By Donald Wittkowski
Everywhere you looked Sunday, there was an abundance of red, white and blue.
Yes, there were many American flags flying majestically in the ocean breezes during the Fourth of July weekend in Ocean City.
But there was also a multitude of red, white and blue umbrellas that had sprouted on the beaches from one end of town to the other.
“It’s definitely a lot more crowded in Ocean City,” lifeguard Shane Rauner said Sunday while recalling an extremely busy Saturday. “The beaches all were packed. When we were on top of our lifeguard stands, we could see the umbrellas all the way down the island.”
Indeed, a town bursting with patriotic pride was also bursting with visitors — on the beaches, on the boardwalk, in the shops and in the hotels.
“Anecdotally, the island is crowded with humanity,” city spokesman Doug Bergen said. “The beaches are jammed. The Boardwalk is jammed. It seems every parking spot is taken.”
An estimated 150,000 people per day would be in town for the holiday weekend, Bergen noted.
Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, ranked the Fourth of July as summer’s biggest holiday. She said it appears this year’s Fourth of July weekend might even surpass what was a strong holiday in 2015.
“When the Fourth of July falls on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, it’s even bigger,” she said. “It makes it even better for people to take a mini-vacation.”
Hotel bookings remained strong through the weekend. Gillian said the major hotels and motels were filled.
A star-spangled weekend celebration of concerts and other entertainment will culminate with a 10 p.m. fireworks show on Independence Day. The show can best be seen on the beaches and Boardwalk between 5th Street and 14th Street.
For local businesses, the Fourth of July weekend, combined with great weather, can add up to blockbuster sales.
“It tends to be like our Super Bowl, for lack of a better word,” said Wes Kazmarck, president of the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants Association.
Kazmarck explained that as long as the weather cooperates, boardwalk merchants should do well. Some businesses fell behind during a stormy Memorial Day, but began to catch up in June. Kazmarck hopes the momentum continues in July.
“Everyone is pretty much saying the same thing. When the weather is good, we’re good,” he said. “When the weather is great, we do great. When it’s not great, we’re not so good ”
As jam-packed as the town was, some devised ways to escape the crowds — momentarily at least.
Cliff Roach, down for the day from his home in Collegeville, PA, was preparing to launch his sleek surf ski kayak into the inlet at the foot of the Ocean City-Longport Bridge.
Roach, who was going to be joined by two buddies in their own kayaks, said they were contemplating paddling all the way to Atlantic City and back, but the wind direction and sea swells might force them to take a shorter trip.
Roach’s 21-foot kayak, a mere 17 inches wide and weighing just 33 pounds, is capable of propelling through the water at a brisk speed of 15 to 20 mph.
“If you want to be fast, you have to be long and skinny,” Roach said of his $2,900 kayak, made of high-tech composite materials.
A few blocks from Roach’s launching point, the more sedate north end beaches in the city’s Gardens section also provided a temporary refuge from the surging crowds in the middle of town.
Charis and Rob Cain, of Buena Vista Township, NJ, were headed to the Seaview Road beach with 6-year-old son Robby and 3-year-old daughter Gabriella in tow. They were looking forward to a holiday family get-together of between 20 and 30 people.
“We’ll be going into the ocean for a little bit and will also be playing in the sand with our buckets and shovels,” Charis Cain said as her children eagerly pulled her toward the beach.
Bill and Stephanie Hughes and their friend Kim Horwitz, all of Northfield, NJ, we’re lounging on the Seaview Road beach while their children played ball on the sand.
Horwitz, joined by daughter Hannah, 8, and son Harrison, 6, said they were getting a pizza delivered to the beach for lunch.
“We love it here,” Horwitz said. “It’s very family-oriented. There are lots of kids around for my kids to play with. We have great lifeguards, and it’s safe and clean.”
Hughes, the son of William J. Hughes, the former New Jersey congressman and one-time ambassador to Panama, pointed to his father’s house a short distance away on Wesley Road.
“This is the beach I grew up on,” he said.
Now, it is becoming his children’s favorite beach, too. Hughes and his wife were accompanied by their sons Johnny, 8, Patrick, 6, Charlie, 4, and their infant, Ryan.
