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‘The Amazing Race’ to Hold Casting Call at OWA

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Hit TV show opens auditions to Gulf Coast, Oct. 26

October 10, 2019 - Foley, AL - (OBA^®) - The Amazing Race Casting Call OWA It's time to show just how amazing you are! Bring your talent to OWA on Saturday, Oct. 26 to audition for “The Amazing Race.” WKRG5, a CBS affiliate, will host the auditions at OWA from 8am-12pm for anyone interested in auditioning for the 10-time Emmy Award-winning show.

Forever Wild Board Meets in Gulf Shores on November 7

By Outdoor Alabama

Octobeer 10, 2019 -Gulf Shores, AL - (OBA) - The Board of Trustees of the Alabama Forever Wild Land Trust will hold its fourth quarterly meeting on Thursday, November 7, 2019, at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, a Hilton Hotel, in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The meeting will take place at 10 a.m.

White Christmas in the Tropics event at Perdido Beach Resort Nov. 23rd

October, 9, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - White Christmas in the Tropics, an annual holiday event hosted by the Mystical Order of the Aurora Mardi Gras organization, is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23 at Perdido Beach Resort.

This year’s party features dinner and dancing to rocking music by Six Piece Suits, a high-energy band led by the vocals of Kyle Hooks and the musicianship of Nicky, Mike, Corey, Nate and Nick Hooks.

Gulf Shores hosting Public Involvement Meeting about Canal Road Modifications

Gulf Shores Canal Road Modification October 9, 2019 - Gulf Shores, AL - (OBA^®) - The City of Gulf Shores will host a Public Involvement Meeting for the Canal Road Corridor Study on Thursday, November 7, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Adult Activity Center, located at 260 Clubhouse Drive. The purpose of the meeting is to provide the public an opportunity to participate in the development of the proposed project.

Top 50 reasons people come to the Orange Beach Area

October 8, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - In a conversation with friends the discussion about all of the reasons people come to the Orange Beach Area came up. We named off a few and thought about how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful spot on the planet.

Canal-161 south bypass back on the drawing board

The current conceptual plan for the Canal Road Bypass in Orange Beach, Alabama.

By John Mullen

October 6, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – A bypass plan from Canal Road to Alabama 161 using an undeveloped city street right of way has been on and off the table several times and taken different forms.

As of an Oct. 1 town hall meeting it’s back again with yet another tweak to its configuration. A city presentation gave updates on the bypass, the widening of Canal Road, the Wolf Bay Bridge, Canal Road East, the toll bridge and the Gulf Shores bridge.

Road closures related to the 48th Annual National Shrimp Festival

October 5, 2019 - Gulf Shores, AL - (OBA^®) - The City of Gulf Shores would like to make all residents and visitors aware of the following road closures and detours related to the 48th Annual National Shrimp Festival on October 10-13.

Wildlife Center will spread its wings on 10-acre site

Izzy the otter is a resident of the Wildlife Center in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Second of a series:

By John Mullen, Photos by Shelley Patterson, C-Shelz Photography

October 4, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – The Orange Beach Wildlife Center and Management Program has been a huge success but is quickly outgrowing its space at the city’s recreation campus.

“A lot of It is capacity. We’re in just such a small site right now our capacity is relatively limited,” Coastal Operations Manager Wade Stevens said. “There’s a pretty big demand especially during the peak season.” Stevens said a new facility will be three to four times larger than the small house it’s in now.

Orange Beach golf cart owners will have to register

Golf cart owners in Orange Beach, Alabama, will have to register vehicles, make other changes.

By John Mullen

October 3, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – Orange Beach doesn’t want to cause trouble for golf cart owners in the city, Mayor Tony Kennon says.

“Right now, it’s live and let live,” Kennon said at an Oct. 1 town hall meeting at the Orange Beach Event Center.

That’s about to change. Kennon told the crowd of about 700 the city has no choice but to craft an ordinance to address how and where golf carts can be used to be in line with state law. A 2016 amendment to the law now prohibits golf carts from operating on sidewalks, sidewalk areas, or public streets of a municipality.

Have a beautiful, spooky moonlit cruise at Caribe Marina

Caribe Marine in Orange Beach, Alabama, will have Ghost Cruises in Perdido Bay this October.

By John Mullen

October 1, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - The popular ghost cruises on the Caribe Cruiser are coming back this October with excursions planned for Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the month out of Caribe Marina at Perdido Pass. Storytellers will regale riders with spooky local legends as they glide around the bay.

“I think the most important thing that I want people to focus on is that it’s family-friendly,” Caribe Marina’s Chris Logel said. “It’s absolutely appropriate to bring kids to. If you want to dress up and the kids want to dress up that’s fine.”

Gulf Coast Multi-Chamber Business After Hours returns to the Flora-Bama

Perdido Key Multi-Chamber Business After Hours

October 1, 2019 - Perdido Key/Orange Beach - (OBA^®) - For nearly 35 years, the Perdido Area Chamber has worked on the Florida-Alabama state line to allow comradery and collaboration to business professionals and community members who live, work and play in the Perdido Area. Each October, Local Chambers of Commerce from across the Gulf Coast come together for a networking social to celebrate the continued hard work for our common purpose of promoting successful business along the gulf coast.

A brief history of the Sand Island Light House

By Little Red School House Community Center & The Town of Dauphin Island

September 27, 2019 - Dauphin Island, AL - (OBA^®) - Located roughly three miles from the Mobile Bay entrance, between Mobile Point on the east and Dauphin Island on the west, stands Sand Island Lighthouse on a narrow strip of land that was once 400 acres.

Kenny Smith recalled as loving family man, husband, great friend

By John Mullen

September 27, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – The life celebration for Kenny Smith at the Undertow on Aug. 25 was just the type of celebration Kenny would have put on for other people in need. This time it was for his memory and to help wife Teresa.

“That party up there, that’s what Kenny would have loved,” Teresa said. “That’s his thing. He’d a been the guy cooking in the kitchen, he’d been the guy when the cops walked in saying ‘hey, I know y’all here to buy some food. Come on over here and help out.’

BMI brings Nashville to Orange Beach

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September 27, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and the Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality Association (ARHA) are partnering together to bring good music, great drinks and even better people together for one special night. On Thursday, October 3rd , singer/songwriters Paul McDonald and Tyler Reeve are headed to GT's on the Bay in Orange Beach, AL for a Nashville-style “guitar pull” show. The event begins at 7PM, is free, open to the public.

12th Annual Hangout Oyster Cook-Off Craft Spirits & Beer Weekend

September 26, 2019 - Gulf Shores, AL - (OBA^®) - The 12th Annual Hangout Oyster Cook-Off Craft Spirits & Beer Weekend has just added MasterChef star Aarón Sánchez to this year’s lineup. Chef Sánchez is an award-winning chef, TV personality, cookbook author and philanthropist. He is the chef/owner of Mexican restaurant Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans, and a judge on FOX’s hit culinary competition series MASTERCHEF.

Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen OWA is Now Hiring

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September 26, 2019 - Foley, AL - (OBA^®) - Join the team at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen, whether you prefer whipping up scrumptious delights or dishing out a little flavor of southern hospitality. This highly anticipated restaurant will be the newest addition to OWA’s 520-acre resort destination in Foley, Alabama. Slated to open November 2019, recruitment for more than 200 new positions is beginning now online; two major Job Fairs are also set for October 7 and 21.

Gulf State Park Hwy 135 to close for repairs starting Sept. 24th

Gulf State Park Press Release

September 20, 2019 - Gulf Shores, AL - (OBA^®) - State Highway 135 through Gulf State Park will undergo necessary improvements and repairs from Sept. 24 until Christmas Eve. The road will be closed to all vehicles, hikers and bikers beginning Sept. 24, but will reopen Oct. 9-14 during the 48th Annual National Shrimp Festival.

Flippers leaving Bear Point Marina after 12 years

Eddie Boy Woerner says he expects to find a new location for Flippers soon.

By John Mullen, photo by Shelley Patterson, C-Shelz Photography

September 20, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – Flippers is closing in Bear Point Marina and plans are in the works to reopen at a new location.

“We’re not going to end Flipper’s,” owner Eddie Boy Woerner said. “Flipper’s is not going to end.

Orange Beach denies zoning change to residential lot

Phase I of Hammock Dunes on the Gulf in east Orange Beach, Alabama. The city council denied a planned unit development on Phase II on Sept. 17.

By John Mullen

September 20, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – Two weeks prior it was a moment of disagreement rarely seen between councilmembers at the Sept. 3 Orange Beach City Council work session meeting.

Developer Greg Kennedy was asking to combine two Gulf-front lots into one planned unit development at the west end of beach road for a phase 2 of his Hammock Dunes project. Kennedy bought the western of the two lots and added 11 cottages to the site which already had two homes on it.

Orange Beach Wildlife Center rescues and rehabs animals

By John Mullen with Photos by Shelley Patterson/C-Shelz Photography.

September 20, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA) – Since 2016 the Orange Beach Wildlife Center and Management Program has been rehabbing and taking in native injured or exhausted critters, rehabbing those they can and returning them to the wild.

“Our goal is to work with wildlife and get it back into the wild,” Coastal Programs Coordinator Melissa Vinson said. “We are permitted to rehab all native wildlife expect deer. This includes but is not limited to: raptors, waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, mammals excluding deer but including (rabies vector species) mammals and reptiles.”

OWA opens weeks of fall festival celebration on Sept. 21

OWA's Fall Festival will include scary attractions as well as demonstrations and exhibit by the Poarch Creek Indian tribe.

Submitted

September 19, 2019 – Foley, AL – (OBA^®) – On Sept. 21 the OWA complex will kick off a Fall Festival that will be an outdoor, multi-weekend event by expanding the lineup of seasonal fan favorites, which also includes OWA’s signature haunted house, Town of Terror, and the amusement park’s family-friendly Park After Dark series. The events will continue every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Nov. 3

The outdoor festival will feature a variety of family-friendly activities such as a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, pony and camel rides, food trucks, and artisans, plus two corn mazes. OWA is also introducing their signature “blue pumpkin” this year during the Festival, which will be available for purchase. The Festival is free to enter, while some activities may require purchase.

Canal Road single-lane closure to begin Thursday, Sept. 19

By City of Orange Beach

September 19, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - Due to work associated with ALDOT's Canal Road widening project, there will be a single-lane closure from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 19-20, and then for up to two weeks beginning on Monday, Sept. 23.

‘Success Conference’ Announces Speakers for October Event

September 18, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - The “Dialed In Living SUCCESS CONFERENCE” will be held at Magnolia Hall in Orange Beach on October 19, 2019.

This personal and business development conference is geared toward entrepreneurs, business owners, educators, community leaders, corporate employees, or anyone who is interested in personal and/or professional fulfillment, balance and productivity.

Perdido Key beaches removed from endangered list

Different management techniques have improved beaches in southwest Escambia County, Commissioner Doug Underhill said.

By John Mullen

September 17, 2019 – Perdido Key, FL – (OBA^®) – Escambia County, Florida, Commissioner Doug Underhill says the beaches in his district in Perdido have been removed from the endangered list by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“We’ve been following some of these new best business practices for the last five years and the state has deemed based on the size of the beach, the growth of the beach that it is working and we are no longer considered one of the endangered beaches in the state of Florida,” Underhill said.

Monthly Skins Game returns Oct. 6 to Orange Beach Golf Center

September 17, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - The Orange Beach Golf Center will host the first Skins Game Tournament of the 2019-20 fall/winter season on Sunday, October 6th, and then on the first Sunday of each month through March, with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The public is welcome.

Motorcycle accident claims life of rider

Foley Police Department Press Release

September 16, 2019 - Foley, AL - (OBA^®) - On Sunday September 15, 2019 at approximately 10:30 pm the Foley Police Department responded to the intersection of County Road 12 South and Emerille Drive for a Motor Vehicle Crash. When officers arrived on scene there was a motorcycle in the second story of a vacant residence.

Fall Festival Comes to OWA Starting Sept. 21

September 16, 2019 - Foley, AL - (OBA^®) - The go-to spot all things fall activities, from friendly ghost to scary ghouls, has just grown again! OWA is welcoming an inaugural Fall Festival with a kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. The all new Fall Festival—an outdoor, multi-weekend event—will expand the lineup of seasonal fan favorites, which also includes OWA’s signature haunted house, Town of Terror, and the amusement park’s family-friendly Park After Dark series.

Transportation, frustrations and golf carts: Town Hall meeting set for October 1st

orange beach boat logo September 13, 2019 - Orange Beach, AL - (OBA^®) - Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon and the City Council invite the public to a Town Hall meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 1st at the Orange Beach Event Center.

“Transportation, frustrations and golf carts, that’s what the Town Hall will be about,” Mayor Kennon said. “I’ll give a short presentation updating everyone on projects in the city including transportation, recreation and schools. Then the floor will be open for anyone to ask questions. We’ll go as long as we need to.”

Gulf Shores airport making plans for passenger terminal

Jack Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is making plans for a passenger terminal.

By John Mullen

September 13, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – The landing strip at Jack Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores has had the runway space to land planes as large as 737s for a few years.

“We’ve been able to since the last runway project we just didn’t have any place to park them until we finished this apron,” Airport Authority Manager Scott Fuller said.

On Sept. 12 the Gulf Shores Airport Authority began steps toward developing that apron into a terminal capable of parking and unloading two or three passenger airplanes. There’s room for six but the initial phase is looking to plan, design and build two or three of the first gates.

Studying the Sand Cliffs on the Alabama/Florida Gulf Coast

Brandon Collins next to a 5+' sand cliff. Photo by Laura Collins.

By John Mullen

September 12, 2019 – Orange Beach, AL – (OBA^®) – Whether or not the "sand cliffs" – scientifically known as scarps – are formed during what is called a neap tide is up for debate. But local beachgoers have noticed the steep embankments, some higher than five feet, seem to be more prevalent around the neap tide.

“It’s not something I’ve ever seen in the literature or heard anybody else talk about but I’m not going to tell somebody that they’re wrong if they have made that correlation,” South Alabama Professor Emeritus Scott Douglass said. “But I got to thinking that maybe there is something to it because we have such a mild coast compared to all the other ones in the U.S. We have periods where there’s just nothing happening because the waves are so small.” Douglass is a civil engineer and his area of expertise is coastal engineering.