WCEDA announces TIDE Award winner

The Walton County Economic Development Alliance recently announced the presentation of the TIDE Award at the Quarterly Roundtable Breakfast at the Santa Rosa Golf and Beach Club. The award stands for Thanks for Investing and Developing in Walton County and recognizes local businesses on a quarterly basis. The recipient this quarter is Doctors Medical Center of Walton County for the construction of their new office, and Dr. James Howell was present to accept the award.

Shelton Stone, president and co-founder of Energy Farm, was the featured presenter and excited the audience with an update regarding the future of manufacturing in the U.S. and the company’s plans for a project in Walton County.

“You can’t find a hat anymore that is made in the U.S.; they’re all made in China. I’ll let them have hats, but not technology,” said Stone regarding the mass exodus of manufacturing to China due to the low cost of labor.

Energy Farm’s plan is to not only construct a solar power plant capable of producing enough energy to service 12,000 homes, but to also manufacture the latest technology in solar panels on site.

Also present at the breakfast was a team of International Economic Development Council experts and federal department heads who were in Walton County to meet with community leaders and generate a needs assessment report with strategies for short, medium, and long term economic recovery in the wake of the Deep Horizon crisis. The team met with many community leaders and stakeholders after the breakfast and received valuable information for inclusion in the report. The final report will be filed in Washington D.C. on Sept. 15 and will be available for review by the community.