PENSACOLA AFTER DARK

Experience The City In A Different Light

By Molly Callahan, Morgan Cole & Destiny Herbert

Name the first thing you think of when you hear “Pensacola.” Sunshine, you bet. Florida and sunshine are basically synonymous. In fact, we get around 230 days of sunshine here annually; they don’t call it “The Sunshine State” for nothing! But all that sun can get exhausting, and sometimes you just need a break from the scorching heat. Fortunately, Pensacola is just as cool, literally and figuratively, after dark. We have rounded up details on some of the best after dark adventures in Pensacola.

Break Out of an Escape Room

Put your sleuthing, handiness and problem-solving skills to the test by booking a session at one of the many exciting escape rooms in town. Want to try your hand at strategizing your way out of the clutches of an assassin like a suave CIA agent? Check out Exitthis Pnscl, located at 1207 Creighton Rd., and book their Assassin’s Lair room for $25 per-person. Looking for a fright during witching hour? Try out the Haunted room at Escape on Palafox at 28 Palafox Place and uncover the secrets of the ghost that bedevils its visitors for $30 per-person. Think you’d make a good detective? Give it a try at Escape Zone 60’s Crime Scene Room located at 4400 Bayou Blvd. for $28 for you and each of your Watsons. Escape rooms are a great way to team-build with coworkers, drive your friends crazy or explore your family’s unique dynamics. If you’re up for a thrilling challenge, spend a night fighting your way out of any of these Pensacola locations.

Take a Moonlight Zipline Ride

Swing amongst the stars at Laguna’s Beach Bar + Grill’s newest addition to the dual restaurant and park, the Scenic Zip Rail. Incorporated among Laguna’s coasters, go-kart track and watersports, the new Zip Rail is sure to provide guests with yet another mode of summer fun. Stretching 1,200 feet across the water, the attraction sets a record as the largest zipline in Northwest Florida. Rates for a ride vary depending on the package selected. Available packages include the Ropes Course, which is

$20 per-person, and the Combo Ropes Course that includes all of the park’s ziprails and a voided time limit on the line for $45. The Scenic Zip Rail Course is also $20 per-person and gives attendees a gorgeous view of the Santa Rosa Sound; add an extra thrill to the experience by riding the 40-foot-tall line in the evening with nothing but vibrant neon accents and the moon lighting your path. Lagunas is located at 460 Pensacola Beach Blvd. and is open seven days a week from 10 am to 10 pm. For more information on rates, passes and more, visit lagunaspensacolabeach.com.

Unleash Your Inner Child at the Arcade

Light up your night with the neon glow of a vintage Pac-Man or Pinball game and take a trip back in time with a visit to The Grid. The super-sized Tronthemed bar and arcade hybrid, located at 2414 N Pace Blvd., offers more than 40 retro game machines, delicious finger foods and a vast beverage selection. The Grid is open from 4 pm to 12 am Tuesday through Saturday (with all ages welcome until 9 pm) and from 12 to 8 pm on Sundays. For more information, visit thegridarcadepensacola.com or @thegridarcadepensacola on Instagram. Play! Pensacola, provides a similar vibe and experience, offering retro arcade games, delicious cocktails and engaging bar activities. Found downtown at 16 Palafox Place, Play! fuses the vintage and the modern with its selection of games that include bar activities like Bingo and Karaoke, as well as pool, skee ball and even shuffleboard. Play! also hosts live musicians and DJs and is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 7 pm to 2:30 am. Visit these adult themed arcades are sure to have you feeling like a kid again while still enjoying the thirstquenching perks of adulthood.

Try to Bowl a Strike

Even if you can’t bowl triple digits, there’s plenty of fun to be had at one of Pensacola’s many local bowling alleys. For instance, DeLuna Lanes (590 E. Nine Mile Rd.) hosts a latenight cosmic bowling night on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 pm to 2 am for $15 per-person. If you’re looking to get started a little earlier than 11 pm, check out Cordova Lanes at 2111 Airport Blvd. in Pensacola. On Tuesdays from 6 pm to close, Cordova Lanes offers bowling games, shoes, select items from the snack bar, Longneck beer and draft pints for just $2 each. They also host Penny-aPin on Thursday nights from 8:30 pm to close where what you bowl is what you pay. Games during daytime and earlyevening hours range from $4.50 to $5 per-person (with $3 shoe rental).

Get Your Skate on at the Roller Rink

Not only is roller skating fun, it’s also a great workout that’s just as rigorous as running, bicycling, swimming or playing sports. It’s also lowimpact—if you’re not too prone to falling or crashing! Grab some friends, hit the local skating rink and bust out some moves like they did back in the day. Pensacola is home to a number of indoor skating rinks. One local favorite is Dreamland Skate Center located at 2607 East Olive Rd. in Pensacola. They have recently updated their rink floor and DJ booth and now offer a weekly Cosmic Light & Sound Show skate on Friday and Saturday nights. You can also compete with friends in one of their skate races, laser tag skate sessions and play some good old-fashioned arcade games while you’re there. Another local favorite is Weber’s Skateworld located at 6056 Stewart St. in Milton. Weber’s hosts themed skate nights throughout the week as well as late-night skate sessions on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission prices range from $5 to $12 per person, depending on what day or session you attend.

Stargazing on the Beach

With so much of our time spent scrolling on our phones or staring at a screen, it’s nice to just take a pause and look up at the sky every once in a while. The Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association holds public stargazing events a the Gulfside Pavilion and at Ft. Picken’s Battery Worth parking lot. At these free events, you can use their telescope as they assist you so that you can get the best view of the stars. They also distribute free sky maps and calendars, give constellation tours and provide solar eclipse filters when needed. Club members will also provide photography tips for capturing the night sky in the best quality. Stargazing is typically held on Friday and Saturday at the Gulfside Pavilion and on Friday at Battery Worth parking lot at Ft. Pickens and begins around sunset at varying times throughout the summer based on daylight. For complete details and to view the schedule of upcoming stargazing events, visit eaaa.net or check out the Escambia Amateur Astronomy Association (EAAA) group on Facebook.

Challenge Friends to a Game of Mini Golf

Hanging out with friends is all fun until you have run out of games to play. A great activity to partake in after dark is mini golf. Even better: alien themed mini golf. UFO’s Mini Golf on Pensacola Beach not only features an 18-hole course, but they also have a full arcade and an ice cream bar. After dark, the golf course gives way to a light show and blasts other-worldly themed tunes. It is a great place to go with your friends after the sun goes down. Children 11 and under can play for $10, adults for $13 and children 5 and under play free. Military discounts are also available.

UFO Mini Golf is located at 2 Via De Luna Drive on Pensacola Beach.

Catch an Outdoor Movie

Summer is here, and if you have run out of things to do, you are probably looking for some new ways to spend your time. A great source of entertainment is the movie screen, but instead of staying cramped up inside, you can see a movie out in the open air under the stars. Grab some friends and a picnic blanket and go catch an outdoor movie. One local place that offers outdoor movies this summer and fall is Cinemas in the Sand on Pensacola Beach. Located at 41 Fort Pickens Rd., this family-friendly event allows you to dig your feet in the sand, sit back and enjoy a movie overlooking the Gulf. Another outdoor movie opportunity is Movies in the Park. These free movie showings are being held once a month throughout the summer at the Community Maritime Park stadium at 351 W Cedar St. in downtown Pensacola.. Movies begin at sunset, and parking is free. To view the schedule of upcoming movies, visit cityofpensacola.com.

Go Ghost Hunting Feeling bored? Take a group ghost tour through downtown Pensacola with your friends on the Ghost & Graveyards Tour hosted by Go Retro. On this haunting experience, a 1930 Ford transit bus will take you and your buddies to some of Pensacola’s scariest locations. This spooky ride offers a history lesson from a different perspective. Some of the tour’s most interesting points go over bank robbery, live burial and embalming techniques. This event is sure to entertain, and possibly keep you awake at night. This tour is designed for a mature audience, so only kids 13 and up are permitted to attend and parental guidance is strongly advised. Go Retro is located at 610 N. Spring St. in downtown Pensacola. Another fun ghost hunting activity is the Ghosts, Murders and Mayhem Segway Tour hosted by Emerald Coast Tours. This spooky tour through downtown Pensacola tells of wandering ghosts and hangings and is not for those who dislike strange and disturbing stories. A one hour segway tour can be booked for $45 per adult, and $40 for locals, students and military.

Try Out Glow Paddle

If you are yearning to hit the beach after dark but aren’t too sure about taking a night swim, Glow Paddle is the activity for you. Located on Pensacola Beach, Glow Paddle offers kayaks with waterproof lights that make for a magical time under the stars. They also have clear bottoms so you can look into the water beneath you as you paddle. This is a great way to explore the ocean after dark but still maintaining a safe distance from sea creatures. Sessions range from $39 to $59 for 45 minutes. Glow Paddle is located at 165 Fort Pickens Rd. on Pensacola Beach. For tickets and details, visit glowpaddle.com.

Enjoy a Ballgame

A fun way to reel in the day is to snag tickets for a Pensacola Blue Wahoo’s home game at waterfront stadium. Not only do you get to watch the baseball game with a beautiful view of the sun setting on the water, but there are also fun activities held throughout game nights. Some games will have specific themes, like a bobblehead giveaway or the Thursday night tradition of “Pensacola Mullets.” There is hot concession food, plenty of craft and domestic beer and entertainment for both adults and the kids. At the end of each game, you can also enjoy a spectacular fireworks show. For details on upcoming games and theme nights, visit milb.com/pensacola/tickets. ■

Please Choose The Summation

Weekly For All Your Legal Notices

The Summation Weekly , a publication of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association (ESRBA) produced in partnership with Ballinger Publishing, offers highly competitive insertion rates and a way to indirectly support your local bar association.

The Summation Weekly is a subscription-based community newspaper circulated to ESRBA members and made available to the general public throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. The publication satisfies Fla. Stat. 50.031, which governs the requirements for publication of legal notices. In addition to the published weekly newspaper, The Summation Weekly website – www.summationweekly.com satisfies Fla. Stat. 50.0211, which requires all legal notices to be made available online and on the state registry – www.floridapublicnotices.com.

Ballinger Publishing manages the day-to-day operations of the publication. Darien Hardy is the contact person for legal notices. She can be reached at legals@ballingerpublishing.com or 433-1166, ext. 25.

Choosing The Summation Weekly generates non-dues revenue that helps subsidize programs and services provide to members of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association.

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION ONLINE LIBRARY: CLE.ESRBA.COM

ESRBA’s CLE Library is now digital! Go to cle.esrba.com to get your credits. Each download comes with the audio from the seminar, the PowerPoint/ handouts, and the CLE Certificate of Accreditation from The Florida Bar. The audio can be downloaded in any file type that you would like including MP3, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, and AIFF formats. For your conve nience and ease of listening, the seminars can also be streamed directly from the library.

If you are interested in presenting a CLE seminar or being recorded for a CLE accredited podcast, please email esrba@esrba.com.

$25 per credit –

6pm to 8pm Pensacola Yacht Club