Atlantic Beach, NC

Harker’s Island

Story of Harker’s Island continued…

The Carvers Guild

Founded in 1987 at the Harkers Island home of Wayne Davis, the Core

Sound Decoy Carvers Guild organized the first of what would become an

annual festival in December, 1998. The first Core Sound Waterfowl Festival

attracted 1,800 attendees. Later renamed the Core Sound Decoy Festival, the

event has attracted over 10,000 tourists to Harkers Island.

The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, operated by a separate Board of

Directors from the Carvers Guild, is a major year-round tourist attraction for

the island. The museum building is a 20,000 square feet structure located on

property leased from the National Park Service. In addition to telling the

history of local waterfowl and the traditions of decoy carving, the museum

operates exhibits of local historical interest. The museum also hosts events

during Waterfowl Weekend, held on the same weekend as the Decoy

Festival.
 The festival weekend is the most important annual event for the

Harkers Island tourism economy.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,525 people, 661 households, and

497 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 598.4 people

per square mile (230.9/km²). There were 1,109 housing units at an average

density of 435.2/sq mi (167.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was

98.56% White, 0.33% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.07% from other

races, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race

were 0.13% of the population.There were 661 households out of which

21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.9% were

married couples living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no

husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 21.3% of all households

were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was

65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the

average family size was 2.65.In the CDP the population was spread out with

15.3% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 35.1%
from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median

age was 49 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every

100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males. The median income for

a household in the CDP was $33,125, and the median income for a family

was $35,492. Males had a median income of $37,375 versus $18,913 for

females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,790. About 13.6% of

families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including

18.8% of those under age 18 and 19.1% of those age 65 or over.

Next week – Local dialect and wrap up.

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