The new and long-anticipated oceanfront RV park next to the Avon Pier, “Avon by the Sea,” will be opening on May 20, and reservations are now being accepted online for the upcoming summer season.
The park, (which stemmed from recently revised rules for travel trailer parks in Dare County that were adopted in October 2020), will feature 26 full hook-up sites, an electronic gated entrance, and an on-site bathhouse.
It was originally hoped that the park would open for the 2021 summer season, but a myriad of issues, (including shortages in labor and materials, as well as weather-related delays), slowed down the progress.
Though the website for bookings has only been up and running for roughly a week, Joe Thompson, park owner and Avon Pier operator, says that reservations are already rolling in.
“We opened the platform on Monday, and immediately got 40 reservations in the first hour or two,” says Thompson. “The RV camping industry exploded after WWII… and in the last couple of years, RV-ing and campgrounds have been growing in popularity once again.”
While the two-acre RV park takes up the northern side of the Avon Pier-adjacent property, (and approximately two-thirds of the former parking spaces along the oceanfront), parking for regular Avon Pier visitors will not be significantly impacted.
“The Avon Pier parking will not change from last year,” says Thompson. “The only way it’s changing from last year is that there will be one more food truck, [Roots&Leaves], that will be next to Stu’s food truck.”
The new RV park has the potential to fill an accommodations gap in Avon, as the village has both a motel and a soundside campground, (the Sands of Time Campground), but limited additional options for nightly stays. The Avon by the Sea RV Park will concentrate on attracting short-term visitors only, (with no long-term leases planned), and will be the first and only oceanfront RV park in Avon village.
For more information on the RV park, including adjacent shops and restaurants in the central Avon area, visit https://koruvillage.com/pages/stay or https://www.facebook.com/Avon-by-the-Sea-104399328277283/.
