Lake Okeechobee Seaplane Resort Sparks Eastern Shore Renaissance!
Pahokee Outpost- It was not long ago a handful of ‘aging-adventure-types’ took the plunge to develop the Seaplane Resort at Pahokee Outpost hoping that an addition of an aerosports facility catering exclusively to seaplanes would resuscitate the dying ‘over-the-dike’ economy.
‘Small-Town-Skeptics’ thought it was crazy, and worse, to put forth that kind of money and effort in a community lacking any real commercial direction and effective civic leadership. However, the gamble has paid off in the way of true economic prosperity, commercial revenue, new business openings, new construction, a substantial increase in real estate sales and property values, and a boom in aero sports, fly in tourism, festival events, high-performance oriented powerboat events and RV campground activity ...
“Every facet of this project provides some direct benefit to every member of the community. It is gratifying to see how huge it's paid off…! The ‘Naysayers’ and ‘Village-Skeptics’ now say they're glad the risk was taken.”
Today celebrated the anniversary of the resort opening with a Pahokee Outpost-Seaplane Fly In that brought better than twenty-five hundred visitors, including State of Florida officials and local dignitaries from Palm Beach County Tourism and Aviation, to the waterfront to watch pilots take part in various pilot skill and aero sports competitions. The anniversary event attracted 14 seaplanes to the resort facility plus 19 event-guest aircraft and helicopters to the GA facility (AirNav: KPHK)
Located on the exciting Eastern Shore of Lake Okeechobee, Pahokee Outpost has become a regular weekend haunt for Florida’s pilots of seaplanes and conventional light aircraft. Pahokee Outpost has much to celebrate. Since the opening, more than 500 seaplane and 1,400 seaplane PAX arrivals have been ‘logged-in’. This number of aircraft / guest arrivals is substantially larger than predicted for the first year. It just proves that pilots and their guests are always hungry for a great destination. They are always looking for that long weekend adventure and the special destination that will cater to them… Pahokee Outpost is one of those special destinations.
In the past year Pahokee Outpost and surrounding communities has welcomed and supported new, weekend scheduled, aircraft service from Ft Lauderdale, seven new businesses, including a waterfront FBO, a Caribe’ style Tavern, two successful new restaurants, a beautiful eight room bed ‘n breakfast catering to fly-in ‘Lake Players’ and an ICON Aircraft (www.ICONaircraft.com) waterfront / marina showroom. A thirty-eight-room boutique hotel is presently under consideration and a unique houseboat resort complex is coming off the ‘drawing-board’ for bid in the next few months.
Starting November, the ‘aging-adventure-types’ will start developing an intense schedule of PWC / Powerboat Races, Lifestyle Festival events, Aviation-Performance Events and Commercial Shows, all aimed at building the Pahokee Outpost reputation as a haven for the Aero-Marine, Entertainment and Recreation Vehicle lifestyle.
NOTE: Before you get your ‘Tommy Coppers’ in a wad, the above is just one more ‘working-fantasy’ It is, however, based upon a real and ‘doable’ development concept. As to the ‘aging-adventure-types’ you just have to fill in the blanks ...