DATES AND INFORMATION

Dear Alumni and Friends,

We hope you are as excited as we are about our upcoming reunion at Emerald Isle, North Carolina, May 10-17, 2020!

We have planned a week-long stay at the beach with plenty of opportunity to be with your classmates and fellow Schutz alumni, family and friends, and lots of fun and interesting things to do and see along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. Emerald Isle is a favored “family” beach venue for North Carolinians, within reasonable driving distance along the Eastern Seaboard and with convenient nearby airports for those coming from afar. You can come for the entire week or you can opt to join us only for the long Thursday-Sunday weekend when we’ll hold our formal reunion.

The reunion fee of $135 includes all costs for planned group outings and group meals. For those opting for the week-long stay, there are many things to do on your own or with your friends. Here’s a sampling of things we can plan for Monday-Wednesday of the reunion week if there is interest:

• Golf outing at Star Hill Country Club in Cape Carteret
• Deep-sea fishing trip out of Swansboro
• Day-long excursion to Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout (wild ponies!)
• A visit to the pre-Revolution colonial capital of New Bern
• Visit to Fort Macon in Atlantic Beach (Civil War battle site)
• New Wilmington Outing (USS North Carolina)

Please indicate if you would be interested in some of these outings in the registration form below. We will be sending out details and costs depending on the response. Plus, there is surf and pier fishing, crabbing, clamming and casting net fun in the Sound right behind where we will be staying.

The reunion schedule is provided in the side-bar. We will have a number of group events Thursday-Saturday, with featured outings to the charming seaside town of Beaufort including a double-decker London-style bus guided tour of the town and a visit to the excellent Maritime Museum, and a tour of the superb NC Aquarium only 10 minutes’ drive from where we will be staying. We plan to have meals catered at both venues, along with interesting presentations. We’ll be kicking off the formal reunion with a welcome reception at the Clark cottage (“Starbird”) Thursday afternoon.

Housing at the beach

Of course, an important factor for your consideration is the housing cost. Our challenge is to give you an accurate cost. To make this as affordable as possible, our basic housing plan is for reunion attendees to stay at shared-occupancy beach houses that we will be renting. The reunion committee will assign lodging accommodating your requests as best we can. Here’s how we have planned it:

a) The beach houses come in different sizes and at different costs. We don’t know how many we will need so we can’t precisely predict the cost until we have the full registration number.

b) We plan to book both ocean-front properties and soundfront/2nd row, mostly within walking distance of the Clark cottage, where we’ll hold most of the reunion activities. There are only four rows along this stretch of the island, so all the properties are a short walk from the beach and the Bogue Sound behind the island. There is a cost difference between oceanfront and the other houses, so you can choose either option, depending on your budget and preference.

c) We have priced the housing by room, on an average price basis for all rooms in the category you elect (beachfront being somewhat more expensive). You can elect to have a room to yourself or opt to share a room with someone else at half the room cost (e.g., couples or roommates). Most of the houses have rooms with multiple beds.

d) The projected  weekly room rates are as follows:
Oceanfront:  $600
Soundfront / 2nd Row: $380

 If electing to share a room, you will pay half the cost (i.e., a couple sharing an oceanfront room will pay $300/person; two people sharing a 2nd row room with two or more beds will pay $190/person, etc.).  We currently have three oceanfront houses, one soundfront and five 2nd row properties, and will add more properties based on registration.  There is a limited number of rooms with multiple beds, so register right away if you elect to share a room!  We will do our best to house you according to your preferences, on a first-come/first-served basis.

e) Because the properties are rented for the full week only, the price for partial week stays (e.g., just for the formal reunion Thursday–Sunday) is the same as for full week stays, so housing costs will be the same whether you stay for the week or not.  But where else can you get a week at the beach for these fantastic prices?!

f) For people coming with families, you may opt to book your own property.  We can help you find and rent these houses.

g) Others not wanting to stay in group houses have several nearby hotel options. We have provided contact information with estimated room costs, and you can book your own accommodations.  (You will find that the nightly costs will make the group houses cheaper!)

Suggested hotels on the island:

Oceanview Inn:  Room cost about $160/night.
Inn at Pine Knoll Shores:  Room cost about $260/night.

Other hotels are available – Google “Hotels Emerald Isle, NC”

As you complete the registration form, indicate your housing preferences. For those choosing to stay in group houses, you will be required to pay 50% of your estimated housing cost at the time of registration. The remaining cost will be charged once we know the number of people attending and the actual total cost of the property rentals. Since we have based the estimated room costs conservatively, your final payment may be less than 50% of the projected cost.

As noted, you are free to book your housing separately and pay directly for your accommodations if you don’t choose to stay at a group house. Typical weekly rates for the beach houses range from $1,800 to $3500. Hotels could be the most expensive option if you plan to attend for more than a day or two.

Except for the reunion group meals Friday and Saturday, everyone will be “on your own” for meals. The houses all have fully-equipped kitchens and the reunion committee will be providing a few items in each house including basic condiments, spices and other staples by the time you arrive. For those opting to stay in group houses, you can do your shopping at several nearby grocery stores – it will be just like “Schutz family” meals, only you do your cooking! For Saturday night we plan a pot-luck dinner at the Clark cottage. We’ll ask each group house to bring a side dish, and we’ll provide the mains with a selection of meats, plus drinks. Households can “opt-out” on providing a dish and pass the hat for $20 for the reunion committee to bring in some of the food for everyone to enjoy buffet-style.

So, we’re trying a new kind of format for next year’s reunion. With a week-long vacation, there will be lots of time for people to do what there is to do at the beach as you please with your friends and family – walks on the beach, exploring the area and shopping, shelling, fishing, swimming, bicycling – you name it. As noted, we’ll do our best to house you with your preferred friends and classmates. We’ll also have games to play at the Clark cottage any old time throughout the week. We plan to have the usual, too – discussion sessions, book-club meetings (we expect to have a number of Schutzite authors on hand) and of course the group outings. We really think this will be a lot of fun for everyone!