My letter to the Planning Department and County Commissioners:
I am writing in regards to the continued "Vested Rights" of Rock Hard Designs - Monet Monet located in Grayton Beach.
Long letters don't make good reads so I will do my best to sum it up as quickly as possible. I felt it was only fair that for all of you to get our take on the situation as it should be a part of your decision making process.
My family and I own Grayton Beach Catering w/it's Art Gallery and Coffee Bar along with Beach to Bay Realty. We are located at Monet Monet .. we have worked hard to stay mindful and to be kind and courteous throughout the years as we all play vital roles in our economy and community.
My husband and I both grew up on this coast and have been fortunate to call it our home. One of the things we've come to love over the years is to watch more and more families now making this their primary residence ... they too have found their paradise and want to make it their home, now making more people to be kind and courteous to .. and that's a good thing.
I knew Jonathan Quinn, the man with the vision to build a replica of Claude Monet's home in this paradise that he found .. crazy at it seemed .. he struck out and built the house and gardens. In order financially to keep it all up and running he opened a Garden Shop and Event Venue. Yes, he hosted many weddings and receptions, held lectures and did tours of the garden, had catered music events and opened the grounds to many non profit organizations. Monet Monet was a vital part of Walton County.
When Jonathan decided to sell Monet Monet as painful as it was, he found the perfect buyers .. Rocky and Carla Hard. They also having grown up on this coast and loving it, had found their paradise to live, work and raise their children. So , Rock Hard Design/Monet Monet French Gardens took the reigns. Jonathan stayed and worked side by side with them for three years as they soaked up all the wisdom and knowledge he had to offer for they too loved the gardens. In order to financially take care of the property they continued to hold weddings and receptions, trunk shows, private catered parties w/live music and offered it to non profits for charity events ... Monet Monet continued to be a vital part of Walton County.
After many years working at a neighboring business I made a change, opened a small coffee house and began working full time with with our son Donald in our catering business .. we catered our first wedding at Monet Monet in the latter part of 2011 ... since then we have catered over a dozen events .. all with live music ( trio w/percussion -no drums) and with NO complaints. Please make note: all of these events were held prior to our decision to move to the location...
Monet Monet continued to be a vital part of Walton County.
Earlier this year our circumstances changed and we were given the opportunity to move our businesses over to Monet Monet along with Rock Hard Designs. It made perfect sense, we had already been using the venue for events , its the perfect setting for everything we do .. what an awesome opportunity to join together as a team.
So here we go .. we took all the money we had and invested it into putting our touch and taste to the building and grounds making it our home. With limited funds we were encouraged by our customers to let them pitch in .. and boy did they .. we had a BYOR (bring your own rake) Day with over 75 local residents showing up throughout the day to help .. kids and adults working together, laughing and reminiscing over the memories each one had of the grounds and then the new people soaking up the memories in hopes of creating their own at Monet Monet. The support from locals and visitors during this process has totally amazed me.
Then came the opposition ... a few people get together each of their own reasoning to fight something that has been going on for years ... not one of them comes to visit the site to see what we are doing. These are people whom we have known for years. I'm still trying to get my head around all that has happened.
This is what I do know. We did not move here blind as if this was something we could not do .. we've done nothing to deliberately be defiant .. I have attended many events on this property myself over the years .. this is nothing new. We had been holding events here for 18 months with no complaints from anyone. Our past record to keep the sound, amount of guests and time where it should be has been proven.
This has to stop soon or we will be out of business ... simply, as before us .. financially the property has to produce an income from the venue to survive and maintain. I know the County is not in the business of putting people out of business. We need our Certificate of Land Use (CLUC) .. we need our sign .. between the move and having no sign we are going down fast. Today I have to let 2 Walton
County residents go that are now without a job.
Monet Monet has been, IS and always will be a vital part of Walton County
Thank you for your time and speedy reply to this matter.
Blessings,
Cheri Peebles
