Page 8 - David Demarest News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

To give tourists more lodging options and compliment local amenities, the St. Joe Company has three hotels under construction in Bay County, Florida.

Dispute over how much the Walton County Tourist Development Council must spend on marketing factored into the agency head's recent termination.

4842 Tchoupitoulas St. A co-owner of Bayou Beer Garden and Bayou Wine Garden wants to open a new bar in Uptown on Tchoupitoulas Street – but first he will have to face the objections of neighbors who say they don’t want to turn their street into an entertainment district. Dubbed Riverside Bistro and Beer Garden, the proposed establishment would be located at 4842 Tchoupitoulas, across the street from F&M Patio Bar and down the block from Grit’s Bar on Lyons Street. At a virtual neighborhood meeting on Monday, local residents raised their concerns that a third bar in the area would lead...

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Winter tourism numbers along the beaches of southern Walton County showed impressive gains over last winter, according to the latest figures released through the Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC). The economic impact of winter tourism topped $1 billion, up from $859 million for the same period 12 months ago, for an increase of more than 20%, according to a recent report from Downs & St. Germain Research. The Tallahassee-based market research firm is working under contract with the TDC for providing local tourism data. Also according to the report, there we...

PAXTON — A journey to Britton Hill, the highest natural point in Florida, moved one recent visitor to poetry. “Get lost to get found, Florida’s highest little ground, cows & crickets the only sound, the silence now so loud, time to pavement pound,” an unknown author wrote Jan. 2 in the visitor’s log at Lakewood Park, which stands atop Britton Hill at the north end of Walton County. Britton Hill, at 345 feet above sea level, is in the unincorporated Lakewood community, just northeast of Paxton and less than five miles south of the Alabama state line. Florida’s highest point is des...