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Two very different versions of red, white and blue at The Croaker Festival.

Saturday July 5, 2008

7:10am It’s Croaker Saturday. The Croaker Relay starts out within the hour from Lupton Park. (Still time to get down there and enter… or watch.) The parade’s in a few hours, at 10am. Come say hi to Leon, the Parade Marshal, who’ll not be in his usual vehicle. Later on, around 2, the Croaker Regatta sets out. Among those racing in the Sunfish and Optimist boats will be some of the newer sailors, just out of the Youth Sailing Camp. And there are the fireworks tonite after dark. For a schedule of what else is going on, see the Croakerfest website by clicking on the Croaker Dragon up near the top of this page.)

Friday July 4, 2008

Happy 4th! Saturday is the big day for the Croaker Festival, but it does all start today. Click here for today’s festival highlights. Make sure you come on by for that “All-Pops Croaker Concert” at 4pm – the Pamlico Community Band is 28 pieces – the show will include tributes to Benny Goodman and The Tijuana Brass. Bring a chair.

The Farmer’s Market is Friday this week to stay out of the way of all the Croakerfest goings-on Saturday. You will find the farmers (and farmerettes) set up this morning starting at 7am.

The Oriental NC forecast shows a 30% chance of rain Saturday. With thousands coming to town for a parade and fireworks, we’ll prefer to see that as 70% chance of no rain. Please join us in doing a dry dance today.

A tropical storm has formed – Tropical Storm Bertha. If Bertha were to visit our shores she appears to be at least a week and a half away. Right now the Bertha track looks like it might do what most of the storms did last year – pass near Bermuda and then head north and not visit us at all. But it is far away, and that is a maybe. TownDock.net will be tracking her path….

Thursday July 3, 2008

We are just two days away from the Croaker Festival Parade. The Grand Marshal of the 2008 parade is Leon Jones, our town’s about-to-retire fave UPS man. Readers have been sending in their Leon stories and memories – here they are in The Leon Chronicles.

And about that parade. In New York, parade floats are planned out years ahead. Sometimes in Oriental, floats are planned hours (maybe days) ahead. What we’re saying is, it isn’t too late for your last minute brilliant parade float idea. Call friendly Parade Master Paul Fairbank at 249-0023 (or stop by at his day job, Senior Stainless Fittings Manager at Village Hardware).

Is there a northern girl at Dolphin Point that can’t make cornbread? Maybe not anymore. Village advice columnist Salty helps those seeking cornbread knowledge – read all about it in Ask Salty.

Tuesday July 1, 2008

Update 8:47pm: Oriental’s Town Board tonight voted to table the motion to adopt Conditional Zoning in Oriental and take it up again at its August meeting. The board spent more than 90 minutes in discussion and hearing public comment. Eight residents spoke against adopting Conditional Zoning. Two spoke in favor: current and former Planning Board Chairs Paul Olson and Dee Sage. The vote to not make a decision tonight was 3-1 — Commissioners Candy Bohmert, Nancy Inger and Dave Cox voted in favor of continuing the discussion, Kathy Kellam voted against it, but joined with the rest in continuing the public hearing at that time. Commissioner Sherrill Styron was absent. Had there been a tie, Mayor Bill Sage, who spoke in favor of Conditional Zoning, would have cast the tie-breaking vote.

Update 7:20am: Rabbit. July in Oriental starts out like a very fast rabbit. Croakerfest is just 3 days away, kicking off on Friday afternoon July 4 with the Pamlico Chorale, Pamlico Community Band, baking contest and the Minnow and Croaker pagaents. (For a link to the Croakerfest website and full schedule, just click on the Croaker Dragon up near the top of this page.)

Croakerfest is a spectacle with lots to see, but there are also a lot of ways you can take part. It’s not too late to sign up for the parade — call Capo de Parade, Paul Fairbanks at 249-0023.

There are some new and revived events this year…. The Oriental Express Biking Club has a 5 mile fun ride around town late Friday afternoon. At 8 Saturday morning, before the parade , the Croaker Relay returns after a three year absence. . Here’s a glimpse of what you’d be carrying as a baton— and then tossing — in this year’s relay. Turtle Midyette and his team have been going in to heavy production these past few days. As you can see, they’ve named this year’s croaker, Leon, for the retiring UPS driver who’s the grand marshal in the parade.

Saturday afternoon, the Oriental Dinghy Club is sponsoring the Croaker Regatta — which has its roots, we’re told, in the early sailing gatherings here in town in the 1960’s. This regatta’s for little boats — Sunfish and Optimists. It may also be a link of Oriental’s sailing past with its future: Jim Edwards says some of the kids from the Bow to Stern Youth Sailing Camp are prepping for this event…

There’s more at What’s Happening.

Amid all these preps for the Croakerfest, Oriental’s Town Board holds a public hearing tonight on Conditional Zoning, which, if enacted, could dilute the town’s zoning ordinances by letting developers re-zone land to put businesses in residential neighborhoods. There’s more at the Public Dock. The hearing is at 7pm.

Monday June 30, 2008

Town rests today… for a moment. After this past busy weekend (the Oriental Cup AND the NC Masters Laser races), this coming weekend brings Oriental’s biggest event, The Croaker Festival. We’ll have more info through the week as we lead up to the festival, but mark your calendar for this Friday & Saturday July 4 & 5.

We have lots of Oriental Cup Regatta photos now online … the complete report will be online by later this evening with all results and even more photos.

Tuesday night brings the monthly Town meeting, and on the agenda is an idea called “Conditional Zoning.” A look at what Conditional Zoning could mean is in The Public Dock – click here.

Sunday June 29, 2008

Saturday was like many a summer weekend day off Oriental – boats sailed, some raced. Well, maybe it was a bit busier than usual.

The Oriental Cup Regatta had 39 registered boats and mostly ideal weather for the race. Congrats to winning skipper Mike Evans onboard “Joyride”. While much of the day had perfect 15mph winds, later in the afternoon thunderstorms briefly visited with localized gusts that some sailors reported as near 50mph. One boat (not in the race) was knocked down and sank – fortunately in not too deep water. A passing sailboat returning from racing made the rescue – for photos and the story click here.

At least one boat from the race reported being hit by lightning. No one was hurt, but some electronics didn’t survive the day. Perhaps more critically for late June, on one boat the air conditioner didn’t survive the strike.

An update with lots of photos and more race results comes Monday.

In the midst of this all, we also have the NC Master Laser boats racing both weekend days. A report from that event coming….