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JANUARY 30, 2026
THE LOCAL VOICE OF YOUR COMMUNITY.
Winter weather postpones Fire & Ice to next weekend
Volume 23, Issue 5
FREE
Calling all bats
By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter Due to forecasts pointing to another weekend winter storm, the BethanyFenwick Area Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday, Jan. 28, that the 2026 Fire & Ice Festival scheduled for Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 would be postponed one week. New dates for the festival are Friday, Feb. 6, to Sunday, Feb. 8. As of Coastal Point press time on Wednesday, Chamber staff were reaching out to the festival’s many partners, sponsors and vendors to confirm their availability during those days. According to a statement from Chamber Events Manager Alyssa Weaver, the decision to postpone the festival “was made in accordance with the Jan. 28 National Weather Service and Sussex Emergency Partner weather reports for dangerous cold temperatures, high wind and coastal flood warnings locally, as well as extreme weather foreSee FESTIVAL page 4
County council hears from land use group
Special to the Coastal Point • Submitted
Members of a local Boy Scout troop work together to install bat houses in Millville's Evans Park.
Eagle Scout goes to bat(s) for Millville park
By Susan Canfora Staff Reporter After four hours of discussion about recommendations made by Sussex County’s Land Use Reform Working Group, County Administrator Todd Lawson asked the Sussex County Council to “digest this, get feedback from others and tell us what we should work on first.” Lawson, at the Tuesday, Jan. 27, work session, said the council will have to decide on the recommendations as they begin working on updating the County’s comprehensive plan. A comprehensive plan consultant will be hired, and the process is expected to begin this summer, he said. See COUNTY page 3
By Kerin Magill Staff Reporter Beach-area homeowners often spend the off-season working on their homes, making them more attractive for summer visitors. A local Eagle Scout has taken that idea and applied it to new homes for some visitors who might help make trips to a Millville park more comfortable. Adam Jennings, a student at Cape Henlopen High School, gathered some materials, recruited some friends and in December installed five bat boxes in Millville’s Evans Park. The bat boxes, which are on poles that stand 10 feet tall, are meant to attract the winged mammals. Delaware is home to seven species of insect-eating bats, according to the Delaware Council of Wildlife Rehabilitators & Educators. They include big and little brown bats,
the Eastern red bat, the hoary bat, the Eastern pipistrelle, the Northern long-eared bat and the silver-haired bat. Jennings explained to the Millville Town Council when he first approached them back in August of 2025 that bats eat thousands of insects each night. After reassuring the council that he would continue to monitor the bat boxes after installation, he received their unanimous thumbs-up to install the boxes. So, on a chilly December day, Jennings and five friends brought the bat boxes, attached to 12-foot poles, to the Evans Park and installed them along its perimeter, in 2foot-deep holes. The five boxes were built with $400 worth of donated materials, Jennings told the council this week. “Those of you that attend the concerts over the summer, you know there are a lot of insects around — especially in the late summer evenings,” Millville Mayor Ronald Belinko said while introducing Jennings before his presentation on Tuesday, Jan. 27. “There is a species that loves insects,” Belinko said, See BATS page 3