Concert a welcome reprieve from oil worries (PHOTOS)

OKALOOSA ISLAND - Sunday marked the first time Kevin Stephens came back to the beach since oil started washing ashore earlier this month.

Stephens and Dayley Jordan sat under an umbrella while people staked out spots for the Rock the Beach concert. The Fort Walton Beach residents said the event boosted local morale and showed out-of-towners that the white sand is still clean and beautiful, despite periodic tar balls.

Jordan said she thought organizers should consider doing more concerts to keep tourists coming in.

"We can't just wait for the oil to come and ruin our beach," Stephens said.

Keith Haydel, who was in town from New Orleans, said he partied all Saturday night at AJ's Seafood & Oyster Bar in Destin. He was impressed by the stage's booming sound system and the green water of the Gulf of Mexico, which he said was the cleanest he'd ever seen.

"It is the biggest margarita in the world," said Haydel, who added that he doesn't drink salt water.

While many sipped beer as sound checks blasted from the stage, the crowd was mellow, with more people from the hippy era than the headbanger era.

Eric Kirkland, of DeFuniak Springs, said he was glad the concert appealed to the middle aged, and said there weren't a lot of "jits," or jitterbugs, his term for people less than 30.

He recalled the first time he heard the Doobie Brothers, when they appeared on the TV show "What's Happening!!" in 1978 and played "Black Water."

Kirkland said he dragged his wife, Liane, and his niece, Tiffany, who was a little grumpy.

"I had to bring the 7-year-old to the Doobie Brothers concert," he said. "It's not all about Hannah Montana."

Tim Jorris, who's from Madison, Wis., but lives in DeFuniak Springs for now, said he heard about the free concert and decided to come down and check out the "fine scenery." He said he's a Doobie Brothers fan - he's been to two of their concerts in Wisconsin.

"We're willing to catch a buzz for a good cause," he said.

Tiffany and Mitch Fugate of Navarre took refuge in the shade against the side of a beach umbrella box. Tiffany said she hoped the concert brought some tourists in, but thought the heat might have kept some people off the beach. Most people with a view of the stage had to claim their spots early on and sit out in the sun all day.

"There's gonna be a lot of sunburned people tomorrow," she said.

Tiffany said the spectacle gave locals a "little relief" from the ongoing oil dilemma.

"It gives you a day to relax and not think about the troubles," she said.