THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409080197
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines
3 p.m. - Boardwalk at Fifth Street.
An estimated 13,000 people await today's headliners, The Temptations and The Four Tops. The crowd is a multicultural mix of mostly middle-aged baby boomers with a sprinkling of young adults and senior citizens.
When The Temptations are announced and the music begins, the crowd cheers and claps their hands over their heads in unison. They all dance and sing to ``please don't leave me, girl, don't let me go.'' Juliaette Soward of Detroit, a baby in her arms, sways along with everybody else on the Boardwalk.
``I'm a Temptations fan from way back,'' she says. ``Ten of us drove all the way from Detroit to see them.''
Those in the back of the crowd can't see the stage but it doesn't seem to matter. They're dancing even more than those up front. Green Run resident Lucille Christmas sits in a lawn chair, feeding 9-month-old son Gregory and watching 3-year-old daughter Calethia jam to the song ``Shout.''
``I do mind not being able to see them (Temptations) but I'm just enjoying the concert,'' says Christmas, a first-grade teacher at Birdneck Elementary. ``I think the parking could have been better - we ended up parking in a residential area. I hope we don't get towed.''
- Pam Starr
3:40 p.m. - Between Fifth and Sixth streets on the beach.
The Spuds Enterprises tent is the most popular with the crowd, next to Budweiser, and people are lined up to buy 1 1/2-pound containers of freshly cut french fries for $3 each. Owners Jim Valerio and Ricky Whitfield are cooking and selling the fries as fast as they can make them, sweating from the frenetic pace and the steam of the six deep fryers.
Whitfield, popping potato after potato into a manual french fry cutter, says that they've gone through 800 pounds of potatoes today.
``We've been around since 1981 and this is the first year we've made money on Labor Day,'' he says. ``The crowds are very, very good this year. It seems to be much more organized with the police and the music. We've had no problem at all this weekend.''
Over at the Budweiser tent, Hoffman Beverage serviceman Jay Davis says they've kicked about 45 kegs today, and about 140 for the weekend. A keg fills 120 of the 12-ounce glasses they're selling, meaning they've sold 4,800 glasses of beer today, and about 16,800 during the weekend.
``I think the price is too high, though,'' he says. ``Two dollars a glass is too much for beer.''
But judging by the dozens of people waiting in line to buy those $2 brews, price didn't much matter today.
- Pam Starr
4:45 p.m. - Atlantic Avenue at Eighth Street.
Three youths stand in the rear of a trolley, holding surfboards and commenting about people walking by or getting on the trolley. As the trolley makes its way north, the boys' talking becomes more irritating to the other passengers. One male passenger tells them to stop playing around but they ignore him.
The female driver stops at 14th Street and looks up in her mirror.
``You want off?'' she asks, pointing to the door. The boys look at each other and shrug.
``We didn't do anything!'' one protests.
The driver starts the trolley and looks up again.
``One more and you're off!'' she yells to them.
The rest of the passengers instantly cheer and clap their hands and look triumphantly at the offenders, whose faces are turning red. Surfboards in hand, the boys get off at the next stop.
- Pam Starr
4:45 p.m. - Fifth Street stage on the beach.
One way to describe what people look like when they're partying is to consider Linda Colores, of Albany, N.Y. To a four-four beat, Colores' shoulders move left, her hips move right, her shoulders left, hips right. Left. Right. Then clap. Bring hands low and clap, then raise them. Move your shoulders, your hips, then clap. And smile all the while.
This woman appears in one great mood.
``I'll tell you what,'' she shouts over the Four Tops. ``If they do this every year, then I'm coming back. We really like this.''
- Tom Holden
6:40 p.m. - Boardwalk at 24th Street.
Capt. W.W. Baker of the 2nd Precinct is sitting in a golf cart, conversing with a few officers. The officers' presence has been an overriding factor in crowd control this weekend, Baker says.
Police officers can be seen astride horses, on bikes, driving all-terrain vehicles, in carts, cars and motorcycles and on foot. Several sheriff's deputies are on hand as well, and many state troopers have been directing traffic and patrolling the streets. Baker says that they have issued ``quite a few'' summonses this weekend and had to restrict Atlantic Avenue last night because of the large crowd.
``We had the usual drunks and arguments,'' he says. ``It's been mostly minor stuff. Overall, it has been pretty good.''
Baker knows that many visitors are feeling intimidated by the number of law enforcement officials at the Oceanfront but says it's necessary.
``I've been down here when we've had half a million people,'' he says. ``When you have a large volume of people you have to provide police protection.''
- Pam Starr
7:15 p.m. - Municipal parking lot at 25th and Pacific.
Nichelle Brown of New York is angry. The police told her to get off the beach, she says, for no good reason. And two hours earlier they arrested a man for wearing a T-shirt that read ``I ---- on the First Date,'' she adds.
``He bought the shirt here!'' she exclaims, her brown eyes flashing. ``There are too many police around - they don't respect us.''
She was talking with Robert and Alvin Christian, residents of Princess Anne. The men say they hardly ever come to the Oceanfront because of the police. They think that African-Americans are being singled out for offenses and are treated differently from whites, especially during this weekend.
``They didn't do this on the Fourth of July,'' says Robert, gesturing at the uniformed officers patroling the block. ``I think a lot of people have gotten smart and aren't coming here anymore.''
- Pam Starr
9:10 p.m. - Wendy's at 22nd Street and Pacific.
H anging out on the bumper of his new Nissan Maxima, chomping on an order of greasy fries, is the only way 26-year-old Neil Wharcon can have fun.
Wharcon, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., glues himself to his shiny car to watch the young ladies pass, before heading back home from his fifth consecutive Labor Day vacation at the beach.
``There isn't anything to do down here anymore,'' he says, staring at a police officer mounted on a tall brown horse. ``It used to be fun, now we have to find our own fun.''
But the organization, police presence and restrictions won't stop Wharcon and his brother from coming down next year. And the pretty girls aren't the only thing that will keep him coming back.
``Even if it's boring, it's still a vacation,'' said Wharcon, who spends his weekdays repairing cars in a local garage. ``Besides, it's tradition. We'll keep coming because this is how we spend Labor Day, no matter what anyone says or does. No one can keep us from Virginia Beach.''
- Holly Wester
11:30 p.m. - Xeniks, near 20th Street and Atlantic.
Bar owner Xenophon ``Xen'' Kopassis sits alone at the end of the bar, gnawing on a distorted straw.
While two out-of-towners seated on bar stools munch on pizza from the sidewalk window, Xen wonders where the locals are.
``The roadblocks hurt us, but it helped everything else down here,'' he says, sipping on a cup filled with Coke. ``It was a good idea, but we had to sacrifice our locals' business to help out.''
But the dough in pizza land was just fine. ``It was the best weekend all summer for pizza sales,'' he says, smiling.
``We still crushed you!'' yells Chicho's owner Matt Falvey, who is just walking in to say ``hi'' to his neighbor.
Chicho's, known for spicy pizza and cold beer, also felt the effects of roadblocks, traffic restrictions and parking ordinances.
Although Falvey says it was the summer's hottest weekend at the pizza window, the night action was pretty flat. ``A lot of the locals stayed away from the beach because they anticipated problems,'' he says. ``Hopefully, the success of the weekend will convince them to come on down next year.''
- Holly Wester ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
To remember their Labor Day at the beach, Tonya Andrews, Tasha Clark
and Marcia Clark get their pictures taken with Shaiquan Al Jiafa.
by CNB