- September 7, 2024
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A photo from the early 1920s of the intersection of Moody Boulevard and the future site of State Road A1A, facing the ocean. Image courtesy of the Flagler County Historical Society
A postcard from Flagler Beach of the pier and the old Flagler Hotel. Image courtesy of Robert Creal
The old Flagler Beach Hotel, which was located where the new Margaritaville hotel is being built today. It's unknown when the photo was taken, but the Flagler Beach Hotel was torn down in 1972. Image courtesy of the Flagler County Historical Society
A photo of State Road A1A, looking south, taken sometime between in the 1940s. Image courtesy of the Flagler County Historical Society
With less than six months before Flagler Beach’s centennial, the Flagler Beach Centennial Celebration Committee has resumed planning the city's centennial celebration.
Flagler Beach was first recognized as a city in 1925 and will be turning 100 years old in 2025. Originally, the Centennial Celebration Committee was convened under the city of Flagler Beach.
But, committee chairperson Roland Clee said, it quickly became clear that being under the state-mandated transparency and Sunshine Laws would slow the process down. Since May 2023, the committee has been looking for a local sponsor.
Flagler Strong approached them in September, Clee said, and now the celebration committee has been brought under the umbrella of Flagler Strong’s Flagler Beach Celebration Committee.
That doesn’t mean the committee hasn’t been making any headway in the months between, though. Clee said the committee has three teams who have been working on different parts of the celebration process behind the scenes: an events team responsible for organizing the centennial events, a fundraising team responsible for organizing the funding and a communications team to help spread the news.
“We really have this thing running where we all feed off the events committee to make our financing and budget goals,” Clee said. “And then our communications team provides support getting the community involved.”
And they really do want the community involved, he said, from volunteers to sponsors for the events.
“We really need more volunteers on all of the teams,” Clee said. “We've really got the ideas. Now it's just a matter of bringing the manpower to see that dream executed.”
Committee vice-chair Mike Akialis, a local loan broker who runs the financing team, said once there is more information on what events will be happening next year, his team will begin bringing proposals to local businesses for sponsorships.
“We expect an incredibly positive response,” he said.
The Celebration Committee will be meeting monthly to review each of the teams’ progress and to finalize details as 2025 approaches. The events team should be rolling out a list of priority events at the celebration committee’s August meeting, Clee said.
The city’s centennial celebrations will be spread out throughout the year, Clee said. A committee press release said the events will range from historical exhibits, parades and festivals, community projects, educational programs and possibly culminating in a final gala event.
Cindey Dalecki — the owner of the marketing company Marketing 2 Go, leads the communication team — said one idea the committee has is to bring back events that have disappeared in the city over the years.
That could be events that didn’t return after the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, or even things like the Cabbage Ball, an annual dance held in the county in the early and mid 1900s that later died out.
There’s no shortage of ideas for events, she said.
“We're really here to put a bullhorn on the wonderful things that they've got planned over the whole year,” Dalecki said.
Akialis said he thinks a lot of people in Flagler County and Flagler Beach will want to help out — both businesses and individuals.
“I think the whole year is going to be exciting,” Akialis said.
Dalecki said one of her favorite things about Flagler Beach is it’s small hometown feel. She said she can’t wait to see how the celebration unfolds over the next year.
Clee said one of the things he is looking forward to see is how the centennial celebrations highlights Flagler Beach’s rich history and heritage. He said he would challenge anyone to find “a more authentic representation of what a great beach was, and is today, up and down the Atlantic coast.”
“It really is a jewel-status that is shared and enjoyed by people in nearby Volusia County, and all in Flagler County and Palm Coast and Bunnell and then even in St. Johns County and Putnam County,” Clee said. “It's a real destination.”
