The pace of the Isle is picking up with an influx of visitors and friends crossing that bridge to hang out and enjoy what “locals” hopefully don’t take for granted.  Parrot Heads got into the summer spirit at our regular PHirst PHriday PHlocking  at the Emerald Club with PHunky tunes by Scearce and Ketner out in the Tiki Patio while enjoying some great grub and crazy games.  Special guest Chef Jack Synan and his trusty assistant James “I’ll Have Another” Hicks were on hand to cook up a bunch of Jack’s world renowned beer can chickens.   Supplement that with Eddie’s salads and such and you’ve got a great feast for the PHlock to enjoy while laughing at a variety of dressed up loonies.  The theme for this event was “Solid Gold Summer” so people came dressed up in their favorite music era; hippies, Elvis, disco, whatever.  Good times, fun people.  We also collected pennies to help out Atlantic House (a recovery program for adults with mental health illnesses) with their Miles of Pennies fundraiser and added 3500 pennies to their chain.

July’s an R&R month; time to kick back, enjoy the beach, walk/ride/jog the Town’s extended multi-use PATH (hey, we just completed a new section with donated and Town funds that makes the total distance almost 5 miles), work with the Sea Turtle Protection Program (12 nests already!), do some fishing, and just plain ol’ lounge and live it large.  We’ll be resting up for our 10^th Anniversary weekend in August (3^rd through 5^th) with a PHlocking and then an Island Party on Pelican Island.  This is just a FUN raiser with Scearce & Ketner playing tunes, lots of grilled up food, swimming, chilling, games, laughter, and all around fabulous day in the sun coming by boat, kayak, canoe or whatever and enjoying what we have around us with friends and family.

And speaking of friends (nice segue, eh?) don’t forget to wish those Parrot Head friends a big Happy July Birthday, including… Marsha “Turtle” Horner, Natalie “Mrs. Super Trooper” Crumpler, Tara “Unwinding Lady” Dyer, Marilyn Acker, Pat Bills, Bill Lewis, Ann McBeth, John “Church Boy” Dyer, Karran McGlothlin, Carl “Coastal Outlet” Meeks, Robin Sanders, Sue “Susie Cutie” Swiderski, Eric McCuen, Margaret Wells, Janet “Fishing Treasurer” Lewis, Doris “Teeth” Black, Sandra McCuen, and last but certainly not least… Pat “El Presidente’s Neck” Haut.

With summer upon us and the number of people on the Isle and in the surrounding areas increasing like crazy, I have to remind myself and all y’all too… “Slow down, this ain’t the mainland”, “It’s only a movie”, and “Practice random acts of kindness; pay it forward”.  If you’re a visitor and reading this, please remember to respect and be kind to everything and everyone here and you’ll be a more than welcome guest.  One other very serious piece of advice… if you’re inclined to have a cold one (or two, or so), DON’T DRINK and DRIVE (or let anyone else for that matter)!  PHins up, and see you around the Isle.   Ken

What a great way to start the summer with fabulous weather for our regular PHirst PHriday of the month PHlocking at The Emerald Club!  The warm weather brought out a host of Parrot Heads to hang out in the outdoor Tiki patio and listen to foot stompin’, hand wavin’, butt wigglin’ tunes pumped out by our good buds and PHellow Parrot Heads Dickie Scearce & Jack Ketner.  Lots of good times and laughter among friends old and new with “competitive” Coconut Bowling.  Not as easy as it would seem to roll a coconut into a hula hoop but we still handed out 8 T-shirts to those skilled (well lucky, actually) individuals who rolled for glory.  Other folks who wandered in must have thought we were a pretty good crew as we signed up 25 new members to the PHlock that night.  Welcome to the “Party With A Purpose”, newbies! Carrying on during and after the PHlocking, we set out to help out the Friends of Atlantic House in Morehead City (a recovery program for adults diagnosed with serious and persistent mental health illnesses) by collecting change and donations for their Miles of Pennies fundraiser.  We also sponsored a hole in the Crystal Coast Civitan Club’s Charity Golf Tournament to help them out in their fundraising efforts for community projects.

Just a warm up for the grand event, however… our 9^th Annual Beach Bicycle Poker Run.  This is our largest charity fundraiser of the year that seems to grow bigger and bigger and more and more fun each and every year, with all funds raised going to the Hope for the Warriors charity that supports our wounded warriors and their families who have given so much of themselves for all of us.  Despite weather predictions, the day turned out to be beautiful  and we started registering a herd of people at around 1:00, shot out some free T shirts into the crowd with a monster slingshot (saving a bunch more for later in the evening) , and followed up with a bike decorating contest at 1:45 which got some pretty creative (and oft times a tad bizarre) decorations.  Gypsies, fruitcakes, and coconuts were all over the place.  Of course during the registration (and throughout the day) we drummed up more charity funds with a huge raffle with all kinds of items donated by generous supporting local merchants and individuals.  We topped last year’s attendance of 114 folks with 148 participants this year hopping on their bicycles at 2:00 and pedaling on off in no particular order to our 5 sponsoring stops: The Emerald Club, El Zarape, Rucker John’s, The Emerald Grill, & Paddy’s Pub.  Quite the sight to see the flow of bicycles zipping up and down the Town’s well used bike/multi-use PATH to pick up a card at each stop, party with friends, draw for door prizes, and get back to The Emerald Club by 5:30 to see who had the best poker hand from cards handed out by our hard working (thanks so much faithful Parrot Heads!) team of “Card Sharks” at each of the stops.  Despite a back wheel coming off of one of the bikes (many thanks to good Samaritan Ronnie from Hwy. 58 Bikes for his help in getting a Parrot Head back underway), some parts and pieces falling off here and there, and the rumor of an untimely demise of a squirrel (??) we all made it back in time, and $600 in cash prizes donated by the Parrot Head Club and The Emerald Club were handed out for the winning hands.  Time to collect on door prizes and raffle winnings, then out came the tasty free chow to feed the starving masses, with Big Drink on stage cranking out great tunes.  A fabulous fun filled day for everyone, and all in all with raffles, registrations, and donations we were able to raise $3632 for donation to a great charity, Hope for the Warriors.  THANKS SO MUCH to all the Parrot Heads who worked so hard putting this event together, our generous sponsors and stops, raffle donors, Mike, Pat, Matt, Erin and the rest of the Emerald Club crew, and of course all the fun folks who came out to Party With A Purpose.

It’s hard to top this event, but we do have a few more tricks up our sleeves with more fun events throughout the year including our 10^th Parrot Head Club Anniversary weekend coming up in August complete with a PHlocking and then our annual Sandbar/Island Party out on Pelican Island with Scearce & Ketner and Barefoot Wade chilling with us on island time.  Watch the Coastal Salt for details.  Hard to believe we’ve been partying with a purpose for 10 years, growing from a dozen PHolks to over 250; what a long strange trip it’s been…  And while you’re contemplating that and enjoying your summer, don’t forget to send best wishes to those good ol’ guys & ladies who are growing older but not up as they celebrate their birthdays in June.  They be:  Lovely Lois Harmande, Bettina Candelore, Gary Odie, Jack “Chef” Synan, Russ “Pelican Island” Davis, Brad Bills, Mickey Henrickson, Ann Stewart, David Harlowe, Lee Summer Williams, Randy Penny, Gigi Linder, Pam “Turtles” Minnick, Terry Passey, Gary Pontenberg, “Cap’n” Bill Gerdsen, Lisa Jo Brattich, Patricia Voutsinas, Barbara Meyer, and Kim West.

Stay safe out there, watch out for and help others, enjoy this special Isle, and if you’re having a cold one, make sure you have a designated driver.  See y’all around Town!      Ken

PHirst… a correction!  We had some last minute contributions to our fundraising for the Emerald Isle EMS and were able to push up our donation to $720!  These dedicated and trained folks deserve our thanks and respect for the great job they do in the community; never know when you may need ‘em, but you can bet they’ll be there.

With great weather upon us here on the Isle and surrounding areas, Parrot Heads flapped on out for our regular PHirst PHriday PHlocking complete with an Easter egg hunt, fun games, some great grub compliments of The E. Club and Eddie from the Piggly Wiggly deli, and of course fine fingered tunes cranked out by our Parrot Head buds Scearce & Ketner.  I guess looking for eggs was the warm up for the next event, our 5^th year annual Scavenger Hunt as ten teams of four got wound up to follow clues and gather up a bunch of interesting and sometimes strange stuff.  What a hysterical crew that brought laughter to all those they came in contact with on their quest for glory as the first team to find everything and get back in 2 hours to try for prizes.  Many thanks to this year’s prize and equipment donors: MacDaddy’s, Quiznos, Dairy Queen, Big Drink, Sweet Spot, the Parrot Head Club, Walgreens, Pacific, Bert’s,  Wings, and of course The Emerald Club.  The first place winners (with some possible chicanery? Yeah, yeah.. no whining) were the Stressed Out Ladies Unwinding Together.  A fun party unrolled afterwards with fine funky tunes by Big Drink and lots of laughs with tales of the hunt.  The best part though, was that the team entry fees ($200 total) all got donated to Martha’s Mission Food Pantry. “PARTY WITH A PURPOSE!”

A new members social held at Ribeyes brought “newbies” and seasoned Parrot Heads together to get better acquainted and schooled in the ways of the Parrot Heads; giving back to the community, making new friends, helping others out, and having a great time out of life.  Also, the Parrot Heads jumped in to help out the NC Coastal Federation with their Native Plant Sale and Craft Fair.  PH good humor and a helping hand loading plants is always appreciated by the Federation and helps them raise funds for the important work they do in watching out for the health and well- being of our coast.

So what’s our next purpose and party??  Why, none other than the infamous Beach Bicycle Poker Run on May 19^th starting from the E Club; watch for signs around the Isle for details.  Bike decorating contests, fabulous prizes donated by local merchants and individuals, door prizes at our 5 stops that we ride to (well, yeah… they’re close.  No sense exhausting yourself), raffles for great stuff, lots of laughter and fun!  That’s’ the party part; the purpose part is that all funds get donated to the Hope for the Warriors charity to support our wounded warriors who have given so much for us.  This is our largest fundraiser of the year.  Last year we had 111 rowdy folks participating and raised $3000 that was donated, so we’re hoping that this year will be even bigger and better.  Mark your calendar and come on out for a great time!

OK, so while you’re busy marking your calendars, don’t forget to remember the following Parrot Heads who bounced into the world during the Merry Merry Month of May; they be:  Bets Love, Jane Sewell, Dianne Tyrell, Wayne Young, Allen Ross Jr., Emily “Bennett” Zucker, Pam Harlow, Jeanne LaVana, Russell “Tax Man” Adams, Jean “Vice Prez” Jensen, John Henrickson, Sharon Alford, Kip “Artiste” Baker, Terry Groseclose, Bob Linder, Ken “Hey, That’s Me” Stone, Doris “Biscuit Lady” Speicher, Kathey Fairchild, Gina Mathis, and Janet Geisler.  Happy Birthday!

Stop, take a deep breath, and enjoy this awesome place we live in and the good folks around you.  And by the way, if you’re having a cold one or two, PLEASE make sure you always have a designated driver; everybody (as the Irish say) “Safe home”.  See you around Town.   Ken

Spring is finally here and the color of the month is GREEN!  Parrot Heads started celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early at our regular PHirst PHriday PHlocking at the Emerald Club with wearin’ of the green, St. Patty’s themed games, tasty grub from our bud Eddie (at the Piggly Wiggly Deli) courtesy of the E Club, and of course great tunes from those two pseudo sons of Ireland Dicky O’Scearce and Jack O’Ketner.  Good weather and great times!

That was just a warm up for the real “offishul” St. Patrick’s Day with our Parrot Head booth at the Town of Emerald Isle’s annual St. Pat’s Festival.  Aside from fun loving folks talking about the Club and pumping up the fabulous benefits of membership (like laughter, friendship, and mostly partying with a purpose; having a great time while doing good things in the community), we had a life size pirate cut out for free photo ops that got a lot of use from passersby.  We also handed out free Parrot Head bling for the kiddos, and had guest appearances by various Parrot Heads dressed in the role of Party On The Parrot just for giggles.  The Riff Raff Raffle took center stage though as this year all raffle items were donated by Club members; some fabulous art work by talented members and a variety of goody baskets that would please anybody.  All raffle funds ($540!) were donated this year to the Emerald Isle EMS who do a tremendous job in our community; they are there when we need them and it’s appreciated.  Great weather, tons of happy folks, delicious grub available, and lots of good music and of course some beers made the day a fabulous event.  Thanks to the Town, the Business Association, Transportation Impact, the Emerald Club and all the other sponsors and volunteers that always make this a marvelous St. Patty’s Day.

To make sure the entrance to the Emerald Isle was all spiffed up again after the Festival and with Spring upon us, the Parrot Head crew was out in force the next weekend picking up a variety of litter along our dedicated stretch of roadside from the 24 & 58 intersection over the bridge with our quarterly Adopt a Highway Clean Up.  As usual (sadly) we picked up and disposed of a ton of “stuff” that got thrown or blown out of passing vehicles. C’mon people, STOP LITTERING!  Next up on the Club’s agenda is a Town wide Scavenger Hunt on April 14^th starting from the Emerald Club parking lot (watch for time details on the E Club marque).  Then with summer coming in, our world famous (well maybe that’s a tad exaggerated) Beach Bicycle Poker Run on May 19^th with bike decorating contests, rowdiness and fun, and donated prizes and great raffle items with all proceeds being donated to the wounded warriors through the Hope for the Warriors charity .  An incredible event for a good cause that no one should miss.

Speaking of missing things, be sure you don’t miss the opportunity to wish a big Happy Birthday to the following Parrot Heads who popped into the world in the month of April.  They be: Wendy Merrill,  Phyllis Harke, Debbie Doody, Jim Bartell, Walter O’Berry, Annie “Mom” Hughes, Matt “Bartender” Morel, James “Hemingway/Papa Smurf” Hicks, Diane Hulse Wood, Gary Schroeder, James Jeanes, Janice Easley, and Bobby Brink.

If you’re thinking of joining our crew and partying with a purpose, check out our website at emeraldisleparrotheads.com for details, or simply show up around 7:30 the first Friday of the month at the Emerald Club for some fun, frolicking, and friendship.  Meanwhile, take a look around you and see what you can do to help out in your community.  Fundraising efforts to extend Emerald Isle’s multi-use PATH are underway, Habitat for Humanity needs help, the Sea Turtle Protection program will be starting up soon, and there are a variety of other charities and organizations that need our help and support, so GET INVOLVED and make where you live a better place.  Keep smiling, be careful out there, and we’ll see y’all around town!  Ken

By: Ken Stone

So, seems like we’ve made it through the worst of the winter; a heck of a lot better than last year!  Time to PHluff up the PHlock with our annual meeting to look back and look forward at the Club, what we’ve done and what we can do, and how we go about doing it.  Thank goodness for creative caring Parrot Heads.  We took a break in February (short month, ya know) and a good sized entourage of EI Parrot Heads PHlew off to Key West for some R&R and downright crazy fun.

As you are reading this, we should all be back in one piece and we’ll be jumping in to help out the NC Coastal Federation with their yearly cleanup/spruce up of the Hoop Pole Creek area in Atlantic  Beach on March 3.  Then a big event at the Emerald Isle St. Patrick’s Day Festival on March 17 where we’ll have our decked out Parrot Head booth complete with give-away beads and bling, and a riff raff raffle of great goodies with all proceeds this year being donated to the Emerald Isle EMS.  We’ll be talking up the benefits of becoming a Parrot Head and what we do in the community, have Party On the Parrot roaming about and rumor has it the possibility of Finz the shark and Cap’n James the pirate to say hi to young and old. We’re also hoping to get a photo opportunity set up (ah, the Kodak moment…) for the kids and we’ll just be having our usual good time, so stop on by, say hi, and help out the local EMS.

After a breather, we’ll probably try to schedule a Spring Adopt a Highway pickup to clean up after the big St. Pat’s weekend then move into another full month in April with an upcoming Town wide Scavenger Hunt on April 14, set up a get acquainted new member dinner (maybe April 24?), and we’ll again be helping out at the NC Coastal Federation’s Native Plant Sale and Craft Fair on April 27 &28.  The Merry Month of May will then be upon us and we’ll roll out our biggest fundraiser and party of the year, the Beach Bicycle Poker Run with tons of fun on May 19.  Decorated bicycles, major and minor prizes, and raffles of donated items, with all proceeds going to benefit the wounded warriors program Hope for the Warriors.  No one should miss this event!  There’ll be more info to come in upcoming Coastal Salt articles, so stay tuned and keep reading.

While you’re out there enjoying some warming weather and all that Emerald Isle and the surrounding area has to offer, don’t forget to wish a happy birthday to those PHriends among us who will be celebrating their births in March. They be:   Everette Grissom, Ted Greider, Suzanne “Cats” Lindley, Gene “Colorado” Harmande, Beverly Stenzel, Ed Palilonis, Jackie Alford, Russ “Retired” Johnston, Shirley Long, Carolyn Fowle, Betty Strader, Fran Nelson, Lanny Thomas, Will “ Mr. Chrystal Salt” Ashby, Joy Bailey, Debra Bejcek, Charles Rice, Collette Allen, and Mary Passey.

On a more somber note, we need to take a moment to smile and remember a long time good ol’ Parrot Head, Bobbie Wood, who recently passed away after a long bout with cancer.  A loveable curmudgeon with a heart of gold, he is sorely missed and I’m sure he’s looking down smiling at our Parrot Head shenanigans and wishing all of us and our community the best.  So embrace life, laugh, love, and lend a hand whenever you can, that’s what it’s all about.  See y’all around Town…   Ken