Spring Break Transformation

Spring Break has been transformed in Greater Fort Lauderdale. Your grandparents, parents - even you - might not recognize the Fort Lauderdale beach made famous by "Where the Boys Are." Spring break has taken on a whole new appearance. Today, visitors include families and couples - and even a few college students.

Students still come - though not the 350,000 that descended on the beachfront at the peak in 1985. But so do families and couples and conventioneers - staying at new luxury resorts and a few mom-and-pop hotels that remain much the same today as they were decades ago.

The story of spring break's history [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_break] - actually dates back to the 1930s - and its future is continually being told, retold - and refashioned. Many of the old haunts - from hotels to bars - still are open, with proprietors keen to retell the tales of Spring Break's heyday.

In 1986, the city began a transformation process that changed Greater Fort Lauderdale from a spring-time college destination to a year-'round, family-friendly retreat. Success can be seen in the caliber of shops, restaurants and proprietors along the beachfront.

Greater Fort Lauderdale's heritage runs deep. The year 2015 marked the centennial of Broward County (named for governor and early leader Napoleon Bonaparte Broward), and 104 years since pioneers first settled along the banks of the New River, traded with Native Americans and made a permanent home in the sub-tropics of Fort Lauderdale between Palm Beach and Miami.