Lewes explores expanded beach concessions

Chairs, umbrellas, and more food and drinks could be coming to Lewes Beach. 

Alison Kirk, the city’s parks and marina administrator, held a public workshop April 5 to seek input from the community. The only existing food and drink vendor on the beach is the Lewes Lions Club snack shack. 

Matt Carter, owner of Quest Adventures next to the Beacon Motel, said he drives up and down Cedar Street about 25 times per day in the summer delivering chairs, umbrellas, kayaks, beach games and other items. If he had a place on the beach to store some inventory, he said, he could save a lot of time and money. 

Carter said adding a rental vendor to the beach could encourage more people to walk or ride bicycles to the beach because they don’t have to lug chairs and umbrellas. 

He said another option could be to offer delivery service to the beach from local restaurants. If beachgoers knew there would be a set delivery time at noon and 2 p.m., he said, they wouldn’t have to bring a huge cooler to the beach. 

Kirk said before adding vendors, the city would first discuss any new vendors with the Lions Club.

The Lions Club nets $32,000 per summer from the snack shack, said Tom Engel, a director with the Lions Club. It is one of the club’s largest fundraisers. Nearly all of the money taken in is redistributed back into the community, including scholarships to Cape Henlopen High School students.

“Without the shack, we’d have to think hard about what we’d do,” Engel said. 

The shack started in the 1950s from the back of a pickup truck and is now a small shack in the sand near the main parking lot. It sells pizza, pretzels, hot dogs, shaved ice, candy, soda and water along with renting a limited number of chairs and umbrellas. The Lions Club is not allowed to cook, so the pretzels and pizza are delivered from Lewes businesses. 

“If people wanted ice cream or a hamburger and french fries, they’d walk down [to Dairy Queen],” Engel said. “If they want an impromptu soda or something like that, they’ll come up to our shack.”

Resident Kay Carnahan said anything that’s added should be a complement to what’s already available on the beach.

“It seems like the relationships now are very positive, and if something else were to be added, those relationships need to continue so that it’s symbiotic,” she said. 

Kirk asked residents about additional beach services on all of Lewes’ beaches, from Pilot Point near the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Roosevelt Inlet. Most residents in attendance said if new vendors were to be allowed, they should be at the main beaches at the end of Savannah Road, and on Cape Henlopen Drive and at Roosevelt Inlet. 

Resident Barry Dunkin said the city needs think about the beach experience it wants to offer to residents and renters. 

“Any changes you make are going to impact the experience, whether it’s just umbrellas or food, which is a totally different thing,” he said. “We need to think about that.”

Kirk is continuing to seek input from the public and asks folks to participate in an online survey – www.surveymonkey.com/r/LewesBeaches. The results will be made public at a later date, and she will provide a report to mayor and city council.