Sweltering heat did not stop 175 ocean enthusiasts from attending the 4th annual Surfalorus Beach and Board Expo on the lawn of Tidal Creek Co-op on Saturday, July 11. The four-hour event was a partnership between Tidal Creek, Cucalorus Film Festival and Salty at Heart literary journal that celebrated ocean culture and promoted environmental awareness.
As attendees browsed various booths in the early evening, DJ Quinn spun some surf tunes from artists like Jack Johnson, while the Michael Eakins duo provided laid-back acoustic music.
Vendors came from near and far to set up booths at the expo. Muspa y Mensa Boutique from Brooklyn, N.Y., sold clothing and jewelry from a purple-and-green truck. Local artist and jewelry maker Joanna Taylor, owner of Island Girl Glass, filled a table with her handcrafted sea glass items.
Nonprofit organizations, like the Children’s Museum of Wilmington, distributed informative brochures. The Surfrider Foundation also hosted a table. Ethan Crouch and Lindsey Deignan, the Surfrider Foundation’s Cape Fear Chapter president and vice president, stocked their booth with brochures describing how individuals can help protect the ocean. They also had yard signs and a petition to protest legislation that would, if passed, enable drilling off the North Carolina coast.
“We did pretty well. We probably got about 50 signatures on our petition against offshore drilling. We gave away 45 yard signs,” Deignan said. “It was a really nice event. People were very responsive to what we were talking about and they were excited to sign the petitions.”
At night, staff members of Cucalorus Film Festival screened “Beyond the Surface,” a documentary about India’s first female surfer, Ishita Malaviya.
“It was a free screening. The objective wasn’t to raise money. It was more of a community outreach event,” said Natalie Lentz, Surfalorus programming coordinator.
“We’ve been doing screenings, not associated with Surfalorus, at Tidal Creek for years. They’ve been close partners with us,” said Zoë VanDerPloeg, Surfalorus communications manager. “Last year, we did our board and beach expo with them for the third annual Surfalorus Festival. They loved it so much last year that they took it upon themselves to organize it and facilitate that this year.”
The Surfalorus Beach and Board Expo was one of two July events in Wilmington to spread awareness for the Surfalorus Film Festival to be held on the Outer Banks on Oct. 1-3.
The second event is planned for Thursday, July 16, in Wrightsville Beach Park.
“We’re having a screening of short films,” VanDerPloeg said. “This Thursday is a partnership with the Town of Wrightsville Beach. They are holding their WECT Sounds of Summer Concert Series with Selah Dubb that was already organized and we were invited to come and screen at the end of the event.”
Reggae band Selah Dubb will perform from 6:30-8:30 p.m., followed by the Surfalorus Pop-Up Cinema film screenings.
“We literally blow the screen up when we get to a location and we have a portable projector. We can screen almost anywhere,” VanDerPloeg said. “We are doing a collection of short films. There’s a couple from local filmmaker Logan Beam. We are also doing a short that was produced by O’Neill, the surf company. … We’re screening a third film called “Brother” from the surf company What Youth.”
While young children are permitted at the screening, the films are more suitable for older children, teens and adults.
VanDerPloeg hopes Thursday’s screening will be as successful as Saturday’s for promoting the Surfalorus Film Festival in October.
“Our call for entries for Surfalorus in the Outer Banks is currently open. Filmmakers are welcome to submit at surfalorus.org,” VanDerPloeg said.
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