Beach To Beer Fest Loosens Sunglow Pier Restrictions In Name Of Tow-At Contest, Community Cooperation By Greg Tindall
On October 22nd-23rd, Shea and Cory
Lopez joined forces with other Daytona Beach heavies to put together a tow-at
event, music festival, and all-around good time called Beach To Beer Fest at
Sunglow Pier, just up the road from their respective Ponce Inlet residences. And,
for the first time in recent memory, there were zero tensions between the gathered fishermen,
surfers, and Volusia County Beach Patrol.
Sunglow has a checkered history of
run-ins, the most infamous of which came a few years back when Shea and Peter Mendia
were arrested
for surfing too close to the pier. “It’s nice to come back and not get put in handcuffs,”
Mendia laughed of his first surf in the area since the incident. Twin, pile-driven
poles 300 feet to the north and south of Sunglow Pier demarcate the No Ocean
Activity zone written into Volusia County ordinance. And while enforcement of
the restricted area has waned somewhat when the surf warrants, the ordinance is strictly
enforced on smaller days like this past weekend. For the handful of days when
Sunglow tries to imitate Huntington, its general manager, Luke Zona, encourages
fishermen to stick to the end and give the surfers some space. On those days, the lifeguards keep a
close eye out to ensure that none of the past tensions return.
But still, the vibe hangs overhead, and
invariably there is conflict, causing the ordinance to go into effect and the surfers forced to
keep their distance from the pier. For this weekend’s event, however, a temporary permit was
issued with the assistance of Volusia County Councilman Joshua J. Wagner, who
represents South Daytona, Daytona Beach Shores, Wilbur-by-the-Sea, and Ponce
Inlet. Mr. Wagner saw it both as a bid to drum up local business and as a way to
host a fun, family-friendly event at Sunglow Pier. And as young fathers, the
Lopez brothers had a good mix of community-mindedness and a finger on the pulse of their inner groms.
The questions leading up to the event were obvious:
would it be a good idea to have beer so accessible to live music and the best
ski-assisted airmen around competing for $1,000? Does this make sense for all
beach-goers, or was it just for Shea and Cory’s friends? Councilman Wagner took
a chance on the Lopezes, though, persuading other Volusia County Council members
that a responsible event would take place. And it did. There was a decidedly different
tone than at your average surf contest. Although event MC and local legend Travis Ajay was
heckling and ribbing the contestants non-stop, he also put the event on hold for a
moment when a beer can was spotted in the water. Even in the casual
conversations taking place around the pier, the vibe seemed different, the
undercurrent resting with an implicit understanding that had less to do with
proving something to the council members and much more to do with the fact that everyone
had their kids with them.
As such, certain words went unspoken or
were so quiet that they were barely heard. And with all the groms present,
policing was self-imposed. From Cory’s ten-month-old son Luke to the three 16-year-old
contestants in the tow-at contest — Robbie Merrill, Noah Schweizer, and
Eros Exarhou
— there were groms swarming the pier who unwittingly kept the weekend
clean of a feared drunken debauchery. By and large, the Beach To Beer Fest was good, clean fun, and hopefully it
paved the way for similar events at Sunglow Pier.
The waves were a solid ankle- to shin-high,
maxing out at waist-high — perfect for a tow-at comp. Even Shannon “Hopper”
Eichstaedt had to fine-tune his jet-ski skills to make sure he didn’t mow down what little
wave there was with his patented big-wave power. After two trial heats,
the final featured Florida heavies Jensen Callaway, Cory Lopez, Jeremy Johnston,
Alek Parker, Jesse Heilman, and Cody Thompson face off, representing every
region of Sunshine State surfing.
As the clock and event wound down, the
only other beer to fall into the ocean was the one tossed to Cody for his full-rotation
alley-oop, which took the $1,000 1st-place prize. After the buzzer sounded, though,
everyone watched in awe as a flawless 720-frontflip-superman-vasectomy-McTwist
was landed... by Cody’s crushed beer can falling into the recycling bin.
Big ups to sponsors like #PAIN,
Ill Creature Productions, Vanguard Live Productions, Arnette, Floridian View,
Daytona Beach Parasail, Sessions Hair Company, 1411 Designs, Sunglow Pier Live,
Solgier, and Foley Modeling Agency for their support.
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