Sunshine Matters

Me and Ed Schroeder at Mile Marker 25 in Pensacola Beach

I am delighted to announce that more than 3,700 Florida volunteers in 34 coastal counties covered the Sunshine State’s 825 miles of beaches Saturday in a celebratory event documenting – in more than five thousand real-time photos – the great conditions of Florida’s sandy shores.

The Great VISIT FLORIDA Beach Walk may well have been the world’s biggest beach rally and photo fest. Volunteers from elementary school students to realtors and from dog-walkers to kayakers spent Saturday morning walking at least one beach mile and uploading real-time photos of what they saw. The 5,200+ images show beautiful beaches, glorious sunrises, healthy wildlife, and beach-lovers having a great time.

I’m gratified by this great response from fellow Floridians who wanted to get out and show the beauty of this paradise that we enjoy every day – 825 miles of beaches that are clean, clear, open for business and as amazing as ever.

I am also incredibly grateful to all the wonderful folks at Volunteer Florida who really stepped up in a big way in all 34 coastal counties to coordinate the thousands of folks who came out to participate.  There is no way this event would have been possible without their hard work and dedication.

“We are elated and awed by this tremendous outpouring of support by Florida volunteers who photographed our great beaches,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of Volunteer Florida. “They came out by the thousands and proved to the world how much they love this state.  The photo gallery they created proves that our beaches are as gorgeous as ever, and we can’t thank them enough for what they did today.”

The Florida Lottery and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association also partnered with VISIT FLORIDA to help promote the Beach Walk and I sincerely appreciate their support as well.

Some examples of Saturday’s Beach Walk festivities included a seaside wedding in Pensacola Beach, creation of masterful sand sculptures in several sites, beach parties and concerts, a beachside pig roast, kite-flying and special discounts at many beach businesses for the beach walkers.  The volunteers in this grassroots project in support of Florida tourism included realtors walking with their dogs on pet-friendly beaches in Duval County, K-8 students in Escambia and Broward counties, kayakers at the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival in southwest Florida, surfers at the Tommy Tant Memorial Surf Classic in Flagler County, local firefighters in Martin County, women in tourism in Pinellas County,  officers’ wives at Mayport Naval Station and wildlife conservationists around the state.

The collective online photo gallery is viewable at www.VISITFLORIDA.com/BeachWalk. Through December 6, viewers can vote on their favorite of the 825 beach miles and be entered into a sweepstakes for a Mazda Miata and $5,000 gift card.

To view video from the Beach Walk, visit this ftp site: ftp://visitfloridaftp.com/.  Enter bwdownload as the user name and download1* as the password.  You can also check out the Twitter fountain at #BeachWalk.