Wakulla County's coastal towns just worked one of the biggest weekends on their calendar. Labor Day weekend brings fishermen, boaters and visitors to St. Marks and Panacea, and the owners and managers who run the restaurants and lodgings there say that support makes a real difference for the months ahead.

Kailey Turner, manager of the Salty Donkey in Panacea, told WTXL ABC 27 that the holiday is one of the most important dates of the year for the business. "It's what's going to be able to kind of carry us through the slow season," Turner said. "We always say that this weekend is our last big weekend before wintertime hits, school is hit, and everything like that."

Turner described the pace as "crazy, very packed full," with customers coming in for a drink before heading out on the water and returning for dinner afterward. The whole weekend stays busy, she said, with Saturday, Sunday and Monday the biggest days. The holiday also pulls in visitors who have never been to Panacea before, which helps the rest of the community as well.

John Hines, owner of the Sweet Magnolia Inn in St. Marks, pointed to the scenery as the draw. From the point where the two rivers meet, he said, it is four miles out to the Gulf and the St. Marks sandbar, where the water is often clear enough to snorkel.

Hines also made the broader case for shopping close to home. "Local support for a lot of the small businesses, is their bread and butter," he said. "I mean, it is what they survive on, you know." Restaurants and lodgings across the county are asking residents and visitors alike to keep coming back through the slower season, not just on the holiday weekends.