Fourth of July fireworks were never a big draw for me. I guess it’s because I grew up near Washington DC and our family never wanted to fight the crowds, traffic and hassle to go and be a participant. For several years, the Fourth was a family pool party at my parent’s house. That’s what was always most important to me anyways. The thought of keeping up with five kids in the dark, amongst thousands of people was just outright terrifying.

Living on Tybee, my perspective on watching fireworks displays has changed quite a bit. Several times a year there are amazing fireworks displays that are set off over the water from the pier. The pier is only 2 streets from my home, so I could watch these celebrations never leaving the comfort of my favorite chair if I wanted to.

This year we invited several friends over for a hot dog roast on our porch. Sean cooked up the dogs on our little portable gas grill and everyone filled their bellies. We had shoulder to shoulder friends reuniting or meeting for the first time on our deck. Once the sun had set and the sky was dark, we marched 100 yards over the dunes and squished our chairs into the sand to ohh and ahhh over  explosions in the sky as the cool waves crashed on our feet. When it was over, ten minutes later we were back home. For the next hour we watched the parade of cars exiting the island. I’m glad these folks came and enjoyed the show, but even more glad that it was not me sitting in traffic.

Later that evening Carolyn and I made our rounds seeing friends across the island. We navigated through the crowds, in and out of restaurants and bars on one of the busiest weekends on Tybee.

It’s rare that we will see more faces of people that we don’t know than those we do, but this is one of those weekends. Hoping our friends that are serving, bartending and owning the businesses are having record breaking sales. As this is what will carry them through the slower winter months.

Even though we live on a vacation island, and it might appear that we are always playing, that’s simply not true. Island work can look a lot different that the mainstream 9-5 and I’m ok with that. We still have to be a step ahead and always planning for the slow times. A few badly timed thunderstorms can have huge effects on the pocketbooks and bank accounts of many of our friends and island businesses.

In the winter, locals call the cash flow around the island the “Tybee recycling program”. The same green bills just circulate from one tip jar to another by the same few hundred people.

The tourist season starts in March and goes through September, but most of that is still weekenders. June and July are by far the busiest as those months are filled with weeklong visitors. We welcome tourists to Tybee and really enjoy showing them a good time. We also want them to love and respect Tybee like we do. Keeping her clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.

I’m not gonna lie, we are selfish enough to miss the quiet off months of just hanging out with our friends and family having the quiet island to ourselves. Those couple of special months of not picking up trash left behind, dodging speeding cars, and not having to plan grocery store trips around droves of people extending in the isles, and being able to get a table at our favorite spots!

Have you been to Tybee? What are your favorite restaurants and businesses?