Celebrating 4th of July Weekend in Rehoboth Beach
When it comes to the 4th of July, many think America’s birthday, some think BBQ’s and others think vacation. One popular spot to go on vacation? Rehoboth Beach. With endless restaurants, beaches, and events going on the town cashes in on the big holiday weekend.
47 ABC spoke with Carole Everhart, CEO of the Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce and she says so far, “Certainly the occupancy looks very strong. You’re looking at a weekend like this you’re going to have anywhere between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors and that’s per day. And that will stay through the 4th of July.”
To break that down, Everhart says she expects 100,000 people in the downtown area, 100,000 plus in the Route One extended area, and 80,000 in Dewey Beach. Everhart also tells 47 ABC, 90% of hotels and motels in the area are already booked.
For those lucky enough to score a hotel room there are plenty of things to do to keep yourself entertained. As far as the most popular things to do? Everhart tells 47 ABC, “Of course the beach it’s all about the beach and the boardwalk but they like all of the water activities and of course the free activities. We have a lot of foodies that come here and love it.”
Speaking of food, the Ice Cream Store is quite the popular spot. 47 ABC spoke with manager Lisa Young and she says, “4th of July is our busiest weekend all year right now I’m getting 220 cans of ice cream delivered to be ready for the weekend and most of my freezers will be empty by Monday so it’s busy crazy weekend we have a lot of fun.”
And as far as what they do to plan for the crowds of people? Young says, “Just packing the store as full as we can with ice cream.”
Christopher Chandler, manager at the Purple Parrot can relate when it comes to stocking up his restaurant. Chandler tells 47 ABC, “Very large liquor and beer order we got 20 cases of oranges just for orange crushes this weekend, I don’t know if you know what that looks like, but it’s a lot of fruit. Limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruits you name it.”
When asked how he plans for everything, Chandler says he doesn’t really have a plan. Chandler tells 47 ABC, “You don’t really you kind of hope for the best. Just a full staff and a seasoned staff helps out a lot. Everyone’s trained and ready to go.”
With almost 1 million people in total visiting this weekend, it can often cause some concern about safety, but Everhart says, “Anytime you have a large population you’re bound to have something go wrong somewhere along the line but we’ve been very fortunate to see a very low crime rate and not a lot of unpleasant things going on.”
As far as fireworks shows go, Sunday July 3rd there will be visible fireworks from the Bayside in Dewey beach and on Monday the 4th they will be visible from the Oceanside in Rehoboth Beach. 47 ABC also spoke with Rehoboth Beach Police and they say on Sunday, there will be plenty of extra police officers.
