Living in Brevard

Fun

Fun was ranked as the second most important factor in choosing a community after Cost. Unfortunately, respondents gave Fun the lowest scores of any of the community factors examined. In general, the older you are, the more fun your perceive Brevard County to be, however, no segment reports scores in the 7’s. Some of the highlights from the segment analysis are:

Single employees report significantly lower scores than Married people
New College Grads report lower scores than Mid Career Hires
Asians and Blacks report significantly lower scores than other racial groups with scores for culture and entertainment in the 3’s and 4’s.

Given the perception that there is not enough high quality entertainment, dining and cultural options in Brevard County, respondents indicated that they are taking their disposable income to Orlando and Tampa. As cost continues to decline as a competitive advantage for Brevard County due to increasing housing prices, it will be critical to improve the County’s performance on the elements of Fun to retain and attract employees.

To review some of the verbatim comments of respondents, please click the link provided below.

Show - Hide Verbatims

There are a lot of nightclubs in Brevard, however they are scattered throughout the county. The age bracket of 25-35 has no real place to go. There are 'rave' themed clubs for the youth who just like to be trendy, and clubs gauged for the 40ish age bracket. Granted, if one liked country music there may be a place to go, but this county does force a lot of people to head to Orlando for the weekends.
The county needs to create an environment that will bring in activities for the large group of young, educated people who are pulled into the area by job opportunities. Through tax incentives for investors, or an advertising campaign, they need to express that the 20 and 30 something population is just as welcome as the senior citizen population.
The county should make known the availability of community activities, carnivals, street fairs, etc. And have more of these types of events. The only way I find out about any of these activities is occasionally from a co-worker, or a lot of "digging" around on the internet. I usually hear about an event once or twice on one radio station the day of or after the event. I believe that more public service information about the area, and events would be good.
We need more culture and activities that would be interested for a variety of cultures and ethnicities. Most of the clubs are for 18 year olds. It's really uncomfortable for a single man or woman in the midst of their careers not to have a selection of places that are geared for 21+ or 25+ so that they have a better opportunity to meet people who are at the same places in their lives.
Not to be sarcastic, but adding "ANY" of the above would be a start. Unfortunately, almost all activities are centered on our 55+ population. (It sometimes seems that every new construction will be either a shopping center or a pharmacy). Musical talent, plays, shows, theater, dancing, arts and cultural events, seem like it they too are all planned for and by someone over 60. (No offense intended. This will be welcomed when I retire. But for now, it makes things pretty boring for me and my family, and most young people I come across.)
We need a bigger variety of restaurants to dine in. My family is forced to travel to Orlando because of the better selection and quality of restaurants.
This is my biggest complaint of Brevard County. There is not really a place that I feel people are drawn to besides the beach, but that’s only during the day. You have an awesome opportunity to make an area into a wonderful place where families and singles congregate for entertainment. Look at the beach, for example. There are not that many reasons for people to go beachside after the sun goes down. There should be places to window shop, restaurants to congregate in, clubs to enjoy a drink in, a outdoor venue for plays or music . . . all within easy walking distance of each other. The closest you come to that is downtown Melbourne, but only on the days of Friday Fest's. The beach area just seems very disjointed to me. You have all the things that I speak of, but they are all spread so far apart that none will ever become a "hot spot" for a wide variety of residents. If you want a great idea, take a look at St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota.
If it weren't for the GRAD program, I would've probably quit because of extreme boredom. Their bus trips to areas outside of Brevard County make living in Brevard County bearable.
Brevard is a slow death for the 19-35 year olds. Melbourne Palm Bay is in extreme need of Indie alternative venues, appropriate dance clubs, bars etc., to keep this group from moving away. (Unless we want to keep losing our best up-and-coming engineers to California, Raleigh Durham, Atlanta, Tampa, and other more interesting areas.)
I want to hang out with hip, young professionals. I want good libraries, good coffee shops, and good music venues. I want to meet interesting people and be stimulated. I want to be able to go out past midnight on a Saturday night. Brevard County has a very limited number of places to hang out late. It also doesn't have many places that encourage people to walk around and socialize. Strip mall designs dominate and most cities don't have a downtown area. I have to drive to every place I want to visit. Driving doesn't promote social interaction. I would like to be able to walk from a bookstore to an outdoor coffee shop to a club or bar. And see people I know along the way. Melbourne's downtown is cute, but ineffective. It's too small to spend much time there, and I'm unlikely to see people I'd like hang out with.