Spring is here and it's time to enjoy warmer temperatures and the outdoors in beautiful Baldwin County!  We have been eagerly waiting for the days of long-lasting sunshine, colorful camellias and azaleas, and fun-filled activities with friends and family.  Over the next several months, a number of exciting events and festivals are in store for the area with many not costing you a dime to attend.  Check out our list of popular events taking place in Baldwin County and start making plans with your favorite people!  Whether it's a fish-throwing competition, a never-ending beach party with world famous musicians, or a downtown festival celebrating local artwork and culture - there is something for everyone, no matter the age, to enjoy!

MARCH EVENTS

The Gulf Coast is known for its famously sunny, warm weathers that keeps visitors coming here all year long. In particular, this area is very popular with snowbirds looking for the perfect place for secondary winter home or just a long vacation on the beach over Christmas. The coldest month of the year around here is in January, with an average low of 43F and an average high of 61F. The closest you'll get to snow down here are those fluffy white-sand beaches everyone talks about.

Coastal Alabama, like most of the southeastern United States, does get the occasional hurricane and, if not hurricanes, thunderstorms in the summer months. In fact, 66% of the precipitation in the Gulf Shores area occurs during thunderstorms. The rainiest months are July and

On January 9, less than two weeks before he would have to leave office, former President Obama made the decision to make a cut to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance premiums by a quarter of a percent, citing the current financial stability of the insurance fund. The cut would have taken effect on January 27, 2017 and was set to save new homeowners hundreds of dollars every year ($500 on a $200,000 home) and enable thousands of people to buy their first home. Within one hour of his presidential inauguration, President Donald Trump effectively halted these cuts and they are now "suspended indefinitely".

Mortgage rates have been rising lately, with the current rate on a 30-year fixed loan being 4.09% (one year ago it was 3.81%)

Visitors to the Eastern Shore area may have spotted the large battleship sitting on the opposite shore in Mobile, Alabama. The USS Alabama (BB60) is the sixth United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Alabama and it has been operating as a museum in Mobile Bay since 1965. Part of the Battleship Memorial Park, the USS Alabama sits near the submarine USS Drum and a museum with over twenty-five aircraft. There are memorials for the Korean and Vietnam Wars that visitors can view after exploring the USS Alabama.

The USS Alabama was commissioned in 1942 and went on to serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II. In 1945, the USS Alabama was used to transport American servicemen in the Pacific back to the United

Built in 1852, Stedman's Landing played an integral part of Montrose, Alabama life until it was completely destroyed by a hurricane in 1916. The area remained a popular destination for both visitors and residents who wanted to enjoy views of Mobile Bay and relax on the shore. Stedman's Landing has served as the only public access to Mobile Bay, but heavy flooding back in 2014 damaged the walkway so badly that it had to be closed and erosion made Stedman's Landing unsafe. In 2015, Baldwin County received a federal grant to help stabilize the erosion and in 2016 the county received another, much larger, grant for necessary repairs to both Stedman's Landing and several other damaged areas around Fairhope.

Repairs on Stedman Landing have begun and include

The Eastern Shore already holds a lot of appeal for potential residents, with numerous small towns just minutes from Mobile and under an hour away from the Gulf of Mexico. What many people may not realize is that the Eastern Shore is also the site of a natural phenomenon that has been a cause for celebration since it was first recorded in the 1860s. Locally known as a jubilee, each year an upward movement of oxygen in Mobile Bay forces thousands of bottom-dwelling fish and crustaceans up to much shallower waters. This can happen in an area as small as a 500-foot stretch of shore or, as has happened, over a stretch of fifteen miles reaching from Daphne to Mullet Point (most people believe jubilees of this size only happen in Mobile Bay and Tokyo, Japan). A

 The Gulf of Mexico is known for being one of the best spots for fishing in the world. The warm, tropical waters of the Gulf make an ideal climate for a number of snappers, tuna, mackerel, jacks, and many other species of salt-water fish. Perdido Pass, which separates Alabama Point from Florida Point, is popular with both residents and visitors who want to spend the day or even a weekend out fishing. Whether it’s from the pier or the beach or on a charter boat, a fishing trip in this area will not leave you disappointed.

            There are several species of fish that can be caught around Orange Beach and Perdido Pass all year long, including speckled trout, redfish, and sheepshead. Other species, such as southern flounders and king mackerels, are

Gulf Shores Hangout Aerial Video

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Gulf Shores Hangout is located at the intersection of Hwy. 59 and Beach Blvd. in Gulf Shores, AL.  The Hangout is a sprawling beach front restaurant on the Gulf of Mexico and features plenty of activities and fun things going on for the entire family, such as a large play area for the kids atop white-sand from the beaches.  There are several staging areas with one large stage back near Beach Blvd with live music playing and numerous bars setup for the adults.  The restaurant serves casual food to match the atmosphere.

The Hangout is

We decided to use an excerpt from a couple of years ago to preface the article discussing the 2014 taxable lodging revenue.

The tourism numbers were for the Summer were provided and, as expected, the Summer of 2014 has eclipsed all previous years and set the new standard.  New taxable lodging revenue has surpassed the $300 million mark for the first time according to information released for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach this past week.  "We only have 2 months of the year left and what we’ve collected so far in business revenue is in excess of what we made last year" said Herb Malone, CEO and president for the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach tourism board.  "Last year was a record year, so we’ve set back-to-back records two years in a row in 2011 and

We've recently added several features and search options to better serve our clients and customers and the general public too.  We continue to improve our websites using new technology, fresh ideas and suggestions from our customers and good old-fashion hard work.  In the past month, we've increased the types of available searches, added new information sharing options, increased listing info and added pages for local webcams.  We've also added Google mapping to all of our condo pages and most of the subdivisions displayed on our website with plans to completely finish all area subdivisions in upcoming weeks.  This has been a bit of an undertaking considering the sheer number of subdivisions in our area.  In this blog, we'll discuss our new features and