THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 3, 1996 TAG: 9609030051
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 112 lines
It was a time for meeting friends, for partying, for music, for long walks on the beach, for romance.
``I've been happy for three days here,'' said Bob Kuhfahl of Bowie, Md., as he and his wife, Caroline, stood arm-in-arm on the beach, watching their boys toddle in the surf. ``Then I woke up this morning in a bad mood because we have to pack up and go.''
Like many others at the beach Monday, they were debating whether to fight the afternoon traffic - in their case, all the way to the Washington suburbs - or wait until nightfall.
``It's a great time to be together with the kids and relax,'' Caroline said. ``It's going by too fast.''
And suddenly, as the Temptations sang ``Please Don't Leave Me, Baby, Don't You Go,'' it was over.
And not just the weekend.
There may be plenty of warm days ahead, but Labor Day weekend officially brings down the curtain on the barefoot, sand-between-the-toes season people seem to love.
On a clear day Monday at the Oceanfront, vacationers had their last fling and the American Music Festival measured its last beat.
A presumed drowning Sunday night lent a sad note. Lifeguards seemed extra vigilant Monday in waving and whistling to anyone who strayed farther than knee-high into the still-dangerous surf.
Otherwise, Virginia Beach police reported an orderly, uneventful weekend.
The only thing wrong with summer is being bored, said Julie Kauffman, 14, of Chesapeake, sitting with friend Stephanie Day on a blanket, tossing bits of toast to eager gulls. ``But that's real easy to get over.''
And she'd gladly take the risk.
``Summer's a lot more fun than school,'' said the about-to-be-sophomore at Oscar Smith High School. What she dreaded was ``classrooms and halls and teachers and annoying people.''
Talk about dread: Jennifer Green and Jenna Tatum, both 15 and from Richmond, couldn't bear the thought of going back to school.
``I'm worried I'm going to fail. I don't do homework. I sleep too much in class,'' Jennifer said.
``I would rather, like, stay here than do anything,'' Jenna said.
``I'd like school if it weren't for the classes,'' Jennifer said.
Between them, the two had a total of 13 earrings.
``You get bored, you pierce something,'' said Jennifer, offering a drag of her cigarette to her new friend, guitar-playing Mark Perron, 16, of Virginia Beach. ``What I'm going to miss about the summer,'' Perron said, ``is all the kids coming to town - all the beautiful kids.''
The beach is a place to go with good friends.
``All of us, we're a package deal,'' said Theresa Brown of Richmond, who walked in the surf with husband Darryl and friends Lamont and Jackie Taylor. They will all be at work today after four days in the sun.
``I'll be missing the beach - the water, the warmth, meeting new people, getting out,'' said Darryl Brown, a welder who would be back on the job at 7 a.m. today.
The late-'60s music drew Jim and Nina Reagan of Keedysville, Md., to the Beach.
Nina, 40, was amazed at a young shopkeeper.
``This girl didn't even know what Motown music is. She looked at me like I was from another planet.''
Jim, 61, bearded, shirtless, wearing a headband, was not worried about fall's approach.
``We take the experience and go back home and savor it. It's not a loss. It's always a gain.''
The surf, still under the influence of Edouard, the passing hurricane, wasn't so good for swimmers, but for surfers and skimmers it was just fine.
Wally Seim, 29, of Virginia Beach, waited with his friend Adrian Bishop, 30, of Norfolk, near the 15th Street Pier for the right wave, then ran into the surf, dropped his skim board and did a back flip as the wave's energy threw him into the air.
``I live for summer because of the water. My wife says she'd rather be in Cincinnati, sometimes. But this is it - I gotta live by the beach. The good thing about the end of summer is the crowds will thin out, and that'll be great for us.''
And Virginia Beach is for lovers. On Sunday, four friends from Lexington, Ky., decided they had to have a day at the beach. Karen McDaniel, Larry Bradshaw, John Gifford and Terri Rowland got in Bradshaw's sport utility vehicle, set the cruise control at 85 and headed east.
They got a speeding ticket on the way, partied most of the night and crashed on the beach. At 4:46 p.m., McDaniel and Bradshaw shared their first kiss. Monday, she was wearing his ex-wife's engagement ring.
``The only thing bad about vacations is going home,'' she said.
Like dozens of others on the beach, Curtis and Stacey Byrd of Suffolk were building a sand castle with their children, but the kids are looking forward to snow.
``Isn't it something?'' he said. ``Here it's warm, and we can't wait for it to be cold. When it turns cold, we won't be able to wait for it to be warm.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot
German Baiza, 5, swings under the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier on
Monday afternoon. His family was vacationing from Hyattsville, Md.
Despite the warm days still ahead, Labor Day officially ends the
summer tourist season.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Four Tops, led by Levi Stubbs, crooned for the Fifth Street
Stage crowd at Virginia Beach's American Music Festival over the
Labor Day weekend. Vacationers were packing up Monday and taking one
last fling at the beach, already missing the summer, before fall
officially sets in. by CNB