"It is almost a shut-off valve come the end of September," Roger Monk, one of the owners of The Tropical, told WilmingtonBiz this August. He was describing what happens to the Boardwalk once the visitors leave. In the same story he used the phrase "ghost town" for the off-season, and he said he hoped new development would bring people back in the slower months.
This winter is the first serious attempt to keep that valve open. Two things make it different from past off-seasons. The Town now owns the ground at the center of the Boardwalk. And for 38 days, from Black Friday to the first Sunday of January, a stretch of that ground will hold a real ice rink.
The Ground Changed Hands on September 24
Carolina Beach closed on its $12 million purchase of nine Boardwalk parcels on September 24, Port City Daily reported. The deal came out of a settlement with the prior owner, Carolina Beach Land Holdings LLC, over a sidewalk easement. The agreed price started at $15 million and was negotiated down this year. Earlier Port City Daily reporting described preliminary site plans from 2017 for the same parcels. They showed several mixed-use buildings along the Boardwalk entrance, most up to four stories or 50 feet. Town officials said settling was also a way to keep the downtown area in public use.
That purchase is why the rides are leaving. Mayor Lynn Barbee told WECT in September that the amusement rides "will most likely not be on this property next year." He added that the Town would entertain ideas if the operator wanted to move to other vacant property nearby. WWAY reported that the Town did not plan to lease the acquired land for rides. Any operator looking for another Carolina Beach site would need Town Council approval. The Carolina Beach Boardwalk Amusements homepage now reads "Coming back in Summer of 2027" and doesn't name a location.
The Ferris wheel is the part people will miss. Barbee framed the purchase around the use that stays. He told WECT the Boardwalk is where "people know they come here for the fireworks show, the music, and bingo." In other words, the Town bought the center of town to keep it a gathering place. A gathering place that only works for about four months a year is the problem this winter is meant to start solving.
Eighty-Eight Feet of Ice South of the Silver Dollar
The Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce announced Boardwalk on Ice on October 16. It is an 88-foot rink with real ice and seasonal vendors, open from Friday, November 27, through Sunday, January 3, 2027. According to the Chamber, daily operations start at 3 p.m. Public skating runs Wednesday through Sunday. Mondays and Tuesdays are held for figure skating exhibitions, skate lessons, and private events, WECT reported.
The site is just south of Silver Dollar and north of Hurricane Alley's. It sits east of Carolina Beach Avenue North and west of the new public bathrooms. That location comes from the Chamber's presentation to Town Council on September 8.
The September 8 meeting minutes record more than the location:
- Funding: Council voted unanimously for $50,000 in seed money from room occupancy tax funds. The Town fronts the money and then seeks reimbursement from the Tourism Development Authority.
- The operator: An Ohio-based company with 36 years of experience that also runs a rink in Southport.
- The market: Tent spaces will surround the rink this first year. The longer-term goal is collapsible wooden stalls like those at German Christmas markets.
- The Carolina Hurricanes: Early conversations about a replica Stanley Cup and player appearances, with nothing finalized.
One line in those minutes ties the rink to Monk's "shut-off valve." Jim DeGilio, the Chamber's executive director, told Council that several local business owners said they would skip their usual seasonal layoffs because they expect more activity over the holidays. Mayor Pro Tem Deb LeCompte compared the rink to the origins of Christmas by the Sea, which also started as a shoulder-season event. She said events like this are critical to keeping local businesses going and attracting year-round investment.
How the Rink Changes the Island's December
Pleasure Island's holiday calendar has mostly happened at Carolina Beach Lake Park, the Carolina Beach Pier, and the water. The rink adds the Boardwalk to that map on most nights of the season, between events that each happen once.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Through Oct. 24 | Pleasure Island Restaurant Week | Island-wide |
| Oct. 31 | Alley-Ween | The Dive Food & Spirits |
| Nov. 21 | The Merry Market on the Beach | Carolina Beach Pier |
| Nov. 27 | Boardwalk on Ice opens | Boardwalk |
| Nov. 27, 6:30 p.m. | Island of Lights Lighting at the Lake | Lake Park |
| Nov. 28 | Santa by the Sea | Lake Park |
| Dec. 4, 7 p.m. | Carolina Beach Christmas Parade | Lake Park Boulevard |
| Dec. 5 | Carolina Beach Holiday Market | Lake Park |
| Dec. 5, 6 p.m. | Island of Lights Christmas Flotilla | Boat Basin to Snow's Cut |
| Dec. 6 | Christmas Palm Tree Lighting | Carolina Beach Pier |
| Dec. 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Island of Lights Tour of Homes | Pleasure Island |
| Jan. 3 | Boardwalk on Ice closes | Boardwalk |
The opening weekend stacks up. On November 27, the rink opens the same evening as Lighting at the Lake, which starts at 6:30 p.m., and Santa by the Sea follows at Lake Park the next day. The first weekend of December is just as full. The parade runs Friday, the Holiday Market and the Christmas Flotilla fall on Saturday, and the Palm Tree Lighting at the Pier is Sunday. The weeknights in between are where the rink makes the biggest difference. Before this year, a Wednesday in mid-December gave people little reason to walk down to the Boardwalk.
The season is already underway. Pleasure Island Restaurant Week runs through Saturday, October 24. According to the Pleasure Island Chamber, participating restaurants include The Tropical, Malama Cafe, Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar, Latella, Neapolitan, Boom, CBGB, Benny P's, and Sunny Daze. Several of them are within a few blocks of where the ice will go down.
What the Quiet Months Are Now For
The rink is temporary. The longer-term plan for the Boardwalk depends on what the Town does with the land it now owns, and winter is when much of that work is supposed to happen.
On September 29, the New Hanover Community Endowment approved a provisional $3.5 million grant for the Carolina Beach Coastal Park and Event Stage. Early ideas include a stage for entertainment and educational programs, a large open lawn, and family amenities such as a possible splash pad. The Town says the next step is gathering public input on the design. In the announcement, Barbee traced the site back to 1887, when Captain John Harper brought the first day-trippers down from Wilmington. The grant surprised some of the Town's own leaders. LeCompte told WECT on October 9, "It was a surprise to us, too."
Here is how the money breaks down:
- The grant itself. Barbee told Port City Daily that most of the $3.5 million will go toward designing and building the park. That part of the project is estimated at $6 million.
- The full project. Counting the $12 million land purchase, public bathrooms, and park construction, the estimate is more than $20 million. Barbee told WWAY that spending would happen over five years.
- The timing. Barbee also told WWAY the Town will try to do as much work as possible during the winter months to limit disruption.
That third point is a big change for how the off-season gets used. If construction is scheduled around the summer crowds, the slow months become the Boardwalk's work season. If the rink comes back in future years, those same months could also be when the town's center gets the most local use.
Some of the current Boardwalk will stay the same for a while. As part of the deal, Carolina Beach Land Holdings pays the Town $1,000 a month to keep renting four of the parcels until September 2028, and it runs private parking lots on them. Port City Daily reported that one of those lots charges around $11 an hour with dynamic pricing. The Town's own lots, run by Pivot, charge a flat $6 an hour or $25 a day.
There's private investment nearby too. According to WilmingtonBiz's August report, Harmony Hospitality planned to start the first phase of SpringHill Suites Carolina Beach this fall. That phase is an oceanfront amenity pavilion, with a 140-room hotel to follow at the Boardwalk's north end. A proposed social district, which Monk had raised with Council earlier in the year, was on hold during the summer season. DeGilio told the same publication he hopes the land purchase will create a "true center of town." The first chance to see whether that happens comes on November 27, when the rink opens at 3 p.m.
If you have questions about how the Boardwalk's next few years could shape your part of Pleasure Island, or you'd like a local perspective on Carolina Beach this winter, Neil Leonard is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
