One of Florida’s newest specialty tags has earned the state a first for the program that features more than 100 designs.
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Florida’s “Margaritaville” tag, approved by the Legislature after musician Jimmy Buffett’s September 2023 death, is the first to be voted the top new design of the year by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association.
Approved in 2024 alongside a bill that designated Florida A1A as “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway,” the specialty plate breezed through the pre-sale process, reaching the required 3,000 sales within six months.
Under state law, a specialty plate must reach that threshold of presales before production can begin.
“It really, I guess, creates that laid-back, fun-in-the-sun spirit that Florida is known for. Obviously, it’s a feeling that Jimmy Buffett shared with many over the years,” said Robert Kynoch, the deputy director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
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The Margaritaville tag, with its colorful beach backdrop between a pair of palm trees, along with flipflops, a parrot, and Jimmy Buffett’s iconic seaplane, was selected from 23 other nominees out of 18 U.S. states and territories, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.
The judging criteria balanced overall attractiveness and legibility for law enforcement.
Proceeds from the sale of the “Margaritaville” license plate benefit the SFC Charitable Foundation, also known as Singing for Change, which Buffett founded.
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