Letters to the Editor
Walton Sun
Mapping out the 30A franchise
Hooray! I’ve found a new way to save gas money. Rather than drive all the way to Panama City or Destin to see garish, tacky and obnoxious tourist signs, I can now drive down beautiful County Road 30A and see a whole bunch of them.
They are every couple of miles and they are big and blue. You can’t miss them.
Although all of them seem a little too tall, some of them are even taller. I’ll bet places like Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, WaterColor, WaterSound, Seaside and Grayton Beach, who have always gone for more low-keyed, tasteful and classy kind of signage (that seemed to fi t in with the natural environment), are kicking themselves in the rear for not coming up with such great BIG BRIGHT BLUE SIGNS.
It must be heartwarming for them to know, after all that trouble designing and defining themselves as destinations unique and distinguished from all others, they are now just another franchise of the TDC. Just like Burger King!
Of course, you have to remember that the tourists who come to South Walton are inherently stupid. They have no idea where they are.
Their rental agency or Mapquest got them here, and by God, how are they going to get to their condos unless they have big blue signs to tell them where they are. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to know that you are near Grayton Beach (which, by the way, has the tallest sign) and not in Blue Mountain, even though you are nearly five miles from Grayton.
I think if we can just install more of these signs, we should be able to lower the intelligence level of our tourists so that they have no idea whether they are in South Walton or Panama City Beach or Daytona Beach.
If not, the immense shade that these big blue signs produce will possibly help solve global warming.
In short, why doesn’t our county government ask us what we might like to see (or not see) along our beautiful highway?
Garrett Horn
Seagrove Beach
I am so confused
My mailing address says I live in Panama City Beach but I don’t live in Bay County.
I thought I always lived in Seacrest since that was what the sign said along 30A.
Now that the old sign has been replaced with a new one that says, “Welcome to Seacrest Beach,” would the TDC and the county please tell me which one?
The only Seacrest Beach I know of along 30A is the resort near High Point with the tall white chairs at the entrance, but I don’t live there. I live in Seacrest.
Also, notice the two signs on the east end of 30A that are across from one another that point you to Seacrest Beach but each sign points you in the opposite direction?
But, what I really want to know is what did they do with Seacrest?
Yep, just what we need along 30A, more signs to confuse travelers and slow down traffic along 30A. Hey, those signs confused me and I live here. I’m still looking for Seacrest.
I was talking to a neighbor about our new sign just the other day and she wanted to know how they could just come in and change the name of our community like that. I told her they just did.
I will let others comment on the appearance of those signs. They are well suited for Pier Park but not here.
Pauline Sutcliffe
Seacrest (yes, just
Seacrest)
The passing of Dear Old 30A
The new 30A road signs are up. I‘m sure the TDC paid a lot for the signs, but they look so out of place, over designed and Disneyesque.
Yes, the old sand carved wooden signs were deteriorating. But, to me, those signs represented a wonderful period for 30A that 90 percent of today’s visitors never experienced: when 30A in South Walton was a sleepy, authentic beach retreat.
My strongest objection is the bright blue color. That color is OK for the beach; but there is a reason carefully planned developments on 30A use earth tones in their signage.
Do you wonder why Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach opted out of allowing the signs?
Decades of effort by South Walton residents have spared the native ecosystems we boast about today. That bright blue color is not consistent with 30A’s personality. If the purpose is to ensure the signs are noticed, the familiar red and white umbrella logo would have suffi ced.
I hope the TDC will, at least, repaint the signs a more aesthetic color.
Hordes of tourists have discovered our area, but I mourn the passing of our dear old beach road 30A. It is now offi cially (Scenic) Highway 30A, the tourist route.
Rob Koehnemann
Seagrove