FROM THE DESK

A socially distant North Beach Sun staff meeting of the minds (left to right: Dave Rollins, Cathy Baldwin, Amelia Boldaji and Helen Furr).

Taking a leap of faith.

THE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE FELT LIKE A ROLLERCOASTER – and even that’s an understatement. From ever-shifting headline news to more personal sacrifices, we’ve all experienced the effects of negotiating a tremendous amount of change in what has often seemed like radically unfamiliar territory.

And we’re still figuring things out, of course. Even here at the Sun, where we don’t really have “typical” days to begin with, our routines and deadlines have been upended in ways we truly couldn’t have prepared for. Like so many other businesses around the globe, we shut our doors for a time, and tried to work through a frustratingly complex number of hypothetical scenarios remotely, while also doing our best to stay safe and take care of our families.

All of which are things we’re still doing now, to one degree or another. Our first steps toward trying to find our “new normal” in the face of a great deal of uncertainty involved a lot of phone calls and socially distant staff meetings held weekly on our front lawns. And it also involved reevaluating an idea board of summer themes and storylines that had mostly been selected well before our lives were largely put on pause.

In practical terms, that meant taking into account the fact that we could no longer foresee what this coming season would look like, both as a business and as longtime members of this community. Things as seemingly straightforward as printing a calendar of events – something we’ve routinely done for almost a decade now in each issue – simply wasn’t feasible anymore. And as strange as it might sound, even the act of writing this letter the evening before going to press felt somewhat like taking a leap of faith.

But perhaps that’s exactly what we’re all being asked to do, repeatedly, during these uncertain times. Take leaps. Have faith. And be prepared to land as gracefully as we can, even if we don’t wind up in precisely the spot we anticipated.

So, as always, we hope you enjoy this issue. It was a labor of love in more ways than usual, because ultimately, we realized that this whole volume is our letter to you – our reminder that no matter what the future may bring, we’re all doing our best to navigate this moment in time. And that we have been, and will continue to, do exactly that together.

Publisher Editor staff

PUBLISHERS Adam & Cathy Baldwin

EDITOR Amelia Boldaji

ART DIRECTOR Dave Rollins

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Adam Baldwin Dylan Bush

WRITERS Cathy Baldwin Amelia Boldaji Steve Hanf Lexi Holian Katrina Mae Leuzinger Arabella Saunders

PHOTOGRAPHERS Benny Baldwin • Cory Godwin Stephanie Hall • John McCord Ryan Moser Outer Banks History Center Carrie Roen • Wes Snyder Kati Wilkins

SALES MANAGER Helen Furr

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Faith Turek

DISTRIBUTOR Aaron Caswell

The North Beach Sun is published quarterly by Access Media Group. All works contained herein are the property of the North Beach Sun and/or its contributors. Opinions, responses, and inquiries are always welcome.

NORTH BEACH SUN 115 West Meadowlark St. Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948 252.449.4444 editor@northbeachsun.com