What’s ^
With PAlfc
By John Broclman
The Pafks and Recreation Com
mittee (PARC), formerly known as the
Recreation Advisory Committee, has
some exciting events coming up in the
next few months, so mark your calen
dars. While we can’t promise to have
ferris wheels and funnel cakes at every
event, the PARC has dedicated itself to
making our own brand of small home
town activities into something Pine
Knoll Shores citizens and visitors can
truly enjoy and look forward to each
and every year.
First up this year is the Carteret
County Senior Games that will take
place at several venues throughout the
county from April 19 to May 6. Register
now and join friends and neighbors as
part of the Pine Knoll Shores Olympic .
Team. The games include everything
from track and field to swimming,
tennis, golf, cycling, badminton and
other sports. There is also a Silver Arts
program covering visual arts, heritage
arts, literary arts and performing arts.
This year, Pine Knoll Shores is host
ing the one-mile, 5K, and lOK bicycle
races, starting at McNeill Park at 9 a.m.
on April 19. Come out and cheer on
the team. You must be 55 or older to
participate, and registration costs $15,
Additional information and registra
tion forms are available in town hall, or
visit www.ccparksrec.com, and click on
the link to the senior games.
Next up this year is the annual
Easter Egg Hunt for children 12 and
under, which will be held at 10 a.m.
on Saturday April 23, at Garner Park
on Oakleaf Drive. Last year, over 1,500
plastic Easter eggs filled with bite-size
candy were ferreted out by a crowd of
children.
This year there will be a bumper
crop of eggs and a separate section of
the Park reserved for toddlers only.
Also this year, the Easter Bunny has
promised to show up in person, and
we expect a great community turnout.
Cookies and lemonade will also be
available.
Next up is the second annual Tree
City Fair on Saturday April 30, from
noon until 5 p.m., at town hall and ad
jacent Veterans and Sound Side Parks
on Municipal Drive. Free parking will
be available on Municipal Drive and on
Pine Knoll Boulevard. The fair is open
with free admission for everyone, resi
dents and visitors alike. It is an annual
celebration of the towns recognition by
the National Arbor Day Foundation as
a designated “Tree City.” It is also a cel
ebration of the town’s unique maritime
forest and commitment to preservation
and the highest quality of coastal living
in harmony with nature. There will be
music and dancing (after 3 p.m.), food,
games for all ages and an arts and crafts
exhibition and sale. So come one, come
all. This year’s event promises to be big
ger and better than ever, like a good old
fashioned country fair.
Tree City Fair is being hosted by the
town’s Parks and Recreation Com
mittee and Community Appearance
Committee, in conjunction with the
Women’s Club, Garden Club and the
Public Safety Department. The mayor,
town manager, and members of the
town’s board of commissioners are all
expected to attend and participate in
the games and festivities. Last year, the
dunking booth, featuring a baseball
toss chance to dunk the town’s political
leaders, was a great success. This year
we will also have a “bounce house,” and
we expect to add several more games
for children. The Community Appear
ance Commission will be handing out
free trees once again, and the Garden
Club will have a plant sale. The Public
Safety will be selling hot dogs, brat-
wursts and drinks; the Women’s Club
will be selling its famous Eastern North
Carolina barbeque sandwiches and
desserts. This year, in addition to the
arts and crafts display and sale, many of
our local artists will be displaying their
works and demonstrating their draw
ing and painting talents for visitors to
watch, learn and talk with the artists.
Persons or organizations wishing to
have a booth to display information,
arts and crafts or possibly something
for sale are encouraged to participate. If
you or your organization would like to
help out in some way, have a booth or
possibly run a fun game or food vendor
operation, please contact Martha Ed
wards at edwardsmartha@hotmail.com,
or telephone 726-7643.
The final event we will preview is
the fourth annual Pine Knoll Shores
Kayak for the Warriors (K4W) event,
which will take place this year on
Saturday June 11, at 10 a.m„ at Gar
ner Park on Oakleaf Drive. The K4W
event is a fundraiser for the Hope for
the Warriors Foundation. All fees and
contributions are tax deductible. Last
year Pine Knoll Shores K4W events
raised $30,000 for the Hope for the
Warriors Foundation. With your help,
we hope to make 2011 even more suc
cessful. The weekend of events begins
on Friday evening with a reception at
town hall from 5 to 6:30 p.m. to honor
Wounded Warriors. The reception is
free for sponsors and participants, but
is open to everyone, for a donation of
$5 that will provide for some great
wine, light food and fellowship. A silent
auction featuring the works of several
well-known local artists will also be
held during the reception.
This year will again feature fam
ily fun bike rides of 5 or 10 kilometers
through the back streets of Pine Knoll
Shores. The bike ride begins at 8:30
a.m. from McNeill Park; a $10 donation
includes the registration fee and lunch.
The kayak race, which features both
single and double kayaks and paddle
boards, will begin at 10 a.m. from Gar
ner Park and follow a 3.2 mile course
through the canal. A $40 donation in
cludes registration fee, race t-shirt and
lunch. A Family Fun Boat Race, featur
ing funny boats and any paddle-worthy
vessel will be held in the shallow waters
of,Bogue Sound in the immediate
vicinity of Garner Park at 10:30 a.m.
The $20 donation covers registration
and lunch. Children under 10 must be
accompanied by an adult. Let’s bring
out those homemade boats, cardboard
boats, Merrimac and Monitor replicas,
and Huck Finn river rafts, and see who
has what it takes to float. After the race
there will be a picnic lunch, a raffle that
will include many items donated by
local merchants and restaurants, and an
awards ceremony.
New this year to the K4W events
is the annual PKS Hope for the War
riors Bicycle Race which will be held
on May 21, at 9 a.m. with a start and
finish line on Oakleaf Drive. This road
race, nicknamed “Le Tour de Bogiie
Banks” is geared to the more serious
rider/racer, and it will cover a 21-mile
course on Highway 58 west through
Indian Beach/Salter Path to the Eastern
Regional Beach Access in Emerald Isle,
where riders will turn around and head
back to Pine Knoll Shores and the fin
ish line. The $25 donation includes reg
istration, a 2011 race tech t-shirt, bib
numbers and pins. Water stations and
refreshments will be available at the
start/finish line and at the turnaround.
If all goes well this year, future events
will feature several longer race/ride
formats covering much of Bogue Banks
from Fort Macon to Emerald Isle.
The proceeds from all Hope for the
Warriors events will go to the Hope
for the Warriors Foundation, a civil
ian organization with 501(c) (3) status.
Registration/sponsorship forms are
available at town hall. Online registra
tion is also available this year for the
first time. For more information on
any of these events go to: www.kayak-
forthewarriors.com.
Aids to
Navigation Class
By Sam Sanford and JB Bagby
Imagine you are anchored in ■
your boat while fishing on one of the
many artificial reefs located just ofi^
the North Carolina coast. When you
get ready to return to port before
dusk, you discover your engine won’t
start. It takes an hour or so to get it
going. As you head toward shore in
the dark, you see hundreds of lights
along the beach. How do you tell just
where to enter the inlet without get
ting into dangerous surf? Once in the
inlet, how do you follow the narrow
channel bounded by shallow waters
without going aground?
Few pleasure boaters choose to be
on the water at night, but one must
always be prepared for the unexpect
ed when operating a boat. A clogged
fuel filter, a change in the weather
or my number of other things could
easily cause you to have to operate
your boat after dark. You are in for
an unpleasant surprise if you haven’t
studied the buoys and beacons that
mark inlets and channels. If you
haven’t learned how to identify and
use them to pilot your boat safely at
night, that surprise could be embar
rassing, dangerous or even deadly.
Don’t despair. There is a fun and
easy way to learn about buoys and
20 The Shoreline I April 2011