The Salt Line, Vol. 6: Whales, Ales, and a Pool With Conditions
Welcome back to The Salt Line, the only news column on the Gulf Coast that legally cannot be used as a primary news source. It’s hot, it’s June 20th, and somewhere right now a tourist is learning what “real feel 109°F” means the hard way. Let’s get into it.
🐋 A Man Painted an Entire Ocean and Put It on a Surf Shop
World-famous marine artist Wyland — one name, like Cher but wetter — rolled into Gulf Shores and unveiled a massive new mural at Surf Style. We’re talking large-scale public art. We’re talking whales the size of minivans. We’re talking a man who has dedicated his life to painting the ocean… and placed the result directly next to the ocean.
This is the artistic equivalent of hanging a photo of your house on the outside of your house. And you know what? It absolutely rules. Welcome to Gulf Shores, Wyland. The gift shop is right inside.
🏊 Foley Is Getting an Indoor Pool, Which: Sure, Why Not
In news that will delight approximately every parent of a swim-team kid within a 40-mile radius, construction on a new indoor aquatic center in Foley is set to begin later this year. Indoor. In a coastal Alabama town where it is currently the temperature of a gas station hot dog.
I respect the vision. You’ve got the actual Gulf of Mexico twenty minutes south, but you know what? Sometimes you want to do laps in a climate-controlled building with lane ropes and a vending machine that only takes exact change. This is growth. This is civilization. Foley out here building the future one lap lane at a time.
🍺 The 12th Annual Craft Beer Fest Has No Chill and Neither Do We
The Fish House in Pensacola is hosting its 12th annual Craft Beer Fest today — Saturday, June 20th, 3 to 6 p.m. on the deck. Three hours of craft beer. On a deck. In June. In Pensacola.
Let’s run the math: heat index somewhere north of “irresponsible,” a wood deck radiating like a cast iron skillet, and your choice of rotating IPAs. This is not a beer festival. This is a trial by elements. The survivors get bragging rights and a very specific sunburn. I will be there. I have already pre-hydrated. See you at the finish line, warriors.
🚽 Roger Scott Pool: Open! (Terms and Conditions Apply)
Great news, Pensacola: Roger Scott Pool is reopening for a summer swim season. Slightly less great news: it’s a shortened season, and they’ve set up a temporary restroom facility for the occasion.
A temporary restroom. At a pool. I want to be encouraging here, I really do — and honestly, a public pool being open at all in this heat is legitimately good news. But “temporary restroom facility” is doing a lot of diplomatic lifting in that press release. Whatever it is, it has a door and good intentions, and that’s what matters. The water is wet, the season is short, go swim.
💉 Foley Gets $2.7 Million for Advanced Medical Manufacturing (The Responsible Item)
Look, I can’t do a full column of beer festivals and whale murals without acknowledging that Foley just landed $2.7 million in state and local incentives for a new advanced medical manufacturing project. Jobs, investment, the economy — Foley is out here getting a pool and a medical facility in the same week.
At this rate, Foley is going to have better amenities than most mid-sized American cities by 2028. I look forward to getting a hip replacement in the same town where I do my backstroke laps.
That’s a wrap on Vol. 6. Remember: there’s a giant whale on a surf shop, a pool with a temporary restroom, beer in the blazing sun, and Foley is apparently just building things now. Summer on the Gulf Coast is operating as intended.
Stay salty.
— Sully