Open House Over-#2

The crowd that showed up at the open house for the Quilt Studio was really diverse. Even a few brave guys came! Good thing too since my friend Stan Bird from Gloucester NC turned up and felt like the Lone Ranger. I’d sent Stan two email invitations (by accident-) and he had thought it must be really important, so God love ‘em, he came! Then just when Stan’s surrounded by a sea of chattering ladies, in comes Vaughan Branch, director of the Atlantic Beach King Mackerel Tournament. Vaughan is here on the left. At least the two guys got to talk FISH for a while.

We have several fishing tournaments around here but Vaughan’s baby has been around for 30 years and is the main support for the town of Atlantic Beach fire department. While Atlantic Beach seems like a small community in the winter, actually in the summer, with many thousands of visitors and tourists to the Crystal Coast, AB is a hopping town. This year the Tournament is being held October 16-18 and you can go on their website to learn more www.abkmt.com . In addition to helping out the fire department, the King Mackerel Tournament also is committed to sustaining artificial reefs off our shore that offer protection for all sorts of sealife. You can understand this three-day fishing frenzy is way more than guys throwing a line in the water, popping a cold one, and waiting for a bite.

I think fishing and quilting are fine parallel pursuits for a couple. He can fish and she can stay onshore happily sewing. But this equation isn’t always gender-specific—get a load of this lady and her prize king mackerel!