Changes in beach vending in SoWal help with congestion of beach chairs

INLET BEACH, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The beach activities ordinance was changed this year to try and make the beaches in South Walton less congested with beach chair sets.

Walking down the beach in South Walton, you’ll see hundreds of people, and you’ll see their beach chairs.

Historic Inlet Beach Neighborhood Association board member Rich Jaffe said they’ve seen an increase in people this year.

“There is a tremendous influx of people to our area and to our beaches,” Jaffe said.

Many of those people visiting like to rent beach chair sets, but this year they aren’t set up on the beach before they get there.

“You have members of the vendor association at each of the primary walk-downs who take care of the guests when they show up and when they leave,” Jaffe said.

After complaints of “ghost sets” on the beach, commissioners made changes to the beach activities ordinance.

“The chairs are set up when the people arrive and they go away when they leave. Are there empty chairs sitting out there? Sure. Is it as big a problem as it was in the past? Definitely not,” Jaffe said. “We’ve heard a lot less in regards to complaints about how vendors have taken over the beach.”

South Walton Beach Services Association president Philip Poundstone said vendors also get fewer citations with the new rules.

“Think about this, if we have 18-19 locations, and we have hundreds of people who are coming to the beach every single day, we also only put out the chairs when they arrive. If they leave to go to lunch we pick them up and then put them back again. If you add all these up, our staff, we have over 70 staff members right now, we are having over a thousand touch points per day,” said Poundstone, who added he believes the vendors are helping with congestion, especially this summer as more people come to the beach.

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