Sailabrations, Celebrations & Good Vibrations!

For a list of festivals and events scheduled throughout Pamlico County, visit our Chamber's web site at www.pamlicochamber.com/N_Visit_Pamlico/FestivalsEvents.htm.

NC LASER MASTERS REGATTA

The Oriental Dingly Club provides both small and large boat owners an opportunity to race one-design and PHRF sailing events and enjoy related social gatherings on the Neuse River. Starting with a small fleet of Lasers and JY-15s, the club has grown to include Etchells, Ensigns, Lasers and PHRF spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats.

The club holds races throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall. Their race committee boat is rather unique: while the committee refers to her as the "African Queen", she is actually a retired Navy Motor Whaleboat.

The 11th annual NC Masters Regatta was held this year on June 23 and 24. Their Solo Race, held in October, is always a high point of the season. For pictures and details from the June race, go to www.towndock.net/lasermasters2007.htm.

SUMMER SOLSTICE SAILABRATION

Sponsored by the Whortonsville Yacht and Tractor Club (aka Ensign Harbor), the Summer Solstice Sailebration has some of the friendliest yacht racing around. The race is a pursuit handicap where slower boats start earlier in the day than faster boats.

All boats must complete the same 10-mile race course and whoever crosses the finish line first wins. No boat has ever won twice due to the unique handicap system in place. The unusual sailing trophy is a real cup filled with cookies baked by last year's champion!

For pictures and details from the 2007 race, go to www.towndock.net/whortonsvillecup2007.htm.

CROAKER FESTIVAL

The Croaker Festival returns to Oriental each year on the first weekend in July with the small-town flavor locals and visitors love. It honors one of the most plentiful of local fish that croaks when it's caught.

A street dance and Croaker Queen contest starts off the weekend on Friday. Festivities pick back up on Saturday morning with a parade down Broad Street.

At Lou Mac Park you'll find street vendors, refreshments, games, live bands and more. If you're still not tired after all that, stick around and watch a magnificent fireworks display! For details go to www.croakerfestival.com.

ORIENTAL CUP REGATTA

First arranged in 1989, the Oriental Cup Regatta is both a premier sailing event and fundraiser for the Bill Harris Memorial Scholarship Fund. The event is held in June every year to avoid the height of hurricane season. It is a complete weekend of racing and good times with music on Friday night, the race and dinner/dancing on Saturday and an awards brunch on Sunday.

NC PHRF Rating: If you do not have a valic NC PHRF Certificate, you can request a "Rating Request Form." Contact Mark Weinheimer at 252-249-3001. There is a $10.00 charge for 1-year and $25.00 for 3-year certificate. If you wait until the night of registration to obtain a rating, you may receive a less than advantageous rating.

Direct inquiries, registration fees and race entry forms to Oriental Cup Regatta, PO Box 1064, Oriental, NC 28571. Or contact Marsha Paplham at 252-249-0334.

TARPON TOURNAMENT

Sponsored by Oriental's Rotary Club, the Tarpon Tournament takes place in late July and brings lots of anglers to Oriental for some of the most interesting fishing possible. As always, all proceeds support the Rotary Club's annual scholarships for Pamlico County highschool seniors.

All participation is welcome. You can come and fish and try for a share of the prize money or come as an observer. Observers are critical to the tournament's success as this is a catch and release event. Plus you get a couple of days on the beautiful water surrounding Pamlico County.

Tarpon, which average 100 pounds in size, summer in the Pamlico Sound and Neuse River and provide exciting engagements with competing anglers. For a tournament brochure and entry form, go to www.orientalrotary.org.

New in 2007! North Carolina has a Saltwater Fishing License. It is required for fishing in the rivers and any tributaries. More information is available at www.ncfisheries.net/recreational.htm.

SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

The Spirit of Christmas officially opens the holidays in Oriental on the 2nd Saturday in December. Homes and businesses are gaily decorated, streets are lined with luminaries and Santa arrives on, what else, a Coast Guard craft . Merchants and galleries hold open house with refreshments and live entertainment and decorated boats light up the harbor. The evening ends with a lighting of the Oriental star at the harbor.

DRAGON RUN

New Year's Eve on the coast can be a quiet night of television, the distant crackle of popping firecrackers and snoozing off to another year. But not in Oriental! In Oriental, New Year's Eve is the perpetual start of the Year of the Dragon. Welcome to Pamlico County where money can't even buy a spring roll. That hardly matters, though. Chinese cuisine has as much to do with Oriental culture as Peking Duck at MacDonalds.

Legend has it that the last eggs of a famous firebreathing Chinese dragon were concealed in the cargo of the USS Oriental, the ship that is Oriental's namesake which sank off Okracoke in 1862. Somehow one survived and makes his appearance every New Year's Eve. But one of his brothers has reputedly surfaced in the river from time to time, and is known as the Loch Neuse Monster.

Appearances of the Oriental Dragon on New Year's Eve had its birth as a town tradition in 1965 by a group of weekending friends who used to come to Oriental every year to celebrate the holidays. That year it was too cold to be outside, so they fashioned a dragon head of construction paper and danced him around Oriental.

Now, each year, the dragon emerges from his secret lair and makes two appearances by the harbor. Propelled by 20-30 people who can't see where they're going, he dances around the streets of Oriental pursued by the rest of the clanging citizenry.

New Year's Eve is so relatively quiet in other coastal towns that Oriental is the night's destination for the livelier among us who pack up our Moo Goo Gai Pans and partake in an unforgettable evening!