Day One

Well, one thing's for sure... our volunteers won't get bored.

And here are a few of them getting ready to Keep The Beach Clean!

Welcome to Panama City Beach, Spring Break 2008!

Panama City Beach will host over 50 college students this Spring Break who are volunteering to remove trash from the beaches of Bay county. The first group of students will arrive March 8, and clean the beaches through March 22. One group will come in the first weekend in April to do a final cleanup.

Four major universities, through the coordination of Break Away, will send students to spend their alternative spring breaks on the white sands of the World's Most Beautiful Beaches. Instead of partying, these alternative breakers will be picking up litter, measuring the amount of trash and educating the community and their fellow college students about the importance of keeping the beach clean.

The four participating universities are Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, Louisiana State University and Florida State University. (FSU is still in the process of getting approval, but we're pretty sure they're coming.)

The corporate sponsor who will house and feed the students is Royal American Hospitality, a resort and hotel management company. The Surfrider Foundation will provide educational materials.

Thousands of college students arrive every year to play at the most popular U.S. Spring Break destination, but many spring breakers have proven to leave their scruples back home and choose to trash the beach (along with their brain cells and reputations). This first annual "Keep The Beach Clean Spring Break 2008" will introduce a new way of thinking for the average spring breaker. In addition to helping clean up the spring break trash problem, it is also intended to clean up the image that these college students leave on the community each year.

For more information, please contact Kirk Lancaster at 404-429-5386, or info@KeepTheBeachClean.com

Goals of the program:

1. Educate student volunteers about the importance of fighting beach and ocean/gulf pollution.
2. Have the student volunteers spread the information they learn.
3. Inspire the traditional spring breaker not to leave trash on the beaches.
4. Prove to the community / world that many college students care about their communities and environment.
5. Prove to the "anti-spring break" citizens of Bay County that they can quit complaining and actually do something about the problems that certain tourist segments bring to our beautiful beaches.

Program Points:

1. Students will be cleaning the beaches Monday through Friday, March 8 - 22. One last group will come in the weekend of April 4-6 to do a final spring break cleanup and trash analysis.
2. KeepTheBeachClean.com is the organizing sponsor.
3. Royal American Hospitality is the corporate sponsor.
4. Surfrider Foundation is providing educational support.
5. Break Away (http://www.alternativebreaks.org/) is the coordinating sponsor

Thanks to PanamaCityBeach.com for helping us spread the word to students.

Spring Break Cleanliness

Spring Break is a big issue around here, and for a good reason. There is money to be made, but many of the breakers give the area a bad reputation. The media and mass public feed on the crimes and inconsideration of others, and our students give them plenty to feed on.

It has been said by many that the bad stuff is isolated, and the shows such as Court TV's "Ocean Force" had difficulty finding juicy sins in 2007. But you can't hide from the fact that they completely TRASH the beach.

We might not be able to control their actions, but thanks to a college-serving non-profit called Break Away, we will be getting at least 50 college students from Appalachian State, East Carolina and Florida State universities to do nothing but pick up trash and help spread the word of keeping the beach clean.

We have the main sponsor on board, but I have some really neat ideas about how other sponsors could jump in, help keep the beach clean, and meet some new potential customers in the process. Please email info@KeepTheBeachClean.com with your contact info, and I'll email to set up an appointment.

With my own ears...

At a TDC Bed Tax Committee meeting, I heard the Mayor of Panama City Beach, Ms. Gayle Oberst and County Commission Chairman Mike Nelson say that the dirty beaches (and lack of lifeguards) were at the top of the list of complaints their offices received. TDC Chairman Andy Phillips said he is on the beach often, and admits that there is a trash problem.

These are three very important leaders in the tourism industry, so it was good to hear it with my ears instead of just seeing it with my eyes (and camera).

BIG changes are needed in the philosophy and processes of how Bay County TOURIST TAX DOLLARS are spent to Keep the Beach Clean! What kind of big changes?

WARNING: SOMETHING YOU'VE HEARD FROM ME OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND WILL HEAR FROM ME OVER AND OVER AGAIN IS ABOUT TO BE WRITTEN:

1. strictly enforce litter laws

2. get people on the beach instead of machines to clean it up

3. provide trash bags at public beach accesses and hotels / condos

If you disagree with this, please send me an email and let me know why... Kirk@KirkLancaster.com

Keep the Beach Fun!

Congratulations to Bay Families with Dogs and the PCB City Council for designating a dog-friendly area of the beach. It will be just west of the Dan Russell City Pier (across from the new Pier Park!)

My wife and our dogs will choose that spot regularly from now on! I encourage all other dog-lovers to help KEEP THE DOG BEACH THE CLEANEST IN BAY COUNTY!

(our girl Pixie!)

Summer's Over

In the second season of trying to clean up the beaches, I made some progress by being appointed to a Tourist Development Council marketing committee, which has given me an opportunity to understand the marketing of Bay County's Beaches. Everything is going to take some time, and I am not going to stop pushing the effort to make the beaches cleaner and safer.

Please join the effort by submitting your email address. You will not get spammed.

(Enter your email in the right side of page where it says *** Subscribing Means Staying Informed ***)

The photo above was not staged. Just a good ol' can of Bud left on a public walkway, overlooking God's beautiful beaches and man's overturned trash cans.

Thank you, Patty!

Since comments are not easy to see in this Blogger interface (maybe I haven't figured it out), I will gladly print this comment from a recent visitor to our beaches:
------------
(From Peggy:)

I am 100% behind the efforts to keep Panama City Beach clean!! We just returned from a week's vacation at The Summit. Everything was wonderful until we hit the beach. Since there were lots of people on the beach, we really didn't notice the trash. However, once we got into the water, we were amazed to find several beer cans and beer bottles floating in the surf. At first we just assumed it was probably just 1 or 2 people who had been in the water drinking and just got lazy with their trash. However, we were utterly shocked at what we saw during an early morning trip to the beach.

Trash was everywhere -- mounds of beer cans and miscellaneous trash strewn everywhere. Items such as pop cans, food wrappers, sandals, towels, children's toys, and even a tent were literally covering the beach. I kept thinking that the condo must send out crews in the morning to pick the trash up but in the hour and a half that I was out there, no one every showed. My son and I took on the rather large task ourselves, filling approximately 2-3 of the blue trash cans (I KID YOU NOT!). It took us well over an hour but it looked great (and we felt great) when it was done! If there are crews that do clean those beaches and it was just a matter of timing, I'm sure they were pretty pleased to see their work was all done!

Prior to this vacation, we were so excited because we had heard how wonderful Panama City Beaches are and how they were rated as the most beautiful. The beaches are beautiful, when they are clean! To be honest, I came across this website while investigating cleaner beaches for our next vacation. I couldn't believe that THESE were the same beaches which were given such a high rating. Please do what you can to get people involved. It really doesn't take that much time and it is SO worth the effort.

If a couple lowly vacationers can take an hour out of our limited vacation time to do some much needed cleaning, surely neighbors to the beach would also be willing. Your beaches are beautiful and I would love to come back again! P.S. If we do come again, my family and I will definitely do our part!
August 7, 2007 3:05 PM

------

P.S. Patty, if you see this, will you please let me know where your family lives? We'd love you to come see us again!