It may not have the tradition of hockey's Stanley Cup or the international appeal of soccer's World Cup, but Flagler County's Tourist Development Office is banking on its newest event — the Coquina Cup — to score big.
The three-day lifesaving skills, open water swimming and paddle board competition kicks off Thursday and offers residents and visitors a weekend's worth of fun in the sun in Flagler Beach. The inaugural competition received a $25,000 grant from the Tourist Development Council last year to market and build the event.
"It's been a goal for a long time to create a multisport beach festival," said Matt Dunn, executive director at the county's tourism office. "Additionally, we're hoping that some of the proceeds can benefit (Flagler Beach recreation director) Tom Gillin's Flagler Beach ocean rescue effort. They lack some equipment they need for surf racing and we're hoping to make sure that changes."
Dunn said the impetus for the Coquina Cup came when Flagler County hosted the 2015 U.S. Lifesaving Association Southeast Regional championships. That event will return to Flagler Beach in July.
"That gave us a portion of the idea to create the Coquina Cup," he said.
The Coquina Cup will be the second event created by the Tourist Development Office, following the Paddle Florida program organized last November, and follows an emerging trend in the tourism industry.
"It's definitely a trend for destination marketing organizations and sports commissions to create their own events," Dunn said.
Dunn said through contacts made at various national sports tourism trade show,s and with some relationships built with local companies, the event has evolved into something that could become an annual competition.
"We found there are a number of smaller events in this space in Florida but there is not a big multiday, multi-event ocean sports festival," Dunn said. "So we hope, especially with the ocean rescue programs around the state, that competitors will see the Coquina Cup this year and in future years to be a tune-up event to prepare for the U.S. Lifesaving Association Southeast Regionals."
Flagler Beach Mayor Linda Provencher, who previously served on the county's Tourist Development Council, said she is looking forward to the inaugural Coquina Cup.
"I'm very excited," she said. "It's a great way to showcase the community."
Provencher said the event could also help local businesses still reeling from the impact of Hurricanes Matthew and Irma.
"May has been a little slow for a lot of the businesses," she said.
That idea is not lost on event organizers and Dunn said the program for the 3-day competition was designed to give visitors a chance to explore Flagler County.
"We are going to run races from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.," he said. "We did that on purpose so people have the afternoon to go explore the sites. This is part of our efforts for the city of Flagler Beach's recovery efforts from the two hurricanes."
Dunn said the event is designed to start small and grow organically from year to year.
"The idea from the beginning has been to start small and then grow the event responsibly," he said. "We do plan to add activities but we don't want to have a footprint that will overwhelm our destination or our resources."
Provencher said she appreciates the focus on responsible growth.
"You don't want to put too many demands on the resources or the residents," she said. "We don't want it to turn into a July Fourth-type of event where you have to have more police and traffic jams and that type of thing."
That suits Dunn just fine, who said the long-term plan is make the Coquina Cup one of the highlight events of the year.
"We want this to become an annual staple within our event and festival portfolio," he said.