Beaches and Blueberries: The perfect surf and turf weekend BURGAW- There aren’t too many locations in the nation where beautiful beaches and bountiful blueberries are in abundance. On June 16-17, visitors to Pender County can experience plenty of both. “The NC Blueberry Festival features live music, BBQ, a 5K Run/Walk, a Shag contest, craft and food vendors, activities for children, and of course,...
The Kiwanis Club of Hampstead celebrated 20 years of impacting the community. On March 31, the Kiwanis Club gathered at Kiwanis Park on Sloop Point Loop Road to commemorate 20 years of community service as well as with two ribbon cutting ceremonies. The first ribbon cutting ceremony was the official opening of the special needs playground. Built with reinvestment dollars from Trillium Health Resources and Pender...
We have a lot of perennials around our hospital, thanks to hardworking volunteers who spend hours planting, mulching and basically just keeping us looking like a “yard-of-the-month” candidate. But for the past five years we’ve looked forward to the appearance of a very special perennial, a lesser known variety from Maryland, “The Terps.” Students in the Integrated Life Sciences Honors College...
CURRIE, NC – Moores Creek National Battlefield will be hosting its annual Junior Ranger Day on Saturday, April 15th, 2017. The event is free to the public. It will begin at 10:00am and continue until 4:00pm. Visitors are encouraged to check in at the Visitor Center when they arrive. Junior Ranger Program The Junior Ranger Program is a fun way to explore the park. Although the program is designed for those ages...
HAMPSTEAD – Olde Point Country Club has been a staple of the Hampstead community and with new ownership it will become the Country Club destination it was always meant to be. The New Olde Point is committed to becoming the social center of Hampstead to golf, gather and dine. After the sale on Jan. 19. 2017 the remodeling and course improvements began. New paint, floors, and improvements have been made...
4-H Summer Fun Days - 2017 To register for ALL 4-H camps you must make an appointment with Reatha Hoffman - Extension Admin Secretary, to set up your registration time. Day Camp Registration Deadline: May 25, 2017 by 6:00 PM. You will not be able to reserve any camps until you have made payment and filled out the registration packet.Please do not mail your payment or registration form. You must set up an appointment...
Jean Beasley, founder and director of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, was one of a trio of tourism leaders who were welcomed into the "Winners Circle." The award, from Visit North Carolina, the state tourism agency, originated in 2004. Previous recipients include Richard Petty, charter member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame; Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers; and Hugh...
ROCKY POINT – There are two hospitals in Pender County that offer care to injured endangered species – the sea turtle hospital and the Cape Fear Raptor Center. Both are dedicated to health of a species. Both stress education of the human population. Both are the efforts of volunteers. Both are dedicated to returning their patients into the wild. The Cape Fear Raptor Center is dedicated to compassionate...
This week we’re covering the basics of rehabilitation – getting sick and injured sea turtles back home. Most of the sick and wounded coming through our doors can generally be grouped into a few categories: predatory (shark or other natural enemy), human interaction (boat strike, prop wounds and fishing gear entanglement), pollution of their habitat (plastic waste, litter, toxic chemicals, balloons), cold-stuns...
If you're an advid golfer, you wouldn't think golf and sand go well together - especially if you find yourself in a sandtrap. But for Pender County, golf and sand go hand in hand. On May 1-7, the Wells Fargo Golf Championship is coming to Eagle Point, a beautiful and exclusive golf course on the Intracoastal Waterway. One of the major parking areas will be in Hampstead, an unincorporated community in Pender...
HAMPSTEAD – Davis Canady and Emily Smith’s dance class schedule is exhausting just to read. They teach Beginner Rumba, Shag Basics, West Coast Swing, and a host of other styles, in addition to private lessons and classes for children. “I started teaching dance in 1992 – that’s 26 years this month,” said Davis, of Dancing Davis Studios. Nineteen years ago, Emily was...
HAMPSTEAD- Burney’s Sweets & More, a Southeastern North Carolina favorite, from Clinton to Southport, has opened in Hampstead. Located at 14542 US Hwy 17, in the Hampstead Station shopping plaza, Burney’s Sweets & More is owned by William and Milushka Reed. It’s a family franchise with the original Burney’s granddaughter working in Hampstead, as well as Milushka’s mother, Nora. ...
The Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) is 1170 miles of adventure from Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smokey Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks. Some portions are strenuous. Some paths meander along rivers and lakes. This year, the concept of the trail will be 40 years old this September. More than 700 miles is completed and the state recognized the MST as an official state trail in 2000. The...
Hampstead, NC - Team Inspire, a group of local women bound together by the desire to help families dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues, will run from Roanoke Rapids to Surf City, North Carolina this spring. The 170+more than 170-mile trek will begin on May 4. The group plans to cover more than 50 miles per day, arriving in Surf City May 7. A finish party is set for May 7, from 2 - 5 p.m. at Soundside...
What's new in Pender County Tourism? Click here.
Two favorite restaurants, loved by locals and vacationers alike, are relocating and expanding. Surf City BBQ is leaving their North New River Road location and moving to 13500 NC Hwy 50/210 in the Gateway Plaza. Surf City BBQ, owned by Guy and Rebecca Royal, opened nearly four years ago. Home Port Restaurant & Pub, located at 718 S. Anderson Blvd. in Topsail Beach, is moving to Hampstead Town...
Generally, the week after Christmas through mid-January is a quiet time in the tourism office. It’s the time we clean files, organize, and complete the last edits of the visitor guide. Not this year. And we’re not complaining. Pender County is one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina and we can attest to that with the addition of several new businesses and expansion of others. This...
Things have been relatively calm at our hospital. We can thank the winter that didn’t happen - yet - for the fact that we’re not inundated with cold-stunned turtles - not that our volunteers are complaining in any way about it. We do have quite a few New England Kemp’s and “local” greens in our Sick Bay that are taking some extra time to recover from their exposure to the first arctic...
Here is this week's tourism update, filled with news and dates of upcoming events for tourism and hospitality businesses. Click here.
It’s not easy to ignore the siren song of our patients. Often it starts out with only one volunteer from a family signing on, but quickly a second, third or even more of them are cleaning tanks, treating wounds and educating our visitors during tours of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. Long-time volunteer Sandy Sly has been working with both our beach program and our hospital since...
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If you were feeling the chill when the arctic blast blew in this past weekend you weren’t alone. For any sea turtle still around our inshore waters when the temps plunged into the 20’s they were most likely beyond chilled – they were stunned – literally. Yep – it’s our (not favorite) season at the hospital: cold-stunning season. While we were enjoying our extended warmth into December...
On September 9, 1977, Howard Lee, then the NC Secretary of Natural Resources and Community Development, made an audacious speech to a National Trails Symposium at Lake Junaluska in Haywood County which has fired the imaginations and energy of NC trail enthusiasts ever since. In that speech, Lee recommended that North Carolina build a “state trail from the mountains to the coast, a trail leading through communities...
Pender County, Surf City and Topsail Beach have bounced back from Hurricane Matthew. Interstate 40 was closed for a short period of time but it is open and power has been restored. Moores Creek National Battlefield is currently closed and Poplar Grove Plantation has several trees down. For the latest happenings in tourism click here.
Hurricane Matthew has changed many of our area's activities and plans. For a list of postponements and cancellations, click here.
