Issue 6.41 milepost
2018 Event Calendar
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
Frank Stick Show Opens Jan 27 COA Jewelry Show Randy Hodges Metals Exhibit First Friday 2018 Kick-Off Artrageous and Mollie Fearing Memorial Art Show Rock The Cape on Hatteras Island Manteo July 4 at the Courthouse New World Festival of the Arts Surfalorus Film Festival DCAC Fundraising Gala Veterans Writing Project Holiday Small Works Show
Dare County Arts Council would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to everyone in our community who helped us in 2017. This year was a big success with record traffic in the gallery and attendance at our events, across the board. To our sponsors, members, donors and partners, thank you for keeping the arts thriving on the Outer Banks. And a special note to our unbelievable volunteers – you are the best, funnest, most dedicated people we know. Thank you for making everything possible.
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Behold! gokite The milepost irony of all graphiccontent ironies. gosurf
A 2001 “Sports” Webbie — aka the “Oscars of the Internet.” An old dot-com relic from gigs gone bye. Were someone to spot this silvery souvenir among my desk’s clutter, they might think, “Here’s a man who knows something about athletic competition. About trophies and leagues. About victory!” And yet, I assure you, there is nothing less true.
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Fact is, I’ve never cared about sports — at least not those with a capital “S.” (As a beach kid, surfing and skateboarding offered plenty of exercise, zero practice — and 100 percent chance of mischief.) Oh, I might shoot hoops in a driveway or end zone dance for the Neighborhood Football League. But the desire to pit myself against my fellow man to — in the words of Conan the Barbarian — “crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of the women”? This has never been “what’s best in life.”
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Case in point: my 98-pound weakling of a wrestling career. For three years, my nose stayed pressed to a sweat-stained mat as my so-called best friend — and three-time
All that glitters ain’t gold. Photo: Evan Moore
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As the ref counted off — “One! Two! Three!” — I tallied the overhead fixtures, before my eyes settled on the scoreboard, which read something like, “Home: 12 Visitor: 4.” I winced. Another trouncing. My shoulder blade was nowhere near the vinyl, but there was no hope of a comeback. So, with ten seconds on the clock, I decided to end the suffering for all involved.
I don’t regret the years rolling ankles and risking staph.
city champ — spun ‘round, practicing holds and throwing headlocks before pinning me easily. Between beatings, we’d run bleachers and sweat buckets while a guy in Bike shorts blew back our hair with whistles and insults.
“Why not?” reasoned my pubescent thought patterns. “Exhibitions don’t count toward the team total. The sooner this ends, the sooner I’m back in the bleachers making fart jokes and perving on cheerleaders.”
Occasionally, Coach would sign me up for exhibition matches — mostly away meets — where I’d reprise the role of human pretzel as a warm-up act for the main event. Lying on my back before a gym of booing strangers, I learned more about art and math than I did in most classes, picking out geometric patterns in the gym lights overhead, and comparing school colors to note which cinderblock combinations fell flat and which really popped.
So, I let the guy pin me. And as they raised my opponent’s arm, I panned the room once more. Only then did I notice my school’s familiar yellow-and-blue paintjob and the strange looks on my teammates’ faces — a mix of surprise, confusion and disappointment. That’s when it hit me:
Until I lost. Or, more aptly, until I beat me.
Except for one match. Maybe I’d gotten better. Maybe this guy just sucked worse. But, I finally felt what it was like to wrestle with confidence. I “shot the leg” to get the takedown. Broke his holds when he grabbed a limb. Braced firm when he tried to roll me over. For four-plus minutes, I held control, even squeezing out a few back points — before he snuck a reversal and cradled me to return the favor.
That was my last winter in a singlet. But I don’t regret the years rolling ankles and risking staph infections. It may not have been fun. But it had value. I found I could keep pace with champions — at least on the pull-up bar. I also discovered I could take multiple forearms to the face and still smile. If nothing else, I learned that, while it’s okay to lose, it’s not okay to defeat yourself. — Matt Walker
Est. 1929
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“I was ‘Home.’ I was winning.”
Thank you for reading Outer Banks Milepost. We hope you enjoy it. If not — before chucking this issue in the nearest dumpster — please consider one of the following equally satisfying ways of expressing your disgust: paint it yellow and throw it down on a muddy field of stampeding footballers; repeatedly smash it with a bat while crying ‘foul!’ Or simply add it to that six-month stack of newspapers you’ve yet to recycle. (Trust us: you’ll feel better.) Then, send any and all feedback — positive, negative or just plain confused — to: editor@outerbanksmilepost.com. We promise to find some way to re-purpose them.
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“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” — Michael Jordan “For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.” — Hunter S. Thompson Issue 6.4 Winter 2017/18 Cover: Really Good Sports Photo: Chris Bickford
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Outer Banks Milepost is published quarterly (sorterly) by Suite P Inc. All contents are the property of Suite P Inc. and do not reflect the opinion of advertisers or distributors. Nor do their contents reflect that of the creative types (who would never, ever sell out). Comments, letters and submissions are usually welcome. Please include SASE for return delivery of all snail mail, however, Milepost and Suite P Inc. still aren’t responsible for any unsolicited materials. And don’t expect much else to move much faster than IST (Island Standard Time). Oh yeah: if you reprint a lick of this content you’re ripping us off. (Shame on you.) To discuss editorial ideas, find out about advertising or tell us we blew it – or just find out what the waves are doing – call 252-441-6203 or email: editor@outerbanksmilepost.com; sales@outerbanksmilepost.com. www.outerbanksmilepost.com
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03 StartingPoint The irony of defeat. 06 UpFront Job woes, life victories, and DB cries foul. 16 GetActive Team up to help disaster victims.
18 G ood Sports Love the players. Love the game. 24 GraphicContent We will…We will…Mock you. 30 QuestionAuthority Darrell Collins waxes historic. 34 FoodDrink Mix and flow.
37 SoundCheck Whirled records. 38 ArtisticLicense Girl power gone global. 41 OutThere Weird number one. 42 EndNotes Winter’s heat sheet.
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“I’ve lost count of all the skateboard graphics I’ve designed. At least 100. Lots are pop-culture parodies. Or you can jab at a pro skater’s personality. Or you can do a rider series, where each design combines to create a larger piece. That’s what led to this painting of the Wanchese Bowl. I had an endless supply of old decks in my basement, but I couldn’t afford tons of paint. So, I bought blue, yellow, magenta, and black, and mixed CMYK percentages — just like I would digitally. [laughs] It was fun. And all those old skating scars from slides or whatever — all that damage — gives off this cool crosshatch texture. This extra bit of life.” — Jesse Davis
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Outer Banks biz owners aren’t just crying for employees — they’re begging for solutions. getactive Everyone who lives on the Outer Banks knows the drill. Work your butt off in the summer, downshift in the fall, recover in the winter. In March, the “Help Wanted” signs start appearing, workers apply, and businesses once again start gearing up for the insanity. Except, this past summer, the helpers didn’t come, didn’t stay, or couldn’t be found — at least not enough of them. Owners have been so short-handed they’re practically begging. Some, in fact, aren’t too proud to beg.
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When Lost Colony Brewery and Café in Manteo came up short at summer’s end, co-owner Paul Charron took to Facebook with a heartfelt-yet-humorous plea: “We need experienced waits who have worked BUSY restaurants and 1) have no prospects of marriage, 2) have no college savings, 3) hate teaching (or kids), 4) know Buffalo is a cold, dark place, 5) can make bail if they need to, 6) start right away.”
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Charron dashed off the ad out of sheer helplessness after losing most of his long-time core staff for reasons he’d hinted at in the post.
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“There was no pool [of workers] out there to replace them,” he laments. Out of the 50,000 Facebook page views the post received, Charron did find two “phenomenal” staff. Prior to then, however, he says he went so far as to bail out a server and cross his fingers for a couple weeks before he had to let her go.
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“That’s how desperate we got,” he recalls. “I know there were a lot of places that were worse off than us.” Mark Ballog saw problems before the season even began. The owner of Lucky 12 Tavern in Nags Head says he couldn’t find enough “bodies” at the end of May to be able to open for lunch.
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“I needed 42 kitchen shifts,” he says, “and I had 23 covered.” His managers took turns in the kitchen. His out-of-town nephew came down for the summer to help. So did another friend. By the time seven foreign students arrived in June, it was too late to teach them to prepare the menu properly. So Ballog did a lot of cooking. In May and June, he says he would arrive at 7am and stay until 10 or 11pm most nights. Between
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February 15 and July 18, he didn’t have a single day off. Even with ads posted on Facebook and Craigslist, Ballog says there may be responses, but people don’t follow through and stop by in person. Many aren’t interested in learning new skills. “We just don’t see anybody who comes in and says, ‘Hey, can you teach me?’” Ballog says. “Trying to find an extra person or two, it’s next to impossible. You can’t even get people to apply.”
It only got worse going into fall. With the shoulder season getting busier and longer, the post-Labor Day pace doesn’t let up like before. In some states, you can at least hire high schoolers to scrub dishes, but North Carolina child labor laws don’t let kids under 16 work in places that serve alcohol — not even the kitchen. And increased pressures from staff shortages and extra workloads go beyond the restaurant and service industries.
overworked owners and staff in the summer, Brown says. It also could impact availability and the quality of those services that serve the year-round community, such as health care — creating a trickle-down effect of more complex problems.
“It’s a nationwide problem,” says Ballog. “It stretches across the board — to retail, the hospital, insurance agents.”
“There’s just a lot that is going on,” she says. “We have to think how to adapt differently.”
As of late October, job listings on the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce website include HVAC technicians, health aides, graphic designers, retail sales, veterinary assistants, and media coordinators. Frustrated and overworked employers and managers might wish they could pluck workers off the beach, but the reality is that most jobs require certain skills or experience.
Even the reliable stream of international students seems to be fluctuating. The foreign workers who have been important additions to the summer workforce seemed less available this year. But Phil Simon, vice-president for work exchange for the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), which designates sponsors for cultural exchange J-1 visas, says there was no decrease in participants on the Outer Banks.
“For me, in retail, it’s always been, I need folks that have personality and good customer service and product knowledge,” says Jim Vaughn, who has owned Whalebone Surf Shop since 1975. “I have to have people who are hip to surfing, hip to fashion.” Ideally, local surfers — girls as well as boys — start working in the shop while in high school and continue through college, Vaughn says. Having schools that start in August makes that harder. Others gravitate toward higher paying restaurant work. And foreign workers are not usually well-versed in surf culture, so they’re not an option to fill openings. “Most of the kids down here have a strong work ethic,” he says. “It’s just a challenge finding enough of them.” It’s not just specialty stores. (Even Food Lion had to bus in workers from Columbia to fill schedules this summer.) And it’s not just here. Karen Brown, the president and CEO of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, says she has heard the same issues from other resort communities. “It’s been really difficult this summer to hire staff,” she says.
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“As of late October, job listings included HVAC technicians, health aides, graphic designers and retail sales.”
Simon says that the J-1 visa program this year allowed exchange of 100,000 total students to the U.S. Of those, 1400 were allotted for the Outer Banks. CIEE sponsors the largest number of the nation’s cultural exchange workers, and the Outer Banks receives a significant number of them — nearly all of them from the Northern Hemisphere nations, where summer encompasses the same time period as the U.S. Another tourist-worker visa, the H-2B, is typically used for hiring seasonal workers for jobs, such as landscaping and construction, but it is still unclear what impact the effort to scale back immigration, implemented by the new Administration earlier this summer, has had on the local workforce. As far as J-1 visas go, Simon says that, so far, there are no plans to decrease the numbers. But the White House has issued confusing signals that hint at possible cuts to various visa programs as part of its immigration policy overhaul.
Brown says lack of workforce housing is a primary culprit. Not only have increasing numbers of affordable rooms and apartments been rented to Airbnb customers, she says, but a lot of other rental units have been taken by workers with the beach nourishment and Bonner Bridge projects. Plus, more college kids are now attending school in the summer in order to save on student loans.
“We are watching, though, as an industry, to see what will happen with the program under the new Administration,” Simon says. “We’re all concerned about that. We’re having conversations with people in Washington.”
The Chamber recently launched a housing initiative to address the housing shortage for both year-round and summer workers. A lack of available employees means more than
“If they deny those visas, it would be a disaster,” says Ballog. “We need those kids. I had some — when they left, I cried my eyes out.” — Catherine Kozak
Any restrictions on worker visas could make finding staff next summer more of a nightmare.
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CRIMSON INCOME
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Inner Bankers, cranberries and supplemental cash in the early 20th century.
milepost Photos: NC Dept. of Conservation and Development/ State Archives of NC.
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The marshes and swampy lowlands that fringe the Outer Banks are rich with history, culture and biodiversity. In fact, the terrain is home to one tart treasure that for years helped inhabitants of mainland Dare and nearby counties supplement their seasonal fishing incomes: wild cranberries, aka varccinium macrocarpon. This creeping shrub thrives in boggy ecosystems like the low-lying areas of northeastern North Carolina. For Outer Banks natives around the turn of the century, collecting cranberries was a means of sustenance as viable as hunting or fishing. And before mechanization and modern processing, selling them was profitable for those living in the mainland enclaves of Manns Harbor, Mashoes, Stumpy Point, and Gum Neck. Families used large wooden rakes, often passed down from one generation to the next, to harvest the crimson gems from the swampy bogs. According to legendary Outer Banks writer, photographer, publicity
man, and keeper of history, Aycock Brown, the rakes were “box-like in shape with the bottom having many wooden prongs which separate the berries from the multi-leaf cranberry plant.” In 1901, state engineer J. H. McRee came upon a 3,000-acre cranberry bog while surveying a section of Tyrrell County. By the time he finished his assessment of the swamplands, McRee had discovered even more patches full of berries that old timers said “were not planted, but have always been there.” But while North Carolina’s northeast coastal section was awash in the wild-growing fruit, there were no appropriate means to get the crops to market. Raleigh’s Farmer and Mechanic newspaper described the abundant supply, and the area’s distribution quandries, in 1907: “There are extensive cranberry marshes within five miles of this place (Columbia), one of the finest being near the headwaters
of Riders Creek. Other marshes are found in Hyde and Tyrrell counties, and still another (reported as producing an extra fine berry) is an island near the mouth of Northwest River in Currituck County. Also the fruit grows in a wild state on a stretch of land bordering the Croatan Sound in Dare County. “These cranberry areas have never been cultivated; in fact, very little attention has been given them, mainly for the lack, up to a few month ago, of railroad facilities, and the further reason that the ownership of the land is in many instances unsettled. Otherwise it might be made a very profitable business, as the lands here are of that rich, peaty nature peculiarly adapted to the growth of cranberries.” None of this information was new to New England growers who wanted in on the southern berry action. As early as 1896, prominent Massachusetts cranberry man, Captain C.W. Chase, made his way to Elizabeth City where he purchased tracts
Serving lunch and Dinner daily
along the Pasquotank River. Chase cited North Carolina’s earlier growing season, inexpensive land, and cheaper labor as chief reasons for purchasing land in the northern Albemarle region where the berries grew naturally.
By 1952, Thomas Hunter Midgett was one of the few natives still gathering cranberries the way his family had done for years, with the same wooden rake that his grandfather used, according to an article in the Coastland Times. Midgett grew up in Manns Harbor and courted Leona Basnight, whose parents were caretakers of the Durant’s Island Hunt Club, located in the Albemarle Sound just north of the Dare County mainland. According to his daughter, Mary Alice Twiddy, Midgett would take a boat to call on Basnight. “That was love,
“Hmm… needs vodka.”
In 1907, Dare County’s crop went down in the annals of history, when North Carolina Fisheries Commissioner and Roanoke Island’s man-about-town, Theordore Meekins, Sr., entered some local wild cranberries in the Horticulture Exhibits at the Jamestown Exposition. Meekins’ berries won a bronze medal, which he kept in his Manteo office, until it was lost in the great fire of September 1939.
wasn’t it?” Twiddy recently said of her parent’s watery courtship. When interviewed in 1951, Midgett touted local berries over commercial ones for their taste and nutrients: “Those cultivated berries in pretty packages do not have the taste, the size nor the quality of our wild berries.” When asked if she had seen her father’s wooden cranberry rake, Twiddy was quick to respond, “I sure did.” Unfortunately, the long-time Mann’s Harbor resident was not sure of the rake’s whereabouts. “I don’t know where it would be,” she regretted. Perhaps it merely fell by the wayside, like many of the old hunting and gathering traditions of our forebearers. — Sarah Downing
Sources: “Eastern Carolina Cranberries,” Semi-weekly Messenger (Wilmington), Nov. 15, 1901; “Growing Cranberries in North Carolina,” Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh); Dec. 31, 1907; Interview with Mary Alice Twiddy, Sept. 9, 2017; “List of Awards for Horticulture Exhibits at the Jamestown Exposition,” Roanoke Beacon, Jan. 24, 1908; “Wild Cranberries Being Harvested in Abundance in Bogs of Dare Co.,” Rocky Mount Sunday Telegram, Nov. 25, 1951.
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HURTS SO GOOD It’ll take a fair bit of concrete — and a cool $1.3 mil in hard cash — but KDH will finally finish Bay Drive’s soundside multi-use path between now and next summer. It won’t feel good to fall on. And traffic will suffer from First Street to Avalon Dr. But it’s a small price to avoid getting plowed down during sunset bike rides. TO CATCH A THIEF Calling all car owners. More than 100 victims reported vehicle break-ins from Duck to Nags Head this fall, losing cash, jewelry — and at least 14 guns. At press time, police were offering $2000 for info on the culprits and $500 per returned firearm. (Call the anonymous tip line at 252-4733111.) And if you must leave your car unlocked, at least leave it unloaded.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARGE? Hats off to CSI’s Maritime Heritage Program and ECU for discovering the roots of Pamlico Sound’s Pappy Lane shipwreck. Long rumored to be a gravel barge, these archaeological adventurers determined it’s actually an amphibious military transport once used by Pacific troops during WWII. Which ship? When did it get here? And why? You’ll just have to wait for the researchers’ sequel report.
IS THERE A BENEFECATOR IN THE HOUSE? Fresh off their most successful season yet, tragedy struck Theatre of Dare in Sept. when villainous mold shut down COA Auditorium weeks before opening. Luckily, two local drama lovers — the Lost Colony and Dare County Arts Council — offered up solutions to save this year’s productions, but they’re still seeking a permanent stage for the show to go on.
NEIGH, BIG SPENDERS! Was it wild mustangs? Historic buildings? Wide beaches? Whatever the draw, Currituck County whipped up $154 million in visitor spending in 2016 — a five percent increase over the previous year — despite Hurricane Matthew trampling late fall’s numbers. With traditional attractions like Whalehead Club picking up speed — and a recent waterpark corralling herds of new humans — biz owners hope 2017 will end up another haymaker.
MERGING TRAFFIC AHEAD Prepare to break old driving habits, as two long-time roadways go through rehab this winter. Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge will undergo surface repairs by Dec. 15, detouring traffic along U.S. 64 through Manns Harbor and Manteo. (Weekends excluded.) However, the eastbound span of Wright Memorial Bridge will be off-limits until May 15, squeezing drivers into just two lanes. (Hey, you don’t fix a half-century of hard living in just 28 days.)
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DECRAPITATED? Bonnett St. lost its head this fall — not to mention some head-scratching graffiti — when Nags Head razed the beach access bathhouse to make room for a newer, fancier 1500-plus-square-foot facility. In addition to updated toilets and showers, there’ll be a whole new look — even an unfinished upstairs for storage. Expect the extreme makeover to be done by Memorial Day. ’Til then, surfers and Sharpie artists must do their business elsewhere. PLASTIC PEOPLE It took multiple pieces of legislation and a veto override — not to mention ignoring local opposition — but our reps in Raleigh finally managed to undo the local ban on single-use shopping bags, to leave a legacy of litter and long-term pollution. Apparently, plastic’s not the only thing that’s both transparent and toxic, as they clearly put lobbyists and special interests before their coastal constituents.
POINT TAKEN What do you get when you shrink wildlife buffers and grow ORV corridors? Greater beach access. Such is the lesson from 2017, as Cape Point remained open the entire summer for the first time in years. (Not counting a couple hours due to Shelly Island’s bomb scare.) You can’t give the Park Service’s modified rules all the credit. Storms and predators were particularly tough on bird nests this year. But it goes to show, a beach driver’s best friend ain’t always Ford, Chevy or Toyota — it’s the ability to dodge. SAYONARA, SENTARA Say goodbye to healthcare diversity. In Oct., Sentara announced its Kitty Hawk Medical Center would shut down Dec. 15, eliminating Urgent Care, Advanced Imaging Center, Sentara Therapy Center, and Outpatient Laboratory. (Non-affiliated practices and Bear Drugs are staying put.) And on Oct. 9, Hatteras Village Medical
Center closed its doors without notice or reason, leaving both ends of the beach feeling like we just got ghosted. HERSHEY FLYWAY Heads up! On Dec. 17, the Candy Bomber returns for its seventeenth sweet sortie over Dare Co. Airport, dropping chocolate bars for girls and boys. The treats may be free, but this tradition ain’t cheap — $3k in fuel costs alone. So, if you’ve enjoyed a healthy payday of late, cut a check to Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation and mail it to Karin Edmond, P.O. Box 1226, Manteo, NC 27954 by Dec. 10. A $500 donation buys a plane ride. And every cent puts a cavitystudded smile on local kids’ faces.
For detailed reports on many of these stories and breaking local news on a daily basis — plus page after page of local discussion — visit www.outerbanksvoice. com, www.obsentinel.com and www. islandfreepress.org.
SMART-ASS COMMENT OF THE MONTH “Dear Boswell, I’d like to say thank you for wasting our tax money and thanks for polluting our beaches and killing our sea life. Hoping many bags find your front yard.” — Paul, “Bag ban repeal passed; Governor not pleased with overall bill,” Aug. 31, 2017, OuterBanksVoice.com.
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WHADDYA RECKON?
We got questions — you got answers. getactive Hannah Delucia, 22 Coffee Roasting Technician Kitty Hawk “My biggest win and worst loss are one in the same: my sanity. When it’s on, I’m winning at everything. And when it’s gone, I’m completely lost and don’t know what to do with myself.”
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Craig Purkiss, 41 Ambassador of Retail Kill Devil Hills “Biggest loss would be the hit to my credit score for traveling and enjoying life last winter while pushing aside adult responsibilities. [laughs] And right now I’m honestly wondering if the car I left in Puerto Rico is completely destroyed.”
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Brooke Hiltz, 22 First Mate Southern Shores “I just booked one-way tickets to Sri Lanka and Australia for under $1000 — that’s a nice win for me. My biggest loss was when I locked my cell phone, keys, and the spare key in my car in the middle of nowhere between Ohio and Chicago.”
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rearview Jason Mailand, 42 Musician/Manager/Realtor Southern Shores “My big win is being able to make money doing what I love, whether that’s having a career working in and around surfing or being able to get paid playing music.”
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What’s your greatest win? Or your worst loss? Jacob Crume, 23 Ice Cream Man Grandy “Losing my grandmother in a car accident was a huge loss. I was in the car, so just being here is the biggest win. But I’d also say the first time I dunked a basketball was a major accomplishment. [laughs] I was extremely hyped on that.”
Jamie Cohen, 31 Retail Kill Devil Hills “My biggest win was moving down here. And after that move, I lost 60 pounds — so I guess that would be my biggest ‘loss.’” [laughs]
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Brent Vuyovich, 33 Chiropractor Kitty Hawk “Marrying my wife has been my biggest win. Definitely.”
Forest Davis, 24 Youth Pastor Kitty Hawk “The biggest win I’ve experienced is the gift of receiving. I have received an incredible wife, family, community, and acceptance from the God of the Universe.” Interviews and images by Tony Leone
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No catastrophe is too small for the Red Cross’ Disaster Action Team.
Irma. Maria. Harvey. Jose. Hurricanes may be first on coastal folks’ list of potential hazards, but tragedy can strike at any time. And just because a catastrophe remains nameless and localized, doesn’t make it any less painful for the people it blindsides.
outthere
“They’re calling it electrical, but who knows what really happened?” says Matty Hitchcock, a KDH carpenter whose house burned down last January. “All I know is our smoke alarm went off around 3am. My brother, my roommate and I had enough time to grab our cell phones and move our cars. Everything else went up in flames.”
gohunt
Everything. Among the carnage? Surfboards and shaping materials, laptops — a vintage VW bus in mid-restoration. (“Those things melt.”) Within minutes of calling 911, sirens and lights screamed to the rescue, but were still too late. While the firemen tackled the blaze and saved surrounding houses, an unmarked car hit the street, carrying two complete strangers armed with blankets, toiletries and helpful advice about what to do next.
rearview
“Most people think of us as ‘blood’ and ‘flood,’” says Cally Edwards, Executive Director of the Red Cross’ Northeastern NC Chapter. “But Red Cross goes to about 64,000 house fires a year across the country. In my 20 counties, we had 337 house fires and assisted 400 families last year. Six of those fires were in Dare County. And every winter we see a spike in activity because of fireplaces and space heaters.”
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Their name? The Disaster Action Team, or DAT. Whenever first responders get word of a fire, they contact the Red Cross. They call local volunteers who race to the scene with a fully prepared kit, from toothbrushes and deodorant to toys for young children. Whatever it takes for the family to survive the next several days — including what’s called a Client Assistant Card. “It’s like a debit card,” Edwards explains. “It has recovery funds that the family can decide how to spend — for hotels, clothing or food. Unlike a hurricane, there’s no FEMA for house fires. And a lot of people we help are on the margin, living paycheck to paycheck. They may not have rental insurance. But we’ve found that empowering the person impacted by the disaster to make decisions as soon as possible, helps them and their own recovery. It helps get that brain moving forward quicker.”
Tools, laptops and a vintage VW — all went up in a blaze of grief. Photos: Matty Hitchcock
“
Local volunteers race to the scene with a fully prepared kit, from toothbrushes to toys.
And the services don’t end there. Did your prescriptions get left inside? They’ll find a nurse to get your refills in record time. Lost a loved one or pet? They can put you in touch with mental health services to help with grief counseling. Or just make sure you have a place to sleep for the night — and every night. “The Red Cross stayed until the fire was put out and our friends showed up to give us a place to stay,” says Hitchcock. “And then they’d check up on us once a week to make sure we were on the right track to finding a house and getting back to normal.”
But they can’t do it alone. And with the closest headquarters in Elizabeth City, some fires can push the limits of the DAT’s two-hour response window — they’d rather respond within minutes. That’s why they’re seeking volunteers. All you need to do is apply online. Pending a background check, they’ll begin training immediately. They also pair-up all first-timers with vets, so you’re fully prepared. Then you just need to be ready to hop in the car at a moment’s notice and lose a little sleep to ease someone’s suffering. “If we get even one more person to join, it’s a victory,” says Edwards. “Because it’s always more impactful when neighbors are helping neighbors. And once they’ve gone to the scene of a fire, and seen peoples’ faces in the middle of the night, they know the value of it, and they want to go and do it again.” — Guy Montag Want to do lots more — or just a little? Red Cross Volunteers can limit their response range to specific zones and timeframes — or expand their reach to include our military and veteran community, installing smoke alarms, blood drives, and more. To learn more or apply, go to www.redcross.org. milepost 17
GOOD SPORTS
Why compete? Why practice? Why sweat? Why bother? We’ll give you five strong answers — with totally different motivations.
SQUAD
GOALS What would it take to get you to drive to Charlotte and back?
Once, sometimes twice, a week. Cash money? Career opportunity? For 24-year-old Kaila Bartee, it’s love — but not the romantic kind. Bartee drives her trusty Toyota three-quarters across the state to fuel a lifelong love for dancing and a commitment to being a TopCat cheerleader for the Carolina Panthers. “Being a TopCat has taught me how to be a team player, it’s taught me patience, self-motivation, determination, dedication,” says the Manteo resident. “It’s so much more than pompoms and looking pretty.” Growing up in Lorton, Virginia, Bartee was never a cheerleader. She was always a dancer, competing on teams, from third grade to high school to Radford University. When she moved to the
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Outer Banks after graduating in 2014, she needed an outlet. The most obvious choices were teaching or coaching. But Bartee knew there was another alternative. “I may have adopted my love of dance from my mom,” she says. “She cheered for the Washington Redskins.” Bartee also knew that unlike some NFL squads — which rely on traditional cheerleading stunts — Carolina’s TopCats focus on dance techniques. But she was surprised by the demands of her 2016 audition — both mental and physical. Not only were there vigorous, complex routines, there were extensive interviews about herself and the Panthers organization. She made it through two rounds — then got cut in the semi-finals. “People don’t realize how much it takes to be a professional cheerleader,” she says. “But that motivated me to work on myself physically and mentally.” Bartee took the next year to prepare. She started intense physical and nutritional training with Olesya Volkova,
a bodybuilder and former professional dancer, at Outer Banks Sports Club. She perfected her interview skills and became an expert on the Panthers organization. She also had a tight support system of family and friends in the Outer Banks community. “The support that I gained from this small town was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” she says. “I went in the second time with renewed confidence, knowing that if I didn’t make it, I really did give it my all.” She made the squad. But the work had only just begun. As one of 32 TopCats, Bartee performs at all ten Panthers regular season home games and home playoff games. (The only time the TopCats will travel is if the Panthers make the Super Bowl.) In addition to sideline cheers during play, the squad performs five-to-seven routines per game — all in front of up to 73,000 spectators. But those aren’t the people she worries about most. “You don’t want to let your team down,” Bartee says. “You don’t want to
She’s got spirit, yes she does. Photo: GoodStuff Creative
For Kaila Bartee, being an NFL cheerleader is part drive, all dream. be the one who hasn’t put the time in.” And so, every Wednesday, she drives to Charlotte, 11 hours round-trip, for a three-hour practice — always arriving at least two hours early to warm up. If there’s a home game, the TopCats also practice on Saturday morning. But rather than dread the extra hours, she embraces the chance to bond with her squad. “It is the best feeling in the world to be surrounded by a group of women who share common goals,” she explains. “They care about fitness and nutrition like you do. They care about the Panthers like you do. You gain a group of girls who support you, and without that it would be very hard to continue.” It helps that the Panthers organization holds each dancer to an extremely high standard. Bartee’s proud to know her teammates include doctors, engineers, accountants, personal trainers, dance teachers, PR professionals, moms, and more. And she’s proud to be a role model for all the little girls in the stands.
“A purpose of ours is to prove to people how hard we work,” she says. “No one makes it about them. Everybody is pushing each other so we don’t have a weak link.” For Bartee, that means rehearsing all 12 of the TopCats routines on her own at least once a week, in addition to working out — not to mention working full-time as the facility rentals coordinator at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head. Every year, there’s another round of try-outs. And Bartee will be back 2018, hoping for a second season, no matter how many hours it requires in the gym or behind the wheel. She knew going into the first audition that a 700mile commute between vocation and avocation would not be easy. But a deep commitment to the Outer Banks lifestyle and the excitement of NFL cheering keeps her focused on the road ahead. “I love my job and I love living here,” Bartee says. “The drive is just a small obstacle. I wouldn’t change anything because of a drive.” — terri mackleberry milepost 19
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the week Grady Gaskill turned 50, he ran 50 miles.
This fall, he celebrated turning 89 by raking in seven medals — including golds in the 50-meter dash and 400 meters — at the North Carolina Senior Games. In-between such feats, he’s run four marathons and five half-marathons, and entered multiple National Senior Games. Better yet? “I have not used my insurance all year — I’ve still got my own teeth!” Gaskill laughs, knocking on wood. Prepare to put those stereotypes about sedate senior citizens out to pasture. Every April, roughly 200 locals age 50 and up take part in the Dare County Senior Games, which turns 30 this year. The top performers qualify for the N.C. Senior Games in Raleigh each September — bridge players and bowlers, discus throwers and dancers. “We have folks who compete for all different reasons,” says Emily Gould, a local coordinator for the OBX Games who works at the Baum Senior Center. “Some who are trying to break records, some who just want to be part of that excitement.” Or as swimmer Harry Schiffman puts it: “Off the couch and into the water — or some other event. That’s the motivation of the Senior Games.” Schiffman is “only” 76. He swam for his Greensboro high school, as well as for the UNC Tar Heels. He moved to the Outer Banks in 1974 and lives his life in the water and on it, towing for BoatUS and recruiting any potential swimmer who’s pushing 50 to pick a lane at the YMCA. “That’s how I got started back when I was 65,” he says. “Swimming is such a wonderful exercise. People will say, ‘I’m not that good a swimmer.’ The hardest thing to get across to people is that you don’t need to be No. 1, 2 or 3. The reward is the health benefits you get, and the camaraderie.” It’s a common theme. Before cycling enthusiast Jack McCombs
Grady Gaskill flashes this year’s bling. Photo: Chris Bickford
was organizing county-wide races, he was a Senior Games standout pushing to get more geriatrics in gear. Other popular categories at the local level, like pickleball, putt-putt, billiards, and basketball shooting, now boast thriving numbers. The Silver Arts categories, meanwhile, cater to artistic expression, from knitting to writing to dancing. The Wright Tappers remain an annual contender in large-group dance (five or more members), and they just won another gold medal with the help of talents like Jane Smallwood. “I walk with a cane now,” the 89-year-old shares with a smile, “but I still dance.” Smallwood’s 86-year dance legacy includes professional stints in New York City, Las Vegas, Miami Beach, and even
PRECIOUS
METTLE Grit beats gold at the Outer Banks Senior Games.
Havana, Cuba, before she settled down and ran a ballet studio. She moved into her parents’ house in Southern Shores in 1989 and quickly discovered The Wright Tappers. A journey through her scrapbook reveals photos, newspaper clippings, and Senior Games programs of local golden girls in American March outfits, Charleston costumes, and Chorus Line getups. They’ve done Dare Days, Duck Woods Country Club, and Southern Shores’ 25th anniversary celebration. And now the group is gearing up for its annual Christmas shows. “People at the nursing homes really appreciate us,” says Smallwood, who helps with choreography and serves as co-director with Gene Webster. “We practice twice a week — Gene gave us off a week for winning the gold medal.”
That’s just about all the fuss most competitors pay to the precious medals — at least, their own. Schiffman shifts the conversation quickly from his six golds in Raleigh to praising Charlie Erwin, who won five events and “smashed” three state records at age 86. And the feeling of awe he felt watching a paralyzed swimmer roll up to the pool, swim his race, climb out on his own — and leave the venue to gig with his band later that night. “I got a hug from one swimmer at the state meet who said, ‘I just want to thank you for pestering the heck out of me to do this. It was fun,’” Schiffman remembers. “The people that get the most support, the hand claps, they come in last.” In 2011, Schiffman competed at nationals in Houston and won an event
there, but his fondest memory was meeting an 89-year-old swimmer at the hotel. While having a drink together, Schiffman learned the secret to winning medals from his new friend: “You just have to outlive ’em.” Certainly, luck plays a small role in that daunting feat, but living active and staying social helps. From cycling to croquet to crochet, the Outer Banks Senior Games offers a way for retirees to rise up, for the elderly to excel, for those enjoying their golden years to bask in the glow of gold medals. In the local games’ first year for card players, E.J. Westcot, at 96, earned the distinction of being the oldest participant to compete in bridge. “You don’t like sports, we’ve got something else for you,” explains Baum Center Fitness Director Aubrey
Remige, who organizes the games. “I just appreciate people being active their whole lives. It doesn’t have to end — ever.” Just ask Gaskill. Seventy years ago, he was playing football, basketball and baseball for his high school in Manteo. Next year, he looks forward to running track in the 90-94 age division — marking his thirtieth consecutive Outer Banks Senior Games. And he still exercises daily at the Currituck YMCA. How do people react when they see him lifting weights or logging time on the bike? “They’re jealous, some of them,” Gaskill explains. “They say, ‘I can’t run a mile.’ You can if you try. You’ve got to keep at it. Run to the corner and back — work on it.” — Steve Hanf milepost 21
THE PERFECT
GAME
struggling Screenwriter:
Hey, Mr. Hollywood! Have I got a pitch for you...it’s about a “regular joe” who bowls a perfect game…that’s a big 300, 12 strikes in a row, and — Mr. Hollywood: Is it a comedy? Struggling Screenwriter: No…it’s a true story! A drama! It’s about overcoming obstacles! Getting lucky! Underdogs having their one shining moment — Mr. Hollywood: No. Struggling Screenwriter: Why “No”? Mr. Hollywood: It’s got to be funny, like “The Big Lebowski” or “Kingpin,” or mainstream audiences won’t get it. Struggling Screenwriter: But — Mr. Hollywood: What’s so special about a perfect game, anyway? milepost
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Enter Richard Dewhurst of Columbia, and Barbara Freezer of Kitty Hawk. Their stories are their own, in every way. They don’t know each other. And yet, they have much in common: Both are “Yankees.” (Dewhurst, 51, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Freezer, 66, in Washington, New Jersey, yet both have called eastern North Carolina home for decades.) Both were brought into bowling by their mothers at a young age. Both have bowled perfect games. And both have, for the most part, quit bowling. Scene: A regular Wednesday night, October 2016. Richard Dewhurst stands at a lane at OBX Bowling Center, bowling ball in hand, his long, graying hair tucked back underneath his ball cap. He wears a camouflage T-shirt and shorts; his left knee and right arm are wrapped and braced. The building is thick with anticipation, squeezing out even ambient noise. Stepping up, Dewhurst throws his oldest bowling ball, his trusty “Jigsaw Trap.” It skirts the right-hand gutter.
Then, the ball curves in, contacts right of center with a crack and 10 pins fly. Someone shouts, “Yeah!” A 300 appears on the scoreboard. “I’d bowled four strikes in a row in practice, and my teammate made a joke that I’d better knock it off or I’d wear myself out,” says Dewhurst. “But then [in the game] I threw the first strike — cool — second strike — cool — then eight, nine, ten…and then everybody piles up behind your lane, and you cross your fingers and hope for the best. “It’s like the old saying goes,” he continues. “Bowling’s 50 percent skill, 50 percent luck.” As for Barbara “Barb” Freezer, the perfect game came in 1995, as she bowled against her then-husband in scratch leagues. She’d chased 300 for so long; first in youth leagues, then in her company league at Mobil Chemical, and finally with — or rather against — her husband in competitive leagues. I had a bunch of 279 games and 289 games,” Freezer says, “but it took a long time to finally get it. When I
threw that last ball, everybody stopped bowling…everyone watched. There hadn’t been any women to bowl 300 in that bowling center. I threw that last ball, it went down the lane and…and left a solid seven pin standing on the left corner. I was like [long sigh]. Then another pin rolled across the lane and tapped it just hard enough before the rack came down.” “The best part was I did it against my husband,” Freezer says, laughing. “He never wanted me on his team.” Freezer went on to bowl two more perfect games, and on Oct. 5, 1997, the Morris County Women’s Bowling Association inducted her into their Hall of Fame. How hard is it to bowl a perfect game? A bit of math might help. If you regularly bowled 70 percent strikes, the odds would be roughly 0.7^12 (just go with it), or 1 percent. So, 1 in 100 — not too bad. Of course, if you’re like me, and you bowl maybe 20 percent strikes (in my dreams), you’d have a 0.00000004
Don’t mess with these ringers. Photo: Chris Bickford
You couldn’t script a better bowling tale. (Much less two.) percent chance. We’d only have to bowl 250 million times to get our perfect game. No big deal. According to Katy Heroux, shift manager at OBX Bowling Center, “Since we reopened in 2013, only four people have bowled a perfect game here. It’s mathematics and luck and skill. Conditions change, like the oil on the lanes. People bowl all their lives and never get one.” Since his perfect night, Dewhurst has fought a personal battle against joint issues. Now, instead of perfect games, he looks forward to retiring from a 25-year career as a ferry mechanic in Mann’s Harbor. To fishing and watching baseball games. To enjoying heavy metal concerts and taking cross-country trips in his jeep with his wife, Donna, and his two stepsons, Joshua, 13, and Jacob, 10. To rooting on Joshua and Jacob in Elizabeth City’s youth bowling leagues. “They also go to the Pepsi Challenge and to state championships,” he says, “Joshua placed seventh in the state.”
As for Freezer, she doesn’t have the same love for the game since she divorced and moved to the Outer Banks in 2003. Her marriage might have had a storybook beginning — “I was bowling with a ball that had a huge gouge in it, and he told me he’d fix it” — but never quite reached happily ever after. Now, instead, she enjoys writing and visiting friends in Chiapas, Mexico. But both still have their rings, awarded by the United States Bowling Congress and imprinted with the phrase “Perfect Game.” And both still have their memories. For Richard Dewhurst and Barb Freezer, bowling the perfect game is a movie worth watching, even if only as reminiscence. Because the moment the last pins fell marks the climax of a journey that is theirs alone. For Richard and Barb — and perhaps every bowler who has achieved that vaunted 300 — that moment will forever define at least some part of their lives as, well, perfect. — Dave Holton
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Art by milepost 25
Bodybuilding changed more than Kristian Head’s physique — it changed her life.
CUSTOM
FIT
The 5am sessions are Kristian Head’s favorite.
That’s the time her most dedicated clients show up at the gym in Frisco. When the moms who just rolled out of bed at 4:15, roll in to lift weights, well before anyone else is even moving. “I love it,” says the 26-year-old Hatteras Island native. “You get people who are really committed. It’s the hard-sweat time, before the sun is up. They’re doing it before the family is even awake.” Head understands commitment. As a competitive bodybuilder, she’s committed to time and effort, to diet and goals. As a long-distance runner — which she cheerfully admits bodybuilders are not supposed to be — she’s committed to miles. And as milepost
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basketball and soccer coach at Cape Hatteras Secondary School, she’s committed to kids. She is also competitive, selfdisciplined, very well-spoken, and, by her own admission, very lucky. “Broken back turned to bodybuilding,” Head says. “I guess that’s my story.” Growing up on Hatteras, Head was always athletic and active. In high school, she ran cross country and played both basketball and soccer, eventually competing as defender for Barton College. Two years of classes convinced her that higher education was not what she wanted. She came home, trained to be a paramedic, and began working with Dare County EMS in 2012. But a year later, catastrophe struck. “In October of 2013, I had an accident on the job,” she recalls. “I was picking up a patient on a stretcher.
He wasn’t a huge patient. It just happened.” The instant searing pain left no doubt that the injury was serious. She immediately went to the ER. “They told me, ‘You’re young. It’s muscular. You’ll be alright,’” Head says. Six months of physical therapy and she still didn’t feel any better. In fact, she felt worse. Every time she left physical therapy, she was screaming in pain, as if raw bones were grinding together. That’s when her doctor sent her to a neurosurgeon. Some X-rays and a CT scan quickly delivered a verdict: two fractures of the L5, the lowest vertebrae of the spine. “My doctor put me in a back brace, and he said, ‘You can have surgery now or wait and do it later. It’ll be easier now because you’re younger,’” Head recalls. In April of 2014, she had a three-
level spinal fusion. When they cut into her, they realized both fractures were complete. The bones were just floating around the spinal cord. “If it wasn’t for the muscles I have, I wouldn’t be walking,” she explains. “So, they screwed me back together. Took out my discs, put in little spacers. Now I have all kinds of titanium in there. Every time I walk into Lowe’s or Home Depot, I set off the alarm.” The surgery was a success, but the journey had just begun. Not only did Head have to learn to walk again, she couldn’t shower. Couldn’t feed herself. Her family had to help her up and down the steps. And no one knew what level of activity would be possible down the road. For weeks, she lay in anguish. “I went from being super active to just nothing,” she remembers. “I told myself, ‘I can be miserable or I can get better.’ I started light body workouts, which were hell. It took me almost a
Titanium spine; iron will. Photo: Daniel Pullen
3rd Annual A fundraising event for area Veterans and Special Needs Communities
Saturday, May 19th, 2018
2-8pm @ the SOUNDSIDE EvENt SItE For Sponsor, vendor & volunteer Opportunities contact: Lisa Brickhouse Davis @ LisaDaBrick@gmail.com Dare2CareOBX.com
year until a friend said, ‘You should come work out with me.’ So, in July of 2015, I started learning how to lift. And I’ve been lifting ever since.” Head was using a gym in Avon, but it added more than an hour to her day driving back and forth, and it didn’t have the exact programs she envisioned. She thought about it and realized the solution was right in front of her. In April 2016, she opened Fort Strength and Fitness. She customized its equipment to reflect her needs, allowing her to concentrate on her goals. Plus, the discipline she models helped carve out a niche as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. Still, despite her best efforts, she remains the facility’s only resident bodybuilder. “I’ve tried to convince everyone I know,” she admits. “I guess they saw me going through my prep — and you
diet a lot — but I still have hope.” Until then, Head will keep counting calories and pumping iron, sculpting her physique to face-off against other super fit females in competitions up and down the coast. (And posting Instagram photos to document her progress.) At press time, she was preparing for two events in December. But she’s already posted a pair of solid results for 2017. In April, she placed sixth in the Max Muscle Virginia Classic, and finished third in June’s NPC North Carolina Gold Classic in Wilmington. Ironically, the weaker finish feels like her strongest result. “It was exactly three years to the day from my back operation,” Head says. “I didn’t care that I got sixth. It was such a cool experience to be onstage and think, Three years later, here I am.” — Kip Tabb
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Left to Right: Gut Rochelle, Eliot Jones, Bogdan Wojtowicz, Matt Seidel, Brenedin Benites, and Luis Vazquez help keep soccer alive on local fields. Photo: Chris Bickford
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME
FÚTBOL? World-class men’s soccer may be the beach’s best-kept secret.
Rec Park, after dark. A swarm of sweaty bodies chases a spinning, checkered ball beneath glowing halogens. There are killer shots. Epic fails. Frequent scores. But nobody stops to yell, “Goal!” In fact, nobody stops — ever. When a ball goes long, someone kicks in an extra. If a player stumbles, the rest keep running — much like the commentary — a blur of Caribbean patois, Russian expletives, Spanish phrases too quick to comprehend, and English ones too course to print here. “Score?” “Cinco a cuatro!” “Aqui! Aqui!” “Shoot that sh#t!” Clean up the language, it has all the frantic energy of a pee wee practice. Except the players are at least five times as old. And ten times as good. And it happens every Tuesday and milepost
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Thursday night at some local field, running on nothing more than word-ofmouth — and the commitment of local players from across the globe. “The Outer Banks already has a growing reputation for quality youth soccer,” says Eliot Jones, who coaches 9- to 11-year-olds for OBX Storm, the area’s elite travel club. “You can see that in First Flight High’s state championship last year. Our area’s biggest challenge is: what do we offer next? Cities have organized leagues. Here, it’s people from other countries who keep soccer alive. And it’s a beautiful thing, because it represents how soccer’s really the world’s game.” If you want to know who kicked things off, it’s Eastern Europe. Those same international students who arrived in the late 90s to work summer jobs also helped build a thriving indoor league at the YMCA. For years, there were playoffs. Jerseys. Trophies.
Champions. And enough teams to clash like a weekly world cup. “It was very good competition,” says Kitty Hawk home designer, Bogdan Wojtowicz, who moved here from Poland in 2003. “We had a Russian team. A Polish team. After the recession, people left, and a league stopped making sense. But we still play every Monday night. And every country plays soccer a little bit different.” Europeans and Americans have a reputation for coordinated attacks. Latinos for vicious, one-on-one moves. Cram 20 or so frothing fanatics onto a squeaky floor after a cooped-up workday, and it feels more like an oversized foosball game, with pistolloud shots ricocheting off the highest corners. But the competition’s no joke. Everyone has some high school or college experience. A few even played semi-pro. All share the same lifelong addiction. Sort of.
“To be honest, I probably care more now about soccer than I ever did,” smirks KDH pool tech, Gut Rochelle. “I was always more into skating and surfing in high school. But waves go flat; soccer’s consistent. And it’s fun. Especially the Sunday league. That’s when it gets serious.” Google “Latino league futbol” and you’ll find links from Charlotte to Chicago. Here, they call it “Juan’s League.” But it has nothing to do with Juan Martinez’s soccer skills. Truth is, the super shy Salvadoran hasn’t competed since he suffered an injury at the age of 18. But he never lost that love for the sport. When he moved to the Outer Banks a dozen years ago, he brought something more than passion — he brought a whistle and a willingness to organize. Martinez got the permits. Chalked the fields. Made the schedules. Tapped linesmen and fill-in refs like Luis
Vazquez. Today, if you have 12 people willing to pay seven bucks, your team can battle for a shot at the league title and a trophy. “Latinos have been playing soccer here for many years,” says Hugo Sanchez, a local carpenter who first played back in Mexico 42 years ago. “But nobody wants to be a referee, and you need a referee to make it a real game.” On any given Sunday, moms gab over strollers parked behind the KDH Fire Station. A boombox bounces between traditional, tuba-filled “bandas” and spicy Reggaeton. And the field ripples with shiny satin uniforms that reflect the planet’s best teams, like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. In the middle of it all is Martinez. Dressed out in a striped, green ref jersey, he paces the field with his cellphone on timer and a whistle. No
sooner does one game finish, the next teams take the field. He’ll keep this up for four straight hours — with no breaks. During the week, he fields new teams. This season, he brought in a crew of Bonner Bridge contractors who last played together in Texas — but grew up thousands of miles away. “We have many countries,” Martinez grins. “Brazil. Honduras. Peru. Guatemala. Europa. And American guys play, too. It brings people together. It’s good!” But it’s not always easy. The demand for community field space can lead to last-minute location changes. This year, summer flooding stopped play for a month. Some teams have begun driving to Virginia, lured by indoor complexes and more consistency. Such is the nature of competition. Just like young hot shots will travel to take on the best, so will full-grown men. But the ones who stay are still going strong. And they don’t just keep their own skills sharp — they help the next generation of athletes. “Chapel Hill has the highest level of play in the state right now,” says Matt Seidel, a league regular and private coach. “Coaches there tell all their kids to play in the Latino leagues because it helps them improve. And you can already see that same influence here. I used to work with Tatiana Kendzulak out in Currituck. She’s a starting forward at St. Andrew’s University — as a freshman. That’s a direct result of playing in Juan’s League.” Kendzulak is not alone. Former First Flight star and Juan’s League regular, Alan Sanchez, currently plays for Coastal Carolina University. When Carlos Aguilar isn’t traveling with the Nighthawks to take on other high schools, he’s at home, facing off against athletes his father’s age. And coaches like Eliot Jones couldn’t be happier. For the kids — and themselves. “U.S. soccer is a lot like U.S. football,” says Jones, whose team took the trophy two years back. “There’s an emphasis on size and speed. But the best players aren’t always the biggest or fastest. They’re the most creative. And Latin American soccer is like street hoops. They’ve got fire. And flair. And they’re going to play no matter what.”
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Looking back to look forward with Roanoke Island startingpoint historian and preservationist, Darrell M. Collins.
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gohunt rearview Collins surrounds himself with Outer Banks icons — and personal history — at Manteo’s historic Pea Island Cookhouse. Photo: Ryan Moser
MILEPOST: Have you always been a history buff?
Darrell Collins is more than a history buff — he’s a history strongman. Able to crack open major milestones from our collective past, pick out the most important details, then squeeze it all back together into some pressurized gem of revelatory insight, always with a surprisingly personal connection. A born-and-raised Roanoke Islander, the 62-year-old’s family tree includes members of the original Freedmen’s Colony — the Civil War’s first refuge for slaves on the run — and Pea Island surfmen, the all-black lifesaving crew that saved countless shipwreck victims. But Collins is best known for his work as a National Park Service historian at Wright Brothers Memorial. For nearly four decades, he brought to life the birth of aviation for thousands of visitors, earning awards such as North Carolina’s Order of the Longleaf Pine, the state’s highest honor. Not that he saw it coming. “It was just a job at the beginning,” Collins says. “But the more I read, the more I fell in love with the story of the Wright Brothers. The characteristics of perseverance, determination, courage, and persistence. And the events set in motion that morning are never-ending. They will profoundly change the world until there’s no one else in this world. It’s still happening today.” Even for Collins. While he retired last January, he still travels to airshows and expos around the country, giving presentations under the title, “A Legacy of Greatness.” In-between, as president of Pea Island Preservation Society, he promotes African American’s long-standing influence on Outer Banks life — including working diligently to ensure the new Pea Island interim bridge will be named after the legendary Richard B. Etheridge, a former slave and Civil War veteran who became the first and only black keeper to command a U.S. Life Saving Station. And as a long-time Manteo commissioner and Mayor Pro-Tem, Collins continually promotes preserving our long-standing traditions and environment for generations to come. With the 114th First Flight celebration set for December 17, and Black History Month on the horizon, we sat down with Collins at Manteo’s historic Pea Island Cookhouse to discuss the role our past will play in the future — and how our present influences our take on the past.
DARRELL M. COLLINS: Well, I was a geology major — which is the history of the earth — but I’ve always loved history. My family’s been here since 1862. My great grandparents were actually original members of the Freedmen’s Colony. My grandmother, Edna Wise, told me stories of living in Bowsertown here in Manteo. Her sisters would tell us ghost stories about how their grandfather was walking down the street one day and saw a Civil War soldier walk by. He grinned at him, and his teeth were gold. [laughs] And my family — the Berry family, the Collins family — have almost 400 years of combined service, from the Lifesaving Service up to the Coast Guard. We grew up with all that. And as a kid, you’re fascinated. You’ll sit for hours and listen to these tales from back in the day. What about school? Did you ever hear these stories?
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No. I didn’t hear black history until I went to college in the late 70s. The main history here was always the Wright Brothers and the Lost Colony.
Those are two major events for a tiny area. The first failed English settlement and the birth of controlled flight. Why do you think that is?
“Our program talks about racism. It talks about slavery. It also talks about unity.”
A lot of people don’t believe in fate and destiny, but I do. The English could’ve come farther north to the Chesapeake Bay, which held deeper waters for ships. But England and Spain were at war, so they needed a place to hide. That’s one reason they chose Roanoke Island. Then the friendly Indians probably clinched it for them. Until everything disintegrated when you start to bring in things like greed and feelings of superiority. It failed. But it’s still the birth of our nation. I think the Wrights were also destined to do what they did. They were born at the right time in history. Their mother and father encouraged the children to be independent thinkers; to pursue whatever aroused their curiosity. Not to go with the flow. But to have it happen in such an isolated area? In 1903, Kitty Hawk was almost the end of the world. And when you think about the Lost Colony and the Wright Brothers, both are tales of pioneering. Pioneering a country, pioneering flight. Even the Freedmen’s Colony required people to take a risk. And these are the fundamentals of life. The first thing a slave wants is to be free. The reason people came from Europe, is they wanted freedom — either religious or political freedom. Which is a fundamental belief of any individual.
The Wright Brothers’ invention is also fundamental, because the mechanism of flight was always here. It was here 100 years before the Wrights were born. But somebody had to discover those principles and put them all together to make it a reality. So how many other things in this world are already in place? The discovery of a cure for cancer — or a discovery to make peace in this world — it may already be here. You have to have the right combo of all these factors — the right people, the right place, the right time. And you also have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going. And not make the same mistakes. One of my heroes is Neil Armstrong. He said that history is like a mirror and it can only look back. But there is great value in pausing to look back. Because only with a great appreciation of where we have been, can we ever hope to understand where we are headed. I was just contacted by National Geographic. They’re trying to trace the descendants of the Lost Colony. One theory is that the Colony intermixed with the native culture. That’s why in Lumberton you have blue-eyed, blonde Native Americans. My father’s side of the family has Native American traits. They think our great grandfather, Joseph Hall Berry, who was the first of our family to get into the United States Lifesaving Service — 21 of his descendants followed in his footsteps — they think he might be part of the English and the Native Americans. These are the stories that get headlines — and keep people interested. But a lot of history gets overlooked, too. It took 100 years for the U.S. to honor Richard Etheridge. Do you think black history is getting more attention? Well, I’m president of the Pea Island Preservation Society. Since April, we have been presenting a program called, “Freedmen, Surfmen, Heroes.” We have two costumed interpreters. One is dressed as a keeper; the other in a period piece. And we tell the story of unity as it related to the Pea Island Crew. Because when wrecks occurred on the Outer Banks, they worked right beside the other white crews performing rescues. They respected each other. They learned from each other. And they worked in harmony with each other. So, our program talks about racism. It talks about slavery. It also talks about unity — blacks and whites working together. We presented that program all summer at the aquarium. And with mixed emotions, too, now. We had people walk out because they couldn’t take it. It’s a powerful presentation. But most people love it. That’s interesting about history: because you hear about the resistance to that all-black crew, but you don’t hear as much about the resolution. Well, once [Etheridge] took over, the station burned down. milepost 31
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It had to be. Because when Richard Etheridge came in charge of the crew, all the white crewmen walked away. That’s how he ended up with an all-black crew. [laughs] But he was the only black keeper in the whole service. So, you know he had to have superintendents and district men — white men — who recommended him and said, “He is the best surfman on the coast, white or black.” So, change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Back in those days, you had to have other people who saw your potential and believed in what you had accomplished at that time. So, there’s this idea of unity, as far as blacks and whites working together for a common cause.
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It seems like the Outer Banks got lucky in terms of Civil Rights and Civil War history. Our most noteworthy monument is to emancipation — the Freedmen’s Colony. There’s not the same legacy of friction. Or does it just feel that way now?
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Once the Union captured Roanoke Island in February of 1862, word spread across the sound to mainland North Carolina that runaway slaves would find safe haven if they crossed the creek to Roanoke Island. So, this island has always been a safe haven for African Americans. Even during the Jim Crow era, it wasn’t as bad as, say, further south. I don’t know if it had to do with the environment. The Outer Banks was a hard place to live; people scratched and clawed just to survive, and I think that played a part in how people treated each other.
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What’s your take on the controversy regarding Civil War statues, then? I understand the argument of, “Why pay tribute to someone who’s on the wrong side of history?” I also see the argument of people who say, “You can’t erase history.” But Charlottesville — with all the Nazi rhetoric — is almost impossible to comprehend.
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Well, you can’t erase history. And to a certain degree, you shouldn’t. But I think it’s the context. Most of these Richard Etheridge’s monuments to Civil War soldiers were put in during the legacy still stands tall Jim Crow era of total racism in America against blacks. So, I near Manteo’s Pea Island Cookhouse. think that’s the issue. But that should be a symbol of America Photo: Andrew Lewis that we never want to return to. So that symbol should be there. Just not everywhere. Maybe one or two. I don’t know who could sympathize with Hitler or the Nazis. I mean, the Greatest Generation fought that war. They sacrificed their lives to defend America against that. How could any World War II veteran stomach that?
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Or anyone who has a sense of history. A known fact should be, “in World War II, America fought the Nazis.” But we also had segregated troops and Japanese internment camps. So, how do you navigate these touchy issues when there’s so much gray area?
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The best way to tell history is as true as you know it. But you need to know a lot about your subject in order to tell it truthfully. History does tend to paint people in stark terms — good and evil, for example. But
it’s not always that case. Do the Wright Brothers have any skeletons in their closet? Was one a Nazi sympathizer or a horrible drunk or anything? [laughs] Ironically, there’s really no bad stories about the Wright Brothers. They were kind of straight-laced. They didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t party. Now, the Wrights never married, so I’ve been asked the question: “Were they gay?” I don’t think they were gay; there’s no mention of them being gay. One of the reasons [they never married] was they had two older brothers who had four kids each. They saw how hard life was for them trying to support their families. And another reason is they were so narrowly focused. They did more in ten years than most men do in their lives. The other irony is, in their time, being gay might have been something to be ashamed of. Now, they’d be heroes to a whole community. Yes. And we have another segment that asks if they were dyslexic or had autism. A woman wrote a book on that subject; her child had autism and she was looking for something in history to hold on to and to understand. And they might have been. But it would’ve been a highly functioning form of autism. It goes back to that mirror quote of Armstrong’s: people want to see themselves in history. And if they don’t, they may change the picture. Yes, they do. And yes, they will. So, as our community grows, what does that mean moving forward? We probably have more “natives” born here than ever, but they’re being born into a starkly different community. How do we maintain traditions when we get farther and farther from the root source? Well, Manteo is completely different from any other town on the Outer Banks. Most of the people on our board are born and raised in Manteo, and we have a deep-down caring for preserving our history and traditions. When people look back to see what previous leaders have done to preserve history, to preserve the environment, I think they can see where we were trying to go. But the history we make today will be the history that determines the future — for the county as well as Manteo. I guess that’s where buildings like this Cookhouse come into play. Or the Richard Etheridge Bridge. Yes. These are the places that hopefully arouse some curiosity for people to learn more about history: who is Richard Etheridge? Why is this bridge named after him? What will they say about us 100 years from now? Will it still be Wright Brothers, the Lost Colony? Or will we have something else to offer? Well, history’s being made every day, so there will be other things to talk about. I believe some of the events that have occurred — not only in Charlottesville but elsewhere — will be part of told history, as well. I don’t know who’s writing this history down, but hopefully somebody is. — Matt Walker
The preceding interview was edited for space, flow and clarity. For the full conversation — including why losers sometimes get to write history — go to www.outerbanksmilepost.com. milepost 33
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For Chris Carroll, desserts are equal parts precision and passion.
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The kitchen is pure stainless. Wiry whisks stand ready like sterile test tubes. Tables shine with nary a fingerprint, stacked with ingredients and bowls in neat, easy-to-reach rows. And chef Chris Carroll controls the process with scientific, measured precision.
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“I got my degrees in biology and plant pathology,” Carroll explains. “I actually used to work with wheat and soil and water conservation in Grand Haven, Michigan.”
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Today, instead of testing samples, she blends sugar, flour and salt, baking sweet concoctions under the name Sweater Box Confections. As the smell of pumpkin bread dressed with delectable cranberry-orange butter fills the room, Carroll gingerly cracks an egg and explains how one transitions from lab work to creating what she calls “homey, comfort-type baked goods.”
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gear, and head east to the Outer Banks. In winter, she’d moonlight in Atlanta at a thirdgeneration French chocolate and pastry shop. That’s where her skills took a still tastier turn. “Imagine a room filled with hundreds of pounds of chocolate,” she says with a grin, “the aroma filling your nose while a French Sean Connery lookalike instructs.” It sounds better than it is. Eating chocolate may tantalize the tastebuds, but making it by hand can be pure torture — requiring a double-boiler, strict standards, endless patience, and the occasional burn. “Instead of a thermometer, we tested temperature under our bottom lip or on our wrist,” Carroll says. “But chocolate is like a two-year-old: some days they are good, some days they are not.”
graphiccontent Carroll had way more good days than bad.
“My grandmother was a baker at a tea room in Phoenix,” Carroll explains. “She also had 11 kids. And, no matter what, each Christmas, every grandchild would get their own sweater box filled with fudge and cookies. She always knew which one was your favorite, too.”
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In 1993, inspired by those memories, Carroll decided to put down the test tubes, pack the baking tins and her windsurfing
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She learned to make chocolate snowflakes for Christmas and hearts for Valentine’s Day; almond roca and sea-salt-covered caramels. Back home, such comfort and consistency helped score baking and pastry chef gigs with the likes of the Blue Point and Colington Café. She also worked part-time as a firefighter. But she could never quite find a full-time role sweetening any one kitchen.
But Carroll’s working on a replacement. “I’d love to offer chocolate bars, maybe with some dried fruit and nuts,” she says. “Not only are they easier to make, but also easier to pack, ship and deliver. But that’s why I like the wholesale aspect of conducting business, because I can do business on my own terms.”
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Or take time to travel. Each fall, Carroll heads to western NC for a mix of R&R and R&D. Along the way, she gathers ingredients, like apples and sweet potatoes, from farmers markets. That’s how she discovered the “Great Pumpkin Pursuit.”
Mix-master Chris flows fresh beats. Photo: Jenni Koontz
“There are folks out there that bake just for restaurants,” she says. “It’s a hard scene to break into, because many bakers will stay with the same place for quite some time.”
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So, in 1995, Carroll broke out on her own. Two decades later, her commercial home kitchen cranks out all sorts of treats: savory cheese pennies, moist blueberry crumb muffins, and sugary lavender cookies — the herb harvested by hand in the Shenandoah Valley — each lovingly wrapped in their own special sweater boxes.
“Baking takes trial and error, but along the way you appreciate the process.”
Some go to area stores; others she’ll sell on Saturdays’ Farmers Market in Manteo. Many ship online. Sadly, that means chocolate truffles are riding the bench for now — storing and shipping is another of chocolate’s challenges.
“There is a Class 3 waterfall along the Nantahala River,” she says. “Each year, they pitch hundreds of numbered pumpkins over the falls. For each pumpkin retrieved, you win a prize.” Of course, Carroll hopped in her kayak and, after going overboard and bobbing amongst the chaos, she realized something: “These were all sugar pumpkins, perfect for baking!” “That’s the thing,” she says as she passes a weathered collection of her grandmother’s recipes across the table, her favorites flecked with batter and perhaps even a few tears. “Baking is like a science experiment; there is much trial and error, but all along the way you begin to appreciate the process more.” It’s a process Carroll enjoys sharing. Every year, she’ll sponsor an event like Surfing for Autism, or Duck’s annual Turkey Trot, donating 700 or so mini pumpkin-pies. At some point, she’d like to go bigger by joining forces with Habitat for Humanity. “I’d love to start a giveback program where people are set up with all the goods for baking, so that when they move in they can turn their house into a home.”
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Because after all, it’s not really about the cookies — or any of the other baked goods, for that matter. “It’s about the conversation,” Carroll muses. “And sparking a memory just by tasting something. It’s the reason I do what I do.” — Fran Marler
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soundcheck getactive
very big into the synthesizer. Which later was used a lot in the 80s.” Jeffrey found himself following a mindboggling trail of breadcrumbs left by every record he spun. At some point, he moved from neighbors and libraries to record shops and thrift stores. As his zeal for vinyl flourished, he found still larger scores via the web, culminating with his largest discovery to date: thousands of records languishing in a vacant strip mall in a small town somewhere outside of Richmond, Virginia.
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“It was a crap-ton,” Bose remembers bluntly. “More records than we could even fathom. For just $50.”
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Vintage vinyl’s a treasure trove of killer tunes and classic finds. With every passing microsecond, we blast forward into the future. While the world speeds past, mind-numbing in its neon glow and infinite strings of ones and zeros, a few luddites continue to dabble with the innovations of yesteryear. Some with a passion to inspire the most Instagramzombied millennial. Jeffrey Boseman — aka DJ Bose — is one such champion of yesterday.
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“I got a li’l record player from my grandma and a couple of 45s when I was ten-ish,” recalls the 35-year-old KDH resident, pointing to a long, low-slung bookshelf in his foyer. “I still collect Eric Clapton because of them.”
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Perhaps his grandmother had no idea that this inconspicuous, 70s Sears stereo, complete with AM and FM capabilities, would launch a musical quest of epic proportions. But maybe she did; after all, if mama knows best then g’ma knew first.
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Three ways to certify your vinyl’s vintage
There’s a certain amount of liberation that comes through musical expression. With every new song and beat we like or dislike, we discover fresh aspects of ourselves. There is also the freedom that comes with reaching outside the realm of the familiar. Even more so pre-Internet. Twenty years back, without a screen to stare at ad infinitum, you had to leave the comfort of your four walls and roof to explore the music of strangers. “You parents might not be cool with a Parliament record,” says Bose. “The only way to hear Parliament was to go to someone else’s house.” And once you got out of the house, the drug-and-glitter-saddled UFO abduction that is Mothership Connection would introduce you to the funkiness that is George Clinton — an ideascape just as alien as the spacemen dishin’ it out. “I would say Parliament influenced rock as much as hip hop,” Bose explains. “They were Barcodes are bunk. Scantechnology didn’t exist before 1974; if you see a barcode on a Beatles album, it’s not the real Ringo.
He spent hours organizing and sorting through countless Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, and Bob Seger releases. Sure, there were probably ten copies of Olivia Newton John’s Get Physical, but there also were original Beatles albums and limited releases he never would have gotten his hands on otherwise. One afternoon, while flipping through platters, Bose found the diamond of his whole collection: “As far as finding a record and collecting it, the most valuable album to me is that Rodriguez album. It is very hard to find.”
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The artwork is almost as crucial as the songs.
awareness. Bose recognizes real treasure because every album he listens to, he dissects — from the write-up on Discogs (the Wikipedia of vinyl) to the physical condition of the record itself, the liner notes to the cover art.
Which leads to the album age’s ultimate gift: information. Disc sleeves offered space for every lyric, session player, and humble gratitude. And the artwork was almost as crucial as the songs, planting a visual seed of what the ear would enjoy later. (Think Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or Springsteen’s Born in the USA.) It could even reveal a new, shadowy side of characters who were otherwise under the intense spotlight of fame. Such is the case with the original art for the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today — endearingly referred to as “the Butcher Album.” Released in 1966, the Fab Four sat smiling in pristine, white butcher coats, covered in cuts of meat and dismembered baby dolls.
Rodriguez is a veritable Van Gogh of Vinyl. The 70s singer-songwriter lived in relative obscurity in his American heyday, only to earn a following in faraway lands like South Africa and Australia. Since 2013, Rodriguez has enjoyed a resurgence, largely due to the documentary Searching for Sugarman and some help from Nas, who sampled Rodriguez for 2007’s “You’re Da Man.”
“It didn’t fit their image,” says Bose, “and people were freaked out.”
“I know Rodriguez because of Nas,” Bose explains. “But ya know, I found that record by buying lots of other records. It fell in my lap.”
Sadly, Bose’s not one of the lucky finders. But he keeps looking. And he keeps finding gold with each listen.
When it comes to collecting, luck is as important as persistence. But so is
Bootlegs are dupeable. Some sneaks tape live concerts, then take a record they already have, flatten it, and repress it. Watch for leftover traces of the old album (sticker, sleeve, etc.) to reveal their true roots.
The label quickly replaced the offensive artwork with a more subdued stock image of the band standing around a steamer trunk. But some originals are still floating around. Mint versions can sell for thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It can be pretty nerdy,” he admits, “But it’s a connection to something deeper.” — Laura Gomez-Nichols Discogs.com is your best friend. It’s essentially the Wikipedia of recordings. All the info you need on the albums you want. Thanks, Internet. milepost 37
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The quiet of winter is wonderful in Duck! Come visit the beach’s best shops, galleries and eateries that are open year-round and enjoy all the hospitality that Duck offers.
For a shopping guide and information on special events held by Duck Village Merchants, visit doducknc.com.
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Queenie Wahine is a labor of love — and laptops — for Jessica Lowcher (seated) and Ashley Norris. Photo: Ryan Moser
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The ocean has a way of teasing out some of our best thoughts. While waiting for a set, casting a line at daybreak, or frolicking in the whitewater, big ideas seem to simply roll in. For mother and early childhood educator, Ashley Norris, her brainchild arrived while teaching her young daughter to surf. After a long Outer Banks winter of anticipation and waiting for the water to warm up, the aspiring little shredder grabbed her bright pink Beater board, took one look at the waves in Rodanthe, and decided “Umm… maybe when I’m six.” “I knew I didn’t want her to walk away, but I also wanted to respect her feelings without too much pressure,” says Norris. “I started making up a song while we laughed and played: Queenie Wahine wears a bikini, she’s nice to her sister, she’s never a meanie.” That mix of calm and confidence helped Norris coax her daughter into the waves. Her little girl finished her first surfing experience fully stoked. But Mom was still a little rattled. She couldn’t shake the song from her head. It eventually evolved into the opening line of Norris’ new children’s book, Queenie Wahine: Little Surfer Girl. “I wasn’t able to find books that showcased little girls surfing, and surfing is such a large part of our family’s life,” says Norris, whose father and two sisters are all lifelong enthusiasts. “I just knew I needed — or someone needed — to create this book so that my daughters could see a relatable main character. When you see something that needs to be done, you are making a choice: either you are going to do it, or wait for someone else to.” With her two young daughters hooked on the sport — and most surf media showcasing girls frolicking in bikinis instead of fearlessly charging — Norris couldn’t afford to wait. She also couldn’t tackle the project on her own. So, she pulled in her younger sister and surf pal, Jessica Lowcher. “Ashley came to me with the idea and asked if I would illustrate it, and we started sharing thoughts as well as our own experiences regarding women in surfing and other action sports,” says Lowcher. “The fear of not being
good enough can be what keeps us from trying new things. With Queenie Wahine, we wanted to show that it’s okay to wipe out, as long as you can pick yourself back up and not let the fear of failure keep you from trying again.”
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Inspired by their own creation, the two women decided to charge into publishing. But they’d have to overcome some challenges first. Starting with geography. Norris lives with her family in Greensboro. Lowcher? She’s spent the past three years in New Zealand. That left them separated by nearly 9,000 miles — and a 16-hour time difference.
The goal is to create action books where any girl can see themselves.
“Communication was a constant issue, since we were in two different time zones,” says Norris. “I would wake up in the morning with five messages from Jess, and she would have the same. There was only about a four-hour window where we could actually talk and update each other.” Second, while both women are inherently creative, neither had ever self-published a book before. In fact, Jess had never made a painting or laid out a page. But she is a professional photographer — not to mention a tech-savvy self-starter.
textured pages — immerses the reader in an enjoyable experience, both literary and sensory. Then, just as the silly song made up during a surf evolved into a book, the book then evolved into something more: a brand. “We decided our message was much bigger than just one book,” says Lowcher. So, like Venus jumping from her scallop shell, the sisters took a leap of faith. They started Tribe of Daughters. Part philosophy, part publishing house, the goal is to create action books that any little girl can pick up and see themselves.
L E S S O N S • R E N TA L S • S A L E S — WIDEST SELECTION O F K AYA K S & G E A R ON THE OUTER BANKS
They’ve already begun work on another adventure — Little Millie Ford and Her New Skateboard — due to drop in next August. They hope that their body of work will encourage girls who are self-conscious, doubtful, or fearful, to try things that boys and men are more commonly praised for. “With Tribe of Daughters, we’ve made a conscious choice to create all-female characters,” explains Norris, though she stresses the series is intended for both genders, daredevils and wallflowers alike. “We want little girls to see the strength, beauty and athleticism that they can bring to action-adventure sports. Boys and girls benefit from seeing girls in these types of roles.”
“I basically had to teach myself how to use water colors and InDesign,” says Lowcher. “When it came time to put the pencil to paper, I was terrified. At times I doubted myself and whether I could complete the book. It almost felt like I was living through a Queenie Wahine moment!”
For the sisters, embracing vulnerability and working through the challenges of learning something new — and showing off those efforts in front of the world — is already paying off. Queenie Wahine’s scored press in SurfGirl Magazine, Eastern Surf Magazine, and on TheInertia.com. More importantly, the girls have increased the word count in an under-represented genre of children’s literature, and helped to advocate for an often overlooked demographic of readers.
By practicing what they preached and pressing on, the pair were able to selfpublish their creation in a year’s time, with no detail overlooked. The watercolors are reminiscent of the ocean itself — at once playful and soothing. The story is catchy with lyrical rhymes. And the physical book — with its velvety matte cover and thick,
“Before my daughters were born, I don’t think this was even on my radar as something that was missing,” says Norris. “My goal is to teach girls about bravery, not perfection. Putting myself out there, open for criticism or rejection, and trying something I believe in — that’s just one of many ways we can be brave.” — Hannah West
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With events like Christmas in Corolla at Whalehead, starting Nov. 24th, and iconic attractions on the mainland like The Weeping Radish, North Carolina’s oldest microbrewery, and Sanctuary Vineyards, ‘Tis the season to discover all that Currituck’s northern Outer Banks and mainland have to offer.
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WINNING IDEAS,
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Think I’ll open a bar called “The Tourist Trap” Just this side of the bridge We’ll sucker folks in the second they cross Fill their bellies with free drinks and fried food When they’re fat and hammered, we’ll spray ’em with saltwater Steal their wallets, spin ’em round, and send them home (Maybe slap on a DUI for good measure) Seems more honest than the old-fashioned way.
CARQUEST of the Outer Banks offers competitive pricing (typically less expensive than our neighbors), quality parts and friendly, knowledgeable service. Drop by one of our stores TODAY conveniently located in
KILL DEVIL HILLS and
Think I’ll make some giant emojis Designed to fit any business marquis Thumbs ups Thumbs downs Smiley faces Broken hearts As customers leave, they can post to the sign instead of a phone Passersby can see real-time reviews from the road And proprietors can match real faces to all the fake piles of poop.
GRANDY
Think I’ll build bunches of big bunny ears Fabricated to attach to the tops of police vehicles Instead of black and sneaky, they‘ll look warm and superfuzzy Guaranteed to disarm bad guys before they can run Or some headlight eyelashes might turn a few heads Groucho glasses might raise a few eyebrows Then the cop cars can have cop mustaches, too. Think I’ll open a special branch of county services: The Visitors’ Bureau of Investigation We’ll perform market research after folks get here Asking personal questions like… If Virginia’s for lovers, who’s for haters? Do all sunbathers from Maine bake like lobsters? How many days can a Yankee survive without Yuengling? The truth is out there. Think I’ll… Think I’ll… Think I’ll quit while I’m ahead. — C. White
Illustration by Samantha Keller
KILL DEVIL HILLS ~ 252.715.1707 GRANDY ~ 252.453.6161 milepost 41
We Are The PArTy!
endnotes On, Dasher! On, Dancer! On, Prancer! On, Shopper? Fly over to Southern Shores’ All Saints Episcopal Church, Nov. 17-18, to fetch locally made gifts as the 15th Annual Holly Days Bazaar & Arts Festival features 30+ artists’ woodwork, paintings, photography, and more. 9am-4pm. Get fresh deets at www.allsaintsobx.org. • Mother Nature is not a hoarder. On Nov. 18, help the NC Beach Buggy Association declutter our coast, with a Ramp 4 clean-up. 8-11am. Learn more at www.ncbba.org. • Need a plant for your horn of plenty? Hit the Elizabethan Gardens’ Thanksgiving Sale, Nov. 18-26, then add an extra touch of scarlet, courtesy of Poinsettia Week, Nov. 20-25. Find all the colorful details at www. elizabethangardens.org. • Learn how to keep your lungs in the pink with the Outer Banks Hospital. On Nov. 20, sufferers of COPD and other diseases gather for the Better Breather’s Club. And Dec. 15’s Cancer Lunch and Learn: Our Fight Against Lung Cancer features an online, interactive lecture about lung cancer detection and the newest treatments. 12-1pm. Call 252-449-7300 to register. • On Nov. 22, punish your liver and legs when the Tipsy Turkey Beer Mile turns the Outer Banks Brewing Station’s backyard into a biathlon of chugging and chasing. More at www.theobxrunningcompany.com. • Then bolt down to Real Watersports in Waves for Nov. 22’s Watermen’s Bar & Grill Holiday Party. From 6-9pm, Jeremy Russell plays live tunes and fugly fabric fights to the death for the annual Ugly Holiday Sweater Competition. Get the latest at www.realwatersports.com. • Support reel water sports, local non-profits, and high school scholarships, every other Wed. at Hatteras Anglers Club Bingo Night. 7pm hard-start. See www.capehatterasanglersclub. org for updates. • Then it’s back to the races for Thanksgiving Day, as pre-feast 5ks run from north to south, Nov. 23, starting with Corolla’s 3rd Annual Wild Turkey 5k. Deets at www.theobxrunningcompany.com. • Duck’s 22nd Annual Advice 5K Turkey Trot has a few logistical changes this year. Packet Pick-Up will happen Wed. at Urban Cottage. Staging will be at Scarborough Lane Shoppes. And the Post-Race Party is presented by Outer Banks Popcorn Shoppe, Sweater Box Confections, and Wave Pizza Cafe. But it’s still the same community tradition that everyone loves. Find ’em on Facebook for the swiftest updates. • Meanwhile, down south, a sixth helping of the Surfin’ Turkey 5K & Puppy Drum Fun Run feeds local schools via the Hatteras Island Youth Education Foundation — and joggers feast on hot pancakes at the finish line. (Or cold pints if you’re 21+.) Learn more and register at www. hatterasyouth.com. • Why sweat Christmas shopping? On Nov. 24-25, the Hatteras Island Arts and Craft Guild Holiday Show fills the Cape Hatteras Secondary School’s auditorium with artists, crafters, photogs and artisans so you can finish your list in a single lap. 10am-4pm. Find ’em on Facebook. • On Nov. 24, play a little holiday hooky at Pangea’s Santa at the Tavern, where kids can whisper secret wishes while adults can sneak a pint and tell lies. More at www.pangeatavern.com. • How does Kris Kringle cross the globe in just 24 hours? By hang-glider, of course. Swoop into Nags Head’s Kitty Hawk Kites, Nov. 24-25, for a visit and photos with the flying fat man. Then watch Jockey’s Ridge go Griswold, when Kites with Lights electrifies our tallest dune. More at www.kittyhawk.com. • On Nov. 24, it’s Elizabethan Gardens’ turn to glow crazy when WinterLights’ Grand Illuminations sparks a 22-night rager of holiday bulbs, cozy fire pits, and festive food and drink, 6-9pm. And the light show continues Tues-Sat. nights ’til Dec. 31; then Fri. & Sat. nights ’til Jan. 20. (Closed Dec. 24, 25, 31, and Jan 1.) Plus, find a bevy of workshops and soirees, such as Ladies’ Night at The Gardens’ blend of champagne and shopping on Nov. 27. For complete deets, pricing and season passes, go to www.elizabethangardens.org. • Tickle the ivories — and step back in time — as Whalehead’s Christmas Candlelight Tours mix 1920’s seasonal décor with live Steinway, hot cider and more: Nov. 24 & 25; Dec 1, 2, 8, 15 &16. 6-7pm. $20. Call 252-453-9040 to register in advance. • Small Business Saturday goes big at Ramada Plaza Nags Head Oceanfront, Sat., Nov. 25, when the 5th Annual Outer Banks Entrepreneurs Holiday Bazaar combines local vendors with prize drawings, raffles and holiday music from DJ Cowboy. Find their Facebook page for full details. • And Sanctuary Vineyards goes
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Cultural Series
bivalve, Nov. 25, as The Big Curri-Shuck busts out all-you-can-eat oysters, all-you-cansample local wine and beer, all-you-can-listen country music — plus steamed crabs and BBQ while they last, and a signature wineglass to Smart shuckers keep forever. Score more know to bring their own info and $40 tickets at knives to the www.sanctuaryvineyards. Big Curri-Shuck, com. And come back any Nov. 25. Photo: First Friday, Jan.–Apr., Brooke Mayo for free tunes and cozy wine-tastings. • On Nov. 25, pry open your checkbook, empty all cabinets and closets, then head to the Outer Banks Brewing Station where the Give Thanks Get Down With DJ Wrecka boogies late to help local families. Just $3 when you donate canned goods or coats. More at www.obbrewing.com. • Better go bonkers at the Bonzer Shack before they take their winter breather, Nov. 26-Feb. 1. ’Til then, The Wilders will rock on, every Sun., 5-8pm. Bust a move to www.bonzershack.com for more. • Say goodbye to the end of an era as Kelly’s goes on permanent vacation sometime between Nov. 26-30. Don’t cry too hard; it’s all solid memories. Plus, signature dishes will carry on at Mako Mike’s and Pamlico Jack’s. More at www.kellysrestaurant.com. • Looking to beef-up the bank account of your favorite local charity? Try the Outer Banks Community Foundation’s Matching Funds Challenge. Donate to one of nearly two dozen local non-profits — like the Outer Banks History Center, Food for Thought, or Interfaith Community Outreach — before Nov. 30. Whoever raises $2,500 scores a matching grant. Find participants and ways to give at www.obcf.org. • Make Dec. your month for meal tickets, via the Outer Banks Restaurant Association’s Gift Certificate Promotion. Buy seven $25 certificates and get the 8th free. Dig in at www.obxtasteofthebeach.com. • On Dec. 1, score a killer view from Corolla’s tallest candle, as Currituck Beach Lighthouse celebrates turning 142 with a Free Stair Climb. Step to www.currituckbeachlight.com for deets. • As if First Friday wasn’t festive enough, Dec. 1 fills the streets of Downtown Manteo with carols, Christmas cheer and community spirit, courtesy of the Tree Lighting Ceremony. Be sure to slip inside the old courthouse at 6pm for the opening reception of Dare County Arts Council’s Holiday Small Works Show. And come back Dec. 2 as the College of the Albemarle’s Student Holiday Show sets the interior a-twinkling. More at www.darearts.org. • Win big — or go bust. It all helps the cause when Outer Banks Hotline’s 29th Annual Festival of Trees lands at the Ramada, Dec. 1-2. On Fri., Dec. 1, enjoy a day dropping dollars at the Holiday Bazaar, Tree Auction, and Silent Auction. At 8pm, the Jingle Jam takes over with reggae by Nature’s Child. Then, Dec. 2, another day of browsing and bidding segues into 6pm’s Monte Carlo Casino Night, featuring blackjack, poker, roulette, and craps — plus a live auction of Christmas trees loaded down with precious prizes. All funds help fight domestic abuse. Get pricing, times and tix at www.obhotline.org. • And the Brew Pub is a jackpot of jolly generosity when Dec. 2-3’s 9th Annual OBXMas piles up locally made arts and crafts, music, and lots of beer. Proceeds benefit Interfaith Community Outreach. 12-5pm. More at www.obbrewing.com. • March into Downtown Manteo, Dec. 2, as the Big Little Town Christmas Parade promises emergency vehicles, high school bands, and at least 50 floats — plus enough flying candy to fill 1000 stockings. Afterwards, head over to the boathouse to bro-down with Santa himself, thanks to the Manteo Elementary PTO. More at www. townofmanteo.com. • Enjoy a magical procession of historic houses and festive décor when Manteo Preservation Trust hosts the 13th Annual Holiday Tour of Homes, Sat., Dec. 2, 12-6pm. Check in at Outer Banks Distillery, home of Kill Devil Rum, for light snacks, tour maps, and $20 tix. Get there early, and you can borrow a bike, courtesy of Manteo Cyclery.
2018 Spring Events Elbert Watson Dance Ensemble Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. First Flight High School Kill Devil Hills, NC
Tshombe Selby
An Afternoon of Spirituals and Arias Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church Southern Shores, NC
East Carolina University Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival Spring Celebration Saturday, May 5, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church Southern Shores, NC Tickets for all events are $15 Available January 1, 2018 Learn More at BryanCulturalSeries.org Our endowment managed by the
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endnotes Details at www.manteopreservationtrust.com. • All that walking work up an appetite? Head winter audition updates for the seasons’ final three shows — at www.theatreofdareobx.com. over to Elizabethan Gardens’ Holiday Feast for an endless bounty of tasty eats and • Or just bask in the glow of amazing imagery when Kitty Hawk’s Unitarian Universalist WinterLights, Dec. 2. (Two seatings: 6pm & 7:30pm.) Or feed your holiday horticultural Congregation of the Outer Banks decks their halls with Cyndi Goetcheus Sarfan photos instincts via various workshops, from propagating Poinsettas thru Dec. and Jan. — with an opening reception on Dec. 3, (Dec. 3, 10am-12pm), to exploring the Art of Centerpieces 11:45 am. Then, come back Feb. 4 at the same time to wow (Dec. 9 & 12), to crafting the Perfect Holiday Wreath (Dec. over the fiber weavings of Janet Smith. More at www.uucob. 16, 10am-1pm). Plus, on Dec. 6, let Woofstocking at org. • Kids 5-11 get fuel for their creative spirits and crank out WinterLights dazzle your dog — and get $3 off by bringing a gifts for the family. Parents get wee ones out of the house for donation for the Outer Banks SPCA. Find prices and specs on two hours. Such is the joy of KDH Co-Op’s Little Elves every species of event at www.elizabethangardens.org. • Head Workshops weekly camps. Tues.: Dec. 5, 12 & 19. Wed.: Dec. up to Duck Town Green for Dec. 2’s 7th Annual Yuletide 6, 13 & 20. 3-5pm. Learn more at www.kdhcoop.com or call Celebration, where traditions include bright brass jams by 252-441-9888 to register. • Dying to learn how to turn plain Just Playn’ Dixieland, a dazzling Town Crab Pot Tree, and cloth into pretty pictures? Check out Robin York’s Batik St. Nick riding a shiny fire truck. 3-5pm. And be sure to pop Workshops, Dec 7 & 21 at DCAC, 4-7pm. Or turn the into Town Hall before Jan. 6, as Town of Duck’s Rotating Art children on to color at Dec. 16’s Kids Art Party. Details at Show features eye-popping paintings by Brad Price. More at www.darearts.org. • Watch top culinary talents transform www.townofduck.com. • Keeping minds fresh is the goal at Hamburger Helper into haute cuisine, when the Beach Food Gentle Expert Memorycare’s Harmony Café. Seniors gather Pantry’s 4th Annual Holiday Chefs Challenge takes over at Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church to meet memoryDuck Woods Country Club, Dec. 8. From 6-9:30 pm, area care professionals, the first Sat. of every month: Dec. 2, Jan. 6, restaurants clash in a battle of nonperishable items while Peer upon Brad Price’s artwork at Duck Town Hall through Jan. 6. Feb. 3, and Mar. 4. 11am-2pm. Get details and other supplying some of their menus’ signature dishes. All for just community events at www.obxcommongood.org. • Harken back to holidays past, present $60; all to help food-insecure local families. More at www.beachfoodpantry.org. • Ahoy, and future, when the Theatre of Dare presents Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And sailors! The Colington Yacht Club’s Annual Meeting Dinner will gather to share grub and Then Some!), a madcap romp through seasonal traditions and pop culture favorites. Dec. 2, elect officers, Dec. 8, 6pm, at a location TBD. (Ye be fairly warned.) Set a course for holiday 3, 8, 9 & 10 at the Dare County Arts Council Building. Find tix and times — as well as cheer, Dec. 9, when the Annual CYC Holiday Boat Parade cruises the harbor with
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sparkling rigging at 5pm. And start 2018 with the wind at your back, when the New Year’s Day Sail embarks at 1pm. More at www.colingtonyachtclub.com. • Animal enthusiasts’ hearts will flutter, Dec. 8-10, when the Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival returns for three bino-fogging days of birding, paddling and photo workshops. Spot all events at www. wingsoverwater.org. • Spy the right gift while sampling pints, pinots and pecorinos when Trio Holiday Market stuffs the mezzanine with intoxicating local artwork, Dec. 9, 2-5pm. More at www.triowinebeercheese.com. • Run like Rudolph, Dec. 9, when the 5th Annual Festivus 5/10k, Jingle Jog 1-Mile & The Little Elf 1/4-Mile dashes around Southern Shores’ Marketplace Shopping Center. For more information visit www. theobxrunningcompany.com. • The south end of Hatteras Island feels like the North Pole, Dec. 9, when the Graveyard of the Atlantic’s Holiday at the Museum sets up holiday crafts, shows, choral groups and live music — plus a Winter Wonderland train display by master builder Charlie Klein. 12-5pm. Get 5% off purchases when you bring a food bank donation. Find the cold hard facts at www.graveyardoftheatlantic.com. • Community spirit and holiday fun floats through Hatteras Village, Dec. 9, at the 26th Annual Hatteras Island Christmas Parade. Locals doll up trailers to look like trawlers, and Santa steers a firetruck for cheering fans. Line up by 2pm, tune into Radio Hatteras for a live report at 99.9 & 105.1, or stream it online at www.radiothatteras.org. • Wanna see Kris Kringle travel back through time? Head to Roanoke Island, Dec. 9, for St. Nicholas at Island Farm. From 12-2pm, enjoy hot apple cider and ginger cookies while you wait for the big man’s grand entry on an ox-drawn wagon. More at www.theislandfarm.com. • Rather see Santa swim with live sharks? Be at Roanoke Island Aquarium’s Great White Fishmas, Dec. 9. And if you wanna help animals all winter, bring in donations for the Outer Banks SPCA thru Dec. And drop clean, dry baggies and cling-wrap at their Plastic Bag & Film Collections, every
second Tues. thru April, 12-2pm. Find clear instructions at www.ncaquariums.com. • Hear canines go caroling, Dec. 9, as Alligator River Wildlife Refuge hosts a free Red Wolf Howling after dusk. Come back for a daytime Tram Tour Dec. 16, Jan. 13 or Feb. 10, and spend your Sat. spotting major critters for a minor fee. Call 252-216-9464 for pricing, deets and reservations. • Hop on a hog and hit the road to help Dare Co. Special Olympics when KDH’s Fraternal Order of Eagles hosts a Rolling Poker Run, Dec. 9. 10am registration; ride at 11am. More deets at Dirty Bike Club RC on Facebook. • On Dec. 16, stuff your belly and suck in your gut when Elizabethan Garden’s Dinner With Santa pairs feasting and photos, 6-9pm. And on Dec. 27, WinterLights’ Thank You Santa event collects letters of appreciation between dazzling displays. For pricing and times, visit www.elizabethangardens.org. • Too much for your tyke? On Dec. 16, join the Children@Play Museum in Kitty Hawk for Sensory Santa, where special needs children get quality time with Mr. Claus in a much quieter environment. Learn more www.childrenatplayobx.org. • Heave, ho and help local schools when Pulling for a Purpose lands at Dare Co. Airport, Dec. 16. Five-person teams take turns hauling the 24-ton Spirit of Freedom — aka “the Candy Bomber” — to raise funds for Dare Education Foundation. (See www.dareeducationfoundation. org for more.) And come back Dec. 17, for the traditional Candy Drop, between 1-1:30pm, followed by some tasty photo ops with Santa himself. • But first, pay sweet tribute to the birth of human aviation at Dec. 17’s 114th Annual Celebration of the Wright Bros’ First Flight. The National Park Service waives entry fees to allow the public to enjoy interpretive talks, ceremonial inductions, and — of course — the traditional flyover at 10:35 am. For a full schedule go to www.firstflightfoundation.org. • Or witness the epic struggle of man-versus-power-bill by buzzing the Poulos Family Christmas Lights before Dec. 31. Every year, this house pushes the limits of wattage and imagination to create an
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endnotes awesome, electric wonderland that rivals all of French Fry Alley. Just turn west at Pigman’s face paint necessary when Avner the Eccentric clowns around First Flight High with a full and follow the glow. • Red, green and gold become the season’s kindest colors when spectrum of pratfalls and sight-gags, Jan. 27, courtesy of Outer Banks Forum for the Lively SensiTrails fires up the Brew Station’s Christmas Reggae Jam, Dec. 23. More at www. Arts. Come back Feb. 17 when Emile Pandolfi & Dana Russell perform ballads, medleys obbrewing.com. • Dude. Don’t let short-term memory loss put you in the doghouse on and more musical delights. And the Young Irelanders play Emerald Isle songs and dances, Christmas morning. Hit the KDH Co-Op Man Sale, Dec. 24, where cool creative cats clue Mar. 10. All shows start at 7:30pm. $28; Students: $15. Get the seasonal lineup at www. you in on all the last-minute shopping solutions. Call 252-441-9888 for deets. • Pre-game outerbanksforum.org. • On Feb. 2, sip on good liquor and help local schools when Rooster’s your New Year festivities with a Paleface double-shot, as the gritty, indie-folk duo play Trio First Friday Bourbon Tasting offers tastings and lessons for just $25 — and where twice: Sat., Dec. 30 at 8pm and Dec. 31 at 9:30pm. Don’t worry: NYE still features a special 200-proof of the proceeds fuel the Dare Education Foundation. Learn more at www. bubbly menu and later hours to ring in 2018 — plus a Grand Reserve champagne tasting at dareeducationfoundation.org. • Have a shell of a time when the NC Coastal Federation’s 6pm. More at www.triowinebeercheese.com. • Hatteras Island Oyster Roast returns to Oden’s Blast your way into 2018 — or just linger a while Dock, Feb. 3, 1-4pm. Enjoy all-you-can-eat — when Pangea Tavern’s Annual Old Farts New bivalves, one serving of chowder, one serving of Year’s Eve Party wafts into Avon, Dec. 31, with fish, and a non-alcoholic beverage — plus live live music by Brackish Water Jamboree, plus a music by Dragonfly — for just $15 . ($20 for 10pm “anchor dropping” and champagne super shuckers.) Rake up the salty deets at www. toast. More at www.pangeatavern.com. • Carry on nccoast.org. • Want your yard to feel extra fertile over to the Brew Station’s NYE Bash, Dec. 31, this spring? Head to Elizabethan Gardens on where bodies boogie to the sounds of Footwerk, Feb. 2, where Annuals from Seed shows how to balloons drop at midnight, and the party rages bed the easiest of flowers. And Feb. 7’s Winter into the future. Full deets at www.obbrewing.com. Rose Pruning teaches the importance of clip • Or start early on your get-fit resolution by stimulation to maximize blooms. Reserve your joining Tortuga’s Lie Unofficial 5k. Just show up spot at 252-473-3234. • Get your special prior to 11pm with sneakers and a light source, someone in the mood without lifting a finger, as then run, bike or stumble into 2018. • Need a lifeTheatre of Dare targets the Valentine’s crowd changing resolution that won’t require breaking a with a showing of Almost Maine, where “residents find themselves falling in and out of sweat? Try supporting The Don and Catharine love in the strangest ways.” (DCAC Gallery, Feb. Bryan Cultural Series. Starting Jan. 1, you can 2-4 & 9-11.) See www.theatreofdareobx.com for buy tix to three spring performances — Elbert times and tix — as well as audition dates — for Watson Dance Ensemble (Mar. 25), Tshombe the final two shows: Cabaret and Love, Sex, and Selby, an Afternoon of Spirituals and Arias the IRS. • Don’t speak, don’t whisper, don’t say a (Apr. 22), and ECU’s Four Seasons Chamber word. Just scribble sweet nothings to your heart’s Music Festival (May 5) — just by clicking a few content — and your wallet’s limit — when the buttons at www.bryanculturalseries.org. • On Jan. Universalist Church of The Outer Banks’ 6, the holidays come back swinging, when Old Annual Chocolate Auction lets folks bid on a Christmas gathers locals to swill oysters and shoot variety of delectable goodies, gifts, and other shells at the Rodanthe-Salvo-Waves indulgences, Feb. 10, 6-10pm. All proceeds go to Community Center. Make sure you stay long the church, which shares the love with local nonenough to see Old Buck make a mythical bull of profits. More at www.uucob.com. • Start himself. • Don’t let your plant skills wither. Head to spreading the news…! The Outer Banks Elizabethan Gardens, where Jan. 6’s Tree Hospital is gearing up for a yuuugge fundraiser Pruning clinic teaches life-giving secrets, 10amCut-up in school when Avner the Eccentric clowns around First Flight High on Jan. 27. on Feb. 10. The New York, New York Gala 1pm. Or take a glass-half-full approach to your promises the finest dining, the fanciest dancing, the quietest silent auction. (Well, maybe not Terrarium Garden on Jan. 20, 10-12pm. Call 252-473-3234 to register. • Wanna help the that.) Get info or sponsorship opportunities at 252-449-5933. • Is the love of your life sound shine brighter and stay safer? Join the NC Coastal Federation’s Shoreline Marine Debris Clean-Up, Jan. 13, as they snag crab pots and other dangers from TBD locations. Get playing hard to get? Chase ’em around Sanctuary Vineyards, Feb. 10, when the 2nd Annual Love on The Run 5k pairs dashes with drink tickets and even a bottle of wine to hooked at www.nccoast.org. • Need a Pentacostal preacher for your private elopement? A help seal the deal. Get the full monte at www.theobxrunningcompany.com. • On Feb. 17, well-shaved chauffer for that shotgun wedding? DJ and décor for some doggie “I do’s”? No March of Dimes Signature Chef’s Auction gussies up Jennette’s Pier — and pimps out matter how specialized your nuptial needs, the OBX Wedding Expo delivers, Jan. 13-14, at the beach’s best cooks for private dinners — all to help rid the world of birth defects. Tix First Flight High School. Get complete deets at www.obxwa.com. • Or want something and deets at signaturechefs.marchofdimes.org. • On Mar. 4, fall for fleshy-leaved plants when noble to do on MLK Day? On Jan. 15, enjoy a free visit to the NC Aquarium — and help Elizabethan Gardens says “aloe” to Succulent Container Gardens. And those beds won’t the less fortunate — by bringing non-perishable donations for the Roanoke Island Food be dormant much longer. On Mar. 10, let the Planting Spring Annuals workshop help you Pantry. Updates at www.ncaquariums.com. • Celebrate man’s creative spirit — and four full get ready for the growing season. 10am-1pm. For details and to register in advance decades of damn good paintings — when the 40th Annual Frank Stick Memorial Art visit www.elizabethangardens.org. • And, finally, the spring dates for Taste of the Beach Show opens at DCAC Gallery, Sat., Jan. 27, 6-8pm. Can’t make it? Circle back by Feb. 24 have officially sprung. Block off Mar. 22-25 to chow non-stop, and head over to www. and leer at your leisure. Plus, precious gems and metalwork make their mark when the COA obxtasteofthebeach.com to hog tix for your favorite events. Professional Crafts Jewelry exhibit opens, Feb. 2. More at www.darearts.org. • There’s no
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No Place Like Mama’s - All Winter Long World Famous FiSh TAcoS Lunch &Dinner S P ec iA LS
Kwan’s Authentic
Pad Thai every ThurSdAy!
SundAy GAme dAy! Mama’s Homemade F r ie d c h ic K e N
FOOTBALL
13 TV’s
Milepost 9.5 • Highway 158 in KDH • 252.441.7889 • MamaKwans.com
Lunch: 11:30 am • Dinner: 4:00 pm • Tiki Bar: 11:30 am – Until • Call for Closing Times!
Bonzer Breakfast Sundays 11:3 0 am Bushwhacker Sundays with Vintage Quags Cups!
Open for Lunch & Dinner Tues (Until After Thanksgiving)
Sun
Re-Open Around
Feb. 1, 2018
$8.99 Lunch Specials! Tues - Sun
MP9 on the Beach Rd. • KDH • BonzerShack.com • 252.480.1010
milepost 47
let’s roll. Our new fOOd truck is a lean, mean, flavOr machine.
48 hOliday parties
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