Ocracoke to Offer 87 New Events in '24

In an effort to put Ocracoke on the map before the ocean swallows it whole, the community is promoting the wazoo out of year-round festivals and celebrations. 

"We've got to squeeze every last drop out of this cash cow while she's still giving milk," said Ocracoke Civic and Business Association president Bob Chestnut. 

As the chair of the organization that brought us the ever-popular Pirate Jamboree as well as the Island-Wide Yard Sales (spring and fall), and the Holiday Market, Chestnut understands the impact of packing more and more into the events calendar. "We've got to keep these people entertained so that they don't notice they had to wait two extra days to get on or off the island in the shoulder season weather, which seems to be getting worse every year."

"We have unlimited time and energy for planning and producing events," said David Tweedie, director of the Ocrafolk Festival and its parent nonprofit, Ocracoke Alive. "We aren't doing enough! I wish there was a festival the size and scope of Ocrafolk EVERY weekend! I can't get enough!"

Other organizations are pitching in to pack in more and more events. 

In addition to the usual lineup, visitors in 2024 can expect to find the Ocracoke Earth Day Weekend Celebration, the Old Qwawk's Day Festival, the Silver Lake Sailing Regatta, the Lighthouse Day Celebration, the Crabcake Carnival, the Beach Buggy Sand Dune Race, the Pony Pens Pageant, the May Day MayPole Village Fete, the Women's Mud-Wrestling Tournament, the Flag Day Fiesta, the Daydrinking Derby, the Beach Blanket Bingo, the Loop Shack Overnight Lock-In Extravaganza, the Ocracoke Water Tower Invitational Swim Meet, the Spring Fling, the Summer Spectacular, the Fall Ball, and the Winter Woes Drink-a-thon, the Pickleball Court Picnic, the Ocracoke Oyster Topless Night, the Food Truck Fiesta, the Cafe Atlantic Nights of Remembrance, the Rising Seas Days of Forgetting, the Old Diver Free Dive in Silver Lake, the Ocracoke Seafood Flounder Toss, the Ocracats Kitten Toss, the Fort Ocracoke Civil War reenactment, the Beach Jumpers Bungee-Jump, the Joe-Bell Jamboree, the Cougars Carnival, the Ocracoke Birders Birderee, the Pick-Off-A-Piping-Plover Open Shoot, the Wokkokon Walk-a-thon, the Blackbeard Boogie, the Black Bear Bar Hop, the Hammock Hills Hip-Hop Hoedown, the Fair on the 4th, the Fair on the 5th, the Fair on the 15th, the Island Inn Ghosts & Ghouls Fest, the Live Oak Festival, the Cedar Festival, the Cedar Pollen Festival, the Sea Oats Festival, the Sandspur Festival, the Scotch Bonnet Festival, the Harbor Hootenanny, the Loggerhead Lager-Tasting, the Laughing Gull Comedy Festival, the Bluefish Blues Fest, the Spanish Mackeral Tapas Night, the Can't Tuna Fish Music Festival, the Ocracoma Clambake, the Wahoo Woohoo, the Pompano Parade, the Go-Go Boots Gala, and the Official Day of Mourning for Thurston the Lighthouse Cat.

And, of course, we're all looking forward to Woodstock 2029 on Ocracoke.

All of these festivals will be free, family-friendly, and open to the public. They will all include art, vendors, music, food, heritage -- and they will be locally-produce by the indefatigable Ocracoke residents. These new events will be funded in full by occupancy tax funds, unless they are successful and fun, at which point they will be expected to become self-funding or grovel for every cent they get.