Sunshine Matters

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Florida Department of State and VISIT FLORIDA celebrated Victory Florida Week last week.  Victory Florida honors the heroes and heroines of World War II while educating Floridians about the important role Florida played in training for the battlefield and on the home front during the war.

As part of Victory Florida Week, the Department of State and VISIT FLORIDA highlighted the many contributions that Florida citizens made at home and abroad during the war.  Throughout the state, residents and visitors can enjoy some of the hundreds of destinations – museums, parks, airfields, libraries and more – that make up the Florida World War II Heritage Trail.

To help promote Victory Florida Week, VISIT FLORIDA took a multi-channel approach, sharing content through public relations efforts, VISITFLORIDA.com and our various social media platforms.  A Victory Florida b-roll package was made available to the media which features footage from locations throughout the Florida World War II Heritage Trail.  The clips include visuals from the Armed Forces History Museum in St. Petersburg, Fort Pierce Inlet State Park, Ponce De Leon Springs Inlet Lighthouse and Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park.

In addition, the WWII Heritage Trail received homepage real estate on our consumer website, VISITFLORIDA.com, which linked to a landing page with 11 original content pieces covering topics from Military History in Florida to the Camp Blanding Museum in Clay County to Paying Respect at Florida National Cemetery.  Throughout the week, VISIT FLORIDA also published more than 30 #VictoryFL posts across multiple social media platforms.

Important Florida World War II Heritage dates include:

• August 8-16 – Victory Florida Week
• August 14-16 – National Spirit of ’45 Commemoration
• September 2 – Official Ending of World War II
• September 18 – POW/MIA Recognition Day
• November 11 – Veteran’s Day

For more information and content about Victory Florida and Florida World War II Heritage, visit the Victory Florida landing pages on VivaFlorida.org and on VISITFLORIDA.com. Click here to view an example of media coverage.