- Dates: May 2015 - August 2015
- Type: Television Commercial
JT's Grommet Island Beach Park, located on the shores of East Coast surfing's birthplace, is an ADA-compliant, fully accessible Oceanfront park; in fact, it's the only oceanfront playground of its kind in the country. This 15,000-square-foot beach park features wheelchair-accessible entrances and an incredible playground that includes poured-in-place surfacing, raised sand tables for sandcastle building at an accessible height, a sensory board for children and a sway boat. "Grommet" boasts sculptural features such as dolphins, a surfboard and a wave, all of which are fully accessible for children, who can imagine catching a wave and swimming with the dolphins, while playing right on the sand. The playground also has accessible seating areas with umbrellas. At "Grommet," visitors can enjoy easier beach access and the opportunity to never have to miss a day out on the beach. "Grommet Island Special Features" You're doing great! You were awesome. This particular spot where we're shooting today, which we called Grommet, is one, this is the birthplace of surfing for on the East Coast. A lot of people may not realize that but this is sorta where it all began. Also, behind the Grommet Island is the only special needs playground that exists in the country on the ocean front. The inspiration for this shoot actually came from my late mother-in-law who was confined to a wheelchair from MS, and she used to love to come to the beach and, they were from Northern Virginia and a lot of other beaches they visited didn't have sand access for the handicapped. We understand the challenges of bringing someone to the beach and not having access to the sand. And it really feels like they're not part of the beach experience when really, that's all we want them to be. So, Virginia Beach's Grommet Island offers people the chance to enjoy the beach and live the life that we all get to live and kind of take for granted every day. Uh, well, Allie gets to be free out here. She just loves the sand, loves to swim, just loves the water. It's just a great place for her to have an outlet. Well, I love the handicap access, the fact that we can just push the wheelchair right down and get her right out to the water without a lot of toting all of our equipment and everything with us. It's one thing to just make sure she's safe to get down here and then I have my little boys help me carry all the other gear down, so, it's just a great place to bring children with special needs for sure. Hands down, what we finished today with Allie was like, the most amazing piece that I've ever been involved in. It was just so real and the footage we got, we were just looking at the back of the camera and I started to tear up actually at one point, it was so powerful. Hands down, like, the most coolest thing I've ever shot in my life. (Lyrics) If the sun should hide away Then I will find it's hiding place And if the mockingbirds won't sing Then I will sing you anything And if the stars forget to shine I'll climb a ladder up and remind them This Is The Life Virginia Beach Live The Life Behind The Beach Life: Grommet Keith Ireland Creative Director, BCF Kevin McCarthy Copywriter, BCF Jennifer Vohar Allie's Mom Brian Bailey Director/Photographer