More than 200 people came out to the Oceanic Restaurant and Crystal Pier to meet Wrightsville Beach elected officials, chamber of commerce members and their neighbors for the Wrightsville Beach Chamber’s Third Annual Oyster Roast on Nov. 1.
The event, usually scheduled just before Election Day, is an opportunity for locals to meet candidates and discuss prominent issues.
“It’s a great atmosphere here,” said Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair.
The oyster roast gave people an opportunity to mingle with the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen. All five members were there.
Blair said the gathering gave the local politicians an opportunity to meet with locals in an election year when both the mayor and the two aldermen up for re-election weren’t challenged.
“You don’t want people to become disengaged from the process,” Blair said. “It’s important to keep up the enthusiasm.”
That engagement will be necessary, Blair said, when the board takes on some of the issues the town will face in coming months, including fixing the town’s water and sewer system and figuring out how to fund coastal storm damage reduction efforts, like beach renourishment.
Before the oyster roast, members of the board and Wrightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce members hosted a reception where the public could meet elected officials and learn more about the town’s issues and governance. One of the goals of the reception was to find residents who were interested in becoming members on other boards that help govern the town, including the planning board, the parks and recreation committee and the historic landmark commission.
Alderman Hank Miller said they identified about half a dozen applicants for positions on those boards.
But it wasn’t just locals at the event, as many people crossed the bridge to enjoy the feast of oysters, which just came into season Oct. 15.
“There are quite a few people here not from Wrightsville Beach,” Blair noted.
All told, at least 230 people attended the event, which served up 40 bushels of oysters, said Scott Fagan, Oceanic manager. He said it seemed like about a 30 percent increase in attendance from the 2014 event. The oysters came from Topsail and from the Pamlico Sound in the Outer Banks, he said.
“It brings the locals back out,” Fagan said. “It’s a good thing for the community.”
One reason for the good turnout was the amiable weather, which was sunny and clear, with temperatures in the 70s. Or, as Miller described it, “chamber of commerce weather.”
For Jim Sheegog, who splits his time between Chapel Hill and Wrightsville Beach, the event gives him the opportunity to catch up with neighbors.
“I really love the atmosphere here,” he said. “It gives me the chance to see people I haven’t seen in a while and catch up with old friends.”
Blockade Runner Beach Resort owner Mary Baggett said the event was a success this year.
“It was a fabulous turnout for our local community and all of our local businesses,” she said.
In addition to promoting local business, the event also raised money for the chamber’s efforts to restore the Howell Cottage, home of the chamber and Wrightsville’s Visitors Center, located in Wrightsville Beach’s historic square off Salisbury Street, as well as Wrightsville Beach School’s PTA, said Sue Bulluck, chamber president.
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