No time for chit-chat. This week's so full of events we've got to get right down to it...
The headliner this week, of course, is Outer Banks Taste of the Beach Weekend. * If you live on the Outer Banks and you don't know this already, you really should get out more. * If you're within a reasonable driving distance of the Outer Banks, you really should get in your car and come here. * It's a food & wine festival celebrating local seafood, local produce and local talent in beer making, wine purveying and cooking. The list of events is impressive and will take you from Corolla to Roanoke Island ISO the best Outer Banks tastes. * If you're the type who needs credentials, Coastal Living magazine dubbed it in the Top 10 Seafood & Wine Festivals in the U.S. of A...
We're talking wine tastings, tasting dinners, bagel-making lessons, healthy eating and cooking seminars with two of the stars of TV's The Biggest Loser, cooking classes, tapas crawls, wine-making and beer-making sessions, a fish fry, decadent spa services, coffee tastings, a chowder cookoff, oyster roasts, backyard barbecues, golf tournaments, cocktail parties, "green" food products, lots of live music and much more. * The Taste of the Beach Expo on Sunday evening gathers more than 20 restaurants and beverage vendors under the roof at Pamlico Jack's in Nags Head. * Look for events listed here on the Outer Banks This Week website in both the By Day and By Night sections...
The other Big Deal about the weekend is the Kelly's 21st Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on the beach road in Nags Head on Sunday at 1 p.m. * This is folksy Americana at its best; hokey, yes, but way fun. My kids are hoping those cars from Virginia with the souped-up hydraulics will be there again * Stake out your spot between MP 11.5 and 10.5 for the parade and go to Kelly's (or Lucky 12 or Beach Road Grill or Tortuga's or Mulligan's) to party afterwards...
Other little food-and-drink tidbits I've got include a "Spay"ghetti Dinner to benefit Feline Hope at Tortuga's Lie on Tuesday, March 9. * While on the subject, I'll plug the St. Andrew's Preschool Spaghetti Dinner as well. That one's on Thursday, March 11 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. * The Front Porch Café in Nags Head is having a Grand Opening party on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. I'll have the decaf, please... * On Wednesday, March 10 at 2 p.m., the N.C. Aquarium is hosting a seafood cooking demo/class/tasting with Montero's Restaurant * Elizabeth R and Co. is performing Bloody Mary & the Virgin Queen as a dinner theater on Saturday at Pamlico Jack's in Nags Head. It's a funny and entertaining history lesson, and Chef Lee Miller's food is really good, so it sounds like a good combo...
You can't eat and drink every minute of the weekend, so here are some non-food-related events, even one that will help you BURN the weekend's caloric overload...
The 2nd Annual Running of the Leprechauns 8K (5-mile) is Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in Nags Head. It all goes down at Kelly's Restaurant in Nags Head. Gotta wear green * Go to www.outerbanksrunningclub.org to get in on this one...
Gather your girlfriends. * On Saturday Roanoke Island Festival Park's got live tear-jerking theater -- Steel Magnolias - coming to us from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Shows are at 2 and 7 p.m., and good news -- it's free! So you can save your money for more eating and drinking...
Something else fun might be Johnny Counterfit, a nationally known impressionist who does dead-on impressions of famous people from presidents to country stars to Edith Bunker. He's playing the Outer Banks Music Showcase on Friday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Two opportunities to show you care include St. Baldrick's, in which you pay $25 to shave your head and raise money for childhood cancer research. That's at the Avon Fire Station; call (252) 995-5651. * Or you can go jump in the ocean at the OBX Family YMCA Polar Plunge on Saturday at noon at the Ramada in KDH. There's a lot of fun stuff afterward, and this one raises money for the Y's scholarship program...
If just reading this blog has made you full, maybe the Taste of the Beach is not for you and Outer Banks Yoga's 21-Day Guided Compassionate Cleanse is. It starts Saturday, March 13. Owner Michelle Smith is offering a couple of options for following a cleansing diet (not fasting) for three weeks, along with weekly support meetings and yoga classes, plus a GREAT deal on unlimited classes during the cleanse. Visit outerbanksyoga.com...
Even though spring is still two weeks away, you can feel it coming. Shops and restaurants are opening up everywhere, visitors are coming again and the ospreys are back. I saw the two that live by the Pirate's Cove bridge the other day. One was looking real skinny. Here's to good fishing for the ospreys...
If you still use a clock or a watch and not the iPhone that is strapped to you 24/7, don't forget to set those clocks ahead one hour Saturday night...
OK, gotta go * Keep checking the site all week as businesses and organizations on the Outer Banks are adding new stuff here every day. I'll be back with a new blog of Outer Banks snippets and events next Tuesday. And if you've got a business or organization that wants to get the word out about something - a sale, a special, an event or a fund-raiser - click on Get Involved just on the right column of this page...
Please put your 2 cents in. If you'd like to contribute or add your voice to this blog, you can do that below. Keep in mind that the blog comments are moderated so that this site is only putting positive vibes into cyberspace * We'd really love to hear from you...
About the Author Molly Harrison
Molly Harrison is managing editor at OneBoat, publisher of OuterBanksThisWeek.com. She moved to Nags Head in 1994 and since then has made her living writing articles and creating publications about the people, places and culture of the Outer Banks.
