Dare Days on Manteo's Historic Waterfront

Dare Day Festival, a fun-filled family event is always held on the first Saturday in June. It is an outdoor festival and is held rain or shine.
Started in 1976 - the only year it was a two-day event and was called Dare Days as part of the bicentennial celebration - the festival is considered by most locals as the unofficial kickoff of summer.

Dare Day promises free fun and festivities for the whole family. The day will be a full day of music, food, crafts and entertainment. Children can hop aboard a kiddie train, take in a magic show, have their faces painted and play games.

Adults can walk along the beautiful downtown waterfront and check out the wares of more than 100 vendors offering furniture, toys, carvings, clothing, jewelry, birdhouses, paintings, wind chimes and photography.
The aroma of delicious food fills the air with the smells from seafood, polish sausages, hamburgers and hotdogs! Plenty of cold beverages include fresh squeezed lemonade, slushes and all kinds of soft drinks. More than 5,000 people are expected on the Manteo Waterfront for the 34th edition of Dare Day.

The festival opens at 9:00 with a prayer by a local pastor for the "Blessing of the Season" and the music begins. The Dare Day festival is sponsored jointly with the County of Dare and the Town of Manteo. The Committee consists of Melva Garrison as the coordinator, Virginia Tillett as the DCBC Liaison and David Farrow as the Town of Manteo Liaison.
Schedule of events:

BOATHOUSE STAGE
COURTHOUSE STAGE

9:00 Coastal Family Church
9:30 Maranda Mayo
9:15 Reunion
10:15 Dreadnecks
10:00 Hannah Barnes
11:15 MoJo Collins
10:15 Victoria Huggins
12:30 On Edge
11:15 Uphill
2:15 Nikki Snapp
12:00 DARE DAY CEREMONY
3:15 Stagekraft Productions
12:30 Old Enough (to Know Better)
2:15 Road Hammers
4:00-6:00 B J THOMAS
SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Landmark Groundbreaking - Jennetts's Pier

A "Sandbreaking" ceremony, as it was dubbed, was held at the site of the new North Carolina Aquarium's Jennette's Pier, during which all those in attendance were invited to join the various dignitaries, including Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Warren Judge and 99-year old Millicent Jennette Waits, whose uncle Warren Jennette built the original pier.

Jennette’s Pier is the oldest fishing pier on North Carolina’s Outer Banks! Built in 1939, this historic ocean landmark has weathered dozens of hurricanes and nor’easters over the past six decades. The latest, Hurricane Isabel, rolled through in September of 2003, taking 540 feet of pier with it. We hope to have the pier completely rebuilt soon, bigger and better than ever. It is owned and operated by the North Carolina Aquarium Society, in partnership with the North Carolina Aquariums.