The First Friday Luncheon was held on July 2, 1999 at Tops'l with another wonderful group in attendance. The food was excellent and the networking possibilities were endless. Kriss Titus, Executive Director of the South Walton Tourist Development Council and Myra Williams, Marketing Director of the Silver Sands Factory Stores gave a very informative program entitled "Money Makes the World Go Round". They narrated a visual presentation on how tourism and shopping centers work together to contribute money to our area's economy. Locally, tax revenues generated from tourism underwrite about 50% of the County's annual budget.

Ted Corcoran of Abbott Resorts - a ResortQuest Company did the usual fine job as Master of Ceremonies. Joyce Szilvasy, Walton County Chamber of Commerce President made an announcement of the status of the Foundation being formed for the Chamber and informed the group of the Board-approved slate of nomination for new Board members for the Chamber.

Door prizes were donated by the following Chamber members: Bayou Arts and Antiques, Chautauqua Vineyards, The Gourd Garden, The Russell Barley Collection, United Way of Okaloosa - Walton County, and The Walton SUN. Silver Sands also brought door prizes from several of the shopping center's stores and lottery tickets for everyone to have a chance at becoming a millionaire. Unfortunately we have no new millionaires to report about, but we all had fun trying!