Hooray Beach!!
As you may have heard, the Town of Wrightsville Beach has voted to lift some restrictions for beach goers!! Beginning at 5pm today, “Beaches are now open for all activities such as sunbathing, fishing, games, etc., that are not otherwise regulated by the Wrightsville Beach town code.” For us, this means we will be able to offer our full service. We’re gathering materials and working on policies and procedures to ensure our equipment is safe for use each day. We also ask that customers follow guidelines set forth by the CDC, as well as local, state, and national leaders.
Along with with the beach, they’ve also opened additional public parking lots, bringing the total to 6 public lots with 329 available spaces. All public restrooms in those parking lots will be open as of Friday, May 22nd. Keep in mind, Access 16 at Johnnie Mercer’s pier is affected by construction of the East Salisbury Street Park Project and will not be open this weekend. Also, there won’t be any parking south of Access 36. Here’s a map of open parking lots for the coming weekend
In addition to beach related restrictions, the Town also eased restrictions on Wrightsville Beach restaurants. “Subject to the issuance of such an Order by the Governor in the future,” meaning when the state enters Phase 2 of the Governor’s plan, the Town is allowing restaurants to dedicate 25% of their onsite parking to outdoor seating, pending Town approval. This will be in addition to the 50% indoor capacity allowed by Phase 2 of the re-opening plan for restaurants, set to take effect Friday, May 22nd. Social distancing, face masks, and regular hand sanitizing will still be recommended & required in some cases. We know the restaurants of WB will welcome this new phase as many, including John Andrews and crew over at South Beach Grill, and Oceanic Restaurant down on the south end have been working hard to figure out the best way to operate during this unprecedented time.
Here’s the complete press release, if you’d like to read it.
With that being said, just as it has been since this pandemic began, this will be a unique Memorial Day weekend at Wrightsville Beach. If you have lodging on the beach, you shouldn’t have any issues. If not, and with parking severely limited (keep in mind no street parking is available and the parks are still closed) it will be almost impossible to drive over and find parking. Even our normally strategy of an early arrival is not guaranteed to work this coming weekend. Uber could be an option, if you’re staying off the island, as they’ve recently unveiled their new “Door to Door Safety Standard” initiative. Of course, walking or biking is always a good option. If you do come down be sure to grab some take out from somewhere local, here’s a list of places open in the area.
While we want everyone to enjoy the beach, if you can wait a little longer to make a trip we would suggest it. We have a feeling a day trip will be much easier in the near future. Again, we encourage everyone to adhere to guidelines set forth by local, state, and national leaders, and please stay safe and healthy. We look forward to seeing y’all soon! ⛱☀️
