ISSUE NO. 134 FALL/WINTER 2020
THE JOY OF BREADMAKING THE CRAFTSMANSHIP OF WOODS ROAD FURNITURE
OUTER BANKS
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N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 3
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Downtown Books
An independent bookstore offering best-sellers for all ages and genres, autographed copies, southern cookbooks, puzzles, greeting cards and select gifts. 1 103 Sir Walter Raleigh Street 252-473-1056 • duckscottage.com
Sam & Winston
A family-owned shop with fine art, books, gourmet kitchen goods and high-design gifts for ladies, gentlemen, children and dogs. Come see our spacious new location! 2 108 Sir Walter Raleigh Street 252-475-9764 • @shopsamandwinston
Sisters Boutique & Gifts For your wardrobe + home. 3
4 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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Bloom Boutique
A fashion forward boutique offering unique, high-quality women’s clothing and accessories. Pop in for a personalized enjoyable shopping experience. 5
107 Fernando Street 252-305-8638 • bloomboutiqueobx.com
The Wheel House Lounge
The newest craft cocktail bar located inside of Outer Banks Distilling, specializing in Kill Devil Rum cocktails. The distillery gift shop is open from 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. and the Wheel House Lounge is open from 12:00-7:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and Mondays. 6
510 Budleigh Street 252-423-3011 • outerbanksdistilling.com
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The Lost Colony Brewery & Cafe
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Largest growing local brewery on the Outer Banks. Award-winning craft beers and creative cuisine served for more than 20 years. Outdoor, pet-friendly dining available. Dinner reservations accepted.
Celebrating 20 years in 2020! Fashion, sleepwear, jewelry, home textiles and more! It’s a “gotta have it” kind of place. 8
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Laughing Lollipop
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Full-service ladies’ boutique specializing in fashions that are traditional with a contemporary flair. Seasonal makeup events with Trish McEvoy and designer trunk shows. Check website for details.
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FALL / HOLIDAY 2020 39 AT HOME WITH THE SUN How we shelter in place 8
FROM THE DESK
11 BUT FIRST... OUTDOORS
12 FLY ON, LITTLE WING Studying the swamp warbler 16 SHORE SCIENCE The hole story LIFESTYLE
18 FOUR IF BY SEA Thursdays at three FOOD & BEVERAGE
21 FOR GOOD MEASURE Breadmaking basics from Proof Bakery’s Dean Anderson
LOOK BACK
26 BOMBS AWAY The story of Gen. Billy Mitchell FEATURE
28 ICONIC OUTER BANKS Learn more about three OBX mainstays REAL ESTATE
32 BEACH BRIEFS What’s happening all over the beach 34 NO STOPPING THIS PARADE Winners from the 2020 Parade of Homes 36 FIVE FACTS The Christmas Shop
ABOUT THE COVER: Illustration of the Marc Basnight Bridge by Dave Rollins. THIS PAGE: Photos by Ryan Moser (top left) and Elizabeth Neal (right and lower left).
42 SUN SALUTATIONS FOLKS
44 PLANTING THE SEEDS Helping those in need with the Peace Garden Project 46 RIDING THE WAVES The Outer Banks Repeater Association 50 OUT OF THE WOODS The craftsmanship of Woods Road Furniture THE LOCAL LIFE
56 TERRY GRAY Director, Dare County Motorsports Charity Group / Commissioner, Town of Kill Devil Hills
WORLD FAMOUS SEAFOOD BUFFET
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F R O M T H E DE S K
staff staff
Tiny new beginnings: This past August, North Beach Sun editor Amelia Boldaji and her partner, Dan Lewis, welcomed the birth of their son, Oliver David Boldaji Lewis. Photo by Elizabeth Neal.
It’s all in the little things. WRITING THIS LETTER IS ONE OF THE LAST (AND OFTEN HARDEST) THINGS WE
– and the task has felt even more difficult recently as our normal rhythms have been disrupted and our collective schedules have been thrown into some disarray. But here’s the funny thing. When we really think about it, this letter is also one of the smallest pieces we have to string together in the larger, complex business of making a magazine come to life. It’s a way to say hello, introduce the pages in your hands, and perhaps reflect somewhat on how this particular process has differed from others – all in maybe a few hundred words. And there’s the rub. Writing this letter is vastly more lifelike than any of the other assignments we can come up with. It’s often challengingly personal, and heartfelt, and it always holds the possibility of spinning off in a million directions. It’s complicated, and it’s messy. And while you’re likely reading this as the introduction it’s intended to be, to us, it’s more of a postscript. So how exactly do you sum up the complete whole of any project, especially when that project hits so close to home? Over the past few months we’ve worked with dozens of writers, photographers and other contributors to assemble the pages in your hands right now – but, like many, we haven’t necessarily done so by clocking in and out of a certain work space at a specific time. Instead, we’ve stolen hours – and sometimes minutes – in order to cobble together the enormous space it takes to generate a magazine that hopefully reflects the interesting, thoughtful and overwhelmingly passionate community we live in. And we’ve also spent more time than usual in our yards and living rooms, coaching our children through online school assignments, and even welcoming the birth of a new member of the Sun family this past August. In short, we’ve embraced a lot of change, even when it’s felt a bit chaotic. We’ve learned to look forward without getting too far ahead of ourselves. And we’ve spent as much time as possible celebrating some pretty shining moments of peace and togetherness – all while recognizing the fact that it’s the little things which often add up to make the biggest difference. As always, we hope you enjoy this issue…and that your holiday season (and beyond) is full of light!
DO WHEN WE’RE PRODUCING A NEW ISSUE
PUBLISHERS Adam & Cathy Baldwin PUBLISHERS Adam EDITOR & Cathy Baldwin Amelia Boldaji EDITOR ART DIRECTOR Amelia Boldaji Dave Rollins ART DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DaveDESIGNERS Rollins Adam Baldwin GRAPHIC DylanDESIGNERS Bush Adam Baldwin WRITERS Dylan Bush Cathy Baldwin WRITERS Amelia Boldaji Cathy SteveBaldwin Hanf Amelia Boldaji Lexi Holian Steve Hanf Terri Kirby-Hathaway CatherineKozak Kozak Catherine KatrinaMae MaeLeuzinger Leuzinger Katrina ArabellaMcDanel Saunders Amanda Arabella Saunders PHOTOGRAPHERS Cory Godwin PHOTOGRAPHERS Ryan Moser Lori Douglas Elizabeth Neal Cory Godwin Ryan Moser SALES MANAGER Elizabeth Neal Helen Furr SALES MANAGER ACCOUNT Helen EXECUTIVE Furr Faith Turek ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE DISTRIBUTOR Faith Turek Aaron Caswell DISTRIBUTOR Aaron Caswell The North Beach Sun is published quarterly byBeach AccessSun Media Group. All The North is published works contained herein are the property quarterly by Access Media Group. All of the North Beach Sun and/or its works contained herein are the property contributors. responses, of the NorthOpinions, Beach Sun and/or itsand inquiries are always welcome. contributors. Opinions, responses, and inquiries are always welcome.
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DUCK'S WALKABLE VILLAGE has everything you could want or need, from stores to galleries and eateries. Stroll along the boardwalk or the pedestrian path and discover the pace of our coastal town.
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Please check our website and social media pages for updates about events in Town, including virtual ways to connect with us and learn more about Duck.
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A NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft inspects the eyewall of Hurricane Katrina. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
but first... What’s in a name? GUESSING THE TRAJECTORY
during the annual Atlantic hurricane season isn’t easy, but the meteorological task isn’t anything new – and neither are the names of the storms bantered about on national news from June through November. OF A STORM
For hundreds of years most people only bothered naming cyclones that were particularly destructive, and they often bore a moniker related to their geographic location or a certain time period. That began to change around World War II when United States Navy and Air Force meteorologists started an informal convention of naming hurricanes after their wives or other female love interests. By 1953 both the National Weather Service and the World
Meteorological Organization formally adopted the gendered naming convention as well, and that labeling system stuck until 1979 when male names were added to the lineup. Today, the National Hurricane Center uses six consecutive lists that are repeated every six years – with individual names only being retired if a storm causes excessive damage (think Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or Sandy in 2012). Though it’s only happened twice in the NHC’s history, the Greek alphabet is also used as backup in the event that a prescribed list is exhausted during a single season – as evidenced by the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which famously reported the most named storms in recorded history.
The thrill of the hunt
researchers haven’t just tracked the formation of tropical cyclones at sea – they’ve flown straight into them. Known more commonly as Hurricane Hunters, the two organizations responsible for these manned flights are the United States Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in Biloxi, Mississippi, and pilots based at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aircraft Operations Center in Florida.
FOR MORE THAN 70 YEARS,
But even as these missions have become impressively sophisticated over the years, the very first manned flight into the eye of a hurricane was actually done on a dare. In July of 1943, Colonel Joseph Duckworth flew a trainer aircraft directly through a hurricane churning off the Texas coast in order to prove that it could be done – an impromptu experiment that paved the way for decades worth of invaluable meteorological data gathering.
Ophelia 2005
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
A few of the notable hurricanes that have impacted the Outer Banks since 1985
Gloria
Emily
1985
1993
Max Wind: 144 mph Landfall: Hatteras Category 2 at landfall with a 6–8 ft storm surge and 104 mph winds
Max Wind: 115 mph Never made landfall Reached category 3 off of coast, estimated $12 million in damages
Kate 1985
Max Wind: 123 mph Landfall: Florida Tropical storm when arrived in NC with 52 mph winds
Bob 1991
Max Wind: 115 mph Landfall: Rhode Island Reached category 3 off of NC coast
Bonnie 1998
Max Wind: 115 mph Landfall: Cape Fear Category 3 at landfall 6-8 ft storm surge
Bertha
Earl
1996
1998
Max Wind: 115 mph Landfall: Topsail Beach Category 2 at landfall with 104 mph winds and a 5-ft storm surge
Max Wind: 98 mph Landfall: Florida Tropical storm when reached NC
Fran 1996
Max wind: 121 mph Landfall: Cape Fear Category 3 at landfall with 115 mph winds and an 8-12 ft storm surge
Dennis 1999
Max Wind: 104 mph Landfall: Dare County Tropical storm at landfall 69 mph winds, estimated $10 million in damages
Floyd 1999
Max Wind: 155 mph Landfall: Topsail Island Category 2 at landfall with 109 mph winds
Isabel 2003
Max Wind: 160 mph Landfall: Drum Inlet Category 2 at landfall, 6–10 ft storm surge, created breech in island between Frisco and Hatteras Village, estimated $400 million in damages
Alex 2004
Max Wind: 120 mph Western portion of the category 2 eyewall passed over the Outer Banks Caused flooding damage to cars and homes, estimated $2.4 million in damages
Max Wind: 85 mph Landfall: Nova Scotia Passed NC coast as a tropical storm
Earl 2010
Max Wind: 145 mph Landfall: Nova Scotia Passed 100 miles off of the NC coast, estimated $500,000 in damages
Irene 2011
Max Wind: 120 mph Landfall: Just south of the Outer Banks Significant flooding, estimated $54 million in damages
Sandy 2012
Max Wind: 70 mph Landfall: Cuba & New Jersey Significant road damage to NC 12, estimated $13 million in damages
Florence
Arthur
2018
2014
Max Wind: 101 mph Landfall: between Cape Lookout and Beaufort Category 2 at landfall
Hermine 2016
Max Wind: 73 mph Landfall: Florida Category 1 with tropical sustained winds, estimated $5.4 million in damages
Matthew
Max Wind: 150 mph Landfall: Wrightsville Beach Category 1 at landfall, estimated $17+ billion in statewide damages
Michael 2018
Max Wind: 160 mph Landfall: Florida Tropical storm that moved over inland NC
Dorian 2019
Max Wind: 94 mph Landfall: South Carolina Category 1 at Outer Banks, estimated $1.5 billion in statewide damages
Max Wind: 185 mph Landfall: Hatteras Category 1 at landfall with 101 mph winds, 4-7 feet of storm surge, $14.8 million in damages
Maria
Isaias
2017
2020
Max Wind: 75 mph Landfall: Puerto Rico Category 1 as it passed offshore NC
Max Wind: 85 mph Landfall: Ocean Isle Beach Category 1 at landfall
2016
N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 11
OU T D O O R S
A prothonotary warbler perches on a branch in Nags Head Woods. Photo courtesy of Skadi Kylander.
Fly On,
Little Wing STUDYING THE SWAMP WARBLER IS NO EASY TASK, BUT IT’S WORTH IT TO UNDERSTAND THESE DISTANT TRAVELLERS
BY KATRINA MAE LEUZINGER
12 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
A
flash of golden light sweeps through the dense tree branches in Kitty Hawk Woods, trailed by the faint echo of birdsong. It’s a sight that’s easy enough to miss in a blink, but chances are it wasn’t imagined. Instead, these tiny, vividly colored birds are called prothonotary warblers, and they’re the subject of some fascination for ornithologists. Also known colloquially as swamp warblers, they’re the only eastern warbler that builds nests in tree hollows before heading to Central and South America for the winter. But while such specific habitat requirements distinguish these birds, it can also make them increasingly susceptible to habitat loss – and with the constant threat of deforestation, their numbers have been experiencing a significant decline. Luckily, the maritime forest in Kitty Hawk Woods is full of ancient live oak trees, making it prime territory for the swamp warblers to build their nests – and for ornithological researchers to study their sometimes-elusive breeding habits. “Some of the best habitats in the world are right here,” says Dr. James Dame, a Chowan University professor and researcher with the Prothonotary Warbler (PROW) Project. For two years now he’s been traveling to the Outer Banks in order to tag, weigh and study these diminutive birds in locations such as Kitty Hawk Woods – which is essentially a biologist’s theme park due to its protected environment. There’s just one problem. How do you find a miniature nest tucked inside a tree hollow in the middle of the woods? The researchers behind the PROW Project first sought to make things easier by building a series of compact bird boxes. Acting as a sort of artificial hollow, each small, narrow box is located a bit off the main trails. The stands are protectively high enough, but not so tall that the researchers can’t look inside. The swamp warblers love them, and the folks on the PROW Project love knowing exactly where to find the nesting birds. “We can have a devil of a time finding birds nesting in natural cavities,” explains Dr. Heather McGuire, also a Chowan University professor and the lead researcher on the
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Clockwork from bottom left: Two prothonotary warblers find a home in one of PROW’s bird boxes in Nags Head Woods (photo by Skadi Kylander); Chowan University senior Skadi Kylander checks a box for any signs of nesting birds (photo by Ryan Moser); A group of prothonotary warbler eggs are tucked away safe and sound (photo by Heather McGuire); Skadi Kylander takes notes as researchers with PROW measure these tiny specimens (photo by Bo Dame).
14 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
PROW Project. “Some of the nests in cavities are low, but some can be quite high, and we just can’t access them. The boxes make the birds accessible to us, and the nest success in these boxes is usually better than in natural cavities because they’re protected from predators.” But that’s not to say the boxes don’t have some drawbacks. “Once, when we presented our findings, someone asked, ‘Are you altering the swamp warblers’ behavior with the boxes?’” McGuire says. “Yes, we’re altering behavior, but we’re also increasing their nest success, so I think it’s a good thing. You have to weigh the benefits with the cost of any research, and I think putting up boxes is a benefit.” McGuire and Dame also include their undergraduate students on research trips as often as they can – even though research trips are rarely found at the undergraduate level. “We bring our students out to collect data,” McGuire says. “They get good experience in the field, and the information can be used in the larger, scientific On each trip to the effort.” Outer Banks, the team A number of students take advantage of the checks all 50 boxes in opportunities this provides, order to count eggs, including Chowan senior weigh hatchlings, and Skadi “The Swamp Goddess” Kylander. In addition to capture and band the applying for grant money to adult swamp warblers. help fund the study, she also designed the nets they use to capture and tag the birds, and she’s presented her findings at the annual State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium. She even handmakes the mosquito repellent the researchers often use. And when she’s not wading through the swamp to peek inside the bird boxes, she can frequently be found staking them out with her camera. “To figure out what they’re eating and feeding the hatchlings, I sit with my camera for hours and film the box,” Kylander explains. “Then I go back through the film and take stills. It’s really hard to tell what they’re bringing back unless you can get a good picture or a good look at them while they’re actually doing it. The best time to watch is when the hatchlings are between eight and 10 days old. I usually do it about once per nest. Sometimes I’ll do it twice.” The PROW Project currently has 50 boxes in Kitty Hawk Woods and at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. On each trip to the Outer Banks, the team checks all 50 boxes in order to count eggs, weigh hatchlings, and capture and band the adult swamp warblers. It amounts to hours of hiking, hauling ladders and other equipment with them, and sometimes tromping through waist-deep marshes. It’s a lot of work, and that’s not even counting the time spent collating and presenting their data to a scientific community who then asks them, what is it all for? “Somebody once asked me, ‘What are swamp warblers good for?’” McGuire says. “Skadi had just shown them the pictures she had taken while they were feeding the nestlings, and you can see that they’re eating a lot of insects. Maybe this one species alone doesn’t have a huge impact on the insect population, but if you multiply that out by how many billions of birds are in our North American forests, that’s a pretty good service.” “Less bugs” is probably the kind of research goals anyone on the Outer Banks who’s sat out on a porch in the early evening can get behind. By studying what the birds eat and what conditions they need to thrive, we can also better protect this declining species and maintain the delicate ecosystem of our maritime forests. In short, these small yellow birds can have a big impact. “They appear so delicate,” says Dame as he helps attach a band to a nesting female’s leg. “But it’s worth noting that they can still fly to Panama and back.”
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S H O R E S C I E NC E
THE H LE STORY Critters large and small leave their marks all over the beach
BY TE R R I KIR BY H ATH AWAY ICHNOLOGY IS A FUN, NEW WORD TO ADD
16 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
as a moon snail or an oyster drill, that uses its radula to A much smaller sandy hole between the low and high drill into two-shelled clam-like mollusks. The radula is a tide lines that’s surrounded by dark, chocolate-sprinkletooth-covered tongue that works much like a drill so the looking pellets is the home of an animal called a ghost gastropod can bore into the clam and eat it up. Gulp! shrimp – although they’re actually more closely related to A piece of driftwood is a special beachcombing find, hermit crabs. These burrows can be up to six feet deep, too…but have you ever and they have multiple wondered what creates entrances complete all those intricate nooks with an intricate maze and crannies? The answer of tunnels. The ghost is shipworms – although shrimp uses paddlecontrary to what their like appendages to name implies, this create water currents species is more precisely through their burrows described as a tubelike in order to bring food mollusk that feeds on in and clean out shell wood with cellulosefragments and fecal digesting bacteria in its pellets (hence, the tiny guts, somewhat like a sprinkles). termite. On a related note, But if you’ve been the tiny, pin-sized holes keeping a diligent eye found below high tide out during your morning A ghost crab hole on the beach (top); Multiple holes created lines are also ghost beach walks, you already by a sponge that chemically drills into shell surfaces for shrimp air holes. Air anchorage (above). know that holes aren’t replaces water between solely found in shells or sand grains when the wood – they’re also found in the shore itself. So what tide recedes, and hollow spaces are left behind as the created those holes in the sand? sand dries. When the tide comes back in, bubbles emerge The most obvious holes found between the low tide from the holes as those underground spaces fill up again line and the dune line are dug by ghost crabs. These large with sand and water. tunnels go into the sand at 45-dgree angles, and they end Whether on land or at sea, animals can’t help but in relatively spacious turn-around chambers. The reason leave behind numerous traces of their presence and for this is that ghost crabs have gills which need to stay behaviors (which goes for humans, too!) – so armed moist, so they burrow into damp sand during high tides with a little bit of knowledge, you can become a beach – reserving most of their aboveground excursions for detective who solves the “hole” story of the sea…while nightly low tides when they can best scavenge for food. also making your own mark in the sand. istock.com/MBCheatham
– and no, it’s not something you do when the mosquitos come out at dusk. Instead, ichnology is the study of footprints, tracks or other traces left behind by animals, both on land and sea. So how many times have you walked on the beach and admired an array of different sized holes, whether in shells or in the sand? Keeping in mind that they’re all traces of the existence and behaviors of various animals, let’s put ichnology in action and start with holes in shells. Shells with a great number of holes are common along Outer Banks beaches. These multiple holes are created by a sponge that chemically “drills” the holes for anchorage so it can stay in one place for its entire lifespan. And although the bright-yellow sponge is capable of smothering its host, it’s not a predator or a parasite. In fact, when the sponge drills into a shell, the bits of sediment it produces contributes to the beach in a small way. If you find a differently marked shell with slender tubes etched into it, look closely until you locate a hole near one end of the tube. These calcareous tubes (which are made of calcium carbonate, just like the seashell) were once aquatic dwellings – and the builders and permanent residents of these small homes are called serpulid worms. These worms extend a fan of tentacles through the hole for feeding and respiration…though the fan can be quickly pulled back into the tube (where it’s protected by a golf-tee-shaped trap door known as an operculum) when a predator comes near. Another often-coveted beach find is a shell with a single, perfect hole near its hinge. These treasures make perfect pendants or windchimes – but their origins may sound perhaps a bit more sinister. The handyman of these holes is a gastropod, a one-shelled snail-like mollusk such TO YOUR VOCABULARY
THIS FALL
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Thursdays at Three
elementary school at 2:30 p.m. If we drove straight home, we could have two uninterrupted hours of playtime before I needed to start dinner and the evening activities. That was precisely the pocket of time I needed to turn all those “somedaysâ€? into “todays.â€? When I proposed the idea to my girls, they nodded in agreement with a mumbled “sounds fun.â€? But, if I was BY AMANDA MCDANEL going to commit, I was going to go BIG. Probably the largest and more resounding step I made was putting away my phone for two entire interrupted hours (except to take pictures), and I saw their eyes suddenly widen in surprise at my dedicated attention. While Pinterest is a brilliant tool to archive all of your For our first adventure, I picked up a new board game ideas, visions and “somedays,â€? I find that it often fuels that we sat and played together on the floor for an entire more guilt than inspiration. Though I absolutely believe hour. Eye contact. Belly Laughs. Tickles. Next came the in dreaming, and even the concept of visions boards to snack portion, where I whipped out some artificially inspire action to pursue those dreams, the wealth of dyed high-fructose-filled ice cream treats that were met information available on the site can easily turn it into a with linebacker hugs of appreciation. Beat that, Fun Dad! virtual dumping ground of “should havesâ€? – especially if We returned to battle it out with another board game you’re a parent. round until Johnny arrived home to That pin you saved for a happy, joy-filled household rolling dressing your toddler like an If we drove straight home, we around on the floor, tangled in each Oompa Loompa, the crazy hair other’s limbs and laughter. could have two uninterrupted day inspirations for crafting baby After that first experience of spaghetti spirals, the special hours of playtime before I Thursdays at Three, my heart was storybook where you were going needed to start dinner and so full that I committed to revisiting to have every single teacher your those Pinterest boards – but from the evening activities. That kids ever had write a memorable the perspective that I would wholly message – all untouched and only was precisely the pocket of celebrate each and every activity we resurfacing again after they’ve hit time I needed to turn all those accomplished instead of dwelling their teenage years, permanently on the vast sea of those we did not. “somedaysâ€? into “todays.â€? anchoring you with a heavy sense And I’m happy to report that of parental guilt over what “a good Thursdays at Three is still alive and parent would have done.â€? well. It’s dedicated to doing the These kinds of missed opportunities are enough to crazy, outlandish and completely messy activities that weigh on a parent during the most normal of times‌ fill my daughters’ eyes with wonder and my heart with without the compounding effects of a national pandemic memories – even when I’m plucking 450 oversized waterwhen most of us are now expected to perform the roles filled beads out of the bathtub or scraping edible slime of parent, homeschool teacher, cafeteria staff, principal off the underside of the dining room table. Because if and school nurse. we’re all going to crack open Pandora’s Box, there’s no Sitting with these thoughts day after day, I finally better time than 2020‌and I personally plan to slip slide woke in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea (nod into 2021 in my underwear on a giant water blob of fun – in agreement here since I know you understand the with both my girls’ hands clasped tightly in mine. feeling): Thursdays at Three. Pre-pandemic Thursdays were the days that my preschooler was home all day and we traveled together to pick up her big sister from
The Death of Mommy Guilt THERE’S A SEEMINGLY INNOCUOUS CONTAINER
that’s been sitting in my pantry and calling to me like a siren whenever I open the doors. The imprint of a unicorn frolicking among rainbows simply implores me to pull it out and play, much like a forgotten favorite childhood toy. Also like said favorite toy, it was initially purchased during a weak moment, so the unicorn itself and its contents are not at fault – but for the longest time I just couldn’t bear to crack the lid, knowing that to do so would be like unlocking Pandora’s box. “Fly high on a unicorn! Climb aboard and get ready to soar, we’re going to see a unicorn’s power come to life! Want to search for rainbows and other magical creatures? Maybe we’ll meet a fairy! Only our imaginations can slow us down when we use Slime to Play!â€? Clearly, whoever is doing Jell-O’s marketing campaign for the containers of Jell-O Play 100% Edible Strawberry Unicorn Slime deserves a raise – it’s simultaneously every kid’s dream come true and every parent’s nightmare. So why on earth would it be sitting in my pantry just begging for its unicorn power to be unleashed? Let’s rewind a few years‌ I’m sure all brides-to-be, new moms, crafters, teachers, post-college decorators on a budget and et cetera are familiar with the website Pinterest. It’s the shiny perfect orb of social media that allows you to search everything from Instagrammable brunch recipes to sensory activities for three-week-old left-handed babies, and “pinâ€? them onto boards that you can refer back to‌ never. Unless, of course, you’re planning a wedding and you have 27 boards to review with your florist, cake artist, bridal party, caterer and pet attendant in order to plan the picture-perfect wedding while swearing you are definitely not a high-maintenance “bridezilla.â€? (Side note: My husband, Johnny, would like to personally thank the programmer who did not develop Pinterest until AFTER our wedding in 2006.)
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FOOD & B E V E R AG E
Understanding the basics of breadmaking with Proof Bakery’s Dean Anderson PH O T O S BY EL IZA B E T H N E A L S T O RY BY L EXI HOL IA N
For Good Measure THERE’S PERHAPS NOTHING MORE COMFORTING than a fresh loaf of homemade bread – and while first-timers can be intimidated by the concept of baking, Proof Bakery’s Dean Anderson insists that there’s no reason to shy away from attempts to craft your own focaccia or a simple batch of white bread. “You often hear the line that cooking is an art, and baking is a science,” he says while scoffing at the mythical quality routinely ascribed to baking. “But it’s all art and science. You can incorporate as much into cooking a burger as you can into making a praline mousse.” The dedication really depends on the person – as demonstrated by Dean’s creations at Proof Bakery in Kill Devil Hills where he and an assistant bake
N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 21
Previous page: Rolls fresh out of the oven at Proof Bakery. Right: A batch of tasty baguettes settle on some specially vented cooling racks (above); Precision is key when it comes to measuring out the dough (below).
hundreds of rolls and loaves of bread to be delivered to about 40 Outer Banks restaurants during the in-season. As a professional baker, Dean has spent years fine-tuning his craft. He used to work 15-hour days, seven days a week to meet the demand for locally sourced fresh bread, producing upwards of 1,000 pounds of bread per day to meet the demands of nearly 60 restaurants. Today, he works with slightly fewer local eateries so he can spend more time fine-tuning the bread. And when people interested in baking devote time to understanding the process, Dean believes that baking is easier than many think. “The most important things are patience and attention to detail,” he says, noting that new bakers in particular tend to worry when dough doesn’t rise quickly enough. “Your yeast may have been sitting on the shelf for two years,” he adds. “Just be patient.” Like many bakers, Dean was a chef before he ever decided to focus on bread. But after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and working at high-end restaurants in New York for years, he was looking for a new challenge when he began to see the allure of baking. “Cooks always borrow techniques from the pastry world,” he explains. “And, to me, it seemed like all the new ideas were coming from pastry chefs.” Whereas a savory chef’s recipe book might be disheveled, a pastry chef’s book is more likely to be immaculately constructed – and Dean is someone who appreciates that attention to detail…but he still maintains that procedure doesn’t classify bread-making solely as a science. “I’ve made bread so many times that I don’t need to use a scale,” Dean says. “I do, because I want it to be perfect, Like many culinary but I don’t need to. I can eye it, and the dough will come out pretty much the professionals, he same – just like somebody’s gumbo or their risotto.” also likes to make More often than not, he thinks of bread recipes in percentages, whether small adjustments measured literally or visually. When combining flour, water, yeast and salt to his recipes until to make bread, he usually recommends about one percent of instant dry yeast they’re flawless. and one-and-a-half percent salt. “After a while, you look at the recipes for your mousse, pastry cream or donuts, and you’re looking at percentages,” he says. “You understand that brioche should never go over 23-percent butter fat, because anything higher than that starts to ooze and becomes greasy. And you know that donuts are around four or five percent.” Like many culinary professionals, he also likes to make small adjustments to his recipes until they’re flawless. When describing the baking process to friends, he might quote a CIA instructor and renowned chocolatier who adjusts ingredients in one-percent increments, making recipes 100 or 200 different times with slightly different measurements, changes in textures, or changes in agitation. That’s a little more extreme than the way Dean operates. But when you put so much work into improving your craft, you can’t help but end up knowing the recipes inside and out.
continued on page 24 2 2 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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Bread for Beginners Figuring out how to knead dough is just the beginning when it comes to making bread, but the overall process may be simpler than you think. If you’re baking bread for the first time, choose a basic recipe such as a loaf of white sandwich bread, French bread, focaccia or a rustic crusty bread. Many recipes also use a stand mixer with a dough hook, while others can be done with hand kneading or no-knead methods to achieve the right dough consistency. A stand mixer may seem like the easiest way to mix ingredients, but it’s also an easy way to end up with dough that’s too dense – so be sure to check the recommendations in your recipe. Hand kneading is more work, but it may be the best way to achieve the results you’re looking for, while a no-knead method will call for less yeast, and the dough will be slower to rise. Perhaps most importantly, take your time. Once you start mixing ingredients, measure carefully and go slow. You can always add more water (although you may need to proof your dough - i.e., let it rest and rise - for longer in order to alleviate tension), but ingredients such as yeast and salt simply can’t be added in later if you overlook them. And don’t forget: The proof is in the baking! Baker extraordinaire Dean Anderson is in his element at Proof Bakery in Kill Devil Hills.
“When you make bread, you really want to be as perfect as possible from start to finish because the problems can compound,” Dean says good-naturedly. “But I find that to be true with anything.” Luckily for home bakers, a mistake with a boule of dough will likely just lead to dense bread and more knowledge for a second attempt. In a professional bakery, leaving out an ingredient could mean throwing away 40 pounds of dough that were slated to become ciabatta, baguettes or brioche on a restaurant’s menu. And when it comes to creativity, Dean finds his outlet in pastries, as well as special request breads from the restaurants served by Proof Bakery. Barefoot Bernie’s has a burger night during the off-season and has collaborated with Dean on buns such as corn onion rolls, croissant rolls and jalapeño cheddar rolls, while the Weeping Radish in Currituck orders pretzel triangles that sell both on and off the menu to customers who can’t get enough of them. For those new to bread making, Dean recommends playing around with techniques like kneading to become familiar with how dough looks and feels. It can be difficult to tell the difference between under-kneaded and over-kneaded dough, for instance, because the two look very similar even though they feel completely different. To learn how much you should be kneading your dough, he offers a short experiment. Take a batch of dough and divide it into three parts before you finish kneading. Knead one portion to the point where you think it’s just right. Knead the next one a little further until it’s tight and very smooth. Then knead the last one until you’re sure you’ve over-kneaded it. The different textures and consistencies will help you with future baking. “It’s a good personal experiment,” he says cheerfully. “And, at the very least, you’ll get some great bread out of it.” 2 4 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 25
General Billy Mitchell standing beside a plane at Bolling Field in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
L O OK B AC K
BOMBS AWAY Billy Mitchell knew the future of combat was in using airplanes to bomb enemy targets. To prove it, he came to Hatteras. BY AMELIA BOLDAJI
THAT THE AREA WHERE THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
was also the site of another milestone in aviation is perhaps much less well-known – but on September 5, 1923 an outspoken, charismatic man named Billy Mitchell took to the skies off Cape Hatteras in order to prove a point that would alter United States military warfare forever. Those results were by no means inevitable, however. It had only been 20 years since the Wright brothers’ successful flight experiments in Kitty Hawk, after all, and Mitchell’s unwavering confidence that future military conflicts would take place in the air rather than at sea had so far been met with skepticism at best. But Mitchell was no stranger to overcoming adversity – or to doing whatever was necessary to see his visions through. Born in Nice, France, in 1879, Mitchell spent much of his childhood growing up in Wisconsin before enlisting in the Army at 19. After serving in places such as Cuba and the Philippines, Mitchell was transferred to Virginia where he became the deputy commander of Army Aviation not long after the outbreak of World War I. Though there was not yet a separate command for air force in the U.S. military – something that Mitchell went on to champion throughout his career, leading many to regard him as the father of the United States Air Force – Mitchell discovered his passion for flying during his time with Army Aviation, which was then a branch of the Army Signal Corps. It was a path he was so determined to follow that when he was officially deemed too old to fly at the age of 38, Mitchell simply enrolled in a civilian flying school at his own expense. Even though his methods had a tendency to ruffle more than a few feathers, Mitchell went on to prove himself during WWI by becoming the first American Army aviator to mount an attack across enemy lines at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel – a campaign that was so successful it earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, and ultimately made it all the harder to dismiss his FAMOUSLY MADE AERONAUTICAL HISTORY
2 6 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
increasingly vocal opinions about the need to strengthen air power in the wake of WWI. His determination eventually led him to testify before a House of Representatives subcommittee on the matter, and to call for tests that might confirm his belief that airplanes could be a strategic advantage by bombing battleships from above – which both Congress and the Navy only very reluctantly agreed to by 1921. The results of those first tests near the Chesapeake Bay were hotly contested by the Navy among others, which prompted Mitchell to conduct a second trial two years later in 1923. This time, he selected a site that was reportedly close to his heart: the coast off Cape Hatteras where he had enjoyed numerous hunting trips while stationed in Virginia. And Mitchell would have been hard pressed to find a more remote place for his tests. The Outer Banks was inconceivably desolate by today’s standards at the time, with no paved roads or bridges connecting it to the mainland. Even though the Great Depression was still years away, there were huge economic challenges as well since local revenues had been steadily declining in everything from maritime traffic to commercial fishing and lifesaving operations.
So although it might not have seemed like the most obvious location for attempting controversial military maneuvers, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the residents in Hatteras Village not only helped Mitchell build a makeshift airstrip, but they were also some of the first to celebrate with Mitchell and his airmen after they successfully sank two decommissioned battleships called the New Jersey and the Virginia. Retrospectively, it was an historic day, but that didn’t mean that the debate over the future of the United States’ military might was settled. Mitchell still had plenty of detractors who had hoped for him to fail, and he was eventually demoted, transferred and court-martialed for insubordination in 1925 – though he chose to resign from the military a year later rather than accept what he considered an unjust sentence. While Mitchell was ultimately a polarizing figure during his lifetime, history looks much more kindly on his accomplishments, as is so often the case. And although the original Hatteras Village airstrip of 1923 is now underwater, Mitchell’s mark continues to be celebrated in the things that bear his name – including the legendary B-25 Mitchell bomber and the only airport still found at the heart of the Cape Hatteras Seashore.
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ICONIC OUTER BANKS SEEING IS BELIEVING,
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that it just starts to feel like second nature – and that’s when it’s time for a fresh perspective. From shifting sands to bygone beacons and modern marvels, here are three legendary landmarks like you’ve never seen them before…
ATU UR REE FFEEAT
THE CAPE HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE
CROWDED HOUSE
Although the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse didn’t receive its famed black-and-white daymark pattern until three years after it was completed a second time in 1870, it’s a monument that’s launched a thousand postcards – and its numbers add up to make it more than just a pretty face.
NO LIGHT WEIGHT
SPEED DEMON When its famous move was completed in July 1999, the lighthouse had travelled 2,900 feet over the course of 23 days. That’s good for an average speed of 0.001 mph.
FT 0 290
FAMOUS FRIENDS At an official height of 198.49 feet, the lighthouse nearly passes some other well-known international landmarks in terms of height.
185FT
HIT THE BRICKS It is unknown exactly how many bricks make up the structure, which is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country. However, 1,250,000 bricks were ordered for its construction, and manufactured on the James River in Virginia.
189FT
198FT
160FT
ARC DE TRIOMPHE
Paris, France
In 2019, the lighthouse welcomed nearly 99,000 climbers. That’s roughly equivalent to a full crowd at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
LEANING TOWER OF PISA Pisa, Italy
There are 269 steps up to the lens room. These are broken up into nine flights of steps. Each flight weighs about 5,000 pounds, as much as a large black rhinoceros.
LIGHTING UP THE PACIFIC The original lighthouse was deactivated in 1870 before being replaced by the current structure. In 1871, the first order Fresnel lens from the original was shipped across the country and installed in the lighthouse at Pigeon Point, California, south of San Francisco.
CINDERELLA’S CAPE HATTERAS CASTLE LIGHTHOUSE Orlando, FL
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N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 2 9
OREGON INLET FISHING CENTER
THE MARC BASNIGHT BRIDGE
CHOO CHOO!
It was a race to the finish, but the Marc Basnight Bridge opened to traffic only three years after ground was broken on the project in 2016. As a replacement for the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, which opened in 1963, it became the second Oregon Inlet bridge named after a former state legislator – and its engineering prowess is just as impressive as its illustrious namesake.
$
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A GOOD DEAL
With a cost of $252,000,000, the bridge is certainly pricey, but it was actually built for over 25 million dollars less than the NCDOT’s initial cost estimate.
UNOBSTRUCTED VIEWS
JOCKEY’S RIDGE STATE PARK
At a height of more than 60 feet, Jockey’s Ridge is about as tall as a six-story building. Once at the top, you’ll always be looking out over rooftops, as the building code in the town of Nags Head doesn’t allow for buildings taller than 42 feet.
The sands of time have been good to the Atlantic coast’s tallest living sand dune. Though it was once part of a back-barrier dune system that stretched to False Cape, Virginia, Jockey’s Ridge is still a National Natural Landmark that covers a majestic 426 acres – and it’s got plenty of stats to prove its might.
DRY SAND
WET SAND
WATER TABLE 3 0 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
While the bridge’s 2.8-mile length is impressive, long-haul freight trains in the U.S. and Canada have begun operating at that length (and longer). Imagine being stuck at a crossing waiting for a train the length of the Basnight Bridge to slowly pass.
UP AND AWAY On a good day, a hang glider at Jockey’s Ridge will travel a couple of hundred feet. In 2012 in Zapata, Texas, the current world record for distance travelled by hang glider was set at 475 miles!
STAYING IN SHAPE What keeps the dunes from just blowing away? The sands at Jockey’s Ridge act like a massive sponge, pulling water up from the water table. Only about the top six inches dry out, allowing the wet sand beneath to hold its shape for longer.
LONG LIFE The old Bonner Bridge outlived its planned 30-year lifespan by more than 20 years. The Basnight Bridge is the first bridge in the state designed to last 100 years.
BOOMING POPULATION More than 2 million people cross Oregon Inlet annually. If those travelers represented a city, it would be the 5th largest in the country (somewhere between Houston and Phoenix).
DON’T GET ANY IDEAS
FE B
25 2119
The signature elements of the bridge are its nine 350-foot wide spans, constructed from hollow concrete box girders. With a wingspan of 225 feet, a 747 would be able to pass beneath a span with room to spare.
OREGON INLET
PEA ISLAND N AT I O N A L W I L D L I F E REFUGE
NOT GOING ANYWHERE Erosion is a constant problem at Oregon Inlet, where shifiting sands were a problem for the Bonner Bridge due to its single channel and shorter pilings. The Basnight Bridge was designed and engineered using erosion simulations based on 100,000 storms dating back 160 years. Its pilings can handle erosion to a depth of 84 feet.
THE OLDEST LOCAL
The dunes are estimated to have formed between 3,000-4,000 years ago. That means sand would have started collecting when woolly mammoths roamed the Earth, and the finishing touches were being put on Stonehenge.
STANDING UP FOR THE DUNES There might not be a Jockey’s Ridge State Park if not for the efforts of Carolista Baum, who famously stood in the way of a developer’s bulldozer to halt construction on the site in 1973.
WORD OF THE DAY
The three peaks at the park are known as médanos, which are collections of shifting sand that lack vegetation.
SHIFTING SANDS
On average, Jockey’s Ridge moves about six feet per year. After a couple years of increased movement towards Soundside Road along the park’s southern boundary, crews recently relocated about 200,000 tons of sand to the northern end of the park. N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 31
R E A L E STAT E
beach briefs What’s happening in your town? Here’s a report from all over the Outer Banks. . Real Estate Through the Roof
Numbers on the Rise
One unanticipated outcome of the Covid-19 impacts on the Outer Banks has been the stunning spike in demand for real estate. The boom is consistent with a national trend of people seeking a haven from the virus, whether temporarily or year-round, that is perceived as safe and less crowded.
During a time when getting outdoors has become an increased priority, visitation at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has been record breaking. In July alone, there were 451,849 recreational visits, according to the National Park Service – an increase of three percent over last year, and the highest number since July 2003. In addition to this, camping was so popular that park service campgrounds at Ocracoke and Oregon Inlet plan to remain open through the winter season.
According to the August 2020 MLS Statistical Report from the Outer Banks Association of Realtors, sales records were broken this summer, and inventory was “shockingly low.” Residential sales were up 23 percent over the previous year, inventory was down 52 percent and properties under contract were up 127 percent in August, according to the report. “We haven’t seen this level of activity since the MLS started tracking this data in 2005,” the report stated. In other eye-popping numbers, the median sale price for residential homes shot up 32 percent over August 2019, and the number of land/lot sales jumped from 39 last year to 76 this August, a 95 percent increase. Year-to-date, the number of building permits increased from 112 last August, to 145 in August 2020. Planning for 2021 Even as Governor Cooper loosened state safety restrictions in October, including social distancing restraints, mask-wearing requirements and occupation limits indoors, a return to business-as-usual is still in the works. A number of local fall events have been postponed until 2021, and others may also be canceled at the last moment, so checking directly with event organizers ahead of time is recommended. September through November 2020: The 2020 Duck Jazz Festival, the Day at the Docks in Hatteras Village, the OBX Jeep Jam, the Outer Banks Seafood Festival, OBX Brewtag, the Mustang Rock & Roast music festival, the Wings Over Water festival, Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree, Festival Latino de Ocracoke and the Outer Banks Food Truck Showdown were canceled as of press time. Forthcoming details about the return of these events in 2021 can be found on their respective websites. 32 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
Occupancy taxes were also up 37 percent in July, according to the Outer Banks Visitors’ Bureau. Meal taxes were down 21 percent with restaurants limited to take-out or curb-side pickup and limited indoor occupancy, but losses were not as severe as people had initially anticipated – and when new numbers are released, they’re expected to be impressive. With many people still working and going to school virtually, most businesses on the Outer Banks are anticipating plenty of visitors throughout November and maybe even well into December. Saving the High Seas The White House announced in September that the North Carolina coast would be included in a 10-year moratorium on offshore oil drilling and exploration, and later agreed to add seismic testing to that moratorium. Seismic testing, which can be harmful to marine life, especially whales, is done prior to oil projects in order to determine the location and extent of fossil fuel deposits in the ocean. The president had earlier put the moratorium on the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Florida, before consenting to add the Virginia and North Carolina coasts. Looking Forward to the Future Demolition of the old College of The Albemarle building on Roanoke Island – which was also once the old Manteo High School and Manteo Middle School building – began this past September. The modern updated building is expected to be completed by February 2022 as a two-story facility that will offer programs in a number of fields, including the sciences, public safety, hospitality, mechanics and early childhood education, among others.
COMPILED BY C ATH ERI N E KOZ AK
Our Virtual World In the wake of a slew of cancellations of numerous beloved 2020 spring and summer events, including The Lost Colony play, the Mustang Spring Jam and the Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival, local event planners have also had to adjust their schedules for the fall and beyond. In response, a number of events were moved online to be enjoyed virtually. Theatre of Dare plans to launch its 30th season with a livestream reading done by local actors of Mercury Radio Theatre’s Dracula for three performances from October 29-31, plus a reinterpretation of the classic tale called Draculescu on Halloween night. A Christmas variety show is also planned for the holiday season, with more details to come on their Facebook page. The 37th Nags Head Woods 5K will be a virtual race, with runners invited to participate through December 31, 2020. The race is usually held on Mother’s Day weekend, but organizers with the North Banks Rotary Club opted for an online event that allows racers to run the 5K from their location anywhere in the world – including the actual course in Nags Head Woods – and post their time on the race results page at nagsheadwood5krun.org. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Interfaith Community Outreach, a local charitable nonprofit organization. Organizers with the Outer Banks Sporting Events have decided to hold the annual Outer Banks Marathon weekend in November virtually. The Veteran’s Day weekend events include the marathon, a 5 and 8K, the Southern Fried Half Marathon, and the Southern Six and Fun Run. Updates and details on all the weekend races will be provided online at obxse.com.
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R E A L E STAT E
No Stopping This
Parade THIS PAST OCTOBER, the Outer Banks Homebuilders’ Association premiered the 28th annual Parade of Homes – a much-anticipated event that went virtual for the first time ever. Featuring 20 new and renovated homes from Corolla to Hatteras Island and mainland Currituck, each entry includes an interactive floorplan and 3D views of the property that is available to view on the Homebuilders’ Association’s website for the next year.
In keeping with the association’s commitment to our local community, tickets aren’t necessary this year, but a donation to a local food bank is requested – and we’d like to extend huge congratulations to all of the 2020 contestants for their innovative work!
2020 People’s Choice Award Winners Coastal Cottage Contracting, LLC Compass Edge Construction, Inc. Griggs & Co. Homes, Inc. SAGA Realty & Construction Sandmark Custom Homes, Inc.
2020 Judges’ Award of Excellence Winners Belvin Built Griggs & Co. Homes, Inc. Mancuso Development Neal Contracting Reliant Construction, LLC SAGA Realty & Construction Sandmark Custom Homes, Inc.
2020 Parade of Homes entrants by SAGA Realty & Construction with interior design done by Coastal Accents & Design (top & middle) and Mancuso Development with interior design by Amy Hilliker Klebitz (bottom). Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Neal.
3 4 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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The Chrstmas Shop F I V E FACT S
The Christmas Shop on Roanoke Island, circa 1967. Photo courtesy of Edward Greene.
While a white Christmas might not always be in the cards on the Outer Banks, there’s at least one spot that still celebrates the wintery holiday year-round – and it’s been doing so for more than a half-decade now. Known to most as The Christmas Shop, the sprawling store located right off Highway 64 isn’t just another shopping establishment, it’s an experience, and many vacationers claim their trip wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the relatively unassuming-looking red building in Manteo. But beyond the bright (holiday) lights, there are at least a few things you might not know about one of the Outer Banks’ most iconic retail fixtures. BY KATRINA MAE LEUZINGER
1
Lights, Camera, Christmas
New York transplant Edward Greene fell in love with the Outer Banks when he was here dancing in The Lost Colony alongside actor Andy Griffith in 1953. Back then, the fledgling tourism industry was just getting started, and lacking the aptitude for farming or fishing, Greene wasn’t quite sure how to make a year-round living here. One thing he did know a lot about though was Christmas decorations – a skillset he picked up in the city where he once worked as a decorator in between dancing gigs. Armed with the idea, Greene invested in a lot with a small wooden building for about $10,000 in 1964 and never looked back.
3 6 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
3
2
Not So Humble Beginnings
Few locals and visitors alike are unfamiliar with the name Edward Greene…and for good reason. The man who inspired The Christmas Shop wasn’t content with establishing just one business, so he branched out in a number of directions – including starting two local newspapers, The Outer Banks Current and The Outer Banks Sentinel. Along with his fellow Lost Colony alum Andy Griffith, architect and artist David Stick, and famed local businessman George Crocker, Greene was also a founder of the Outer Banks Community Foundation – a nonprofit dedicated to fostering charitable giving that still exists to this day.
Eleven Times a Charm
Although The Christmas Shop might have started out small, that didn’t last long. In 1967, Greene and his business partner Richard Lacerre purchased a second building that was once an old World War II mess hall and had it hauled over to their lot from Airport Road on the north end of Roanoke Island. And they didn’t stop there. Over the years, Greene and Lacerre purchased nine other buildings that they connected a bit like Lego pieces – until The Christmas Shop eventually evolved into the 25,000-square-foot interconnected maze of holiday-themed rooms it is today.
4
It’s the Inside that Counts
With an eye for the aesthetic, Greene and Lacerre also painstakingly crafted each room in The Christmas Shop to heighten the shopper’s experience. Brightly colored paint adorned the walls in some rooms, while others sported quilts, tin siding, shingles and fabric, or – in true Outer Banks fashion – lumber that had washed up on the beach. Traditional merchandise display racks were also passed over in favor of antique furniture, including a baker’s table from the 1840s. And when the old Manns Harbor general store and movie theater was slated for destruction, the partners sought to preserve it by moving the whole front façade to its new home inside The Christmas Shop.
5
Hard to Say Goodbye
A “Closed Forever” sign was first posted on the front door of The Christmas Shop in 2006, prompting a flood of heartbroken letters, phone calls and emails from loyal customers who couldn’t bear to see the store go. Only two years later they got their wish – lacking a buyer during that time, Greene and Lacerre reopened the doors and started buying new antique displays to replenish the ones they had auctioned off. A decade later the shop briefly closed again and reopened under new management in 2016 – allowing Greene to retire at the age of 90 with a list of 90 things he planned to do in retirement, including “start a new dance craze” and “enjoy being a sex symbol.”
N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 37
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SCAN FOR COMPLETE LISTING
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AT HOME WITH THE
SUN Home is where we eat, play, study, work and dream…and for the first time ever, we invite you
Between writing, revising and reading, Amelia and her partner, Dan Lewis, also welcomed a newborn son this past August. Though it’s led to some sleepless nights, Oliver David Boldaji Lewis reigns supreme everywhere from the nursery to the living room – making Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree the most important book on their shelves.
helen furr sales manager With views like this, there’s virtually no need for a getaway. From helping her twin middle school-aged girls study to juggling a packed planner, there’s not much Helen can’t do on her back porch in Colington Harbour. Making appointments while watching the sunset? Check, and check. And transitioning from coffee to cocktails? You got it.
into the places where we carved out our own personal mini-sanctuaries while putting this issue together over the past few months. Because home may be where the heart is, but these days, it’s also so much more than that.
photos by ryan moser
N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 39
cathy baldwin publisher There’s always a lot going on in the Baldwin household, and as mom, publisher and a recently inspired gardener/baker (thanks to the newfound at-home time), Cathy’s often at the epicenter of it all. So if you’re wondering where to find her catching a quiet moment of reflection, just check the alcove in her master bath. It might not seem like much, but it’s the perfect spot for daydreaming about future travels – and taking the odd phone call in peace.
dave rollins art director A little downtime isn’t always that much different from being on the clock, and, for Dave, that means it’s all about putting the pieces together. Which isn’t to imply that jigsaw puzzles don’t help him unplug and relax – it’s just that finding the space for his classic, stuck-at-home hobby requires sharing the dining room table with family-time meals…and his kids’ school-issued Chromebooks. 4 0 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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R E A L E STAT E
sun salutations Beach Realty & Construction
SAGA Realty & Construction
Beach Realty Recognizes Top Agents
SAGA Realty & Construction Welcomes Rita Rogerson as Contract Administrator and Closing Coordinator
Beach Realty & Construction is pleased to announce the top three producing sales agents year-to-date. Congratulations to Joanne Kepler (Corolla office), Ilona Matteson (Duck office) and Jackson Dixon (Kitty Hawk office). All three agents are consistent top producers and have earned agent of the year honors at Beach Realty. Sales Manager Beth Urch says, “Although these three agents have different styles, they do have a few things in common. All three possess incredible negotiating skills, over the top customer service, and a thorough knowledge of the Outer Banks real estate market.” Beach Realty & Construction is a full-service real estate company offering real estate sales, vacation rentals and new construction and remodeling. For more information, contact salesteam@beachrealtync.com.
Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Kent Copeland Earns Coldwell Banker International Diamond Society Award Kent Copeland, a sales associate with Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty, has earned membership in the company’s International Diamond Society, a level achieved by only the top 15 percent of all Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. Copeland can be reached at (252) 202-2815 or kent@cbseaside.com. Jeff Kluger Earns Coldwell Banker International Diamond Society Award Jeff Kluger, a sales associate with Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty, has earned membership in the company’s International Diamond Society, a level achieved by only the top 15 percent of all Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. The award was presented earlier this year at the company’s annual awards ceremony held at the Duck Woods Country Club. Kluger can be reached at (252) 903-1738 or jkluger@cbseaside.com. Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Welcomes Michael & Heather Huling to the Kill Devil Hills Location Michael and Heather Huling have joined Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty as the Huling Homes OBX Team. Luxury Property Certified and Coldwell Banker Global Luxury agents, they specialize in luxury sales, custom homes and corporate relocation. Michael is the number one Coldwell Banker agent in Virginia and the greater Washington D.C. area and has been with Coldwell Banker since 2007. Having owned a home in Pirate’s Cove for the past 16 years, they are delighted to bring their marketing expertise, negotiation experience and concierge-level service to assist clients on the Outer Banks. Team leader Heather Huling can be reached at (703) 901-7471 or heather@hulinghomes.com. 42 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
SAGA Realty & Construction welcomes Rita Rogerson to the sales team. Rita has more than 18 years of experience in the real estate and construction industry on the Outer Banks and looks forward to using her industry knowledge to support the rapidly growing SAGA sales team. “Providing stellar customer service and direct assistance to the leaders of the SAGA sales department are very important to me,” Rita explains. “I am excited to be at such a forward-thinking company at a time like this.”
Sun Realty Sun Realty Announces Agents of the Month Sun Realty is pleased to congratulate the following Agents of the Month during a busy summer. Becky Rockis took top honors for the month of June. As a fulltime broker with more than seven years of experience, Becky looks forward to guiding clients through the home buying or selling process. Whether you are in the market for a primary residence, second home or investment property, or would like to see what your home may be worth, you can reach Becky at (252) 453-8811. The Willey Real Estate Group, Hugh (Scooter) and Gerri Willey, took the top sales spot for the month of July. A combination of market knowledge and cutting-edge technology, combined with old-fashioned customer service, has put the Willey Real Estate Group ahead of the curve. They are a top-producing real estate sales group on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Contact Hugh or Gerri at (252) 489-8491. The Sun Realty Agent of the Month for August was Michael Davenport. With 32 years of experience in Outer Banks real estate at Sun Realty, Michael Davenport can quickly navigate through the sea of listings, and based on your budget and priorities, find you the best value. Not only can he assist you in your home needs, he has lived his entire life on the Outer Banks gathering a vast knowledge of the area. You can reach Michael at (252) 441-8011.
Twiddy & Company Twiddy Welcomes New Agents Twiddy welcomes Crystal Swain and Kaleigh DiPietro to the Twiddy Premier Sales Family. Crystal works out of the Duck office and can be reached at cswain@twiddy.com or (252) 573-1646. Kaleigh works out of the Corolla office and can be reached at kdipietro@twiddy.com or (781) 720-9595.
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FOLKS
See Planting the
4 4 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
After successfully creating a program to deliver fresh local produce to New Yorkers in need, one Manteo native is bringing her project home to Roanoke Island. PHOTO BY CORY GODWIN / STORY BY ARABELLA SAUNDERS
On
an early autumn afternoon in 2013, Only a year later, Michelle and her team had tripled the Michelle Lewis walked into a Social amount of beds in the garden. Services office near New Haven, And the story didn’t end there. In 2018, Michelle moved Connecticut. Michelle – 31 at the time back home to Manteo to help take care of her mother. She and a graduate student at Yale University – was having a hard still maintained her role as executive director of the Peace time putting food on the table. Garden Project as well, and helped the organization grow from “I was the proverbial broke grad student and someone a distance. She also began scoping out places to establish the asked, ‘Why don’t you try to get public assistance?’” Michelle project on the Outer Banks. says. “I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I was like, okay, I’ll go.” After a bit of time, that search proved fruitful – and this past But Michelle left the office that day feeling confused, April, the Peace Garden Project officially opened on Roanoke frustrated and a little shocked. An employee informed her Island. The organization currently maintains three gardens that her monthly earnings were $50 too much to qualify for in Manteo, with the largest one on Fannin Mill Road. There, assistance. Their suggestions? Work fewer hours – or have a Michelle and a team of community volunteers grow pole beans, baby. sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, okra, basil and more. Michelle took neither option. With help from her family, she From the beginning, Michelle set up harvest days where was able to feed herself and graduate with a master’s degree volunteers picked and packaged food from the gardens for later that year. community members to pick up free of charge. This past Seven years later, Michelle stands in a greenhouse in her summer, in addition to harvest days, the organization teamed up hometown of Manteo, watering a spider plant and musing with Farmers to Families – a program sponsored by the United about how that experience never left her mind – and how it States Department of Agriculture – to give away additional inspired her to found the Peace Garden Project. boxes of fresh produce. The Peace Garden Project is now a All told, the Peace Garden Project has 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to promote distributed more than 37,000 pounds of community understanding and combat fresh food to the Outer Banks community All told, the Peace Garden food insecurity by providing spaces for over the past two and a half months. people to grow and receive fresh, free “We don’t make people prove their Project has distributed more produce. Unlike traditional community poverty,” Michelle says about the way the than 37,000 pounds of fresh gardens where each plot is maintained by a program works. “People don’t have to fill food to the Outer Banks specific individual or family, with the Peace out paperwork, and they don’t have to community over the past two Garden Project, everyone works the land justify to us why they’re there – because together at locations in New York and on you never know an individual’s situation or and a half months. Roanoke Island. circumstance.” But getting to that point with the The organization also hosts a Youth project wasn’t exactly a straight line. Following her graduation Leadership Institute for K-12 students that helps the kids get from Yale, Michelle initially moved to the Catskills to pastor at a involved in combating local food insecurity while also learning church. Upon arrival, she learned that the church owned dozens valuable skills both in and outside of the gardens. This past of acres of land that was lying fallow and racking up expensive summer 12 students participated in a seven-week camp led landscaping fees. She suggested building a garden, but was by Michelle and two interns from Duke Divinity School. The unsuccessful after members of the congregation expressed institute met six to nine hours a week, and participants received concerns about the produce potentially being stolen. $600 to $800 stipends and new Chromebooks thanks to a Michelle gracefully accepted defeat, but like the afternoon grant from The Conservation Fund. at the social services office, the experience stuck with her. Looking ahead, Michelle’s long-term goal for the Peace Shortly thereafter, she applied and was accepted to the Harvard Garden Project is to expand it across the East Coast, with Kennedy School for Executive Education with plans to develop self-sustaining chapters that are able to meet the specific needs a project that combatted food insecurity. of the communities they’re serving. “The program focused on organizing people around a In the short term, Michelle would like to expand the Roanoke common theme and learning to tell your story – so that when Island Peace Garden Project by adding new gardens in Manteo. you tell that story people understand what your vision is,” She’s also in the process of developing a buy-a-box, give-a-box Michelle explains. program, and she hopes to run more youth programs going By 2016, Michelle had moved to New Rochelle, New York. forward. Once there, she discovered a long-forgotten garden across “There’s all these ways that we try to put people in groups the street from the church she worked. This time, her plans or boxes, but at the end of the day we all have the same basic for a community garden fell into place. Months later, the Peace needs and desires,” Michelle says. “That’s one of the main points Garden Project was founded with only six raised garden beds we try to drive home with the Peace Garden Project – and that’s and a handful of volunteers. why all people are welcome in our spaces.”
eeds
As founder of the Peace Garden Project, Manteo resident Michelle Lewis recently teamed up with Farmers to Families in order to distribute fresh, free boxes of produce to those in need. N O RT H B E ACH SU N | 45
FOLKS
BY STEVE HANF
riding the
waves (airwaves, that is)
D
ecades before he once used a handheld radio to communicate with astronauts aboard a space shuttle, Jim Bailey remembers sitting in his home in Petersburg, Virginia, trying to watch the new television set his family had just purchased. There was just one problem: The signal from the ham radio operator who lived across the street interfered with their TV. Maddening? Nah. Jim was intrigued – and a lifelong hobby was born. “I used to listen to our neighbor through the television every time he got on,” Jim recalls. “I could hear him talking to people all over the world, and I thought, ‘I’d really like to do that,’ so I got a shortwave radio as a Christmas present and did a lot of listening.” Growing up across the pond in England, Andrew Darling also watched in awe as his father dabbled in electronics. Inspired by this, Andrew built his first transistor radio from scratch when he was 13 or 14, and when he heard a couple of folks chatting over the air, he wanted to learn more – so he wrote one of them a letter despite knowing nothing more than a first name and a call sign. “All I wrote on the envelope was ‘Bruce, G3WMZ,’ but the post office in England at that time was the licensing authority, and two days later, Bruce called me on the phone,” Andrew says with a laugh. “It’s pretty extraordinary, but he didn’t live that far away, and we became really good friends. After that, I got a little bit more into the stuff and got licensed the earliest I could.”
Kitty Hawk resident Greg Akers, on the other hand, didn’t take up the hobby until moving to Corolla with his wife in 2013. “There’s realistically a time when we can be cut off up here,” he remembers telling her. “I’m going to study and get my ham license so we have another means of communication in case everything else fails on the Outer Banks.” Of course, getting his three operator licenses came with another perk: “My wife said, ‘Greg, this is just an excuse for you to buy more electronics,’” he remarks cheerfully. “And there’s a little bit of truth to that.” These tales are worth repeating because, well, that’s what these gentlemen do. All three hold leadership positions with the Outer Banks Repeater Association (OBRA), a collection of more than a hundred active members who enjoy spending time together on the airwaves, during club socials and at community events when they can lend a helping hand. As many folks may know, the Outer Banks holds a special place in radio history: Reginald Fessenden, who often gets lost in the shadow of Guglielmo Marconi, is credited with being the first person to transmit speech and (later) music by radio in the early 1900s – a feat he managed by utilizing signal towers in Buxton and Manteo. And the airwaves have been crackling up and down the coast ever since, thanks in large part in recent years to the Outer Banks Repeater Association. In layman’s terms, a repeater is a combination receiver and transmitter that can take a weaker
continued on page 48
4 6 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
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The Outer Banks Repeater Association’s treasurer, Greg Akers, at his home-based office where he can communicate with other radio operators from all over. Photo by Lori Douglas.
signal from a ham radio user and re-broadcast the forms of communications crash and burn, our stuff message in real time using a much stronger signal. keeps going.” With towers from the Virginia border to Ocracoke Dare County Emergency Services showed how and points in between, the OBRA is all about improving much it values the OBRA by including space for the communications. This means that those people in group in the new Emergency Operations Center in yellow vests at all the Outer Banks Sporting Events Manteo. Jim says the space reserved for OBRA in races are OBRA members ready to the old building was as big jump on their radios in case they need as a closet. Now, they have a to report medical emergencies to “If the county much more spacious room first responders. The same goes for system that accommodates several events such as the Pirate’s Cove Billfish goes down, volunteers and their gear. Tournament and the Kelly’s St. Patrick’s we’re able If needed, the association to maintain Day Parade. members can help Dare And when it comes to hurricanes contact. The County officials not only talk and the threat – or actual loss – of county has a to people being impacted by regular communications capabilities, pretty robust storms on various parts of the that’s when the association really shines. system, but island – getting early reports When Hurricane Matthew hit in we’ve had to on road conditions and power 2016, a generator that powers the jump in a few outages, for instance – but county’s 800 MHz communication also link to state and federal times.” system failed to start, which meant emergency operation centers. ham radio operators were an invaluable -Jim Bailey, Outer Banks “We feel appreciated by backup method, explains Jim, who Repeater Association the folks out there, and the coordinates the emergency response fire departments, too,” Jim program for the OBRA. says. “We have a good working “If the county system goes down, we’re able to relationship with them. We try to help them, and they maintain contact,” he says. “The county has a pretty help us whenever they can, too.” robust system, but we’ve had to jump in a few times.” According to Greg, group members often spend at “If you Google ‘ham radio during emergencies,’ least two nights a week chatting with each other over you’ll see loads and loads of references to radio clubs the airwaves. One night tends to be for fun, while the throughout the world that chip in when there are other is all business. Throughout the month of July disasters,” adds Andrew, who serves as the association’s this past summer the group even conducted mock president. “That works because our equipment isn’t emergency drills, simulating how they would react highly complicated in terms of what 911 service or the during the upcoming hurricane season. military tends to use. It’s readily available. A lot of it is It was a War of the Worlds kind of radio moment, battery operated and quite reliable, so when all other Greg says. Anyone who stumbled upon the action 4 8 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
should have overheard a calmly read drill script – but some of the members certainly relished their imagined roles. “One of the club members’ wives came on all excited and said, ‘The front door of my house just blew in, I’m having heart palpitations, my chest hurts, my husband’s gone, my power’s out, I can’t call 911 – what do I do?’” Greg says with a laugh. “We processed the report, and sent it through to the Emergency Operations Center as practice – and we awarded her an honorary Grammy!” While Greg admits that many of the ham enthusiasts on the Outer Banks are retirees with professional technical experience, not all of them have the same background, and the club is always seeking new members from all walks of life. Contrary to the perception that it’s an expensive hobby to get into, a good entry-level setup can also be had for about $100. And although the licensing process may seem daunting at first, the OBRA hosts classes and testing sessions each year to help with that, as well. Since joining the association, Greg has chatted with operators at the Indianapolis 500, a digitally linked commercial airline passenger, and even a helicopter pilot in the Grand Canyon. Jim says that ham radio operators who vacation on the Outer Banks often make contact with OBRA members and become friends over the airwaves after their week at the beach. From one call sign to another, they repeat fun stories – and sometimes life-saving details – one transmission at a time. “It’s a club,” Andrew explains. “It doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is. It doesn’t matter whether you’re fully abled or not. It’s completely welcoming, completely open. The only thing anybody cares about is the fact that you enjoy being on the radio like everybody else.”
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Matt Steed with a luxury custom dining room chair in his Woods Road Furniture shop. Photo by Elizabeth Neal.
FOLKS
Precision crafting with Kitty Hawk’s Woods Road Furniture
BY STEVE HANF
As
OUT OF THE
the action unfolds on the television screen, Matt Steed’s eyes are drawn to a shapely leg – or, seconds later, an alluring chest. Captivated by the beauty before him, Matt presses pause on the remote. “My wife will be like, ‘You just saw a piece of furniture in the background, didn’t you?’” Matt says with a laugh. “And I’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah. Hold on, I’ve gotta go back and take a picture of it.’” You can almost picture Leah rolling her eyes as she waits for their movie to resume, but Matt can’t help himself. Making furniture, and channeling the artistry behind it, is in his blood. “I’ll get all these ideas, and I keep a catalog of things that I want to make,” he says. “Then, when someone comes in, I’ll start pitching ideas, and if something sticks, that’s cool – next, we’ll try to make it our own.” Matt runs Woods Road Furniture out of the same shop where his dad, Glenn, turned Harmony Cabinets into a household name during decades of building on the Outer Banks from the mid-‘80s until 2015. A photo in Matt’s office shows him with his father outside the shop just off the bypass in Kitty Hawk. Now 40, Matt fondly recalls those early days in the family business as a five-year-old. “The first thing I did was check the trash cans to see if there was enough of any one material to make anything, because my dad didn’t want me to use fresh stuff,” Matt says. “I’d just start screwing little pieces of wood together,
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From tables to chairs and everything in between, Matt’s custom works of art can be found in homes and businesses all over the beach. Photos courtesy of Leah and Matt Steed.
trying to make a side table or something. I wish I’d saved some of that!” He also remembers his dad letting him know when he was doing something wrong – but mostly, Matt just kept watching and learning. Between his father and Skip Haynes, a longtime Harmony employee, the two men were instrumental in teaching Matt how to use the tools of the trade. Eventually, Matt worked his way up to building things such as skateboard ramps and smaller pieces of furniture for personal use. And at hundreds of job sites up and down the beach, he watched his father install cabinet after cabinet. “I never really thought I was going to do anything other than cabinets,” Matt says about his early career path. But there was just one small problem. “I hated building cabinets,” he admits with a laugh. “To me, it felt like making a box over and over again.” Instead, Matt dabbled in furniture-making as a hobby in his 20s. He also gave wood flooring a shot for a year, before realizing he disliked that even more than building cabinets. Then, after they got married, Leah encouraged him to build some furniture for their own house, and Matt gradually found himself designing tables.
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Matt works inside his Kitty Hawk Woods Road shop – the same space his father ran Harmony Cabinets for decades while Matt was growing up (left, photo by Elizabeth Neal). Other examples of Matt’s unique take on furniture that’s unmistakably artistic (above, photos courtesy of Leah and Matt Steed).
Fast-forward to today, and chances are you’ve sat at one of his works of art. In addition to providing massive dining room tables to accommodate huge beach houses, he’s also done custom pieces for restaurants such as Steamers, Mako’s and the Outer Banks Brewing Station. So how cool is it to sit at one of his own tables when he goes out to eat? Meh, maybe more like “stressful.” “I tend to sit there and pick them apart; I’m never really satisfied,” Matt explains. “I can have a lot of anxiety about making furniture – and I need to make them just right so I don’t get that anxiety.” That goal of expert craftsmanship came from his dad. And Matt developed his artistic eye thanks to his mom, Alta, an artist and former art teacher. “I always appreciated how she pulled creativity out of her students when she taught art lessons,” Matt says. “Her approach was to say, ‘Sometimes this needs to be practical, but it can also be very beautiful.’ There’s a lot of 5 4 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
stuff in furniture that’s creative – but a casual person walking by might not see that right away.” That happens to be the case when it comes to one of Matt’s most recent projects: designing and hand crafting dining room chairs for a client who liked what he built for her beach house so much that she commissioned him to do some pieces for her Chicago home. To the untrained eye, they might simply be considered attractive chairs. But the craftsmanship involved in getting the curve of the legs and the back support just right can take hundreds of hours. In some pieces, though, the artistry is impossible to miss. Over the past couple of years, Matt’s enjoyed working with epoxy in order to make tables and other functional items with brilliant splashes of color. It can be challenging and time consuming, but seeing a dining room table crafted with a couple slabs of sycamore and a river of jet-black epoxy makes for a great conversation starter over dinner.
Raw materials litter his shop as well, including everything from giant tree rings to walnut – his favorite wood to use – plus odds and ends he stumbles across online or that people have gifted him. His current dining room table is made from wood he found in East Lake. Other examples of his work showcase materials such as red oak and poplars from the Raleigh area. For Matt, the variety only adds another dimension of depth and character to each and every piece. And as much fun as it is getting a giant table to the third floor of a beach house, Matt and his crew have also pivoted toward making smaller pieces in recent years – things such as side tables, bunk beds and even a bookcase for a pilot that is an unmistakable nod to the original 1903 Wright Flyer. “I’m still trying to develop my own style,” Matt explains. “Whenever someone comes in and they don’t know what they want exactly, usually it’s just blind faith that we’re going to make them something nice – and it’s fun because I’ve been doing this long enough now that people just trust me.”
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THE LOCAL LIFE
STORY BY AMELIA BOLDAJI / PHOTO BY LORI DOUGL AS
against his Harley-Davidson as he settles in for the next question. From his decadeslong career with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to several terms as a Kill Devil Hills commissioner, and his longstanding nonprofit work with the Dare County Motorsports Charity Group – much of which played a part in earning him the 2019 Dare County Citizen of the Year award – Terry’s a well-known fixture both on the road and in the boardroom. But whether he’s holding meetings or motorcycle runs, one thing’s certain: He’s always there to lend a hand for his community.
AN ENGINE REVS, AND TERRY GRAY LEANS COMFORTABLY
What is it that draws you to community service? I did a lot of community things as I was growing up in Nags Head and Wanchese, and one of the people who inspired me the most was my grandfather. He had a saying: If you don’t give back, you ain’t going to get back. He cared, and his whole thing was just making sure people were looked after – it always impressed me. That was why, when I first ran for office, I put my phone number out there. I wanted to be accessible if someone had a problem; I wanted them to pick up the phone and call me.
How did you get involved with organizing annual motorcycle toy runs? Brian Mervine and his wife started the motorcycle runs around 2001 at Vertigo Tattoo in order to benefit the underprivileged kids in Dare County at Christmas. The runs began at the Aycock Brown Welcome Center, and they’d ride all the way down the beach road to Vertigo in November – but that meant that they were subject to some bad weather. After a while he stopped, but in May of 2016 a bunch of us were sitting around and someone said, ‘Terry, you’ve got the biggest mouth – go find out why they’re not doing it anymore.’ So I went to see Brian, and he looked at me, and looked at his property, and said, ‘Do what you want to do.’ It was a display of generosity, and here we are five years later.
Has the charity group work evolved over these past few years?
terry gray Director, Dare County Motorsports Charity Group Commissioner, Town of Kill Devil Hills 56 | FA L L/H O L I DAY 2020
In 2016 we did our first September run with about 130 bikes, and we raised $14,000 for Christmas between toys and entry fees. That November we made the effort to become a nonprofit foundation, and as we grew, we began fine tuning. Now we have two events: A toy run in September and a three-day gathering in April during bike week. In 2018 we also started using funds from the rally to establish three scholarships for select graduating seniors at each of the local high schools based on academics and financial need. We don’t tout the numbers out that much, but overall, we had about a 300-percent increase in the money raised between last year and our first year.
What do you think has made the charity group so successful? For starters, we’ve expanded what we do to much more than just the Christmas toy runs, and we get everyone involved. We were pretty smart in how we set things up, too, and we reversed the runs so we start at Vertigo and finish things up at a different restaurant each year with events to generate community involvement. We even have a $1,000 poker run with a score sheet and card pick-ups at seven stops…though the person with the best hand usually gives the money back. In the end, everything just raises more money for the kids – and that’s what it’s all about.
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Visit Duck’s favorite spot
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FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY AMERICAN FINE CRAFT
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