Summer Concert Series Lineup Announced

🎡 Ocean City, NJ's only weekly newsletter

Author

Kyle Scott
February 25, 2024

Welcome to our more than 1,500 new subscribers!

Lots going on. Let’s get right to it!

In the email today:

📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City

Saturday and Sunday, March 9 - 10

  • 🛍️ Market Madness | Shopping at the Music Pier | Details and times here

You can see the full list of events in all nearby Shore towns with the following links: Ocean City | Sea Isle | Margate | Avalon | Stone Harbor | Somers Point | Wildwood | Cape May | Ventnor

Also note the Ocean City Library has many events for adults and kids alike on their calendar, which can be viewed here.

🎷 Summer Concert Series Announced

You’ll be seeing a lot of these dates in the Upcoming Events section this summer.

Ocean City has announced a portion of its 2024 Summer Concert Series, and it features some absolute bangers.

  • Let's Sing Taylor – A Live Band Experience Celebrating Taylor Swift (June 24)

  • Kenny G (June 25)

  • Killer Queen (July 1)

  • The Wailers (July 8)

  • The Moody Blues’ John Lodge (July 15)

  • The Beach Boys (August 5-6)

  • Graham Nash (August 26)

I predict that Taylor Swift tribute is going to be absolutely packed.

You can see more details and get tickets here.

💸 Ocean City Receives $5 Million Grant For Boardwalk Upgrades

Ocean City received its portion of New Jersey’s $100M “Boardwalk Preservation Fund”.

The city will receive nearly $5 million which will be used to repair the deteriorated substructure near 3rd Street, improve storm resiliency, and add ADA-compliant ramps across the length of the Boardwalk.

“Our Boardwalk is one of the things that makes Ocean City unique, and it has been the centerpiece of family vacations for generations,” Mayor Gillian said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the state for investing in this vital part of our economy, and it’s good to know that we’ll be able to continue to keep the boards in great shape while increasing accessibility for all.”

The work will be completed in different phases through the end of 2026.

Of course, America’s Greatest Family Resort, with one of the most famous boardwalks in the country let alone the state, is only receiving a relatively small portion of the fund, which was made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act— part of the federal economic stimulus that passed in 2021.

Asbury Park and Atlantic City will each receive $20M, while North Wildwood gets $10M, Wildwood $8M, Ventnor $7M, and Cape May $6M.

🌊 Merion Park Flood Mitigation

Ocean City also received municipal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act that it will use to complete flood mitigation (pumps, drainage, raised streets, gutters and more) in the Merion Park area (community near the 34th Street bridge), which is effectively a marsh with houses.

The city will use $3.7 million of the federal funding and $400k of county funding to complete the estimated $10.7 million project. Work will begin this spring.

🦭 Baby Seal Died

You probably saw this earlier in the week, but the baby seal that tried to slither its way to freedom across 42nd Street and was subsequently rescued by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has died.

The MMSC posted on Facebook:

On the evening of February 19th the pup showed a very sudden and rapid decline, and despite the extraordinary efforts by our staff to resuscitate him, the pup passed away only a few minutes later. A full necropsy will be performed to provide insight on what may have caused him to go down so quickly.

Not great!

Worse, the MMSC is reporting an uptick in seal strandings as the relatively mild weather has brought forward migration patterns this year. Typically the strandings increase starting in early March.

🔦 Local Business Spotlight: KR Surf Experience

Kevin Richards was born and raised in Ocean City and has spent most of his life in the water. He has taken his love for the ocean and passion for surfing and created the ultimate surfing experience.

We asked Kevin what he loved most about teaching people how to surf: “Teaching is an amazing opportunity to share my passion to the sport of surfing. Just the experience in the ocean can be dangerous. To help someone become comfortable in an uncomfortable atmosphere is a huge success and most important.”

Catch Kevin all summer long and set up your surf lessons today. You can follow and connect with KR Surf Experience on Instagram right here.

Want to be featured in the local business spotlight? Drop me a line.

🌇 Beautiful Sunset

Just a great pic of the sunset this weekend from “Nancy” on Facebook.

🍝 New Restaurant Alert: Maria’s Cafe and Grille

Ocean City Cafe (846 Central) announced on its Instagram page that it will serve its last omelet this month.

Opening in its place will be Maria’s Cafe and Grille, which will serve breakfast all day in addition to lunch and dinner.

Their pretty wide-ranging menu is available on their Facebook page. They say the restaurant will open in March.

🏈 Battle at the Beach Football Classic Will Stay in Ocean City

Good reporting from Mike Gill of 97.3 ESPN here. He says the Battle at the Beach Football Classic will remain in Ocean City, at least partially.

According to the West Jersey Football Coaches Association, the classic will be playing games in Ocean City at Carey Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 29 and will feature a national match-up that will air on ESPN between national power IMG Academy and North Jersey power Bergen Catholic.

…

Other games that will be played in Ocean City include West Deptford and Manchester Township at 10 a.m., followed by Mainland and Camden then Ocean City will face Cinnaminson.

…

Earlier reports indicated this years event would be moving to Atlantic City High School, due in part to Ocean City's long-term relationship with the Philadelphia Catholic League on Labor Day weekend, which is the weekend of the Battle at the Beach Classic.

By playing games on Thursday, that allows Ocean City to host one day of games with the two other days being moved offshore.

🏠 Real Estate Update

Where have all ye rentals gone?

I heard from one owner this weekend that, thus far, they don’t have any weeks rented for their extremely-well-located condo this year. In the previous few years, they had many weeks rented by this point.

So I checked with a trusted local agent and friend of the newsletter, and here’s what he had to say:

“Things seem like they’re “normalizing” and booking like they did before Covid. It doesn’t seem like it’s a mad rush at this point like it was the past few years. Still on pace to hit last year’s numbers but it’s happening at a slower pace.”

In short, the total volume of rentals may still hit or near all-time highs, but the hysteria and urgency that was there during Covid has subsided.

Still, one has to wonder at what point things dip. As owners approach summer with key weeks left unbooked, they’ll be compelled to reduce prices.

There should still be plenty of margin for those who have interest rates in the 3%-4% range. But for those who may have purchased an investment property over the last 18 months and are a paying a higher rate, the math on summer income offsetting mortgage costs was already difficult, what happens when they have to lower the ask?

Anyway, we have big plans here to help both sides of the rental market given our unique reach. For starters, if you own a place and want to reach nearly 10k Ocean City vacationers, we can feature your property here. Just reply to this email and replace the subject with “help me rent my place”.

Your place can be featured here, like this beaut… which has August weeks still available!

⭐️ Featured Rental

1413 Ocean (1st Floor) | 6 🛏️ 5.5 🛁 

Property description:

This new construction is the pinnacle of beachfront and boardwalk living along the entire Jersey Shore. Located between 14th & 15th Streets of the boardwalk, this first floor condo is nothing short of stunning. 

The condo features 6 bedrooms, 5 full bathrooms, and two half baths (one on each floor).. Five bedrooms are located on the main living space with the master suite ocean front and 4 bathrooms. The master suit is located off the living room putting the bedroom oceanfront with direct ocean views.

 

Want to rent this place in August? Email Kevin right here.

If you want to feature your rental in Walking The Boards, just reply to this email and replace the subject with “help me rent my place”.

Did you know Walking The Boards has a newsletter dedicated to Ocean City Real Estate?

If you’d like to opt-in, just click the subscribe button right here:

Shore CribsEverything you need to know about real estate in Ocean City, NJ. Join over 1,500 second-home owners, agents, residents, investors, and renters who subscribe to our newsletter for free.

🎟️ Tickets and Discounts

  • Free beach tags for veterans and active military members are now available for pickup. Details here.

  • Tickets for Grease presented by the OC Pops and OC Theatre Co. at Ocean City High School this August are now on sale. You can see show dates and times and get tickets here. FWIW: My wife and I took our kids to see their Wizard of Oz last year— I wasn’t expecting much, but the show was quite good and worth the price of admission. I imagine Grease will be similar.

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