THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070248
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DARA MCLEOD, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 174 lines
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, an out-of-state license plate was a rare sight on the Outer Banks in October.
Most beach cottages were closed, and there wasn't much decision-making involved when it came time to go out to eat or do some early Christmas shopping. You went to whatever establishments were still open, and you called ahead, just to make sure.
But fall tourism along the Outer Banks has been gradually increasing for at least a decade. Most business owners say recent efforts to increase awareness of the pleasures of visiting the Banks in the ``shoulder'' seasons, especially the fall, are paying off and delaying the winter shutdown that used to come as soon as the leaves changed color and the northeasters set in.
``I've lived here all my life, and I can clearly remember when the beach used to close after Labor Day, and we never saw anybody again until the next season,'' says Tim Cafferty, a property manager for Kitty Hawk Rentals and president of the Dare County Board of Realtors.
``Now we're seeing the rates stay higher through the end of September, and some rentals are booked up through mid-October,''
Cafferty says. ``We're seeing growth from year to year right up to Thanksgiving.''
``I think people realize that there are lower rates available to them in the fall, the weather's still good and the restaurants are still open. So a more informed customer has made our season longer.''
But Cafferty says there are still relatively few requests for cottage rentals around the Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve, and even when they do get them it's often difficult to find any cottages that are still open.
And numerous signs can be spotted showing that some homeowners, businesses and restaurants are starting to shut down, waiting for the party to start again next spring.
``My thoughts are that of the however-many thousand beach cottages that are here, about 80 percent of them would be closed down to some degree, at least for December through March.''
Contractors who close and winterize summer homes and rental cottages say they start getting calls in early October, but the demand for their services doesn't boom now until just after Thanksgiving.
Daniel Bressette, owner of Pop's Repairs, has been closing and winterizing beach homes here for 12 years.
``We came here from New Jersey, where the weather was much more severe and people closed up earlier,'' he says.
Bressette says dramatic changes in the design and construction method of beach homes also has had an impact, allowing owners and renters to enjoy their cottages later into the fall and winter seasons.
``These are no longer beach bungalows,'' Bressette says. ``They've created nice homes that you can stay in longer.''
Joby Brown, of Joe Brown Jr.'s Home Maintenance and Construction, has been closing and winterizing cottages for four years, taking over the business his father ran for 22 years.
``My dad's always told me he judges it on the temperature of the Chesapeake Bay. By the time the Bay temperature reaches 50 degrees, your cottage should be closed up.''
A typical winterization and closing includes draining all water from pipes, sinks, showers, toilets, jacuzzis and traps, and blowing compressed air into the lines. All shutters and storm windows are put in place, deck furniture is removed, and the cottage is closed up and secured.
Experts say several consecutive mild winters lulled a few homeowners into thinking a complete winterization wasn't necessary, but last year's freezing temperatures and harsh winds probably will prompt many people into taking winter serious again this year.
But even houses that have been closed and winterized often don't look shut down, Bressette says.
``Most of the newer homes don't have shutters, and the window design is such that a closed house doesn't have a closed appearance,'' he says. ``The key is to make it look the same in the winter as it does in the summer.''
And while there are still some closings in the restaurant and retail industries in the fall and winter, a steady increase in fall visitation has resulted in significant changes in business practices.
``I remember in 1972, just after I graduated from college, you couldn't get a beer on the beach after 9 o'clock at night,'' says Mike Kelly, owner of Kelly's Restaurant, which was among the first Outer Banks restaurants to stay open year-round.
Kelly, who is director of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association, estimates that 10 years ago, probably only one-third of all the restaurants on the Outer Banks were open year-round.
Today, he says at least half are open year-round, although many may reduce their hours and their staff. He also says many of those that do close do so only briefly to do repairs, renovations or to take a break.
``I seriously doubt anybody closes before the end of October. A few will close around late October or early November. But there are very few restaurants that close for a very lengthy period of time anymore - at least north of Oregon Inlet.''
Penguin Isle Soundside Grill, which is co-owned by Kelly, is closed in January, February and part of March.
``We get a rest. We do what we've got to do and then come back slightly rejuvenated,'' he says.
Retail stores also are enjoying longer business seasons thanks to concerted efforts to bring more fall visitors to the Banks. Retailers in the Outer Banks Mall and Soundings Factory Stores are open year-round. Many other shops may reduce their hours as late fall approaches, but most won't close their doors until Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Angie Brady-Davis, spokesperson for the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, says more organized festivals and craft shows are helping to attract more fall visitors, and businesses have responded by staying open later into the season and for longer hours.
``It depends really on the weather,'' she says. ``Most businesses will stay open as long as they can, especially on the weekends.''
Stores that sell beach equipment or summer apparel are the most likely to sell out their inventory and close down for the off-season.
Surfside Casuals, a summer apparel store with four Outer Banks locations, starts putting merchandise on sale in October. The store will sell out as much of its inventory as possible before closing in late December, according to Kim Martineau, assistant manager of the Surfside Plaza store.
Mary Ames, owner of Tar Heel Trading Company, a hand-made arts and crafts dealer at Sea Holly Square and TimBuck II shopping centers, says she will gradually cut store hours later in the fall, but she will keep both stores open until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
And even then, the store's office at the Kill Devil Hills location is staffed year-round for mail-order business.
``We keep our inventory up in the fall and we really don't discount it because it's artwork,'' Ames says.
``Then we may shift inventory to the extent possible to our Key West, Fla., store, where it's just becoming the big season at the time we close up here.''
Ames has been in the retail business in the Outer Banks for more than 16 years, and she says fall business has been growing with each passing year.
``I've seen slight improvement at the other end of the season, but nowhere near as much as in the fall,'' she said.
Still, Ames says she can't foresee keeping her Kill Devil Hills store open year-round anytime in the near future.
John Bone, director of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, says the Chamber used to keep a list of businesses that are open year-round, but they stopped tracking it in the mid-1980s when the list grew too lengthy.
Bone contends that a winter shutdown really doesn't take place at all anymore, and that only a small percentage of Outer Banks businesses close in the fall and winter seasons.
``Thanksgiving is one of our biggest weeks,'' he says. ``It has been for four or five years now.''
Dorothy Pennell, manager of the Dare County branch of the N.C. Employment Security Commission, says the unemployment rate also seems to support the notion that businesses are staying open longer.
Still, Dare County's unemployment rate starts to climb in October, and continues to rise through February, before beginning its decline in March.
Although last year's shoulder season unemployment rates were generally lower than in the two previous years, unemployment grew to 5 percent in October, and by February 1994 it had reached 15.2 percent. It dropped back down to 9.5 percent in March, according to revised figures from the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
Typically, Pennell says, workers in the restaurant and lodging industries are the first to hit the unemployment lines, followed by retail workers. But many of these workers come from businesses that have cut their hours.
Pennell says the outlook for employment this fall and winter appears good, and that as of last week the unemployment rate had not yet begun to climb.
``It's still early to predict, but I think most businesses have had a very good summer, and that does have an impact on unemployment. When businesses have a good season they tend to stay open longer and keep people on longer.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page 17 of The Carolina Coast for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: FOR SOME, THE PARTY'S OVER
Cover and inside photographs by DREW C. WILSON.
Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
Janice and Randy Timmins of East Liverpool, Ohio, walk along an
isolated section of beach in Nags Head. The absence of crowds in the
fall encourages long, thoughtful walks on the beach.
Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
A lone beachcomber walks by a deserted deck on the Outer Banks.
During the summer months the deck's benches would be filled with
people.
by CNB