CB board: Give boardwalk year-round status

From the Star-News:

The end of the summer season is known to arrive when Britt's Donut Shop serves its last tasty treat and shuts its metal drop-down doors on the Carolina Beach Boardwalk. ...

And as the crowds dwindled at the end of September and the last batch of doughnuts were out the door, many other Boardwalk businesses followed suit and decided to close for several months or for certain days each week.

But with the help of the town's Boardwalk Makeover Committee, some have vowed to reach a goal of making the Boardwalk a year-round destination.

The effort faces an uphill battle against perception, however. People don't want to visit the Boardwalk because they don't think any shops are open, while shops don't want to open because they don't think people will visit, said Councilman Dan Wilcox, co-founder of the Boardwalk Makeover Committee.

"To work toward that, what we're trying to do each year is to extend the season a little bit," he said.

Bye bye Britt's (for now), and CB is in the spotlight

"Donut lovers who can't get enough of Britt's Donuts in Carolina Beach are going to have to wait several months before eating them again," says WECT.

"Sunday, the donut shop officially closed for winter. ...

"Every year in the fall the donut shop closes for the winter and reopens in the spring...."

However, the good news is that CB is getting some nice notoriety.

"Carolina Beach is the perfect destination for a fall getaway," says Travel Video News. "Fall means family-friendly festivals and events. It’s always play time. The autumn is special in Carolina Beach where events and activities happen nonstop. There’s a lot to do and an added bonus of uncrowded beaches. Carolina Beach is a popular summertime destination, but in the fall, with its special rates on accommodations, it delivers exceptional value."

(Ahem -- like Our Beach Place.)

"There’s lots of ways to relax and have some traditional family fun. Stroll hand-in-hand along the shore or on the boardwalk. Leave your cares behind and have a picnic, hike along the nature trails and do a little bird watching, or rent a paddleboat at Carolina Beach Lake Park. If you love to fish, grab a pole and join a fishing excursion. Several charter fishing boats are available for rental at the Carolina Beach Fishing Center and Marina. Drop a line off the pier or try your hand at surf fishing. Rent a canoe or kayak and paddle your cares away. Take a ride through town on a surrey bike. Outdoor adventure is all around."

The Gazzetteer and Carolina Beach

The highly entertaining and educational North Carolina Gazetteer has been updated for the first time since it was first published in 1968. (Kudos to Michael Hill at the N.C. Office of Archives and History for undertaking the updating of William Powell's monumental publication.)

So what info does it have in there about Carolina Beach?

Carolina Beach, town in (southeast) New Hanover County on the Atlantic Ocean. Alt. 5. Settled about 1885; inc. 1925. Sugar Loaf, a former community at or near the site, was the scene of an engagement between Confederate and Union forces after the capitulation of Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865.

Also ...

Carolina Beach Inlet, (southeast) New Hanover County, an artificially created inlet from the Atlantic Ocean through the barrier bar about 2 1/2 mi. (north) of the town of Carolina Beach. A dredged channel extends from the inlet to the Intracoastal Waterway.

Consider yourself "edumacated."

The North Carolina Gazetteer is published by UNC Press. To order one, click here.

Screaming kids? Take your business elsewhere

This article has sure gotten a lot of publicity (and so has the restaurant in question).

The owner of a coastal North Carolina restaurant is fed up with screaming children who bother other diners.

So Brenda Armes has posted signs at Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach that read “screaming children will not be tolerated.” She told WECT-TV in Wilmington that the signs have worked by attracting more customers than they turn away.

Customer Gary Gibson agrees, saying he likes the signs because a meal isn’t enjoyable when kids are screaming.

But a mother of two, Ashley Heflin, says parents can’t help it if their children scream.

If a child is screaming, Armes says a restaurant employee will ask the parent to take them outside. They won’t be asked to leave the restaurant for good.

I have two very small children, and you never know when they're going to "go off." Having said that, Armes has every right to put up those signs and enforce it. Heck, I actually see her logic in it.

I think the key is understanding what kind of establishment you are running. (I can say that I've never been to Olde Salty.) If it's a loud, kinda run-down beach place, then maybe telling families not to bring their screaming kids isn't such a good idea. If it's a white tablecloth kinda place, then you probably shouldn't bring the "young'uns" there in the first place.

Folks are going back to the beach

Despite the slumping economy (or maybe because of it?), people are still heading to the beach, says this article in the News & Observer.

Longer lines, fewer discounts and more "No Vacancy" signs indicate that tourism business along the North Carolina coast has been better this summer than in the previous two. State tourism figures confirm that travel is up across the state, with the southeast region, which includes New Hanover and Brunswick counties, showing the biggest increase - 9 percent - in room occupancy rates for June compared to last year.

"And we expect to see the same for July and August," said Margo Metzger, public relations manager for the state Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development.

It's not clear whether business is better because the economy has improved in general, or because some visitors came to North Carolina this year instead of Gulf Coast states to avoid the oil spill, or because the division of tourism amped up advertising last year as room occupancy rates flagged.

Tourism is big business in the state, accounting for more than 190,000 jobs and more than $1.3 billion in state and local tax revenues.

Students study the N.C. coast

The (Raleigh) News & Observer has an interesting piece on college students and professors studying the N.C. coast to get a "baseline" for the just-in-case chance that Gulf oil makes it this far. (Fingers crossed that it won't!)

Seven people walked the 50-meter-long seine net into chest-high water, then slowly returned to the beach with scores of Florida pompano, striped mullet and gulf kingfish, among others.

Destined for labs at UNC Wilmington, the fish, along with water and sediment samples gathered nearby, will be used to create a baseline measurement of what the coastal environment is like now, unsullied by oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else.

The oil apparently has not left the gulf. State officials who gathered last week at UNC-Chapel Hill for an oil-spill forum were told that the probability of crude reaching North Carolina was extremely small.

"It's beyond remote now," said Kenneth Taylor, disaster response coordinator for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. "The oil is breaking up in the gulf all by itself."

But that does not mean the science has stopped. On Wednesday, about a dozen researchers, many of them students, worked with UNC Wilmington professors to gather samples. N.C. Sea Grant provided $6,000 for the research, which will eventually encompass visits to six beaches, from Ocean Isle to Hatteras.

...

In the weeks immediately following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the gulf, scientists along the East Coast began forecasting the oil's movement. The National Center for Atmospheric Research released a computer model that showed how currents could bring oil to North Carolina waters, though the conditions that would have made that happen haven't materialized.

This week, Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law a bill that lifts the cap on damages that can be recovered as the result of an offshore oil spill. She had previously directed state officials to update the state's oil spill contingency plan to prepare for the unlikely event that the leaked BP oil makes it to North Carolina.

In June and July, the state gathered extensive samples of sea life from 34 spots up and down the coast. Oysters, shrimp, crabs and a wide variety of fish were collected as part of a separate effort to create a snapshot of an oil-free environment.

Even if tar balls never reach the North Carolina coast, the samples gathered and the science collected from them will not go to waste.

(Image via the N&O)

Michael's Seafood: America's Chowder Champion

For the second year in a row, Carolina Beach's Michael's Seafood beat out the competition (including those from New England) be crowned as having America's best chowder.

By the way, if you're interested, you can now buy the chowder in stores.