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Panama City Beach Limits Spring Break Gatherings On Sand

College students gather in Panama City Beach, FL during spring break in March 2020.
College students gather in Panama City Beach, FL during spring break in March 2020.

Panama City Beach is limiting the number of people who may gather together on the sand during spring break. It's the only pandemic-related restriction in place at the start of the busy month for tourism.

Panama City Beach is limiting the number of people who may gather on the sand during spring break.

Parties and concerts taking place on the sandy shoreline in March must limit attendance to 125 people. Those who violate the policy could lose their special events permit and get shut down.

The beach crowd limit is the only pandemic-related restriction that the city has in place at the start of the busy tourism month. The city has not adopted maximum indoor capacity limits or mask requirements.

City Council members voted to approve the crowd limit at last week's meeting.

Panama City Beach police Chief Drew Whitman recently told news outlets that officers will patrol the beach to enforce the policy. "Every spring break we plan on this the day after spring break for the following year," he said. "We're ready."

Here are other spring break rules in effect every March:

  • Alcohol use is prohibited on the sandy shoreline and in beach parking lots.
  • No alcohol sales may take place between 2 and 7 a.m.
  • Overnight scooter rentals aren't allowed. Riders may not operate scooters between sunset and sunrise.

Copyright 2021 WFSU.

Valerie Crowder is a freelance reporter based in Panama City, Florida. Before moving to Florida, she covered politics and education for Public Radio East in New Bern, North Carolina. While at PRE, she was also a fill-in host during All Things Considered. She got her start in public radio at WAER-FM in Syracuse, New York, where she was a part-time reporter, assistant producer and host. She has a B.A. in newspaper online journalism and political science from Syracuse University. When she’s not reporting the news, she enjoys reading classic fiction and thrillers, hiking with members of the Florida Trail Association and doing yoga.