Memorial Day crowds kick off a busy summer season at Wrightsville Beach

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and Wrightsville Beach felt the heat.  

Many people chose to spend their holiday weekend at Wrightsville Beach, kicking off the unofficial start to summer. 

Maggie Ervey, an employee at the Original Ice Cream stand says a lot of people stopped by for a treat. 

“It’s been good, last night was super busy. A long line past Jimmy’s, a lot of tourists, a lot of families,” Ervey recalled. 

Her coworker Dylan Schmidt has worked at the shop for 4 summers and thinks from here on out it’s only going to get busier. 

“I mean it’s definitely become more of a tourist’s town here, so I know it’s going to be like packed, busy, but yeah I’m excited,” Schmidt exclaimed. 

Next door at The Shed, a clothing and beach rental shop also had a lot of people stopping in.  

Employee Alaina Anderson says she’s enjoying the crowd.   

“I would say it’s been pretty busy definitely always room for more people so come and shop but we’ve definitely been getting a lot more people in so that’s been nice,” Anderson shared. 

General manager Gracie Fanton says by Sunday, all of their boards, bikes and beach chairs had been rented.   

Fanton says they also had a busy spring break and thinks crowds will only get bigger this summer. 

“We’ve had a lot of spring breakers which I feel like means we are going to have a busy summer because last year we didn’t have as many spring breakers. Also, it’s looking like a nice summer so I’m guessing a lot of people, hopefully,” Fanton said. 

Both businesses said the clouds and rain on Monday brought smaller crowds but overall, they said it was a successful weekend.