5th Annual Compassionate Chefs for Kids

PANAMA CITY, Fla., February 18, 2008—Royal Chef Darren McGrady will join the Emerald Coast’s finest restaurants for Children’s Home Society of Florida’s Fifth Annual Compassionate Chefs for Kids elegant evening of taste on June 28 at the Bay Point Marriott Resort.

In addition to the delicious dishes prepared by local favorites, patrons will experience McGrady’s delectable creations, many of which he prepared during his service to Queen Elizabeth II of England and to Diana, Princess of Wales. McGrady has appeared on CNN, Fox News, the Today Show, the CBS Early Show, Good Morning Texas and the BBC, among several other broadcasts. In addition his accomplished culinary career, McGrady teaches cooking lessons and published his first cookbook in 2007: Eating Royally – Recipes and Remembrances of a Palace Kitchen.

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Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort Wins 2008 Gold Tee Award

Panama City Beach, Fla. (April 24, 2008) – Meetings & Conventions (M&C) magazine recently announced its 2008 Gold Tee competition winners, and the Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort was chosen as one of the best hotels for playing golf and holding meetings. The Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort is now a 5 time winner of this prestigious award. This highly respected award is given annually to outstanding golf/meeting properties worldwide. Winners of the Gold Tee Award were nominated and selected by the readers of M&C based on each property’s overall excellence.

“The meeting industry’s most well-regarded critics, the readers of M&C, have made their selection for the best in the world. M&C’s core readership of over 70,000 corporate, incentive, and association meeting planners know quality when they experience it. They have made their votes count, selecting the golf properties they believed to be outstanding,” states Bernard W. Schraer, Meetings & Conventions Group Publisher.

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Jobs linked to education

JuliannBy: Juliann Talkington

Juliann Talkington is the administrator of the Panama City Renaissance School. Reach her on 850-215-8712 or jtalkington@pcrschool.org.

For years small resort communities like Panama City have taken a casual approach to education. Many are significant distances from large cities, so there was little competition and consistent opportunities for those who chose to stay.

Technology is changing everything. Communities like ours are far from isolated. People hold phone conversations half way around the world for free, create their our own music lists with their ipods and can work almost anywhere as long as they have a computer and access to the Internet.

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Your County Tax Dollars at Work – Thomas Drive and Joan

The intersection of Thomas Drive and Joan Avenue in Panama City Beach is getting a bit of a facelift with sidewalks going in, the curb structure being redone, and the pedestrian island being rebuilt.

Recently the lift station on Joan Avenue was redone and landscaping and sidewalks were installed.

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FSU Flying Circus on Panama City Beach – Update

The tent is up, the a/c is cranking and the stage is being set for performances to begin next Friday, June 13th at 7pm.

The tent consists of 10 pieces with a total weight of over 10,000 lbs. Each one of six “straights” weight around 900 lbs and each of the four “rounds” weight around 1200 lbs. The “straights” are the middle peices and the “rounds” are the ends.

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Fight Club on Panama City Beach

Just east of Joan Avenue on south Thomas Drive a cage has been erected with a sign on it that says Fight Club. MMA cage fighting is being advertised: “Come watch the pro’s and Spar with your Bro’s.”

As if we didn’t have enough image problems, now we’ve got “cage fighting” right on Thomas Drive where all the tourists can see as they drive by.

And, to top it all off, a bikini bull riding contest.

2008 Hurricane Season Information – Tropical Storm Arthur

As the 2008 hurricane season begins, pcbdaily will provide updates as often as relevant to help keep everyone abreast of the storms brewing and how they will affect our area in Panama City Beach.

Currently Arthur is out there, but it as been downgraded to a Tropical Depression from its recent upgrade to a tropical storm. The current location is over southeast Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. Winds are at 30mph, pressure is at 1006mb, and the storm is moving at 6 mph, SW.

For all names storms and a whole preparedness checklist, check after the break.

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New Preschool in Panama City Beach – PCB Academy

A much needed preschool will open in Panama City Beach this week. PCB Academy, catering to children from ages 2 to 5, features an Early Preschool program, Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten. Their website advertises that they beleive that children learn by doing and offer stimulating activities using challenging materials.

PCB Academy uses the High Scope curriculum that utilizes specific “centers” that promote active learning. The interest areas are broken into different categories: block area, house area, small tow area, book area, sand and water area and art area. By doing variations of the same thing each day, progressing throughout the year, the students are given a sense of routine, allowing them to grow to expect what happens next.

PCB Academy had an open house last Wednesday and I was told by some that attended that everything was quite impressive. Having children, I know there is a huge void in the area of quality child care in our area, so I’m excited to see this new school come online on the beach.

The school opens Monday June 2 with the hours from 7am to5:30pm Monday through Friday.

Panama City Beach Number 1 Place to Own a Summer Home

According to AOL Money and Finance, Panama City Beach is The Number 1 Place to Own a Summer Home.

In an article that came out Thursday May 29, 2008 Kelli B. Grant with SmartMoney.com wrote that amid the credit crunch “someone else’s misfortune could work in your favor.”  Home prices are down and according to the short article, if you are in for the long-term and plan to use your second home, now is a great time to buy.

Quoting the article for Panama City Beach:

There’s something for everyone in this Panhandle town where white “sugar sand” beaches along the Gulf of Mexico give way to inland attractions, including six championship golf courses and an active restaurant and nightlife scene. Prices for beachfront property run the gamut from $100,000 for a one-bedroom condo, to $2 million-plus for single-family homes of five bedrooms or more, according to vacation rental site HomeAway.com.

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PCB White Sale Campaign update – with stats

YPartnership’s PCBWhiteSale launched on May 5 2008 with PR and strategic ad placements hitting all the major feeder markets to our area. Besides the creative being weak at best on their “coupon” web site, the actual campaign numbers don’t look that bad.

Part of what I do at my day job is analyze web stats, so this is right up my alley.

The report, available for download below, defines “total hits” and “user sessions” and reports from May 4 to May 23. Based on what Peter Yesawich of YPartnership was saying at the strategy workshop I can only assume in the web stat world, “user sessions” would have to mean unique visitors. Seeing as total pageviews is defined, I would say this is correct.

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