Local officials believe they are going to have a very successful weekend at the North Carolina beaches.
Tourism officials hope the vacancy signs will not last long at Wrightsville Beach. Rooms at one hotel are filling up fast as employees reassured everyone that the beach is open.
Diedre Driggars and her friend made their reservations months ago. They feared Bonnie would wash away their weekend.
"Well, when it was happening I was worried," Driggars explained. "But, then we watched the weather, and it didn't look that bad. Everybody was saying that it wasn't as bad as they expected, so we came on down."
High winds and heavy rains from Bonnie battered the coast last week, but the storm passed without leaving serious damage behind.
"From everything I heard, Wrightsville Beach was not hit too bad, so I wasn't concerned," Bobby Garrison said.
Business owners who were forced to shut down for three days say they cannot make up for the lost time, but they are hoping a big Labor Day weekend will help ease the pain.
"One night out of your inventory is gone forever," explained hotel manager Mary Martin. "You never can resell it. It's like vegetables. It's a very perishable item."
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