The Market at St. Andrews A Haven for Locals

In this episode of The St. Andrews Jezebel Podcast, Ashley Feller interviews two guests about the local market at St. Andrews. The first guest is Tom Roberts, the creator of Gulf Coast TV. Tom is an experienced market manager from Alabama and he shares the challenges of managing a market and the unique opportunities it provides to small businesses.
The second guest is Gail O'Dwyer, the dog mom to Betty Boop, the former Salty Dog Mayor of St. Andrews, who shares her experience of attending the market with her furry friend and how it has become a staple in their weekly routine. She also talks about the sense of community that the market fosters and the joy it brings to both locals and visitors alike.
**Main Takeaways:**
- The Market at St. Andrews is a hub for community engagement, economic growth, and cultural enrichment.
- The market provides unique opportunities to small businesses and is an important part of the local economy.
- Attending the market is not just about buying and selling goods; it's about fostering a sense of community and joy.
After listening:

• Visit the Market at St. Andrews to support local businesses and experience the vibrant community.
• - Check out Keep St. Andrews Salty and [historicstandrews.com](http://historicstandrews.com/) for information on restaurants, events, and live music in the area.
• - Consider donating to the podcast or sponsoring an episode to support its mission of celebrating the cultural and community renaissance in historic St. Andrews.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Because she's a Jesubem Saint Andrew ofJezebel. Because she's a Jezebel. Saint
Andrew Jezebel. This is Ashley Fellerand welcome to the Saint Andrew's Jezebel Podcast,
where we celebrate the rich cultural heritageand community spirit of historic Saint Andrew's.

(00:20):
Today's episode is all about Salty DogDay, a beloved annual event that
celebrates dogs and dog lovers in theheart of our community. This event is
an annual extension of the Market atSaint Andrew's, a thriving hub for small
businesses in local agriculture. Salty DogDay takes place every year in February at

(00:40):
the Market at Saint Andrew's. Thisevent is a fundraiser for Operations Spay Bay,
a local organization that provides affordable spayand neuter services to pets in our
community. Salty Dog Day is justone example of how the Market at Saint
Andrew's is committed to supporting our community. The market has a rich street dating
back to two thousand and four,when it began as a community activity at

(01:03):
the Saint Andrew's Marina named the SaintAndrew's waterfront Farmer's Market. It started as
an economic development tool, providing aspace for merchants to sell their products directly
to the customer and opportunities to incubatesmall business. Over time, it grew
into a fully fledged market with adedicated space in a diverse range of vendors.

(01:26):
Today, it continues to serve asa beacon of community activity and economic
growth in Saint Andrew's every Saturday morning. To help us explore the greatness of
the market, I had the pleasureof speaking with Tom Roberts, the creator
of Gulf Coast TV, and he'salso a former market manager in Alabama.
I also spoke with Gallo Dwyer,who you might remember from a past episode

(01:48):
as the dog mom of Betty Boop, the former Salty Dog mayor of Saint
Andrew's. That's right, you heardthat right. The mayor of Saint Andrew's
is a dog and each year thecommunity votes for the candidate they feel will
best served the community. At thetime of this recording, it was the
last day of Betty's mayoral run andshe had just welcomed the new Salty Dog
mayor, Billy to office. Howdo you do it today? Gail.

(02:09):
Oh, I'm doing good. Howare you? Oh, I'm great.
So Betty just had her last dayas the official Salty Dog Mayor of Saint
Andrew's. How has the last yearbeen in that role for y'all? It's
been somewhat busy. We came downto the Margaret several times and did cards
and pictures with the children, andBetty enjoyed that. She loves kids.

(02:32):
And we turned the Christmas lights ondown here at Oaks by the Bank.
We were in the Saint Andrew's SaintPatty's Day Parade. It's not a parade
parade, but it was fun.Betty was in the crew of Saint Andrew's
Parade. She was the grand Marshalfor the crew of Saint Andrew's Pet Parade.

(02:55):
So's it's been a busy year.And I can't even remember a lot
of the other things we did,but we've done quite a bit. Oh,
there was a letter press exhibit contestand Betty announced all the winners of
that down at the Panama City PublishingMuseum, and she loves to go to
the museum. It's a great place, a lot of interesting things there.

(03:19):
So it's been a great year.You can't complain at all. That's awesome.
And what's next for y'all? Ohwell, we plan on still continuing
to be busy in the community,helping wherever they need us. If they
want us to do something and thenew mayor can't make it, they can
always call Betty. She's always willingto back them up. So I'm sure

(03:42):
she'll be busy. Then next yearshe'll probably be campaigning for the next salty
dog mayor whoever those dogs. MaybeI love that, And remind me,
what was Betty's platform? She wasthe bitch you can count on. I
love that. It's a girl dogand you can count on her. So
that her that was her slogan,that was her motto. And I think

(04:04):
she's done it well. She's alwayswilling to help, so I'm sure she
brings a lot of comfort to thecommunity. People know her. She's a
little bit of a celebrity because Imean even I've been on the beach side
with her and people have gotten outof their cars and said, is that
Betty Boop the salty Dog mayor ofSaint Andrew And I'm like, yes,

(04:24):
it is, and I'm surprised,and walking down the street is that Betty
about the main Yes, so alot of people just recognize her, so
she's a little bit of a celebrity. Now, well, you're gorgeous,
Betty, and I could see why. So what are the two of you
enjoy doing on just your every daywhen there's not a market or of that
happening in Saint Andrews. If youhappen to be in this area, We

(04:46):
like to come down here to theoaks by the bay. Is this a
beautiful park and it's so peaceful andyou can go all the way down to
the water and enjoy the breeze offof the bay. We like to walk
along the bay of walkings. Ofbig thing we do down here. We
could like to come to the taproom and have a beverage. We go
to the different places. The museumis one of her favorite places, and

(05:13):
just hang out with the community andall the restaurants. And this is a
very very dog friendly. Saint Andrewsis very dog friendly and most everywhere has
outdoor dining, so Betty can goto the restaurants and eat outside because most
of the time that's where we atehis outside. So so she goes to
restaurants and you know we visit.She's got friends everywhere. Betty gives hugs

(05:38):
and when she sees her friends,she'll run up and lean on them,
giving him a hug. Just soglad to see you giving him a hug.
She's got little dog friends and stuff. One of her favorite friends with
Socks, the former Salty Dog Mayorof twenty twenty one, and he passed
January first of this year, andnow that's been kind of heartbreaking for us

(06:00):
and the community and his dog mom, Crystal Forward. So so there was
a sadness this year. But wehope to get a fountain dedicated to Socks
because he just was such a greatlittle mayor and such a good little guy.
So yeah, I hope to seethat happen. Other than the desire

(06:20):
for there to be a fountain inmemory of Socks, are already plans in
place for that yet. But partof the well, the money that we
were raising with the Salty Dog Mayorthis year will go towards that, so
hopefully we can get that quality oflife is going to help us get that
and put it down there between theBarefoot on the Bay and Uncle Ernie's in

(06:41):
our Gateway villa Park. Yeah,yeah. So, and it's a dog
fountain and a people fountain, kindof like the one we've got here right
over there. Yeah. So youknow that dogs can get a drink,
the people can get a drink.It's it's a great thing for the community
again, and Saint Andrew's is adog friendly community, to be sure,
so water for all. Well,I have one more question for you,

(07:04):
and it's a random question. Sothis is a little bit of a game.
Alrighty, let me pull it upfor you. It's been in the
wheel. Okay, here we go. What's the most unique art exhibit or
installation you've seen in Saint Andrew's andwhat made it so memorable? Oh man,
We've got so many great art exhibits, but I think maybe if I

(07:29):
was going to pick one, Iwould say this one right over here in
Oaks by the Bay. It's atree that fell during Hurricane Michael, and
an artist came in with a chainsawand turned it into a beautiful piece of
art. So out of sadness cancome something beautiful. And I just think
that that's probably one of my favoritepieces in Saint Andrew's. You just got

(07:54):
to come down here and walk aroundwhether it's an installation that's permanent, or
even just looking at the windows.We have so many artists in Saint Andrew's
and we do window painting and thoseare not permanent installations, but they're so
cute. And we had Marty Dogsthis year and all the windows have dogs

(08:16):
and decorated for Marty Gras and itwas just so fasted up and they're going
to come down tomorrow. So youknow, there's a little sadness because I've
just really enjoyed them so much.But there'll be another one. There'll be
more window painting in the future.It's just something that we do. The
next person to join me at themarket at Saint Andrew's that day was Tom

(08:37):
Roberts, who is an experienced farmersmarket manager from Alabama who is now looking
to relocate to Bay County with hiswife, Deliverance Hope, and they will
soon begin Gulf Coast Television. Thankyou so much for being here. And
we just met right here at themarket at Saint Andrew's. So tell me,
Tom, what are you doing heretoday? Well? Doing here today

(09:01):
is it's got a lot of levels, the first one of which is I
ran two farmers markets back in Alabamafor a little over ten years total,
and I want to be very supportiveof the farmers markets. The farmers are
our friends, and who knows,there's gonna come a day when we're gonna
directly have to know where they liveto go get our vegetables because the world's

(09:22):
getting crazy. But just staying friendswith the farmers and all the other vendors
that show up, that's important.Number Two, we haven't existing. My
wife, Deliverance Hope, and Ihave an existing series of websites and a
Roku network based back in central Alabama. We both love the coast she lives
for moving here. So that's oneof the things where in the process of

(09:43):
finding a more permanent location while we'redown here to call our home base,
but we're going to be creating inthe process of about to kick off.
By the time you listen to this, it may have already kicked off.
Golf Coast TV on Roku. Justgo to the homescreen, scroll down to
search channels, click on that,and then you can do a search and

(10:05):
just type it out Golf Coast TVonline. We will have a great website
that is categorized about where to stay, what to do, all the different
adventures, different types of things todo, from scuba diving to deep sea
fishing, and all the family miniaturegolf things, all the amusement parts and

(10:28):
stuff like that. Plus dining.We're coming up with more new We spent
about an hour last night coming upwith new categories for our dining. We've
got fast, casual, We've gotcasual. We've got steak and seafood and
the sweet treats right now, andthen we're going to be adding ethnic,
which is some Japanese, Chinese,Italian, Indian, Mexican, those kind

(10:52):
of places. We'll have a livechannel, Golf Coast TV live on line
and it will have a lot ofthe Golf Coast TV episodes will run whole
sections of that, and then backon Roku they'll have some live stuff,
but it'll also be some own demandso you can go back and binge white

(11:13):
stuff if you want to look throughepisodes of everything that we have to offer.
There's some old classic TV, tochurch services that are local and recent,
all sorts of beach lifestyle, othercooking shows, home and garden,
all sorts of fun stuff. Andmy wife, she's not getting as much
sense to work directly on her GodBreathe TV, which has some great inspirational

(11:39):
and meditation series things featuring her beautifulwildlife photography, especially right here in the
Bay Area. She loves her birdiesdown here. We both have a couple
of characters that we're using for adcampaigns and to introduce shows. She's Suzy
Sunshine and that's quite a thing.Maybe we'll get Susie Sunshine to be a

(12:01):
guest on a future podcast. Butand I do Texas Tom and about a
dozen other voices. I did morningradio for twenty eight years where multiple personality
disorder was not a handicap. Itwas a job requirement. So be a
little crazy and come up with allsorts of things. So it's fun.
This is my retirement. I justretired after seven years of operating a regional

(12:26):
Chamber of Commerce up in central Alabama. And the name of the other channels
GCVTV. Most people just assumed thatit stood for Greater Coasts of Valley because
that was the name of the Chamberof Commerce I was running at the time
now as God Cares Video. Ilet them go with it at first because
we needed to help to support businessesfinding employees and keeping their doors open during

(12:52):
COVID. That was a challenge andit's still ongoing, but not as bad
as it was. Oh, that'sawesome, and you're very talented. I
can tell now. Just I don'thave a problem with going and finding out
learning how to do things. IfI don't know how, I'll play with
it. I'll watch the tutorials.I'll do anything it takes to learn how.
A lot of his trial and errorand it's fun. That's right.

(13:15):
Well, we're just birds of afeather because I do the same thing.
And so why do you feel likelocal farmers markets are at integral part of
the community. Well, it's onSaturdays especially. There are other days for
markets, but on Saturdays especially,it is a highlight a year round.
We have at least three that I'maware of, and I'm sure there are
others that are absolutely year round.They may get a little smaller in the

(13:39):
winter, but there's still things goingon. And I just think that it's
where people go to meet and greetand hadn't seen each other in a while,
family reunions and opening day at theseason. At the one I used
to run, it was that withme and my older brother and one of
my older sisters sat in the parkduring the farmer's market talking with each other

(14:01):
and everybody that came by. Itwas just a chance to see and be
seen, get fresh produced. It'sjust that to me, wrapped together.
That's an essential part of the community. Hello, it is the community.
Yes, the community is right here. They've got our food and you know,
you're gonna get a lot of tourists, but you're going to get a

(14:22):
lot of locals too, and they'regonna depend on you like you depend on
them as a vendor here. Sothat's just an important thing. I've been
a big believer. I wouldn't havevolunteered in the first place and let myself
get rooked into being in charge forso long because it was important to keep
it going. In all the yearsthat you were in charge of farmers markets,

(14:43):
what was the most important thing thatyou learned? The guilty dog barks
first. If you have one ofyour vendors that's fussing about somebody else,
every single time, that turns outto be they were the guilty one and
the other one wasn't. So that'sone of the things. No, but
people are different. People are people, and it's a fun time to get
to know people of all different kindsof trades and things. One of my

(15:07):
farmer's market was a state sanction,which means it was only freshly grown fruits
and vegetables produced that they grew.They couldn't buy it and resell it,
or it had to be home bakedgoods, things like that. But they
were very strict laws on what youdid and how you did it, and
they were very much by the book. A lot of the stuff you have

(15:28):
here could not be done in thatone, but the other one. That's
why I didn't do it state sanctions, so that you could have all those
other things that really add some spiceand flavor to a farmer's market. The
produce was the key, and thefirst one everything was a key, and
the second one awesome. Well,thank you so much for being here today.

(15:50):
I appreciate it, Tom, anduntil next time, keep Saint Andrew's
Salty. If you're looking for ataste of Saint Andrew's, look no further
than the amazing array of restaurants inthe area. Uncle Ernie's and hunts Oryster
Bar are both seafood spots that aresure to satisfy your cravings and For those
in the mood for pizza, SliceHouse is a local favorite, with many

(16:11):
calling it the best pizza in BayCounty. If you're in the mood for
something totally different, head over toLittle Village for Caribbean style fish tacos,
where you can enjoy a meal underthe Palapa Hut overlooking Lake Ware. And
let's not forget about Alice's, whichis the perfect spot for brunch on the
weekends. Of course, there aremany other restaurants to explore in the area.

(16:33):
To stay up to date on allthe latest options, check out keep
Saint Andrew's salty and historic st Andrewsdot com. With a long history of
being a seafood hub. Saint Andrew'sboasts some of the freshest catches from the
Gulf of Mexico. And if you'relooking for some entertainment to go with your
meal, check out the vibrant musicscene with schedules of live performances available on

(16:55):
Ken Schaffer's Facebook page Salty Sounds inSaint Andrew's. We can't forget to mention
the importance of community support and sponsors. If you're interested in donating to the
podcast, you can find information onour coffee page which is linked in the
show notes, And if you're interestedin sponsoring an episode, please be on
the podcast and I'll get right backto you. Saint Andrew's is a wonderful

(17:18):
community that is constantly growing and evolving, and we appreciate all the support we
can get to continue sharing its uniqueculture and character with our community. That's
it for today's episode of the SaintAndrew's Jezebel Podcast. We hope you enjoyed
getting to know Tom and Gale andlearning more about the market at Saint Andrew's
and Salty Dog Day. And we'dalso like to welcome Booie to office.

(17:41):
And if you're Booie's dog mom ordad, send me a message because I
would love to have you on theshow. Join us next Thursday for an
episode that branches out beyond Saint Andrewsbut features local singer, songwriter, an
event organizer Corey Hall. The interviewwas recorded at one of the most historic
Florida events, the Will McLean Festival, which some of you Florida history nets

(18:04):
might know. Will McLean was bornnear Chipley, Florida, which is just
over in Washington County, one countyover, so really neat to have seen
all of this come together in anotherpart of Florida. That's our show,
folks. I hope to see younext week and until next time, keep
saying Andrew Salty