First Lady Michelle Obama arrived at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport earlier this afternoon where she was met by elected officials and business leaders at the Panama City Beach Welcome Center, Convention and Visitors bureau.
She used the opportunity to make a public pitch, urging would-be tourists to head to Gulf Coast beach-side towns like Panama City Beach, that have not been hit with the barrage of tarballs seen to the west in areas like Pensacola.
“There are still thousands of miles of beaches not touched by the spill,” Obama said, before noting that she flew into the newly opened Northwest Florida Beaches Airport in Panama City.
“There are still opportunities to experience these beautiful beaches,” she added.
The First Lady was joined by Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change and Julie Walden, Deputy Director of Business, for the U.S Department of Commerce.
On Mrs. Obama’s agenda was a round table discussion which included a mix of local elected officials and business leaders. Among those included in the discussion were Panama City Mayor Scott Clemons, Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst and William Dozier, chairman of the Bay County Board of Commissioners.
During the roundtable Yonnie Patronis, who runs Captain Anderson’s Restaurant spoke about the consequences of BP scooping up local fisherman for clean-up efforts.
Patronis said he took oysters off the seafood restaurant’s menu, not because they weren’t available but because “all the oystermen are working for BP”, leaving little men out there to scrape the oysters from nearby Apalachicola Bay.
“It just hurts the big picture,” said Patronis, whose family has run the local restaurant since 1953.
He followed up by handing Obama a copy of his restaurant’s cookbook.
Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst said she worried about the economic ramifications that would come a year down the line, noting the area had to find other ways to diversify its tourist dependent economy.
“We bill ourselves as the world’s most beautiful beaches,” Oberst said. “But if a person can’t come enjoy the beaches or own a second home, we have to find something for them to do.”
Oberst added: “Listen we’re going to see some tough times when the sand is not white and the water is not green anymore.”
“The message today is looking forward,” said Dan Rowe, with the Bay County Tourist Development Council. “To look at the Gulf Coast region and say how do we build a strong economy.”
Other attendees included local business owners like Lonnie Andrews, owner of Smoke N Butts Barbeque; Philip Griffits, Jr., Sugar Sands Beach Resort; Gary Walsingham, with Ripley’s Believe it or Not, a popular tourist attraction; Lisa Walters with Burke and Blue; Mike Bennett and Dan Rowe with the Bay County Tourist Development Council, and Chris Thompson, CEO of Visit Florida which runs the state’s tourism campaign.
Laura Figueroa, Miami Herald Staff Writer/Pool Report
