PCB restaurant owners: “Panamaniac” events not part of weekend chaos

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Owners of three Panama City Beach restaurants are speaking out saying their “Panamaniac” events have nothing to do with the violence that erupted over the weekend.

Harpoon Harry’s, Longboards and Hammerhead Fred’s released statements on Facebook Monday to clear up the issue. The three restaurants are part of the “Panamaniac” tickets through the Maniac VIP Card program. A program that gets you discounts at area bars and restaurants.

Amid the chaos over the weekend in Panama City Beach, you may have seen some flyers for what is being called “Panamaniac 2 Final Invasion” circulating on social media. NewsChannel 7 is not showing the flyer due to its explicit phrases and images, but the flyer advertised a pool party on Saturday, March 26 in Panama City Beach, asking people to buy tickets through Cash App.

Sean Carruth, Operations Director for Harpoon Harry’s spent much of Monday doing damage control, letting the public know the restaurant had nothing to do with the flyer or the violent incidents over the weekend.

“It’s something we have absolutely nothing to do with. We are trying to handle it on a PR level as well as we can,” said Carruth.

Carruth said they saw the “Panamaniac 2 Final Invasion” flyers on social media about three months ago and decided to take action.

“We actually had lawyers send cease and desist orders to this promoter in Alabama to no avail,” said Carruth.

Panama City Beach Police officials tell NewsChannel 7 the identity of the promoter is under investigation, but officials did say the weekend’s chaos started on social media.

”What we saw today, or this weekend, was a social media influencer,” said J.R. Talamantez, Panama City Beach Chief of Police. “They had a lot of followers and a lot of people wanting to follow his nonsense.”

When things got out of hand over the weekend, Carruth said Harpoon Harry’s shutdown early both Saturday and Sunday nights.

”We did everything we could to make sure the city didn’t have to bother with us so they could handle what was going on in the streets,” said Carruth.

Carruth said they have been working with police to curb violent incidents to make sure Spring Break stays family-friendly.

”Using a spinoff of our name does not help us. Again I can’t stress it enough, we don’t condone any of this,” said Carruth. “We want to have a nice safe and happy place for college kids to come down and have fun, simply put.”

Copyright 2022 WJHG. All rights reserved.