Visit Jacksonville is partnering with several local attractions and restaurants to offer special deals for Hurricane Florence evacuees this weekend.
Katie Mitura, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Visit Jacksonville, said it came to their attention Wednesday morning that evacuees from the Carolinas were heading south and looking for places to stay to avoid Hurricane Florence. Visit Jacksonville reached out to area hotels, but they were all pretty much full already.
“We are very full at this time with evacuees who have come to Jacksonville for the weekend,” said Mitura.
So, on Thursday morning, Visit Jacksonville decided to see what could be done to help people who are already here. Mitura said Visit Jacksonville is “pulling together different offers from our local attractions for anyone who is from the Carolinas. I’ve already had a couple of attractions who’ve said they’re going to do 50 percent off for anybody with a North Carolina or South Carolina ID. So we’re compiling all of those and they’re going to be on VisitJacksonville.com.”
Mitura said the discounts should help give evacuees a chance to explore Jacksonville, and maybe help relieve some of the stress they must be going through, waiting to see what kind of damage Hurricane Florence is going to do back home.
The deals announced so far for Hurricane Florence Evacuees are:
- AshleyGryre: 30 percent off storewide
- Cummer Museum: 50 percent off for all SC and NC residents
- MOSH: Half price admission for all NC and SC residents with a valid license
- Pump It Up: One free admission per family for NC and SC residents
- Ritz Theatre & Museum: Half price admission for people from the Carolinas
- Theatre Jacksonville: $10 tickets for NC and SC residents
- Wicked Barley Brewing Company: 30 percent off food and beverages with a valid driver’s license from affected areas including GA, SC and NC
- Jacksonville Zoo & Garden: $10 general admission for people with IDs from GA, SC and NC
Visit Jacksonville says their website will be updated with more deals throughout the weekend.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
