Russell was absent.

Bed Tax Collections: Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist, reported that while YTD collections were up 1.8%, the July collections were down from the prior year. She also reported that there are currently 1522 collectors representing approximately 12,000 units registered with her office.

PCB Seafood, Wine & Music Festival: Mr. Jack Bishop made an extensive presentation on his organization’s planning for the October festival. The CVB is the festival’s primary sponsor and is contributing $50,000.00 in financial support. He gave a walk-through of the festival’s web site, explained all of the marketing efforts, and also explained the festivals “green” efforts. He also explained that his organization will be collecting demographic date from all ticket purchasers and expects to provide extensive date to the CVB. Bishop also reported that his organization was already considering hosting a spring festival for 2009 during the shoulder season between Easter and Memorial Day. Finally, he expressed his belief that the community should continue to make improvements to the grounds at Frank Brown Park to assist with future festivals. He discussed the electrical improvements made by the circus and explained how they were more specifically geared to the needs of the circus than he would have desired. He reported that his organization hopes to make permanent facility upgrades with each festival that will be helpful to future users.

Fall Promotion Update: Ms. Susan Estler, the CVB’s VP of Marketing, explained the extension of the Summer White Sale through October. Although online marketing designed to draw visitors to the CVB’s site continues, the primary print and radio advertising has been completed. The partner offers have been recently updated and now include 52 partners. Since the program began, there have been 85,000 website sessions and 23,000 coupon downloads.

Strategic Plan: President Dan Rowe thoroughly discussed the final Strategic Plan that is the result of two public sessions and input from the board and community. The final key initiatives are: 1. Enhance the visitor experience at Panama City Beach; 2. Develop Panama City Beach into a year-round destination; 3. Effectively market Panama City Beach to build occupancy; 4. Diligently protect Panama City Beach’s primary natural resource – the beach. “Potential strategies for funding the initiatives” has been added as a separate section. At the President’s request, the board unanimously voted to adopt the plan.

Download the entire 2008 Strategic Plan.

Marketing Committee Update: Committee Chairman Buddy Wilkes advised the board that he had made the decision to make some changes to the committee membership to add some new voices. Phillip Griffitts, Jr. (Sugar Sands Resort/La Quinta) and Russ Smith(Towne of Seahaven/Sharky’s/Hammerhead Fred’s) will retain their seats. New appointees are: Felicia Cook(Marketing Director for Pier Park), Amy Harris(Royal American Hospitality), Annie Holcomb(Oaseas Management), Lee Ann Leonard (By the Sea Resorts), and myself, Bryan Durta. The board voted unanimously in support of the new committee. I would like to thank Mr. Wilkes for including me on the committee as an involved citizen. The committee will continue to meet on an as needed basis as the board requests. The first meeting has been scheduled for September 23rd.

Off Shore Drilling: President Rowe discussed the possibility of the board reconsidering previous positions opposing drilling off the shore of Florida. Rowe explained that a meeting of Florida CVB’s is being held next month to discuss the issue and he suggested the board delay any action until he can report back.

Beach Damage from Hurricane Gustav: President Rowe reported that it is still unknown whether there has been any damage to the beach resulting from Gustav. While the profile is currently deflated(flatter), Ms. Lisa Ambruster has advised that the height will likely build back. There is a possibility of seeking emergency repair funds from governmental agencies if the board desires. This will likely require a survey costing approximately $100,000.00 and Rowe suggested that the board wait for a recommendation from its beach contractors before making a decision.

Interactive Agency Search: President Rowe reported that the application deadline has passed and 6 proposals have been received. The sub-committee will bring its recommendation to the board after a complete analysis.

Delta In-flight Magazine Article: Although it was not an agenda item, Board Member Yonnie Patronis brought up an issue concerning a 10 page article on the Emerald Coast that appears in the current magazine. Mr. Patronis reported that the article included information on Coastal Vision 3000 and most of the panhandle, while totally ignoring Panama City Beach.

My Last Meeting Report: Due to my appointment to the CVB’s Marketing Committee announced today, my personal standards require that I discontinue preparing the TDC/CVB meeting reports for PCBDaily. I would like to thank Jason for providing the opportunity to write them over the past year, and know that Jason and Kirk are ready to take up the slack. I will, of course, still be here contributing to the site where appropriate. I have enjoyed preparing the reports and hope that everyone has found them to be informative and fair. I welcome comments and suggestions from anyone interested in our destination, regardless of whether you are a resident or a visitor. Thank you.

-Bryan Durta

New TDC Marketing Committee = New PCBDaily Contributor

I was notified this weekend that my service is no longer needed on the Bay County TDC marketing committee.  I guess they know where I stand, and have decided that my suggestions and directions are not in the best interest of the Bay County Tourism industry.

Therefore, I am pleased and honored to announce that I will now have time to serve as a contributing author for the PCBDaily.com news site.  Thanks to Jason for inviting me on board.

While Bryan Durta will continue to be the “TDC Watchdog,”  reporting all the facts, I look forward to adding suggestions and analysis regarding Bay County’s Tourist Development efforts.

I will also have the opportunity to be the “Trash Reporter,” reaching the large PCBDaily.com audience regarding the conditions of our beaches.

The new committee will be announced at Tuesday’s TDC meeting.  Only 2 members, Russ Smith and Phillip Griffits, Jr. will continue to serve on the committee.

I welcome all members of the community to contact me to discuss concerns, issues and ideas regarding tourism in Bay County.  My email address is Kirk@KirkLancaster.com

Fix our Beach, THEN advertise.

Here are the thoughts I summed up for the TDC board after comments Tuesday.
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1. Advertising Budget

We should not advertise until the “product is fixed.” What is wrong with our product?

* Lack of Cleanliness
* Lack of Safety
* Lack of Proper Marketing Research distributed to all Tourism Businesses
* Lack of Sports Complexes to meet Demand
* and above all – A broken image. Our current advertising cannot improve an image. An image must be improved by providing a great product and service… which starts with clean, safe beaches.

I realize Mr. Rowe and Staff are aware of many of these issues and are working to improve them. But if we put our advertising budget into our problems, they will be resolved more quickly.

Another problem I have with spending tax dollars on advertising – no matter what event or message you promote, you’re going to be held accountable by the community. If you quit advertising, and just provided infrastructure support, marketing research and public relations, no one could blame the TDC on problems such as Spring Break disasters, drownings, etc. Can you imagine having TDC meetings without people like Charles Mason, Bryan Durta and myself because we have nothing to complain about? ;c) Get rid of advertising, replace it with tangible research and infrastructure, and get rid of complainers.

So, if we did not advertise, how would we promote our destination?

a. Market Research. This is being done with our existing guests (400 surveys per month), but much more could be accomplished in this area. Imagine giving a report to all local businesses that show who is most likely to visit, where they live, and how to reach them. Then let the hotels, condos, restaurants, fishing boats, retail, attractions and events do their own advertising.

b. In-house creative: Imagine the CVB/TDC offering a beautiful catalog of stock photography and video of Bay County that small businesses could use in their own advertising.

c. In-house Public Relations: I am thankful there is now an in-house marketing team; they should be able to handle Public Relations.

d. Most Importantly – provide a reason for our guests to return home and say “Panama City Beach is a great place to vacation.”

But since we do have an agency, and we are advertising and outsourcing Public Relations…

* Please hold our agency to REMARKABLE standards. The White Sale did not provide remarkable results, and quite honestly, wasn’t even remarkable out of the gate. It was status-quo. Mr. Yesawich said that himself, basically, when he said others are doing “coupon / value / sales” campaigns and it worked for his clients in the past.

* Please consider that we pay this agency hundreds of thousands of dollars that go out of Bay County into Orlando’s economy. With an in-house marketing team, and the ability to outsource tasks (website development, photography, video, press release writing and distribution), we do not need to spend that kind of money on an agency when we have such a small budget. Perhaps one day when our beaches are clean, beautiful, and Richard even has a little problem filling up all our new sports arenas… then we can afford to invest in advertising

2. Trash

I am thankful you realize this is a serious problem. The method we use is not working, and the county should review other options.

My comment I say often about our beaches and trash … “Do you think Buddy Wilkes lets someone walk through his park with a glass bottle? Do you think he lets a diaper sit around in a public space? Are there cigarette butts everywhere? Is there trash floating in his wave pool? Of course not! So why can’t we protect our beaches just as a private attraction would protect their park?”

We must implement a process of prevention instead of cure when it comes to trash on our beaches. When/if the time does come to discuss new trash ideas, I request that I am notified so I may either assist in planning or pitch my own proposal for beach cleanup.

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I also made comments in the meeting that $6 per website visitor is too much to pay for our particular tourism industry. I have seen great numbers of people seeking information online for Panama City Beach, and a proper ad campaign can drive thousands of visitors to a PCB vacation website for $1-2.

TDC Meeting Agenda – New Marketing Committee?!?!?

Getting back in the swing, Tuesday’s TDC meeting guarantees spirited discussion.  In a surprise move, the TDC Marketing Committee was released late last week 15 months after they were originally appointed.  The reasoning was cited as the year being up.  I guess they didn’t want to release them at the beginning of the summer?  There are a few conspiracy theories floating around, but I’ll leave that to your imagination.  We’ll also see an update on the Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine and Music Festival, in addition to the Fall Marketing Campaign by the lovely Ms. Susan Estler.  Game On!

Download the agenda.

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, September 9, 2008                9:00 a.m.        Council Room, PCB City Hall

I.    CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II.    ROLL CALL

A.    Invocation
B.    Pledge of Allegiance
C.    Approve Minutes From the August 12, 2008 Meeting

III.    REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV.    UPDATE ON BED TAX COLLECTIONS, Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist

V.    BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A.    Discuss and Consider for Approval CVB/TDC Financial Statements Dated July 31, 2008, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
B.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Revised FY 2009 – FY 2010 TDC Plan Ordinance, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
C.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Coastal Planning & Engineering Invoice #80826, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VI.    BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A.    Marketing Committee Update, Mr. Buddy Wilkes, Chairman, Marketing Committee
B.    Update on Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine & Music Festival, Mr. Jack Bishop, Eventertainment Group, LLC
C.    Update on Fall Promotion, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

VII.    PRESENTATIONS

A.    Presentation of the Bay County Tourist Development Council/Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau Strategic Plan, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VIII.    PRESIDENT’S REPORT

IX.    AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

X.    ADJOURNMENT

TDC Director Dan Rowe to Host Friday at the Beach

Panama City Beach, FL (September 2, 2008)— On Friday, September 12th, join Dan Rowe, Executive Director of the TDC/CVB, at the Chamber’s monthly Friday at the Beach for a special presentation on the 2009 Convention & Visitors Bureau Marketing Initiative.  Net-working at the event, held at Edgewater Beach Resort, begins at 7:30 am with the presentation running from 8:00 to 9:00 am.  This Friday at the Beach is sponsored by Edward Jones Investments, Comcast and Thunder Beach Productions.

Friday at the Beach is designed to share ideas and opportunities that will affect the beaches area and local businesses.  Each program presents community and business leaders in a casual, “face-to-face” setting.  This event is open to the public at no charge, however RSVP is required.  Please contact Bertie Reynolds or Joyce Kidd at The Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce, at (850) 235-1159.

9/2/08 TDC/CVB: Budget Approved Without Any Changes

8 of the 9 board members were present for the special meeting that was called last Friday. Absent was Mike Nelson. Public attendance was probably the smallest it has been in the last year. It’s anyone’s guess whether this was due to the unusual scheduling of the meeting, a lack of public interest, or the public just agreeing with the priorities of the TDC/CVB as set out in the budget.

The board unanimously approved the FY 2009 budget which begins on October 1st. The budgets were accepted as proposed by staff and no motions were made suggesting any changes. Final approval will now be up to the Bay County Commission which is scheduled to take up the matter on Setember 16th.

Continue reading “9/2/08 TDC/CVB: Budget Approved Without Any Changes” →

TDC ditches their brains, gets bested by competition

Perhaps this post isn’t necesary, but I feel it prudent to underscore Bryan’s comments and insight into the current actions of the TDC.

An interesting point is brought up, and that point is: why are we just now discussing the budget?

We had all summer with little or almost no activity regarding public TDC meetings.  It seems that there was ample time to discuss these issues and more.  Is there a reason the TDC meetings come virtually to a halt during the summer months?  This is the time we need to be discussing everything and making changes on the fly as needed.

Continue reading “TDC ditches their brains, gets bested by competition” →