By Kevin Boyle

General Manager, 

Seaside Community Development Corp.

Seaside, Fla., is more than a picturesque town on the Gulf; it is a place built on intention. Every brick, pathway and porch was designed with a purpose — to foster community, connection and a sense of belonging. As the birthplace of New Urbanism, Seaside stands as a model for walkability, human-centered design and an unwavering commitment to hospitality. But beyond the architecture and town planning, what truly sets Seaside apart is how we approach service. Our goal is not just to meet expectations but to exceed them, creating experiences that make every guest and every employee feel valued in a way that is, as Will Guidara puts it, unreasonable hospitality.

Guidara, in his book “Unreasonable Hospitality,” states, “Every single interaction is an opportunity to transform a transaction into a meaningful moment.” That idea is woven into the fabric of Seaside. It’s the little things — an unexpected gesture, a personal touch, or a moment of genuine connection — that turn an ordinary stay into something unforgettable.

Seaside’s founding principles align seamlessly with this philosophy. Leon Krier, one of the foremost thinkers behind New Urbanism, once said, “A city is not an accident but the result of coherent visions and aims.” Seaside was never meant to be just another beach town; it was envisioned as a place where people could come together, slow down and engage in a way that modern life often makes difficult. Streets were designed for walking, front porches encourage conversation, and the town’s layout fosters a deep sense of community.

But New Urbanism alone doesn’t create hospitality, it only sets the stage for it. The real magic happens when people take ownership of that vision and turn it into a living, breathing experience. Our merchants, service teams and hospitality staff embody this daily. They understand that guests aren’t just visiting a town; they’re stepping into a place that should feel like home, even if only for a week. That’s why we go beyond expectations to make your experience not just enjoyable, but memorable.

For those of us who work here, unreasonable hospitality isn’t just about serving guests, it’s about creating a workplace that feels just as special. When employees feel valued, empowered and inspired, they pass that energy on to everyone they interact with. From the team members who open the fitness center early to the event staff who make sure every concert and movie night is seamless; we are all part of something bigger than ourselves.

Seaside’s blend of thoughtful design and unparalleled hospitality is what makes it unique. The town itself was built with people in mind, but it’s the people — our guests, residents and staff — who bring it to life. 

Vincent Scully, the legendary architectural historian honored with the mural on our Machado Silvetti building, once said, “Things should not be built for the way we live today, but for the way we ought to live.” Here in Seaside, the streets were built to bring people together, and it is through our commitment to exceptional hospitality that we make every interaction meaningful. We don’t just want you to visit Seaside; we want you to feel Seaside. And when you leave, we want you to start counting down the weeks until you return, knowing that the same care and hospitality will be waiting for you.

Many people have experienced love in Seaside throughout the years. Whether it’s a first date, getting engaged, or getting married, visitors share some of their sweetest stories. Below, couples shared some of their sweetest love stories with The Seaside Times, from celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary to getting engaged at the Pensacola Pavilion. 

Julie and Brad Austin 

Julie and Brad live in Grand Blanc, Mi., and met when they were in high school. Julie first came across Seaside when she saw an influencer that had shared her vacation and she immediately knew it was a place she wanted to visit. The couple spent their 20th wedding anniversary here. 

“We had the best time together,” Julie says. “It was perfect, definitely the best vacation we had ever been on!” 

Julie calls Seaside her favorite place on earth. “It’s so calming and peaceful, the perfect spot for the best memories. We always told one another that we would do something extra special for our 25th wedding anniversary,” she says. “Well now that we have found Seaside, that’s our special place. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year and I can’t wait to go back to Seaside.” 

Brayden and Allison Hebert 

Brayden and Allison met through a mutual friend in high school and took a trip to Seaside after they graduated. 

“Fast forward two years, and we made an impulsive decision to pack up our three cats and our golden retriever to hit the road and move to 30A,” Allison says. “While living in town, we talked about marriage a lot and always sat on the beach talking about the day we would get engaged. Just about two months after living here, we went on a walk around and that’s when Brayden proposed. It was a dream, just us two, no one around. Right after, we went to celebrate in Seaside.” 

The Louisiana couple recently came back to Seaside to reminisce and plan on returning many times to come. 

Courtney and Michael Demperio

Courtney met Michael shortly after she moved to Atlanta when she was running along the Chattahoochee River. 

“We were both out for a run and ran past each other the first time, both intrigued by the other,” Courtney says. “We both intentionally went back several more times before luckily ‘running’ into each other again. From there we made our introductions and the rest is history.”

Michael introduced Courtney to Seaside, as it was somewhere he had vacationed growing up. He knew how much she loved the beach. The couple ended up getting engaged at the Pensacola Pavilion in September 2019. 

While they originally planned on getting married at the Seaside Chapel in 2020, COVID foiled their destination wedding. Still, they vacation in Seaside multiple times a year, as it holds a special place in both of their hearts. 

Two general managers, one in SEASIDE® and one at EPCOT, share a mission of service to their customers

Just as Walt Disney World’s EPCOT captures a sense of wonder and imagination, Seaside, Fla., offers its own version of magic, though on a smaller scale. 

Always eager to try something new at one of Disney’s theme parks, Kevin Boyle, General Manager for Seaside Community Development Corp. (SCDC), visited EPCOT’s Monsieur Paul. This high-end, gourmet restaurant at the France Pavilion serves classic French cuisine. “I’m a giant nerd about the similarities between Seaside and Disney,”  Kevin says. “I am always looking for examples of leveled-up hospitality. Monsieur Paul is a restaurant I was aware of and always wanted to try.”

Dining options at EPCOT include the tastes from countries represented around the World Showcase, but Kevin’s quest was to experience an elevated dining evening, with a delightful meal that exceeded even his lofty expectations. “It’s a very intimate experience,” Kevin says. “My server, Dylan, gave excellent service. And Philippe Girard, the restaurant’s general manager, was constantly coming by to make sure I was having a great dining experience.”

Named for the late Paul Bocuse, who created the most prestigious cooking competition in the world (Bocuse d’Or), Monsieur Paul is one of the finest dining experiences in EPCOT’s World Showcase. The legendary chef’s son, Jerome, designed the menu to feature throwbacks to some of his father’s recipes. With classic French architecture, bright colors and a touch of modern design, the dining experience is an escape from the main area of the park. “It’s a quiet, serene, high-end place,” Kevin says. “It feels like you’re transported to a place overlooking Palais-Royal in Paris.” 

Kevin notes the connection that Disney World has to Seaside, particularly its commitment to quality service. The Disney Institute, celebrated for its transformative impact on hospitality and employee engagement, recently hosted two groups from SEASIDE® that provided profound insights for the town’s businesses. The teams from The Dawson Group and SEASIDE® leadership team had the opportunity to delve into Disney’s renowned approach to quality service and employee engagement. The training offered invaluable insights and strategies that are set to enhance employee engagement and customer service in Seaside. “The tie-in for me is that prior to being General Manager at SCDC, bringing our team to Disney and now as General Manager, I’m taking what I know and implementing that level of hospitality for employees and guests,” Kevin says. “For me, it’s a very natural connection about how we operate. I use it as an opportunity to connect with others.” 

Thrilled by the dining experience at Monsieur Paul, Kevin invited Philippe and his wife, Janie, to Seaside. The couple stayed at The Court and enjoyed a meal at The Shrimp Shack. “It was a time to show him our hospitality experience in Seaside,” Kevin explains. “They had the best time.” 

Philippe and Janie knew Seaside was special from the first moment they arrived in town. “It was very nice,” he says. “The location was impressive and we loved the beach. I wish I could buy that sand.”

Both seafood lovers (Philippe previously lived in Maine and Janie is from Vermont), The Shrimp Shack was the ideal restaurant to showcase this town’s flair for oysters, lobster, shrimp and crab dishes. “I’m passionate about seafood,” Philippe says. “Everything we had was delightful.”

The couple celebrated a gorgeous sunset with Champagne at Bud & Alley’s rooftop bar. “Kevin was my guest, and now we were his guests. It was the perfect getaway.”

SIDEBAR:

Did You Know?

The Seaside – Disney Similarities are unmistakable:

EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), opened in 1982, was designed to be a walkable community, with pedestrian-friendly streets, gathering places and appealing architecture. As Walt Disney described in his vision for the park, “It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and new systems.”

Disney’s plan was for EPCOT to be a town built from scratch. “His intention, in the 1960s, was for people to live there,” Kevin says. “But Walt passed away before that plan could come to fruition, and EPCOT eventually became a theme park, sharing some inspiration from his original vision.”

Seaside was founded in 1981. The vision for the town of Seaside was similarly ground-breaking and disruptive to commonly held beliefs of the role of communities. In a lot of ways, Robert Davis picked up where Walt left off with a planned community that would change the way people thought about developments.

Please meet Emily Askinazi, the director of Sea Shul, the first synagogue in Walton County’s history. Founded in 2023, Sea Shul is a new and inclusive modern day Jewish congregation located in Seaside that seamlessly integrates the natural splendor into its mission.

Emily infuses her organizational prowess and creativity into Sea Shul’s operations. Drawing on her background as a producer and casting director, and time on Wall Street, this proud mom of two says she has always been passionate about connecting people to achieve a greater vision.  

“Hiring a director for Sea Shul represents another milestone in our continued growth and in realizing our future planning and expansion,” says Alan Eichenbaum, treasurer of Sea Shull. “The Board of Directors has already seen the tremendous value Emily adds to our synagogue. We are confident that the congregation will greatly benefit from the addition of Emily as director.”

Together with the founding committee and board of directors and with Emily’s hard work, Sea Shul has quickly grown to over 80 members and has gained significant momentum in 2024. 

“We’re excited to unveil many programs aimed at uplifting our community. One program particularly close to my heart is Kesher at Sea Shul, our kids program,” Emily says. Set against the picturesque backdrop of Janet Stein’s Nature School, nestled amidst trees overlooking the Choctawhatchee Bay, Kesher, meaning ‘connection’ in Hebrew, embodies the mission of fostering connections to Jewish traditions, their peers and nature.

This spring, Sea Shul proudly presents a lineup of vibrant celebrations, including Purim and Passover festivities, regular Shabbat potlucks, the Kesher Religious School and numerous community-building initiatives. Seaside’s renowned landscapes provide an inspiringsetting for congregational gatherings, promoting spirituality, connection and neighborly bonds in the place many have chosen to call home.

The Sea Shul welcomes inquiries and encourages anyone interested to learn more by visiting seashul.com or reaching out via email at shalom@seashul.com.

Our town is home to beautiful beaches, breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, adorable dogs at the Seaside Farmers Market – and a bit less famously, many house cats.

With our own fur babies tucked safely away in their carriers on our way to New Orleans, my husband, Jack, and I started wondering how many house cats actually live in Seaside.

Pinto, Bear, Willow and Bandit (listed in age order, not in favorite order) have made the trip to Seaside and back to NOLA as many times as we have. They are seasoned travelers and love living at the beach.

Jack and I adopted four kittens three years ago after having lost three older cats within a matter of months. The kids were all growing up, graduating college and getting married so we knew this was the perfect time.

We made it a family outing with my mom and two of our three daughters. Our mission was to adopt two or three kittens. We were safely out of the shelter door with three kittens when a woman shouted, “You can’t adopt Willow without her sister Bear!”

So, we became a family of four kittens and five grown kids. Thankfully they do not all live at home so we became a family of six. You do the math.

Our four aren’t the only notable cats in town. While most locals and visitors know Gracie, town founders Robert and Daryl Davis’ white Goldendoodle, many do not know about the house cats that belong to their son, Micah Davis, or the other felines tucked away behind the brightly colored doors of Seaside.

After growing up with dogs, Ziggy and Dot became the first cats in Micah’s life about eight years ago.

Dot came first and displayed all of the “appropriate behaviors of sleeping all day and resembling semi-mobile furniture or a houseplant that has to blink her beautiful blue eyes to remind Micah she is a cat and it is time to feed her,” according to her owner.

Dot’s only bad behavior occurred when she eluded the TSA after escaping her cage before being suddenly stopped by an invisible plastic curtain.

With one happy cat in place, it was time for Dot to have a housemate. Having never owned more than one cat, Micah thought that all cats were basically created equal.

Micah adopted nine-month-old Ziggy from the Alaqua Animal Refuge in Freeport and named him after David Bowie’s wild alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. The name is a tribute to Ziggy’s behavior because he “embodies David Bowie at the height of his career.”

When not resting on Micah’s shoulders, Ziggy is teaching him the importance of “hiding food in the oven and microwave and keeping everything off of kitchen counters.”

Micah’s best advice to all cat owners is to invest in a good lint roller, as your furniture no longer belongs to you.

Ziggy helps Micah decide where he can and cannot sit. In essence, you become “a guest in your own home.” Sound familiar, dog owners?

Many people think cats are aloof. As Micah pointed out, “Cats are not affectionate by default and we should accept the affection when they decide to offer it.”

I would be remiss if I did not mention the other cats that live in Seaside. Some are lucky to be house cats while others are just as happy to live outside, which does not make them any less cherished or cared for.

One lovely couple was not looking for love when they were adopted by a beautiful pregnant cat that was dropped off on their porch. Instead of looking the other way, the family took in Ms. Hissy (also known as Edward Scissorhands) and found homes for the many litters that she had until they were able to catch her and have her spayed.

After finding a foster to take four kittens, including their favorite, Oscar, they thought they were in the clear until he found his way back after trekking five long miles. All of the couple’s cats are friendly, spayed or neutered and up-to-date on all shots. They roam the yard covered in diatomaceous earth to keep the fleas at bay. And Oscar now lives happily with Bitty Kitty and others.