What a blast! Hundreds of partiers of all ages turned out for the January 10th Suncoast Surfrider Foundation party at Mulligan’s Sunset Grille on Blind Pass. Out on the back patio under the bright full moon, were lots of familiar faces among new ones. Austin Piazza kicked off the party with an awesome acoustic set, belting out favorite covers of Jack Johnson and the like. Then the partiers spread out and made room for the dozen female and male professional models from Benz Model and Talent agency to take the runway in the best beach wear fashions of the west coast provided by many local surf shops. The babes and dudes strut across the patio in barely there bikinis and baggies. As they danced and played the crowd ate them up. Meanwhile the keg, donated by Mulligan’s, kept pumping, and Dave shucked raw oysters behind the cash bar. Mike Meehan and Ron Henkle of Surfrider took the stage, lei’d Darcy and Brandy, and drew the first of three winning tickets for the surfboards raffle. And on behalf of Suncoast Chapter, Mike presented Roger with a trophy, he’s one of the chapters most active members, a long time west coast surfer, an all around great guy, whom will be going into surgery for a new pacemaker (heart) on Monday. Roger we love you man! Locolism from Tarpon Springs, took over and with sit in musicians from Sarge and the Aeromen they did what they do best, rock it good and loud enough for the cops to come. No worries, St. Pete Beach’s finest just came to check out the fun. Two more surfboards were given away in the raffle plus shirts and hats from Toes on the Nose. Suncoast collected $565 in donations and each $5 donation bought a ticket for the raffle. At 12:30, when I left, the crowd was still thick but not so loud and Mulligan’s staff, grateful for their running shoes, looked weary but still smiling.
Huge thanks go out to everyone for coming out!
Suncoast Chapter board sends out very special thanks to:
- Dave and staff at Mulligan’s. Great space! Great food! Great staff!
- Darcy of Benz Model & Talent Agency, from Ybor City.
- All the models of Benz for donating your time.
- Lenny of Lenny’s Surf Shop, St. Pete Beach.
- Joe of Suncoast Surfshop, Treasure Island.
- Greg and Robyn of Surf Shack, St. Pete Beach.
- Larry of The Island Shop, Indian Rocks Beach.
- Pete of Nekton, Indian Rocks Beach.
- Ron for knowing everybody including Brandy the photographer.
- Brandy for the hook up with Darcy and shooting the event.
- Austin Piazza
- Locolism & Sarge and the Aeromen
- Scott from Toes on the Nose.
- Erich & Tiffany from DNA Energy Drinks for keeping the ice chest fully loaded.
- Thomas for the LocalS campaign.
- Jason (6inall) for the LocalS vinyl stickers.
- Kelley, Leif, Mike, Desiree, Ron and Julie for running the Surfrider table.
- John for arranging the bands and the venue.