DECEMBER 26, 2024–JANUARY 1, 2025
WWW.YOURISLANDNEWS.COM
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Hundreds of people of all ages braved the chilly weather and gathered at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park on Sunday night, Dec. 31, 2023, to usher in the new year with a festive fireworks show over the Beaufort River. Bob Sofaly/File/The Island News
Beaufort to ring in 2025 with fireworks
Participants run down the beach toward the water during the 2022 Pelican Plunge at Hunting Island State Park. Bob Sofaly/File/ The Island News
Pelican Plunge back th for 15 wacky year
By Delayna Earley The Island News Bring in 2025 with a bang thanks to fireworks in downtown Beaufort on New Year’s Eve. The fireworks are scheduled to begin at 9 p.m., at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. This is the second year that the Beaufort Area Hospitality Association (BAHA) has sponsored the show and this year they are doing it along with Harris Teeter. Before 2023, it had been nearly 10 years since fireworks were used locally to ring in the New Year. Vendors will be on site in the park selling food and drinks. The best spot to see the fireworks is from the Waterfront Park, but they can be seen from all around the Beaufort River. The BAHA is sponsoring the show to try and generate business for the downtown area and for the community to welcome the new year during a time of the year when tourism usually drops in the city. This is the second year for the fireworks, and according to their Facebook event, the BAHA hopes to continue to grow the event to make it bigger and better every year. The only other time of the year that the City of Beaufort hosts fireworks consistently is in July during the opening night event for the Beaufort Water Festival.
Friends of Hunting Island State Park’s annual fundraiser returns
By Mike McCombs The Island News The Pelican Plunge – the Friends of Hunting Island (FOHI) State Park’s zany annual fundraiser – is back for its 15th and possibly its biggest year ever this New Year’s Day. Plungers have their work cut out for them, though. After a best-ever turnout of 401 plungers in 2023, a record-breaking 452 plungers participated on New Year’s Day 2024, raising $3,766 for the organization best know for its sea turtle conservation program. Each year, hundreds of plungers make the trek out to the easternmost end of U.S. Highway 21 to Hunting Island State Park’s North Beach, near the lighthouse. Many don wacky costumes and participate in a popular costume parade before running down the beach and into the chilly Atlantic Ocean at 1 p.m., while the FOHI mascot, the Pelican, and park rangers look on. Fripp Island Sea Rescue will be on hand for safety, and 15th annual Pelican Plunge T-shirts will be on sale for all the participants and onlookers. With five food trucks, including a hot chocolate offering, organizers are
WANT TO GO? Who: Friends of Hunting Island What: 15th annual Pelican Plunge When: 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2024 Where: Lighthouse area, Hunting Island State Park Tickets: $10 adults, $5 children. All proceeds benefit the Friends of Hunting Island. To register: Go to https://www. friendsofhuntingisland.org/pelican
ready to feed the hungry plungers. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids, and plungers can guarantee their spot by purchasing online at www.friendsofhuntingisland.org/ pelican. All proceeds go to FOHI, which supports the Hunting Island State Park in facilitating funding for key projects such as the recently renovated Nature Center at South Beach, the restoration of the 1875 First Order Fresnel Lens, and of course the sea turtle conservation program. FOHI membership for 2025 is available, as well, for $60, which includes access to Hunting Island through Jan. 1, 2025, as well as volunteer opportunities. Visit friend-
Things to know: Arrive by noon, costume parade at 12:30 p.m., plunge at 1 p.m.; There will be food trucks, music, hot chocolate, cookies, and prizes. There will also be two New Year’s Day hikes – at 7 and 10 a.m. – starting from the Nature Center. To register, visit https://bit.ly/49PiJXA.
sofhuntingisland.org/membership to join. And like all South Carolina State Parks, Hunting Island will be hosting two First Day Hikes — New Year’s Day hikes at 7 and 10 a.m., starting from the Nature Center. To register, visit https://bit.ly/49PiJXA.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
Public or private: Protect Beaufort sues City over marina By Mike McCombs The Island News Local nonprofit Protect Beaufort announced earlier this month that it has filed a lawsuit seeking to preserve public access to Beaufort’s Downtown Marina. In a release dated Dec. 11, Protect Beaufort said it was seeking “a declaration from the Court that plans put forth by the City of Beaufort to effectively privatize the Beaufort Downtown Marina violate federal,
state and local laws and legal covenants that prohibit the privatization of a public resource.” Beaufort’s Downtown Marina was opened in 1976 through an agreement between the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, the Economic Development Administration, and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. Under the original contract agreement, the City of Beaufort accepted federal financial assis-
tance through the Land and Water Conservation Act to construct the 5-acre park on which the marina sits. Among other requirements the Act calls for the property to remain for “public outdoor recreation use” and specifies the property may not be “sold, leased, transferred, conveyed or mortgaged” without the prior written consent of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Interior of the United States.
Recently, the City of Beaufort has admitted to failing to seek or secure approval before entering a lease agreement with Safe Harbor. Also, Protect Beaufort contends that plans submitted by Safe Harbor “appear to put an undue burden on taxpayers by requiring the City of Beaufort to provide not only use of valuable public land but to cover costs for insurance, upgrades and repairs and the exclusive use of limited parking spaces in the area
for private members.” Protect Beaufort contends that the “proposed use of this public asset by a for-profit company with a responsibility to shareholders, not the local community, will ultimately injure residents and visitors by restricting access to the waterfront to a select number of members. Further, a burden will be placed on taxpayers to fund projects that will
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