There seems to be a common spirit that unites people who choose to make SoWal their home, including a creative outlook on business opportunities, an enduring personality, and of course a love for the water.
As a cozy coastal community, South Walton may not seem like the easiest place to make a living, yet our small community is home to an arsenal of entrepreneurs in a variety of business endeavors from fashion design to coffee roasting.
Many South Walton restaurants are lauded as exceptional -- for their food, ambiance, service, architecture -- any number of things can make a restaurant famous. Café Tango incorporates all those things and more.
Almost hidden from view on Scenic 30A, Café Tango is nestled about 100 feet off the main drag on Vicki Street, just about a half mile east of Gulf Place. Small and unpresuming, Café Tango occupies an old wooden beach house, with more charm and character than Katherine Hepburn.
Entrepreneur, local restaurateur and “chef to the stars” Tim Creehan says he didn’t set out to become famous.
“I didn’t go looking for success. I was looking for a career in culinary arts. I wanted to be a chef from the time I was 14 years old.
“When I wanted to become a chef, being a chef wasn’t cool. We were no different than plumbers or mechanics. When I left work to go to the store to buy something for the restaurant, I’d bring a T-shirt and take off my chef jacket because I didn’t want anyone to think I was a cook or butcher or whatever.”
If you want to know what's going on in SoWal, all you have to do is sit on the porch at Grayt Coffee House with owner Cheri Peebles for a half hour. And If she doesn't know what you want to know, then one of the many locals walking in and out likely will.
If you have a wet suit and sandy feet on a warm and sunny beach day, there's nothing like walking up to Pickle's and ordering a juicy burger, fries, and a shake. The Seaside eatery is the scene of so many special SoWal beach memories. Now it's much, much better.
Oysters. You may love to eat them but hate to see them on the bottom of your boat. Regardless of your personal feelings about these rock-like crustaceans, The Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance believes they are important enough to collect the discarded shells from local restaurants and recycle them into reefs along area shorelines.
The reefs serve as neighborhoods where live oysters can establish themselves and thrive, rather on the bottom of someone’s boat or dock.
At Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast, the focus has always been on patient care. “Patient satisfaction is tops for us. We want to make sure every patient has a good experience,” says Marketing Coordinator Sarah Bailey.
In days gone by, outdoor produce markets like the venerable “Cotton’s” dotted the landscape along the major highways of Walton County. Today they're gone, but at the Cypress Cattle and Produce Market on US 331 North you can buy fresh produce and participate in the latest trend to “buy local” by perusing a variety of vegetables that have been raised on the Langford farm right here in Walton County.
SoWal’s own Stephanie Nichols is making fashion waves from sea to shining sea. No matter how smug us locals might be about our little corner of paradise, every now and then it’s great to get validation from “out-of-towners.” Granted, we know with certainty our beaches and architecture are the best. But it’s nice when first-time visitors confirm other SoWal offerings rank up there too.
John Scanlan picked 1/11/11 to open his new venture, Bow Wow Meow Pet Company, hoping the unique date would be good for business. Now in his second year, he notes he’s had at least one sale every day. For someone open seven days a week and closed only for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New year's Day, that’s quite an accomplishment.
