Written by Bradley Duke Daum
Editor’s note: Longtime locals know the saying, “Grayton Beach – Nice Dogs, Strange People.” Well—it’s become part of the area’s quirky charm. Here, the man behind the phrase shares how it came to be and why it still resonates today.
It was the mid-90s on 30-A Highway in Walton County. Folks were just beginning to settle back in after Hurricane Opal had turned so many lives upside down.
Some things never change, though—the long-time residents, the beautiful white sand beaches. I had been building custom decks for years. So, transitioning into dune walkovers and beach structures after the storm felt like a natural fit.
During one of those restoration projects, I met Chris and Roxy Wilson. They were restoring an older building on Hotz Avenue, right across from the Red Bar. While I was there, they asked if I could build a boardwalk along the entire front of their new art gallery on the ground floor. And just like that, the Zoo Gallery was born.
As with most of my projects, I wanted to incorporate benches. Back then, very few businesses had seating out front—even the Red Bar didn’t have enough places for waiting patrons. Benches added charm to the gallery and gave people a comfortable spot to relax.
But, with every project comes the “retired deck experts”—older men sent out by their wives to critique other people’s work. In this case, even the wives joined in, offering plenty of unsolicited advice as they passed by the new benches.
Every day, folks would walk past with scowls on their faces, tossing out comments such as, “You’re ruining the town,” or, “You’re going to attract homeless bums.” You’d think I would have been used to criticism after building projects across the country for 20 years, but it never really gets easier.
Honestly, I think every builder should be required to take psychology classes to prepare for the public’s reactions. People have an intense fear of change, and they don’t always trust what’s new. Funny enough, it’s usually women who stop to say what a great job I’m doing, while men stay up all night trying to figure out what I did wrong. In this case, everyone seemed equally uneasy about change.
The best visits, though, weren’t from people at all—they were from the dogs. Back then, dogs roamed Grayton Beach freely. They’d stop by my project just to wag their tails, say hello, and smile. And not once did they lift their legs on my work.
That contrast—the eccentric people and the wonderful dogs—inspired me to create something fun. I started printing bumper stickers and T-shirts with a phrase I came up with out of sheer frustration: “Grayton Beach – Nice Dogs, Strange People.” Locals started buying them and proudly putting the stickers on their cars. Before long, it became Grayton Beach’s unofficial slogan.
A few years later, I learned about another unofficial slogan that popped up in Austin, Texas: “Keep Austin Weird.” It reminded me how many people claim they invented catchphrases like these. Red Wassenich, the man who actually coined Austin’s slogan, is rarely mentioned. He never sought fame or fortune from it. I know how he feels.
Sometimes it’s worth enduring the criticism just to speak the truth.
And sure enough, not long after my project wrapped up, other businesses around Grayton Beach started building benches, too.
Today, “Grayton Beach Nice Dogs Strange People” still pops up on bumper stickers and T-shirts across 30A—a playful reminder of the town’s free-spirited roots. It’s a phrase that captures the heart of Grayton: laid-back, dog-friendly, and just a little eccentric—in the best way possible.
