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Beach Home for the Holidays Nov. 24-25

Santa Claus is coming to town for the eighth annual Beach Home for the Holidays in Panama City Beach! This Thanksgiving weekend, Visit Panama City Beach invites families to kick off the most wonderful time of the year with a magical celebration at Aaron Bessant Park, featuring carol-themed concerts, s’mores, appearances by Santa, nightly fireworks, the lighting of the destination’s 36-foot-tall Christmas tree, and more. This year’s event will also include live performances by all-vocal country music sensation Home Free, and the Panama City Symphony Orchestra.

“We are thrilled to welcome new and returning families to Panama City Beach for a spectacular holiday celebration this Thanksgiving weekend,” says Dan Rowe, president and CEO of Visit Panama City Beach. “With two days of festive activities, exceptional musical performances, and an abundance of holiday cheer, this year’s Beach Home for the Holidays is sure to be a memorable event for all ages.”

The festivities begin on Friday, November 24 with campfires, delicious s’mores, and the opening of Santa’s Village. At 6 p.m., headliner Home Free will take the stage at Aaron Bessant Park’s open-air amphitheater for a must-see holiday concert. Named “Country music fans’ favorite a cappella group,” the nationally acclaimed performers have ventured on extensive international tours, amassing over 1.6 million subscribers and an astounding 630+ million views on YouTube.

To see a full schedule of events, please visit https://www.visitpanamacitybeach.com/beach-holiday.

November 8, 2023
It’s Christmas at the Wesley House!

Welcome the Holidays Through Times Past

By Margaret Zonia Morrison

Our neighboring county, Walton, will celebrate its bicentennial in 2024. Commemorations like this call to mind history and tradition. Both the stately Wesley House, located at Eden Gardens State Park in Walton County, and the Christmas celebration that has become a welcome herald of the holiday season are reminders of both of those things.

While the end of the year with all that leads up to it are a hectic time for many, the efforts to create a charming recollection of holidays in times past gives us an opportunity to pause and join in a treasured part of the calendar of our very special community.

If you are unfamiliar with the Wesley House, this very brief account will give you some idea of its history. It was built in 1897, in a Victorian style, now converted to Antebellum. It was the home of the Wesley Family, including nine children, and their business was lumber which operated from 1890 until after World War I. There were three mills located in the Tucker Bayou which adjoins the park where a remnant of one of the mills can still be seen today. Mrs. Wesley was the last of the family to occupy the house, dying in 1953. The next 10 years saw the house fall into ruin, with neighborhood children playing in the rooms, and even goats taking up residence!

In 1963, Ms. Lois Maxon bought the house having “found her Eden.” She paid $12,500 for 10.5 acres, then proceeded to change the house to an antebellum style, and furnish the rooms with valuable antiques, spending over a million dollars in the restoration we now enjoy. With great care and love for amazing natural beauty, Miss Maxon added ornamental gardens and a reflection pool. It’s been said that at times, locals would come by with flowers to sell and they would plant them on the grounds; just one reason why the garden truly blossomed and is bountiful today.

Ms. Maxon did not get to live in her Eden for long due to ill health, but was generous enough to leave the house and grounds to the State of Florida. That transfer took place on Christmas Eve, 1968. We hope she would approve of the Friends of Eden State Gardens’ efforts to commemorate this most extraordinary gift by coming together as a community each year around the holiday to celebrate.

If you have not taken the opportunity to enjoy this tradition, please consider attending this amazing experience of times past this year. The Wesley House will be decorated and ready for guided tours by November 16th available Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on an hourly basis. This year’s theme is “A Victorian Christmas,” and you’ll certainly feel as if you’ve been transported back in time to an era where hoop skirts and Victorian-style architecture dominated the time-period. The public is invited to enjoy the themed rooms throughout the house.

The Friends of Eden begin the process of planning the festivities for the holiday months prior to the event. None of this would be possible without the dedication of many talented people from throughout the area volunteering to decorate the house, including Coastal Seniors of South Walton, Daughters of the American Revolution West Florida Chapter, Green Thumb Garden Club, Historic Point Washington Association, Ladies of Impact 100, RMA Consulting and Design, Seaside Kids, Seaside, The Garden Club, South Walton High School, and The Friends of Eden Gardens.

Once you step foot onto the 163 acres of Eden Gardens State Park, the Victorian wonderland holiday begins under the shade of Spanish moss-draped oak trees, the salty air of Choctawhatchee Bay and gorgeous florals of all kinds.

The House will remain decorated until January 9th, 2024. All visitors are invited to vote on which room in the House is their favorite. The competition among the decorators is quite real. Of course, the month would be incomplete without the evening of Luminaries, December 9th, 5-8 p.m., with a rain date for the same time period for December 16th.

The Park area will be illuminated with candles, the House will be open and the decorated trees will be lit for the event. The Friends of Eden will provide light refreshments in the Pavilion, and all are invited to attend. A shuttle will be offered for transportation into the Park on that evening, and there is no entrance fee. Please plan to join us for the Night of the Luminaries and consider making this a part of your holiday tradition, whether you are a resident or a visitor. It will be memorable.

November 8, 2023
Camp Helen State Park Pumpkin Sale and Saturdays in the Patch

The Friends of Camp Helen’s eighth Annual Pumpkin Patch is officially open! They will remain open daily from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. throughout October. On Saturdays from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., the patch will also have various entertainment.

“We are so excited to be hosting our eighth annual pumpkin patch and each year the community continues to wow us with their support and passion. We are looking toward a theme of focusing on the natural resources and wildlife inside Camp Helen State Park,” says Camp Helen’s executive director, Courtney Harper.

This year, Saturdays in the Patch will feature Nature Day (wildlife crafts, interpretive programs, educational games), a fishing expo for kids, face painting, a haunted history tour, live music ( including Huck and Lily), food trucks, the second annual witches paddle, a movie night, and other games and crafts. Saturday events will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Gelato Love, a food truck serving up your frozen favorites, will also be in the patch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Here are the dates to remember:
– Stop by the park for a Haunted History Tour on Oct. 14, then stay to enjoy live music, crafts, and games
– Huck and Lily take the stage on Saturday, Oct. 21. Don’t just come for the live music though – find face painting, crafts, and games to keep the kids entertained.
– Camp Helen State Park finishes off the month on Oct. 27 with wildlife crafts, guided nature tours, and wildlife programs (turtle and Audubon).

All proceeds benefit the Friends of Camp Helen and are used for projects and improvements for the park.

Although the Friends of Camp Helen will not host an organized Witches Paddle this year, they encourage everyone to paddle their favorite coastal dune lake at sunset on October 21. Donations made on that day at www.friendsofcamphelen.org will be used to host a larger more organized event next fall.

Kayak and Paddle board rentals remain open throughout the fall as well. Fishing poles, tackle, and group packages are also available.

October 10, 2023
Local Signs of Fall: An Array of Art and Music that Heals

By Will Estell

If you’re a fan of the arts—whether visually, musically or through their power of healing, and if you live anywhere in Okaloosa, Walton or Bay Counties, then you’re likely already familiar with Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (MKAF)—the outreach and events this organization has been bringing to Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast for almost three decades.

MKAF has grown from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the largest champions of the arts in our beautiful communities that dot this piece of paradise. MKAF is a mission-driven, membership based, not-for-profit organization, with all MKAF event proceeds going to support ArtsReach, the organization’s outreach mission.

MKAF events do more than entertain the tens of thousands who attend them each year; they elevate the quality of the people, schools, groups and communities they impact. MKAF events, such as the annual Festival of the Arts, various concerts, wine tastings and culinary gatherings might be thought of simply as entertainment or something fun to do, but the true mission and impact of the organization is about so much more than providing a good time for attendees and members. It’s about making a measurable difference—a real and lasting impact for the betterment of our communities and the people MKAF serves.

Since its inception in 1995, MKAF has enlightened, empowered and educated more than 400,000 children in more than 100 schools and partner agencies throughout Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast. These exciting “Arts Empower” programs provide arts in our children’s schools where, as you know if you have a student, much of the arts funding had been stopped. MKAF saw the need and is producing dynamic arts learning opportunities through its ArtsReach education initiative serving local K-12 students, at-risk youth and even those with disabilities through “Arts for All Abilities.” A newer program, Paint the Music, is a collaboration between MKAF and Sinfonia Gulf Coast (SGC), and explores the musical classics while channeling students’ inner Picasso—students paint to musical selections and are invited to a live SGC concert performance. If you have a child participating in one or more of these school programs, you know how effective they are and crucial the arts are toward molding our upcoming generations.

Through “Warrior Arts,” MKAF, too, serves our military population suffering with both physical injuries and invisible traumas and hardships, bringing therapeutic benefits to active duty and veteran military service members. This unique and healing program features Zentangle drawing for mindfulness and there are numerous testimonies to the program’s effectiveness.

MKAF’s spring and summer Concerts in the Village series showcases some of the most entertaining and talented touring artists in the entire country, bringing thousands of both local and vacationing music and arts lovers to MKAF’s Arts Village in the heart of Destin. This fun, musical series raises both awareness and funding, so that MKAF can impact more and more people in our community with each coming year.

As for the upcoming fall and winter events that you can take part in while also knowing you’re making a positive difference just by being there, MKAF has quite a few just around the corner:

Festival Of The Arts

Now in its 28th year, Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation’s Annual Festival of the Arts is the place to be Oct. 28-29. The largest and most celebrated art fair in all of Okaloosa and Walton counties, the annual art fair brings in top-tier artists in an array of media from throughout the country. This October, the growing event will feature more than 100 artists, some with multiple display spaces, all ready to show, talk about and sell their pieces, while competing for various accolades in their respective categories as part of this juried festival. “This year, we enjoyed overwhelming interest and after the blind jury scored more than 200 applicants, we are proud to present more than 100 artists hailing from 17 states across the U.S. and Europe,” said Festival of the Arts Producer, Deb Nissley.

In addition to all the unique and creative pieces on display, MKAF’s Festival of the Arts also features live music, food trucks, beverages, comedian Jason Hedden as emcee for the festivities and even a VIP Lounge Experience. There’s also an available cash bar featuring locally sourced craft beer, including Mattie Light from Destin Brewery, and MKAF’s famous Bloody Mary bar to accompany your fun in perusing the festival, seeing friends and finding those perfect pieces to call your own…ones you’ll treasure for years and perhaps even hand down.

This year’s festival will include a new edition, MKAF’s Arty Kick Off Party, October 27th at 6 p.m. at Destin’s Henderson Beach Resort—an exciting way to usher in the festival while also partaking in great food, drinks and entertainment.

This year’s Festival will also bring additional entertainment with Stage Crafters performing scenes from the Broadway musical “Something Rotten,” along with local Gulf Coast artist and MKAF Board Member, Maxine Orange and her Splatter Studio, which allows children to suit up and exercise their artistic inspiration while creating their own personal art to take home from the festival. It’s never too early to instill a love of the arts in the future of our communities. What better place than MKAF’s Festival of the Arts to introduce the younger members of your family to a love of arts, music and community?

It doesn’t stop there! MKAF members and the community are invited to join in on more amazing entertainment and fun from small intimate concerts in area listening rooms to MKAF’s annual Wine Walkabout at Destin’s Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, to the coming inaugural Salt Water Music Fest, bringing three days of music and fun to MKAF’s Arts Village October 12-14th.

Salt Water Music Fest

If you’re a fan of live music and lots of fun, you will certainly want to grab your three-day tickets or VIP table for the inaugural Salt Water Music Fest, presented by MKAF and Salt Water Vacations.

The spectacular festival takes place at MKAF’s Arts Village in the heart of Destin, and brings internationally renowned headliners: Grammy winning R&B sensation Macy Gray and CMA nominated country hitmakers LOCASH, as well as six other hit Nashville songwriters to MKAF’s Dugas Pavilion stage for what is sure to be a fun-filled celebration of music across multiple genres.

With hits like “I Try,” “Sweet Baby,” “Beauty in the World,” “Still,” and “Why Don’t You Call Me,” you’re sure to enjoy a night of reminiscent musical fun, moving to the tunes of Macy Gray, just as country fans are sure to sing along to LOCASH staples like “I Love This Life,” “I Know Somebody,” the band’s remarkably popular 2023 patriotic hit, “Three Favorite Colors,” and the chart-topping, “You Gonna Fly” written by LOCASH’S Chris Lucas and Preston Brust for Keith Urban.

The festival and ticket proceeds will further support and grow awareness for MKAF’s outreach to our communities, schools, veterans and residents of these coastal communities. (Read more about the festival from my one-on-one interview with LOCASH on page 34 in this issue.)

As if that’s not enough music, MKAF has also added to its 2023 fall season two, new MKAF Unplugged live concerts! These popular listening-room style concerts will showcase singer-songwriters, solo artists, musicians, duos and small bands performing for limited numbers of attendees in intimate acoustic sets. The two upcoming fall concerts include American country music singer-songwriter Erin Enderlin on Sunday, Oct. 25, and the country rock duo, Capps & Hughes on Sunday, Nov. 1st. Both limited availability events take place on Henderson Beach Resort’s Sunset Terrace in Destin. These particular concerts are a remarkable value, as they are offered as a bundle for only $75. Tickets also include complimentary valet service, light bites and a cash bar.

MKAF’s CEO, fearless leader, and champion of the arts Demetrius Fuller, had this to say about the addition of the new Unplugged Series: “Our first Unplugged benefit concert last June featuring Adam Ezra and Corrina Smith was so well received that we partnered with our friends at the Henderson to add these acoustic sets. With limited seats on a terrace, overlooking beautiful Henderson Beach State Park and the Gulf at sunset, this is a wonderful way to gather with friends to experience live music, a cocktail and delicious food. It’s literally the magic memorable evenings are made from.”

Whichever MKAF events you choose to attend and support this fall, one thing is for sure: By being a member of, or simply an attending supporter of Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation’s growing number of artful community events, you will be doing so much more than enriching your own life through contact with the organization’s art, music, and outreach programs. You will quite literally be making a lifelong difference in the lives of others. How’s that for having your proverbial cake and eating it too?

For more information, including tickets to any of the array of MKAF events, Salt Water Music Fest, and to become a MKAF member and take advantage of their corporate sponsorship opportunities, visit MKAF.org.

Will Estell is a writer, media entrepreneur and coastal real estate professional with more than 600 published magazine features in an array of genres, from celebrity interviews to travel and tourism to automobiles and real estate. During the past 25 years, Will has been instrumental in founding and co-founding 12 new magazines from concept to fruition, as well as serving as editor in chief for numerous others. Originally from the backwoods of rural Ripley, Mississippi, Will is a father of three who splits his time between Destin and Navarre, along with his wife, ABC 3 news anchor, Laura Hussey. Will is a regular contributor to Life Media and numerous other publications, as well as a member of the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation’s board of directors.

October 10, 2023
Bayway Joins ‘Safe Place’ Program for Helping Youths

By Ed Offley

Bay County Transit, also known as Bayway, has become the newest partner with the Anchorage Children’s Home in providing emergency support to young people in crisis, according to Bayway Program Administrator Lamar Hobbs.

“It’s critical to ensure that every young person has a place to go and someone to help in unsafe situations and environments,” Hobbs told PCB Life. “We are grateful to be able to implement a program that allows our organization to support teens in crisis situations, creating a safety net for youth.”

The safety assistance program, known as Safe Place, has been in existence nationwide for forty years. It constitutes a network of government and nonprofit organizations in each participating community where employees are trained to provide immediate assistance to people under 18 years old in a crisis or emergency.

Safe Place programs utilize schools, fire stations, libraries and other youth-friendly organizations as Safe Place locations, which display the distinctive yellow and black sign. With the inclusion of Bayway, the transit system’s fleet of buses operating countywide will expand the reach of the program along its route system.

Hobbs said that transit employees are trained to react in a variety of situations, ranging from providing transportation to the main Bayway administrative facility on Corn Avenue in Panama City, to stopping and providing on-scene assistance until police or medical responders arrive. The training focuses on identifying the seriousness of the crisis and knowing which specific agency to contact for the victim.

“If necessary, we [transit operators] would stay in the spot until someone came along to relieve them,” Hobbs said.

The Bayway Operations and Maintenance Facility, Administration and Meeting Facility, and all On Demand buses now display a Safe Place sign as an indicator to youth that staff at these locations have received the proper training to help them. Safe Place signs will also list instructions for assistance when facilities are closed, ensuring safety for youth on a 24/7 basis.

Hobbs said that the 60 employees at Bayway received training for the Safe Place program prior to its joining the program in early August.

In addition to Bay County, the Anchorage Children’s Home leads street outreach and recovery efforts, including the Safe Place program, across Gulf, Calhoun, Washington, Jackson, and Holmes counties. Headquartered in Panama City, the non-profit organization was founded in 1983 with the goal of providing care for at-risk and abused and neglected children through screening, case management and counseling, along with basic shelter and non-residential care services.

For information about the Safe Place program, call Anchorage Children’s Home at (850) 763-7102.

September 10, 2023
Lake Powell Cleanup on September 16

The Lake Powell Community Alliance (LPCA) together with St. Andrew Bay Watch (RMA), Friends of Camp Helen State Park, and Bay County Audubon invite you to participate in a community effort to clean up Lake Powell. Sign-in will begin promptly at 8 a.m. on Saturday, September 16, at the Lake Powell Park [boat ramp behind Publix] or at Camp Helen State Park. The cleanup will last until noon. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 50 volunteers to register! Participate in a ‘Chance Drawing’ to win some very nice prizes!

According to Emily Ellis, LPCA Vice-Chairperson, “This event is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup and this is our eleventh year participating. We typically receive about 100 volunteers and we have removed over 30,000 pounds of trash from Lake Powell and her watershed. Every year we fill dumpsters provided to us by Bay County. We are proud to be part of this global effort. It’s a fun event for people of all ages who want to help maintain the health of the lake.”

In our little corner of the earth, we have a very unique and precious resource. Lake Powell was designated an Outstanding Florida Waterway in 1991. It is among the largest of the rare Coastal Dune Lakes which occur in only a few places around the world. Lake Powell is known for its beauty and biodiversity, as well as its exceptional recreational and educational opportunities. The Lake Powell Community Alliance (LPCA) is dedicated to protecting this natural resource.

This is a great opportunity to bring our community together for a common cause! Participants will be given a choice of areas to clean up with access by walking, wading, boating, or paddling. So, join the team / keep it clean – safely!

What to bring: closed-toed shoes, hat, sunscreen, grabber, work gloves, water, refillable water bottle, snacks.

Please consider bringing your boat, canoe, kayak, or paddleboard and join our armada of cleanup crews! If you do bring your watercraft, please bring required life jackets, whistle, and safety devices.

We will provide: nitril gloves, garbage bags, data cards, coffee, donuts, and water.

Schedule

8-9 a.m. – Sign-in and Orientation
9 a.m.-12 noon – Lake Cleanup
12 noon – Photos / Chance Drawing / Pizza

Lake Powell Community Alliance Mission: A community initiative dedicated to preserving the water quality and biodiversity of the globally rare and imperiled Lake Powell ecosystem through education, habitat restoration, watershed-based planning and community partnerships. LPCA is a Not-For-Profit 501(c3) FEI# 20-3730450.

Please spread the word and friend us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LakePowellCommunityAlliance/. Do you have questions or ideas for ways in which YOU can help? Contact us at LPCA08@gmail.com.

September 10, 2023
Duplin Winery is the Newest PCB Attraction

By Ed Offley

After two years of construction, the Duplin Winery is open for business on its 70-acre site at 10101 Panama City Beach Parkway.

Located on the former grounds of the Hombre Golf Club, the 35,000-square-foot winery complex is presenting itself as both a significant PCB employer and a major family entertainment destination for tourists and residents alike, General Manager Morgan Jackson told PCB Life.

“We’re very much a family-oriented business,” Jackson said. “We wanted to find a place that fits our lifestyle and felt that we could make a positive impact here.” In searching for a new location, company officials were immediately attracted to the “coastal casual” atmosphere of Panama City Beach, she said.

“We are blessed and honored to welcome Florida into our Duplin Family,” said Jonathan Fussell, co-owner along with his brother, Dave Fussell Jr.

The winery specializes in sweet wines made from the muscadine grape. The company both grows its own grapes in North Carolina and buys grapes from over 60 grape farming families in five southern states. The company plans to plant an additional 100 acres of grapes in the Florida Panhandle.

Like its predecessors, the new PCB facility is far more than a bottling and retail sales outlet.
“Over these years, experience has helped us learn how to become more than just a winery. We’ve learned how to create a true entertainment destination,” Jonathan Fussell said. “It’s a place where people enjoy hanging out, can be comfortable bringing friends and family, and come to love the whole Duplin way of life,”

After a soft launch in May, the winery is now open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Guided wine tastings, costing $15 per person, are offered from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Visitors can tour the site, watch the bottling process, and even take a turn filling a bottle themselves, Jonathan Fussell said. There are five tasting bars where visitors can sample not only the wide selection of wines, but non-alcoholic beverages, and specialty snacks such as Duplin Gourmet Muscadine Pineapple Habenero Cheese Dip.

A 13,000-square-foot waterfront pavilion at the winery is available for visitors, including group events such as weddings and reunions.

A formal grand opening ceremony scheduled for August 19 sold out within days of the announced ticket sales, Jackson said.

Founded in the 1970s at Rose Hill in Duplin County, N.C. by D.J. Fussell, Sr., the family business expanded in recent years with a second winery complex that opened at Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2015. The $20-million facility on Panama City Beach Parkway is the largest of the three.

Duplin Winery is currently ranked as the largest winery in the South and thirty-sixth nationwide, with a tank capacity of 2.1 million gallons.

Currently, there are 50 employees working at the PCB facility. That figure is projected to grow to a permanent workforce of 150 in the next few years, Jackson said.

August 13, 2023
Meet Superintendent Mark McQueen

By Sharon Michalik, Director of Communications, Bay District Schools

We’re so excited to begin the 2023-2024 school year with all of our students, staff members, mentors, volunteers and one very special new addition… our new Superintendent Mark McQueen.

Superintendent McQueen, who is a retired Major General with the United States Army and former City Manager for the City of Panama City, officially kicked off his tenure on August 1, 2023, and we’re so very grateful for his continued service to our country and our community.

McQueen brings a wealth of experience to this new position and said he’s ready to get into the trenches with the troops to learn as much as possible about BDS and about how he can support our students, teachers and staff.

“I am not an educator by profession, but I have spent my entire adult life in public service (first in the military and later with the City of Panama City),” he said. “From those experiences, I know that empowering people to do their best work is where the magic happens.”

Public education, McQueen said, is “the foundation of any productive society and vibrant community, and I am excited to have the opportunity to help support the great work that is happening at Bay District Schools.”

McQueen said he plans to spend his first few weeks in office visiting all of our BDS locations (so you may see him at a beach school near you shortly) to soak up as much knowledge as he can.

“Obviously, I have A LOT to learn during the upcoming weeks and months, and I want you to know that I take that responsibility very seriously,” he said. “I am an ardent believer in the book Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World (authored in 2015 by General Stanley McChrystal and others), and I believe in systematic approaches to systemic issues.”

McQueen said his initial focus will be simple.

“We need to resource the teachers to ensure they have what they need to do the most important work,” he said. “I want to ensure we are leveraging technology, adapting to unpredictability, removing barriers that get in the way of collaboration and empowering our people to do their best.”

And all of that, he said, will be built on a foundation of ensuring all students are reading at or above grade level. “Reading is really the key to everything,” he said. “If you can read, then you can do math, you can do social studies, you can think analytically. So we’ve got to make sure that all of our students are competent readers and that they are comprehending, and applying, what they read.”

August 13, 2023
PCB Unveils New Public Art Sculptures

By Ed Offley

A new crop of colorful public art sculptures is now in place at locations throughout Panama City Beach.

City Council last August approved SeeLife 2, the second phase of a public arts program begun in early 2021 that initially placed eleven dolphin and sea turtle sculptures at sites across the city. Joining the artwork pieces from that first phase, city officials on June 21 unveiled ten new sculptures — five dolphins and five seahorses — affixed with topical illustrations and painted in bright colors by volunteer citizen artists.

The $25,000 SeeLife 2 project was financed through a grant from the Panama City Beach Conventions and Visitors Bureau.

A beaming Mayor Mark Sheldon presided over the public unveiling of the sculptures on June 21 in the plaza at city hall as a crowd of several dozen people joined several city councilmen and senior staffers to applaud the artists’ work.

“Art enhances public spaces,” Sheldon said. “These sculptures will be adding more value, adding more art to our community.”

Beach spokeswoman Debbie Ingram noted that the artists matched the themes of some of the sculptures with the businesses where they are displayed.

For instance, K-3 students at the A. Gary Walsingham Academy illustrated their seahorse sculpture, “The Whimsical Wonder,” with images from various STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) icons including an Edison lightbulb, stars, math symbols and art. The seahorse will be on display at WonderWorks at 9910 Front Beach Road, the entertainment center that exposes young people to a wide variety of science and educational experiences, said teacher Julie DeFelice.

In addition to “The Whimsical Wonder,” the other SeeLife 2 sculptures can be seen at the following locations:

“See Horse,” a seahorse sculpture painted by Lee Ann Leonard, is on display at Pier Park on the roundabout on Bluefish Drive near the north side of J.C. Penney;

“For the Love of the Game,” a dolphin also created by Ms. DeFelice’s students, is on display at Beef O’Brady’s sports themed restaurant at 11226 Hutchison Blvd.;

“Majestic Magic,” a seahorse painted by artist Jeri Salisbury and friends, is at Majestic Beach Resort, 10901 Front Beach Road;

“Vibransea,” a seahorse painted by Ashley Windsor, is at Casa Loma hotel, 13615 Front Beach Road:

“Wild Thang,” a seahorse painted by Michelle Jones, is located at PCB City Hall, 17007 Panama City Beach Parkway;

“Horizon of Heaven’s Sea,” a dolphin painted by Amanda Maxwell and students at the Gulf Coast School for Autism, is at RC Real Estate Group, 10100 Hutchison Blvd.;

“Brighter Days,” a dolphin painted by Jeri Salisbury and friends, is at Days Inn, 12818 Front Beach Road:

“Rocky,” a dolphin painted by Michelle Jones, is at the Man in the Sea Museum, 17314 Panama City Beach Parkway;

“Sea-renity,” a dolphin by Amanda Hunt and students at her Bay High School art class, is at the St. Joe Corporate Office, 130 Richard Jackson Blvd.

Mayor Sheldon told the audience at the sculpture unveiling that the art program is not done. “We want to continue this program,” he said.

The city plans to announce it will be accepting applications from citizens for a third round of SeeLife public art later this year, city spokeswoman Ingram said.

July 11, 2023
Working Together to Raise Red Flag Awareness

By Sheriff Tommy Ford

I’m beyond frustrated at the situation that we have with tragic and unnecessary deaths in the Gulf. I have watched deputies, firefighters, and lifeguards risk their lives to save strangers. I have seen strangers die trying to save their children and loved ones, including two fathers on Father’s Day.

These same heroes, who have risked it all to save others, have been cursed and given the finger while trying to warn visitors of the life-threatening dangers. We have used the tools provided by the county commission to fine violators $500 for entering the water on double red flags. We don’t have the resources or time to cite every single person that enters the water, but we do our absolute best to use it as a deterrent to keep them from entering the water. An arrest is only authorized upon a second offense unless the individual resists law enforcement.

We have been diligently working with the TDC, Commissioners, and other partners to continually improve our response capabilities and messaging to make sure everyone knows the flag conditions. Yet, people are still dying.

Government and law enforcement can only do so much in these situations. Personal responsibility is the only way to ensure that no one else dies. Please make the effort to know the beach flag status and stay completely out of the water during double red flags.
I’m so proud of the men and women of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies that are giving their absolute best to save lives. Please be responsible and don’t put your life or theirs in danger.

July 11, 2023