By Donald Wittkowski
They stubbornly clung to what little time they had left of the summer of 2018 in Sea Isle City. As the hours ticked away on Labor Day weekend, throngs of vacationers were determined to get in one last dip in the ocean, build one last sand castle on the beach and take one last bike ride on the Promenade.
Yes, the end of summer was inevitable. But there was no need to leave town Monday until every bit of fun was squeezed out of the holiday. Besides, what did they have to look forward to? Bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling along northbound on the Garden State Parkway for their trip home?
Patricia and Jordan Breckley, a married couple from Dennis Township, chose a more sedate form of transportation for a holiday trip through Sea Isle. They packed their 3-year-old daughter, Alesia, in a four-wheeled surrey bike and pedaled along the Promenade.
“We’re having a great holiday,” Jordan Breckley said.
Martha and Bill Reiser, visitors from Philadelphia, closed out their Labor Day weekend at the shore by learning how to paddleboard. Both looking a bit wobbly, they struggled not to fall off while plying the tranquil lagoon waters at Sea Isle’s marina.
Suddenly, there was a loud splash. Bill Reiser was dunked in the water, but was otherwise all right.
“It’s our first time. We’re not very good at it, but we’re having fun. We’re making the best of what we have left of our Labor Day,” Martha Reiser said, while smiling at her husband’s clumsy attempts to stand on his paddleboard.
At the 40th Street beach, Noah Stutzman, a 9-year-old from Paoli, Pa., tried his luck for the first time on another type of board – a boogie board. He was pleased with the results.
“I was very good at it,” Noah said triumphantly as his father, Nate Stutzman, smiled in approval.
Noah goes back to school on Tuesday, but he is not the only one in the family returning to the classroom. His father, a professor at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa., will be back teaching leadership courses for the start of the fall semester.
Nate Stutzman and his wife, Marianne, watched in amusement as Noah and their two other children, Maliha, 6, and Leeland, 4, used toy shovels to build sand castles on the beach. The kids were enjoying the holiday at the Sea Isle vacation home of their grandmother, Debbie Behnke.
“This is our last day at the shore,” Nate Stutzman said. “The kids are definitely going to miss the ocean. They learned how to swim this summer, so that’s something they’re always going to remember.”
On the same 40th Street beach, Tammy Pleydle and her daughters, Caitlin and Allegra, took cover from the sun under two cabanas a few steps from the water’s edge.
Pleydle, of Smithville, was reading a book to prepare for her return to school on Wednesday. She is a language arts teacher at Highland Academy in Absecon.
“This is just our way of enjoying the last of the heat,” Pleydle said of the end of summer.
Pleydle noted that she likes to vacation in Sea Isle because of the clean beaches, the food and the local shops. One of the last things she wanted do during the holiday was to pick up some bargains during the end-of-summer clearance sales in town.
Meanwhile, Steven Conte and his wife, Maureen, were trying to coax their 3-year-old daughter, Genevieve, into a tiny rubber boat for some fun in the waves. Genevieve sat in the boat for a minute or two, but decided to get out when it started bobbing in the surf.
“Maybe next time,” Steven Conte said to his daughter.
Conte, who is originally from Sea Isle and lives nearby in Petersburg, said that once the tourist crowds are gone after Labor Day weekend, that’s when summer traditionally begins for the local residents.
“Since we’re locals, it will be nice to get back to some normalcy for us,” he said. “September is when our summer starts.”
Laura Lochetta, who has a summer home in Sea Isle, was unhappy that the vacation season was drawing to a close. On Labor Day, she was preparing to return to her full-time residence in Milford, Hunterdon County.
“Today is a sad day,” she said. “But we’ll be back. We also come back to Sea Isle during the off-season.”
Lochetta exchanged a goodbye hug with Sea Isle beach tag inspector Kathy McFarland. For the past seven years, McFarland has been stationed at the entrance of the John F. Kennedy Boulevard beach, making sure that sunbathers have their tags.
However, after Labor Day, beach tags are no longer required in Sea Isle. McFarland won’t be back at her post at the JFK Boulevard beach until the start of next summer. Like the scores of Sea Isle vacationers, Labor Day was her last day at the beach.
“I’m leaving. This is my last day. I can’t stand it. Another summer is over,” McFarland told Lochetta.
