The beach may seem as if it never changes -- it's the same year after year -- but this year, change is in the air. Up and down the Delmarva shore, from Lewes, Del., to Ocean City, Md., local business owners have been singing the blues about last year and how terrible it was on their cash registers. They mostly blame the bad weather, but a few were heard to curse the Olympics (for keeping folks glued to their TVs), the airlines (for the fare wars that enticed travelers elsewhere) and sometimes just the gods.
Hoping for a gangbuster summer 1997, the shore is putting on its best face: fresh paint jobs, expanded businesses and restaurants, and lots of new construction, from malls on Route 1 to Rehoboth's deluxe new boardwalk "comfort station." Let's take a look at some of what's new down along the shore. (For a look at developments in the nightclub and restaurant worlds, see the accompanying articles.) Rehoboth Beach, Del. Downtown is bustling with construction. The First Street Station is a new mini-mall set to open in early June at the corner of First Street and Rehoboth Avenue. While folks will sorely miss the parking lot the mall is eliminating, its quaint main street architecture (complete with clock tower) will make an attractive addition to the slightly run down main drag. Clearly designed to highlight the differences between Rehoboth's commercial district and the outlet stores on Route 1, the new structure will hold cafes, shell shops and more. Said to be moving in are the folks from the Starboard in Dewey, who promise to offer artwork and crafts imported from the Caribbean countries they travel to when searching out the fabled hot sauces sold in their Dewey Beach shop, Peppers. The old Strand bar and the Surfside Diner off Baltimore Avenue between First and the Boardwalk have been torn down to make room for the new Rehoboth Mews. Scheduled to open next month, it promises some more craftsy boutiques. The Rehoboth Outlets group has taken over a couple of malls and built another out on Route 1 just north of Rehoboth, giving them more than 150 outlet shops. The prices aren't quite rock bottom but with Delaware's lack of sales tax your savings can add up, and the selection is amazing: Gap, Levi's, L.L. Bean, Corning Revere, Bose electronics, Timberland, Rockport, Reebok. You can really take care of some shopping needs here. In between the outlet center on the east side of Route 1 and the Ames department store on Glade Road you'll find the lovely new United Methodist Park, the peninsula's premier Little League baseball venue. The 15-acre site includes five fields, each with fancy lights courtesy of Grotto Pizza's Dominick Pulieri. After a day in the sun, a cool night at the ball field sounds just right. Back downtown, there's some good new non-arcade stuff to keep the little ones busy: Creatable Crafts at 146 Rehoboth Ave. (302/227-1020), where kids (and their parents) can try ceramics, simple woodworking, beading, candle-making and tie dying; and Hands On, up the street at 216-B Rehoboth Ave. (302/227-5234 8811), one of those paint-your-own-pottery places. And while Dragonfly Designs isn't a "hands on" site, the things found in this Gingerbread Square store could inspire some rainy day creativity. After three years on the craft show circuit, where the stuff is hot-hot-hot, sisters Sara and Susan Gafvert have opened a retail space to sell Sara's batik originals -- shrimp, lions, peppers, waterlilies, elephants and flamingos as well as dragonflies on dresses, pillows, T-shirts, hangings and baby clothes (302/ 227-5440). Watch your back (and your windshield) if you park in a non-metered area hoping for some free all-day parking. Rehoboth has instituted a system of permit parking in residential neighborhoods, similar to the system in place in Ocean City. A seasonal non-transferable pass is $50 ($75 for a transferable one), while a weekly pass will run $20, a three-day weekend pass $12, a weekend daily pass $8 and a weekday daily pass $2. Stop by City Hall (229 Rehoboth Ave.) to get your passes, or call 302/227-6181 or 302/227-4641 for more information. As you drive down the Ocean Highway, don't be alarmed by the enormous two-headed dragon at Route 54 and Route 1, the Delaware/Maryland state line. It's just the newest attraction at the Viking Golf miniature golf course, deliciously attached to a Fisher's popcorn outlet. This gloriously realized nightmare breathes smoke and roars, and might even put a shiver in the spine of the otherwise cool and collected Tiger Woods. Ocean City, Md. Before you go anywhere else in Ocean City, you might want to stop at Very Superstitious (211 Baltimore Ave.). This new shop carries a bizarre assortment of occult-ish items, from votive candles to workplace voodoo dolls (get a stuffed computer doll and wreak havoc on your pod-mate). But the reason to go there first is the "Parking Goddess." This little chrome deity sticks to your dashboard, flapping her wind-up angelic wings to help you find a parking place. If she works and you find one at a parking meter, remember that a quarter only buys you 15 minutes, down from 30 minutes last year. And if looking for parking gets your "road rage" up, the Ocean City Grand Prix Go-Kart track (Route 50, 410/213-1278) is the perfect outlet for it. It's expanding to add another track to the six already filled with roaring 8-horsepower engines. Don't worry about losing the bumper boats and batting cages to the new track. They're just being moved around a bit. For vehicles of a different sort, visit the Wheels of Yesterday Antique and Classic Car Museum, which holds its grand opening this Sunday. The museum displays 30 vehicles, including a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air, a 1960 Corvette, the 1917 Overland used by Jack Benny in commercials, a 1928 seven-passenger Lincoln and a Model T Ford. It's at 12708 Ocean Gateway (Route 50), across the highway from the White Marlin Mall in West Ocean City. Admission is $4; call 410/213-7329. The newest sightseeing boat on the beach is Explorer Scenic Cruises, which will offer narrated nature cruises of the waters around Ocean City. Call 410/289-1121 or 800/322-3065 for schedules and prices. The Tangier Sound Music Festival, formerly held at Hammock Pointe in that funky fishing village, has moved to the Crisfield/ Somerset County Airport on Route 13. The June 28 festival this year features Alison Krauss and Union Station, Sammy Kershaw, John Anderson, Joe Diffie, Lee Roy Parnell, Billy Dean and Suzy Bogguss. Tickets are $25 to $35; call 800/521-9189. And unlike many beach events, this one is alcohol-free. Ocean City's newest event is the Winefest on the Beach (sand, sun and sauvignon!), held Sept. 26-28 at the Inlet Parking Lot; call 410/280-3306. The Ocean City Convention Center is adding an additional 80,000 square feet of space and has a new name: the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, in honor of the just retired mayor. The expansion is to be completed by October. CAPTION: If you're not touched by an angel, you might get tapped by the parking police... CAPTION: Viking Golf's dragon guards the state line on Route 1. Upper right, Emily Grady is new at the beach, too. CAPTION: Gingerbread Square Mall: home to Dragonfly designs. CAPTION: ... but even a prayer won't provide you with a permit: Try City Hall.