Oak Island business owners and residents look back at summer tourist season

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — With Labor Day weekend ending, it’s also the unofficial end to summer, leaving both business owners and residents looking back at the summer tourist season.

The people of Oak Island were doing just that on Monday, as hundreds of vacationers left the town.

Oak Island Pub owner Allen Burke was one of several business owners WWAY spoke with who said this has been one of the best summers they’ve ever had.

“It was very good, it was a good crowd,” Burke said. “Everything was great, we did really well this year as it looks like all of the businesses has picked up since I’ve owned the place for 4 years now. It’s just, good clientele here, we got good patrons.”

Patricia O’Brien has lived in Oak Island for 22 years and said its special seeing so many visitors come to the island for the summer and for holidays like Labor Day, especially in the past several years.

“It was very busy for sure,” O’Brien said. “This is the crazy road here that goes west and east. And it was full of people in here.”

Nancy Klages has been coming to Oak Island for years and said she can understand why more and more people go to Oak Island to vacation.

“It’s an undiscovered treasure that’s becoming more and more discovered every year,” Klages said. “It’s just a nice place to come and relax. The beach is great, the people are great, very friendly. And it has everything you can ever really ask for.”

Perhaps one reason why visitors find Oak Island so hospitable is because the town offers 65 public beach access locations, that’s more than any other coastal community in North Carolina.