During June in the Cape Fear region its comfortable, during the morning or evenings, to be outside. The blistering summer heat is still a few weeks away. June is my favorite time to eat at an outdoor café, to take in a ball game or simply to enjoy nature. From sharks, to bees, to a rare double rainbow, and a huge pretzel, here are some of the reasons it feels like we Live On Vacation Everyday!
Play Ball! An Evening with the Sharks
I grew up a huge baseball fan, and as a middle aged man the ball park remains a very special place for me. Legion Stadium here in Wilmington does not compare to a major league park, or even most minor league stadiums. It’s similar to a college venue. That’s appropriate because the Wilmington Sharks is a summer league team with players coming from a variety of universities. I love going taking in an evening game! I don’t know the player’s names, and certainly not their stats, and when they fall short it doesn’t have the crushing pain of watching your major league team lose. There is not that visceral connection. Still, it is an evening at the ball park surrounded by fans, with hotdogs and peanuts, a mascot walking around and the summer sound of the crack of the bat. The Sharks play until the end of August with most games starting at 7:05pm.
Haylburton Gets a B+
Here’s another reason we love living here! Folks care about the community and seek ways to make it better. This apiary at Halyburton Park off of 17th Street is a passion project from the New Hanover County Beekeepers Association. The enclosed bee park is managed by a beekeeper after opening in late 2022 in the park. It was a project ten years in the making! Recently the group held a honey harvest and shared the fruits of the bees’ labor with citizens in the community. Check it out next time you’re in this section of town.
The Double Rainbow
You can clearly see the one rainbow on the right, but if you have to squint and look closely to see the second rainbow on the left. I promise you, it’s there! It’s not a great picture. It was far more beautiful and vivid in person, but it still captures one of the things I’ve love the most about this part of the country. Beauty finds you here! Sometimes it sneaks up on you. You can be out to lunch with friends on a pier in Carolina Beach when someone at the tables screams “Oh, wow!” All of us down here have fallen in love with looking at the vastness of the ocean, but the sky is amazing, too. I can’t promise that you’ll see a double rainbow on your Carolina adventure, but some way, some how, I know you will experience jaw dropping beauty!
You’ve Got to Try the Pretzel!
Here is a nominee for the best appetizer in Wilmington. You’ve got to try the pretzel at Anne Bonny’s Bar and Grill. The restaurant is located on a boat that is permanently docked in downtown Wilmington on the Cape Fear River (that’s the structure in the picture on the left.) When you arrive you are greeted by a sign with information on that day’s sunset. It is an amazing view if you get there at the right time Anne Bonny’s serves the standards. Someone at my table got a hamburger, someone else ordered fish and chips. I got the shrimp po’boy. All of it was good. But the star of the meal was the huge soft pretzel that is served in a large pizza box with cheese and mustard on the side. According to our waitress it’s what restaurants claim to fame!