Community Corner

Hurricane Irene Takes Down Tiki and Palm Trees at Donovan's Reef

They may have lost their tiki, but they are open for business and are ready for a sunny and fun Labor Day Weekend.

Employees are busy in "clean-up mode" at Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright while customers lay-out on the beach this sunny Monday after came through just two nights ago.

“We lost the tiki. We are in clean-up mode right now, but we are open for business and have been since last night,” said Susie Markson, manager of Donovan’s.

Markson said that at high tide, the storm and the ocean were hitting the sea wall pretty hard. The winds were so strong that a door to the main building even swung open. “Luckily, one of the residents saw that a door swung open and the police had someone come and close it. There was no interior damage,” said Markson. 

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The only damage that was sustained to the beach bar was complete loss of the tiki  bar, loss of a couple satellite bars and a loss of palm trees. “We have 4 trees that are still good and the rest are in a palm tree grave yard next door,” said Markson. They will not replace those trees until next season.

Markson said the damage was rough, but not as bad as it could have been. “This wasn’t our first rodeo,” said Markson. “We’ve been here for 36 years. This is probably the worst storm we’ve seen since ’91 but it could have been a lot worst.”

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Currently, staff is working on cleaning up the beach and then building a few bars for the weekend. “If you didn’t know the tiki was there you wouldn’t even be able to tell. It’s going to be a great Labor Day weekend,” Markson said.

They are not alone, “We’re a family here. We have customers and staff pitching in and helping out,” said Markson. She also said that they had a full bar last night and the beach is covered with bikini-clad customers today. “Everyone knows that if anything happens, everyone comes to Donovan’s to talk about it,” she said.

Markson is confident that Irene will not put a damper on the rest of the summer. “We were very lucky this happened at the end of the season. We have one more week of official summer and then summer begins for the locals. We will be more than ready for that,” she said. “We are just lucky that no one got hurt, our main building is okay and we will rebuild the tiki next year.”


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