Memorial Day Deals and Maritime Updates.

Where will your family be spending Memorial Day weekend?
Photo credit: aboutalltravel.com

This week we catch up with Jody Clifford, the executive director of the Maritime and Classic Boat Museum, to explore what's new and to talk about the early planning stages of the now infamous "Rum Runner" party. (Remember, time flies when you're having rum.)

Also, with Memorial Day weekend—the official start of summer—just around the corner, Gary Smith, a travel professional with AAA Auto Club South, will join us to share holiday travel trends across the U.S and Florida. Some of the questions the Talkin' Tourism team plans to ask is will the price of gas impact travel, what are the alternatives, will stays closer to home be popular, and are there deals out there we should know about, and if yes, how do we find them?

We'll also cover the top eight resorts to visit for the Memorial Day Weekend, as reported by Oyster.com, a travel industry web site specializing in reviewing resort properties from the viewpoint of the visitor, not the property.

And, of course the regular Treasure Coast and Bahamas features will be in the mix to keep you in the know about what’s happening in tourism around the region.

"See you" at Sailfish Marina!

What's Tourism have to do with Bootlegging and Oil Rigs

OCTOBER 30 SHOW SUMMARY

The Real McCoy Rum Runner Party to celebrate the grand opening of the Maritime and Classic Boat Museum (formally known as the Maritime and Yachting Museum for Florida) spawned a conversation between Talkin' Tourism host Gary Guertin and co-host Robin Hicks-Connors about the real 'Real McCoy' and his legend on the Treasure Coast as a fisherman and part-time bootlegger/rum runner. There were some amazing and interesting tidbits of info tht can be very useful at a cocktail party this Season.

Anne Schmidt, chairperson for the Real McCoy Rum Runner planning committee and Allison Partin, a committee member specializing in recruiting local restaurants to provide samples of their specialties at events, described what is going to be a great event. The party takes place at Indian Riverside Park on Friday, November 13, begins at 6:30 p.m. and will "last until the rum has run out!" (That's the official wording straight from the postcard invitation!)

After the rum talk, the discussion turned to tourism's impact upon the Treasure Coast community. Host Gary Guertin expressed his opinion on whether the local community truly really appreciates and understands the importance of the tourism industry or not.

A few statewide issues surfaced during the hour. Not pleased that Florida is considering allowing the drilling for oil on the state's west coast? Then you may want to learn about 'Hands Across The Sands,' a grassroots effort fighting the drilling initiative. Next, listeners learned what has 1,094 brand new guest rooms and sits directly in the middle of International Drive in Orlando. If you missed the October 30 show, you can download and listen to it HERE.

Coming up this week, tune in to find out if Francis Langford aka 'History Lady' was a smash at the Meet Me at the USO party in downtown Stuart on Halloween night. Until then, be safe, have fun, and enjoy life and living on Florida’s beautiful Treasure Coast!