My Perdido

Perdido Key Oktoberfest

The Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for our 2nd Annual Perdido Key Oktoberfest, Saturday, October 1st. This year's festival will be held at the Oyster Bar here in Perdido Key, 13700 River Rd. 

The festivities will start at 2pm and last till 6pm.  

 The festival will feature German food, beer sampling, and a Live Oompah Band! This year enjoy our first ever Beer Garden – if you're not interested in sampling this is the way to go.  There will be prizes given away for the “Best Dressed” Oktoberfest costume. 

Recycling company promises jobs, $5 million economic jolt

Stainless steel scrap recycler Cronimet Corp. plans to locate a facility at the Pensacola Shipyard, creating 15 manufacturing and administrative jobs over the next two to three years.

 Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Hizer and chamber Chairman Collier Merrill made the announcement on Thursday.

Cronimet, based in Rochester, Pa., will locate at 800 Myrick Street, off Navy Boulevard and fronting Bayou Chico. The company has 10 other processing facilities. This is the first in Florida.

Founded in 1997, the company recovers and reprocesses stainless steel and high-grade alloys for manufacturers through the U.S. and abroad.

Hizer said most of the company's production work is outdoors, but it plans to construct a 1,300-square-foot modular office. It plans to begin work here in November.

The landing of Cronimet a "is another step in reaching the goals of our Vision 2015 initiative," said Lewis Bear, the chamber's vice chair for economic development.

The Vision 2015 campaign raised more than $8 million from private and public sector donors, pledged over a five-year period. The goal is to create 3,000 jobs paying in excess of $38,000 a year over the next five years.

Hizer said the Cronimet jobs pay "substantially more" than that $38,000 though he wasn't at liberty to say how much. He anticipates the company's capital investment and new jobs to create a $5 million local impact over the next five years.

"The chamber showed its commitment to job creation through its initial discussion with us and the continued recruitment of Cronimet after our initial discussion," said Cronimet CEO and President Frank Santoro. "As a result of these discussions, we felt that the Pensacola area would be a great long-term strategic fit for the company."

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward said Cronimet joins the growing ranks of companies who see Pensacola as a good place to do business.

"From high-tech companies, to defense contractors to now, a high-end stainless steel and aerospace metals recycler, Pensacola is quickly becoming the place to be for business," he said.

In addition to Rochester, other facilities are located in Aliquippa, Pa.; Chicago; Decatur, Ala.; Houston; Jeffersonville, Ind.; Linden, N.J.; Columbus, Ohio; Los Angeles; and Montclair, Calif.

Cronimet USA Corporation

-Article Courtesy of Carlton Proctor

Perdido Key Sanitation

Not a Sexy Headline but Important Info For the Key

From the PNJ:

A sewer expansion project is set to start next month for Emerald Coast Utilities Authority customers along Perdido Key Drive.

The project, with a budget of $1.4 million, will allow ECUA to provide gravity wastewater service to 50 additional properties on Perdido Key, including several condominiums.

The project encompasses about 7,200 feet of gravity sewer, beginning at the eastern boundary of Perdido Key State Park, eastward on Perdido Key Drive to the Ocean Breeze East Condominiums.

The planned sewer line will allow for the elimination of three existing ECUA sewer lift stations, and five privately maintained lift stations, which the ECUA says will mean future savings in operating and maintenance costs.

The project is being funded out of the ECUA’s 2011 capital improvement program budget.

The Perdido Key Drive sewer expansion project was delayed to avoid beginning construction until after Labor Day.

The ECUA’s contractor is required in its contract to complete the project within 180 days, which is expected to allow the work to be substantially complete by the 2012 Spring Break season.

 

PERDIDO KEY BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT, Aug. 19-21st, 2011

Beach Volleyball action is coming to the sugar white sands of Perdido Key, behind the legendary FloraBama! Featuring men's, women's, coed, and recreational divisions and a total purse of more than $2,000.00!!!
Friday night: 8-19, Check In Party at the Purple Parrot 7:30pm 

Saturday 8-20, Men's and women's divisions begin at 9:00am; Players party at FloraBama at 7:30pm                                                

Sunday 8-21, Co-ed and recreational divisions begin at 9:00am

Register online at:  perdidobeachvolleyball.com  or call the Perdido Key Chamber at 850-492-4660

 

 

 

3rd Annual Perdido Key Beach Volleyball Tournament

 

August 20-21, 2011

The Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce & VIC ask that you please mark your calendars for the 3rd Annual Perdido Key Beach Volleyball Tournament.  This year's tournament will be held August 20th - 21st. There will be a kick off party on Friday night, August 19th! Location and details to be added.

It will still be held on the beautiful white sand beaches behind the world-famous Flora-Bama!  Please help us spread the word!! We are gearing up and getting very excited for this event. More details to come!(850) 492-4660

Six Sea Turtle Nest Found on Beaches

We are one month into the turtle nesting season and there have already been three nests located in Gulf Islands National Seashore here in Perdido Key.  There have also been three other nests found at Fort Pickens on Pensacola Beach.

One of the nest is the endangered Kemp's Ridley and the others are Loggerheads. The peak nesting and hatching season runs from May 1st to the end of October.

How can you help?

• Boaters should always watch the Gulf and bays for Sea Turtles.
• Don't throw plastics or trash in water or on the beach.
• Beach residents are required to use turtle-friendly lights. Other residents and businesses are encouraged to switch to low-pressure sodium lights. For details contact Mark Nicholas at  (850) 934-2600.
• If you find an injured Sea Turtle or Sea Turtle nest call the Gulf Breeze Police Department (850) 916-3010.
• Remember that Sea Turtles are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Report any dead or disoriented Sea Turtles to the Wildlife Alert Hotline at (888) 404-3922

-Courtesy of The Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce

 

Blue Angels Pensacola Beach Show

Our beloved Blues put on a demonstration like no other. 

I hope you will stay on Perdido and avoid all the crowds and hoopla associated with the event so you get the best of both worlds, but definitely put it in your plans to go early and enjoy the Blue Angels flight show performed over the sugar white sands and blue surf of Pensacola Beach. 

Here is a little known secret about Thursday.  You can see the whole show today, Thursday at 2 PM, minus the additional flybys and associated aviation demonstrations by other guest performers that precede the Blues on Friday and Saturday.  If you want to see the heart pumping thrilling show and avoid the early arrival time required for a Friday or Saturday show go today.  If not, here is what you can see either tomorrow or Saturday.

» Noon: Scheduled to appear: A Grumman Widgeon G-44 flown by Pensacola's Julian MacQueen, a Prometheus flown by Pensacola's Skip Stewart, an MX2 flown by Gary Ward and a Boeing Stearman A75N1 flown by Pensacola's Roy Kinsey. Also flying is Fat Albert, the Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules aircraft.

» 2 p.m.: The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets

Groundbreaking for Southwest Sportsplex

Escambia County is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the Southwest Sportsplex on tomorrow,  Tuesday, June 28 at 2 p.m. Attendees are asked to park at Jim Bailey Middle School, 4110 Bauer Road. Transportation will be provided to the ceremony.                The sportsplex will sit on approximately 200 acres on Bauer Road and will house multiple lighted baseball, softball, soccer and football fields, an open play area, walking trails, playground, covered pavilions and ample parking. 

The total cost of the project, athletic fields, pavilions and playground is anticipated to be $8.8 million and will be funded by the Local Option Sales Tax.

Attendees should dress appropriately for weather and worksite conditions.  Short sleeves are recommended.  Please no heels or sandals.  

For more information or to RSVP, contact the Office of Public Information and Communication at (850) 595-3476.

Perdido Chamber Business Lunch

The Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce will present its monthly Business Chamber Luncheon at noon Thursday at the Perdido Bay Community Center, 13660 Innerarity Point Road.

Each month features a guest speaker and this month the chamber has invited Melinda Crawford, airport director of the Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. She will provide an update on the airport expansion project.

Crawford was appointed to the position in December of 2009. She has previously served as the Airport’s assistant director for finance.

The luncheon is open to chamber members and non-members. Chamber board members will be on hand. Those who wish to attend must RSVP with the names of the attendees to the by the end of today. Cost: $5 per person. Details: (850) 492-4660

"Lost" Golf Balls at Lost Key

I am reprinting an article close to my heart written by The Accidental Golfer Mike Bailey

PERDIDO KEY, Fla. – Nobody likes losing golf balls, but at Lost Key Golf Club on the Gulf Coast near the Alabama-Florida border, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing that when they are retrieved, they are going to a good cause.

As it turns out, when golf balls are harvested from the wetlands and native areas of this testy Arnold Palmer design, they’re not resold to you in the golf shop or some other retail outlet; they’re shipped  over to Afghanistan where somebody else can take out their frustrations on them. In this case, we’re talking about U.S. soldiers, who face the stress of a hostile war environment and experience the natural longing for the things they miss at home.

The course has been donating recovered golf balls for a couple of years or so now, ever since the Lost Key folks saw a Golf Channel report about how a military chaplain in Iraq started a stress relief program for the troops by letting them hit golf balls into an open field. The trouble is, however, that retrieving balls in a war zone isn’t exactly safe, so they constantly need a fresh supply of pellets.

Now that effort has moved to Afghanistan, where soldiers pay $1 for a bucket of balls. That money is then donated to sponsor a local school.

And let me tell you: Lost Key, which is located near a Navy base, can sure gobble up some golf balls, especially if the wind is blowing. If you’re not on your game, and if you’re not thinking your way around this golf course, you’ll be going through your bag in a hurry while refilling the supply overseas.

Initial efforts yielded some 3,000 golf balls as well as clubs and other golf equipment, and the number continues to climb. They got a half dozen of mine today, though only one sleeve of Pro V1s. After that, I resorted to balls more suited for a driving range.