The sun burned briefly through a morning fog in Ocean City on Thursday, and Ocean City’s hermit-crab mascot, Martin Z. Mollusk, saw his shadow.
As local legend has it, that means summer comes a week early to Ocean City, NJ.
The presence of the sun does not actually matter on Martin Z. Mollusk Day in Ocean City. With artificial light and some creative squinting always fair game, Martin has seen his shadow in all but one of the past 40+ years of the event.
And that’s all right with the folks who by early May are tired of winter and windy wet spring weather.
The event is unapologetically campy and features a procession with the Ocean City High School playing “Pomp and Circumstance,” Dr. Frankenstein and Nurse Perfect inspecting the hermit crab, Shelley the Mermaid (aka Suzanne Muldowney) singing a Martin-esque version of “Some Enchanted Morning,” the “World’s Only Wind Chimes Band” and even a somewhat incontinent llama overseeing the proceedings.
For the record, the forecast does call for some summer-like weather over the next few days with highs in the high 60s and low 70s.
