"It is almost a shut-off valve come the end of September." That's how Roger Monk, one of the owners of The Tropical, described the Boardwalk's off-season visitor traffic to WilmingtonBiz in August. He said Carolina Beach becomes a "ghost town" once summer ends.
The usual signs of that shutoff showed up on time this year. The free Boardwalk Blast concerts and fireworks series ended Sept. 4. The Saturday market at Lake Park closed for the season Oct. 3. What's different is what happened in the weeks around those dates. The town now owns the middle of the Boardwalk, and it has paid to start a holiday attraction meant to keep businesses staffed through December. Together they make this fall a test of whether the valve can stay open longer.
The town owns the center of the Boardwalk now
Carolina Beach's Sept. 29 announcement described its $12 million purchase of nine properties in the Boardwalk district as complete. It's a big change in who controls the heart of downtown. One of the parcels is the seasonal amusement-ride site at 1 Cape Fear Boulevard.
According to Port City Daily, the deal came out of a settlement. Carolina Beach Land Holdings LLC had sued the town in November 2023 over a public sidewalk easement next to where the Ferris wheel usually stands. The final price came in at $12 million, down from the $15 million the town expected to pay when it first announced the purchase in January 2025. A leaseback lets the company keep running private parking lots on four of the parcels for two years. Before the sale, council member Jay Healy said the future of the summer rides was still "up in the air." The town's announcement after the purchase doesn't say whether they'll return.
The announcement does say what the land is for. The New Hanover Community Endowment approved a $3.5 million provisional grant toward a Carolina Beach Coastal Park and Event Stage. Early ideas include a stage for entertainment and educational programs, a large open lawn, and possibly a splash pad. Public input on the design is the next step. Mayor Lynn Barbee tied the park to history. In 1887, Captain John Harper brought the first day-trippers down from Wilmington, and Barbee said the project "will keep a public gathering space on the ocean open to every resident and visitor."
The mayor has described the park as more than a summer feature. He told WilmingtonBiz he'd like the site to host concerts, markets and outdoor movie screenings. He also said he wants the area to go back to being "this neat little place where you could have dinner and go shopping," with something for the kids to do. He's also said the town isn't looking for a financial return. "That's not how public assets work," he told Port City Daily. "It's an amenity for the public." Council members expect to spend about two years planning the park. The first try at a busier off-season is happening on the parking lot next door.
A rink built to keep crews working through the holidays
At its September meeting, Town Council voted unanimously to give $50,000 in seed money for a temporary ice rink on the Boardwalk. The money comes from Tourism Development Authority funds, which are paid for by room occupancy taxes. Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jim DeGilio, who pitched the project, said the goal is for the rink to pay its own way in later years. It will sit on a lot between Cape Fear Boulevard and Carolina Beach Avenue, near Silver Dollar and Hurricane Alley's.
The schedule for the first season:
- Season: Nov. 27 through Jan. 3, opening the day after Thanksgiving
- Monday through Thursday: 3 to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: noon to 11 p.m.
- Sunday: 1 to 9 p.m.
- Holidays: Dec. 24, 2 to 7 p.m.; Dec. 25, 3 to 8 p.m.; Dec. 31, 2 to 9 p.m.; Jan. 1, 2 to 8 p.m.
DeGilio described open public skating five days a week, with Mondays and Tuesdays set aside for special events like figure-skating exhibitions, lessons and private parties. Vendor tents will sell hot chocolate, cookies and gifts. He said the Chamber has contacted the Carolina Hurricanes, who won the 2026 Stanley Cup, hoping the team will bring a replica trophy for photos.
The bigger point is what the rink is supposed to do for the businesses around it. DeGilio told council that some owners are holding off on their usual off-season downsizing this year:
"A few have said they don't want to bring in new staff for seven weeks during the holiday season, lay them off again and bring them back in April."
That turns the rink from a holiday photo spot into a question about payroll. If the businesses near the ice keep their crews, more of the Boardwalk stays open on a December weeknight. Some places already post year-round hours. Hurricane Alley's says its downstairs restaurant is open all year, though hours may be shorter in cold months. Silver Dollar posts 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, and Mālama Cafe posts 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day. Neither lists a separate winter schedule. Mayor Pro Tem Deb LeCompte said a holiday event drawing people downtown fits an older idea, too. "Christmas by the Sea was created as a shoulder-season event to bring business to the Boardwalk," she said.
DeGilio also mentioned a longer-term idea: a ring of collapsible wooden market huts, at about $5,000 each, that could make the area look like a German holiday market. He called it "an aspirational thing" with no funding yet.
October runs on what's already booked
The weeks before the rink opens are full, mostly thanks to events the Chamber and local businesses have put on the calendar.
- Through Oct. 31: The Carolina Beach Pier Pumpkin Patch is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 1800 Carolina Beach Avenue N.
- Oct. 10: Pets in the Park runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Carolina Beach Lake Park, presented by the Pleasure Island Chamber.
- Oct. 17 to 24: Pleasure Island Restaurant Week, also from the Chamber, includes participating restaurants across the island.
- Oct. 23: The town's Halloween Carnival is at Mike Chappell Park from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Oct. 31: Alley-Ween at The Dive Food & Spirits, 6 N. Lake Park Blvd., runs from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. The family program is 4 to 7 p.m., and it's adults only after 7.
Restaurant Week lands right in the stretch Monk called the shutoff, which is when a reason to eat out on the island matters most.
November and December, built around the rink
Early November has one big draw nearby. The Cape Fear Kite Festival runs Nov. 6 through 8 at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, and spectators get in free. After that, the Boardwalk's holiday season starts on Nov. 27, the same night the rink opens.
- Nov. 27: Island of Lights' Lighting at the Lake at Carolina Beach Lake Park, with details still to come
- Dec. 4: Carolina Beach Christmas Parade, 7 p.m.
- Dec. 5: Carolina Beach Holiday Market at Lake Park, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Dec. 5: Island of Lights Christmas Flotilla, 6 p.m.
- Dec. 12: Island of Lights Holiday Tour of Homes, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Dec. 19: Hurricane Alley's CB Santa Crawl, 2 to 9 p.m.
Britt's Donut Shop, which has run from a single Boardwalk location since 1939, plans to open for limited hours in December. That includes the Christmas Parade weekend and a Donut Decorating Night. WECT reported that hours and a full schedule weren't available yet. It's the shop's first season without longtime owner Bobby Nivens. Hundreds of people lined up for this year's opening day on April 3. With the parade on a Friday, the flotilla and holiday market on Saturday, and the rink open all weekend, Dec. 4 and 5 look like the busiest stretch of the off-season so far.
Christmas by the Sea doesn't appear on the Chamber's 2026 calendar or the visitor bureau's holiday list, so anyone hoping to go should check with organizers before counting on a date. The Pleasure Island Seafood, Blues & Jazz Festival is also missing from the Chamber's calendar. A local events listing that pulls from the Kure Beach town calendar has it on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fort Fisher Air Force Recreation Area rather than at the Boardwalk.
What's still in the works
Several other Boardwalk-area projects are still at the proposal stage. Harmony Hospitality has applied for permits on a 140-room SpringHill Suites at the Boardwalk's north end. The plan is to build an oceanfront amenity pavilion first, starting this fall, with the hotel after that. Monk said he hopes the hotel brings conferences and visitors in the off-season. He has also led talks about a social district, which would let people carry a drink from a participating business around a set area. Those talks were paused during the summer rush. A proposed commercial transition district for the 200 block of Cape Fear Boulevard would allow more mixed-use development. A mixed-use zoning item is on the town's Planning and Zoning agenda for Oct. 8.
None of these will change this winter. What's confirmed is the rink lot near Hurricane Alley's opening the day after Thanksgiving, on land just steps from a park site the town now owns, with the ice open until 9 p.m. most weeknights through Jan. 3.
A busier Boardwalk in the off-season changes how Pleasure Island feels through the winter. It also gives a home on the island a selling point that isn't tied to summer. If you're thinking about what your Carolina Beach home could bring outside peak season, SERHANT. North Carolina and The Dearing Team can show you how we'd market it in a December like this one. Request your free home valuation and marketing plan.
