12 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, May 30 - June 5, 1997
Memorial Day Weekend a mixed bag as weather takes nosedive
Rehoboth "meet and greet" program well-received; Lewes Chamber
reports strong business weekend; Dewey parking permit sales down
Compiled by staff
It was an all-too-typical Memo-
rial Day Weekend for the Cape
Region - a sparkling beginning
that degenerated into a rainy and
cold holiday as the days pro-
gressed.
The silver lining, however, is
that such weather lures the visitors
to the beach and then sends its
captive audience out to the stores
and restaurants in droves. No ma-
jor accidents nor incidents were
reported in the coastal towns, al-
though there were the usual fender
benders, unruly and ungracious
behavior, both behind the wheel
and under the influence.
Rehoboth parking
permit levels steady,
Rehoboth Beach City Manager
Greg Ferrese reported that the sale
of residential parking permits was
brisk over the weekend, generat-
ing approximately $43,000 com-
pared to $42,000 over the Memor-
ial Day weekend of 1996.
"It's the biggest week for sales
because many people are purchas-
ing their transferable seasonal per-
mits then," Ferrese noted. "And I
heard a lot of compliments from
residents who felt their streets
weren't as congested as last year. I
chalk that up to the fact that we
now have 25, 50 and 75 cent me-
ters around town, which the visi-
tors are using."
Revenues generated from park-
ing meters also increased over last
year's Memorial Day Weekend,
from $41,031 to $42,509. The
new change machine installed in
the easterly island at the intersec-
tion of Rehoboth Avenue and
First Street spewed out approxi-
mately $1,300 in quarters over the
weekend, even though the signs
advertising it aren't yet in place.
Ferrese also said that he was
happy to see that the resort transit
buses were not lingering long at
the Boardwalk tO drop off and
pick up passengers.
There were 34 traffic violations
and 17 criminal arrests for minor
offenses, with one out-of-town
woman reporting having the con-
vertible cover of her Saab slashed
sometime between 10 a.m. and
noon, Sunday, May 25 while it sat
on the second block of Baltimore
Avenue.
Summing it up, he added, "it
was a great weekend, not weather-
wise, but the number of people. It
was a very orderly crowd, with
minimal complaints, and busiiaess
was good.
The new rest rooms at Delaware
Avenue were well-utilized and
now I'd like to see new rest rooms
at Rehoboth Avenue."
Sewer flow indicates
people left early
Bob Stenger at the Rehoboth
Wastewater Treatment Plant,
which services both Rehoboth and
Dewey beaches, reported in mil-
lions of gallons of sewage
processed over the weekend as
follows: Friday, May 23 - 1.628;
Saturday, May 24 - 2.468; Sun-
day, May 25 - 2.672; and Monday,
May 26 - 1.980.
Sunday's high indicates that
many people did decide to pack it
up and head home early rather
than waiting until the last rays of
sun that finally peaked out Mon-
day evening.
Traffic on ferry
decreases slightly
Both foot and vehicle traffic on
the Cape May-Lewes Ferry de-
creased very slightly this Memori-
al Day Weekend (May 23-26)
over last year's. Vehicular traffic
reported was 7,069 compared to
7,218 in 1996, while passengers
were down to 21,625 compared to
21,960 in 1996.
Rehoboth merchants
look forward to crowds
Many business owners and their
employees are confident that Re-
hoboth Beach is in for a healthy
summer, money wise, although
some skepticism was in evidence.
"I expect sales to be a lot better
than last summer," said Lauren
Fuqua, an employee at Sierra
Moon on Rehoboth Avenue. "We
are increasing purchases by
putting items on sale and advertis-
ing the sales."
George Buchwald, owner of
Capriotti's, a Rehoboth Avenue
sub and sandwich emporium, said
on the other hand that with the
growth on Route 1, "everything
down here is suffering. We're
hoping that with the new develop-
ment downtown, it will help us."
Dennis Santangini, who recent-
ly opened The Great American
Diner on Wilmington Avenue,
said he had no complaints about
the v/eekend. "We were
slammed Sunday and Monday,"
he said.
But there was an anti-develop-
ment voice in the crowd. Court-
ney Smith Shrader, who has been
working for the beach umbrella
and chair franchise since 1989 in
Rehoboth Beach, said, "I don't
like it when people come in and
build exotic buildings. Rehoboth
is an historic town and I don't
think people realize that. If devel-
opment keeps on going, I'm going
to look for somewhere else to
live." Shrader added that there
shouldn't be so much "hype"
about working on the beach, "like
it was Baywatch or something."
With 437 retail businesses,
more than 50 restaurants and 142
outlet stores on Route 1, one thing
is certain - they are all looking for-
ward to seeing plenty of summer
visitors with a lot of money to
spend if they are all to survive.
Resort chamber
reports mixed bag
Carol Everhart, executive direc-
tor of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey
Beach Chamber of Commerce,
spoke to a variety of members in
the accommodations, restaurant
and retail trades and came away
with responses about the weekend
that ranged the spectrum from
fantastic to lackluster.
The Memorial Day 5K in Rehoboth Beach drew a record number of runners for one of the
kick-off races for the summer roadraeing series. Here the runners are shown at the start.
i II i I Ilt4lr-- ---- ................ " .........
Joe Bonk photo
Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry (right) was pho-
tographed outside Dewey Beach Surf and Sport, where owner
Harry Wilson said he rented a bike over the holiday. He's
seen here with two unidentified companions.
"We had fewer motels having
no vacancies than last year, but 80
percent reported they were full.
Some said they did a little better
than last year, while others report-
ed they did a bit worse, with Sat-
urday being the big night," she
said.
Restaurants, on the other hand,
"told me they were very pleased -
some even broke records from Ju-
ly Fourth weekend of last year.
With the restaurants Sunday
seemed to be the bigger day,"
Everhart said.
"It was a mixed, mixed, mixed
bag for retail stores - everything
from having too many customers
to not nearly enough. And this
went for downtown Rehoboth
Beach, Dewey Beach and the Out-
lets," Everhart continued. 'q'here
were no comments that I received
that enabled me to tie this all to-
gether. It's a real guessing game."
One new program - Meet and
Greet on the Boardwalk - was a
real success, according to Ever-
hart.
For one hour Saturday evening,
Chamber President Rob Marshall,
Santangini, Rehoboth Police
Chief Creig Doyle, Dewey Mayor
Bob Frederic, commissioners
Kenny Vincent and Bitsy
Cochran, Dayna and Chris Quillen
gathered at the foot of Rehoboth
Avenue, handing out salt water
taffy, information about the reso,
stickers and Smiley the Porpoise
buttons to all who passed by.
"People thought we'must be
selling something, but when they
learned what we were doing, they
were very impressed," said San-
tangini.
Another new program, "The
Smiley Crew," is also off to a win-
. ning start.
Chamber members are encour-
aged to participate in this program
which entails putting quarters in
meters which have expired or are
about to, and an envelope on the
windshield explaining the pro-
gram and asking that they enclose
a few quarters and drop them off
at the Chamber office.
"We got people in right away
with their envelopes, wanting to
repay us - it's a real feel good
Dewey Beach busy,
but not overwhelmed
Dewey Beach businesses and
town officials reported typical
Memorial Day activity. As beach-
goers flocked to the shore in
droves, the Delaware resort
braced itself for the influx of
tourists.
According to most Dewey
Beach officials, though, the town
took it all in stride.
"No doubt about it, Dewey was
the most crowded I've seen it in
six years," said Dewey Beach Po-
lice Chief Raymond Morrison.
He said despite the large crowds,
no major incidents occurred and
arrests were down from last year.
"People really seemed to enjoy
themselves," he said. "There's a
greater influx of people both
young and old."
"We had the typical Memorial
Day start-up problems," said
Town Manager Bill Rutherford.
"We had the usual nighttime
crowd, which puts the hardship on
the police department."
He said the unseasonably chilly
weather during part of the week-
end stymied parking permit sales
and discouraged many day-trip-
pers from visiting the area.
"Weather-wise, we were off,"
said Rutherford, 'q'hat resulted in
parking permit sales being off. I
think if we'd had a couple more
warm days, there'd have been
more people here."
Parking permits are sold at the
Dewey Beach town hall on Rod-
ney Street, and can be obtained
weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5
p.m., and on weekends from 9
a.m. until midnight, said Ruther-
ford.
Most business owners said they
were pleased overall with the hol-
iday sales.
.... We broke the last two years
records," said Dewey Beach Surf
and Sport owner Harry Wilson.
"Monday was a total wash-out,
but we had a strong Saturday and
Sunday. I couldn't be more hap-
py."
The crowds included more fam-
ilies than last year, he said, and
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