Fenwick Island News

The evacuation of Sussex County’s most vulnerable areas continued Friday evening as Hurricane Irene, now slightly weaker but still a very dangerous storm, remained on a collision course with the eastern United States, including Sussex County and the rest of Delaware.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has declared a mandatory evacuation for much of the Coastal Point readership area. Everyone in towns including Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, North Bethany, Dewey Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Lewes, Long Neck, Oak Orchard, and Broadkill, Primehook and Slaughter beaches is being required to evacuate prior to 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27.

As of a final update from state emergency officials for Thursday night, the projected path of Hurricane Irene continued to place the powerful storm slightly to the east of Delaware’s Atlantic Coast, however, emergency management officials and their partners were advising the public to take precautions and to be prepared to enact their household and business emergency plans as it moves closer.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell issued an evacuation order for visitors in Sussex County on Thursday evening as the most significant tropical threat to the region in years continued its march toward the East Coast, expected to bring with it hurricane-force winds, catastrophic tidal flooding and torrential rains throughout much of the weekend.

Due to the impending and potentially very dangerous Hurricane Irene, all those who planned to visit Delaware the weekend of Aug. 26-28 are being urged to postpone plans immediately. Gov. Jack Markell and emergency management officials stated mid-day Thursday that weather conditions will not allow safe travel and lodging in the beach areas and possibly throughout other areas of the state.

Don’t know what to do with that ugly old bridesmaid dress? How about that old VCR? Here’s a thought — throw it in the ocean!

On Aug. 2, Catch 54 restaurant, one of seven SoDel Concepts restaurants on the Delaware coast, suffered $1 million in damages due to a fire, which the Delaware State Fire Marshal’s Office has now determined resulted from the “extended exposure of the structure’s framing to the heat of a cooking appliance.”

After many complaints about the untimely nature of a sudden and unexpectedly early Fenwick Island beach replenishment, the project is equally suddenly done.

Fenwick Island will keep the same town council for another year, but the town will soon be getting a new town manager.

It may only have been a month since Holly’s Treasure Chest opened up in Fenwick Island, but customers are already finding what they are looking for there, and then some. Located along Coastal Highway, adjacent to the former Libby’s restaurant, the shop boasts antiques and collectibles, sports memorabilia and plenty of beach goods, from swimsuits and sandals to chairs, umbrellas and bodyboards.

One of a handful of restaurants owned by local restaurateur Matt Haley was heavily damaged this week in a fire that started on Tuesday evening, while staff and patrons were in the building. Firefighters from the Roxana and Bethany Beach volunteer fire companies were dispatched to Fenwick Island’s Catch 54 about 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 2, and found the building heavily engulfed in flames.

Beachgoers in Fenwick Island started getting a little more sand to rest and recreate upon this week, but the timing was far from welcome for many of those impacted by the work.

For the past several years, Atlantic Shoals Surf Shop has been catering the Chincoteague Island area in Virginia, where owner Fletcher Birch grew up. Now, with a location in Fenwick Island opening up this season, Birch is bringing a feel-good vibe to the Delaware and Maryland beaches for people who simply love the shore.

It is said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. For Mary Anne Hess and her sons, their business is the past, and as they’re proving, repetition is not always a bad thing.

For many people, summertime is all about spending time with family and friends, getting outside, enjoying nature and living life to the fullest. Few seized that opportunity like Harry Walls, a devoted husband and father of four who lost his battle with pulmonary fibrosis in 2007.

Due to damage received in Tuesday's storm, the Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce building is temporarily closed through at least Monday, July 25.

Although the rain was not coming down quite as hard as it had on July 4, according to Bob Powell of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company, it was still “raining cats and dogs” on Tuesday afternoon, and the thunder and lightning of the sudden storm caused the fire company to shut their engine bays for a time to keep everyone safe.

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announced this week that, due to concerns voiced by many local businesses and residents, as well as state Sen. George Bunting, daytime construction activities for the Route 54 project will cease from now through Labor Day.

Emergency officials were preparing mid-week for an anticipated spike in the heat wave that hit the area early this week, with temperatures expected to be at or above 100 degrees Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 21-23. They were urging residents and visitors alike to monitor the weather and take precautions for their health and safety.

The Fenwick Island Yacht Club is inviting all seaworthy sailors and vessels to participate in their sixth annual Boat Parade on Saturday, July 30, at 5:30 p.m. Thematically-decorated boats will meet at Seal Island and will follow a course in the canals of Fenwick Island. All vessels, from boats to kayaks, are welcome to sail in the parade. This year’s boat parade theme is “Hollywood Meets the Sea.”

Due to impending inclement weather, Friday night’s performance of The Kitchen Sink: Music & Dance with Attack Theatre at the Freeman Stage at Bayside will be moved to The Dunes Room at DiFebo’s Bistro on the Green at Bear Trap Dunes, which is located at 7 Clubhouse Drive in Ocean View. Seating will be provided and is limited.

There’s something incredibly rewarding and refined about biking to the local farmers’ market in the summertime mornings, picking up some fresh produce and returning home to prepare a healthy and filling meal. Since the Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island and Sea Colony markets have started up, I have found myself doing just this on a weekly basis. From breakfast to lunch and dinner, and even for a snack, the local farmers markets yield a plethora of produce, a bevy of veggies and a profusion of fruit.

The Fenwick Island Beach Patrol will soon have an official home once again. Having used space in a shed behind Fenwick Island Town Hall as the base of operations for more than 20 years, the lifeguards will have around 640 square feet in the town’s planned new public safety building. That includes a meeting room, office, bathroom and shower.

While parades and firework displays will be plentiful this weekend throughout the area’s beach communities, Fenwick Island will host another tradition that has become synonymous with the town’s summertime excitement.

The Freeman Stage is hosting its first national act this Saturday evening, and tickets were still available mid-week. Two-time Grammy award-winning country artist LeAnn Rimes, who has sold more than 37 million albums, will be performing an acoustic set Saturday, June 25, from 8 to 10 p.m.