Where is the Emerald Coast?

We don't need it. We are SoWal.

:cool:

I thought that the beaches along 30A are part of the Emerald Coast. :idontno:

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Where is the Emerald Coast?...I think it is part of THE Beach. Wonder where the "Gateway of the Emerald Coast" will be? ........ oh well - to each, their own. ..😀

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You mean we could have just grabbed "The Emerald Coast" before Okiloosa did, instead of that catchy name we go by (which I can't quite remember)?

Duh, Okaloosa. The reason you find Emerald Coast used from Pensacola and all across Northwest Florida is it was being broadly used across Northwest Florida before Okaloosa tried to corner the market. Sorry Okaloosa guys, you don't own Emerald Coast and never will. Just because it is all you know since you showed up or started trying to play the branding game, doesn't mean you "own" the name. Look at old threads here on SoWal. This was discussed in detail years ago. By the way, welcome to SoWal, the jewel of the Emerald Coast.

I thought that the beaches along 30A are part of the Emerald Coast. :idontno:

They are. You should see our Emerald Coast Middle School at Pt. Washington in SoWal.

Okaloosa Island is actually Santa Rosa Island. Okaloosa County wasn't even formed until 1915. Look at most maps from the 1600s on and you'll see that island as Santa Rosa Island. What will Okaloosa try to rename next. Heck, lets just change Florida to Emerald Coast, Okaloosa.

Kudos to Okaloosa for trying to maximize the impact of an already great name. South Walton TDC should take notes as the dismal "The Beach" and I can't even remember the current lame moniker have been uninspiring and a waste of money at the best.

Looks like the Okaloosa TDC has already "claimed" rights in wikipedia....:sarc:


The Emerald Coast is an area in the US state of Florida on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico which encompasses Okaloosa County that has cities such as Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Mary Esther and Cinco Bayou.
It had previously been dubbed the "Playground Area of the Gulfcoast" from the 1940s through the 1980s, as witnessed by the name of the Fort Walton, Florida, later Fort Walton Beach, Florida (from 1953) newspaper, the Playground News, later the Playground Daily News, now the Northwest Florida Daily News. Another unofficial term is the "Redneck Riviera," which also is sometimes considered to stretch to Gulf Shores, Alabama.[1]

Okaloosa Island can call it anything they want. All we have to do is walk out to our walkover and look at the beautiful emerald water and we know where we are. No need to tell us and I don't care if anyone else knows it or not. We do, and that is what counts.

With over 3.1 million hits for "Emerald Coast" on google, I wish Okaloosa County good luck on trying to real in that beast.

Arkie, don't stop at the first paragraph from W. Here is the map they show, which includes Pensacola to Appalachicola.


Popular vacation destinations include Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, WaterColor, Panama City Beach, Destin, and Seaside, a planned community whose iconic pastel-paint and tin-roof construction was made famous in the Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show, filmed in the area from 1996-1997. Other communities on the Emerald Coast include Perdido Key, Navarre, Sandestin, Mexico Beach, Grayton Beach, Inlet Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, and Seagrove. Approximately 80% of the Emerald Coast's 4.5 million yearly visitors go to Destin, FL.
The area is known[by whom?] as a family drive destination, although in the past decade, its popularity has expanded greatly, leading to new construction booms and seemingly overnight changes. Many development communities similar to Seaside have sprung up in Walton County and the west end of Panama City Beach, raising property values....


This roughly 100-mile stretch is home to several military bases, with installations including Pensacola Naval Air Station (home of the Navy's Blue Angels flying squadron and the initial training site for all naval aviators), Hurlburt Field, Eglin Air Force Base (one of the largest military bases in America), Tyndall Air Force Base (home to the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets), Coastal Systems Station-Naval Surface Warfare Center (home to the Navy Experimental Diving Unit and Naval Diving & Salvage Training Center), and Corry Station Naval Technical Training Center.


Emerald Coast in popular culture

In addition to The Truman Show mentioned above, filming of scenes for Jaws 2 took place in the region. Interiors for the youth's pinball hang-out were filmed in Fort Walton Beach at the now-razed original location of Hog's Breath Saloon on Okaloosa Island, and Bruce the Shark's control sled was placed on the bottom of the Gulf off Navarre.
Redneck Riviera is also the title of a song by Tom T. Hall about this region (from his 1996 album Songs from Sopchoppy). Lyrics include:
Gulf Shores up through ApalachicolaThey got beaches of the whitest sandNobody cares if gramma's got a tattooOr Bubba's got a hot wing in his hand The first level in the Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure is named Emerald Coast.

wikipedia can change from minute to minute.

According to our alumni club's territory claims, the Emerald Coast goes from east of Pensacola to west of Panama City and we don't "rebrand" or give up territory for nobody~!

If they're going claim "Emerald Coast," I say we stake a claim to "Redneck Riviera." But we'd better be quick. With all the competing TDCs and chamber of commerces, the loser in this high-stakes branding game is going to get stuck with something generic ... like "The Beach."

Redneck Riviera by Tom T. Hall

Down here on the Redneck Riviera a drinkin' beer and singing country songs
Chillin' with the motel door wide open hopin' somethin' good will come along
Gulf Shores up through Apalachi-cola they got beaches of the whitest sand
Nobody cares if gramma's got a tottoo or Bubba's got a hot wing in his hand
Redneck Riviera is where I wanna be down here on the Redneck Riviera by the sea

Down here on the Redneck Riviera trawlin' up and down Mir-a-cle Mile
Smoothin' out my tan and disposition and wearin' little other than a smile
On Highway 98 I got a ticket something I ain't never understood
If driving a convertible is topless why can't I ride my Harley in the nude
Down here on the Redneck Riviera sign says Smoking Mullet Here Today
I really don't know what I'm gettin' into but I'm in line to try some anyway
Redneck Riviera is where I wanna be down here on the Redneck Riviera by the sea

I got seven dollars for the jukebox twenty more left over for some beer
Down here on the Redneck Riviera there ain't no better living anywhere
Now here comes them dreadful possums
(Down here on the Redneck Riviera down here on the Redneck Riviera
(Down here on the Redneck Riviera down here on the Redneck Riviera
(Down here on the Redneck Riviera down here on the Redneck Riviera
(Down here on the Redneck Riviera down here on the Redneck Riviera
(Down here on the Redneck Riviera down here on the Redneck Riviera)

http://new.music.yahoo.com/tom-t-hall/albums/songs-from-sopchoppy--4905

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/opinion/owns-41394-coast-don.html

EDITORIAL: Who owns 'Emerald Coast'?






You don’t have to agree with Ted Corcoran to admire his willingness to take up a fight that has left everyone else beaten and discouraged. The president and CEO of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce is arguing that the “Emerald Coast” label should apply only to southern Okaloosa County.
“The goal here,” he said last week, “is for Okaloosa County to own the Emerald Coast.”


Officials in Fort Walton Beach and other south-county municipalities have passed resolutions in support. The county and its cities are being urged to use a new Emerald Coast logo on their websites. There’s even talk of adding the name “Emerald Coast” to signs at the county line.


Trouble is, all of these efforts ignore history.


Junior high school student Andrew Dier coined the name “Emerald Coast” for a 1983 contest. He won $50 for his trouble.


At the beginning, the label was meant to apply to Okaloosa and Walton counties. It was expanded in 1984 to include Navarre and Navarre Beach. By 1998, when the Daily News’ Lee Forst wrote a brief history of Emerald Coast promotions, its use was much looser. “I guess it’s caught on that the Emerald Coast is from Pensacola to Panama City,” said an official with the South Santa Rosa Tourism Development Council.


Sure, local boosters tried to restrict the “Emerald Coast” brand. They tried to limit the name’s use to businesses that were TDC or chamber members. They failed.


“For a while, we attempted to control the name from a business standpoint,” Gary Alden, founding president of Okaloosa’s TDC, said for our 1998 story. But “we had to include everybody because our white sands go a long way.”


A later TDC honcho, Darrel Jones, said lawyers had advised him that limiting “Emerald Coast” would be impossible because “it’s too generic a term.”


It’s also too popular a term. Tourism boosters across Northwest Florida use it because it’s exotic and evocative.


Now Mr. Corcoran and the TDC want to take an ever-expanding Emerald Coast and shrink it to the size of Okaloosa’s beaches. They have their work cut out for them.

I have always loved the sound of "The Emerald Coast". Who uses it in any official capacity these days? It is a wonderful name and brand and should be used by someone. Whoever gets the use of it for their beach is quite lucky, imo!

I think whoever wants to use it can. I've had my fill of idiots trademarking common phrases - like "the beach".

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Just looking at the bottom of some of this site's pages when "Emerald Coast" is mentioned in a thread title yield these thread titles:

Emerald Coast Journal
Emerald Coast Middle School
Association of Emerald Coast Condo Associations
Emerald Coast Association of Realtors
2008 Emerald Coast Bayou Bengals Kickoff Party
ZO Magazine - Women Celebrating Life on the Emerald Coast
LSU Emerald Coast Bayou Bengals Crawfish Boil
Emerald Coast Periodontics
Emerald Coast Sunset Pilsener or Emerald Coast 30-A Pale Ale
Emerald Coast Fit Camps
Emerald Coast Audio

and a thread from 2009 started by DuneLaker:

List of Emerald Coast Place Names
We are so fortunate to live here along the Emerald Coast -- stretching from Cola to Cola (Pensacola to Apalachicola, Florida). Recently, some have mistaken that this Emerald Coast designation only goes with one county. List some of your favorite places, schools, businesses, roads, etc. along the Emerald Coast that use the name or just places you've discovered on your travels over the years. List name and county, if you know it. You should have a few. There are over a million place names for Emerald Coast!!!

Florida's Emerald Coast shares its name with another beautiful Gulf Coast beach area, The Costa Esmeralda. This is a stretch of beach from Veracruz to near Tecolutla, Mexico.

1. Emerald Coast Middle School, South Walton, Walton County
2. Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast, Miramar Beach, Walton Co.
3. Emerald Coast RV Beach Resort, Panama City Beach, Bay County
4. Emerald Coast Club Blvd., Bay County

http://www.sowal.com/bb/showthread.php/35595-List-of-Emerald-Coast-Place-Names

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