Credit to: Town of Bethany Beach

Mark you calendars for the 10th Anniversary of the Bethany Beach Poseidon Festival!

Caiso Steel Band
Friday, May 23 5:00 – 9:00 pm

The CAISO Steeldrum Band (pronounced ki-e-so) has been playing and entertaining together since 1979. Its seven members, all formerly with the Trinidad & Tobago Steel Band of Washington, DC, have performed previously with well-known groups in Trinidad and the West Indies. The group’s varied repertoire includes popular music, Jazz, Rock, Calypso, Latin American and original compositions. For years CAISO has performed in the Baltimore-Washington, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania region.

Community Kite Fly
Friday, May 23 5:30 – 8:00 pm

The community is invited to fly a

Bethany Beach will host its 19th Annual Seaside Craft Show this year! Explore the creations of many ranging from beautiful hand-made jewelry to colorful garden decor! Spend your entire day in Bethany browsing handcrafted merchandise and be delighted by the music of the Joe Baione Trio. Scan the QR code for more on the event, and check out the wide range of art vendors below as well as photos from previous years.

Credit to: Coastal Point

Coastal Point

The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) is conducting a review of its regulations and seeking input from the public. DDA is accepting comments and will hold a series of public hearings to meet the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (29 Del C. §10401 et seq.).

Comments on the regulations under review are being accepted through May 30, and they are available at https://regulations.delaware.gov/AdminCode/title3/index.shtml. Regulations for programs overseen by a commission or board are exempt from the required review. Still, DDA will forward any comments received to the relevant program for consideration, officials said.

The public may provide written or verbal comments at one of three

Credit to: CoastTV, Torie Seagraves

DelDOT.gov

DelDOT is rolling out speed limit changes along Coastal Highway from Dewey Beach to the Delaware/Maryland state line, with the first changes already in effect between Dewey Beach and Fred Hudson Road as of April 21. Additional signs will be updated Tuesday. DelDOT says the changes "were primarily prompted by concerns about speeding from the local communities and the Coalition for a Safer North Bethany due to a rising number of crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists."

Speed limits are being reduced in multiple areas, depending on direction and location. Here's a breakdown of the changes:

• Southbound from Dewey Beach to about Conquest Road
  • 55 mph changes to 35 mph
  • 55 mph changes

Credit to: Coastal Point, Kerin Magill

Parking in Fenwick Island — particularly for employees of businesses in the town — was the focus of a presentation by Mayor Natalie Magdeburger at the Friday, April 5, Fenwick Island Town Council meeting.

Magdeburger’s report was part of an ongoing effort to solve summer parking issues — particularly for numerous restaurants during the busy dinner hours.

The Town’s Business Concerns Committee had asked the council to consider selling half-price parking passes to businesses for their employees to use between 4 and 10 p.m. in permit-parking areas of town.

Following discussion at previous council meetings and Business Concerns Committee meetings, Magdeburger said she had done an informal survey of

Credit to: Coastal Point

The Office of Animal Welfare (OAW) is partnering with DocuPet, an online pet registration provider, to open their new and modernized dog licensing and complimentary HomeSafe 24/7 lost pet service to Delaware dog owners. The platform is intended to offer a more convenient and accessible way for owners to register their pets, with the added benefit of keeping lost dogs out of shelters and helping return them home safely, officials said.

Owners who license their dogs on the DocuPet platform will receive their assigned tag with a unique code that links directly to a dog’s secure online profile. Anyone who finds a lost pet can reference the code, which will be able to create a Found Pet Report in seconds. Owners can also

Credit to: Coastal Point, Susan Canfora

The Bethany Beach Town Council, by unanimous vote at the Friday, March 21, council meeting, passed the Town’s 2026-fiscal-year budget, with no increase in the property tax rate of $2.07 per $100 of assessed property value, but with a hike in the summer-season parking fee, to $4 per hour.

The increase, Assistant Town Manager Teresa Tieman told the council, was necessary to “add to our reserves to allow summer revenues to pay the Town’s expenses, so residents can still have free concerts.”

“I think we did the right thing,” Mayor Ron Calef later told the Coastal Point about the increase. “Unfortunately, as costs go up, we’re trying to balance it so our residents and the businesses are not footing all the

Following the state-wide reassessment and letters that homeowners have received from Sussex County and Tyler Technologies in recent months, Sussex County has released a tool to estimate your property taxes in 2025, based upon the assessment value that you received.  The Sussex County Property Tax Calculator can be found on their website:     https://sussexcountyde.gov/property-tax-calculator

You will be required to input the school district.  For homes in Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island and the surrounding areas where we conduct business, the school district is Indian River.

Please note, this is a preliminary estimate only. It does not account for any tax assistance programs you may be receiving (full time residents that are retirees, for

Credit to: Coastal Point, Susan Canfora

By unanimous vote, the Bethany Beach Town Council this week passed a resolution to announce the Town’s desire to borrow funds for a new clarifier for the water treatment plant. They will hold a public hearing to hear comment about that resolution at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17.

After the public hearing, there will be a second resolution offered, to determine whether there will be a special election held on the funding, in April or May.

Town Manager Cliff Graviet, at the Friday, Jan. 17, town council meeting, said the new clarifier will cost $3.9 million, paid over 20 years.

A clarifier, he explained, is a significant part of the Town’s water treatment process. Bethany Beach has deep aquafers that are

Credit to: Construction Dive, Emma Penrod

• The Department of the Interior on Tuesday approved the construction and operations plan, or COP, for the 2-GW Maryland Offshore Wind Project, clinching the final federal permit developer US Wind needs from the department to begin construction.

• The permit clears the way for the construction of more than a hundred wind turbines off the shore of Maryland and Delaware, and will help build the U.S. offshore wind supply chain, according to the Oceantic Network, a trade association that represents the offshore wind industry.

• The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this week also issued a Record of Decision finalizing a list of environmental measures expected to