Variety of special events

▪ Myrtle Beach Elvis Festival, with second round of Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Myrtle Beach contest, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., and “Elvis Presley, The Legend” concert starring Michael Chambliss, Dwight Icenhower and Cody Ray Slaughter, 4-5:30 p.m., all at Legends in Concert, at U.S. 17 Bypass and 29th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach. Ticket details at 888-406-5885 or www.myrtlebeachelvisfestival.com. Also, “Hot Summer Elvis!” 7-11 p.m. in Myrtle Beach’s Plyler Park, at North Ocean Boulevard and Mr. Joe White Avenue, with performers including aforementioned tribute artists, for free.

▪ “Plein-Aire – Wet Paint Day,” 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in Calabash, N.C., with everyone invited to paint, for $20 adults, including bag lunch from Calabash Garden Tea Room, and free for students in grades 6-12. Also, art sale 2-3 p.m. nearby at Jewelry by Wendy, in The Calabash Cottages, 10152 Beach Drive S.W. 910-575-0024 or www.jewelrybywendy.com.

▪ Old Bridge Preservation Society’s grand reopening of Old Bridge Store, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at museum, 109 Shoreline Drive W., Sunset Beach, N.C., open 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesdays. Free. 910-363-6585 or oldbridgepreservationsociety.org.

▪ Spring Fling Clothing Sale benefit, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (rain date June 20) at Seaside United Methodist Church, 1300 Seaside Road (N.C. 904), Sunset Beach, N.C. 910-579-5753.

▪ EASY ESCAPE: “Battleship 101,” 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (also July 11 and Aug. 8) at Battleship North Carolina, at U.S. Routes 17, 74, 76 and 421 in Wilmington, N.C., open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Free with admission, plus tax: $14 ages 12 and older; $10 ages 65 and older, and active-duty or retired military with ID; $6 ages 6-11; and free ages 5 and younger. 910-251-5797 or www.battleshipnc.com.

▪ Cruise-ins, free, by: Myrtle Beach Car Club (742-9802), 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Aroma’s Pizzeria, 10799 S.C. 707, Murrells Inlet; and Hot Rod Promotions (503-8245), noon-3 p.m. for “Cruising Aynor,” from Aynor Town Park, on Seventh Avenue.

▪ At Kaminski House Museum, 1003 Front St., Georgetown: sweetgrass basket making with Audrey Manigault and Barbara McCormick of McClellanville, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on porch. Museum open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, with tours at 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m., for $7, and additional $3 for Stewart-Parker House. kaminskimuseum.org.

▪ Salt Air Jam, benefiting Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (388-5968, 866-324-2242 or www.cff.org/chapters/sc/), at North Myrtle Beach Park Sports Complex, at S.C. 90 and Robert Edge Parkway, with The Embers featuring Craig Woolard at noon, Steve Owens and Summertime 1:15 p.m., The Entertainers 2:30, and Jim Quick and Coastline 3:45-5 p.m. $15 advance at saltairjam.com, or $20 at gate.

▪ “Music Wine Saturday,” noon-6 p.m. at La Belle Amie Vineyard, 1120 St. Joseph Road, Little River, just west of North Myrtle Beach Middle School. Free. 399-9463 or www.labelleamie.com.

▪ Conway Downtown Alive’s “Rivertown Wine-Around,” 3-6 p.m. for wine tastings at various downtown Conway sites. $20. 248-6260 or www.conwayalive.com.

▪ USA Dance Grand Strand Chapter 6024 social dance, 6:30-10 p.m. at Myrtle Beach’s Base Recreation Center, 800 Gabreski Lane. $7 members, otherwise $9. Bring dish to share. 570-881-0244 or www.usadancegrandstrand.org.

▪ Super Summer Lawn Chair Festival concert series kickoff, with Mended Wings, 7 p.m. outside Homewood Baptist Church, 3296 Highway 319 E., Conway. Free. 685-0070, or email jim.mbsc@yahoo.com.

▪ The Root Doctors concert, 8 p.m. at Winyah Auditorium, 1200 Highmarket St., Georgetown. $20. 461-1342 or www.winyahauditorium.org.

For a complete list of upcoming events, festivals and shows, visit MyrtleBeachOnline.com/kicks.

It’s the wrong season to say so, but Floridians are getting a snow job about the state of our economy.

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We’re not faring well when compared to many other states. And when stacked up against the other big population states (California, Texas, New York and Illinois), the recent numbers are humiliating.

Of course, we do not hear such things from our Tallahassee elected. To them, our economy is a red-meat-rippin’, pedal-to-the-metal powerhouse just aching to bust loose as the envy of the global market.

Yet anyone who examines the state’s “per capita gross domestic product” – nerdspeak for the amount of Florida’s economic output divided by the number of people in this state – may want to quit sipping any more of the Tally Kool-Aid.

In 1997, for example, the Florida’s per capita GDP was $36,127. In 2013, it was $38,384. In other words, 16 years later, one Floridian produces on average a mere $2,257 more in GDP. That’s a microscopic 6 percent gain.

In that same time, California’s per capita GDP rose 29 percent to $53,497. New York’s increased 30 percent to $62,420, and Texas was up 27 percent to $52,465. Nationally, per capita GDP increased 20 percent.

Face it folks, we’re not keeping up with the economic big boys – nor the country as a whole – no matter how much happy talk we hear from the state.

To be fair, the recession smacked Florida a lot harder than many other states. It has taken longer after the recession technically ended in 2009 for this state to start getting its economic house repaired.

So part of the question is: Is the stagnation in Florida’s per-person GDP a long term problem? Or is a rebound merely being delayed?

Economist Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, acknowledges the state is behind. But he sees some daylight ahead.

“With every new jobs report and economic data release, Florida puts greater distance between its economy today and the economy that was crippled by recession, housing and financial crises,” he said.

This past week we learned Florida’s overall GDP rose 2.7 percent in 2014, faster than any other state in the Southeast. Snaith sees that growth advantage continuing, which means Florida’s per-capital GDP will start to play catch up with other states.

“I do see the gap closing as we go forward,” Snaith said Friday in an interview from Jackson, Wyo., where the economist spoke to bankers before some RR trout fishing.

His prediction: Florida’s economy will expand over the next four years at an average annual rate of 3.1 percent.

The trick, of course, is whether Florida’s real progress will require a few years – or a few decades – to make up for lost GDP growth.

Yes, Florida is attracting more jobs, or at least jobs promised to come in the future, from expansions by bigger name companies based elsewhere (like Texas and New York). But those jobs apparently remain a drop in the bucket as contributors to our state GDP.

Remember, the dollar figures in this column do not represent wages but individual slices of our state GDP.

A few things are driving this lack of momentum.

As Snaith noted, Florida’s GDP suffered longer than other parts of the country. Then it failed to keep up with the uptick in recent population gains in the state, increases which pushed Florida ahead of New York as the No. 3 state in people. That combined to shrink Florida’s per capita GDP.

Second, the type of economic output that makes up Florida’s GDP is of lesser value than that generated in some other states. When a Floridian on average generates $38,314 while one Californian averages $53,497 of economic output, that’s a difference of more than $15,000 of GDP per person.

That kind of GDP deficit does not sound like a state on the cutting edge of a 21st century economy. In fact, a Floridian in 2000 produced just about the same economic output as a Floridian in 2013. That’s treading water.

Florida leaders and especially Gov. Rick Scott have gone gaga in recent years over the years of record tourism in the state. No question, it’s a prosperous piece of the Florida economy. I’d send a personal Thank You note to Harry Potter, whose theme park attraction at Universal in Orlando is a powerful people magnet – if I knew his Hogwarts email address.

But tourism jobs pay on the lower end of the wage scale. That’s one more reason the value of Florida’s per capita GDP output is making such modest headway.

Snaith agrees to a point.

He said Florida’s booming tourism industry just keeps getting bigger, which dampens the effect of Florida’s attempt to diversify its economy.

“You have this big muscle that keeps getting larger,” Snaith said of tourism. That, he reminds us, is not necessarily a bad thing.

“I know a lot of 90-pound weakling states that would like to have that muscle,” he said.

No argument there. But tourism can’t hold a candle to more sophisticated, higher-skill jobs that are starting to drive other states.

This past week, the Brookings Institution identified the hottest 15 metro areas for advanced industries. That means industries characterized by their “deep engagement with research and development (RD) and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers,” said Brookings. The kind that “drive regional and national prosperity.”

Of those 15 metro areas, Utah and California each have three. Texas has two. And the rest are spread one apiece among North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Washington (state), Michigan, Kansas and – yes – Florida.

The Palm Bay area, better known as Florida’s Space Coast, was singled out for its “small but potent portfolio of advanced industries primarily engaged in aerospace and defense.”

Well, Florida, that’s a start. Even with renewed energy to diversify the state economy, this per capita GDP comeback may take quite some time.

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com. Follow @venturetampabay.

Sabrina Bengel, chairwoman of the Tourism Development Authority, presented the city with an official certificate Tuesday designating New Bern as a North Carolina Retirement Community.

Bengel, a former Ward 1 alderman, said she was on the Board of Aldermen when the idea was first presented. But, at that time, the city was not able to do it, she said.

“I did want to make sure we did have it for New Bern, so under the auspices of the TDA we formed a committee, we went forward, we found many partners who were willing to partner with us and being a (retirement) certified community has now happened for New Bern,” Bengel said.

She showed the board a magazine called “Retire New Bern” with the city’s brand that was produced at no cost to TDA or the city and highlights what New Bern has to offer retirees, from history, homes and events to health care, services and activities.

Retire New Bern is a publication of Halifax Media Group in association with the Sun Journal and The Shopper.

“It’s really a great piece,” Bengel said. “The state has noted we were the first city to put something like this together.”

The magazine will be at all of the welcome centers in North Carolina, trade shows and online at visitnewbern.com and at visitnc.com.

Alderman Dallas Blackiston asked how many communities in the state were now designated as retirement communities.

New Bern is the 12th N.C. Retirement Community and the second coastal community along with Edenton to get the designation, Bengel said.

Alderman Bernard White asked know how it would benefit New Bern.

About 20 or 30 years ago, most of the advertising for retirees to visit New Bern came through Fairfield Harbour and Weyerhaeuser, but that stopped about 10 or 12 years ago, Bengel said.

“So nobody is really actively even marketing New Bern as a retirement designation,” Bengel said. “… We see it as a real marketing tool for us.”

White also wanted to know where it left the youth and how the city could attract them back to New Bern.

That would take jobs, Bengel said, and jobs and economic development was up to the board to create. But she said she was optimistic the economy will turn around.

“Stay tuned,” she said. “We’ve been through some hard times in the last five or eight years with the downturn in the economy, but I think it is coming back soon.”

Previous stories:

New Bern officially an N.C. retirement community

New Bern applying for state retirement community certification