Over a thousand people at Camp Clearwater annual luau

WHITE LAKE – In the otherwise gated community of Camp Clearwater, there was an event Saturday that was open to the public and over a thousand people made an appearance at the 14th annual “Camp Clearwater Luau.”

A lūʻau is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that often includes entertainment and Native Hawaiian food. The word “lūʻau” comes from the ancient Hawaiian word Aha’aina, which means “gathering for a meal”. Luaus are often held outdoors and can celebrate events such as births, victories, harvests, and fundraisers.

In White Lake the annual event speaks to fun, to music and to commuity.

One business in particular which is part of the community of Camp Clearwaterwas and was “line-out-the-door” busy selling everything from pizza to ice cream to summer T-shirts.

“We lease this building from the Clarks,” said Elliott Presley who runs Clearwater Gifts and Essentials (a family-run business). “We have a pizza shop, an arcade, a storefront that features beachwear, a camping department and also water toys.”

Keith Presley who originally came in and purchased the arcade machines and added all of the other inventory said that although he was in the funeral business, he saw the value in selling ice cream. Although there is so much more to the Presley business, one would think that in a gated community, it would not do as well as far as volume.

Both Presleys say that is simply not true and years of experience, a faithful clientele and a healthy bottom line speak louder than the speculations of such a venture.

“It’s always its own little town,” Elliott Presley said. “What I strive to do is be able to provide a little bit of everything so people here don’t have to leave and go elsewhere for what they need. I make it more of a one-stop convenience store. These people started out as customers, but most of them are now considered family. I go to their weddings, they go to our graduations. It’s a tight-knit little community.”

There are people residing at Camp Clearwater from all over North Carolina and Presley said that the overnight section features people from Texas, Georgia, New York and all over America. They come to this fabled little community.

“Although this is a closed community, there are some events that they open to the public, such as this annual luau,” Elliott Presley said. “The owner of Camp Clearwater, Mr. David (Clark) had a child who started this and I think this is the 14th year that they’ve been running it.”

As far as the North Carolina climate, it is conducive to being open more during the season.

“We run through the end of September,” he said. “And then we go to weekends through Halloween where we remain weekends pretty much through Valentine’s Day.”

At that point they pretty much run a regular full schedule.

“This is my family’s ninth year doing this,” Presley said. “Now, I live in Benson, but my parents live in Elizabethtown. This luau is a great event. Right now there is about 1,000 people over there and they come early and they put their lawn chairs down hours before it begins. After a while there is only standing room.”

This year in addition to the band, Antique Outlaws, there were Polynesian dancers who did traditional dances of the Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands and also encouraged people from the massive to come to the sand-stage and learn how to do the native dances. From the very young to the very old, the dance arena was filled – both with those in traditional island garb and the locals decked out in traditional North Carolina clothing.

There were Hawaiian leis given out to the first 250 who came for the luau and those were gone in literally less than 10-minutes.

Camp Clearwater is looking forward past the luau weekend to a huge Christian concert the third weekend of July that is also open to the public. More details of that event will be coming as it becomes available.

The church of the community is Clearwater Chapel, an open-air chapel and they have service every Sunday, but according to Presley, during the winter, services move indoors to a building they just recently renovated on the grounds. Lynn Epps is the pastor of that church who has a strong ministry, after just five years at Camp Clearwater, according to Presley.

Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@bladenjournal.com