Southpinellas: Beaches try to be easier to find

Beaches try to be easier to find

By Sharon L. Bond

The Gulf Beaches of Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce was having a bit of an identity crisis, so it has taken on a stage name, so to speak.

Internet searchers and long-distance information dialers now can find the 12 beach communities that make up the Gulf Beaches chamber under Tampa Bay Beaches.

"It's strictly a marketing tool," said Debbie Stambaugh, executive director of the chamber. The corporate name of the chamber will remain Gulf Beaches.

"The individual cities are not that well known. You can go to Tampa and ask where Belleair Beach is, and people won't know. If you have that kind of identity crisis locally, imagine what it is like nationally."

The Gulf Beaches chamber includes Belleair Bluffs, Belleair Beach, Belleair Shore, Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores, Redington Shores, North Redington Beach, Redington Beach, Madeira Beach, St. Pete Beach, South Pasadena and Treasure Island.

"It's a way to get our name out there. It gives us the ability to grab onto the coattails of big players already spending a billion dollars marketing and hang on," Stambaugh said. Big players include the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Tampa Bay Lightning, among others.

Stambaugh said the name on stationery, brochures and the like won't be changed until supplies are re-ordered.

The chamber board unanimously approved the use of Tampa Bay Beaches after conversations with mayors of the involved towns. The chamber planned to announce the new name at its installation dinner Saturday night.