You'll easily be able to hear the music from our place

Town officials are considering allowing a weekend-long music festival at Freeman Park this summer, according to the Star-News. There are some hurdles; there are worries about vendor facilities, bad behavior and drug use.

At its Tuesday meeting, the town council gave preliminary approval to Michael Oliver's Revolution Evolution of Love Music Festival.

Oliver, who said he has nearly five years of experience planning similar festivals in Ohio, proposed a weekend-long festival at the north end of the park to raise money for the Carolina Beach lifeguard program. The festival will be free, he said, but accept donations. It will also feature paid vendors to help offset the costs of insurance, generators and other expenses.

It will feature local bands such as reggae, folk, bluegrass, classic rock and jam bands, Oliver said.

Bluegrass, reggae, folk and jam bands? Yeah, I can kinda see the drug concerns.

Town Manager Tim Owens questioned whether food vendors could get the necessary health approvals, given that they would need places for employees to wash their hands and other requirements. He also had concerns about the need for extra police and portable toilets. He suggested that if the council approves the festival, that it be held in May instead of April to avoid a possible conflict with beach nourishment (emphasis mine).

(Aside: This is very good news regarding beach nourishment. Yeah!)

The board voted unanimously to approve the festival with some changes to be worked out between Oliver, Owens and Younginer to address the board's concerns.

If this is your "thang," you will easily be able to enjoy the music from the porch of Our Beach Place. Now it's up to you to book the available weekend -- whenever that is!

Wrightsville's board wants to kick butts on the beach

How would this fly in CB? Personally, I'd LOVE to see it.

"Butts will have no place at the beach if some Wrightsville Beach officials can get their way," says the Star-News. "Mayor David Cignotti has raised the possibility of banning smoking on the strand, and most of his colleagues supported the concept at an aldermen's retreat Saturday.

A state law went into effect on Jan. 2 that banned smoking in bars and restaurants. It also allows municipalities to enact their own stricter bans.

Alderman Bill Sisson said he has been on numerous beach sweeps picking up litter, and it's impossible to pick up all the cigarette butts in just a one-block area. "The turtle people would love (a smoking ban)," he added, referring to the harm that cigarette toxins left in the sand can do to wildlife, in addition to the litter problem. ...

Alderwoman Lisa Weeks said a smoking ban would discourage smokers. "If we can deter half the people from smoking," she said, the effort would be worthwhile.

Cignotti said that a public hearing should be set on the topic.

If family-friendly Wrightsville Beach passed a smoking ban for the strand, it would be the first beach town in North Carolina with such a policy, although Sally Malek, a tobacco coordinator with the N.C. Division of Public Health, said that Buncombe County has banned smoking on all county-owned property, including parks.

Surfside City in South Carolina has a beach smoking ban, according to Erin Morrissette, the tobacco prevention coordinator for New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties. ...

Raleigh was looking into a smoking ban in parks at one point as well.

New curtains, decorations and porch furniture

Because of the aforementioned snow, we didn't have a ton of things to do in CB over Valentine's Day weekend. SO ... we decided to make some improvements to the joint.

The biggest improvement was that we took down the nasty old, twisty, plastic blinds and replaced them with 4 panels of curtains.

You can see the "old" here (to the right) ...


... and here is the new (all four closed) ...


... and here (showing how "customizable" they can be).


We also added some shelves in the kitchen. And you can't have shelves without putting something on them.


We think we've done a pretty good job of making storage space in a space not meant for such.




New pictures/art were added to the walls in the living room and in the bedroom.














We also replaced the crumbling porch furniture with a set of nice, new 4 tables and chairs. Unfortunately, I neglected to shoot a photo of it.

And, finally, here's a shot of the glass tile work in the kitchen, of which we are very proud.


Remember, if you are interested in renting Our Beach Place for just a weekend, week or longer, just email us at collards12@yahoo.com

Snow ... at the beach?

The family had a nice, cozy time at OBP this past Valentine's Day weekend. The snow came down in droves on Friday night, meaning we were pretty much house/condo-bound on Saturday. No worries. We watched movies, ate frozen pizza and pretty much stayed in our PJs all day. All in all, a great day.

Here are some photos of things you don't see often: snow at the beach. Enjoy.

Farmers Market set to open April 24

Want some fresh veggies and fruits while you're enjoying your CB stay this spring and summer? The Carolina Beach farmers market is set to run every Saturday from April 24 through October 9. Vendors will begin setting up at 7 a.m., with the market open from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m., according to the Star-News.

The market will operate in the rain, it will close for possibly harmful weather such as storms with lightning. While most vendors will be set up in the park area around the lake, some requiring refrigerated trucks will be able to set up in the nearby school parking lot.

CB may add lifeguards, parking meters

From the Star-News:

The town is considering adding parking meters along Lake Park Boulevard. Officials from Lanier Parking, the company that manages the town’s paid parking, also reviewed parking revenue for the past year and presented several new ideas, some of which are already implemented in other towns.

Click through to see the various options.

In addition, Carolina Beach officials "discussed expanding the beach area covered by lifeguards. Asked what he would recommend with unlimited resources, Ocean Rescue Director Simon Sanders suggested adding five lifeguard stands and creating a third shift, keeping lifeguards on the beach until 9 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.

The lifeguards, in addition to performing water rescues, also help enforce flag warnings that keep people out of the water when rip currents are especially strong, Fire Chief William Younginer said.

Happy New Year!

Unless your name is Taylor Swift, I can probably safely guess that 2009 was not the greatest year ever. Here's to hoping 2010 is much better.

At this point, we have quite a bit of availability for our condo at Carolina Beach. We have recently listed it on a vacation rental website, so we do hope it will be rented through much of the spring and summer, as it was last year simply by word of mouth. But Charity and I wanted to give you all a reminder in case you are interested in staying.

Here's the juice on the place (in case you've never read any of these posts before):

It's a 1 BR/1.5 bath unit right across from the beach that sleeps 4 (1 queen bed and a pullout sofa). Enjoy the ocean breeze from the patio, or walk just feet to any one of the three beach accesses close by (one literally right across the street). We did some updating to it last year but have since added a new hot water heater. The unit also has a brand new range, microwave and the rest of the appliances are updated as well. There is a pool on sight as well as cable TV in the unit.

Let me know if you are interested in staying there anytime this year. We will also rent it for weekends as well.

collards12@yahoo.com