“You’re So SoWal If…” Presenting Our 2013 Winners

A special thank you to our esteemed panel of judges, who are So SoWal: 
Rebecca Sullivan Balkcom – Bountiful Creative
Kerri Price – doGooD Marketing
Martin Ireland – Area Director, Wineworld
Darcy J. Pentel – Proprietor of Sirens at the Beach
David DeGregorio – Director of the Central Idea Agency
& of course – the SoWal Staff!
 

Our 2013 Overall Winner … your bike has a sticker that says “my other car is a kayak”. – Connie S.

First Runner Up … you’re more afraid of yellow flies than sharks.
– David Hopkins

Second Runner Up … you’ve used the Truman show to describe your area.
– Nikhil Abuvala
 

All the finalists for 2013, You’re so SoWal if…

• You keep an emergency beach bag in your car just in case you get off work early. – Peyton Cook
• Your kids trick or treat with a Vera Bradley Bag. – Jennifer Williams
• you refer to Destin as “West SoWal”.   – Nancy Miller
• Sequins on your flip flops is considered “dressed up”. – Chase
• your truck has an inch or more of sand on the floor and you like it thay way! – keith wright
• You haven’t been past 30a – east or west – in 10 or more years of vacations!  – Melanie Williams

… Emeril has eaten at your airstream to broadcast to the world.

• you know dread Clampitt is not an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. – keith wright
• you get up early on Saturday so you can get all the really good stuff! – LaWana Rasmussen
• You remember when the dunes were your forever playground before rules and before pavement. – Jim Edelson
• Your seasons are Snapper, Oyster, Grouper, and Amberjack, instead of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. – Bea Jurgensen
• You live in Grayton & ride your bike to work where there is a drink on the menu named after your house. – Tiffany Wright
• If you believe golf carts belong on a golf course. – Jasmine

 

… you can never have enough beach stickers.
 

• If the sight of the 331 bridge puts butterflies in your stomach – Jasmine
• If you go to a SoWal State park to get a little peace and quiet. – Jim Jensen
• You saw dolphin while paddle boarding again today! – Michel Laxson
• You can make a sandcastle on your floorboards. – Crissie Sensing
• You have bonfires, fireworks and crawfish boils on the beach and watch the fish tournament weigh ins as a family date!!! – Bonnie Schermerhorn
• Dread Clampitt is the only band you considered for your April 2013 wedding after party in Blue Mountain Beach. – Sierra Reynolds Jerkins
• you check the SoWal beachcam every morning before work for those perfect green flag days, just to dare your spouse to play hooky with you. – Sierra Reynolds Jerkins
• you have a method for taking boogie boards, chairs, towels, and beach toys all on a bicycle; even though, you probably look like a homeless person! – Kelly Davari
• You named your dogs Grayton and Alys. – John Barker
• You keep your friends close, but you keep your friends with beach permits even closer! – Christa Chastain
• Everyone knows your dog’s name but can’t remember yours. – Cindy Jarmon
• you lost your kid on the beach, forgot your hat, ran out of sunscreen and you’re fine with it sitting on Eastern Lake drinking Bud Light in a can without a bite on your pole. – Derrick
• It is Sunday and you are on the beach in Grayton with Beth Brock. -Liz Garner

 

… you have a very specialized license plate.

 

• you are used to being stuck in traffic…behind a street legal golf cart! – Rebecca Bartlett
• Your church shoes and your beach shoes are the same pair of flip flops. – Kelley Gear
• you’re so laid back people can’t tell if you’re awake or asleep. – gerard dalessandro
• you have a yearly girlfriends trip to your beach condo and your husband lovingly calls it “bitches on the beach week”. – gloria thomas
• If you know Pickles is a place to eat, and not things you eat. – dan
• In your purse is suntan lotion and sunglasses. – Dottye
• you’ve never worn spandex and peddled a ten speed down the middle of 30A. – Derrick Cook
• you would rather be there at the beach in a Tropical Storm then home in Atlanta! – Joann Bennett
• You are even tan between your toes. – TS Gardner
• all the bartenders no you buy your first name. – D Plummer
• Your tan line is from your pearl & leather bracelet, flip flops & toe ring. – Jan wingo
• you own more swimsuits than pants!  – Holly Banuelos

 

… If you spend hours on a sand castle and then wait for the Gulf to reclaim the sand. – Mark Flynn
 

• You were proposed to and engaged on Inlet Beach. – Melissa Harper
• your stand up paddle board doubles as your dining room table. – jeff fondren
• You run the 30A 10k, the Seaside 5k and the Blue Mountain Beach 10k all in this year. – Randy Fleece
• it makes you a bit anxious to see a complete stranger sitting on your favorite bar stool. – Lorre James
• you have seen the local bear in your back yard. – Lorre James
• you keep a surfboard at your front door and a sand pail at your back door. – tricia albert
• You are looking forward to summer all winter long! – Joanne Busby
• your sunset beach walks include filling holes on the beach left by visitors, to help Mama turtles have a safe path to lay their eggs. – randy
• When you drive south to go anywhere, you think about not stopping until you run into 30A. – Carol Prinz
• you only own t-shirts from beach towns. – Letecia Boyer
• you make up excuses when someone asks you to visit a beach that is not in SoWal! – Ann Haller
• the t-shirt, shorts & flip flops you wore at breakfast are what you’re still wearing for dinner. – Teresa Bass
• every hour is cocktail hour. – Natalie Nixon
• you don’t care if you guessed the time the sunset at Bud & Alley’s.  – Brett Gibson
• your attitude is adjusted. – Woody Gibson
• If you have to pull your boat to work with you and through the car pool lane at school. – Clint Hood
• you know the words to “Peace, Love and Bare Feet” by Bryan Kennedy. – Annie Parker
• your beach pail contains an inconspicuous AFR (Accidental Fecal Release) from your permitted pet. – Teresa Yon
• you call it Smallmart. – Sarah Murphy Robertson

 

… SoWal  – Lisa Trucks Carlton

 

• You drive up to the carpool line in your swimsuit ready to hit the beach! – Genevieve Torrey
• you have eaten “Fried Love” at the Seagrove Village Market Cafe lunch and dinner on the same day and do it again before you go home! – becky
• you remember how good the biscuits were at the Wheelhouse. – Kathy Jennerjohn
• You think nothing of going to work wearing a dress and shrimp boots. – Garner Chandler
• You miss Mr. Modica. – Cindy Jarmon
• Your business week consists of yoga, fro-yo, and Yolo. – Patrick Pearson
• you have difficulty finding a good place to park….your bike. – Mark Douglass
• Bryan Kennedy and Garth Brooks walk into a bar together and your first thought is “Who’s the guy with Bryan Kennedy?” – Chris Manson
• You see bears in your backyard, snakes in your front yard and sharks in your “pool” and you are ecstatic about seeing all of them!  Love my critters!  – Alison Caponetto
• if you have slept in your hammock more than your couch. Jill Tanner
• if you set the alarm so you don’t miss the sunset. – Suzie Toubert
• if you refer to 395-98-283 as the Seaside Bypass. – David Degregorio
• if you were one among many who regularly sunbathed nude at what is now WaterSound Beach. – Jim Tucker
• if you remember when the 331 Tom Thumb was “town center”. – Jim Tucker
• if you ever spent the night in your car at Bailey’s on the Bay (or after it became the 331 aka Blue Bar). – Jim Tucker
• if you know a few “secret” parking places and don’t share their location with anybody.  Jenny Dargavell
• if you realize that white and khaki is not the only thing you can wear on the beach for a family photo shoot.  – Brad Pickel
• If you take more showers outside than inside.  – Abby Prentiss
• If your tan lines are very tan.  – Abby Prentiss
• If you are indoors watching an SEC football game on one of the most perfect beach days of the year. – Abby Prentiss
• If you could care less about the latest celebrity spotted on the beach and never heard of half of them. – Abby Prentiss
• If you have ever found seaweed in your purse – 400 hundred miles from the beach.  – Abby Prentiss
• If you have ever kissed the Red Bar bus driver.  – Abby Prentiss
• your school has surfing lessons. – Bent T
• you’ve dated everyone. Twice. And it only took a few weeks.  – Bent T
• the only thing you miss about living in a city is bar snack mix. – Rebecca Sullivan

 

… your dog has been to the beach more than most people. – Hope Goodwin 

 

• You count the Seaside Amphitheater as one of the rare coastal dune lakes when it rains. – Rebecca Sullivan
• you are fully aware that 10pm means you’re probably going to be eating at Tom Thumb again. – jason a. jones
• your phone no longer auto corrects “SoWal”. – jason a. jones
• if you are on perpetual Dread tour. – Beth Brock
• if anything, and everything, that moves anywhere, at night, is a SoWal black bear. – jason a. jones
• You tear up at the destruction of Seagrove Villas. – Deborah Webster