Austin Brooks, Executive Director of The Gulf Coast Charity Celebration is pleased to announce the judges and for the 13th annual Gulf Coast Charity Horse Shows and Music Festival to be held April 21–23, 2011; That's right! A fun filled three days at Frank Brown Park, Panama City Beach, Bay County, Fla. for fun in the sun.

The judges are:
David Sisk from Columbia, Tenn.; Jeanette Baucom from Monroe, NC; and Johnny Puckett from Shelbyville, Tenn.

Brooks says, “It is important for everyone to order and pay or have their blank check in for stalls and shavings on or before Friday, April 8, 2011. Due to the enormous amount of expense that the show incurs in ordering the temporary stalls and reserving the shavings supply, the show will only be able to order stalls and shavings for those ordering and paying in advance or sending their blank checks."

This year the show will host the Walking Horse Trainers Association Riders' Cup in six classes. We have made some very exciting changes this year. The show will start Thursday at 4:30PM and will start at 4:00PM Friday and Saturday. The gates open at 3:00PM daily with entertainment before and after the show.

We will have a Speed Racking class Saturday night with great prize money. The show will continue its invention of “The Field Trial” class (class 12 on Saturday night). The Walking Horse Championship Open prize money is $1,000-$750-$500-$300-$200 if there are 5 or more horses in the ring or 50% of those totals, if there are less than 5 horses in the ring (no qualification necessary).

For special fun and excitement Carl Nichols Stables and Ruth Gimpel Stables will be hosting a free pony clinic on Friday morning at 10:30a.m. exhibiting harness, cobtail and hackney ponies to the Walking Horse and Foxtrotter owners, trainers and exhibitors giving them an opportunity to experience their great drive! Carl is convinced you will like driving these ponies and it is just as exciting as the big lick. This will give anyone interested an opportunity to see.

An exciting Owners, Trainers & Exhibitors Party will be held Wednesday night, April 20, 2011 for our owners, trainers, exhibitors and sponsors. The party will be held at The Boatyard, 5323 North Lagoon Drive, Panama City Beach, FL 32408 (www.boatyardclub.com) at 6:00PM, everyone meet us there!

This year’s 2-year-old colt winning “Two-Year-Old Stallion Open” in the competition at Panama City Beach will be eligible to win $10,000 if that colt also wins the PC Splash at Fayetteville, Tenn. and the Two-Year-Old World Grand Championship at the Celebration. The only restriction to winning is that eight or more colts must be entered and shown at each of the three in those two-year-old classes. The Triple Crown winner will also be entitled to have a hunting party for four people at Hilltop Farm Hunting Preserve and enjoy a red carpet quail hunt during the fall 2011 quail hunting season, with accommodations at an 8,500 square foot mansion on top of a 400 foot waterfall.

This year’s specialty act is Michael Griffin America’s Escape Hero, the only two time winner of TV’s World Magic Awards for Best Escape Artist! Dazzling and breathtaking as a performer, Griffin takes supreme escapes to the extreme challenge in many forms. He is the only escape artist granted permission to reenact Houdini’s 1912 death-defying underwater crate escape in 45 seconds and he is the ONLY escape artist to ever attempt and survive a thirteen-knot Hangman’s Noose in 52 seconds! America’s Escape Hero will be performing multiple acts over the course of the three evenings including the $1,000.00 Rope Challenge, the $1,000.00 Police Department Challenge imprisoned by Florida State Attorney Glenn Hess and the Disarming Dare!

Live music Thursday and Saturday with Tennessee Walking Horse Industry favorite, The Whiskey River Band! Friday night is nationally known and Billboard chart recording artist Dr. Hulon Crayton and The On Call Band. Their latest hit “Sax on the Beach” spent 15 weeks in the Top 30 on Billboard and peaked at number four on the Smooth Jazz Indie Charts. Professional dancers from the Fred Astaire Dance Studio will be dancing along to the music of The On Call Band and hosting a dance contest with prize money going to the winners. Put your dancing shoes on for “dancing under the stars” and get a free dance lesson when you enter the contest. Back by popular demand for your Friday and Saturday morning workouts is Royce Reagan!

There will be food vendors, merchandise vendors, rides and amusements for the children (and adults who dare), bouncy houses, pony rides and specialty acts. Fun for the entire family. New events in Panama City Beach this year include a Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast on Saturday from 7:00-11:00AM and an Easter Egg Hunt Saturday at Frank Brown Park beginning at 9:30AM that will feature over 7,000 eggs for our children 10 and under.

Brooks reminds everyone that “The Gulf Coast Charity Horse Shows can’t go on without the continued sponsorships and support” and encourages everyone to continue to support this great event.

Paddock Club table and box seating is still available but is going fast, so everyone is encouraged to place their table or box seat reservations now. For more information call Austin at 850-914-9030 or for information about Panama City Beach call 1-800-PCBEACH. Reserved Tables will include food Friday and Saturday night and reserved seating each night and VIP Parking.

For those of you that join us every year, welcome back, for those of you that are first timers, we hope you are prepared for the red carpet treatment the Gulf Coast Charity Horse Shows and Music Festival has in store for you. See you at the beach!