Has Flagler Beach’s July 4 celebration become too much–too big, too unpredictable–of a good thing for this sliver of a town? Could its interminable parade possibly be scaled back, its fireworks show shortened or ceded to Palm Coast, its Veterans Park activities refocused on families and the flow of booze in public places restricted on the beach, where it is now legal?
Those are some of the questions that animated the first meeting of Flagler Beach’s July 4 Committee this morning at City Hall. The panel of five, not including non-voting members, was appointed by the Flagler Beach City Commission last month and is chaired by Scott Spradley, a Flagler Beach attorney.
The task of the committee is to draft recommendations on “how we can do 4th of July safely,” Mayor Suzie Johnston, a non-voting member of the panel, said. That entails re-examining what has been the city’s most beloved and popular tradition, anchored on its morning parade and night fireworks, possibly eliminating the fireworks or scaling them down.
The last two years aside, when Covid caused the events to be cancelled, the city’s Independence Day event has become increasingly costly for the city to manage and, while lucrative for restaurants and bars, not necessarily as beneficial to other businesses, and an aggravation to many residents who see their yards invaded by out-of-town vehicles. The event appears on course to become “Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale,” in the words of panelist Rick Bowen. “We don’t want it to go there.”
The panel is by no means stacked with predetermined conclusions: today’s discussion mirrored the variety of perspectives on the subject, and the steep challenges the group faces in crafting realistic, pragmatic solutions to a hydra-limbed event. Carla Cline, who owns businesses in town, said the event has no effect on her bottom line as a retailer: visitors are typically drawn to restaurants and bars, not shops. She favored scaling back the event.
Scott Fox, owner of Tortugas, the restaurant and bar on State Road A1A, for example, spoke in stark terms of the importance of the fireworks to his business’ revenue: The restaurant took in $8,000 on the Saturday of July 4 in 2020, a day impacted by the absence of the event and Covid’s summer wave. The year before Covid, revenue had been at $15,000 that July 4 (a Thursday), as it had been the year before that. “You can obviously see there’s a huge increase in sales,” Fox said.
Johnston described the day’s magnitude as having outrun the city’s ability to handle it on its own. Putting on an event in a city of 5,000 in a county of 121,000, she said, is out of scale. “The plan we have right now is not working.” She talked about Flagler County Assist, the former React, the corps of volunteers who help regulate traffic. The group has had members struck by cars, she said, and the drinking has become “excessive.”
“We need to do something before something tragic happens,” Johnston said, suggesting such things as cooler checks on the Boardwalk, before people get on the beach, though that would require an ordinance change that would ban alcohol on the beach.
Cline said she loved the event as a child, but it “isn’t sustainable to have a giant event for 50,000 people in a tiny beach town,” suggesting that it was time to “break tradition.” She said “as heartbreaking as that would be,” letting Palm Coast take over the fireworks would be a start. Flagler Beach is exploring the idea of shifting its fireworks display to New Year’s Eve, giving businesses a boost at a time when they experience a big decline in activity.
Spradley has lived in town for 17 years. Years ago he could bike down from 17th Street to the center of town to watch the fireworks. That’s no longer possible. He described the ride as dangerous–as going into “a war zone.” The beach is filled up by 7 a.m. The parade rolls by by 10 a.m., when “the city is packed.”
Looking forward to 2022, Police Chief Matt Doughney said, that Friday will be First Friday, the weekend will draw throngs, and July 4 will fall on a Monday, making it a four-day event. “That is going to absolutely exhaust city services,” Doughney said. The city typically starts planning July 4 in February.
Flagler Beach gets policing and volunteer help from around the county, but the city disproportionately bears the public safety burden, City Manager William Whitson said. (Doughney, Whitson, and Flagler Beach Fire Chief Bobby Pace all sat in on the meeting.) “We are spending in overtime and preplanning and garbage, lifeguarding and other services,” Whitson said, “we are bearing the majority of the cost of the event. What that exact number is, I couldn’t tell you right now.”
Johnston recalled a security incident that led one business she knows to pledge never to open again on July 4. Fox said an isolated incident should not define the day’s events for the whole community and its businesses, “a sense of pride for everybody that lives in this community.”
“It just doesn’t affect the businesses in the CRA, the fireworks, what that does is give every business a clear view from Snack Jacks all the way to Beverly Beach, so it spreads it out,” Fox said. (The CRA is the Community Redevelopment Agency, or enterprise zone, that covers the core of downtown.) He pointed to notable improvements in safety in recent years, just before Covid. The difference between 2016 and 2018 and 2019 was the police presence.
“I saw a huge difference from the first few years, 2018 and 2019, where it seemed it was more subdued,” Fox said. “How much that was the weather, the police presence, I think that was a big improvement over where it was. I think we evolved in the right direction.” Fox said the addition of shuttle buses from the Badcock shopping center on the mainland for the three years before Covid was also a significant improvement, though even that parking lot, with 200 spaces, was being overrun in the last year the buses were used–a sign both of the shuttle program’s popularity and the July 4 event’s continuing surge in attendance.
“It’s something that I grew up with and it’s something that I want my child to experience growing up with, but,” the mayor said, “at this point, almost you would have to survey and ask every business to get their perspective on it.” She said the goal should be to scale it back, not to scrap it.
That, in fact, is one of the directions the panel took through a distinctly civil, measured discussion at its first meeting.
Safety, traffic, parking, finances and future growth are the primary challenges, panelists agreed. They favored issuing a survey to residents listing those issues and asking them to rank them in terms of importance to themselves, relative to July 4. But Spradley, who previously chaired the city’s parking committee said the survey would have to be more carefully crafted and discussed at a subsequent meeting.
“Is this something that is going to go on an agenda for a City Commission meeting?” Cline asked.
“Absolutely not,” a member of the panel said. “We want to get something done,” Whitson said, tongue in cheek. The commission will be kept informed, however.
The next meeting’s other goal: to think of future solutions for parking, such as the Catholic Church and elsewhere (shuttling as far out from the airport and the high school would be “too far,” Douhgney said.) The mayor suggested each panelist speak with at least 20 residents or business members about how they see the event growing, “and a solution.”
The panel next meets on September 29 at 9 a.m. with meetings also set for Oct. 13 and 26 at the same time. The meeting adjourned after 80 minutes.
Roy Longo says
““We need to do something before something tragic happens,” Johnston said” It already happened.
https://www.odmp.org/officer/16909-deputy-sheriff-charles-t-sease
Deputy Chuck Sease was killed after law enforcement responded to an altercation at a Flagler Beach bar on July 4, 2003.
Dennis says
It’s time Flagler beach retire it’s 4 of July celebration which has grown to become a drunken festival of lawlessness in a space too small to provide for the safety of sober law abiding people.
The congestion, lack of parking, and overwhelming crowds has made it impossible for decent people to enjoy. Examples of this is public intoxication, lighting of fireworks by unauthorized people on the beach endangering others, liquor bottles accidentally falling off balconies in proximity of people standing in line at ground level restaurants, etc. etc.
Flagler Beach may have served its purpose back in the day when county population was around 17,000, but today that number has grown to exceed 125,000. Too many people in one space, and a city police department who is no longer able to maintain control.
As for the restaurant owners who have contributed to this problem by freely selling liquor to people who have little to no self control of their drinking habits in public, you are all in part responsible. For the degradation of this event. The home owners of Flagler beach have dealt with this long enough, having to deal with the aftermath of the days events. With litter, beer bottles, damage to private property, etc. it’s time Flagler beach give up an event they are no longer able to boast!
Agreed!! says
Have to totally agree with you on this!! I’ve been in PC since 1990, and we used to go to FB for the fireworks every single year, for many years. It was busy, but everyone would try their hardest to respect each other and be mindful of children. Now as you stated, IT IS a drunken fest and nothing but trouble down there. It has definitely changed from being able to go as a family with kids without worrying about any issues and exposing them to things they should not be around. There is NO WAY I would take my 5 year old daughter and feel comfortable. Which is a shame, because this day and it’s celebrations are best enjoyed with family and watching the faces on our children with every firework that gets sent up.
E, ROBOT says
If it were only on the 4th it would be bad enough, but FB has been turned into Coney Island by city leaders who are in thrall of the business community.
Toto says
Well said Dennis. Each year that passes, the garbage is just excessive and it’s awful to see our once quaint, funky beach town trashed beyond recognition. It is a sloppy drunk fest.
bob says
I enjoy Flagler Beach everyday but not the days associated with July 4th (my birthday) — St Augustine was a pleasant surprise this past 4th and I look forward to next years celebration. Sorry Flagler Beach but your event was a downer my first 2 visits.
Knows Jack says
We get it. Just put up a toll booth at the base of the bridge with a sign over it that says “KEEP OUT!”. No problem here.
Mark says
Locals only,no cars, no alcohol, no fireworks
Only cannabis and family fun only!”
Linda Morgan says
I personally would liked to see it scaled back. We need to remember our future plans in the center of town, specifically the “new hotel” with it broad expanse. That land has, to date, been available for parking and booths. There won’t be room to turn around, much less navigate people, vehicles, bikes and golf carts. After dark, there is another layer of problems with vision, and alcohol consumption. I think New Years Eve is an excellent idea. We were lucky enough to be present on the eve of 2000 and it was magical with people at the beach with bon fires, chairs, cheering everyone on. People walking the beach, going from one bon fire to the next. Tide was out and we had a pretty full moon. Those were the days!
Linda Morgan says
I wanted to add that I am not endorsing bon fires on the beach. That was 21 years ago.
Jimbo99 says
The problem isn’t so much the Flagler Beach growth or attendance, it’s the growth on the other side of the bridge. Flagler Beach is not Daytona or St Augustine for space. The growth Palm Coast is experiencing is already a mess on Belle Terre & Palm Coast Parkway. The other 2 parkways (Royal Palms & Matanzas Woods are really underdeveloped for retail. This community simly doesn’t have the road infrastructure to handle the growth. This is a I-95/US-1 boom town with limited growth potential. Used to live in Fernandina Beach area, same story there and they seem to think A1A/SR200 up there as the only way West to I-95 can handle Yulee, FL growth. South of us, NSB/Edgewater (29.2k & 24.3, 53.5K total population) is really another comparable area and it’s never going to a large city either. What do all these areas have in common ? I-95, US-1 with thinner solid land areas & intracoastal marshes/estuaries. Even St Augustine for St John’s county simply can’t grow around the Old Fort City as a hub. They reached critical mass. I think they could continue to develop, but at a certain point the quality of life there erodes and the area can’t handle the residential explosion.
Back to Flagler Beach though, they’re going to build a resort on Moody/FL-100 there, that’s going to wipe out Veterans Park. those folks that are growing Palm Coast need to stay in Palm Coast. Yeah, I live in Palm Coast, so this isn’t some troll that lives beachside saying it. When I lived in Miami, FL for about 20 years, I was smart enough to realize that if I couldn’t get to South Beach by bicycle and during daylight hours, maybe South Beach wasn’t the place I needed to go celebrate a 4th of July or even be any other time of the year. Plenty of other places to be that can handle it. Daytona even has beachside parks with capacity to park. But those folks are walking to the pier to see anything they shoot off for fireworks. It’s hard to even be in your own neighborhood today with the neighbors launching rockets red glare over your house or into the woods. It’s not a good thing around here for anyone.
tulip says
I don’t see how Palm Coast will be able to handle the overly huge crowds either if FB does not have fireworks. PC has grown immensley also. I have heard that the people who attended this years PC fireworks spent a long time getting out of the parking lots and home. The whole situation is indeed a problem. The liquor could be restricted somewhat on the beaches by only allowing small coolers, but even then people can put booze in other types of containers or even put those “nips” in pockets and purses and add them to the soda or whatever they have in the cooler. I know people were not supposed to shoot of fireworks on the beach but they always did and no one enforced the rule. Having FB do fireworks on New Year’s Eve is a good idea, but it really doesn’t solve the 4th of July problem because people will overfill PC on that day. JMO
Whathehck? says
If Flagler Beach decides not to have the fireworks on the 4th of July it could become a problem for PC. But it is not FB’s problem, let that nice little quaint town deal with their problems the way they see fit and let the surrounding towns deal with the consequences. I do live in PC. As for the parade could the committee think of charging $1 per person to use the shuttle busses, exact change only, this could help with the cost of shuttles. Also FB could charge a small fee at registration for marching units and a little bit more per vehicle?
JF says
I am going out on a limb, but all of you bitching about the event knew of such event when you moved here or built here. You need to remember you may be retired and living very comfortable in your beachside home, but for the local businesses this is their bread and butter. As far as the police depart it being able to handle this is not true. They have the help of the FHP,FCSO,DBPD and Flagler county fire rescues helicopter. Look at the facts of the number of arrests made. It’s been under 4 in Flagler Beach for the last 5 years. Suck it up or find your quiet peaceful beach retreat elsewhere.