I woke up early in the morning, well before daylight, earlier this week during Hatteras Island’s Arctic outbreak.
I know our friends up north aren’t impressed, but it did get down to 25 degrees one night and barely got above freezing the next day. Actually, it’s been cold all week until today when it’s warmed up but started raining and will soon get very windy.
Anyway, before I went back to bed, I glanced out the window. The night sky was breathtaking. I was reminded how beautiful the skies are on really cold, clear nights on Hatteras and Ocracoke.
Our dark night skies are something to behold year-round, but, somehow, there’s nothing quite like the winter night sky here.
And all of us — residents and visitors — will have a special chance to not only view it — we hope — but also to learn what we are looking at on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13, when the Hatteras Village Civic Association presents its first annual Starry Nights On Hatteras Island event.
Belinda Pla-Willis is organizing the event with fellow villager Tracy Shisler.
“Tracy and I have been thinking about it for a couple of years,” says Belinda, who owns Lee Robinson General Store with her husband, Virgil.
The two are naturals to organize the event. Tracy is a science teacher, and Belinda has had a life-long interest in the night sky that was nurtured by her late mother, Kika Silva-Pla.
“My mom was really interested in the night sky,” Belinda says, “and my brothers and I picked it up from her.”
One of her brothers, she said, even donated money to Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Fla., to establish a planetarium that is named for their mother.
Belinda and Tracy got in touch with the folks at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the weekend started coming together — complete with a mobile planetarium set up in the Hatteras village firehouse.
The weekend begins at 5:30 p.m. with registration, along with refreshments, at the Hatteras Village Civic Center. At 7 p.m., the program begins. The discussion of the night sky over Hatteras with viewing opportunities will be led by Nick Eakes, science education specialist at the Morehead Planetarium.
On Saturday, the mobile planetarium will be set up at the fire station. It’s looks like a big, domed tent and can fit about 12 to 20 folks inside, depending on how big they are. Once inside, the sky-watchers can get comfy on cushions for the program.
There will be a program for children on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. While children take their turn in the planetarium, the others will take part in a program by Rhana Parks of the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.
At 2 p.m., Eakes will lead a program for adults in the planetarium.
At 7 p.m., Eakes will lead another outdoor program on viewing the night skies over Hatteras Island. Belinda says that, depending on wind and weather, the organizers hope to have the program on the beach, at the Sandy Bay parking area north of Hatteras village, or in the village park.
Starry Nights will go on rain or (star)shine, but the organizers have their fingers crossed for a couple of those crystal clear nights — though maybe not quite as cold as we’ve been recently.
The cost for the Starry Nights program is $20 per person, though the children’s program on Saturday morning is free for the kids.
It promises to be a terrific weekend for islanders and for visitors. And, yes, motels and restaurants will be open to accommodate guests for the event.
And that’s the reason I decided to focus on the program for my blog this week. The blogs have been on the ponderous — but important — side recently with topics such as economic development.
The Hatteras Village Civic Association’s Starry Nights on Hatteras Island is fun to write about and easier to read, but it’s economic development at the grassroots level — an attempt to stimulate the economy of southern Hatteras Island in the off-season.
The Civic Association has been leading the way on events in the fall, winter, and spring — from its very successful Day at the Docks in mid-September to a spring Hatteras Island Storytelling Festival, which is scheduled for May 5-7 this year. The Civic Association also sponsors a Bluegrass Festival in October, a Christmas parade, an offshore fishing tournament in May, and a surf-fishing tournament in September.
Some, such as the fishing tournaments, are more established. Others, such as the Bluegrass Festival, are newer. And, of course, Starry Nights is brand new.
The Civic Association received a $25,000 grant from the Outer Banks Tourism Board last year to help with events that increase visitation in the fall, winter, and spring.
HVCA president Dennis Robinson says that the group will keep on trying with its off-season events. If some don’t work, they’ll just move on to others, he says.
Belinda Pla-Willis has a similar attitude. The Starry Nights event might not be huge this year, she says, but the potential for growth is there, as is the motivation to keep trying.
This, it seems to me, is economic development at its best.
Come on down to Hatteras Island and help stimulate our economy.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For information on the Starry Nights on Hatteras Island, go to the events page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/events/1093013937400179/. There is information on the page about accommodations and restaurants.
For more information, call 252-986-2109.
To learn more about the Morehead Mobile Planetarium, go to http://moreheadplanetarium.org/outreach/at-your-school/morehead-mobile-planetarium.
