Need cheering up? Just think about your favorite things

With this feature, we seek to capture a glimpse of what you and your neighbors have to say about a variety of topics, issues, events – and just plain fun questions.

You might see us anywhere around town, with notepad and camera, randomly seeking out folks who are willing to participate. If we find you, we hope you will want to respond. At Joe’s Classic Cuts Barbershop & Shave Parlor in Bluffton Village, we asked: “What is something that cheers you up every time you think about it?”

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LITTLE BLUE from page 1A tagged for removal multiple times –and yet it had survived every threat. Its indominable spirit became a symbol for first-time island visitors and long-time residents alike.

Facebook commenter Tracy Owens encapsulated this Little Blue Boat love perfectly in her Jan. 22 post.

“I love our quirky, eccentric, compassionate, party hard Island. I love how our mistakes are forgotten quickly and a little crazy is a required trait. It’s like a high school cafeteria, where there’s the jocks, the nerds, the geeks and freaks, the ‘goody two shoes,’ the druggies, the rich kids and the ‘not so rich kids’,” Owens began. “But the thing that’s different here is we all sit at the same table. Let something happen to one of us and we all turn out in support. We get all googly over a little blue boat that gets stuck in the marsh, and we freak out when it gets towed away. It’s like, if something (or someone) ends up here, then it becomes part of the landscape quickly and we want to protect it. I just freaking love that about this little rock that we call home.”

The vessel has gone through smaller waves of online infamy over the past two years but nothing like what began shortly after Thanksgiving. It began with a few videos admiring the boat. That turned into a barrage of hilarious memes, putting everyone from Skipper and Gilligan to Hootie and the Blowfish on the boat.

Local artists then began to take note. A pair of artists, Erin Christofoli and Stephen Gregar, raised a combined $900 that was donated to Bluffton Self Help.

Everetts was mostly oblivious to the newest wave of social media notoriety until a 48-hour spate of TV and daily newspaper reports put “Bluey” back on the South Carolina Department of Natural Resource’s radar. When “look the other way” turned to finger pointing and blame assignments, the DNR cracked down on Everetts, who donated the boat to the South Carolina Reef Association rather than pay a $10,000 fine.

While there is no such organization that comes up on an online search, the DNR does run a Marine Artificial Reef Program, which constructs reefs from a variety of concrete and steel structures, including donated ships and tugboats. Perhaps this is the group to which Everetts donated “Bluey.” Online commenters buy the theory, believing the boat will be sunk to become part of a new artificial reef off the Hilton Head coastline.

Still others think no matter where the boat is, the spirit it represents should not be lost. They suggest a permanent floating replica be made to serve as a welcome to all visitors. Even new Hilton Head Island mayor Alan Perry, contacted last week, acknowledged the Little Blue Boat’s potential in serving as our emotional and spiritual mascot.

But this story is far from over. A steady flow of posters have said the reef stories are untrue, that the boat was taken off the marsh to quell the maritime barbarians at the gate.

Commenters in Facebook fan groups like I Love the Little Boat say this is just the beginning of a new chapter.

“It’s just the start of a new adventure. Gonna be restored and brought back to its original glory. Y’all will see it sailing around the island soon,” said one commenter. Bluffton resident Glenn Giles has been inquiring as to its wearabouts in hopes of taking on and completing the restoration that Everetts never got to.

And then there’s a photo posted by islander Bill Bollin, showing what looks to be the celebrated watercraft in a location near the bridge.

“It’s B-A-C-K!” said commenter Sandy Gillis of the photo.

Other backers of the boat preferred to lean on the big-picture meaning of the boat, rather than speculate about Bluey’s actual location.

Nay, haters, you might have taken the boat out of the water. But you can’t rip it out of our hearts.