There are several events and festivals to visit this weekend. Click here. Kick off your weekend with a family-friendly movie at Soundside Park! Then dive into BBQ at the Cape Fear BBQ Festival.

It's Memorial Day and we urge you to pause and remember and honor our veterans and those who sacrificed their lives in battle. Our weekly tourism update is available here. Don't miss all the exciting things happening in Pender County.

TOPSAIL BEACH – The Town of Topsail Beach was named Best Restored Beach in 2016 by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) today. Only five beaches were selected in the ASBPA’s much-anticipated annual list of the nation’s best restored beaches. In addition to Topsail Beach, beaches in Galveston, TX, Highland Park, IL, Seabrook Island, SC, and Redondo Beach, CA were honored for their...

This week's tourism update can be read here. In this week's edition we featured Harrell House B&B, Dees Drug, and upcoming important dates. You may subscribe at no charge to receive our weekly emails by emailing tproctor@pendercountync.gov.

Topsail Island is a trilogy and a duet Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail are the three small towns that make up one Island “Topsail”. Each of the three towns are uniquely themselves with their own special treasures. Which one is better you ask? The answer is: Whichever one you happen to be in at the time. To further complicate matters Topsail Island may be divided into three towns...

Island Attitude When I stand on the sand and look to the sea it puts my life into perspective. So what if the dishes aren’t washed or that last pile of paperwork has not been completed? My life is good and all is right with me today. If once you have slept on an island You'll never be quite the same; You may look as you looked the day before And go by the same old name, You may bustle about in street...

It’s one for the money, two for the show three to get ready and go cat go, but don’t you step on my Sand Dunes. (You didn’t see that one coming did you?) I borrowed the lyrics from Elvis “The King” Presley to make an important point. Seriously Folks, locals and visitors alike. Mother Nature and sometimes mankind place the sand dunes there as our first line of defense. They are...

WATHA – Just north of Burgaw is a best kept secret that Luke Dooley wants to shout from the cabin-tops. It’s Camp Kirkwood, managed by the Wilmington Family YMCA and nurtured by the Friends of Camp Kirkwood. The camp is 200 acres including an 8-acre lake. Dooley is the new Associate Executive Director at Camp Kirkwood. The UNC-Wilmington graduate served at a YMCA camp in Alabama and 10 years at Camp Hanes...

ArtBeat of Burgaw is offering six weeks of classes for children and young adults. The classes vary from week to week and include painting, theater, drawing, stitlting (yes, walking on stilts!), horses, pottery, and writing. For more information click here. Visit their website at www.artbeatofburgaw.com.

Just when you thought it was safe to break out the shorts and T-shirts Mother Nature sends a parting gift – a shot of freezing temps. Not only is that bad news for the plants that we all put out but also for any turtles heading back toward the coast after a long winter at sea. It doesn’t take much for one of the little guys to hit a patch of cold air or water and become stunned. North Carolina had...

SURF CITY – The Surf City Ocean Pier may be one of the most photographed attractions in Pender County. Photos of the pier in the morning light and artsy shots from underneath make the pier appear as a cathedral. The pier strikes a pose for visual media and is a social media darling with more than 25,990 Facebook friends. Fans look forward to the pier’s weather reports, photos, and fishing reports. “The...

OK, OK, OK, Soooooo. . . . . . . You’ve got a real estate related question about vacation rentals. You can ask but I won’t answer until you listen to a story. Ready? It goes something like this: A really old man was sitting on a dock fishing. Nothing was biting but he continued to sit and patiently waited for the fish to bite. All of a sudden a frog jumps up on the dock beside the man. The frog says...

Experience Pender County’s Great Outdoors Pender County is an outdoor-lover’s paradise. With beaches, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Northeast Cape Fear River, the Black River, and a multitude of streams and creeks, we have boating, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding and jet skis adventures. With the Holly Shelter Game Lands, we have hunting and hiking. Go shelling on our beaches, walk a trail,...

Not every college student heads to Florida or Cancun (or wherever they go these days) for their spring break. For the fourth year we welcomed a group of “Terps” from the University of Maryland’s “Alternative Break” program. These eleven students (plus their Associate Director, Boots Quimby) are from the Integrated Life Sciences Honor College at the university. Their name for their annual...

Here's this week's tourism update from Pender County Tourism. Click here. If you wish to subscribe to the e-newsletter email tproctor@pendercountync.gov.