By Mark Darrough - August 17, 2018
CAROLINA BEACH — A summer evening on a Thursday night in Carolina Beach is a spectacle: thousands of tourists holding ice cream cones and balloons along the boardwalk, the bright neon colors of the Ferris wheel and carnival rides flashing down on Canal Street, and beer drinkers on bar patios all over town watching the 9 p.m. fireworks show – the last one of the year is August 30th. Local residents cruise the streets in custom golf carts while cyclists ferry tourists from bar to bar in the back of their pedicabs.
As Joanne Thomas took a break from her barroom duties at the Olde Salty to watch the fireworks out on the second-floor patio, she said that Carolina Beach offers an entirely different vibe than the quiet, upscale Wrightsville Beach.
“It’s so great, everybody is so friendly, so open and casual. We get a lot of people from Wilmington down here to watch the fireworks, a lot of families. It’s great that they do the show; it’s a great community down here,” Thomas said.
SeaWitch Tiki Bar, Carolina Beach, 8:10 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Carolina Beach Boardwalk Amusement Park, 8:19 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Craig Davis, 31, a pedicab cyclist in Carolina Beach, 8:21 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Carolina Beach Boardwalk, 8:29 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Carolina Beach, 8:30 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Karter Bougerse, 5, from Pittsburg, PA waves to her mother while riding the horse carousel at the Carolina Beach Boardwalk Amusement Park, 8:34 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Paul Ragan, 37, a resident of Carolina Beach and long time employee of GE Power, drives his golf cart down Lake Park Boulevard in Carolina Beach, 8:46 p.m.
The Olde Salty restaurant and bar, 8:50 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
The Olde Salty restaurant and bar, 8:56 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Joanne Thomas, an employee at the Olde Salty and a Carolina Beach resident originally from Ohio, watches the Thursday night fireworks show, 9:05 p.m., in Carolina Beach. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Samantha Morris and Will Darrough, both Wilmington residents, watch the Thursday night fireworks show from the patio of the Olde Salty, 9:07 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Brenda Armes, a Carolina Beach resident for 36 years, chooses an Aretha Franklin song – paying homage to Franklin's death yesterday – at the Olde Salty, 9:38 p.m. "She's the queen of soul baby! Aretha don't give bad music." (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
The Carolina Beach Boardwalk Amusement Park, 10:26 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)
Dylan Smith, 18, a waiter at Pop's Diner in Carolina Beach, 10:31 p.m. (Port City Daily photo | Mark Darrough)