The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera: An Insider's History of the Florida-Alabama Coast

12. Making Money “Going Wild”

195 f any one thing seemed to fly in the face of tdc efforts to present “The Beach” as a family-friendly, affluent-attracting playground for the settled-yet-sophisticated, it was Spring Break. During those few weeks in March and April all the plans to create an upscale image were seemingly set aside as local businesses and chambers of commerce concentrated on turning a profit. In no place was this more apparent than at Panama City Beach, and it was there, around the turn of the century, that it got out of hand. First, a little history. By the 1980s, going to Florida for Spring Break was more popular than ever. Meanwhile, according to Time magazine, many south Florida communities, tired of rowdy kids and the turmoil they caused, “began to question why the heck they had invited such unruly houseguests in the first place.” For Fort Lauderdale, 1985 was the last straw. When nearly four hundred thousand students descended on the town, local officials responded with stricter laws against public drunkenness and the mayor went on abc’s GoodMorningAmerica to tell students that they were no longer welcome. Daytona Beach offered itself as the new Spring Break capital, a title tv confirmed in 1986, when it aired its first Spring Break special from that location . But Daytona Beach soon regretted that decision, and by the end of the decade city fathers were discouraging students from spending their holiday there. So students, at least the t w elve Making Money “Going Wild” 196 chapter twelve more affluent ones, began seeking out more exotic places, such as Cancun, for their spring romp. Meanwhile, others looked for a place closer to home, a place they could party with friends, a place they could afford, a place that wanted them. They found Panama City Beach. Panama City Beach promoters knew, or at least should have known, what they were getting into when they decided to offer their town as Daytona’s replacement. The American Medical Association (aa) had recently issued a Spring Break warning about “binge-drinking and risky sexual behavior ” among young adults who took off for the coast. In particular the aa expressed concern over young women who were known for their “prebreak anorexic challenges” and for “documented promiscuity” once they arrived at their destination. Even though the drinking age had been raised back to twenty-one by the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, aa records revealed that binge-drinking and risky behavior continued. Some universities even went so far as to distribute “safe break bags,” which contained “sunscreen, condoms, and a sexual-assault manual.” No matter where the students went, trouble followed. However, Panama City Beach promoters also knew the size of what Time was calling a “lusty young demographic” and the money it could bring to their community. In the 1990s, as states began to lengthen the school year and August lost a couple of vacation weeks, Panhandle tourism flattened and businesses along the Gulf Coast began looking for ways to recoup summerlosses .TheyquicklyfocusedonSpringBreak.Thusbeganthepromotion that would, in a short time, turn Panama City Beach into the most popular Spring Break destination in the nation. It would also turn the community into one of the most watched and studied. Reacting to the aa warning, researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Stout surveyed some eight hundred students in Panama City Beach during Spring break 1995 to determine just what attracted them to the coast and what they were doing when they got there. The results disturbed parents, intrigued their college-age children, and told local promoters what they needed to do to attract these free-spending customers. Approaching students as they sat on the beach, hung out in beachfront bars, or lay around the pools at popular hotels, researchers asked their subjects about their backgrounds, why they came to this particular beach, and about their drinking, drug use, and sexual activity. Granting that there would be some lying, the results nevertheless painted a clear picture of aking oney “going wild” 197 Spring Break and its participants. They chose Panama City Beach because it had a “good party reputation,” which they planned to do nothing to diminish . And alcohol was the fuel that fed the fire. Three out of four of the young men surveyed said they got drunk at least once a day while...