Annual beach party a ‘unique’ opportunity // PHOTO GALLERY, VIDEO

PANAMA CITY BEACH — For Scotty Watson, the best part of Margaret K. Lewis School’s annual beach party is the dancing.

Scotty was one of the 65 MKL students bused to Schooners Beach Club on Tuesday morning — with an escort from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office — for the annual party.

“It’s something they look forward to all year long,” said school principal Lori Hast.

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Schooners first hosted the party in 1977, when owner Toni Davis cooked up the idea.

“She’s been a local business owner for a long time and wanted to give back to the community,” said Ashley Capps, marketing director for Schooners. “She wanted to reach out and make sure these kids had a great time.”

Davis shared a memory from the first party in a press release Monday.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but all you had to do was take one look at the faces of those kids when they saw the beach for the first time! It didn’t take them long; they were rolling in the sand, splashing in the water, and some of them danced four hours straight!” Davis said.

Students from the school’s middle and high school classes are invited to the party every year. They spent the morning playing on the beach and dancing and singing along with a DJ who played songs including contemporary favorites and party classics like “The Electric Slide” before being treated to lunch.

Margaret K. Lewis School is a center for students with physical and cognitive disabilities, Hast said, so some of the students have a “difficult” time with activities many might consider normal.

“That Schooners opens up only to us and our staff can come and assist our students gives them the chance to have an experience that they may not otherwise have,” Hast said. “This gives our students the opportunity to practice independence.

“One example … is that they have the soda fountain set up so the students can walk up to the bar and order their own drink by themselves. They provide lunch for all the students and staff and the students have some choice in what they have for lunch just like they were walking into a restaurant on their own and ordering for themselves.”

Hast described the party as a “unique experience” for the students.

“The community really gets behind it,” Capps said, adding that Spinnaker Beach Club provides the food, Schooners staff members come in early and deputies from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office volunteer their time.

“We love it. This is one of our favorite events that we do every year,” Capps said.