lewes

Bethany Beach 4th of July Celebration. Concert by Philadelphia Brass Band at 7:30 p.m. and fireworks at dusk. Bethany Beach Bandstand, Garfield Parkway.

Lewes Celebrates 4th of July. Old-fashioned games for children on Second Street followed by the Independence Day Lewes Boat Parade. 10 a.m. 228-2727 or 645-8073. Free.

Rehoboth Beach Fireworks.

Between 6-7 million visitors come to the greater Rehoboth area each summer and that means a lot of cash for area businesses. But this year more people are driving down and staying longer.

Hotel occupancy is up 10-20 percent so far over last year and park and ride services are also up 10 percent.

The reason for the boom rests with the big three- and sometimes unpredictable- elements: sun, gas and a lack of road construction.

A new report is showing that home sales have dipped to the slowest pace in four years.

According to the National Association of Realtors, this is the 10th month in a row where there has been a drop in people buying homes. This has resulted in the highest surplus of existing homes in 16 years.

The statistics do not necessarily hold true for the whole country though. Sussex County is actually seeing a boom. What is the attraction? Taxes, or the lack thereof.

The final leg of a trail linking Lewes and Rehoboth Beach opened last week after nearly two decades of work among private landowners and state and local officials.

The six-mile Junction and Breakwater Trail, named after the 1800s railroad line, will be open to pedestrians and cyclists. Motorized vehicles and horses are not permitted.

"It will be great to get off Del. 1," said Anthony Aglio, the state's bike and pedestrian coordinator, who tried out a section of the trail last week.

A third straight summer of run-away gas prices isn't expected to keep Delawareans home once vacation season hits.

Nearly 100,000 First Staters will travel 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic figures. That's about the same as last year.

While about 92,200 will go by car, about 7,700 -- or 3.4 percent more than last year -- will fly. Average gas prices are up 10 cents from last year, but plane tickets are down 5 percent, to about $166.

Two hundred towering windmills, each so tall that its blades would loom over the U.S. Capitol Dome, could be built in the Atlantic Ocean near one of Washingtonians' favorite beach retreats, under a plan being considered in Delaware.

The plan, which could create the first wind "farm" in waters along the East Coast, envisions a thicket of turbines offshore of either Rehoboth Beach or Bethany Beach, Del. As the blades are spun by ocean winds, designers say, the wind farm could provide enough power every year for 130,000 homes.

We've all merged right, merged left, slowed, and threaded our way through Route 1 the past few months, watching road construction crews start up a long period of traffic-twisting projects that are scheduled to continue through next spring -- all to move vehicles more quickly up and down the resorts. It's a hassle in a car. But it's sheer torture on a bicycle: The cars on the biker's left are packed in ever closer, the roughed-up pavement makes steering a gamble and flat tires a certainty. Which is why many of the bicyclists who venture onto Route 1 these days don't even try to ride in the construction zones; they disembark, and that's when we see them walking along grassy, sloped medians or narrow curbs, trying to get to the next open stretch of road.

Lewes-Rehoboth Association of Churches (LRAC) has established a meal schedule to run from May 28, 2007 through August 31, 2007. Breakfasts are from 7:00 AM - 9:30 AM; Dinners from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM.

Local surfers are teaming up with officials from the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies to test water where a Lake Gerar outfall pipe empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

On Monday, Jan. 22, Mark Carter, who chairs the local Surfrider chapter, met with college scientists and officials from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

“I think it was a really positive meeting. Both sides were really understanding of each other,” said Carter.

Drivers at the beach in southern Sussex County no longer have to go out of their way to get the best deals on gasoline.

While the lowest costs at the pump can usually be found upstate or in the western part of the county, now towns like Rehoboth Beach and Fenwick Island are offering some of the best values in Delaware as prices begin to dip below $2.

"It's a few pennies" saved, said Mickey Boris last week as he fueled up for $2.09 a gallon at a Fenwick Citgo station. "It's never going to be where it was, but it's better than paying $3 a gallon."