History Talks: 105 Years of Surfing History with Tom Warnke

Tom Warnke is a local historian and the executive director of Surfing Florida Museum in West Palm Beach. He has been surfing since 1956, when his family moved to Boynton Beach. In 1966, Tom founded the surfing organization Cripple Creek Surf Club. He became president of the Palm Beach County Surfing Association, which convinced the Florida Supreme Court to strike down a local ordinance that had banned surfing in the 1960s. Tom was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and founded Florida’s first Surfrider Foundation Chapter in Palm Beach County. Since 2021, he has been the archive coordinator for the Delray Beach Historical Society.

History Talks are held in the historic courtroom on the third floor of the 1916 Historic Courthouse.

Free parking becomes available at 5:00 p.m. in the parking lot on 4th Street just east of Dixie Highway.

Talks begin promptly at 5:30 p.m.

This ticket is non-refundable.