2012 Oyster Festival!

October 20-21, 2012 will mark the 32nd Annual North Carolina Oyster Festival offering a fun mixture of new activities and old favorites that are certain to entertain the entire family!

People come from far and wide to visit the Oyster Festival, a favorite festival to anyone who has been.

The coastal waters of Brunswick County provide an abundance of the marine mollusks each year bringing over 30,000 people to Ocean Isle Beach to celebrate the tasty treat.

The North Carolina Oyster Festival will feature live entertainment, arts and crafts, vendors, festival food, NC Oyster Festival Road Race, NC Oyster Festival Tennis Tournament, Surf Contest, a girls Beauty Pageant, a kid’s areas, the Oyster Shucking Championship, and an Oyster Stew Cook-off.

For complete list of events and vendors go to: http://www.ncoysterfestival.com

Entertainment line up has not yet been announced however top national talent as well as regional and local entertainers will be on the bill.

Last year’s headliner was Country music star Josh Kelly who performed in addition to a number of top regional bands:

Admission is only $5 for adults and free for children under the age of 8. The festival goes from 9am to 6pm on Saturday and from 9am to 5pm on Sunday.

The festival will be located on Ocean Isle Beach on 2nd Street.

Come out have a great time and find out what makes the oyster Brunswick County’s gem!

For more information or for Oyster Festival merchandise contact the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce.
Below are listed accomodations you can come out have a great time and find out what makes the oyster Brunswick County’s gem!
Rooms, Suites & Resort Houses

A Tropical Escape Closer Than You Think! Oceanfront rooms and suites overlooking palm trees, lush tropical gardens and our breathtaking island beach. Also Four, Five and Six Bedroom Resort Cottages with full kitchen, living room and large whirlpool spa. Rates include complimentary hot breakfast buffet & use of all amenities Three Pools (one indoor), Whirlpools etc. The Garden Bar and poolside Tiki Bar both feature a light menu & mixed drinks. 310 E. 1st St, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469 1-800-334-3581 http://TheWinds.Com Email: Info@TheWinds.com

The Winds Resort Beach Club offers a choice of oceanfront suites overlooking palm trees, subtropical gardens and our breathtaking powder-sand island beach or, for groups, our spacious 4, 5 and 6 bedroom Resort Cottages.

All stays include a Hot Southern Breakfast Buffet and use of all of The Winds Amenities: Three Pools (one indoor), Garden Bar Restaurant and poolside oceanfront Tiki-Bar.

The Winds’ deserves its reputation as “A Tropical Escape closer than you think!”

Golfers love our FREE Summer Golf Program!

A Seal At Ocean Isle Beach!

This past weekend we had a very unique visitor to the Ocean Isle Beach area… a seal! As you can imagine we get all kinds of visitors but this one was truly unexpected.

This guy (or gal?) showed up Friday morning on a jet ski dock at a home on the mainland near Shallotte Inlet.

We are still not sure of the kind of seal he or she is but would welcome any information that any knowledgeable person clue us in on.

The seal hung around for several hours and then went for a swim in the direction of Shallotte Point but returned to the same dock later that day.

We all hoped he or she would stick around long enough for the Wildlife authorities to come investigate and perhaps look out for him but he took off before they could arrive.

If anyone can identify what kind of seal it is and where his natural habitat is we’d sure like to know. Leave us a comment below! We don’t know where he came from or where he went but he sure is cute!

Confessions Of A Mad Man

In his 83 years of living, Miller Pope has grown up feisty and adventurous in the South, earned a living and hobnobbed with the upper echelon in the North, and published a book to tell all about it.

The longtime Ocean Isle Beach artist, entrepreneur and writer has commemorated his multi-faceted life in his latest book, “Confessions of a MadMan: From Madison Avenue to Island Sands,” available at local bookstores and online.

Though most of his books are heavy-laden with his art, especially about pirates, this one is a little different.

Pope said he wrote it for his grandchildren.

“I just wanted a book left for my posterity,” he said, dining recently at a Shallote restaurant.

His latest publication still features the wonderful art of Pope, who worked as an illustrator on Madison Avenue in the 1950s and ‘60s. He deems it a Camelot time, and he got to be a part of it.

Pope enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17, shortly after finishing the required 11 grades of school in Greenville, S.C.

“Soon after my birthday, I enlisted in the Corps,” he writes. “The Japanese had just surrendered, but the peace treaty had not been signed, which made me an official veteran of WWII and entitled me to all the benefits of a real veteran.”

He wound up working on the staff and honing his artistic abilities with the Marine Corps’ “Leatherneck” magazine in Washington, D.C., where he once got a glimpse of President Truman out for a morning stroll.

After his stint in the Marines, Pope attended Furman University for a while to make his Grandmother Pope happy. He pledged Phi Kappa Phi fraternity, “but I never became a brother because a C average was required and my grades were abysmal,” he writes.

He did, however, make straight A’s in history, one subject that interested him.

In the next chapter of his life and book, Pope is a freelance illustrator who’s migrated to Manhattan, where he eventually met his wife, Helen, and embarked on many more adventures. They set up house and raised their two children in Westport, Conn., where Pope continued to freelance and commute into New York City.

He recalls the era when advertising was in its heyday—with clever and creative campaigns, martini lunches, train commutes and parties.

Years later, the Popes discovered Ocean Isle Beach, where they started The Winds resort and Pope became involved as a partner in the launch of Sea Trail in Sunset Beach. He also writes about the loss of his wife, Helen, to Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago.

All of these details and more can be found in his latest book.

“A book is a wonderful thing,” Pope says. “It can talk to ages.” He’s hoping his does that, especially to his children and grandchildren.

These days, Pope still draws and writes books for fun. “I don’t play golf; I don’t like watching sports,” he says. But he still loves history, writing and illustrating—especially pirates. He says he’ll also continue working on books, even if they don’t make the best-sellers lists. He’s having too much fun to quit.

By Laura Lewis, staff writer at the Beacon. Reach her at 754-6890 or email llewis@brunswickbeacon.com.

Buy Confessions Of A Mad Man and all of Miller Pope’s books and artwork at: http://Islands-Art.com