THE WHY

On October 10th, Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle leaving a level of devastation and destruction never before seen by the state. Michael was the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall in the Florida panhandle and was the third strongest storm in U.S. history. The storm had its most dramatic impact on the small coastal town of Mexico Beach, in Bay County, Florida. The storm leveled everything in its path, the homes and businesses that made up this vibrant community are gone, leaving many with nothing to return to.

The Workmans, a husband and wife creative team in Tallahassee, Florida, were personally affected by the storm. Chelsea Workman's father is a small-business owner in Mexico Beach whose personal business was severely impacted. The Workmans saw his struggle and the struggle of many other community members trying to recover and knew they had to help. The Workmans partnered with Tallahassee designer, Jesse Taylor, to start the Never Forgotten Coast campaign. The team designed a logo for their project and is actively printing and selling merch both online and through local pop-up shops to raise funds for the recovery efforts. They also partnered with award-winning Nashville photographer, Jeremy Cowart, and Tallahassee drone pilot, Jonathan Smith, to capture the stories of Mexico Beach and put faces to the city that has been a home and a destination for people all over the world.

The funds raised by the Never Forgotten Coast campaign will be used by local non-profits in Mexico Beach to provide micro-grants for small businesses and individuals to help cover what insurance will not. Our goal is to help the local economy get back up and running so that locals can get back to work and return to their normal lives. If we can provide opportunities to shop, eat and do business, then we can speed up the rebuilding process and help the community recover. Even something seemingly small, like a micro-grant, can have a significant impact on the region's economic recovery. Mexico Beach is filled with character and they have the grit and determination to rebuild better than before.

In 2016, we began looking to move closer to family, and had looked at Destin and Panama City Beach, but after taking a fishing trip with Bonita Thompson (98 Realty) out in Washington State, where we lived, and talking with friends all over the country, we decided to check out Mexico Beach.

We had never heard of it, but we found that we really liked it and it filled the requirements we set, being on the water to move the charter business over, within a day’s drive of our family. Our favorite parts are the small town atmosphere and the quietness and peacefulness. It’s never that crazy here and you still feel like you get nature and a quaint little town all in one. It doesn’t take you long to get to know who everyone is.

With Hurricane Michael approaching, we had no intention of evacuating. It was supposed to be a Tropical Storm or a Category 1 Hurricane, which to us wasn’t a big deal since we’ve been through a few of them. On Monday, we really just felt like we were prepping for a big rainstorm and anticipating losing power for a day at most.

When we saw that it had been upgraded to a Category 3, I realized I needed to do something with the boat. I stopped on my way back from out of town at a Home Depot in Alabama and got a generator and some gas cans. Having a boat in the water with a storm coming adds a different level of stress because you have to make sure you’re compliant with insurance rules. I was able to move it to Panama City and take it out of the water to put it in a boat yard.

Monday night, we just went to bed and Tuesday, we kept on with our routine. My daughters called, asking what we were doing, and when it was teetering on being a high Cat 3, we started really debating it. The final straw was when both girls conference called me around 10pm very worried and I knew I couldn’t put them through it, so just before 11pm, we packed the car and headed to Atlanta.

We were both born and raised in Miami and we started vacationing on St George island in the late 80s, so that's how we discovered the Forgotten Coast. For our 20th anniversary, we went to Mexico Beach and began to wonder what it would be like to retire and move there to be near the beach and own a little business. In 2006, my sister, Debbie, and brother in law, Bill, ended up buying a condo in Mexico Beach, right next to the marina. He and I had always joked about retiring and buying a marina and shortly after they moved there, the marina became available for sale. So in our mid-life crisis of sorts, instead of buying a Harley like normal people, we bought a marina.

They started talking about Hurricane Michael on Saturday and kept saying it wouldn't be more than a Category 1 or 2 and by Monday, when we realized it was going to be more than that, it was almost too late to do much. When we woke up on Wednesday, we were watching the news and we could already feel the winds. Melba really held it together but when she started panicking, that's when I knew we needed to take this seriously. Debbie had just had knee replacement surgery so she wasn't super mobile, so Bill and I had to weigh our options and figure out what was best for our families. We went into it saying we are staying no matter what and in the past, they've always veered right or left. There is usually dry air, but this time, there was no reason for it to slow down and by the time we realized it was going to be bad, we weren't about to get 7 adults and 3 pets in a car to try to beat it out.

Have you ever been in an earthquake? It was very similar to an earthquake. You could feel it in your feet. If you pictured the eye wall, we were always on the wrong side of it. It was bad an hour before the eye came around, but it was a complete white out.

I don’t know why they called it a Cat 4 because we were experiencing 200+mph winds and holding onto doors, wondering when it was going to end because it seemed like it was so long.

We didn’t have boards on the window so we could see the whole thing. When the white out was over and you could start seeing damage, you knew it was going to be devastation. When you look for ground zero, it’s us.

Mom decided she wanted to get the kids out of Atlanta and raise us in a small town, so we came down here in 1970 and my parents bought a beach house on 34th Street. A year later, we moved here and she wanted to find something to do where she could be home with all 3 kids, so they bought the Driftwood. It had 7 units and as they could, my parents built on, one more unit at a time. Over the years, as my dad made money in advertising in Georgia, mom was taking that money and putting it into the hotel. In 1994, it burned down and it was rebuilt it, but the front wall and inside 6 feet has remained the same.

Eighty percent of our customers were repeat customers. We weren’t a Ritz Carlton by any means. Our rooms had antiques, they had all tile floors, and we were the only place that allowed pets, but the repeats kept us alive. We had potlucks, movie nights, craft parties and painting classes. We built a chapel and had hundreds of weddings here. Vow renewals and memorials. It was such a special place.

Our favorite things about this community are the special things that we get to do. We have the special events committee that helps put on the gumbo festival, the wine festival, christmas tree lightings, etc. We did a campaign where you got a palm tree with a plaque and those trees have lined the beach for a long time.

We evacuated for Hurricane Michael at the last minute. We had guests that didn’t want to leave so we couldn’t go until they were all gone. We went up to Dothan and rode it out with the family. There was a lady at the Summer House that had a camera so we could see what was happening and when you saw the Driftwood from the front, everything looked relatively ok. We were so excited. But when we got back, man, it was such a hard blow.

We knew the houses were gone and the cottages were gone but we really felt ok knowing that the main building was there. But now they’re telling us they have to tear it down.

I’ve been living in Mexico Beach for 15 years. I moved here from LA with my girlfriend and my business partner, who is also my girlfriend’s brother. I found this place because my brother had moved down here from Atlanta about 5 years before I did. When I moved here, I figured I could take things I learned out in LA as a bartender and open up a little restaurant here.

I wanted an open line kitchen and I thought it would be unique. People liked that view a lot. They knew nothing was hidden. Our building had previously been a post office, a police substation, a real estate office, and even someone’s vacation home, but we created something pretty special here.

I was never going to evacuate for the hurricane. I never have for any of the other ones we’ve had. I just wanted to be here for it. I obviously didn’t think it was going to turn and be as bad as it was, but I would do it again. Maybe I’m that protective of my things, but I would rather be present instead of watching it from a far. Had I not known that a tree was on my roof and water was pouring into my house, I wouldn’t have been able to get back the next day to start working on it. If you went away, you weren’t getting back in quick.

Near the beginning, the wind picked up then kind of died down a little bit, so I went down to the beach and took some pictures. I went back to the house standing in my garage, I was just watching this misty rain, painting a beautiful picture across my garage. My experience was relatively mild. I knew the safest place for me to be was my garage because no trees on my property or my neighbors could crush me where I was there. So we sat in the car in the garage for about an hour and a half in the height.

I’ve been coming down to Mexico Beach since the early 80’s and Susan started coming in the 70s. We met at Toucan’s and started dating in 2010. I retired from the state banking department in Georgia, I went to work for another bank for a few years and retired from that. So I moved down here and started doing beach patrol during the summer and then I joined the volunteer fire department. I was also code enforcement for the city. In 2013, the president of Peoples South called me and asked if I wanted to come back. Since the city manager was leaving and I wouldn’t want to work for anyone else, I decided to leave the city and go back into banking. So we bought the building and opened in June of 2014. We started at 0 and grew the bank to $16 million in 4 years. It was a lot of hard work.

I didn’t think too much of the storm. I thought it would go around Mexico Beach. Susan was pretty worried about me. I was in Georgia at her house for Columbus day and she didn’t want me to leave, but I knew I needed to get things ready, so I came back down and put up some sandbags to make sure water didn’t come in We closed the bank around 12pm on Tuesday and I was driving to Susan’s house by 2pm. I kept watching it, but I didn’t realize it was going to be this bad. Friends of ours told us that my house and the bank were gone, so obviously the sandbags didn’t help.

I owned Sharon’s Cafe for 34 years. I’ve lived here for 35 years. I didn’t come here to open a restaurant, but it just kind of fell into my lap. I was very blessed. It just kind of took off from back in the 80s util now and it just got busier and busier. It was unique in a way that made people feel special and the customers truly appreciated the little things we would do, like the smiley face pancakes. Everyone was like family. I called my employees the cafe kids, because I thought of them as my children. We’ve had weddings here, baby showers, birthdays, every holiday we decorated. It was a special place.

I’m not a stingy person, and when one of my girls needed a washer, I’d get a washer. Someone needed a refrigerator, so I bought them a refrigerator. I spoiled my employees and I think they appreciated it. We were just very close. They’re all fine. No one got hurt and it makes me feel good to know that everyone is ok. It’s all in the Lord’s hands. I have very little to do with things but when I can do something, I certainly try my best. 

I was going to have people stay in my house with me for the storm. I really thought it was going to be ok. Tuesday night, the people that were going to stay with me called and told me they were going to leave and go to Marianna. I was so exhausted from hearing about the storm, so I went and laid down on my bed and turned on a football game. I started feeling sick in my stomach and I thought “This is strange. What in the world is happening?” So I turned the Weather Channel back on and just thought, “Oh no.” My neighbor behind me was supposed to stay with me but I called her and told her we needed to go. It took me a while to convince her, but we finally ended up leaving and getting to a friend’s house in Wewahitchka. It was frightening even up there.

I grew up in Wewa and I was gone for a long time, but I got a chance to move back here in 2001, to the place I had always dreamed of living. I bought a business and sold it, then I bought the Lookout. Ruby was at the Lookout before I got there. My number one question when I bought it was “Ruby, will you stay? Do you come with this place?” and if she would’ve said no, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. Then 4 or 5 years ago, we opened Shipwreck Raw Bar and last year, we opened up Paradise Crafthouse and Grill.

We do First Sunday every month, where we get together and hang out as a community and eat. Everyone had routines. People came for happy hour every day. We had karaoke and music on Friday and Saturday nights. Everyone knows everyone. You watch everyone’s kids grow up and then they’re having kids. It’s all a really tight community. Regardless of the hurricane or anything else, this is where I’ll be until I die. 

I was nervous from the beginning because my brother and I were in NY for my nephew’s wedding and we weren’t supposed to come back into town until Tuesday. I was talking to some of the fisherman down here and they kept telling me that it was about to turn into a big storm. So Sunday, after the wedding, I started calling to see if I could change our flights. It was going to be about $3000 because they hadn’t announced any travel advisories, so when they finally announced it, I woke up early Monday morning and switched our tickets for about $100 to fly out that day. We worked all night boarding all three restaurants up and after a quick nap, I boarded up my house.

In the moment, you never know what to do. I went and grabbed all my computers so if all else failed, we could at least have the system to get back up and running. We got on the road to Gulfport around 4pm and the roads weren’t busy at all. We figured at that point, everyone had either left or they weren’t leaving. I was watching storm chasers on my phone and was able to see one camera in a truck parked at an old gas station. It come on shore so quickly that they abandoned the truck, but you could see the storm surge coming up and up, until it finally engulfed the entire truck. So at that point, I knew the Lookout’s floor would be underwater.

I’ve been coming to Mexico Beach my whole life. Every summer we would come to the family beach house. We bought Beachwalk almost 10 years ago and then about 3 years ago, we purchased The Grove. We don’t live here full time, but we come here very often. I love the beach. I have so many memories on the beach and it’s awesome to have those memories as a kid and now all grown up, getting to experience things in a different way. To be a business owner down here was something I never thought would happen but the opportunity was just right on both properties and I’m really happy about it.

It’s always been a special place. More and more people have discovered it and I think those people have appreciated it for what it was and what it wasn’t. It’s unique.

Going through the history, storms usually turn to the left or to the right, so I never thought it would be here. We’ve never experienced anything like this so you begin to think they’re over sensationalizing it. But the one thing that really hit home was when they started saying 35 miles off Panama City, you realize Mexico Beach is now on national television. When you realize it was hitting dead on, it was a sort of shock and disbelief. You started hearing all the stories and a lot of false information, but you start worrying about people. Someone who’s helped us for almost 18 years at Beachwalk was staying off 15th street and I had no idea if she was ok.

They showed photos and clips on the news channels and photos are great to get an idea, but to see it in person, it was even worse. You try to find the landmarks you’re so comfortable seeing daily, only to realize they’re gone. You see people’s personal belongings all over the place. You walk down the street to see beach houses that have been there forever and now they’re just gone. It’s unbelievable. It doesn’t seem real sometimes. We have a lot of damage to the home we have down here. It was more than just a weekend getaway with a lot of family ties so it’s hard.

I lived in Overstreet and delivered milk to residents in Mexico Beach in the 1940’s until I was drafted into the Army. I served for over 20 years, in 2 different wars and I finally came back home in June or 1971. 2 months later I became the 2nd mayor of Mexico Beach, after the great Charlie Parker.

I wanted to be sure that Mexico Beach kept it charm and it’s quaintness, and I saw how Destin and Panama City beach were expanding, so I wanted to establish an ordinance to limit any building to 48 feet. This is Old Florida and I wanted to help keep it that way.

My brother owned a charter business many years ago and after I was done being the mayor, I bought a service station with 8 motel rooms. My brother was a bit of a party boy and would often not show up for early morning charters on the weekends and often times, his clients would come into the motel looking for him. After a while, I just started taking people out on my own and realized how much I loved it, so I bought a boat and sold the service station in the 1970’s. That’s how Charisma Charters came to be.

My favorite thing about Mexico Beach is the beach. It’s unique because of how it sits near St. Joe Bay. We don’t have undertow or rip tides so it’s relatively calm and safe. I also loved the pier. I was such an iconic part of the coast.