Viki Dee celebrating two decades of entertaining Cape Region

It’s Fourth of July weekend in Rehoboth Beach and local entertainer Viki Dee is getting ready to perform her weekly Friday afternoon show at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.

“It’s going to be crazy,” said Dee, as she unloads her equipment from the back of her car while it’s double parked on South First Street.

Dee’s got a preset ritual before her performance at Freddie’s. She likes to get there a few hours early, move her equipment into the restaurant, get a quick drink and something to eat around the corner at Mariachi Restaurant on Wilmington Avenue, and then go for a walk on the Boardwalk.

The day of the interview, July 5, it was in the mid-90s and humid. She decided to eat inside for the air conditioning and wasn’t likely to walk the boards, because, she said laughing, “I’ve got a performance later and I’ve got to look like something good. I’ll probably go shopping instead.”

Dee, 65, has been performing in the Cape Region for two decades.

“It’s special for sure,” she said.

Dee said her regular gig at Freddie’s, located where The Frog Pond used to be, is her Rehoboth experience coming full circle.

“The Frog Pond was one of the first places in Rehoboth that I entertained at,” said Dee. “Coming back here is like old homes week.”

Dee said her earliest memories of performing are at 5.5 years old, singing with a hairbrush as a microphone. The family loved it, she said.

Dee’s dad was a songwriter and Latin percussionist, just like her.

“He was my inspiration, my mentor,” said Dee.

She began performing with her dad’s band at a young age and was a member of a band that traveled what she called the Holiday Inn circuit, which included motels and hotels up and down the Eastern Seaboard. They also traveled to Michigan and Ohio. That’s how she ended up in the Cape Region.

Dee grew up in the Baltimore area and actually spent her childhood vacationing in Ocean City, Md. Her first experience in the Cape Region was in 1979 as a member of a show band when she performed in Midway at the space that is now The Hideout Arcade Bar & Grille.

Dee said after that trip to Midway, which allowed her to explore the area a bit, she decided she was going to come back and make this place her home. That finally happened in 2001, and she was able to hit the ground running, performing three to five nights a week.

“It was a charming area. Quiet, but so much fun with a great local community,” said Dee.

Dee said one of the things she’s always liked about performing in the Rehoboth area is that there’s a wide swath of people who visit.

“I’m always meeting new friends when I’m in Rehoboth,” said Dee.

Dee said the music she plays is for everybody – from the ’50s to today, popular top 40 songs and R&B, she said.

“I’m also known as the Disco Queen,” she said, with a smile. “I play a lot of dance music from the ’70s.”

Dee said she likes to talk to the crowd between songs. It’s a good way to get them involved with the show, she said.

Even in the two decades that Dee’s called the Cape Region her home, she said she’s noticed a lot of changes. Not all of them are for the better.

This area has become unaffordable and there are no more reasonably priced rentals because people know they can make more money with seasonal rentals, said Dee, who currently lives in Wilmington.

“I’m not fond of the saturation. It’s taken some of the charm away, in my opinion,” said Dee.

That said, the music scene is much more diverse than when she started here in the early 2000s. There were only a couple other women performing regularly, said Dee, pointing to Holly Lane and Pamela Stanley as examples.

“Now,” she said, “there are so many wonderful acts to see. A person can go pretty much anywhere around here and see so many great acts.”

Dee said she does mostly private events at this point and she’s not going to stop doing those anytime soon.

“No matter what, music is always going to be a part of my life,” she said.

Looking back on her two decades of success in the Cape Region, Dee said she’s humbled by the friends and fans she’s made and those who have supported her over the years.

“From the bottom of my heart, I couldn’t have done without you,” she said.

With her interview and Mariachi's pregame over, Dee makes her way back to Freddie’s to set up her equipment for that night’s performance. She knows the code to the lock box and lets herself in. As she’s doing so, a couple of women walk by. One pauses, and says to Dee that she was the entertainer at her 40th birthday party a few years ago. Clearly, Dee doesn’t remember the woman, but it doesn’t matter, the woman gets a big hug anyway.

“See, there are always new friends to make in Rehoboth,” said Dee.