Welcome to August at the Delaware beaches.
If you made it through last Saturday without melting, you were rewarded with slightly cooler and much less humid weather on Sunday.
Temperatures are expected to return to the norm for this time of year this weekend, as summer soldiers on. Coastal Highway will be clogged with traffic, Cape Henlopen State Park will likely reach maximum capacity and the lines at The Ice Cream Shop on Rehoboth Avenue will be five or six people deep.
President Biden, however, will finish off his weeklong Rehoboth Beach vacation on Friday and leave his North Shores home for Wilmington. Whether he and his entourage will drive or take the Marine One helicopter remains to be seen, so keep an eye out for traffic alerts Friday.
Delaware Online/The News Journal provides this weekend guide to the Delaware beaches every week. Whether you live here or are just visiting, read on to find out all you need to know about weather, traffic, events and more.
Weather
Great beach weather this weekend. It’s expected to be mostly sunny with temperatures in the lower 80s on Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
It’s also biting beach fly season, so as the old saying and its many variations go, “If the wind is from the west, staying home is best. If the wind is from the east, head for the beach.” There are a few things you can you do if you find yourself sharing the beach with biting flies, such as drying off as soon as you get out of the water and staying in the shade.
Plan on eating out?Check the Delaware Online restaurant inspection database first.
What to do
Yoga, meditation, live music, drum circles, chanting, belly dancing, vendors and camping are some of the things you’ll find at KarmaFest Summer Sun at Hudson Fields in Milton this weekend. Check it out Saturday and Sunday from around 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Freeman Arts Pavilion in Selbyville will offer the Rehoboth Beach Summer Children’s Theatre production of “Jack and the Beanstalk” Saturday morning and a Prince tribute band that night. There are still a few tickets left for comedian Tom Papa Sunday night.
Have you been to Dickens Parlour Theatre in Ocean View? It’s a fun experience for kids and adults alike. Their entertainers are magicians, mentalists and comedians, and they also offer a Sunday jazz brunch. Visit their website for this weekend’s lineup.
Clear Space Theatre Company in Rehoboth Beach offers highly entertaining, professional-grade theatre all summer long. This weekend is your chance to see “The Spongebob Musical,” as well as Christopher Decker’s “Just the Tip, A Gay Cabaret” and the Saturday morning children’s theatre production of “The Wizard of Oz” (abridged).
Just west of the beaches, The Milton Theatre will host Peek-a-Boo Neo-Burlesque, a Philadelphia burlesque troupe, on Friday night. On Saturday, Woodstock tribute band Janglebachs takes the stage.
Finally, this is one of the rare times this guide to the Delaware beaches will recommend crossing the Maryland line and going to Ocean City. For tacos.
More:Big names abound this week at beaches, with even more headed to Ocean City this fall
The Ocean City Taco Festival will take place at the Ocean City Convention Center from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. In addition to over 20 taco and food vendors, there will be “giant margarita bars,” lucha libre wresting, live music and a kid’s zone.
On top of all this, most of the Delaware beach towns offer free live entertainment on weekend nights. Check your town’s website for the lineup.
What to know
This summer, the Delaware beaches have seen a few beach closures, some unruly teens, and of course, big drive-on surf-fishing changes. Here’s what you need to know this weekend.
More:Endangered turtle hooked by fisherman in Slaughter Beach makes it through surgery
Beach closures:The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has finished replenishing the Delaware beaches. There are now much wider beaches to enjoy, from Rehoboth Beach to Fenwick Island, and no more periodic beach closures.
There are no water quality advisories or wildlife-related beach closures right now. Check back often to ensure that remains the case. This is the time of year when the Delaware beaches see the most water quality advisories, usually due to rain washing Enterococci bacteria to shore, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.
Curfews: After some large crowds of teens caused issues in Bethany and Dewey earlier this summer, both towns are enforcing curfews. In Bethany Beach, the curfew is 11 p.m. for anyone under the age of 18. It’s the same in Dewey, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when the curfew begins at midnight.
Surf-fishing: If you haven’t been to the Delaware beaches since last year, you might not know the drive-on surf-fishing system has changed. You still need a permit, available at most state park offices, but you now need a reservation, as well, on weekends and holidays.
Reservations are $4 per vehicle, per day and can be made at www.destateparks.com/SurfTagSales. The online system opens at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays for Saturday reservations and 11 a.m. on Wednesdays for Sunday reservations. Make them as soon as possible. The most popular drive-on beaches will sell out.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught
