Picture this: It’s a Tuesday night, you’ve got some friends in town and you’re itching to get dressed up and show them a good time. You want to be a good host and take them somewhere that shows a bit of local knowledge off the beaten (tourist) path. Where do you go? Enter: SOWAL House.
A Place for Local Creatives
“Art Forward. Local Centered.” is the motto of this entirely unique Rosemary Beach studio and events venue. Founded by Dave King and Blake Jones, this speakeasy venue is a place for local creatives to show off their talents, test new materials and gain exposure while also serving as a gathering place for people within the community to get their fix of that “city life” feeling.
We sat down with Dave King to learn about the origins of SOWAL House, the inspiration that drives it, and how people in our community can be more involved. Interestingly, we were surprised to learn that this story started with bocce ball.
Like many locals, Dave is a “transplant” who moved his family here from New York. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, his family frequently traveled down to 30A while growing up, and he fell in love with the area. He spent most of his adult life between New York and Atlanta, working in cybersecurity and tech risk management until he and his wife decided they could comfortably pack up their lives and head to the beach. His wife, Dr. Bo Yung King, is an optometrist, and for their family’s first few years here, their primary focus was building her impressive practice, South Walton Eye Care.
After a while, Dave met Blake Jones, and the two found a common interest in bocce ball. Struggling to find other local players, they decided to take things into their own hands and go door to door in their neighborhood, trying to find players to join them. Slowly, the league grew into today’s SOWAL Bocce Co., a popular and active league with hundreds of players, and there’s always room for one more.
As they got to know their new neighbors and friends, they realized that almost everyone in our community had something in common.
“30A is extremely unique in that it is a community made almost entirely of transplants,” King said.
In other words, most people in our community move here from other states all around the country and they don’t know a soul. Referred to as “social trauma” by King, their social lives are rewritten and many are starting over from nothing. Having to start from scratch, finding a new social circle can be a very daunting task for anyone, particularly for the large portion of remote workers in this area. This fact, coupled with the area’s popularity as a tourist destination, makes it exceptionally difficult for full-time locals to find each other.
King also pointed out another issue — many people who come from bigger cities to our quaint seaside towns find themselves less motivated to go out and meet new people without the buzz of city life around them. Understanding this, the cool speakeasy interior took shape naturally, along with the vibrant creative talent and top-tier cocktails, providing a perfect city-like escape.
“Tourists come to the beach to get away from the city. Locals come to SOWAL House to get away from the beach,” King said, laughing.
Of course, it’s hard to advocate for local artists and create a community if you aren’t doing something to support them behind the scenes. SOWAL Foundation, or SOFO for short, is their non-profit arm that does just that, by providing essential resources that allow local artists to pursue their passion projects.
Being an artist himself, one who has used his art to stay afloat and even pay for his college degree, King intimately understands how important it is to cultivate the growth of artists. Many artists spend so much time, money and resources on projects to help them pay the bills that they never have enough to pursue what really drives them.
“If you categorize wedding films and real estate videos as independent films, then this area is probably one of the country’s largest exporters of independent film,” King offered.
Together with executive director Jessica Anderson and SOWAL House club members, SOFO has created opportunities for artists to flourish in their creativity. Just this year, SOFO held its inaugural “Sand Up Comedy Festival,” which brought 20 touring comedians to the area for the first time. Comedians not only performed at the SOWAL House but also at several local restaurants and bars along 30A.
Whether it’s comedy shows or something as surprising as a string quartet playing only Nirvana songs, there is always something entertaining going on no matter the time of year at SOWAL House.
Supporting Local Artists
People can support SOFO directly or by becoming members of SOWAL House. There are a few membership options, the nicest of which is the Atlas Club tier. In collaboration with Gallion’s and Cork & Barrel, members receive perks such as unlimited tickets to events, Monday poker nights, cocktail Fridays, a monthly exclusive members-only event and even first-priority reservations in local restaurants.
Along with that, there is also the new Ambassador’s Club, which is a great option geared toward younger people who want to help impact and support local artists but maybe aren’t as flexible as Atlas Club members. Members of the Ambassador’s Club receive tickets to the SOFO Spotlight event, where SOFO hosts an open mic for stand-up comedians, singers and songwriters, or whoever wants to take the mic. This gives them an opportunity to perform in front of an audience and showcase their work outside the typical things beach bars and restaurants look for.
Recently, SOWAL House refreshed the common space of its building with a new art gallery, The Mercado Public Gallery, which showcases the work of local artists. They plan on rotating the art three or four times a year before retiring it to the Anne Hunter Galleries in Seaside, Florida. The gallery will focus on showcasing one artist at a time; 20 percent of the proceeds of all sales will go toward the Rosemary Beach Foundation.
That being said, not all of the art has to be for sale to be displayed. Their ultimate goal is to have an art gallery that shares art simply for the sake of sharing art. As an example, the gallery recently celebrated local legend Didon Comer, who has been producing art on 30A since the 1950s. Not only did she showcase her art, but they also threw a meet-and-greet party on her exhibit’s opening night, which served as a chance to bring together local artists and spark conversations.
“Magic happens when you provide opportunity. It is all about sustaining this community we have,” King said.
In towns like ours, it’s places like SOWAL House, not afraid of breaking from the norm, that makes them so special. It is powerful to be a community of transplants because it also means being an innovative community of new ideas. King and the rest of the SOWAL House team recognize this and work hard to facilitate events that encourage that environment.
To hear more from Dave King, tune in to the SOWAL House podcast. In it, he picks the brains of talented artisans and entrepreneurs and shares the stories of those who have found their way to the “House of Stories” in Rosemary Beach.
For more details, visit sowalhouse.com.
