The Salt Line, Vol. 3: Sun, Sand, Servers, and a Fish Painting
Welcome back to The Salt Line, the only local news roundup written from a beach chair that may or may not be structurally sound. It’s Vol. 3. We’re practically an institution. A slightly damp institution.
The Sky Also Plays Baseball (And It Bats Last)
Tuesday night in Pensacola, the Birmingham Barons came to town and the entire Gulf Coast sky looked at the schedule, looked at its watch, and said “not tonight.” The game was rained out, which means Wednesday is now a doubleheader — two seven-inning games for the price of one, which is either a great deal or the baseball equivalent of a two-for-one timeshare presentation. Either way, somewhere in Birmingham, the Barons — named after steel industry nobility — are preparing to face a team named after a fish that is famously bad at planning ahead. The Wahoo did not check the radar. The Wahoo never checks the radar.
A Man, a Brush, and Every Single Dolphin
Wyland — yes, that Wyland, the guy whose murals of whales cover the sides of buildings like the ocean itself got a can of spray paint — is coming to Gulf Shores this weekend to unveil a new public art installation. This is genuinely exciting. Wyland has painted over 100 giant whale murals on walls around the world, which means he has, statistically, painted more whales than have ever seen a wall. We love this for Gulf Shores. We love this for the whales. We do feel slightly bad for whatever building is about to become a cetacean.
The Bay Is Open For Business, Technically
Big news from Perdido Bay: the swimming advisory at Kee Avenue has been lifted. The Baldwin County Health Department has officially given Perdido Bay its gold star, its clean bill of health, its metaphorical swimming trunks back. The water has been cleared. You may now enter. This is unambiguously good news and we celebrate it with full sincerity — right up until we note that the announcement of lifting an advisory requires that there first be an advisory, and that somewhere out there is a person who swam through the whole thing without ever checking. That person had a great week. They’re fine. They’re always fine.
Walton County to the Internet: Touch Grass Somewhere Else
In a move that has Big Tech somewhere nervously refreshing a spreadsheet, Walton County has enacted a complete, permanent ban on data centers. Not a moratorium. Not a pause. A ban. Permanent. Gone. No servers. The ordinance also covers large load centers requiring significant power draw — which, in layman’s terms, means Walton County looked at a facility that might use as much electricity as a small city and said “we have beach traffic, we don’t need more problems.” A Pensacola city councilman reportedly wants to mirror the ordinance. Somewhere in Silicon Valley, a data center is already being renamed “The Coastal Wellness Hub” and applying for a variance.
Three Swings, Three Crowns, Zero Chill
Three young women from the Mobile-Baldwin area have been named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association Super All-State softball team: Saraland pitcher Myleigh Dobbins, and Orange Beach’s Katie King and Emerly McDonald. These are actual teenagers who are genuinely excellent at throwing and hitting a softball at a level the rest of us cannot comprehend. The word “Super” is right there in the title, which is not how awards usually work, and yet here we are — Super All-State — because apparently regular All-State couldn’t hold them. Congratulations to all three. The Gulf Coast is loud about its beach chairs and its fish art and its swimming advisories, but quietly, extremely quietly, it is also producing elite softball players. We see you.
And that’s your Salt Line for June 17th. The bay is open, the ballpark got rained on, Wyland is coming with a very large brush, and the county next door has formally opted out of the cloud. Somewhere, a whale mural and a data center are meeting for the first and last time.
— Sully