How Day at the Docks sprung from Hurricane Isabel
By Mary Ellen Riddle, from the Outer Banks Voice
Rising from the destruction created by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, Day at the Docks in Hatteras Village is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Sept. 13-14. The event, which began in September 2004, was created to honor the watermen who helped the community survive during and after the storm.
The festival has grown over the years from hosting only the villagers trapped in the village to last year’s count of about 2,400 people. But the message that is celebrated through the event continues to reflect the watermen and their part in the village’s culture and community.
The free family gala that runs from Oden’s Dock to Hatteras Harbor is overseen by the Hatteras Village Civic Association. It features seafood and fishing-related events, such as a seafood cookoff, chowder competition and kids’ fishing tournament.
Lynne Foster and her husband, longtime charter boat captain Ernie Foster, recently gathered at their Hatteras home with Karla Jarvis who currently heads up the event, and Sue Garrett, a retired Ferry Captain, who oversees the children’s cane pole fishing tournament. They discussed what’s on tap for the 20th anniversary and recalled the event’s memorable inception.
The group keenly remembers the Category 2 storm that created a 2,000-foot-wide inlet through Hatteras Island, effectively cutting residents off from civilization for two months. One of the things that Lynne Foster realized after Hurricane Isabel was that it takes a long time for organizations and the government to get down to Hatteras to do anything.
“But the people in Hatteras didn’t just sit and wait,” she says. She witnessed the many efforts of the watermen—from helping cut out sheetrock and pull up carpets in storm-ravaged homes to repairing the torn-up docks so they could get back to work.
Getting the watermen back to work was essential. The commercial fishermen worked out a deal with the state so they could get their fish onto trucks and then onto the ferry. The charter boat captains made a deal with the county to allow them to bring their customers down on a mini ferry that ran from Frisco to Hatteras as long as they were met at the dock, taken directly to the boat, and then back to the ferry
“Okay, so they were working to get Hatteras Village, all the docks, back into shape, basically, and keep their businesses alive,” notes Lynne Foster.
“No one else in the community could earn any money,” says Ernie Foster. No visitors were allowed on the island, therefore there was no income from rentals, restaurants, and hotels for about two months. But since the large community of watermen was working, money was spent in the community that trickled down to the people.
Karla Jarvis, whose husband is a waterman, was lucky to be able to hitch a ride on the Miss Hatteras head boat so she could get to Buxton where she worked at the Cape Hatteras School.
“After the storm left, and the community was getting ready to reopen, we had a little celebration, a firehouse dance, and a street dance, and the little kids were dancing in the rain,” says Lynne Foster. They had so much fun it was proposed to take the celebration to another level. She came up with the idea to create Day at the Docks.
Honoring the watermen remains at the heart of Day at the Docks. Fresh seafood, fishing, and tradition continue to draw in visitors.
“The chowder cookoff is key to everybody because they all get to taste all kinds of different chowders and vote on their favorite,” says Lynne Foster.
Also, a highlight is the seafood throwdown. Two community chefs are presented with a “mystery fish” that they must prepare with whatever ingredients they choose to bring in advance of knowing the “mystery fish.” Several judges will taste the dishes that will be created by Chef Tyler Naughton of Toucana Grill and Chef Brandon Power of the Froggy Dog Restaurant.
Kids compete in the cane pole fishing tournament that Sue Garret coordinates with help from Jim Lyons who originally conceived it. “He found a stand of bamboo somewhere and rigged up old-timey cane fishing poles with bobbers and hooks,” says Sue Garret. “So, we have a lot of local village kids…some of them are now mating on fishing boats that started fishing in the kid’s fishing contest.”
The festival also includes vender booths and refreshments and Day at the Docks fish print T-shirts for sale. All proceeds pay for the gala that costs around $8,000 to put on, says Lynne Foster. Also helping to finance the event is the Seafood Under the Stars five-course, wine-paired dinner that happens the Friday before Day at the Docks.
A community favorite – the nondenominational Blessing of the Fleet—which began the year of the hurricane, closes out the event. All working boats meet out in the sound and line up and then parade back one by one to the harbor to dock. As they arrive, their names are called out.
The last vessel to come in is the Coast Guard vessel, like a shepherd safely herding its sheep, likens Ernie Foster. The ceremony is officiated by Rev. Charles Mosely, the Methodist minister who officiated at the first Day at the Docks Blessing of the Fleet. At the conclusion of the ceremony, a wreath is given to Mosely by a child to introduce another generation to the tradition.
The wreath is placed in the sound to recognize those watermen who have passed in the previous year. The day ends with the reading of the names of those watermen who have “crossed the bar.”
For more information visit Hatteras On My Mind-Day at the Docks and for updates follow Day at the Docks-Hatteras Village, NC Facebook page.
