PANAMA CITY — When Donald and Carol Sevigny saw snow forecast for their hometown of Mechanics Fall, Maine, the snowbirds decided to try and beat the pending frigid weather.
They packed up their van and took off on the 1,600-mile, four-day trip down to Panama City Beach, a ritual since 1994, but this year started two months early.
“There was a storm right behind us,” Donald Sevigny said.
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They are not alone.
Businesses that cater to snowbirds say they’ve noticed a little more of them have arrived here at this time than in previous years, even though the real rush of winter visitors is still expected to kick into high gear in December.
Bayou on the Beach, a restaurant and bar on Panama City Beach, has been packed with snowbirds this week, said manager Randall Hines. He said the restaurant has extended happy hour until 7 p.m., an hour longer than the summer to cater to the winter visitors
“A lot of our Canadian folks are here. We have a couple of Michigan folks in here right now,” Hines said. “Most of my Canadians are here already and are sticking around and staying with families.”
He said the snowbird business is critical to that restaurant’s bottom line.
“I need it to survive,” he said.
The Sevignys enjoy playing bingo when they get here, and were doing just that at the Panama City Beach Senior Center on Friday. On Thursday, license plates on cars in the parking lot of the center shows many snowbirds had arrived, with plates from Illinois, Maine, Ontario, Indiana, Quebec and Indiana. The center is one of the places in town that has lined up a full slate of free activities for winter visitors to enjoy once they get here.
“There are quite a bit of activities,” Donald Sevigny said.
This week alone, the lineup at the center included, among other things, classes in painting, yoga, line dancing, bead making, Wii bowling, Canasta, billiards, dominoes, bingo, Spanish, woodcarving, Bocce and genealogy.
Colin Stark came down a week earlier than normal from his home in Winnipeg to help out with the Ironman event earlier this month.
“We come down before the first frost,” he said. “In Winnipeg, the first snow is around Halloween.”
The retired teacher likes to take photos as a hobby once he gets here. Each day when he’s here, he’ll head over to the Senior Center to enjoy the activities.
“My sister lives in Panama City,” he said. “She was a school teacher. That is why I started coming down. I love this city. I love the singing (at the center.) I come here more for singing and camaraderie and joking around. “A lot of the seniors are 75, 80. That lady there, she can hit the high notes when she sings ‘God Bless America.’ ”
He then points to the corner of the room where a man is playing “The Marines’ Hymn” on the piano.
“John is 95 years old,” Stark said. “He owns lots of condos. A lot of people who come here are not poor. It’s kind of embarrassing, because we get a meal for a dollar and people drive in here with fancy cars and Cadillacs and are well to do.”
Stark said he enjoys the activities and freebies at the Senior Center.
“I like the people,” he said. “Every Wednesday, you get free bread from Panera. I like the Wii bowling, the wood carving.”
Barbara Stewart, who is from Alabama, was at the Senior Center on Friday. She’s been coming down here for 17 years and when she first did, she was a snowbird herself, coming from her then-home in Detroit.
“I’ve been staying at the Sandpiper that many years,” she said.
She said she enjoys meeting up with the same friends each winter.
“That’s where I met my friends here (at the table),” she said.
One of those friends is Barbara Wray, who said she decided to come down a month early this year from her home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
“I wanted to experience November down here, the nice weather, and I’m so happy I came early,” she said. “I want to come down every year in November.”
Mugsy Parens, who manages the Senior Center, said she has noticed more snowbirds have come down early this year to escape the early cold snap up North.
“It has made a difference,” she said.
In the room next door was a group playing sanctioned bridge.
“They are really, really serious about this game,” she said. “You don’t go in there. You don’t make noise. You stay out of their way. They love bridge.”
She said they are going to be offering Karate lessons this season, which is a new activity. Parens said the vast majority of the snowbirds are from Canada, but there are visitors from Indiana, Missouri and Minnesota and other Midwestern states.
She said the Canadians used to stay longer — for up to six months — but they now make sure they head back to Canada after three months to meet the residency requirement for national health insurance.
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“They have to go back over (the border) and then come back if they want,” she said.
David Demarest, public relations manager for the Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that organization is offering a wide range of activities for the snowbirds this year, such as Winter Resident Appreciation Day, Canada Day, Ohio Day. He said Karoake nights for snowbirds at local resorts have a big following. He said most the visitors rent out gulf-front condos.
“A lot of people who come down from Canada spent about same on rent (here) as they spend to heat homes where they are coming from,” he said. “They can come down stay for quite a while for a reasonable amount of money.”