OUTER BANKS MILEPOST: ISSUE 9.1

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Issue 9.1

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We are gokite not milepost alone. roadmap

Do we have a broad spectrum of problems?

Sure. But we also have a bright horizon.

Photo: Daniel Pullen

The problems discussed in this magazine are not limited to the Outer Banks. In fact, they aren’t restricted to North Carolina, the East Coast, or even America. Go ask a Californian what it’s like to find affordable housing — or lose their home in a raging weather disaster. Talk to a Floridian about the opioid crisis or “sunny day” flooding.

Better yet, FaceTime a coastal Australian about all four scourges — then throw in battling offshore drilling, to boot.

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So as you page through this feature’s collection of our most pressing concerns, pieced together from our past 35 magazines, please don’t perceive us as picking on our beloved home. And certainly don’t assume we’re attacking the range of responses. (Or lack thereof.) Some problems are simply so huge, they demand bigger solutions.

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In fact, if documenting local life the past nine years has taught us anything, it’s that some nagging challenges are so cumbersome they may never disappear. Many have been here from the very beginning: What to do about an angry ocean and encroaching shoreline?

How do you build a tourism mecca without tarnishing its native, natural appeal?

Why does self-medication become selfdestruction? And where’s that confounded bridge?

Every year, every second, all these issues grow more intertwined. A loud checkered flannel of interconnected threads, each weaving through the other, that becomes harder and harder to separate. Build a jetty

here — lose more shoreline there. Bulk up the beach to defend future real estate — encourage more future damage when the big one hits. Create a robust year-round economy to support the locals — slowly price out the very locals you aim to support.

But that overlapping structure is also the strength of our cultural fabric. Because, unlike South Florida or Sydney or Silicon Valley, we’re not some dense megalopolis of six-million strangers. We’re a supertight-community of 35,000 neighbors. Just look around, you’ll see less than a degree separates the millionaire on the oceanfront from the nail-banger on a surfboard; the

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mayor from an addict who needs methadone; or the retiree floating along on a golden parachute from the teacher who’s struggling to stay afloat.

Every year, every second, all these issues grow more intertwined.

So while we may not have the big city budgets and tax bases to pay for sand bypasses or Section 8 housing, we

have something no other place does: we have each other. Our friends. Our neighborhoods. Our workdays — and beach days. Let’s use those close relationships — that understanding and empathy — to find common ground as we make hard choices.

Together, we can mend problems panel by panel, fiber by fiber, one humble stitch at a time. We may not solve every issue, but we can certainly patch a few things to make life more comfortable.

Because none of us is facing the future alone.

It just feels that way sometimes.

— Matt Walker

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: stuff it in a door jamb during the next storm-of-the-century; shred-cut-and-weave your own grunge-era flannel, then send it to Eddie Vedder COD. Or simply add it to that six-month stack of newspapers you’ve yet to incinerate. (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. milepost 3

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Sales Force Laurin Walker Big Mouth In Chief Matt Walker Blame It All On Suite P Inc. PO Box 7100 • KDH, NC 27948 Office: 252-441-6203 • Sales: 949-275-5115 editor@outerbanksmilepost.com • sales@outerbanksmilepost.com 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 Patchwork network.

06 UpFront Home values, cartoon hogs, and a huge birthday for Dare.

24 GetActive Woodsy hours.

27 W e Have Issues.

Paging through the Outer Banks’ most pressing concerns.

36 GraphicContent Tangled up in blues…and reds…and greens…

48 QuestionAuthority Tapping the source on Dare Co. drinking water.

52 GoBird The sport of wings.

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54 FoodDrink Hungry jury.

56 ArtisticLicense Old fabric gets a fresh start.

58 SoundCheck Tones for tots.

61 RearView Redneck flashback.

63 OutThere Ribbed from the headlines.

64 EndNotes Another vernal event avalanche.

“You Have No Idea”

By Sharon Whitehurst “I love working with lauan. It’s a very thin plywood — like the backing of bookcases. You can paint on it. You can drill into it. You can wire pieces and glue to it. This piece represents a pretty dark childhood. The scarf shows years of being choked by abuse. A latch and screws close off my heart. The fuses and thermostat are bad parts from a broken-down dryer. Then I added a silk flower. Growing up, there was a homeless guy who slept under buildings at night — but he always walked around with a smile on his face and a flower. I put that flower in as a tribute to him, because he still found beauty in life. I’ve worked through a lot of those old issues now, but I still do my self-portraits in lauan. It’s durable. Like me.” — Sharon Whitehurst milepost 5

upfront soundcheck THIS GOLD HOUSE?

Dare County’s fixin’ to reassess property values for the first time since 2013. getactive Prepare for another nerve-racking wildcard, property owners. Fresh off recent insurance hikes — and just months from impending changes in flood maps — in February, Dare County sent out notices asking for help updating the market value of their homes, commercial properties, and/or land.

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North Carolina requires a revenue neutral tax rate, or RNTR, to be published to help taxpayers understand the effect of the tax base on tax rates. In general terms, the RNTR would estimate the tax rate that would provide the same revenue to the local government using the new tax base. If the tax base increases, the revenue neutral rate would be lower than the current rate, and vice versa.

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But there is no requirement for governments to adopt the RNTR, and even then it’s not likely to be the same.

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By law, revaluations are done at least every eight years, but they cause angst for some because a house could always be valued lower than before. Or if the value goes up, that might translate to higher taxes. We won’t know for sure until sometime this summer, when 2020 budgets determine the tax rate.

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Still, it’s likely to be the Goldie Locks outcome: not a blazing hot market to spike ad valorem taxes, but no stinging loss in the investment return property owners bank on.

“Your tax rate can change, even though it’s revenue-neutral,” says Richard Hess, senior broker associate with Sun Realty. “But it’s got to be an average.”

Still, no matter what the property revaluation results, our tax bills are in the hands of our elected commissioners and council members. That’s why people need to pay more attention to their particular municipality’s budget than to the revaluation figure.

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County Tax Assessor Greta Skeen, who has been on the job for decades, says she’s not going to make any predictions, but she doesn’t see reason to be alarmed.

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“This market is a healthy market,” Skeen says.

“But it’s not crazy.”

“Everybody uses the same revaluation, but [local governments] apply it to their budget,” he says. “Some people are going to pay more taxes, and some aren’t.”

Currently, there are 43,500 real properties in Dare County, of which 90 percent are residential. In fiscal year 2019, the taxbase totaled $12.5 billion.

And that’s where the unknowns and guessing games come in. For example, Hess says that, in recent years, west side properties generally have appreciated as much as 30

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percent more than oceanfront properties.

But — although all property in a town would be taxed at the same rate — a five percent increase in value for a $1 million oceanfront house is going to be a higher figure than a 5 percent increase for a $100,000 house.

“Some people’s tax rates can go up and some can go down,” Hess says. “Even if they have the same appreciation.”

Essentially, the property tax rate is averaged across the county. Although the market value

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go down, and the county has less revenue, they’ll either have to raise taxes or trim the budget. But, in either case, the dollar number isn’t necessarily a reflection of what the properties would actually sell for.

“The revaluation is a required process they have to go through to bring the property value up to market value,” Hess says.

“It’s not to determine absolute value.”

In other words: don’t freak out if your home’s assessed value lags behind the market value, because buyers will be paying market value.

Still, looking at some past revaluations, it’s clear why they make people uneasy.

Between 1998 and 2005, the value of taxable property exploded from $5.4 billion to $15.9 billion. Back then, the county made the revaluations every five years to limit any distress to taxpayers or county government.

But then 2009 rolled along. In the depths of the Great Recession, the county found that 73 percent of property owners would be facing a tax increase, so they put off the revaluation for a year — and then another year — with the idea that, with extra time, the comatose housing market would revive.

is always in flux, the assessed value stays the same for eight years.

If the total value goes up, taxes could stay the same or go lower, because there’s more money to take a percentage of. If the values

“No, not really,” Skeen says, when asked if there was improvement in the market. “It probably went down a little bit more.”

By the time they finally performed the last revaluation in 2013, the tax base had dropped 30 percent since 2005, and taxes rose as a result.

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Then there was 1990, when property values doubled from the previous assessment — growing from $1.6 billion to $3.7 billion.

But the following year, the construction industry and real estate markets crashed, and the county subsequently had to raise taxes by 17 cents per $100 of property value.

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Don’t freak out if your home’s assessed value lags behind the market.

This year’s not likely to be so drastic. According to Assistant Tax Assessor Hosea Wilson, the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s 2019 ratio of property sales in Dare County shows market prices have increased about 17 percent compared with 2013.

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Because the market was essentially at rock bottom for the last revaluation, it is inevitable that the tax base is going to increase.

Still, Hess says he’s not worried about a big change in values or ad valorem taxes, mainly because there are none of the inflated appreciations in the market that caused the previous budget shocks with revaluation.

“In 2005, you couldn’t even keep up with the increase in property values,” he says.

“That affected everyone. I don’t expect that with this one. It’s a healthy upward trend.”

Of course, everybody wants their home to increase in value. And there are other upsides worth considering. Hess says the revaluation process is not only a useful snapshot of the market, it also provides the data to nonprofits and government agencies to use to determine rent assistance programs and housing subsidies, as well as important information about population trends, wealth, tourism, and a multitude of economic and regional values.

Models are built based on data on sold properties, and a predicted value is devised for all markets that haven’t sold. Comparisons are also made between numerous databases to determine interior features.

Best of all? “Their main goal is not to raise your taxes,” says Hess.

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“A lot of our appeals [include] information we weren’t aware of,” Wilson says. “So it’s more of a correction. Of course, we change our records to reflect the accurate data.”

But the county must determine their own numbers. In fact, by law the property assessment must reflect 100 percent of the market value as of Jan. 1, 2020. Appraisers drive through neighborhoods, using impressive technology that scans the exterior and compares characteristics of new imagery with that in old imagery. Software also factors in known variables such as sales, building permits, and building costs to predict future prices.

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Skeen says homeowners should have received new values by mail in mid-February.

The notices include ways to appeal. Typically, about ten percent of property owners challenge their assessments.

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THE DAWN OF DARE soundcheck getactive

Lordy, lordy…Look who’s 150.

This January’s annual “State of the County” breakfast had plenty of good news from the past 12 months. Another shiny, AA bond rating. The opening of the Marc Basnight Bridge. It also highlighted more improvements for the decade to come. (A new COA campus!) But the happiest update of all involved an event that occurred 150 years ago: the birth of Dare County itself.

While Virginia Dare, the first child born to English parents in America, came into this world in 1587, the county that bears her name didn’t come into being until nearly three centuries later. State Senator Joseph William Etheridge, a Manteo merchant, introduced the bill for the formation of Dare County in the 1869-1870 session of the North Carolina General Assembly.

The bill passed by a decent margin (324 in favor; 108 opposed), and in April 1870, commissioners would hold their very first meeting.

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The new County of Dare was made up of bits and pieces of neighboring counties that had been created during the colonial era — Currituck in 1670, Hyde in 1712, and Tyrrell in 1729. Currituck County ceded Roanoke Island and Nags Head. Tyrrell County’s contribution was the mainland area bordered by the Alligator River, Albemarle Sound, Croatan Sound, and the Hyde County line to the south. And Hyde County relinquished Hatteras Island. (It’s interesting to note that, until 1770, the southern portion of Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands were a sort of rogue no man’s land and not included in any county. Volume 23 of The State Records of North Carolina describes the freedom afforded to its residents: “…the inhabitants thereof are not liable to pay taxes or perform any public duties whatsoever.”)

roadmap gokite milepost 1970’s Centennial celebrated 1870s fashion.

Photo: Aycock Brown/Outer Banks History Center

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Nascent Dare had a population of less than 3,500 residents and was comprised of 388 square miles, divided into five townships for taxation purposes. Croatan and East Lake Townships on the mainland; Hatteras and Kinnakeet Townships on Hatteras Island; and Nags Head

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Township, which encompassed Roanoke and Colington Islands and the beaches from the Currituck County line (which at that time was just south of Kitty Hawk) south to Oregon Inlet.

was annexed. A new township, Atlantic, was created from the annexed property and combined with Colington Island and the area that is today Kill Devil Hills.

A settlement on the deep-water harbor of Shallowbag Bay on Roanoke Island was chosen as the county seat of newly formed Dare. According to the late Outer Banks historian David Stick: “To govern the new county, three commissioners were elected at large, as was a sheriff, a register of deeds and a clerk of court.”

Over the coming decades, different towns would assert their municipal semi-independence — Kill Devil Hills first seated its own board in 1953 and, most recently, Duck in 2002 — while the Hatteras villages, Colington Island, and even Martin’s Point remain solely Dare’s domain.

But, even with seven distinct governing bodies — and 13 zip codes — the Outer Banks and Dare County remain basically synonymous. And we always celebrate our collective birthdays.

Dare’s first county commissioners meeting took place on April 4, 1870. Later that month, a site was selected for the courthouse. John Wescott was kind enough to donate an acre of land for a temporary building.

In 1873, a permanent wooden courthouse was constructed, and the area was named Manteo by the United States Post Office.

The geographic makeup of Dare came with challenges.

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Dare was made up of bits and pieces of neighboring counties created during the colonial era.

“Not long after the establishment of the county in 1870,” Stick continues, “people living in the communities on the north banks realized that new problems had resulted from the fact that Nags Head and Colington were in Dare County, but that the adjoining banks communities of Kitty Hawk and Duck were still in Currituck.”

So, Dare’s boundaries changed again in 1920, when the beach area south of Caffey’s Inlet

Fifty years ago, Dare’s centennial featured a fish fry, a beard growing contest, the selection of Ola Austin as Centennial Queen, a visit from North Carolina Governor Bob Scott, and the debut of an historical pageant called Dare of Tarheelia, which was written specifically for the occasion.

This year, Dare’s celebrating turning 150 all year long, including a May 2 gathering at Island Farm that will take attendees all the way back to 1870. Come December, there’s a shared ceremonial lighting of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which also marks 150 years of service in 2020. Every event is an opportunity to appreciate what makes Dare County so special. And every single one will make you glad it was born. — Sarah Downing Sources include: Corbitt, David Leroy, The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State Dept. of Archives and History, 1975; “N.C. Room in Library to be Dedicated Sun.,” The Coastland Times, 8.16.1973; Stick, David, Dare County: A History, Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1980; Stick, David, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, 1584-1958, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976.

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HAPPY getactive BIRTHDAY TO US! startingpoint soundcheck

Ten ways to celebrate Dare County’s 2020 roadmap Sesquicentennial.

gokite milepost March: Did someone say “march”? Nags Head’s annual Kelly’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is not only the longest organized walk in all of NC, it’s also the closest living relative to one of the Outer Banks’ craziest events — the infamous Pirate’s Jamboree of the 1950s, when natives dressed up and partied down to draw spring visitors. Whether you don green and strut your stuff, or scream from the sidelines, March 15’s party is the perfect way to cheer our community’s long-standing commitment to walking the wild side.

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April: While our collective roots may run back more than three centuries, Dare County wasn’t officially born until a three-person board midwifed its first meeting on April 4, 1870. This April 6, relive the historic moment by squeezing some time out of your schedule to watch today’s commissioners birth new ideas. Can’t make it? Join another town’s official monthly check-up. Because the strongest communities aren’t just born — they’re reborn every day.

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May: Ever wonder what local life was like back in 1870? On May 2, Island Farm on Roanoke Island transports modern families back to the 19th century as part of the official Dare Sesquicentennial Celebration. From 10am-4pm, play games, hear stories, and enjoy the extra slow pace of the Outer Banks most historic period — without the itchy Victorian ruffles. (And dinosaur-sized mosquitos.) Rain date is May 9.

June: You call that a block party? Downtown Manteo’s annual Dare Day has been going wild in the streets on the first Saturday in June since 1975. On June 6, join your fellow neighbors for this family-friendly street festival that’s full of music, food, vendors — and more than four decades of community camaraderie.

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July: Rage until dawn — or space out all night long — when the annual Perseid Meteor Shower produces shooting stars from July 17 through August 24. For the best viewing, head to Pea Island — or a similar piece of less-developed real estate — then lay back and watch the night sky go bonkers. Every piece of cosmic debris is a brilliant flashback to when the only light pollution in local skies was nature’s own neon.

You’ll never blow out these candles. Night skies are just one of Dare’s dazzling b-day ideas.

Photo: Cory Godwin

You’ve heard of “birthday weeks.”

Even “birthday months.” Well, Dare County’s having a birthday year. As part of 2020’s sesquicentennial fête, organizers brainstormed 150 ways to celebrate.

“We’re called ‘The Land of Beginnings’ because so many groundbreaking moments have happened here,” says Dare’s Public information Officer Dorothy Hester. “So we’re super excited, because we feel that our diverse culture, history and heritage really offer something for everyone.”

We pilfered Dare’s working list of special events — and added a couple ideas — so everyone can revel in our century-and-ahalf of shared history. (And maybe have some fun while we’re at it.)

August: We’ve come a long way, baby. Just ask Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. On August 17, Roanoke Island celebrates our favorite anchor baby, with special 1587-themed events at Elizabethan Gardens and Fort Raleigh National Park.

And the Lost Colony features local infants in the production’s biggest little role.

September: What’s the Outer Banks’ original draw? Water. Use September’s mix of wave energy and warm temperatures to immerse yourself in all things aquatic — catch a wave, paddle the sound, pull in a fish. Or take part in any number of surf contests or angling tournaments — the WRV Outer Banks Pro, ESA Eastern Surfing Championships, Kitty Hawk Kites Kayak Fishing Tourney or the Hatteras Surf-Fishing Invitational — that rely on our most precious resource. Google the events for updates.

October: Nothing says “the times they are a changing” like the Outer Banks’ architectural vernacular. See for yourself over Columbus Day weekend, when the Outer Banks Parade of Homes lines up a modern collective of coastal construction, while the Kill Devil Historic Home Tour spends a day opening the doors on its most prized, preserved examples that date back to the ’40s. Google for schedules.

November: Winter storms wreak maritime havoc. Visit Frisco’s Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum for tragic tales from the deep; read up on Richard Etheridge, legendary captain of the Pea Island Station’s only All-African American crew; go to Huron Street in Nags Head and learn about the November 1874 shipwreck just offshore, which helped give rise to the U.S. Lifesaving Service.

December: On the 17th, join in on the Wright Brothers Memorial’s annual tribute to powered flight. (Or just look up at the sky around 10am.) Even better, push the envelope a bit further by heading to Kitty Hawk’s Monument to a Century of Flight. Commissioned

by Congress in 2003, these statues honor aviation’s ripple effects from international flights to space exploration. While you’re there, step next door to the Aycock Brown Welcome Center and salute the tourism pioneer who put Dare County on the map.

For a full list of 150 Ways to Celebrate Dare County’s Sesquicentennial — and a timeline of major milestones — go to www.Dare150.com. milepost 11

upfront soundcheck getactive startingpoint roadmap A cheering, jeering gokite look at recent events and their potential milepost impacts.

COWABUNGA! That’s what Cape Lookout’s park rangers said last fall when they discovered three strange bovines cruising the beach.

Turns out the cows rode the wild surf over from Cedar Island after Hurricane Dorian caused a minitsunami. Luckily, the NPS hired some real ranch dudes to rustle ’em up, and by late Nov. all three tubesteaks were back on their home turf.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES When Dr. Greg Murphy won last fall’s special election to replace Walter B. Jones, Outer Bankers had one major concern: would he follow our late Congressman’s footsteps and fight offshore drilling — or toe the party line and play nice with Big Oil? Come Dec. we got an answer when the good doctor helped kill a pro-drilling amendment — the sole NC republican to vote “no.” Which puts him right in step with his coastal constituents.

FLIPPED PHONES Dead air and angry Facebook feeds were all the rage in late Nov. after a damaged fiber optic line impacted thousands of AT&T cell customers across eastern NC. Though phones were in-andout for several days, customers still found ways to fill social media with complaints about spotty coverage and poor customer service — and not one lick about the dangers of 5G.

CODE: “PHEW.” Students let out a collective sigh of relief after Dare County Schools avoided a few safety scares this winter. In Dec., a shooting threat on social media put all three First Flight schools on lockdown. Two days later, a bomb comment online cancelled classes entirely. And in Jan., Nags Head Elementary went into lockdown after someone mistook an undercover cop for an armed intruder. Fortunately, all proved false. And

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$100s or $1000s

while school officials responded quickly and appropriately — including hosting a community forum — it’ll be a while before kids and parents can fully relax.

PRETTY WORK Beach accesses are getting a bit of a makeover as we head into summer. In Dec., we learned that NC’s Division of Coastal Management granted Nags Head $47,232 for future touch-ups to parking and crossovers, lighting and landscaping — even stormwater retention areas and necessary signage. KDH began building a permanent bathroom at Prospect in Jan. And they also mounted special baskets at the Ocean Bay access, in hopes that beachhappy beauticians will strip all the cig butts and plastic bling to emphasize our home’s natural features.

DOWNTOWN UPGRADE In Jan., the North Carolina Department of Commerce announced that Manteo

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was one of six communities selected for the Downtown Associate Community program. The three-year process helps small communities expand economically — but not suffer historically — by attracting the right kind of investors and business ideas that make brick-and-mortar more viable in the digital age. Real-world discussions begin this summer — with a special eye on our sparkly waterfront — as they work to make our “Mayberry” experience another part of “Main Street America.”

AIN’T THAT SWELL? Local wave-riders scored more street cred in Jan. when Jesse Fernandez cross-stepped his way into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.

The resin coated resident joins local legends like accomplished competitors (Bob Holland) and beloved shapers (Scott Busbey, Mickey McCarthy), but he’s the first to fully blend the two criteria, being both a pro longboarding champion and a polished board-builder who’s handled more than 30,000 sticks.

SUNKEN TREASURE Feel that tug on your line? It might just be a sunken tugboat, thanks to the Outer Banks Anglers Club. The local fishing group spent years securing permission and funding to build an artificial reef — aka AR 165 — off of Oregon Inlet. This Jan., they dropped an 88-foot vessel into 70 feet of water, with plans to deep-six two more by summer, along with 7000 tons of concrete. The end result will be 162 acres of aquatic habitat teeming with edible riches — that local fishermen can’t wait to plunder.

HARD-LUCK CASES Turns out wealth inequality isn’t limited to people. According to a story in The New York Times, “the distribution of shells in one population of hermit crabs matches how wealth is shared in some human societies.”

Apparently, the larger — and therefore more successful — specimens bogart all the big houses, creating a “vacancy chain.” That leaves the little guys battling for tinier asnd tinier

homes down the line. (At least they’re not stuck in some plastic jail, sporting a dorky Spiderman paintjob.)

TOTALLY SHUCKABLE A series of fish houses, paddle tours, wine tastings, and food pairings — all of them serving salty, succulent bivalves? Yeah, we’d tap that. And so would every other redblooded seafood lover. That’s why the North Carolina Shellfish Initiative is starting a NC Oyster Trail that begins on the Outer Banks, but stretches the coast, blending eco-tourism, artisan cooking, and mariculture into an orgy of epicurean delights. And we can’t wait to do ’em all.

For detailed reports on these stories and breaking local news on a daily basis — plus plenty of local discussion — visit www. outerbanksvoice.com, www.islandfreepress. org, www.obxtoday.com and www. thecoastlandtimes.com.

SMART-ASS COMMENT OF THE MONTH

“Can you hear me now?”

— Craig Darby, “OBX customers plagued by AT&T outage,” OuterBanksVoice.com, November 30, 2019

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upfront

WHADDYA RECKON? soundcheck

What local issue would you fix?

We got questions — you got answers.

getactive

Sammy Barnes, 25 Rock Climber Kitty Hawk “We need more healthy food available.

We’re just starting to get better vegan options in grocery stores, but there’s still a lack of it in local restaurants. It feels like we’re about 20 years behind what is offered in other areas.”

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Bonnie Simmons, 35 Tattoo Artist Kill Devil Hills “Affordable housing. I’m trying to find a place right now. I have a child and am working with a single income, and it’s hard to find a reasonable rental.”

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Bryan Pond, 45 Pizza Maker Colington “I think we’re at a point where the county can look at stopping centering the beach completely around tourism. It is our main industry, and I understand that, but they need to be more attentive to the locals’ needs.”

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Cory Hemilright, 42 Festival Promoter East Lake “We could use more attention to things kids can go do that don’t cost an arm and a leg. If you aren’t a very outdoorsy person, there’s not a lot of activities kids can really get into.”

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Chloe Givens, 19 Tackle Purveyor Southern Shores “I feel like we could be better prepared for dealing with storms here. Hatteras was cut off a bunch of times this year; that really affects the business down there. And even just dealing with a snow storm shuts us down.”

Turner Breeden, 27 Bartender, Nags Head “We could really use more live music in town. The Mustang festivals do a good job of bringing in bigger bands up the beach, but town seems like it’s missing something.”

Maurice Baum, 27 Commercial Fisherman Kill Devil Hills “I’d really like to see something done about the Fish and Wildlife management.

They are constantly changing the rules for what we can and can’t catch. It makes it harder and harder to make a living here.”

Jamie Anderson, 53 Bookseller Kitty Hawk “I’d like to get rid of those damn plastic bags.

Ever since the ban was lifted I’ve seen them stuck all over the place. We’ve done it before, we could do it again.”

Interviews and images by Tony Leone

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upfront

WE getactive RECYCLE? soundcheck

Red alert. Photo: Rhee Deuce

It’s worth noting that, while TFC’s plastic Nos. 1 (water and soda bottles) and 2 (detergent, milk and shampoo bottles) are still sold to plastic mills in the US, the Nos. 3-7 (yogurt containers and butter tubs) for the most part lost their market and are incinerated at Wheelabrator, too.

Sorting out what’s going on with Outer Banks’ curbside startingpoint collections.

Paper, plastic, metal, glass. Clean all containers. Remove every lid and plastic bag — and presto. Recyclables are ready to be reincarnated. Or, these days, incinerated.

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It’s also worth noting that Bay’s revised numbers to use Wheelbrator are still cheaper than trashing everything.

This January, all local towns who contract with Norfolk’s Bay Disposal & Recycling Inc. (which maintains its local Outer Banks Hauling office in Powells Point) received word that materials were now being sold to Wheelabrator, a waste-to-energy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, that generates electricity to sell back to the grid, and steam that helps power the nearby naval shipyard.

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In Nags Head, it costs the town $7 more per ton to send garbage to the Bertie County landfill. Why not spend less and know it’s making some energy? That sounds good, until you consider that the process brings up a second environmental concern: what about the associated toxins?

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Why?

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“The demand for recycling in the US is almost nonexistent,” explains Nags Head Town Manager Cliff Ogburn. “[China] was the primary buyer of our recycling and that’s no longer.”

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For years, the US shipped recyclables to Asia, where cheap labor provided a dependable market for goods to be sorted.

In 2018, China and its neighbors heavily restricted imports of recyclables, forcing America’s municipalities to sort out their own waste concerns.

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As a result, Manteo, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Southern Shores — all of which maintain contracts with Bay Disposal — have been essentially sending curbside recyclables straight to Wheelabrator’s incinerators.

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Why is this happening? It depends on which town you live in — and which story you choose to believe.

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dropping. At the same time, buyers demanded a cleaner product. TFC had to slow down its machines to sort materials in more detail. Those increased processing costs resulted in a higher “tipping fee” charged to Bay Disposal.

Fibre Corporation (TFC Recycling). The largest recycling company in Virginia, TFC sells nearly all its recyclables within the US — except for paper products, which go to mills in India, Vietnam and Indonesia. (It’s also the company that Duck contracts with for residential service.)

In January, Bay told Nags Head and KDH the company could continue to use TFC, provided the town was willing to pay more.

A January 16 letter to KDH said that Bay “has the capability to deliver to TFC if your board does not agree with the Wheelabrator concept…[but] the cost to collect and process the material will nearly double.”

Such numbers were confirmed by Ogburn, who says Nags Head’s price would’ve risen from $70 per ton to $135 per ton.

But after discussing similar rate hikes with

Southern Shores in a previous meeting, on January 7, Joshua Smaltz, Bay Disposal’s Outer Banks site manager, told the Town Council that TFC “ran into a market with no buyers” and is not currently accepting anything from Bay Disposal.

However, while TFC admits they did raise rates, Brad Simmons, director of innovation and technology, says they still have buyers and would still accept items from Bay Disposal.

“We charged them more than they were willing to pay,” Simmons explained in a Febuary 3 phone call. “We had to increase the processing costs, and the market has dropped significantly and we are not able to sell it at the same rate.”

He calls the present market situation “the perfect storm” of supply and demand — as the market value dropped, supplies increased, which made values keep

“When I try to compare the emissions versus going in the landfill, there are pros and cons to both,” says Obgurn. “I’ve still got a lot to learn about the pros and cons of incinerating versus landfill.”

At press time, all towns were still under contract with Bay. In January, KDH temporarily permitted its residential recyclables going to Wheelabrator, but asked to revisit its options with Bay Disposal in mid-April. Southern Shores and Nags Head, meanwhile, both voted to allow materials to be incinerated through the end of the fiscal year — June. Manteo was “still in its information seeking stage,” according to Town Manager James Ayers, who only found out about the incineration on January 28.

Now, KDH, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, and Manteo must do some research on their own sorting mess — do they stick with Bay and pay less to incinerate? Or pay more to be as green as possible? Or just cancel curbside altogether?

That’s what happened down south. Last September, Hatteras Recycle, a private company that serviced Hatteras Island from

2007-2019, announced it would end its services. After collecting more than 600 tons over the past several seasons, they told residents to sort their own materials and use county drop-off facilities in Manteo, Buxton, Manns Harbor, KDH, and Kitty Hawk.

The good news? All those materials get sent to Manteo, where some have a real chance at being put to good use.

For example, the county glass crusher provides free crushed glass to residents on a first-come, firstserved basis, says David Overton, Dare County’s sanitation and recycle supervisor.

“

The market situation is a “perfect storm” of supply and demand.

“There’s a huge demand for that — it’s a good filler,” he says. “People use it in their driveways, mix it with sand, and once it gets hard, it’s almost like concrete.” Other people use it for making jewelry, filling their yards, or decorating windows.

Metals are sold to DART in Wanchese, while tires are trucked to Cameron (a town southwest of Raleigh, about 240 miles away), where the rubber is broken down and “probably ends up in a football field or a playground, something like that,” Overton says.

Plastics are sent to one facility in Virginia, and paper, cardboard and books are sent to another.

Likewise, KDH maintains its own, separate drop-off recycling facility on Bermuda Bay Boulevard, where materials are marketed as much as possible, according to Public Services Director Steve Albright.

“Metal goes to local scrapyards, paper and cardboard go to paper recycling facilities in the Hampton Roads area, [and] some materials do go to Bay,” he says. “Typically, the glass gets recycled by the county crusher. Used motor oil goes to waste oil-

to-heater systems for some town facilities.

It heats our fleet maintenance and a couple buildings at the public works yard.”

But millions of visitors aren’t gonna waste their holidays sorting through soup cans (or more likely, beer bottles). Even the most eco-conscious locals can slack.

Besides, we’re all used to the convenience of curbside. And while other towns have elected to stop, ours seem unified to make recycling work.

“Recycling is an important issue,” Overton states. “It’s just got to be revamped and redone from the way it was done in the past, and there are plans in the works.”

Duck Town Manager Chris Layton agrees.

He sees the current challenges as “a transition period.”

“The market will eventually come up with a use for these products, and so we kind of have to be patient while this rather significant change works its way through.”

He also encourages folks to be a little less lazy. He says recycling companies’ automated sorting process may be more cost-effective, but some loads of recyclables become unusable due to user error.

Extraneous materials thrown in the recycle bins, such as plastic bags or uncleaned peanut butter jars, can literally jam the process. Too much in a one load? They dump it all.

“That’s really not on the company,” Layton says. “That’s on us the consumer.”

It’s also on consumers to maybe shop smarter. Buy fewer plastics in general.

Maybe just consume less altogether.

“We were recycling, we are reusing, and at some point, we have to start reducing,” Ogburn says. “At some point, that third ‘R’ becomes so important: reducing the waste.”

— Corinne Saunders To see what materials N.C. bans from landfills, view: https://deq.nc.gov/ conservation/recycling/state-agencies/ general-recycling-requirements-andbanned-materials

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upfront

IT’S FUNNY ’CAUSE IT’S TRUE? soundcheck

Three times we thought we were spoofing — but turned out spot-on.

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Half of every mag is total BS. (Otherwise, what would be the fun in doing this thing?) But occasionally, a dumb joke turns out surprisingly prescient. Here’s three gags from 35 rags that totally hit the mark.

DUNE BILLY’S CRYSTAL BALL

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Who’s the most divisive figure in modern times? No, not that guy!

Dune Billy! Since we first introduced our resident cartoon troublemaker in 2014, he’s inspired an equal amount of emotionally charged supporting and opposing reviews. Love him or hate him, DB’s proven ridiculously consistent at tracking future trends, from hating on McMansions to fighting plastic litter. In 2016 alone, his political coverage showed President Trump decorating the White House with a picture of himself — and predicted a beach bum running for office. (Three years later, the president’s home boasts a painted selfie, and KDH has its first surfing mayor.) But nothing was more of shock than when Billy envisaged himself as a hip-hop superstar — mostly to make fun of over-the-top face tattoos — only to see his muse, Post Malone, finish the year by topping charts.

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Some GraphicContent ideas are works of art.

Others, real wastes of time. But they’ve also been home to some of our most visionary examples. In 2012, a fake restaurant placemat predicted the #MeToo movement by pointing out the legal pitfalls of making passes at staffers. In 2014, a page of fake phone apps suggested crowdfunding bail money three years before “Appolition.” But for the craziest magic eight-ball moment, you have to go back to 2013’s “Summertime Rules,” where our sign of locally inspired, fake beach regs called for both a mandatory distance between set-ups and warned that any beach furniture left overnight would be forfeit. Today, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head have similiar regs, except the towns do the enforcing instead of Delbert.

UPFRONT LOOKS BACK Winter ’14 must’ve been especially boring. Otherwise, we’d never have come up with the concept of “beard racing.” The idea?

Challenge a similarly hirsute friend to shave on the same day, then see who can go from Baby Face to Bigfoot in under a month. We went so far as to document daily action — and hit the T-Tops for checkered flags — all to fill a page of UpFront with dull jokes and goofy faces. But as we found out while researching this issue, our wit was razor sharp — albeit a few laps behind — as Dare County organized their own beard contest in 1970. Which is, in hindsight, probably the most exciting part of the whole dumb idea. milepost 19

Follow the legends.

Head north to Historic Corolla On the Currituck Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Legendary wild horses aren’t the only thing you’ll find on the northern Outer Banks. With iconic attractions like Whalehead and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse open for tours, and festive events hosted weekly in Historic Corolla Park, you’ll want to experience all that the Currituck Outer Banks has to offer.

Call 877.287.7488 for a free visitor’s guide

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www.CorollaNC.com

upfront soundcheck

Focus, dammit! Photo: Anthony Leone

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MADE YOU LOOK Tell us what’s going on in this f’d-up photo rearview — win a Jennette’s Pier annual fishing pass. (Maybe.)

New year. New column. From now on, in every ish, we’re gonna run a photo that’s not so clear — then ask readers to submit their guesses for a shot at big prizes. For this first attempt, we dug down into the collective fiber to reveal some true grit. Need a clue? It’s hard but soft. Can be wet or dry. And can rub you wrong when you least expect it. Submit one guess to editor@ outerbanksmilepost.com by April 1. (No Fooling.) We’ll pull all correct answers from the pile, swirl ’em around, then randomly pull one name, who’ll win a Jennette’s Pier fishing pass — a $300 value. (Stay tuned for more pics and prizes in issues to come.) milepost 21

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getactive

THE GREAT ESCAPE startingpoint

Nags Head Woods offers a chance to get outside — and do some good. roadmap

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But that wasn’t always the case. At one point, this maritime forest was slated to become a housing community. A pond was dug, a spec house was planned, and a pile of construction garbage was dumped on top of a colony of rare orchids.

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From racing fun to raising funds, every visit to Nags Head Woods makes for a healthier community.

Photo: Cory Godwin

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“A lot of people don’t even know we’re back here,” says Conservation Coordinator Jennifer Gilbreath. “That’s my favorite part of this job. When people discover it, they’re just in awe.”

“Awe” is precisely the word to describe the feeling when you start winding your way through the towering pines, crossing curved bridges past bright green ponds. It’s home to rare flowers, families of otters seeking offseason shelter, and more than 50 species of migratory birds. Take a look around and it’s easy to see why anyone would fight to keep this preserve undisturbed by developers’ backhoes.

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Stay in Your Car Express Wash

Turn off the traffic-riddled KDH bypass at French Fry Alley. Cruise west through the residential area at 25 mph — past locals’ homes with bicycles in the driveways and rental cottages with cutesy names. Park at a tiny turnoff marked “Nags Head Woods Nature Conservancy,” take a few more steps, you’ll soon forget you’re at the beach at all.

Includes ultimate car wash, towel dry, tire conditioner, interior window cleaning, attendant vacuum & interior wipe down.

It was the destruction of the flowers that spurred The Dunes of Dare Garden Club into action. In 1976, they started a campaign to have the forest designated as an Area of Environmental Concern under the Coastal Area Management Act. They made calls to The Nature Conservancy, a global non-profit that had just started an NC Chapter. The Nature Conservancy began negotiating with the towns of Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head to purchase and co-own the land. They started with 25 acres in 1980. Forty years later, it’s 1,200 acres.

“The local community was the driver to preserve this place,” says Gilbreath. “Thanks to them, and Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, we were able to build it to what it is today.”

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But it still takes constant upkeep. Staff works to maintain the facilities and trails. And volunteers help rake and clear trails to keep paths safe. In the offseason, a handful of bow hunters help keep a handle on the white tailed deer population (and help fund the park with permit fees).

Most notably, for the past 12 years, a group of students from Appalachian State University has come down for “alternative spring break” — spending their holiday working on major projects instead of hoisting beers.

“

“They’re mulching and raking trails, hauling equipment and cutting fire breaks,” says Gilbreath. “They get more accomplished in one week than what it would take our staff a month to do.”

Gilbreath encourages anyone who’d like to put in a few hours to reach out, from large groups to individuals with botanical expertise. But any day-tripper can help protect Nags Head Woods by just being a good steward — stay on the path, clean up after your dog, and take only pictures. Then be sure to keep the staff informed of any potential problems.

“Just having extra sets of eyes on the trails really helps,” Gilbreath says.

“Just having extra sets of eyes on the trails really helps.”

Ever the multi-tasker, Gilbreath is simultaneously talking while painstakingly harvesting the seeds from a butterfly weed plant. She plans to scatter them around the eight hiking trails later in the day, propagating plants that encourage visiting butterflies.

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“This is a really fragile ecosystem,” she says. “But it is very treasured by locals and visitors. I am frequently impressed by how people take care of it.”

Of course, money is another way folks can help if they have some to spare. Donations keep the woods available to the public for free, as well as allows them to host other fundraising events like March’s Running of the Leprechauns — which gives proceeds to the Dare Education Foundation and Dare Education Foundation and the Outer Banks Relief Foundation — or May’s 37th Nags Head Woods 5K, which helps the Rotary Club support a range of non-profits.

“The race is well-organized and is a welcoming family atmosphere, so it feels very comfortable no matter what your workout regime is,” says Gilbreath. “My favorite race participants are the groups of people who work together and come out for some fitness and connection outside the office.”

A recent grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation funded an audio tour detailing the history of the locals that lived in the area at the turn of last century. It’s just one more feature in a preserve that already offers a wheelchair and stroller-friendly ADA trail, catchand-release fishing piers, dog walking trails and pooch-free paths, guided hikes, hilly running options, and a living laboratory for students and summer campers. All of it flowing from a single purpose.

“We provide free access to nature,” says Gilbreath. “And that helps the mental and physical health of the community.” — Katrina Mae Leuzinger For more information on how you can volunteer or donate to Nags Head Woods, contact Conservation Coordinator Jennifer Gilbreath at J.Gilbreath@TNC.org.

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“People moving here are facing a new environment that will now impact them for the rest of their lives.”

“Substance abuse, mental health, suicide.

Those are all factors that are linked.”

“If you try to plan for one without planning for the other, you won’t be adequately prepared.”

“If only wealthy people can buy homes, who’s going to be able to live here and do the work?”

e w e v a h . s e u s is

“It’s that balance of addressing the needs of the community with the protection of our natural resources.”

“How much is too much?

How much is enough? And where do you want to be 20 years from now as a community?”

“Anybody on the Outer Banks should recognize that one storm could completely change the landscape.”

“It’s time for us to take the next step and come together.”

Unpacking nine years of our most pressing concerns...

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“Even the best minds get fooled.”

WEATHER EXTREMES.

A flooded engine is the least of our worries.

Photo: Daniel Pullen

So said a freshly retired Sandy Sanderson about weather prediction in Fall 2015. The words of Dare County’s longtime Emergency Management Director would prove eerily prescient, as the coming hurricane seasons would surprise Outer Bankers with massive flooding (Matthew, Michael), major whiffs (Florence), and — depending on your zip code — a bit of both (Dorian).

That’s just the named storms. We’ve also seen sound waters flood Roanoke Island on windy days and nor’easters cut off Hatteras well before winter.

Nobody can say what will come next, but if there’s one thing scientists promise, it’s this: the impacts of a warming planet will only bring greater challenges.

“There seems to be better consensus that intensity will increase with higher temperatures, along with the frequency of major hurricanes,” says former Nags Head meteorologist, Mark Willis, who now heads National Weather Service’s Wilmington Office. “But to me, the biggest issues are the increased frequency of heavy precipitation events and more coastal flooding as a result of sea level rise.”

The one person who’s not obsessing over long-term predictions? Dare County’s current Emergency Manager, Drew Pearson. With years of experience helping the Coast Guard “manage incidents” from Haiti’s 2010 earthquake to the BP Oil Spill, not to mention more than a few hurricanes, Pearson knows the best approach to any disaster is to stay calm — and focus on the immediate threats.

“Michael may have been a tropical storm, but the Weather Service said that soundside flooding was possible — then the possible came,” says Pearson. “That’s why I challenge people not to [make decisions] based on past experience. Listen to the possible impacts associated with that storm.

Then prepare for those impacts.”

Luckily, we’re extra prepared. With two backup generators, four ways to connect to the Internet, and a committed team of in-house responders, Dare County’s new Emergency Management Service Command Center is built to handle recovery efforts for days with no outside power. Worried a rising sound might catch you off guard? Just monitor North Carolina Flood Inundation Mapping and Alert Network (FINMAN), which features several freshly installed gauges. Even better, sign up for the county’s text alert system and they’ll notify you of local threats from winter freezes to sunny day flooding — right down to the zip code.

Right now, more than 41,000 folks are already registered. But just 7,000 live here year-round,

which is why Pearson wants to see every Outer Banker punch in their digits, no matter how stormsavvy they think they might be. Or not.

“We do have a changing population,” says Pearson. “People moving here are facing a new environment; the things that may not have impacted them for two weeks in summer will now impact them for the rest of their lives. And — not to dismiss the hits we’ve taken — but even people who’ve lived here a long time haven’t seen a storm that’s really hurt us.”

Fact is, even the misses can hurt, especially to your wallet. As insurance companies factor climate change into their future, rates are rising across America’s coastlines.

“The cost of insurance definitely affects the affordability of housing,” says Willo Kelly, CEO of Outer Banks Association of Realtors. “If only wealthy people can buy homes, who’s going to be able to live here and do the work that needs to be done? That’s going to hurt us worse than any hurricane.”

She should know. For years, Kelly fought unfair policies that kept wind and hail premiums higher for coastal residents, even as they filed fewer claims. Her latest crusade? Making sure Outer Bankers don’t kill their flood polices as new federal maps distort the real future risks.

Come June, many parts of Dare County will no longer require coverage — including parts of Colington and Avon’s oceanfront, neighborhoods that were underwater as recently as Dorian, Michael and last fall’s nor’easters.

“These new flood maps only address storm surge,” she explains. “They do not address heavy rain events or a high water table. We’re surrounded by water. Not having flood insurance is just being flood foolish.”

Dare’s already updating building elevation codes to limit the potential for future damage — as well as coordinating educational sessions with towns so homeowners can get answers. Meanwhile, Currituck and Dare have teamed up to create a new Outer Banks Hazard Mitigation Plan that covers every town and accounts for every possibility, from extremely low risk (earthquakes) to moderate (drought) to high risk (flooding, hurricanes and about everything else). Because in an age of everchanging uncertainty, there is only one absolute: anything can happen.

“Anybody who owns a home on the Outer Banks, or any coastal community, should recognize that one storm could completely change the landscape,” says Kelly. “That’s just the risk you take to live here.” — Matt Walker

“That’s just the risk you take to live here...”

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Few things are as fluid as fishing.

Not only is seafood a moving target, but their whole environment is in constant flux.

Water temperatures and salinity go up and down.

Surrounding species move in and out. Even a shoaling inlet can send catches up to Hampton Roads — and influence NC’s limits the following season. Factor in a network of laws that can change year-to-year, and state-to-state, you can see why even the most savvy captains remain frustrated.

Last December, fishermen filled a NC Division of Marine Fisheries meeting with angry comments, insisting that the data used in the stock assessment did not reflect the realities on the water. As reported in the Island Free Press, Dare County commissioner Rob Ross warned the panel not to discount the collective “hundreds of years of fishing experience that says the data doesn’t sound right.”

“It really feels like there is a fact gap here,” said Ross. “How could everyone [here] be so wrong?”

Part of the disconnect is a changing environment. As water temps slowly warm, southern species of fish inch farther north. Over the past nine years, we’ve reported on more red snapper off our coast, a new bull shark nursery in our sounds, and more invasive lion fish hugging our reefs. Meanwhile, species like spot and croaker seek cooler water temps further up the coast. As traditional patterns and behaviors change, some experts are starting to say the rules should, too.

Wilson Laney, PhD, adjunct professor at North Carolina State University, has long been a proponent of a more holistic approach to regulating fisheries, “where a broader view is taken based on more and varied data.”

Laney retired last year from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Field Office in Raleigh, where he spent years serving on the fisheries management councils. He proposes an Ecosystem Based Fishery Management that goes beyond looking at numbers from just one state or area, and just one targeted species.

“Are we there yet?” says Laney. “Some places are closer than others.”

The South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council is already taking steps to go to Ecosystem Based Fishery Management. (Its first model will cover the entire South Atlantic inshore and offshore to 200 miles and is projected to be ready for review in April.) The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission also has similar plans for menhaden and mullet, and the National Marine Fisheries

Service has written guidelines to ecosystem management.

This could mean good news for commercial fishermen who argue that just because a species seems to be in decline in North Carolina, it doesn’t mean they’re overfished, but rather moving elsewhere. Or because other species, and not fishermen, are taking more than their fair share.

“You have to factor in other things — not just fish,” said Laney.

You also have to factor in humans. And that means politics. And money.

Just to our north, Omega Protein — a halfbillion-dollar mega-company — has spent the past decade paying fines and defying menhaden limits to supply supplement companies and fish farms, while starving the striped bass that we see right here. (Or used to.)

Meanwhile, powerful lobby groups, like the Coastal Conservation Association, rely on recreational fishing’s much deeper pockets — think high-dollar boats and high-end fashion as opposed to cane poles and bobbers — to shift the weight of future regulations onto commercial fishermen. Too often, they downplay the commercial industry’s economic impact on the state — while ignoring the impact on the fishermen themselves. And while a species like spotted sea trout may look “inconsequential” on paper, for fishing families those pounds can mean keeping food on the table in winter.

As one NCDFM rep told us in 2013, “spread throughout the year, [some] commercial landings might not look important in terms of income. [But in December], they can make up a large portion of landings for the month.”

But while we may not always be able to make changes in Raleigh — or control the climate — there are ways to control our own destiny at home.

Already, the Marc Basnight Bridge is projected to keep the Oregon Inlet more open, which means more local landings. And the county’s buying a new dredge to help clear shoaling — and Hatteras Inlet, too. Meanwhile, NC Sea Grant’s Fish Camp program continues to help younger commercial fishermen learn how to present their ideas and needs to the public, legislators and others, to “chart a course for North Carolina’s fishing future.”

So is there a future for commercial fishing? Yes. It just might be chasing invasive blue catfish instead of the familiar croaker. Or, in the southern part of the state, harvesting stone crab instead of oysters.

And it will definitely require more time navigating state capitals. In other words, young fishermen will have to stay as fluid as their environment to survive.

Even savvy captains remain frustrated...

managing fisheries.

Might be time for some new measuring sticks.

Photo: Daniel Pullen

— Sandy Semans milepost 31

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Consider Venice.

ustainable TOURISM.

Not every day at the beach is a day at the beach.

Photo: Cyndi Goetcheus Sarfan

Where 30,000 visitors flood St. Mark’s Square every day. And that’s just from cruise ships. In Bali, “begpackers” crowdfund their personal vacays by busking for change. Iceland?

Otherwise polite people roam the countryside in search of breathtaking fjords, glaciers, and waterfalls — then go take a dump. Is it any surprise then that the latest craze in tourism isn’t about boosting visitation but limiting its negative impacts?

“This concept of over-tourism — and sustainable tourism — has become more prevalent the past five years,” says Outer Banks Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director, Lee Nettles, who notes the subject will be part of this May’s annual tourism summit. “On a local level, the most obvious issue is traffic, but I worry more about drownings. Because more people means more folks who aren’t experienced with swimming or rip currents.”

More people also means… well, more people. And that just means more trash, more cluelessness, and just more problems in general.

To date, the response has been a blend of education — and regulation.

The county’s “Love the Beach, Respect the Ocean” promotes shoreline safety via radio spots and DOT signs. KDH fights cigarette litter with stickers that scream “Kick Butts!” Meanwhile, new laws enforce the basics of beach etiquette (pack your gear!) and beach driving (buy a permit!).

Hardly the same as finding a turd inside Fort Raleigh, but still a pungent reminder that we’ll never be the Outer Banks of yesterday. So what’s that mean for the Outer Banks of tomorrow?

“Looking at Dare County and how we’re set up, it’s all extremely forward thinking,” says Nettles.

“How the money is split up. How we have different representatives from different industries and across all 100 miles. We kind of planned for it.

For instance, the grant programs we have that are able to reinvest in the community.”

A chunk of every tourist dollar already goes toward improvements, like bike paths and beach access upgrades — and necessities like beach nourishment. And while one portion might promote visitation during “less than peak months” — like developing the hotly debated Soundside Event Site — another helps Chicamacomico Historic Lifesaving Station purchase empty lots to preserve its identity. Meanwhile, the Bureau’s very mission statement emphasizes marketing “less than peak months,” partially to generate more revenue, but also to reduce local fatigue.

“Cramming more people into summer just exacerbates all those problems,” says Nettles.

“It’s all about balance — how much is too much?

How much is enough? And where do you want to be 20 years from now as a community and as a tourism industry?”

One thing we won’t be? Smaller. For all the talk of finding new ways to diversify our tourism economy, nothing will ever replace our beachdriven, billion-dollar economic engine. But gross occupancy returns don’t reflect real profits. Once you factor in new competition, price increases, or just cost-of-living, every year has to bump up a little to keep local businesses in the black — not to mention pay for all those things our county has come to depend on, from new emergency vehicles to the next round of nourishment sand.

But just because we get bigger doesn’t mean we have to grow worse.

“I see a great future for the Outer Banks,” Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman — aka Dr. Beach — who ranks America’s best seashores every year. “You guys are in a great situation compared to New Jersey and Coney Island. You don’t have that overpopulation. You don’t have all the mid-rises and high-rises. You just have to recognize that bigger isn’t always better — unless it’s Jockey’s Ridge.” [Laughs] Ironically, if Nags Head had made a different call 40 years ago, the East Coast’s largest sand dune would just be more lame-ass condos. Future decisions will cast even longer shadows, whether it’s the drive to supersize the oceanfront, water quality be damned, or delivering more cars to Corolla via a Mid-Currituck Bridge. And even that holy grail of “year-round visitation” — or just much busier shoulder seasons — won’t come without costs. Could be something as cryptic as losing a break between busy-times — our spring and fall “EndNotes” calendars used to fill out three pages; now they barely fit on to five — or as real as making ORV’s obsolete.

“I think there will always be places you can drive on the beach,” Nettles counters. “Even in town. Because it’s part of our culture. And if you change that visitor experience, you’re eroding that very thing you’re trying to prop up. But each decision has its impacts. And that can be exciting — because you could create something really beneficial. But it’s daunting because you have to find the right balance and be responsible to the community that you serve. ” Maintaining that balance will be the responsibility of more than any one person, board or town. It will require constant input from the ground up. — Matt Walker

Every year has to bump up a little...

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Want to rile up the neighbors?

re elopment.

Bring up the topic of overdevelopment.

Whether it’s rental machines ruining the oceanfront or losing the last wooded lot on some westside cul-de-sac, nearly everyone reckons we’ve overloaded our livable space — and lost a fair bit of our classic charm. (Even as they secretly can’t wait to cash in down the road.) Hell, our Yew/Boo column could be retitled “Death of 1000 Cuts.”

Well, as the saying goes: they don’t make any more real estate. Especially in a place where there wasn’t much land to start with. A place where roughly 80 percent of usable lots are already done for.

“I can’t speak for the towns other than what I see anecdotally,” says Dare County’s Planning Director, Donna Creef, “but that’s probably an accurate number. I will tell you that the number of subdivisions that come across my desk are nowhere near what they were when I first started.

Thirty-one years ago, we were doing subdivision after subdivision after subdivision.”

Even into 2000, Creef says she was seeing subdivisions that were “50 to 60 lots at a time.” Now, she says, it’s more like three to four.

But a planning director’s job is never done. As homes age out — and new buyers move in — people will tear down the old and throw up the new. Not so much because of sagging roofs and sinking decks, but because skyrocketing land values lead buyers to chase what’s called “highest best use.” Especially in the oceanfront rental market, where, once an investor spends seven figures, they’re going to knock down whatever’s there — no matter how cute, flat-roofed, or historical — and replace it with something more profitable. That can change a community’s character with shocking speed.

“We recently had [a seven-bedroom] torn down that was built in 1997,” says KDH Planning Director, Meredith Guns. “And there have been others that were ‘younger.’”

And what did they build?

“Something bigger.”

It’s always something bigger. At least Southern Shores, Nags Head, and Duck have rules on square footage that keep replacements “reasonable.”

(Maybe 12 bedrooms.) But in Kill Devil Hills, where lots are larger and size limits are nearly nonexistent, the beachside building boom knows no bounds — “mini hotels” can reach 28-bedrooms.

(And rake-in $5,000 per night.) After years of failing to find ways to downsize them directly, town leaders are considering a “more is less” strategy to

make the oceanfront more understated.

As Ben Sproul asked in a January joint planning session: “Might allowing more structures [per lot] encourage more of the development we want to see?”

It sounds counterintuitive, but he points out that many of those beloved, quaint cottage courts being squeezed out are actually nonconforming — and have been since roughly 2001, when some past board decided density was a bigger devil than house size. In 2018, the previous board responded by allowing cluster homes on lots with 100 feet abutting NC 12, but no builders bit. Now the town wants to add just a little more wiggle room.

“The new board asked us to look at 75 feet,” says Guns. “With the goal to make cottage courts a truly viable option for developers, besides a larger, single-family dwelling.”

Or as Ben says: “Which do you prefer? Is it 20,000 square feet in a box — or 20,000 square feet spread over five houses? Because ‘zero’ is not an option.”

They’ll be discussing more ideas in months to come. Meanwhile, some wonder if a similar tack might help with another big real estate problem — essential housing. They say making room for more cluster homes elsewhere could help more locals enter the market.

(It could also just lead to lots of little rental machines and increased density issues.)

But Sproul says the solution to both is recognizing the economic forces at work and using them to our advantage.

“We have the exact opposite problem of most small towns,” says Sproul. “They’re trying to get more money. We have a fire hose of money coming at us all the time. We just need to point the firehose in the right direction to make it in the developers’ self interest to do the things we want.”

And when that firehose starts getting out of hand, we need to clamp it — quick. Since 2011, developers have tried raising the oceanfront height limit three times — once in Hatteras, twice in KDH. All got blasted out of their respective boardrooms.

Good thing. Because once this last check on “highest best use” goes away, mini hotels could give rise to real ones.

“Any change in building height could definitely affect redevelopment — particularly on the oceanfront,” says Creef. “But Dare County is still a small community when it comes down to it. And there’s still a mindset that we don’t want to change that.”

Which is why now’s the time to preserve our vision of what we want to look like. Before we lose sight of who we are. — Matt Walker

The beachside building boom knows no bounds...

There grows the neighborhood.

Photo: Rob Nelson

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ART IS ESSENTIAL 2020 DARE COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL EVENTS 23 New Art Exhibits will open at DCAC in 2020 First Friday in Downtown Manteo April to November May 3: Mollie Fearing Memorial Art Show Opening Reception May 9: Artrageous Kids Art Festival at Dowdy Park May 25-June 5: Rock The Cape on Hatteras Island August 12-13: New World Festival of the Arts in Manteo September 17-19: Surfalorus Film Festival October 26: Dare County Arts Council's Fundraising Gala November 6-15: Outer Banks Veterans Week Monthly Art Classes and Workshops DareArts.org milepost

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252 473 5558

Purple Sky by Taylor Williams

Vast, pristine waters.

That’s the Outer Banks’ original allure. We have sounds, inlets, creeks, canals, rivers, and the Atlantic Ocean all within easy reach. But over the last decade, it’s become clear that we’re going to have to do much more to protect our water quality.

Extreme rain events, combined with higher ground water levels from sea level rise, have made flooding more frequent and severe on the barrier islands.

During storms, streets and yards pool with water — along with fertilizers, oil and gas, and fecal bacteria from animals and septic tanks — with no place for all those pollutants to go, except toward the sea or sound.

In July 2018, a single rainstorm prompted state warnings to “avoid swimming in coastal waters in and around Dare and Currituck counties” for several days. Last fall, officials said folks should avoid the ocean for two weeks after Hurricane Dorian. Every nasty headline is bad news for a community that relies on a healthy beach for its very survival.

Why here? Start with a skinny sandbar full of aging septic systems, some of them mere yards from either shoreline. All of them close to the water table. We also have nine ocean outfalls between Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills that carry untreated stormwater into the sea.

On a normal day, signs near these drainpipes already advise beachgoers to swim elsewhere to avoid exposure to potential bacteria. And when a deluge hits, those bacterial levels skyrocket, as every inch of precipitation adds more fecal contamination.

If you think a “red flag” day pisses visitors off, try telling them they might be swimming in…well, you know.

And before you say, “Just go to the sound,” consider this: in 2019, of the three swimming advisories issued on the Outer Banks, two were in Colington. The third was at Jockey’s Ridge after Hurricane Dorian — and it lasted three weeks.

Fortunately, most advisories end quickly — particularly on the Atlantic — as the sheer quantity of moving water serves as a self-cleaning mechanism.

“Dilution does help us quite a bit on the Outer Banks,” says Michael Flynn, northeast coastal advocate for the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

“We’re pretty blessed that, for the most part, we have outstanding water quality in the Albemarle Peninsula.”

We also benefit from lots of low-density landmass — thanks to state and federal open space — and no major industries. But even though the barrier islands seem disconnected from the mainland, we’re really not.

According to the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership (APNEP), six river basins flow into the sounds, carrying water from 43 North Carolina

and 38 Virginia counties. The entire watershed encompasses 31,478 square miles, including 3,000 square miles of open river and sound waters, saltwater and freshwater marshes, forested swamp, oyster reefs, submerged seagrass beds, and tidal flats.

It also connects to millions of people, and lots more runoff potential, including fertilizers from farming, fecal bacteria from hog farms, plus plenty more septic tanks.

That’s why APNEP works with a range of stakeholders from across the region to promote healthier estuaries, via programs for educators, public outreach, living shoreline projects, stormwater education, water-quality monitoring, climate resiliency concepts, and more.

“Everything we do is aimed at improving water quality in the sounds,” says APNEP Director, Dr. Bill Crowell. “Compared to estuaries in other areas — Delaware, Chesapeake Bay, Indian River — I think we’re doing okay.”

But we can always do better.

Especially when the future only forecasts more precipitation — and more development.

Luckily, town planners are already looking ahead. In Kill Devil Hills, buildings with a lot coverage of 6,000 square feet or greater must submit an engineered stormwater plan. In Nags Head, incentives for property owners include rain gardens and green space. And one flood-prone neighborhood has a “groundwater lowering program,” which involves submersible pumps that “create extra storage for stormwater runoff.”

On the other hand? Kitty Hawk’s answer to a submerged Beach Road is to pump standing water into the closest surf zone. (But only once it hits 14 inches.) And a recently commissioned study for Roanoke Island suggested sending nuisance flooding directly into Croatan Sound.

“The study focused on expediting stormwater off the landscape,” says Flynn. “But it’s been encouraging to see Dare County consider more innovative, nature-based solutions and apply for a FEMA grant to update the stormwater management master plan.”

But towns can’t do it all. Individuals and businesses need to manage stormwater on their own, too. Flynn says a “slow it, spread it, soak it” strategy can be as easy as diverting rain gutters so water flows into yards instead of driveways. Or just planting more trees. Every drop of effort counts.

Because, as Crowell notes, “If our [water quality] sees degradation, it would be really hard to get it back.”

Same goes for our clean water reputation.

Every nasty headline is bad news...

dirty water.

Sign of the times? Photo: C. White

— Catherine Kozak milepost 39

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uneven incomes.

Hustle when it’s hot.

Hunker down when it’s not. Ever since our big-dollar tourism ship arrived in the 80s, the Outer Banks has settled into a seasonal boom-and-bust economic template. Whether you were selling houses, catching fish, or serving tourists, not everyone got rich, but everyone got by.

Not anymore. The wealth inequality that was seeded in 2008 at the start of the Great Recession has steadily spread its roots throughout the Outer Banks. Many barrier island residents have to work a lot more hours, or multiple jobs, just to pay their bills. Fewer year-round people are able to afford to buy homes, rents have gotten higher than mortgage payments, and there’s not enough affordable housing for summer workers to meet employers’ demands. Where just 25 years ago a decent restaurant or retail gig was enough to live happily, today those modest incomes barely make ends meet. And in a resort community, those modest incomes are the backbone of the economy.

“When you’re talking service industry, it’s typically in the lower pay scales,” says Larry Lombardi, director of Currituck Economic Development.

“Because of the Outer Banks’ economy being really driven on tourism, that’s why you see a disparity in wages.”

How big of a disparity are we talking? According to a July 2018 report from the Economic Policy Institute, titled “The New Gilded Age,” the average one-percenter in North Carolina earns $903,000 per year — compared with an average of $44,000 for NC’s bottom-dwelling 99 percent. That’s 20 times more pocket change for vacations or investments.

On the Outer Banks, all those numbers are lower.

The latest Dare County Health Needs Assessment notes that 38 percent of our workforce averages somewhere between $28,500 (Hospitality), $30,900 (Retail), and $35,000 (Construction) per year. Furthermore, just 29.6 percent of residents own a home (compared to 55 percent statewide).

And on the other side of the scale? While Dare County’s top one percent averages $852,385, Mecklenburg County’s one-percenters earn a cool mil more — $1,866,112.

In other words: even our rich people are poorer.

Still, Dare County is a relatively wealthy county.

And our $1 billion tourism based economy is so interconnected that when one element fares poorly, the entire community feels it.

The best example is worker housing. While yesterday’s bigwigs bought rental homes as a secondary revenue stream, for today’s

entrepreneurs, they’re a necessary business expense.

“We got lucky in Nags Head because a lot of college kids were locals who could live with their parents,” says Brad Carey, co-founder of First Flight Adventure Park and Corolla Adventure Park. “That saved us early on. But in Corolla, we had to buy an employee house almost immediately.”

Meanwhile, more workers are short-term renting spare rooms and garage apartments to pay their own mortgages — or pay bills. When we first reported on Airbnb in 2015, there were maybe 300 “one adult” listings on the Outer Banks. Now there’s 300-plus in KDH alone. Every one represents a potential year-round hire who can’t find a place to live — it also represents an existing employee who can’t afford to stick around.

And as Lombardi explains, tourism is at its essence a commodity business that relies on low labor costs to remain competitive.

“So there’s no innovation,” he says, “because you drive the cost down as low as you can.”

What to do now? You can’t just jack up prices when your brand identity is “super affordable beach vacation.”

To close the income gap, Lombardi says the economy must diversify, including implementing policies that encourage other businesses to come here.

“You have to create incentives,” he says.

To date, incentives haven’t exactly worked out. In 2012, a six-figure state grant helped bring Gunboat Catamarans to Wanchese; three years later, they shipped out. Still, boatbuilding remains a vital local industry, largely because the companies have deep roots and a symbiotic relationship with surrounding businesses. Likewise, most modern success stories are necessary industries that grew organically.

Four decades ago, the Outer Banks barely had any doctors at all. Today, healthcare represents 6.8 percent of Dare County’s work force, with an average salary of nearly $45,000. Still more promising is the growing number of technical, scientific and professional jobs — think lawyers, doctors and, increasingly, telecommuters — which account for 5.1 percent of workers, but average $61,800 per year, more than any other group.

The irony? Every nurse practitioner, web designer — and, yes, magazine publisher — still relies on two types of customers to keep eating: the millions of people who visit, and the thousands of people who serve them. (And even a home office stockbroker needs a working AC.) So while we all recognize that keeping our struggling workforce heads above water is essential to everyone’s longterm survival, when it comes to solutions, “There is no easy answer,” Lombardi says.

Even our rich people are poorer...

For many local families, the difference between floating and sinking is one rainy day. Photo: Daniel Pullen

— Catherine Kozak milepost 41

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CHEATING DEATH.

Cancer and heart disease.

If you lost a loved one of late, the grim reaper most likely took one of those forms. But for local health officials, the greatest concerns lie farther down the list, categories like “unintentional injuries” — which includes overdoses. And then there’s the most intentional fatality of all.

“For me, the increasing suicide rate is concerning,” says Dare County Health and Human Services Director, Sheila Davies. “And the continued prevalence of substance abuse and mental health issues. And those are all factors that somehow are linked.”

They’re also among the hardest to treat. Add the rising cost of living, a national opioid crisis, and a party-on culture, you get a dangerous cocktail for fueling addiction. Since we reported our first heroin bust in 2013, the number of arrests has become increasingly common. Even if you’re not reaching for pill bottles or needles, a fully stocked selection of bars — and more ABC stores per-capita than most anywhere in the state — stand ready to help ease the pain. All of which are probably easier to find than a mental health professional. Especially if you’re new to the area.

“Anecdotally, I think sometimes people think they’ll magically move here and it’s going to be like being on vacation all the time,” says DCHHS’s Communication Specialist, Kelly Nettnin, who compiled the 2019 Dare County Health Needs Assessment. “They don’t deal with their underlying substance abuse problems. They just bring them along. Then they don’t know where to go for help.”

Since 2014, the Saving Lives Task Force has worked to bring these people help. Within 24 hours of a reported OD, caretakers reach out with opportunities to seek treatment. (They also make sure Narcan is widely available for worst-case scenarios.) In 2016, the Breaking Through Task Force began working to reduce the stigma around seeking mental support. Most recently, they’ve focused on how to keep bad habits from repeating in the next generation.

“A large percentage of our working population has young families and work multiple jobs,” says Davies. “That’s hard on the kids. Collaborations with the schools and the Children and Youth Partnership are working toward understanding those stressors and building resiliency.”

And those larger, lethal physical ailments?

Recent stats show we’re getting better. Heart

disease deaths are actually down. So is COPD. Cancer and Alzheimer’s are both on the rise, but not above the national average. In fact, they likely reflect what the assessment calls a “rapidly growing aging demographic.”

Or to put it more bluntly: we’re old.

Right now, more than half of Dare County is at least 45 years old — a full twenty percent is over 65. (State and national averages are closer to 15 percent). And we’re only gonna show more gray as more retirees move in — and more young people can’t afford to stay.

Meanwhile, every year, we lose another legend who helped build Outer Banks culture over the past half-century or more. Names like Judge, Eure, Tillett, Swaim. And that brings up another, scarier problem: every time another devoted fixture of the community passes on, we don’t just lose their personality, we lose their perspective.

What happens when residents can no longer recall a time when family cottages outnumbered rental machines? Will the next wave of transplants recognize clean water is the foundation of our coastal economy? Will they see beach access as a right — or privilege? And what will that mean for the Outer Banks’ long-term health?

“Older people may be more politically active, but I think younger generations are driving the culture scene,” says 30-year-old native Laura Gomez-Nichols. “We’re the ones opening new stores, bringing in new ideas, and creating cool events. And the Outer Banks has always been something of a community identity.”

She should know. Not only does her family run Art’s Place — a beloved watering hole for locals of all ages — but they saved Kitty Hawk’s most iconic beachfront business, Wink’s, from being destroyed. While she recognizes many of her childhood friends have moved away, she says their replacements cling to the same timeless passion that’s defined every generation of transplants: “how do I make a better life at the beach?” And that means making the Outer Banks a better place to live.

“Just like the island is always evolving, so is the culture,” says Gomez-Nichols. “But I think our generation understands the concept of ‘supporting local’ better than anyone. Because we have the desire to look toward the future and maintain our home.”

Many are buying houses. Even starting families.

Hopefully they continue to pass on those values along with healthier habits. Because whatever kills the Outer Banks’ identity won’t be heroin, high cholesterol — or even cirrhosis or suicide. It’ll be a self-inflicted case of collective amnesia.

To put it more bluntly: we’re old...

The key to immortality? Leave a lasting, positive legacy.

Photo: Daniel Pullen

— Matt Walker milepost 43

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PARTY POLITICS.

Right or left?

Red or blue? Nationally, even regionally, our political landscape seems designed to tilt folks into opposite corners. (Particularly if your political discourse takes place solely online.) But locally? Not so much.

“The federal government and the state government could take a lesson from our board,” says Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard, who served on the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners for 14 years before his election to the Dare board in 2012. “We’re a bipartisan board. We work very diligently together for what’s in the best interest of Dare County.”

Democrat leader and former Nags Head mayor Bob Muller — and Woodard’s opponent back in 2012 — is quick to agree, noting that the local atmosphere doesn’t mirror state or national politics; there’s no blazing dialogue going on here about abortion, illegal immigration or gender issues. So what’s the sense in dragging them into the local arena?

“But what’s remarkable,” Muller says, “is that our county board, and in large part our local boards, agree on local issues — roads, jobs, housing — and those issues aren’t particularly partisan.”

Not only do they agree, they lead. Whether it’s beach nourishment, beach access, or fishing concerns, you literally can’t tell a Democrat from a Republican. Furthermore, pick a hot button, larger topic that threatens local life, and watch political sides come together to push back — no matter what party’s running the show.

When Raleigh threatened to scare away LGBTQ visitors by passing HB2 — the infamous “bathroom bill” that made national headlines — our municipalities unanimously spoke up and said, “We welcome everyone.”

When our former state senator, Bill Cook, sponsored legislation that promoted fracking in western NC — and injecting the wastewater beneath our eastern aquifer — Dare County’s right-leaning board passed a resolution in strong opposition.

Most notably, in the continued fight against offshore drilling, our local leaders remain relentlessly, actively vigilant to protect our coast and economy. Since 2015, mayors and commissioners from both sides of the aisle have lobbied from Raleigh to DC, no matter if the federal order was coming from President Barack Hussein Obama or Donald J. Trump.

Why? Because Outer Bankers are always more likely to support leaders who respect the desires of their community, rather than the official’s party.

Longtime Senate leader Marc Basnight may have turned Raleigh’s legislative building “green,” but

he fought environmentalist groups when it came to replacing Bonner Bridge. Likewise, the late US Representative Walter Jones earned loyal support from all stripes of voters for standing up to Big Oil — and fended off multiple primary battles as a result.

And what happens when one of our elected officials takes their orders from the party elite — instead of folks on the street? One need only examine the story of Beverly Boswell, the former state rep who backed legislation to repeal the Outer Banks’ highly popular ban on plastic bags.

“The Republican-led county board did not support the repeal of the plastic bag ban,” Muller notes. “The great majority — Democrats and Republicans — chose to resist the repeal.”

Ultimately, Boswell helped push it through.

Needless to say, she was not re-elected. But by then, the damage was done.

What happens if some future election produces a leader who wants to drill 70 miles off Hatteras — all because local voters support a border wall 2000 miles away? Or a “turtlehugger” cruises to victory on a national platform — like forgiving college loans — then starts trying to undermine beach nourishment in their own hometown?

Sound crazy? Not in an age where parties seek more extreme candidates. Or in a world where exponentially more people read Facebook posts than attend meetings — a reality that makes it much easier to manipulate constituents and spread misinformation. Especially in a community where voter turnout for municipal elections remains sadly, statistically low. (Every off-year this magazine lists polling stations and times in hopes more citizens will go cast a ballot, only to see the same lackluster results — around 20 percent.)

But for now, our political landscape still feels level. Because unlike the 24-hour news cycle, or social media, where talking heads scream at each other to make a point without making any real decisions, local politics almost always stays civil to get things done.

Just ask Jack Shea. The 93-year-old Southern Shores Republican served the county for 12 years.

He chose not to run in 2018, but not because things were too heated. In fact, he always found local boardrooms to be places where friendships cross party lines — places where “reasonable people can have different views.”

According to Woodard, that’s not just our elected officials; it’s Outer Bankers in general.

“We don’t let politics come between what’s good for the county,” he says.

The question is, will citizens vote to make sure it stays that way? — Catherine Kozak

Local politics almost always stays civil...

More partisanship only makes things uglier.

Photo Daniel Pullen

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Bridges and sand.

COASTAL RESILIENCE. Want a stronger future? Be ready to flex.

Photo: Daniel Pullen

To date, that’s been the Outer Banks’ diehard strategy for defending our future. In fact, since Issue 0.1, two-thirds of our mags have touched on adding or replacing one of the two.

But when you start talking about what it’s going to take to stay put from now on — what experts today call “coastal resilience” — be prepared to take a more flexible approach, as Mother Nature pushes us from one extreme to the next.

“Our working definition takes the view of resilience as a system of responses, not an end state,” says Dr. Jessica Whitehead, North Carolina’s first-ever Chief Resilience Officer (CRO).

“It’s continually looking at what you are vulnerable to, how you respond, and then monitoring those responses. It’s not, ‘You institute one change and you’ll be resilient forever.’”

Certainly not beach nourishment. Once a town takes its first hit off the sand pipe, they never stop coming back. Nags Head became the Outer Banks’ first beachnourished shore in 2011, and we just reloaded last summer.

Duck, Kitty Hawk and KDH followed up in 2017, and are already planning for more as soon as 2022. The good news? Dare’s funding formula is designed to keep maintaining these multi-million dollar projects.

(Especially if a declared disaster can kick in some FEMA funds.) Buxton even got a couple-mile bump in 2018. The bad news?

“There’s not really enough money left in the fund to do a very big project,” says County Manager, Bobby Outten. “And we won’t steal from that fund to do new projects, because that would be irresponsible.”

That’s some tough math for Southern Shores and Avon as they consider their own projects.

Especially down south, where the risk isn’t some imaginary, far-off catastrophe, but instead increasing seasonal flooding and over-wash that can isolate residents and visitors for days at a time. No wonder topics that once seemed like a cultural taboo — like building more bridges — are gaining traction.

In January, Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch praised Rodanthe’s new “jug handle” as a “shining example,” saying, “We’re going to have to start changing the way we think. We’re going to have to adapt.”

Even if that means gaining more backyard offramps or walking an extra mile to some favorite sandbar.

But don’t worry too much. We won’t likely see another span anytime soon. Not because of a lack of desire, demand, or concrete. But because

we’ve already broken the DOT’s budget.

“Between the jug handle, the Richard Etheridge Bridge, and the Basnight Bridge, that’s more than $1 billion dollars spent on Hatteras Island alone,” says Allen Moran, who represents Dare, Currituck, Hyde, and 11 more counties on NC’s Board of Transportation. “For comparison, the DOT’s total annual budget is only $30 billion, including salaries.”

Now consider what it costs to keep a fleet of sand movers in motion down south — more money for maintenance than any other road in the state — and you can see why there’s not much appetite in Raleigh to push more dollars east.

(Sorry, Mid-Currituck Bridge.)

What to do moving forward? Start finding “borrow sites” for new solutions — and keep building bridges between coastal communities.

And, according to Whitehead, some of the best ideas come from right here.

Before she became our state CRO, she worked for Sea Grant, helping Nags Head’s Holly White develop an awardwinning strategy to deal with sea level rise and storm water.

“Now we think, ‘Does this process scale elsewhere?”

Whitehead explains. “But just being able to say Nags Head’s done it is really important [toward helping other places understand] this is not about 50 years from now; it’s about today.”

No need to tell David Hallac. As our National Park Service Superintendent, he says coastal resiliency is the Outer Banks Group’s “number one issue,” as he’s continually having to makes calls from managing erosion on Ocracoke and inside Fort Raleigh to, sadly, having to abandon chunks of the Seashore.

“In the span of one storm, we went from being prepared to fix up the Frisco parking area to saying, ‘This no longer makes sense,” Hallac explains. “So we need to plan, but we also need to plan for the unexpected.”

One day, it will no longer make sense to defend a row of houses. And that’s where this conversation will really get painful, as communities will be forced to ask the toughest questions of all: What can we afford to save?

What we can afford to lose?

“It’s hard, but it’s time for everyone to come together and start planning,” says Hallac. “That means the communities, the DOT, the Park Service, the counties, CAMA — everyone.

Because we know there’s going to be change.

And we can either have some control over what happens to us — or we can let Mother Nature do whatever she wants.” — Matt Walker

Start finding “borrow sites” for new solutions...

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questionauthority upfront

Patrick Irwin (front) and Ken Flatt have water quality dialed.

Photo: Ryan Moser

soundcheck

“I’ve always said, the only way you’re going to die from drinking the water here is if you drown in it,” says Ken Flatt, who retired last year after serving 30 years as Dare County’s Utilities Director. “We’re so regulated. We’re right behind the nuclear power industry, I would say.”

getactive startingpoint

It’s more than just how our water’s treated.

It’s where it begins: pumped from a deep, confined aquifer as opposed to pulled from rivers and lakes, which can carry more pollutants. Add a comparatively young and ever-evolving system of hightech facilities — and a dedicated team of longtime workers — and you get a product with both plenty of safety checks and precious few secrets.

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“People think of us as a black box, but we’re really open,” says our current Utilities Director, Patrick Irwin, who took the job after working 29 years for both Currituck and Dare County. “We do school tours. We bring in college students.

We’re always happy to convey information on all of our areas, because it’s important for us that people know what we do.”

graphiccontent

gosurf WATER WORKS

Dare County’s Utility experts explain why local faucets flow worry-free.

outthere

In Wilmington, residents still buy bottled water to avoid drinking GenX. In Charlotte, running a hot bath might mean soaking in coal ash. Boiling pasta in Brunswick County? Prepare to sample some polyfluoroalkyl substances (aka PFAS). But on the Outer Banks?

We sat down inside Skyco’s state-of-theart plant to find out: what makes our tap water so top-notch? — Matt Walker

MILEPOST: First things first: where does our water originate?

PATRICK IRWIN: We pump from the Yorktown aquifer, which has a confining layer [of clay] on top, and a confining layer on bottom, so it’s real consistent. It’s still brackish — it’s saltwater and freshwater — but as we bring the water up and push it through our membranes, we don’t have to make that many adjustments. If you’re a surface water treatment plant, every time it rains you’ve got to change how you feed your chemicals. So using the aquifer was a great decision made early on.

PATRICK IRWIN: And that chlorine keeps our water safe from bacteria. But there are contaminants in all water. The question is: at what level is it safe to drink? That’s the EPA’s job. Our job’s about following regulations. And as regulations keep getting tighter, we have to keep working on our treatment to stay ahead of it. For example, the trihalomethane regulations were 100 parts per billion, and the state lowered them to 80 ppb. In Dare, we were right around the high 70s, but we knew the EPA would eventually drop it, so we went to 20 ppb with the nanofiltration units in service.

KEN FLATT: And that aquifer is 10,000 to a million years old, depending on the layer.

However, it still has to be treated with chlorine because there are organics in it.

KEN FLATT: And to further explain a part per billion, it’s one drop of water in 10,000 gallons. So that’s how diluted it is.

And by “organics” you mean dead trees, dead animals…

KEN FLATT: Anything carbon-based. Of course, when you combine organics with our disinfection — which is chlorine — they can form trihalomethanes, but those are regulated, too.

So with bacteria, I‘m sure we’re avoiding E. coli and things like that. But what do trihalomethanes do?

KEN FLATT: The concern, over the long term, is cancer. If you’re above the limit, the risk level is you have to drink a liter a day for 60 years to have a 1-in-100,000 chance of getting cancer.

gohunt

rearview

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That’s pretty remote. For GenX, they’re now looking at parts per trillion. And that’s one drop in 10 million gallons of water — which is 35 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

I think people are shocked that a company can just discharge any amount of chemicals into the water.

PATRICK IRWIN: Well, GenX isn’t regulated. There are no regulations. Now, if that were here, reverse osmosis would remove the GenX. But the treatment plant at Cape Fear doesn’t have reverse osmosis. And, again, they use surface water, which is also much more difficult to treat.

KEN FLATT: And the other thing with surface water is it contains pharmaceuticals. So they find estrogen, betablockers. I was at a conference where a guy from the EPA said they tested water in Arizona, near this place that is famous for retirees, and they found traces of Viagra. [Laughs] Do we have any surface water plants?

KEN FLATT: No. Fresh Pond was decommissioned in 2008.

And we don’t have any Teflon plants either.

PATRICK IRWIN: And that’s another really good thing. We’re out here; there’s no industry at all.

“

“our aquifer is 10,000 to a million years old.”

What if you have a well?

PATRICK IRWIN: It’s surface water, so they’re susceptible to anything that might infiltrate through the soil. But your house probably has a treatment system that runs it through some type of softener, removes the iron, and then it probably hits it with some chlorine solution to disinfect it. We don’t hear of people getting sick from shallow wells.

How high-tech is our system compared to the rest of the state?

KEN FLATT: We’re definitely in the top ten percent.

PATRICK IRWIN: I’d say we’re probably tops. Because there are other reverse osmosis plants out there, but most of it’s surface water. And all our crew has to get a top license to operate.

Same with our wastewater guys in Stumpy Point. Plus they’re a dedicated group. They work night shifts in summer. They’re here 24 hours a day.

So is reverse osmosis like a filter? Water goes in one side and comes out the other, and there’s a system that removes whatever might cause you harm?

KEN FLATT: It’s more like an envelope that’s rolled up, like a spiral, and the fresh water passes through the membrane and the salts and the impurities are rejected. You’d think we’d be removing the salt from the water, but we’re removing the fresh water from the saltwater — hence the name “reverse osmosis.” You’ll also hear the term “desalination.” People sometimes assume we’re treating ocean water, but it’s just reverse osmosis.

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How is reverse osmosis different from nanofiltration?

PATRICK IRWIN: They’re basically the same process. With reverse osmosis, the membranes are tighter. It removes more contaminants — like aqueous salts. We use that at the North RO (Reverse Osmosis) water plant in Kill Devil Hills, Stumpy Point Water Plant, Rodanthe-WavesSalvo Water Plant, and the Cape Hatteras Water Plant. But we use nanofiltration in Skyco because that’s fresher water; it’s more efficient.

Where’s it go from there?

KEN FLATT: Dare treats all the water and we sell it to the towns and they distribute it through their distribution systems. We pump water to a ground storage tank and they pump it to their elevated storage.

Does the ocean ever impact our aquifer at all?

KEN FLATT: That was a concern when we first started the RO plant in Kill Devil Hills. So we monitored and monitored. But the confining layer won’t allow it. And we’re not pumping

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questionauthority copper pipes with lead solder. But the county adds a corrosion inhibitor that coats the pipes and we go and test the worst of the worst sites. And it works — my house always non-detects.

enough out of it to make a difference.

Charleston has issues with saltwater intrusion from underneath, but Charleston pumps so hard because they have so many people.

upfront

soundcheck

You mean they suck out so much water that the well wants to pull more water from someplace else?

KEN FLATT: Yes. It creates a cone of depression.

What would a “worst of the worst” site be?

PATRICK IRWIN: That would be houses built between ’83 and ’86, with copper pipe and lead solder. You can go to Ace and get a test kit, if you’re concerned.

But we’re not Pittsburgh or Detroit or Flint. They had actual lead service lines.

getactive

PATRICK IRWIN: Our real saving grace is our offseason. It allows our wells to recover. But, at the same time, you have to be careful with your storage, because you want to keep it fresh. You don’t want to overbuild your system. Because you want that water to turn over.

startingpoint

KEN FLATT: Corolla has big issues with storage, because they will use 200,000 gallons per day in February — and go up to 3 million gallons per day in July.

roadmap

“Take us to you liter.” Skyco’s nanofiltration system is totally space-age. Photo: Ryan Moser

gokite

I saw a Facebook post saying the new KDH water tower looked small. But it sounds like you’re saying it should be small.

KEN FLATT: Sure. Just like you wouldn’t want to drink a glass of water you left on the counter for two weeks. That’s why we flush the hydrants every spring and fall. It freshens the water in the system, and it gets rid of the stagnant water.

milepost

PATRICK IRWIN: We have some areas we do weekly because they’re troubled areas. We’re such a north-to-south beach, you’re gonna have a lot of dead ends east to west, so you have to open those lines to pull water through them and keep it fresh.

graphiccontent

Is there a tipping point? I can’t imagine reaching that population year round, but could demand get too much — like everyone putting in a swimming pool or something?

KEN FLATT: Well, swimming pools are a big water user, but our water demand has not increased since 2004, when they changed all the appliance rules. Because a washing machine only uses 40 percent of the water it used to. Toilets flush less.

So our water demand has remained flat.

gosurf

outthere gohunt

Are there any differences between the plants?

Different things you need to adjust for?

KEN FLATT: The county has a website where you can go to look for water quality analysis. It showcases all the plants.

And all the water parameters are pretty consistent — the pH, the chlorine levels. The only extra treatment the towns might do is boost the chlorine a little. And people say, “Oh! There’s chlorine in the water!” Well, it keeps you from getting diseases!

rearview

PATRICK IRWIN: And after a storm, if we had a lot of breaks

“

[in lines] we might increase the chlorine.

After Dorian, we didn’t, because we only had four breaks on Hatteras Island. But four leaks is really nothing. During Isabel, the pipes were dumping into the ocean in Kitty Hawk, just completely cracked. Of course, we step up the chlorine at that point. But we can’t allow consumers to drink the water until we pass bacteriological tests.

“We can tell When you get up at night to take a leak.”

KEN FLATT: And we notify the customers. We’ll do door hangers. And if we need to, we go on the radio.

So what are the other big misconceptions about water quality or how it works?

KEN FLATT: I think the biggest rumor was always the arsenic level. And one of the stories I heard was the pilings were loaded with arsenic and that got into the water. And that’s so completely untrue. It’s a naturally occurring element.

The issue really came about when the EPA reduced the limit from 60 parts per billion to 10 part per billion, and we were at 16. So, we put in an arsenic removal system that’s been running since 2004. And we’ve hit maybe five ppb since.

It’s still safer than taking a sip from a stream somewhere.

KEN FLATT: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

PATRICK IRWIN: Just because of the bacteria alone.

What are the biggest issues or challenges here?

PATRICK IRWIN: I know people always have questions about lead and copper — especially thinking about Flint, Michigan. But we don’t have any lead and copper pipes in our distribution system. It is in some of the houses. I’ve got

What about improvements for the future? Any cool advances?

PATRICK IRWIN: We have a capital improvement plan for the next six years. We’re gonna change out some units in the North Reverse Osmosis plant. We’re putting in new wells down in Cape Hatteras. We’re changing out membranes. Automated meter reading is over five years completed.

KEN FLATT: All the guys can log into the plant with their phones, and start wells remotely. There’s leak detecting software now that will set off an alarm if the meter runs constantly. And you can go back and look at the customer’s use. We can tell when you turn your sprinklers on. When you get up at night to take a leak. Big brother knows. [Laughs] What about threats to water quality moving forward?

PATRICK IRWIN: I think sea level rise will be an issue with our pipes along the Beach Road. In Kitty Hawk, we already had to move some pipes because of storms. We lost 2000 feet in Isabel, between Frisco and Cape Hatteras. So, storms, sea level rise — the same things everybody else on the coast deals with.

KEN FLATT: But if there’s a problem, believe me, we’ll be the first to tell you. The big thing is we operate the water system in the public trust. So our decisions aren’t solely based on finances; they’re based on reliability and providing a safe product to our customers. Sometimes that’s overlooked.

That’s what went wrong in Flint. They let people make decisions that weren’t in the public trust. And they provided a bad product and didn’t tell people. But our system is relatively new. It was started in 1979. I think the first studies were done in 1972, when they started looking at public water supplies for Dare County. And all those studies are online in detail for everyone to read. They’re great if you have trouble sleeping. [Laughs] milepost 51

gobird China, where the seasons yield much larger winnings.)

But every racing pigeon descends from the same North African/Middle Eastern rock dove. And all of those decedents have one very unique trait in common: they can always find their way home.

Likewise, Steve’s interest is something of a homing instinct. Pigeon racing is part of his family heritage, a legacy that has followed him from Canada, where he was raised.

“My dad had done it in England when he was younger,” says Steve. “He wanted to get back into it, so we started doing it together in the mid ’70s.”

Here, he races as part of Elizabeth City’s Coastal Carolina Flyers, one of the 700 clubs — and 7500 members — that make up the American Racing Pigeon Union. While the Flyers only have eight members, it’s affiliated with a club in Chesapeake, which works with another in Richmond. All those connections are important as the members gear up for all their races, when the birds are released from a centralized point, then race back to their homing location, which can reach distances of 500 miles and more.

And they’re off! Photo: Chris Bickford

SPORT OF WINGS Every sport has its legends. Even pigeon racing. Armando — a super speedy specimen who dominated the European circuit in 2017 and 2018 — sold for $1.4 million in 2019. Bolt, reputed to be the fastest bird in history, took in $400,000 at auction in 2013.

But for all the associated money and prestige, this form of racing is a far cry from the sport of kings — at least in the U.S., where most birds have a more modest pedigree, selling for under $500. milepost

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Forget horse racing.

Pigeons are the real thoroughbreds.

“It’s poor man’s horse racing,” says local enthusiast Steve Brook. “This is not a hobby of millionaires.”

Nor is it a sport built for spectating. Instead of running 12 furlongs in less than three minutes — entertaining thousands of screaming fans as they cross the finish line — homing pigeons fly hundreds of miles in about a half day, tracked by the handful of digital spectators who’ve entered their birds.

It’s a sport in which long-term investment outpaces immediate satisfaction, where the biggest fans are the breeders themselves.

“There’s no bigger thrill than watching your bird come home,” says Brook. “You’re just sitting there, you don’t know. And all of a sudden out of nowhere, ‘Whoa, there’s one!’

It’s as much a thrill as it was 40 years ago.”

Or even 200 years ago. Pigeon racing clubs were first formed in Belgium in 1818, racing distances of 100 miles. The sport’s governing body, the Fédération Colombophile Internationale, or International Pigeon-fancier Federation, is still headquartered in Brussels, where the auctions can see bidders spend six figures on individual birds. (Most go to

“It’s really ingenious how it works,” Steve says. “We take our birds to our club, where they’re electronically scanned, put into sealed crates, and loaded on a trailer. Our trailer then goes to Chesapeake, where the Chesapeake birds are loaded on. The Chesapeake trailer then goes to South Hills, Virginia, about 80 miles south of Richmond, and the Richmond club meets us there.”

The caravan continues to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it’s met by competitors with a trailer filled with pigeons from the Atlanta club.

“They take our birds and we take their birds,” he says. “About half way to Atlanta, they’ll let our birds go. We’ll take their birds up to, say, Durham and do the same.”

How do they know which won? Easy — all the birds are tagged with ankle bands that are digitally tracked, showing which pigeon got home fastest. Breeders can even follow the action online as the birds travel at

speeds up to 90 miles per hour, when there’s a strong tailwind. (They usually average around 40-50 mph.)

Steve races roughly 18 times a year. Nine times in the spring and nine in the fall. The spring races are all about the “old birds” — pigeons that are one year or older. Those races are usually 300 to 500 miles, though they can be longer. Some overnight races reach 650 miles, but Steve doesn’t enter those.

“They can never get back in a day,” he says. “So, to me, it’s [more about] the bird that woke up earliest in the morning, not necessarily the bird that flew the fastest.”

“

Young bird racing, however, is where the real action is.

Some overnight races reach 650 miles.

“Those are birds that have been born in the calendar year,” Steve says. “Everyone’s betting with each other and everything is more competitive.

But in some ways I prefer old bird racing — those birds are more reliable and you know them better.”

Once a year, Steve travels to the most important event of all, Florida’s Gulf Coast Classic. Hosted by the Gulfcoast Homing Club, the 30-year-old event draws more competitors and more prize money than any in the nation. It’s also a “loft race,” one of the few times that competitors from across the country converge on a single location.

“The birds are born here in January or February, but then I ship them to Florida,” Steve says, noting that a second ankle band certifies their age. “We ship them to another loft and they get trained there. So that becomes their home.”

In December, the breeders all come together to release the birds and watch the results in real time — then they all celebrate the results together.

“It involves a banquet. It involves a race. And it involves an awards night,” says Steve.

It also involves a $50,000 payout for first place. And it’s all done in just three days.

Except for the most important part: the breeding. While Chinese and Europeans may spend huge figures on flying Secretariats to create superfast birds, most hobbyists simply put the speediest males and females in the same pen and let nature take its course.

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The champion racers keep perpetuating genes — and Steve’s produced a few — but even the birds that finish at the back of the pack still have a good run, living out their days in his rustic coops on the Colington Sound.

“Some people will [sell them] to hunt clubs,” he notes. “I would never do that. I had one that lived 20 years. He just died this past year.”

When Steve and his wife, Jeanne, designed and built their Colington home, they made sure to leave room on the property for enough coops to house 100 or so pigeons for life. Every day, they feed and water the flock, and let them loose to dash across the sky. So while the individual birds may be fast, the pigeon racing lifestyle itself is slow-paced and occasionally labor intensive, which explains why it remains relatively unpopular after two centuries.

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“It isn’t a growing sport by any sense,” Steve says. “It’s low-tech. It doesn’t appeal to younger people who want something electronic or motorized.”

Or easy. Racing pigeons doesn’t happen over a single game, series or season. It’s a sport that requires daily attention and years of care. Way more hours than any football junkie spends watching TV during fall — or even a baseball nut in summer. But come the weekend, when there’s competition afoot, Steve and Jeannie are just like every other sports fan — ready to drop everything to see which bird wins.

“We change our plans a bit on Saturdays when the birds come home,” says Steve. “We have a beer and sit back and watch.”

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In this case, you want your name on the chopping block.

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TASTY GIG startingpoint

Why being a food judge is spring’s hottest job. roadmap Scalded tongues. Scorched tastebuds. Super-sized waistlines. These are just a few of the potential hazards when your job is “food competition judge.” But the guaranteed rewards are even more tempting. One festival might serve bottomless batches of hearty chowder or spicy chili. Another will pit duck breast sushi against tuna tartar. It’s no wonder that every spring, the real battle isn’t over which chef or restaurant wins a given event — but who gets to help crown the champ.

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“We get contacted by a lot of people asking if they can ( judge),” says Cravings Steaks & Seafood owner Scott Foster, who oversees March’s Outer Banks Chowder Cookoff and April’s Duck and Wine Festival. “But usually, there’s volunteers that have already said, ‘Hey my brother wants to do it,’ or, ‘My cousin wants to do it.’ So there’s a good list to choose from.”

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And a long list of events to keep them busy. March’s Taste of the Beach alone offers a rustic BBQ & Wing Showdown, as well as the more refined Grand Tasting. In every case, Foster says the ideal judging panel is diverse in both gender and culinary experience. In addition to trained cooks and self proclaimed foodies, organizers seek out local fixtures, like media personalities, to increase publicity and add balance to the panel.

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Vista Graphics’ Jeff Donohue, who handles sales for the Outer Banks Visitors Guide, has judged the Chowder Cookoff for nearly a decade, alongside fellow local celebs like Beach 104 radio host Mike “Moose” Smith. While both enjoy the spread of savory seafood, they also appreciate taking in all the local flavor.

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“To me it’s one of the coolest little festivals around,” Donohue says. “I think it’s just the overall excitement of it. People are just really stoked.”

For Moose, the competitions also provide a much needed break from the dullness of winter.

He’ll start with November’s Outer Banks Shrimp Cookoff and grind right on through Taste of the Beach. But there’s an added motivation for not missing an event: take a year off, you might lose your spot.

“I judged the Duck and Wine Festival the first three or four years,” Moose explains. “It always fell on my wife’s birthday, so one year we decided to go away instead — I’ve never been able to reclaim my seat!” [Laughs]

“

While Donohue and Moose both like to joke about their lack of expertise, other judges — like Laura Wayland — make it their business to be real foodies. The owner of Outer Banks Olive Oil Company and Chip’s Wine and Beer will travel as far as New York City, Paris and beyond to dine in Michelin Star restaurants. And yet, Wayland says they often pale to the restaurants back home.

Take a year off, you might lose your spot.

“The talent on the Outer Banks is phenomenal,” says Wayland, who also judges the Shrimp Cookoff. “[Our chefs] rival some of these really high-end chefs in bigger cities. I don’t think everyone realizes that until you go to another place and you’re like, ‘Oh, that was kind of…disappointing.’”

Still, having a trained palate presents certain challenges for a blind tasting. With a long list of favorite local eateries, Wayland says she can sometimes tell a signature creation based on the blend of ingredients or just the way the food is presented. However, she’s also been pleasantly surprised.

“I’ve been right and I’ve been wrong with that,” she admits. “You might see an oyster and you’re like, ‘Okay, is that Coastal Provisions?’ But then sometimes a new restaurant blows everyone away. We’re all like, ‘Oh! Who are they?!’”

And while the job comes with perks, it also has challenges. You’ve got to be brave enough to try every dish. (No picky eaters need apply.) Gritty enough to choke down the occasional burnt bisque. With the will power to know when to say when — or suffer the gut-wrenching consequences.

“For the Chowder Cookoff, there can be 16 to 20 different entries,” Donohue explains. “So even if it’s yummy, you have to pace yourself to two or three spoonfuls each.”

Usually, the biggest challenge is picking one winner out of so many top choices. But Donohue, Smith and Wayland all agree that the competitions are consistent with the Outer Banks’ laidback reputation.

“It’s always good spirited,” Donohue says. “I’ve never been to a food tasting that got awkward or overly competitive. If there’s any drawback to judging, it’s that I miss so much of the festival. I can’t wait to get out there and see people and see if I can match up the entries.”

It’s that friendly, best-chef-wins vibe that drives the food event season, as cooks and patrons, locals and visitors, all enjoy some familiar camaraderie while experiencing brand new flavors.

Gatherings like the Taste of the Beach’s BBQ Showdown or the Food Truck Showdown even let the public get in on the action by featuring “people’s choice” awards. But even if you never cast a ballot, you can still reap the rewards.

“These events push the culinary realm and push the chefs to do more than they do on a daily basis,” Foster says. “And I think it’s good to just really highlight that we have a lot of great chefs on this beach.” — Arabella Saunders milepost 55

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Endless Possibilities transforms old clothes into new beginnings.

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Ripped jeans are reborn into intricate tapestries. Fat neckties from the ’70s get remade into rugs. For more than two decades, Endless Possibilities has taken rejects from local thrift stores and woven them into something radiant — from glowing sound sunsets to moody moonrises.

No matter the subject, every creation marks someone’s new beginning, as proceeds help Outer Banks Hotline’s efforts to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence, with added benefits for the weaver and the world around us.

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“The [Endless Possibilities] name applies to survivors and their lives going forward, too,” says Garnette Coleman, who co-manages the store along with close friend, Lizzie Konstanzer. “It benefits the environment, using castoff fabrics, and it’s therapeutic and relaxing for the weaver.”

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Rabiah Hodges, Endless Possibilities’ program founder, says the moniker also contains a weaving pun.

recently returned to help the cause. “Endless Possibilities really embodies all the stuff we can create with the refuse you’ve given us.”

A graduate of East Carolina University with a double major in weaving and fabric design, Hodges presented the idea of weaving items for public sale to Outer Banks Hotline’s board of directors in 1999. Hotline residents could learn to weave wares to sell, to help fund the organization that was supporting them.

“Many shelters use soap making, baking, or other cottage industries to teach rehabilitees how to interface with other people and bosses in a safe environment,” Hodges says.

The fledgling project started in the old Viking Furniture building in Kill Devil Hills, which lacked heat or AC. When it was cold, she cranked up space heaters. In summer?

“I went in my bathing suit and a tank top,”

graphiccontent she remembers. “I was young and I was

“Every one of your strings that is woven across is called an end or a pick,” explains Hodges, who owns Chameleon Clogs and

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determined.”

After the first year, they moved locations to Manteo’s outdoor Magnolia Market. Hodges

Coleman, Konstanzer and Hodges — as tightknit as ever.

Photo: Julie Dreelin

will move up the road to Hotline Too. They’ll be bringing along a total of ten looms to continue turning the organization’s unsold clothing donations into rugs, placemats, purses, wall hangings, table runners, and more.

Besides once-landfill-bound t-shirts, jeans, children’s onesies, and burlap, some creations feature plastic bags cut into strips and woven in. Pricing is generally $12 to $50 per piece, but some more intricate custom orders can be $120.

Among custom orders, the “memory cloth” remains a popular way to commemorate a life event or remember a lost loved-one.

“

recruited volunteers to learn how to work the looms, scheduling two-to-five weavers per day. Additionally, schoolchildren who needed community service hours began to sign up through the court system.

When the shop moved to 108 Budleigh Street in Manteo around 2004, they finally had a permanent storefront to sell their wares. Hodges taught weavers to incorporate seams, hems, labels, and buttons into their pieces.

“How else can you really tell that’s really a piece of clothing?” she queries. “Not only would you have something different in the weavings, it made us stand apart from other weavers.”

By the time Hodges stepped down to tackle some family issues in 2006, the store was pulling in six figures and cranking out tons of new artists.

“We trained well over 2,000 weavers when we stopped counting,” she says.

After years sharing a space with Nags Head’s Karma Blue, this April, Endless Possibilities

“A memory cloth allows the person who’s mourning to have something tangible of the person they lost,” she explains.

“Instead of leaving their clothes in a closet, you get something physical of theirs that becomes part of your life.”

“You can use yo-yos, papers, anything with a linear string.”

A necktie rug currently gracing the floor hearkens back to their original encounter with the touching idea.

“A lady whose husband had just retired had a collection of 200-plus ties he no longer needed, and she asked, ‘Can we quilt it?’”

Hodges recalls. “No, we’re not quilters, so tie rugs were born.”

The next memory cloth project was for a beloved grandmother who died. They “deconstructed and reconstructed” wool jackets and flannel shirts into four purses— one for each of her granddaughters.

“We used the pockets from the jackets as pockets inside the bags,” Hodges says. “You can use yo-yos, newspapers rolled up… anything with a linear string.”

More recently, Coleman and Konstanzer turned a departed relative’s Steelers attire into items for her family of Pittsburgh fans.

They also made three wall hangings for parents and a brother dealing with the tragic overdose of their young son and brother, who lived across the state.

“Somebody here had told them about us,” Konstanzer says. “They drove all the way from Charlotte.”

However, memory cloths can do more than honor lost relatives; they can commemorate new beginnings. Hodges helped create a memory cloth time capsule for Nags Head Elementary School’s opening year, with all teachers, students and staff contributing items for the piece.

But you don’t need a special reason to weave — just some interest and inspiration.

The shop welcomes volunteer weavers, trained or untrained. (Drop in Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm; the lessons are free and finished items are available for purchase.) Groups of one-to-five people can also schedule individual classes at least a week in advance for $65 per person, which includes the finished piece.

The shop also accommodates volunteers with special needs. One regular, Laura Long, comes in with her caretaker. She incorporates fabric from costumes made by her brother, the Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivey Long.

Another, Carolista Pruden, has cerebral palsy and uses one of the two table looms that only require the use of hands.

“When I walk into Endless Possibilities, I know that for two-and-a-half hours all my concerns disappear,” Pruden says.

“It gives me peace of mind, joy and happiness, knowing that my work is going to a worthy cause.”

Many volunteers are just ladies looking to chat and make friends, including out-oftowners or new residents from other places.

Which is why Konstanzer says they do more than weave fabric — they connect hearts.

“Most people just want the camaraderie,” says Konstanzer. “We kind of call it ‘happy hour without alcohol.’”

— Corinne Saunders

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Taste of the limelight. Photo: Chris Bickford

In the past seven years, they’ve molded some 50 young musicians — and assembled roughly 20 different acts — thanks to generous sponsors and a range of “donated” venues. After a year borrowing Paparazzi’s professional set-up, last fall they finally found a permanent place in the former home of Outer Banks Jubilee, allowing them to extend their hours and ground some egos.

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“Paparazzi spoiled the heck out of them,” laughs Amanda. “We’d go play a smaller stage and they’d have their noses stuck way up in the air. But that’s why I love our new space. It’s the size of a garage, which is the perfect size for a beginning band.”

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PRO gosurfTOOLS

Mustang Outreach Program gives would-be rockers real working skills. outthere Tuesday night. 6pm. Seagate North Shopping Center. Hardly the witching hour for live music, even in summer. In the offseason? This empty strip mall has all the bustle of an L-shaped back alley. But look closer, you’ll notice a corner shop’s window bathed in an electrified glow. Listen closer, you’ll hear amplified guitarists learning new chops. Walk in, you’ll see it’s more than some beginners thumbing through chords — it’s a crew of burgeoning rock stars coming to life.

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“I just wish there was a way to adjust the distortion with my foot,” notes one axewielding adolescent. “I could cut it back instead of cutting it off…”

“But there is!” retorts the only adult in the room. “They make these oversized knobs for pedals so you can use your toes to turn them…”

At which point, Amanda Williams, local milepost

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“We have scholarships for group sessions,” Ruth notes. “And we work with Motu Music Foundation to support private lessons.”

sound tech, lifelong keyboardist and livewire singer for acts like Betty on Patrol and Gypsea Souls, goes on to list a slew of topnotch rockers who make their living toggling digital loops and effects without ever using their hands.

“Their feet have a whole series of steps memorized to go along with their playing,” she continues. “It’s truly a choreographed event. You can do it, too. You just have to practice.”

Welcome to the world of the Mustang Outreach Program, a homegrown project to fire up the next generation of working musicians.

It began back in 2008 when blues maestro and guitar teacher Ruth Wyand turned a handful of solo students into a start-up band. Bearded Face Productions’ Mike Dianna liked the concept so much that, in

2012, he started supporting the project with proceeds from his annual Mustang Spring Jam and Rock n’ Roast festivals, as well as providing slots for the players to gain live experience. Four years ago, they added Williams to meet demand. Together, they offer the full spectrum of musical training — running sound to ripping leads — all with a single purpose.

“Our goal is to make them well-rounded, professional players,” says Ruth. “There’s so much to it — technically, musically, and also socially. It’s not just sitting up there playing and singing.”

Every semester, MOP takes in a new class of would-be rockers. Depending on instrument interest and skill level, they’ll assign them to an existing group, or create a new outfit, then run them through the paces. All for twenty bucks a week. Sometimes less, if a family’s in need.

Not just the size — but the feel. A big, psychedelic tapestry lines one wall. A Led Zeppelin poster looms over the other. In the corner, a quicksand-soft leather sectional waits to suck in future fanboys and groupies.

It’s the same low-budget atmosphere that’s launched a million acts toward mega stardom — except this one comes with a whiteboard full of chord theory and racks of gear. Guitars and amps. Acoustics and PAs. The drumkit even sits behind studio Plexiglass, complete with the obligatory smart-ass signage: “Caution: ear protection required in this area.”

It’s funny ’cause it’s true. At least at first.

As the night’s 5:30 class tackles Cage the Elephant, the drummer takes a measure or two to set the beat. The bar chords need some straightening. Lyrics get a little rushed.

But then you remember these middle schoolers have been playing together for barely two months — half aren’t even playing their original instruments. And by the second attempt, they’re running “Ready to Let Go” all the way through. And not just by following along, but by thinking ahead.

“We need to do something to spice up the chorus!”

“Well,” Amanda says, “what would you do to make it more dynamic?”

That’s how every problem gets answered: with another question. Buzzing amp? “Did you check your cord?” Key change? “Have you looked it up online?” All the solutions must come from within. (Or the web.) Part of it’s sound driven, Socratic method. Part of it’s just practical training.

“I’m not real big on enabling,” Amanda admits. “I’m sure that sounds mean, but when these kids grow up to play gigs, they’re gonna need to do it all.”

“

That means setting up their own PA. Adjusting their own levels. Dealing with their own issues. And every band has issues.

Even middle schoolers.

Not one can drive a car — but they can sure drive a tune.

“Especially middle schoolers,” laughs Amanda. “But we’ve all been in bands where everybody didn’t all get along, so we try to show them the right way to communicate.”

Both Amanda and Ruth readily admit it sometimes doesn’t work out. Some bands must reconfigure. Other kids outright quit.

But the ones that stick with it are doing it for real. In fact, the drummer for Ruth’s very first experiment — the Side Projects — now mentors the next batch of would-be John Bonhams. And the whole band plays paid gigs whenever the other members are back from college.

“I had to cancel a gig at the Tap Shack this summer because of a conflict, so Mike booked them to replace me,” Ruth laughs.

As the 101 class shuts their cases and shuffles out, Cinco Mustanos comes in and sets up.

This five-piece mix of guys and girls is the

current crop of veterans. And as they dive into Weezer, it’s obvious what two years with MOP can do.

The same guitar player who was sounding out chords ten minutes ago is back on his native bass, locked in with the percussion.

The keyboardist is punching all the right notes; vocals sound super dreamy. The front lady isn’t just rocking the mic, she’s killing the guitar solos note-for-note. Not one can drive a car — but they can sure drive a tune.

Seems crazy until you consider the number of teenage music titans — not just 21st century SoundCloud products like Lorde or Billie Eilish. Smokey Robinson was 15 when he and Barry Gordy made Motown.

Bob Weir was 16 when he helped raise the Dead. Truth is, these early years are every phenom’s most formative moments. Even if they don’t know it yet.

“The other day, one of my students pointed to the Zeppelin poster and said, ‘That guy didn’t know what he was doing at my age,” laughs Williams. “I was like, ‘Yeah, he did.’

And I pulled up a video of Jimmy Page’s first TV performance at 14.”

Of course, both Williams and Wyand recognize that “rock star” is the rarest of job titles. Most full-time musicians are journey-men and -women like themselves — players who make a living but never fully stop paying dues. But that may be the most important lesson of all: real pros never stop trying. Real pros pour their hearts into every performance. No matter how big the audience. So just before they can dive back into “Island in the Sun,” Cinco’s guitarist raises her hand: “Wait!” she says. “This time, let’s try fading out the end and see how that sounds.”

As the drummer counts off the beat, I sneak out the front door. Nodding my head the whole way ‘cross the parking lot.

— Leo Gibson

Mustang Outreach Program takes students year-round, including summer workshops. To learn more, go to www.mustangoutreachprogramobx.org. And to support the cause — and see them play live — watch for the annual Spring Concert Fundraiser at Roadside in Duck, April 26, then buy tickets to the 9th Annual Mustang Spring Jam in Corolla, May 16-17.

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DOUBLE DANG!

Shotgun-start summer with another White Trash Beer Bash.

If late fall is “locals’ summer,” then the day after Memorial Day is the service industry’s last gasp. Staring down four straight months of double shifts and fake smiles, you got maybe a week left to cut loose and act the fool. That’s why, for the past two years, three of our favorite watering holes — Outer Banks Brewing Station, Lucky 12, and Buffalo City Jug Shop — have filled the Brew Pub’s backyard for one last blowout dubbed the White Trash Beer Bash. It’s an afternoon of Billy Bob Teeth and Daisy Duke cheeks. Fake, flowing mullets and miszpeld Scripto tattoos. Twelve-pack tiaras and tighty-whitey wife beaters. Where the competitions include beer gut challenges and toilet lid horseshoes, prizes are made from PBR cans, and the only limits regarding bad taste are: “how low can you go?” As we gear up for a third installment of this self-deprecating, loser-friendly affair, take a moment to reflect on last year’s shenanigans — then clear your sched (or call in sick) for May 26’s White Trash Beer Bash III. Because it won’t be long before June smacks the toothless grins right off our faces.

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endnotes You’ve heard of the fashion police. From Mar. 5-7, meet the prom EMTs — aka Project Glam Girls — at Manteo’s Faith Baptist Church, as they provide free dresses, tuxes, shoes and more, so nobody misses the big dance for budgetary reasons. Follow their Facebook page for details. • Need a summer boot camp for your outdoorsy brood? Jennette’s Pier Summer Camps mix surfing, fishing, art, science, and more, from mid-June to mid-Aug. Spots fill fast, so sign up faster at www.jennettespier.net. • Or go full nature nerd with Coastal Studies Institute’s 2020 Summer Camps, which combine aquatic activities with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) concepts for ages 9-16, beginning June 10. Learn more and register at www.coastalstudiesinstitute.org. • Growing old is no day at the beach. Let KDH’s Baum Center help you prepare for rough seas ahead with a free Medicare 101 class, the second Tues. of each month at 10am. Come back for Advanced Care Planning on Mar. 19, Apr. 16 and May 21. Call 252-475-5638 for details. • Mar. 6 may not be First Friday official, but Downtown Manteo will still be the place to party down with a diverse, creative community as Dare County Arts Council reveals two fresh shows at 6pm: a Ryan Fox Solo Exhibit of brain-bending water colors; and our own collection of locally sourced mind candy with “Stuck Here on Purpose”: Art, Photos and Outtakes from 35 Issues of Milepost. (Both hang until Mar. 28.) While you’re at it, learn a spectrum of new skills at the Ryan Fox Watercolor Pouring Workshop, Mar. 7-8. More at www.darearts.org. • Roanoke Island Festival Park stitches together a patchwork of fabric aficionados when the Outer Banks Community Quilt Show drapes the halls with modern and vintage examples of precious patterns. Mar. 7-21; 10am-4pm. Free to the public. Deets at www.roanokeisland.com. • On Mar. 7, clean up a few pine needles — and clear patches of old foliage — when Elizabethan Gardens’ Spring Clean-Up asks volunteers to help prepare for the season, from 9am-12pm. Then go clean yourself up and head to Secret Island at 5pm for the year’s biggest fundraiser, Diamonds and Denim: Speakeasy, where fashionable philanthropists sport ’20s attire to keep the grounds financially fruitful for another century. $75. Find all the flap at www.elizabethangardens.org. • On Mar. 7, Outer Banks Brewing Station’s Backyard Oyster Roast serves up a mess of briny bivalves and chronic Kill Devil Rum cocktails at Ryan Fox’s crazy-like watercolors come to DCAC, Mar. 6-27.

5pm. And come Mar. 17, Toast of the Town Tuesday salutes salty citizens with live tunes by the OBX Shredders and bushels of community spirit. 5:30pm. Full calendar at www.obbrewing.com.

• Want your big day to go down smooth? Slide into First Flight High, Mar. 7-8, as the Outer Banks Wedding Weekend & Expo makes meeting 100+ vendors totally effortless. 10am4pm. Info and tix at www.obxwa. com. • Watch the YMCA pool overflow with athletic courage — and hear the room echo with cheers — when the Special Olympics Dare County Swim Meet returns Mar. 8. Find updates on Facebook. • Rundown Café stays gold all spring as Michael’s Monday Chicken fires up the fryer every Mon. from Mar. 9 to late May. Stay abreast at www. rundowncafe.com for more fingerlickin’ deets. • Dig into hot eco topics — and enjoy a cold pint or

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two — when OBX Green Drinks comes to Waverider’s Coffee, Deli & Pub, Mar. 11, Apr. 8 & May 13. 7pm.

Follow their Facebook page for the freshest news. • Check out free green thumb advice at your local book dispensary when Dare Masters Gardener’s Library Series spreads fertile info: Kill Devil Hills talks Orchids (Mar. 11) and Container Irrigation (Mar. 25). Foliage Takes the Stage in Manteo, Mar. 18. And Friends of Corolla Library discuss Orchids (Mar. 10), Plants that Survive & Thrive on the Outer Banks (Mar. 24), and Container Irrigation (Apr. 7). Dig into dare.cesncsu.edu for details. • Showing some gray? Wanna go for the gold? Sign up for the Outer Banks Senior Games by Mar. 14 at torch.ncseniorgames.org. Then be ready to dash, throw, bat, or cheer when the competition runs Apr. 20-May 2. Must be 50+ to compete. More at www.darenc.com. • Whippersnappers hit homers — and help beat deadly diseases — Mar. 13-14, when the Cape Hatteras Sandlot Tournament brings top regional softball and baseball teams to Cape Hatteras Secondary School to fund Hatteras Island Cancer Foundation. Find deets on Facebook. • Join the trash talking team at Ocean Friendly Establishments, as they clean up both sides of our coastal playground, Mar. 14.

Choose either Moorshore Road in Kitty Hawk or Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head. 10am-2pm.

Pick up fresh info on Facebook. • Head north, Mar. 14, and you can peer down upon Corolla’s wide-open spaces without spending a penny as part of Currituck Beach Lighthouse Season Opening & Free Climb Day. 9am-5pm. More at www.obcinc.org. • Then honor the patron saint of St. Paddy’s footraces — Ronan O’Round — when the annual Running of the Leprechauns 5k returns to Nags Head Woods, Mar. 14, to support the Dare Education Foundation and the Outer Banks Relief Foundation. 8am.

Dash to www.obxse.org for deets. • Come 1pm, meet Chuggin’ O’Plenty at the Outer Banks Brewing Station, where Mar. 14’s Kelly’s St. Patrick’s Day Beer Mile fits forty ounces of ale into 5280 feet. Sign up at www.obxrunningcompany.com. • Save your legs — and your liver. You’ll need both for Mar. 15’s 31st Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, where Nags Head’s Beach Road floats with shenanigans from Bladen St. to Driftwood St. — and the bystanders’ brains float with green beer and great times.1pm start. Get the latest on Facebook. (PS: finish up at Jack Brown’s in KDH for an afterparty by Bearded Face Productions.) • Talk about luck of the Irish. On Mar. 17, St. Patrick’s Day stumbles into Tuesday Brewsday at Pangea Tavern. See ya in Avon at 4pm for $3 beers, holiday food specials, and at least one green afro. More at www.pangeatavern.com. • Save some brain cells for the Coastal Studies Institute’s “Science on the Sound” Lecture Series, where April Blakeslee talks Multi-Host Parasites (Mar. 19), Terri Kirby Hathaway handles Sex in the Sea, (Apr. 16), and Jack Martin charges into Renewables: E-Drive and the Marine Environment (May 21). 6pm. Full sched and vid feeds at www.coastalstudiesinstitute.org. • On Mar. 21, Coastal Provisions’ parking lot brims with briny seafood, cold beer, and cool peeps for 12th Annual Outer Banks Chowder Cook-Off. 12pm. Tix and deets available at www.coastalprovisionsobx.com. • Come 5pm, marshes flex their natural strength when the Town of Duck Speaker Series talks Living Shorelines at the Paul F. Keller Meeting Hall.

And find powerful watercolors inside Duck Town Hall any Mon.-Fri. as Mary Edwards’ “People, Pets, and Places” hangs out though Apr. 29. 9am-4pm. More at www.townofduck. com. • Need green for college? The Outer Banks Community Foundation has 55 scholarships for local seniors of every interest — but you have to apply by Mar. 22. Full agenda at www.obcf.org. • Help young minds become future scholars by volunteering with Children & Youth Partnership’s Family Literacy Program, where in-home tutoring for Latinx elementary students improves grades and fosters a lifelong love of learning. Check out www.darekids.org for details. • On Mar. 26, fringed skirts and fedoras fill Mako’s Beach Grill The Best Bankers. Hometown Banking. for the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce’s “Roaring 20s” Reverse Raffle —Bankers. where The Best Hometown Banking. dancing and costume contests fire up the crowd, and a $100 ticket buys you a shot at $10k.

The Best Bankers. Hometown Banking.

Too rich for your blood? Drop $40 and you can still join the party and fund the cause. More Bankers. Hometown Banking. at www.outerbankschamber.com. • Boogie down to the GraveyardTheofBestthe Atlantic before Mar. 25 if you want to catch Marc Corbett’s Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks exhibit. And

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endnotes Café crawls with critter lovers for the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles Fundraiser, Daniel Pullen’s photo essay, Endangered Community: The Independent Waterman where live tunes, great food, and silent auctions make life a little easier on our favorite Project, ships out on Mar. 27. Explore www.graveyardoftheatlantic.com for updates. • Stuff flippered species. $10 gets you in; ten more buys a BBQ plate. Scurry on over to www. yourself silly — or find a sophisticated dining experience — when Taste of the Beach nestonline.org for updates. • Incubate young imaginations over eight returns, Mar. 26-29. Tasty options include wine pairings and tequila weeks with one of KDH Co-Op’s Kids Art Classes. From Mar. 31tastings, tapas crawls and beer tours, oyster roasts and cooking Sips ahoy! Kill Devil Rum’s new May 26, a Terrific Teens & Tweens Studio lets ages 11-14 classes. And don’t miss the classics — Mar. 28’s BBQ & Wings cocktail bar is a flagship stop for experiment while learning technique, every Tues. from 4-5:30pm.

Showdown and Mar. 29’s Grand Tasting & Bartenders Bubbly Manteo’s First Friday.

And from Apr. 1-May 27, Budding Artists draws ages 5-10 to Bash — where chefs battle for big awards and diners reap the tasty pursue playful projects in painting and crafts, every Wed. from rewards. (PS: OBX Spring Restaurant Week serves up another 3-5pm. Call 252-441-9888 to register. • Come Apr. 1, grown-up round of phenomenal fixed-price dinners at top eateries sometime in talents act the fool, when the 25th Annual Artist Self-Portrait April.) Find details and tix at www.obxtasteofthebeach.com. • On Exhibit opens at Glenn Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery. 4-6pm. This Mar. 28, Sanctuary Vineyards Food & Wine Gusto 5K breaks up year’s funhouse theme? “Stepping Out of the Mirror.” Find the pace with frequent pit stops for beer, wine and food. (Register at updates on Facebook. • From Apr. 1-30, the Elizabethan Gardens’ www.obxrunningcompany.com.) And come back for evening sounds Butterfly Festival covers the grounds with fluttering color on the sound, as they host Friday Night Live every week until Apr. — including games and activities and special Butterfly Releases 24, followed by Thurs.’ Acoustic Sunsets, starting May 4. 5:30every Wed. Pricing and times at www.elizabethangardens.org. • On 8:30pm. More at www.sanctuaryvineyards.com. • Start dancing all Apr. 3, Janice Miller’s Solo Show delivers ceramic skill to Dare your days when Americana-pioneer and Avetts collaborator, County Arts Council, while Ocracoke Group Show brings in true Paleface, returns to Trio Beer Wine & Cheese for a free show, Mar. grit from down south. 6pm. (PS: Be sure to show early and hang 28. And feast upon live, locally sourced tunes every weekend, such as longer as First Friday stuffs the streets of Downtown Manteo with Formula (Mar. 21), Gypsea Souls (April 24) and Bryan Campbell tasty music, sweet shopping, and cool friends.) Colorful details at (May 10). Fri. & Sat. gigs run 7:45-10:45pm; Sun. 12-3pm. Score a full www.darearts.org. • What’s the new buzz on Budleigh Street? calendar at www.obxtrio.com. • The Unitarian Universalist Outer Banks Distilling now serves custom-crafted Kill Devil Rum cocktails, Mon.-Sat., Congregation of the Outer Banks keeps local folks woke, Mar. 28, when their free 2-7pm. Just wanna see how this 100% locally sourced libation factory functions? Reserve a Cultural Crossroad Series presents Randell Jones’ “Famous and Infamous Women of 1pm tour by calling 252-423-3011. • On Apr. 4, dive down to the 7th Annual Graveyard North Carolina.” 7pm. Details at www.uucob.org. • On Mar. 29, Basnight’s Lone Cedar

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of the Atlantic Museum Underwater Heritage Symposium, where SCUBA experts and archaeologists share shipwreck experiences, underwater photography, and cutting-edge research, from 10am-5pm. And come back any Tues. at 2pm for the Salty Dog Lecture Series, where speakers include Ocracoke naturalist Pat Garber (Apr. 7), U-boat sleuths Jim Bunch (Apr. 14), and Ben Wunderly (Apr. 21), and pirate ship pro Jason Raupp (April 28).

Submerge yourself in future events www.graveyardoftheatlantic.com. • Lose the respirator — and grab a cowboy hat — ’cause Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts’ Apr. 4 concert brings an awesome foursome of country pop to First Flight High, courtesy of Farewell Angelina. 7:30 pm. $32; $20 for students under 17. Details and tix at www.outerbanksforum.org. • Head to Corolla, Apr. 4, as Mike Dianna’s Grill Room’s Customer Appreciation Sundays show they care with daily specials and half-off wine bottles. Then spread the love with friends and fam at Apr. 12’s Easter Brunch or May 10’s Mother’s Day Brunch — reservations recommended. Or squash long-standing beefs by treating your bros to Monday Burger Night, mid-Apr. to midMay. More information at www.grillroomOBX.com. • On Apr. 5, Outer Banks Brewing Station becomes a vodka infused vaudeville show as Absolut sponsors the 3rd Annual Bartender Games, where expert mixologists combine crazy cocktails and creative skits for a shot at a $1000. 4pm. Fully stocked deets at www.obbrewing.com. • Show-and-tell goes back in time, Apr. 10, when Island Farm’s Homeschool History Day gives living room learners hands-on lessons in pony petting, blacksmithing and more. And on Apr. 25, Sheep Shearing Day makes kids a campfire breakfast before serving up a fulfilling morning of animal caretaking. Pricing and times at www.obcinc.org. • National Parks warms up for the season starting Apr. 10, as Cape Hatteras National Seashore Campground officially opens. (Book sites at www.recreation.gov.) On Apr. 17, folks can climb Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island Lighthouses or enjoy interpretative programs at Fort Raleigh

National Historic Site and Wright Brothers National Memorial. And the first Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Full Moon Climb happens May 3. Reserve tix at www.recreation. gov starting at 10am on Apr. 30. • Colorful kites cover the skies, secret orbs dot the ground, and big, fuzzy bunnies pose for free portraits, when the Fly Into Spring Kite Festival & Easter EGGstravaganza combine forces at Jockey’s Ridge, Apr. 10-11. 10am-4pm. Find a full sched at www.kittyhawk.com. • The streets of Manteo run amok with energizer rabbits — and positive energy — when Apr. 11’s 7th Annual Hoppin’ 8k, 5k & Fun Run mixes footraces and Easter selfies to help a local family beat medical bills. 8-10am. Sign up at www. obxrunningcompany.com. • Elizabethan Gardens’ Eggstravaganza keeps kids scrambling, Apr. 11, with scavenger hunts and big bunny photos, stories and a bake sale — plus the always-popular bonnet/hat contest, and egg rolls on the Great Lawn. 10am-1pm. Pricing and deets at www.elizabethangardens.org. • Bounce down to Avon, Apr. 11, as Pangea Tavern’s Hoppy Easter lets kids chase eggs and chill with the Easter Bunny at 3pm, before the Adult Beer Hunt puts grown-ups in the hunt for craft bottles. For a more sober affair, head to the Beach Klub at 6am on Apr. 12 for the Easter Sunrise Service. More at www.koruvillage.com. • Pray for wind! From Apr. 11-18, OceanAir Sport’s OBX-Wind Competition spends seven days before the mast to host the region’s preeminent sailboarding event. More than 300 racers will converge for friendly competition and fierce raffles. Breeze over to www. oceanairsports.com for updates. • Mistaken identities make for major laughs when Theatre of Dare’s Unnecessary Farce mixes embezzlers, adulterers and FBI agents inside Roanoke Island Festival Park’s indoor theatre, Apr. 17, 18, 24 & 25 at 7:30pm; Apr. 19 & 26 at 2:00pm. $12 for adults; $6 for students. Tix and more at www.theatreofdareobx.com.

• Watch buccaneers break land speed records, Apr. 18-19, when the Outer Banks Flying Pirate Half Marathon sends foot racers from Kitty Hawk to Nags Head — all while dressed

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endnotes up as Blackbeard and Anne Bonney. Enlist at www.obxse.org. • And if that’s not enough facial hair and black leather, the 18th Annual Outer Banks Bike Week vrooms through town, Apr. 18-26, with a barely legal display of shiny rides and rowdy times, from poker runs to live tunes to tattoo and bikini contests. For details just rumble on over to the Facebook page. • Peel out to Dowdy Park, Apr. 22, when NC Coastal Federation’s Earth Fair OBX VIII gathers eco-minded groups to share Mother-loving info and celebrate Earth Day. 2-6pm. Find their Facebook event page for the most fertile info. • Get some precious, personal time with Ma Nature when Town of Duck’s Nature on the Boardwalk lets a handful of people stroll the shore with an NC Aquarium expert, Apr. 23 (6-7:30pm) and Apr. 28 & May 14 (9-10:30am). (Email info@ townofduck.com to register ahead.) For some indoor beauty, be at Duck Town Hall, May 2, as Lynne Scott Constantine and Suzanne Scott Constantine reveal their new art exhibit, “Fault Lines, Through Lines.” 3-5pm. Or come back for a solo peek any Mon.-Fri. before July 29, 9am-4pm. More at www. townofduck.com. • Does your local non-profit need dough? Grant applications for the Outer Banks Community Foundation’s Community Enrichment & Special Focus Grants are due on Fri., Apr. 24. Apply yourself at www.obcf.org.

• On Apr. 24, celebrate the dark side of Earth Day with the Coastal Studies Institute, NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island, A Time for Science, and Friends of Jockey’s Ridge, as the Statewide Star Party brings a mobile planetarium to Jockey’s Ridge Auditorium, and our own night sky dazzles onlookers from 6:30-9:30pm. Call 252441-7132 for details. • Declare war on litter, Apr. 25, when Kill Devil Hills Annual Trash Attack! invades our most debris-vulnerable parts and leaves them prettier than ever. 9am1pm. (Rain date: Apr. 26; 12pm.) See Facebook for meeting locations and updates.

• Elizabethan Gardens’ gets a case of puppy love, Apr. 25, when WOOFStock brings in a tail wagging assortment of doggie portraits, pet health vendors, and concessions to support

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the SPCA. 10am-2pm. Pricing and agenda at www.elizabethangardens.org.• Cheer on local athletes — and a worthy cause — as Special Olympics Dare County’s 9th Annual Spring Games take over First Flight High’s track and field, Apr. 25. Follow the action on Facebook.

• Witness feats of instrumental dexterity — and celebrate lightning-fast drummer, Max Roach — when The Unitarian Universalist Congregation’s Cultural Crossroads series presents Elizabeth City State University Jazz Ensemble, Apr. 25. 7pm. More at www. uucob.org. • Beat it down to the Frisco Native American Museum, April 25-26, as “Native Journeys: Music & Dance” keeps time with indigenous cultures’ creative traditions, including powwow drummers, hula dancers, storytellers, and more.10am-5pm. $5 per person; $15 per household; $3 for seniors. Schedule of events at www.nativeamericanmuseum.org. • The damage from Dorian still ain’t done. Support Ocracoke Island by heading south, Apr. 25-26, to enjoy a full weekend of activities, including the Scallywag 5k, 10k, & Half Marathon and the 6th Annual Independent Bookstore Day celebration at Books to be Red. Or come down Apr. 29-May 1, and line up on the beach in support of the Ocracoke Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament. Hook into www. visitocracokenc.com for details. • On Apr. 26, help a needy child spice up their summer by attending the 4th Annual OBX Taco Cook-Off at Ortega’z, where local restaurants fill tasty tortillas to help send financially strapped kids to one of Jennette’s Pier’s Summer Camps. $25. 12-3pm. Find ’em on Facebook. • Need a check-up? Don’t have insurance? On Apr. 30, the Community Clinic of Dare Open House tests blood pressure and blood sugar for free, 9am-2pm. They’ll also be signing up new cash-strapped patients. Learn if you qualify at www.dareclinic.org. • Manteo’s May 1 First Friday sees Bobby Wiltshire’s watercolors paint the walls of Dare County Arts Council — with an opening night exhibit at 6pm. And come back May 3, as the 23rd Annual Mollie Fearing Memorial Art Show fills the place with fine local art in memory of a founding member. Both

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powerful words of wisdom, May 5, when Nathan M. Richardson’s Frederick Douglass shows hang all month. More at www.darearts.org. • Candy-apple-red paint jobs and vintage Tour channels the legendary abolitionist, free of charge, at Jennette’s Pier, courtesy of the style points rev up Nags Head’s Soundside Event Site — and liven up a range of local pit Bryan Cultural Series and League of Women Voters. 7pm. More at stops — when the OBX Rod and Custom Festival zooms through www.bryanculturalseries.org. • And The Graveyard of the Atlantic’s town, May 1-2. Ogle all the events at www.obxrodandcustomfestival.

Salty Dog Lecture Series drops deep-water knowledge every Tues. com. • Or park your butt at Jennette’s Pier and watch the region’s at 2pm. On May 5, get “A Portrait of the North Carolina Coast, best surfers mix style and performance as part of May 1-3’s ESA Mid1890s-1900s.” May 12 relives “WWII’s Battle of the Atlantic off Atlantic Regionals. Heat sheets at www.surfesa.org. • On Mar. 2, North Carolina.” On May 19, “Freedmen, Surfmen, Heroes” tells sport a crazy hat and sip a mint julep while the fillies run furlongs, as the legendary tale of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island the Elizabethan Kentucky Derby Party celebrates southern Lifesavers. And May 26, Captain Ernie Foster takes listeners back to traditions to secure money for local non-profits like the Beach Food 1930s life aboard Hatteras’ Albatross Fleet. Deep dive to www.

Pantry and the Dare Education Foundation. $125. Get the latest graveyardoftheatlantic.com for all the salty details. • What’s the future gossip at www.elizabethangardens.org. • Prefer a good sausage fest? of Outer Banks visitation? Find out May 7, when The Sanderling hosts Head to Grandy’s Weeping Radish Farm Brewery, May 2, when the the 8th Annual Tourism Summit. Stay tuned to www.outerbanks.org first annual Weenie Prost mixes loud music and tasty meats, with a for an agenda, speakers and online registration. • And May 8, the next little help from their bros at Sanctuary Vineyards. Follow Facebook generation of natives runs amok inside Roanoke Island Festival for details. • For an old-fashioned blowout, be at Roanoke Island’s Park as the Children & Youth Partnership for Dare County’s 13th Island Farm on May 2, as the Dare County 150th Anniversary Annual KidsFest busts out bubbles, sweets and at least one shiny fire Celebration commemorates our collective birth with a free day of truck for kids 5 and under. 9:30am-12:30 pm. Call 252-441-0614 for historic reflection and classic fun. 10am-4pm. Go to www.Dare150. details. • Sweet music supports our neighborly arts, May 8, when the com for a year’s worth of b-day ideas. • Carve out some time to drool Don and Catharine Bryan Cultural Series, Dare County Arts over decoys when the Ocracoke Island Waterfowl Festival flocks to Coyote prowls into First Flight High, May 8, as a Council, and Mustang Music Outreach Program bring Molasses the Berkley Barn, May 2. And on May 8, salute WWII’s fallen off our part of an Ocracoke Alive fundraiser.

Creek and Coyote to First Flight High for a Benefit Concert for coast when the British Cemetery Ceremony remembers the 1942 Ocracoke Alive. $15. More information at www.bryanculturalseries.org. • On May 9, the sinking of the H.M.T. Bedfordshire, with representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, US 31st Annual Artrageous Kids Art Festival crams Dowdy Park with creative talents — and Navy, British Royal Navy, and Canadian Royal Navy. Details at www.visitocracokenc.com. crazy energy. From 10am-3pm, young imaginations enjoy art activities and live music, • “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Hear more

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endnotes local artisans purvey pretty pieces, and proceeds benefit college scholarships. Learn more at com.) • And for a double-dose of the feel-goods head to Jennette’s Pier, May 16-17, as the www.darearts.org. • Before you start chasing kids around the park, race ’em around the forest Best Day Ever Foundation spends all weekend showing special needs kids the joys of liquid activities. 7am-4pm. Learn more at www.bestdayfoundation.org. • On May 18, Outer as part of May 9’s 37th Annual Nags Head Woods 5k, where family fun runs are an annual Banks Community Foundation’s Non-Profit Organization Spring Workshop helps local Mothers Day weekend pastime. 8am. Sign up at www.nagsheadwoods5krun.org. • Then sit charities stay on brand, as marketing guru Kivi Leroux Miller discusses tools and trends to back and watch models work the catwalk — and raise funds for the Outer Banks Relief develop effective messaging strategies. Registration is free for staff and volunteers from Foundation — when May 9’s 9th Annual Couture by the Shore brings ten local boutiques’ best fashions to Duck Woods County Club. To date, this annual favorite’s raised Outer Banks non-profits; sign up at www.obcf.org. • Why so sauer? On May 23, Island Farm’s Fermentation Basics: Make Your Own ‘Kraut! brings in local experts for a $643,650, and this year’s “A Day In Havana” promises to add more cash to the pile, via workshop on making sauerkraut, kimchi and hot sauce. 4pm. $25/person. Learn more at comely Cuban attire, crazy raffles, a silent auction, and maybe a mojito or two. 11am-3pm. www.obcinc.org. • Kick up your heels to kickstart summer when May 23’s Band in the Sand Details at www.obcf.org. • A loving couple shares their passion for the stage, May 9, when 5K mixes an evening foot race with a live concert — plus cold beer and some tasty barbecue Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts brings “Married to Broadway” to First Flight sandwiches — all to benefit the folks at Dare High, featuring music from Phantom of the Education Foundation and the Outer Banks Opera, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, and Les Relief Foundation. Dash to www.obxse.com Mis. 7:30pm. $32; $20 for students under 17. for deets. • Or just cruise around with the NC Get info and tix at www.outerbanksforum.org.

Beach Buggy Association as May 23 starts • Get the gaff! Sportfishing season officially with the Russell Privet NCBBA Membership begins May 12-16, when the Hatteras Village & Guest Tournament at Hatteras and Offshore Open starts the North Carolina Ocracoke Island accesses, 7am-2pm, before Governor’s Cup Series. Head to www.hvoo. shifting over to Koru Village for 3pm’s org for a full schedule. • Don’t wanna miss this NCBBA Annual Meeting & Pig Picking. fall’s Lost Colony Wine Festival? Head to More at www.ncbba.org. • Be sure to float into May 14’s WineFest Kickoff Celebration at Avon’s OceanAir Sports on May 23, as Trio, where $20 buys lots of vino and cheese another PaddlePalooza celebrates all things samples — and the only chance at purchasing SUP, from racing long distance to yoga poses. festival tix before July 1. 5:30-7pm. $20. More And whether you’re a total novice or veteran at www.thelostcolony.org. • On May 14-16, set competitor, every sweep pushes money a course for Roanoke Festival Park’s toward the Hatteras Island Cancer Bluegrass Island Festival, where three days Foundation. Get the latest at www. and 22 acres of topnotch twang includes oceanairsports.com. • Or blast into summer Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Breaking with Kitty Hawk Kites’ Waves Village Grass — and even a Hee Haw Reunion. All Watersports, as May 23-24’s Kiteboarding the dang rest at www.bluegrassisland.com. • Kickoff Weekend shows off new gear, sets up For more slack-jawed action, head to Jockey’s pro clinics, and lets local talents shine in Ridge, May 14-18, as the 48th Annual Hang soundside competitions. Details at www.

Gliding Spectacular draws the world’s best kittyhawk.com. • On May 25, it’s time for every talents for four days of soaring competition — down-souther’s favorite do-gooder dash: and spectators watch, mouths agape, for free.

Memorial Day’s Shore Break 5K & Tide Learn more at www.kittyhawk.com. • On May Pool Fun Run, which starts and ends at the 16, the 5th Annual Dare2Care OBX Shred Like blazing guitar playing? Slide up to Corolla, May 16-17, as South Florida’s Roosevelt Collier plays Mustang Spring Jam 9, along with eleven other firing bands.

Koru Beach Klub — and kicks all its proceeds Fest ramps up the party inside Soundside to the Hatteras Island Youth Education Event Site. From 2-8:30pm, the half-pipe Fund. Stay tuned to www.hatterasyouth.com for details. • Then celebrate Hatteras’ creative pumps with pro skaters and BMXers while seven sick bands rock the stage — including a streak, as the 8th Annual Rock the Cape Arts Festival spends two weeks down south, band of Wounded Warriors, “The Resilient” — as part of a special Armed Forces Day celebration. Find the lineup at www.dare2careobx.com. • Meanwhile, more than 3,000 hand- beginning with May 25’s Artisan Show at the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Center (9am-1pm) and finishing with June 5’s concert at Real Watersports. In-between, the planters will head to KDH’s Baum Center, May 16, as the annual Coastal Gardening island will overflow with individual flashes of genius at a full spectrum of local galleries. Find Festival brings in 70+ vendors, handcrafted goods, kids activities, and tons of greenery — updates and scheduling at www.darearts.org. • Haul brass north to Duck, you can still catch with a special emphasis on the succulent species that thrive the Outer Banks. For details, call May 25’s annual Summer Kick-Off Memorial Day Concert on the Green, where free 252-473-4290. • Bring some extra bills to Duck’s Waterfront Shops, May 16, as Duck and patriotic music pumps up peeps for the summer’s onslaught. 6-7:30pm. More at www.

Beyond Art Show draws the top local and regional artists to sell one-of-a-kind works and townofduck.com. • Phew! That’s it for spring, but save some space in your summer calendar compete for cash prizes. 11am-4pm. Rain date: May 17. See the Facebook event page for — and your belly — for mobile munchies at May 31’s Outer Banks Food Truck Showdown colorful deets. • Corolla’s Mustang Spring Jam 9 bounces twice as hard, May 16-17, as The at the Soundside Event Site. (More at www.outerbanks.org.) And clear your sched for June Nth Power, Roosevelt Collier, and 10 more bands spend two full days rocking Mike 13’s 1st Annual Outer Banks Rum Festival at Pirate’s Cove Marina, where live music, Dianna’s Grill Room — and Sun. squeezes in a grilled cheese competition between the demos and specialized food pairings fire up the party — and every shot poured fuels the face-melting jams. Find tickets and schedule at www.MustangMusicFestival.com. (PS: look for more Bearded Face Productions bands to rock outside Jack Brown’s in KDH and The Tap Beach Food Pantry. $20 for designated drivers; $60 for general admission; and $80 for VIP. Call 252-261-2756 for more info or tickets.

Shack in Duck, every Fri. & Sat. night, starting Apr. 10. Get the latest at www.beardedfp.

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