Wrightsville Beach News

10/06/2025

Congratulations to our newest Officers, do well, thank you for serving, please be safe.

10/06/2025

Who you gonna call?

🎬✨ Movies in the Park! Join us this Friday, October 10, at 6:45 PM in Wrightsville Beach Park for a showing of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 👻

Bring your picnic baskets, blankets, and lawn chairs for a night of family fun under the stars! 🌙

👻 Special guests: the Ghostbusters of Cape Fear
🍿 Concessions available for purchase

Don’t miss this spook-tacular evening of community, food, and entertainment!

10/06/2025

Our local election campaigns are suffering from the efforts of just a few individuals that seem to believe they are helping their candidate by tearing down others.

Shame on them. Shame on that campaign that doesn't publicly distance themselves from these supporters.

This begs the question as it continues, are the candidate and campaign director or finance chair part of the negative charade. They are foolishly letting anger rule their tongues. They move from platform to platform trying to monopolize various community spaces with their venom.

We have blocked them so they cannot use our WBN platform. They have ruined the Harbor Island Residents page turning it into their personal base of attack. HRI used to reflect a close community. They now will continue onto other platforms until they are categorically rejected for their divisive messages. They are angry and dividing our community.

10/04/2025

Remembering, the victims, their families and the Southport Community. 🙏

10/04/2025

Heads up, King Tides will be around this weekend into early next week along the coast. What are King Tides? King tides are the year’s highest astronomical tides when the sun, moon, and Earth line up and the moon is closest to us. I expected elevated water levels along the coast during high tides. We can expect minor flooding in areas vulnerable to flooding along the sounds, waterways, and ocean areas during high tides. Gusty winds could help enhance it somewhat; moderate flooding is possible during high tide along the Outer Banks South of Oregon Inlet on Hatteras Island. King tides are not caused by any weather event, but weather events can enhance them.

The highest tides will occur with the evening tides along the coast tonight, Saturday night, Sunday night, and into early next week, but lower levels are expected. The peak is this weekend.

-Ethan

10/03/2025

PUBLIC SAFETY IN ACTION
E-Bike Enforcement in Wrightsville Beach

With the growing popularity of e-bikes, Wrightsville Beach Police Department has adopted a proactive strategy to ensure safe and lawful use throughout the town. Our approach focuses on education for both officers and the public, as well as targeted enforcement.

1. Officer Education

WBPD completed mandatory training. The training covered how to distinguish between bicycles, e-bikes, mopeds, and motorcycles, as well as applicable state laws and town ordinances.

2. Public Education

To promote compliance through awareness, WBPD distributed informational flyers and hosted a bike rodeo for residents. These efforts provide guidance on safe riding practices and the rules that apply to different types of bikes.

3. Traffic and Ordinance Enforcement

Officers prioritize violations of traffic laws and town ordinances related to e-bikes. While standard traffic stop reports do not specifically track e-bikes, review of shift reports over the past 3 months identified at least nine instances of e-bike enforcement. WBPD continues to monitor enforcement trends and will adjust strategies as needed.

Under North Carolina law & Wrightsville Beach ordinances:

Bicycle: Human-powered with pedals; helmet required ages 15 & under, lights required after sunset.

E-bike: Pedal-assisted with a motor ≤750 watts, max speed 20 mph; helmet required for riders 15 & under, lights after sunset.

Moped & Motorcycle: Require license, registration, insurance, and helmets for all riders.

The Wrightsville Beach Police Department is committed to safety and enforcing responsible e-bike use throughout the community.

10/03/2025

Opinion: Our Commitment to News, Not Noise

This platform was built with one purpose: to keep our community informed with facts about local events, issues, and government decisions. We welcome questions, feedback, and healthy constructive debate. What we do not welcome are attempts to disrupt, harass, or undermine the integrity of our reporting. We certainly don't want our platform to be hijacked by a candidate or their loyal supporters.

Recently, a small group of individuals has crossed that line. Their repeated efforts to derail discussion, inject misinformation cast aspersions on current and former elected officials have left us no choice but to remove them from this space. We have been clear: disruptive behavior will not be tolerated here. If someone cannot engage respectfully, they will lose access. Period.

As we move through this election cycle, let us be very clear about our role. We report news. We do not exist to amplify campaign slogans or echo political promises. Candidates already have their own platforms for that. If campaign statements rise to the level of newsworthy events, we will cover them—but only with verifiable facts and context.

We also find it worth noting: several years ago, our posts were barred from the Harbor Island Residents (HIR) page because of their residency-only rule. Despite our lack of access to that page, our staff and our reporting are still harshly criticized on HIR by a handful of individuals. Does that behavior really serve the residents or the community as a whole—or does it simply foster division?

Unlike some outlets, we do not restrict the sharing of our content, provided proper credit is given. We are a not-for-profit effort, and our goal is to inform, not to profit. What we will restrict, without hesitation, is behavior that poisons the dialogue and distracts from meaningful conversation.

We stand by our decision to block those who cannot or will not respect these standards. This platform reflects the needs of our community end to end. It will not be hijacked by those who mistake disruption for free speech.

Our readers deserve better, and that is exactly what we intend to provide.

All of us at WBN look forward to serving our community.

09/30/2025

Thanks Imelda.

❗ EVENT UPDATE: The Air Show is canceled. We are working on a new date and location and will share updates as soon as we can. We look forward to bringing you an air show in the future!

Unfortunately, due to weather and wave conditions, it isn’t safe for rescue and support vessels to be in the water. These vessels are essential for an air show to take place, and as always, safety remains ILM’s top priority.

09/29/2025

This is an update on several traffic and facilities issues and potential solutions underway. Most of this has been briefly covered by Board member reports during various Monthly BOA meetings as progress has been made.

09/26/2025

Note these opportunities to vote. Wrightsville Beach has a very important municipal election.

Mayor and two Aldermen seats.

06/09/2025

Someone’s life may depend on it...please share this msg where ever you are ❤️‍🩹

Call Veteran's Hotline: 988 #1 or 844-647-1354