THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607300129
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 231 lines
On a clear, warm July afternoon a young woman in a skin tight purple bathing suit strolls across a manicured patch of grass just off the Boardwalk in the heart of the resort area.
Extremely pregnant, she stops, places the flat of her hand against her abdomen and looks down curiously.
After a moment, apparently satisfied that nature is taking its course, she smiles, grabs the hand of a preschooler and continues her slightly awkward walk toward the sand.
A few minutes later, she and the child are back, walking more briskly this time and heading toward the street. Once more she stops, monitors what appears to be another contraction, then hurries toward Atlantic Avenue.
Though brief, the woman's appearance lingers as a small vignette in the larger picture of life in what has become the village green of the resort area, the 24th Street Park.
The small square on the Oceanfront is so popular that newcomers might find it difficult to learn that the park wouldn't exist today were it not for a group of determined citizens who a decade ago convinced city leaders that preserving the parcel for public use would be so successful.
The park's prime location is tied to the historic structure next door.
In the 1970s, the city and individual citizens had joined together to save the one remaining lifeboat facility in Virginia Beach, the old Seatack Station decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1969.
By 1981, the station had been spruced up, moved 200 feet south of 24th Street and opened as a reminder of the days when strong young men had put boats into the water in response to the desperate cries of seafarers in distress.
For the next five years, the remainder of the land once owned by the Coast Guard was used as a parking lot, a little more than a half-acre of prime Oceanfront property in the center of the resort strip.
In 1986, a group of concerned citizens, afraid that the open space would give way to yet one more high-rising, sun-hiding hotel, formed a committee to save the lot from development.
Maury Jackson, a retired stockbroker, was on the board of the Old Coast Guard Station then. He also was a member of the citizens committee.
``They had just established a 16-story hotel south of the station and we were afraid that they were going to build one on the north side, too,'' Jackson said.
Initially, the group circulated petitions, asking the City Council to purchase the land. Council rejected the petitions, so the group attempted to raise the money on its own.
Members sold T-shirts, issued certificates for 1-inch squares of the plot, which they sold for $1 each, and approached every possible benefactor they could identify.
``When we got one check for $50,000, we knew we were on our way,'' Jackson said. Eventually, they raised $300,000 and got a $300,000 concession from the developer who owned the land.
With a $600,000 bite taken out of the original $2.4 million purchase price, the group went back to the council.
``When they saw how many people were participating in the drive,'' Jackson said, ``then the city began to listen to us.''
This time they got results. The City Council agreed to fund the remaining $1.8 million.
Since the park was completed in 1993, it has become the focal point for feasts, festivals, concerts and plays. It also has become the destination of choice for locals and visitors in search of shade, cool breezes, comfort stations or a special event.
Jeannette Johnson of the city's Special Events and Film Office, which manages the park's appointment book, says the popular square has been the site for everything from church services to charitable hair cut-a-thons.
``It's been used for Israeli Independence Day celebrations, United Way luncheons, rallies (staged by) convention groups meeting in the city. . . you name it,'' Johnson said.
``Even weddings,'' she added. ``Small ones up on the stage.''
Most requests for group use are granted so long as they're not in questionable taste, aren't commercial ventures or the park isn't already scheduled. Some, like the one from an enterprising woodworker, are denied.
``You know those lawn things that look like mushrooms or a woman bending over?'' Johnson said. ``He wanted to fill the park with them.'' The man insisted that he didn't want to sell them, he just thought they'd make a nice display. Although, he had added, if somebody insisted on buying a couple, he wouldn't turn them down.
For locals and visitors alike, the 24th Street Park has become the place to meet family and friends on the way to or from a day on the beach.
Joyce Griffin of Salem Lakes shades her eyes as she surveys the beach from the edge of the park. ``There are 10 more of my family around here somewhere,'' she said, scanning the sand and the water beyond.
``We had a reunion over the weekend. There were 17 of us in all but just two carloads of us came out here this afternoon.''
A few minutes later, Griffin and half a dozen other family members are spotted walking along the Boardwalk, licking at the contents of paper cones dripping colored water from the tips.
``They just came up off the beach to get some shaved ice,'' says Joan Gossler, who has come from Ohio to attend the reunion.
Griffin, Gossler and their family were not alone.
Trafficking in shaved ice cones, cold drinks and hot dogs is big business on the Boardwalk side of the park.
Amanda Avery, a 17-year-old Cox High School senior, admits that a summer spent squirting syrup into cones heaped with ice is not nearly so dull as it might sound.
``You see every type of people here,'' said the Ocean Ice's employee, ``foreign, up North and locals.'' Most, she admits, are nice. Her one complaint is minor. ``The worst thing that happens is that people can't decide what they want.''
Avery's co-worker, Tiko Hamby, a 19-year-old Virginia Tech student, is a little more jaded in her assessment of the passing scene.
``I'm an old-timer,'' Hamby said. ``This is my third summer working here. I think I've seen every kind of bathing suit there is,'' she commented, rolling her eyes as a rather large woman in a particularly small bikini sauntered by.
Michelle Feyh, a journalism major at Ohio University in Athens and an employee of Uncle Louie's Hot Dogs, agreed.
``This has been a real learning experience,'' said the 21-year-old, who came to Virginia Beach as part of the Campus Crusade for Christ Boardwalk Ministry.
``I've just about seen it all during the month of July,'' she said.
The sun is starting to dip behind the hotels as Linda Faison, a Virginia Beach resident and housekeeper at a neighboring hotel, arrives at the park carrying a bag of popcorn, ice and a can of Coke.
She takes a seat on one of the benches, happy to get out in the fresh air and off her feet. It is break time, a brief mid-shift respite from changing linens, tidying bathrooms and vacuuming floors.
``I like to get in the shade for a few minutes,'' she explains.
Nearby, a man curled up on a bench far shorter than he is snores softly. His eyes are shaded from the sun by a single sheet of the day's newspaper.
Faison looks in his direction, shakes her head and smiles slightly. He is a regular at the park, a street person who blends into the scene almost unnoticed. None of the park visitors seems bothered by his presence.
While Faison is still sipping her Coke, the man stirs, looks around and slips off quietly into the crowd strolling the Boardwalk.
Break time over, Faison, too, prepares to leave the park. ``I really like it when they have entertainment out here,'' she says as she gathers her belongings and starts toward the hotel.
Entertainment is perhaps what the park has become best known for. Nightly concerts and shows draw anywhere from 250 people for performances by small local bands to 600 for full-scale musical shows.
``We have something on that stage just about every single evening,'' said Eamonn Byrne of Cellar Door concerts, which schedules the entertainment.
Among the biggest attractions this summer are the Dominion Theater productions of ``Pump Boys and Dinettes,'' a country-pop musical revue, and ``Forever Plaid,'' a musical comedy filled with 1950s style music. Both shows have played to big audiences at the Founders Inn Dinner Theater at $35 a ticket.
Both are offered free (minus the dinner) at the 24th Street Park. So is all of the other nightly enter-tainment.
On a recent Wednesday evening, Laurie and Brad Cummings, their daughter Amy and some visiting relatives are sitting dead center in front of the bandstand waiting for the evening's concert to begin.
With them are the necessities for a traditional summer evening in the park: lawn chairs, blankets and a hamper filled with cheese, crackers, cold cuts, homemade sandwiches, desserts and beverages.
On the stage, the Tidewater Winds - described by director Sidney Berg as ``a band in the Sousa tradition'' - are tuning their instruments. They are preparing to present a rousing concert of old-time band and show music, just as they have every Wednesday evening in July since the park was completed in 1993.
``We always brag about how we have so many outdoor things,'' Brad Cummings, who like his wife is a native of New York State, tells a neighboring concert-goer. ``It really adds a nice dimension to Virginia Beach,'' he explains.
The shows and concerts at the 24th Street Park are especially popular with senior citizen groups and those who accompany them.
``We make several trips to the Oceanfront each year,'' said Karen Kinsey, activity director for Lynn Shores Manor, ``and we always come in through this park because of the easy access and the benches.
``They love the music and they're always impressed. Especially,'' she added, ``those who have lived in Virginia Beach for a long time. They think it's wonderful, what has been done out here.''
For Kinsey, easy access means a safe place near the park to unload the nursing home's van and walkways that are easy to negotiate.
For others, ease of access is measured by the availability of parking. The opening two years ago of the municipal parking lot that runs between Pacific and Arctic Avenues at 25th Street did a lot to overcome problems in the area.
Parking is $4 a day during the week, $5 on weekends. Cars with a valid Virginia Beach city sticker get a bargain rate of $1 after 5 p.m. Although locals occasionally complain at the parking charges, few tourists do.
As dinner time approaches, a middle-aged man wearing what those who came of age in the 1950s would refer to as a propeller beanie comes off the Boardwalk and ambles through the park to the street.
He is Dave Norlin, a middle school teacher from Ann Arbor, Mich. He, his wife and children have joined friends and family from New Jersey for a week at a local campground.
``We take a couple of cars and leave them in the parking lot over there,'' he says, pointing in the direction of 25th Street. ``Four bucks a day for parking is a real bargain,'' he adds.
``You know,'' he continues, ``we come back every year. We really appreciate this place. It's nice to be somewhere where you don't feel like you've got to get your kids off the street at 9 o'clock at night.''
Then, the little wind-spinner on the top of his hat spinning in the breeze, he continues on his way to Atlantic Avenue. MEMO: PARK LINEUP
The following events are planned at the 24th Street Park in August:
Aug. 1 to 4 and 8 to 11 - ``Pump Boys and Dinettes,'' 8 p.m.
Aug. 6, 13, 20 and 27 - Kyle Davis (acoustic), 7 to 9:15 p.m.
Aug. 7 and 14 - Continental Army Band, 7 to 9:15 p.m.
Aug. 15 to 18 and 22 to 25 - ``Forever Plaid,'' 8 p.m.
Aug. 21 - Liberation (variety), 7 to 9:15 p.m.
Aug. 26 - Good Life (variety), 7 to 9:15 p.m.
Aug. 28 - Zion Wave (reggae), 7 to 9:15.p.m.
For information on performances, call the Visitor Information Center
at 491-7866 (491-SUNN). For information on scheduling an event at the
park, call the Special Events and Film Office at 437-4800. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos and color cover photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
A family strolls through the 24th Street Park, the perfect place to
top off a day at the beach.
ABOVE: Tom Garswick and his daughter, Corey, 3, who are vacationing
from Chicago, watch the Tidewater Winds Concert Band at the 24th
Street Park. ``This is a lot nicer than Florida,'' Garswick said of
the open-air square by the Boardwalk.
AT LEFT: The park also attracts the locals. Laurie and Brad
Cummings, with their daughter, Amy, 7, toast the warm, summer
evening before digging in to a hamper filled with cheese, crackers,
cold cuts, homemade sandwiches, desserts and beverages. It was their
fourth outing in a row for a Wednesday night concert.
AT RIGHT: Virginia Beach resident Joyce Griffin shares a laugh with
relatives Jim and Joan Gossler, from Brookfield, Ohio, who came east
for a family reunion. Two carloads of the relatives came to see the
sights at the Oceanfront.
AT LEFT: Amanda Avery, a 17-year-old Cox High School senior and an
Ocean Ice's employee, admits that a summer spent squirting syrup
into cones heaped with ice is not nearly so dull as it might sound.
``You see every type of people here,'' she said, ``foreign, up
North and locals.'' Most, she admits, are nice. Her one complaint
is minor. ``The worst thing that happens is that people can't
decide what they want.'' by CNB