Life is What Happens
By Lisa Zaslow Segelman
I met my husband 35 years ago when I ran a summer share house on Fire Island in New York. Decades before singles went on the dating app Hinge, a popular way to get hitched was to get a share in a beach house. Here in South Jersey of course, we call it a shore house. Back then, my now-husband would grab a chair and a towel and hit the beach.
Once we got married, our summer shares ended, and we were more inclined to go “down the shore” to visit my folks in Ventnor. Within five years we were toting three kids to the beach to play in the sand, swim in the ocean and the rest of it.
My husband’s days of a chair and a towel were clearly behind him. Beach chairs, umbrellas, coolers, pack ‘n plays, and beach toys hit him like a ton of plastic, metal, and canvas all compressed together. I packed the cooler and the diaper bag, but getting the gear to the beach was his job.
We’d go to Walmart every couple of years and purchase a mesh beach cart that would topple over with even one extra umbrella. Then we’d try a folding beach cart with lackluster wheels. These carts were okay on the pavement, but it was an arduous, unpleasant task to pull one across the sand in the hot sun or a sudden rainstorm. The wheels were like crabs in their eagerness to imbed themselves in the sand.
Watching my husband gear himself up for a beach day haul brought the same image to mind every time – that of Sisyphus, the man of Greek legend who betrayed the gods and was condemned for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll down again once he got it to the top. My husband would schlep the cart with great effort down to the beach, only to struggle with pushing it back to the boardwalk at the beach day’s end.
Not much changed as the years went on – just more beach gadgets and games were added to the cart. And what’s the rallying cry for a day at the beach? “I’ll meet you down there,” said every kid ever, followed by, “Dad will take it.” And heaven forbid he’s still at the house when someone forgot something. Then the ask became, “can you bring down sunscreen, a sweatshirt, a hat, snacks, water?” More weight.
Then last year on a jaunt to Richman’s, the Brigantine burger joint, my husband saw a cart in a beach gear store that caught his eye. Giant balloon wheels. White trellis sides made of that plastic you might use for a vegetable garden – the same plastic design that surrounds the giant trash cans on the Ventnor beach. It looked handmade, and it was. He took it for a spin.
The cart wasn’t even for sale; the owner was just using it to hold cumbersome items. So who created this promising cart?
Enter C&C Beach Carts, a family-owned and family-operated business in Blackwood, Camden County, whose motto is, “We help people become beach happy, one cart at a time!”
Greg Coco and his sister-in law Patty Carroll, made their first beach cart for their own personal use in 2019. They are a large family full of lifelong beach lovers, and getting their tribe of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and kids to the beach was never an easy task, let alone getting it all back at the end of the day.
The family tried numerous carts – the kind you drag, the wheelbarrow cart with bungee cords, and loading up humans with backpacks and beach bags. They knew they needed something different.
They created their first cart in Coco’s Blackwood garage. They designed it with giant balloon wheels, garden fencing and PVC pipe. It was a homegrown, kitchen sink collection of elements – but it worked.
“The cart held all of our chairs, umbrellas, toys, coolers and more. So much room,” said C&C Beach Carts co-owner Grego Coco.
Much to their delight, the cart they created glided easily across the sand. People that saw Coco and Carroll with their cart on the beach would approach them and ask where they got it.
“That’s when our family decided to make carts for anyone interested in lightening their load. Our goal was to take the stress away from beaching,” said Greg. And thus their garage business was born.
The carts are not inexpensive, but for folks who are die-hard beach people with big families and a lot of visitors, it can be a good investment. I ordered mine as a 30th anniversary present for my husband. I couldn’t think of a more useful, special happiness engendering gift.
C&C Beach Carts offers two same-sized carts, but with different wheel sizes. The larger wheels are more expensive, but hold more weight. The price of a beach cart with 12-inch wheels is $595, and the price of a beach cart with 16-inch wheels is $875 which includes delivery.
Rentals are also offered for $130 per week, delivered.
If you’re handy, and the price is too steep, you can make the cart yourself.
“If they can make one, that’s great, but we’ve found that most people don’t have the time, patience or ability to figure it all out,” said Greg.
My family of Zazz-Seggs fell into that category. My husband and kids may have been able to build one with YouTube videos and trips back to Home Depot for stuff they forgot, but they knew they’d lose many beach days, or even rainy days constructing it.
This month we took our beach cart on its maiden voyage to our Somerset Avenue beach. Instead of the protestations and groans we usually get when we ask kids to “help carry something,” my family now vies for who gets to push the cart across the sand, but my beach cart captain husband doesn’t like giving up his post.
“See you at home!” he said as we watched him and our buoyant beach cart cross Atlantic Avenue into the setting sun.
For more information about C&C Beach Carts, visit www.candcbeachcarts.com or C&C’s Facebook page @C&Cbeachcartssalesandrentals
Lisa is an advertising copywriter (think ‘Madmen’ without the men), journalist and columnist. Claim to fame: Lou’s waitress for four teenage summers. For column comments, story ideas, or to get on her “quote” list for future columns: redshoeslzs@gmail.com
