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ou’ve no doubt seen the stories. Those folks who defied the sleepytime effects of a turkey dinner to be among the first holiday shoppers on this so-called Black Friday. The stores that opened at midnight or before. The consumers who chose to spend their Thanksgiving not at a table but rather camped out in a tent next to the front doors of some big box store just to be the first to lay their hands on the coveted goods.

As day dawned in Oriental today, TownDock staff asked… what if it happened here? Oriental likes to do things a bit differently… we imagined it might be called:
Brackish Friday.

Billboards on Highway 70 will bring in tourists with hungry credit cards.

Imagine… Oriental gripped by a shopping frenzy just like in somewhat larger urban areas…

A tent outside Marsha’s Cottage awaits some early glitz & glamor.

As dawn peeked over the Neuse River on this very special Friday, we imagined what that might look like in the Village and how it might be marketed as a more coastal-centric, “Brackish Friday.” We brought a camera along…

Visiting boater George Sturgill of Urbanna, Virginia found himself agreeing to spend time in a tent outside the Village Gallery just after sunrise on Brackish Friday.

At Nautical Wheelers, which does sell, among other things, outerwear to take on your next camping venture. The tent occupant stayed quiet, but TownDock staffers were able to identify Earl Evens inside (a man known for seeking out a thrifty opportunity).

As of midday on Brackish Friday, there were no long lines, no angry parking incidents, no fights over the merchandise. There were, we know, local merchants thankful for those who did make a point of shopping locally.

And as happens, some reality now invades our dream. The reality is this: it’s not too late to shop locally and help the economy right here in Oriental. Just 29 more shopping days til Christmas.

What an anxious shopper might do to be first in the Provision Company.

Make every day a Brackish Friday…. you might just feel slightly buoyant.

Posted Friday November 25, 2011 by Keith N. Smith