THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508190081
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
After four days of fooling forecasters and teasing hundreds of thousands of tourists, Hurricane Felix finally made it to the Outer Banks Friday morning - on T-shirts.
Cartoon caricatures, silk-screened silhouettes and computer-altered images of the no-show storm arrived without fanfare - neatly folded in panel trucks and car trunks.
By the time most visitors returned from the mandatory evacuation, at least seven different depictions of the would-be major storm were hanging in shops from Kitty Hawk through Cape Hatteras.
The Category I hurricane left little damage along the barrier island beaches.
But thousands of T-shirts bearing its image blew in on its wake.
``We've only got two left. We sold at least 150 so far. We've already re-ordered today and are expecting another shipment this afternoon,'' Avalon Pier's Jay Ross said shortly before noon. ``The fact that this storm didn't come really helps us. If it had hit, there wouldn't be any T-shirts here to sell - much less people to buy them.''
Tim Lehman, who manages the Kill Devil Hills pier, said the first shipment of $11.99 souvenir shirts actually arrived in Elizabeth City on Wednesday morning. Designers sold 1,200 shirts to evacuees staying at Albemarle-area motels.
The initial printing contained the date ``August 16, 1995'' beneath a smiling, stylized black-and-white cat. But when Felix kept creeping around in the ocean instead of spinning ashore, the T-shirt printer acted accordingly. He changed the date to ``August 17, 1995'' and sent his second shipment of shirts to the beach - just in time for the tourists' return.
``When the hurricane didn't strike Thursday, either, he changed the shirt again,'' Lehman said of the Elizabeth City printer, Egads. ``It still has the same picture printed on it. But now it says August 16, 17 . . .''
``We've sold hurricane shirts for every storm in recent years,'' Lehman said. ``We sold more than 1,000 for Bob and at least 400 during Emily. It helps, after you lose money when people evacuate, to get them to come back and buy T-shirts and start spending money again.''
Some parents purchased souvenir shirts for their kids, trying to make up for three days of lost vacation. Others who stayed wanted to impress friends back home with their bravery. And some locals said they bought the Ts to remind them of three unexpected days off that Hurricane Felix afforded them.
``One guy told me he wanted it to remember the fun he'd had off work,'' Lehman said. ``Even though it didn't hit, a lot of people were affected by that storm.''
Flying Fish T-Shirt Co. of Colington also printed T-shirts depicting Hurricane Felix as the frolicking feline popularized in mid-century cartoons. These colorful cotton shirts show Felix holding a red hurricane-shaped boomerang against a backdrop of the Outer Banks. The shirts don't contain a specific date, however - only ``August 1995.'' They sell for $12.99 at Cavalier Surf Shop in Nags Head, where owner Marty Slayton said she had sold a couple dozen by lunch time.
``Tomorrow, I'm sure, we'll sell even more,'' Slayton said from her Beach Road store. ``People are just beginning to get back today. And already, they're shopping for shirts.''
Workers at T-Shirt Whirl in Nags Head sold more than 200 ``I Survived Hurricane Felix'' shirts for $7.77 each between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. T-Tops at the Outer Banks Mall in Nags Head sold three dozen $5.99 hurricane shirts by noon. That store featured three different Felix designs drawn and printed by a Colonial Beach couple - all with original artwork and fluorescent color accents.
``We worked on the designs Thursday afternoon. Then we stayed up until 12:30 a.m. printing them,'' said Lori Muse, who drew prototypes for the three shirts. ``We piled the kids in the car with the boxes of shirts and got to Nags Head about 4:30 a.m. this morning. It's been crazy all day. Every time I go anywhere in one of these shirts - restaurants, stores, the street - someone stops me to see where they can buy one.''
The Trading Post in Kill Devil Hills has two locations: one on the beach road, the other on the bypass. Both had sold out of Hurricane Felix shirts by 3 p.m. At the bypass shop, cashiers were taking advance orders for an expected afternoon shipment. At least 250 T-shirts already had been sold.
``I stayed here. I survived. I want something to show it,'' said Kill Devil Hills resident Ruth Stover, who was signing up for a shirt and wanted one as soon as it arrived. ``I'm going to have a whole collection of these shirts someday. Already, I've got an Emily one. I have no intention of ever leaving for a hurricane. They'll have to carry me out first. So I want others to know I stayed.''
Designed by Outer Banks artists Mark Russell and Mike Beasley, the Trading Post Ts are the only versions that contain photographic images. These $10.99 shirts show the spiral-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse surrounded by head-high waves. ``I Surfvived! Hurricane Felix,'' orange and red letters proudly proclaim.
Dana Summerell, who manages the beach road Trading Post store, said people were stopping into her shop all day to buy Russell's hurricane shirt. But since clerk Mark Grizzard didn't stay for the storm, she wouldn't let him wear the badge of survival.
``He can't wear one because he was a weenie,'' Summerell teased her 20-year-old employee. ``He fled to Smithfield in the face of Felix. Only people who stayed here can say they truly Surfvived.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Drew C. Wilson, Staff
T-shirts at The Trading Post in Kill Devil Hills were selling fast.
The store's two locations had sold out of the popular souvenirs but
were expecting to get more.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE FELIX by CNB