Summer in a Tourist Town

Returning home from college this summer was not the usual hometown reunion I have grown accustomed to. Instead of arriving back to the town with my closest friends, my high school, and the house I grew up in, I am in a completely new setting. In December of 2023 my parents relocated to a coastal town called Topsail Island, NC. While it was a little strange “coming home” to a place that I have barely lived at, I was excited at the prospect of living in a summer tourist destination. Here is a little glimpse into what my experience has been thus far!

When I arrived home May 6th, summer had barely begun and I was able to get a sense of what the island is like before the busy season hits. Restaurants were fairly empty, the beaches had an abundance of space, and the island was quiet. As schools have begun their summer breaks and the weather has gotten warmer, the island has slowly started to come to life with tourists. Restaurants now have lines out the door, and roads have cars lined up bumper to bumper with traffic. This is a necessary inconvenience because although it changed the pace of the life I was living, many of the businesses here depend upon and thrive off of tourism during this season.

This summer I am working at a local boutique which has given me a greater opportunity to connect with the community here. While we have our fair share of locals and regulars that visit the shop, the summer months are when the tourists start trickling in. Because of this, the boutique tends to carry a mix of clothing that would appeal to our locals as well as the summer tourists. When a new customer walks into our store it’s important to ask if they are local or visiting so that we can get a better sense of what they might be looking to buy. If they are just visiting, I spark up a conversation about where they are coming from, why they are visiting, what they have planned for their trip, and so on. Hearing about the area from their perspective has given me a greater appreciation of my town, and even inspires me to partake in their tourist activities.

I am so grateful to be living in a place that people spend time and money to travel to. When I am not working at the boutique, I like to take advantage of living here by being outside, either on my back porch, at my neighborhood pool, or at the beach. I find myself sitting around a lot less than summers past. Living at the beach also brings with it many texts from friends asking when they can visit, which provides me an opportunity to see where I live through their eyes, share my love of my new home, and treat the days they are here as if I am a tourist too!