PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Welcome to Summer

WWhen you live in a coastal area, the stretch of time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is a somewhat conflicted state. On one hand, it’s summer — the most blissful three months of the year, filled with early morning beach walks, warm-ocean swims and leisurely sunset suppers on the patio. On the other hand, it’s high tourist season, filled with more traffic, long lines at the coffee and doughnut shops and fierce competition for the dinner reservations and beach access parking. But when you live in a coastal area, sharing your hometown with visitors for part of the year is a trade-off you’re willing to make. You know that visitors make it possible for you to live in a place that you love. You welcome the influx of customers who keep the local businesses afloat, and you appreciate that it’s visitors who keep the local economy churning. And, very often, you find that you enjoy meeting new people from around the country and helping them find their way around your town. So, to all you summer visitors out there — welcome to the Topsail area! We hope that you enjoy reading our summer issue of Topsail Magazine and enjoy experiencing the taste of the Topsail life it offers. In this issue we have some exciting stories for you. As you saw on our cover, we introduce you to the parrot whisperer, a man named Ces Erdman, who has rescued more than 500 parrots! Visiting his parrot sanctuary in Pink Hill is a way to help him in his efforts, so he welcomes visitors. We also catch up several volunteers in the Topsail Turtle Project and learn about what it takes to help protect Topsail Island’s nesting sea turtles.

We meet a few of the local business owners, including a photographer, an interior designer and two of the area’s top restaurateurs. We give you the rundown on the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and show you where to go when you’re looking for farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to complement your seafood dinners. As always, our food and drink editor, Sandi Grigg, offers up tasty recipes to try this season.

Whether you’re a visitor or a local resident, we hope that you find can find the time to read all the stories in this issue of Topsail Magazine. Please support the advertisers you see on these pages so we can keep this magazine coming to you. Enjoy your summer!

Justin Williams Owner/Publisher Publisher@TopsailMag.com