One of my favorite events all year in this wonderful coastal town, is the Annual Saint Patrick's Day Festival. Turnout is expected to be around 20,000! The event takes place in the Emerald Plantation Shopping Center, in the eastern part of town. Physical address is 8700 Emerald Drive, Emerald Isle, NC 28594.

The festival is always on the Saturday prior to Saint Patrick's Day, which falls on Saturday, March 14th, 2009. The event is scheduled to occur between the hours of 9am- 5pm.

There is a kid zone, filled with rides for the younger revelers. Children ages 2-5 are eligible to participate in the Little Leprechaun Contest.

For the adults, there is a beer garden, with tables, chairs and great music. There is a midway, with wonderful food and drink, featuring Irish and coastal foods. This year, we are scheduled to have over 75 vendors selling authentic handmade arts & crafts, and their will be three separate stages featuring live entertainment. Be sure to catch Barefoot Wade, and Pamlico Joe. They are two of my favorites!

Island Dave and I look forward to celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with you, so please try to attend this wonderful festival!

Tiff and I have gotten excited over our home search, looking at this house to the right (among others) along Highway 24 (not in Emerald Isle).

But, we've decided to temper ourselves a bit and wait until the winter for two reasons.

First, since we are both self-employed, it is important to save a 20% downpayment to get the best rates on a stated income loan. We have enough to probably get a loan now, but we'd expect to pay a higher rate. Also, with the higher downpayment, we can move our price range higher as well, which might even include some of the lower end homes on the island.

Second, housing demand in this area is much higher in the summer months (as it is many places), which means demand for loans is also higher, and the increased average loan rates have gone up significantly over the past few weeks, just as they did last summer. Despite not being sure if these rates are going to stay high all winter, we'll still take our chances that we won't see significantly higher rates then, and they could be much lower.

We've been very thrifty since Tiff and I have been together, and we're hoping that thrift will pay off soon with a new home. We'd absolutely love to stay in Emerald Isle, but the home prices here are premium as you might imagine in a beach town. If we wait six months, we believe a poor seller's market combined with greater down payment from us might give us a chance to find a good home here in EI.

You don't have to go to the Bogue Inlet Pier to have a good day of fishing in Emerald Isle, you can try your hand at fishing from one of the public docks available. Our friend Ginger caught a 7 pound Hatteras Blue from the dock in the Emerald Woods town park on the west end of town. Note that you will need to purchase a fishing license (about $15) even if you are a local resident. Also, the Emerald Woods Park will be closed for a couple of weeks starting this week (May) for renovations.

One of the cool things to do while you vacation in Emerald Isle and the Crystal Coast area is take a short jaunt down the island to Fort Macon, which is on the East end of Bogue Banks, east of Atlantic Beach at the very end of the island. The Fort overlooks both the Bogue Sound and Atlantic Ocean, and sits next to one of the widest beaches in the area. The Civil War era fort is maintained in near-authentic condition, and offers a few spoken histories integrated into the displays. Check out the beautiful views and enjoy a bit of history if you want to do something cool while vacationing in Emerald Isle.




View Larger Map