A half-dozen fresh, fat and juicy bivalves pulled from the water near Apalachicola, down Florida’s Gulf Coast, arrive on a battered metal platter. Topped with chopped spinach, bacon and Parmesan and served with a cup of melted butter, they’re rich enough for a millionaire and a bargain at $7.99.

Prices tend to be reasonable in Pensacola, which this year is celebrating the 450th anniversary of its founding by Spanish explorers. Famed for miles of white beaches, sport-fishing, the nation’s first Naval Air Station and the precision-flying Blue Angels, the historic city and its barrier-island stretches of sand offer a calmer alternative to more developed, shopping center-packed, high-rise condo beach towns on the stretch of coast in Northwest Florida and Southwest Alabama dubbed the “Redneck Riviera.”

Sometimes hoity-toity customers with motor yachts will drop anchor by Peg Leg’s, says Foster, 46, “and they’ll want a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne. We don’t have that. We’re a laid-back beach with a small-town atmosphere.”

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Pensacola Bay Area tourism officials are hoping the annual influx of snowbirds expected to begin arriving in January and February will set the stage for another strong season in 2008. By most accounts, the 2007 tourist seasons for the Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach areas were the strongest since Hurricane Ivan.

Early indications, based on the number of inquiries and advance bookings by visitors from key Northern states, point toward another robust year ahead. Johnston said low short-term rental rates, the mild weather and road and beach improvements completed recently are all helping to boost occupancy and visitation by out-of-region visitors.

“We get a pretty good showing from Canada,” she noted. “It’s our top international destination, with Germany, France and England in that order.” The strong Canadian dollar could be contributing to the uptick in recent numbers of winter rentals.

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Pensacola News Journal – December, 27, 2007  (Carlton Proctor)

Pensacola Bay Area tourism officials are hoping the annual influx of snowbirds expected to begin arriving in January and February will set the stage for another strong season in 2008.  By most accounts, the 2007 tourist seasons for the Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach areas were the strongest since Hurricane Ivan.  Early indications, based on the number of inquiries and advance bookings by visitors from key Northern states, point toward another robust year ahead.

“Lately, we’ve noticed quite a few people have come in to our visitor center from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan,” said Jack DeGasparre, a spokesman for the Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce. “Most of the people have been from Michigan, but we have been getting some from the Vancouver (British Columbia) and Alberta areas.”

Sandy Johnston, executive director of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce, described the winter season, so far, as similar to last year’s strong showing.  “We get snowbirds coming back year after year,” said Johnston. “This season it looks like it will be a normal, steady year. Unless the weather gets really bad up north, we won’t see them until sometime after Christmas.”  Johnston said low short-term rental rates, the mild weather and road and beach improvements completed recently are all helping to boost occupancy and visitation by out-of-region visitors.

“We get a pretty good showing from Canada,” she noted. “It’s our top international destination, with Germany, France and England in that order.”  In the Navarre Beach area, winter rentals are “much better than they were last year.  Most snowbirds staying in the Navarre area are from the United States, the strong Canadian dollar could be contributing to the uptick in recent numbers of winter rentals.

Also helping are targeted ads sponsored by the Pensacola Convention and Visitors Information Bureau.  Laura Lee, a spokesperson for the bureau, said the bureau’s advertising strategy doesn’t target snowbirds in particular, but focuses on placing ads on outlets such as the Weather Channel’s Web site, along with media releases sent to specific Northern newspapers, magazines and television stations.