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She was a coach, teacher, mother, wife, sister, and daughter. Her no-nonsense approach to all things helped her and others around her achieve the best on and off the field, in the classroom and throughout life. Mikenzie Helphenstine, affectionately known as “Coach H,” made sure she did all she could, until she couldn’t anymore. Her love and zest for life and family, dedication to her players and her students, resonated with the Ocean City community on Thursday. Hundreds came out Thursday morning to St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Ocean City to pay their respects and to celebrate the life and memories of a strong woman who touched so many.

Ocean City Councilman Tom Rotondi did not concede Tuesday when just 48 votes separated him from his opponent Pete Madden for the third at-large seat in the municipal election. Rotondi said he would await the final tallies and the official vote totals once all of the mail-in ballots and provisional ballots were received and counted.

On Saturday, Ocean City High School students will make memories in a major milestone in their lives – prom night. They will walk the red carpet at the historic Flanders Hotel. They will eat, dance and enjoy the night. Afterward, they will also have the opportunity to continue the festivities in a safe and alcohol-free environment with After-Prom.

Ocean City is getting ready to welcome back vacationers. That means it is that time of year when the resort rolls out a major amenity for beachgoers – beach mats. The bright blue mats are made of hard plastic. They sit on top of the sand to create an easy-to-walk pathway.

So, a crustacean, some crown holders, a meteorologist, a string band and a group of singers joined for an event Friday morning. Any guesses where? Yep – Ocean City, of course. To the delight of the spectators inside the Music Pier, Martin Z. Mollusk, Ocean City’s weather forecaster and mascot, with the help of guest meteorologist “Nor’easter Nick” Pittman, celebrated the resort’s version of Groundhog Day.

The Boardwalk is an amenity that is not at every shore town. And in Ocean City, the 2.5 miles of boards make for the ideal location for strolling, shopping, biking, running and just getting on and off the beaches. But all of that traffic gives the boards a beating. The city has continued to maintain and repair the Boardwalk to make sure that it continues to be the shining gem that attracts throngs of visitors to the resort each spring and summer. What that means is a lot of repairs and replacement of boards in the offseason.

A welder killed in a fall while working on the Ferris wheel at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier on Monday was an owner of the company subcontracted to make the repairs. A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at Cargo Tech International, of Swedesboro, N.J., said that Robert W. Sanger, 62, of Pittsgrove, N.J., was one of the owners of the company and had worked there for about 10 years.

A new boathouse for the Ocean City High School crew team and the Under the Bridge Rowing Club (UBRC) would not have been possible without the help of one person who advocated on behalf of the rowers and determined parents. Cape May County Commissioner E. Marie Hayes spent several years working to make sure that a boathouse would become a reality. Because of her persistence, the project was built at the foot of the 34th Street Bridge. The name of the boathouse is now known, fittingly, as the “E. Marie Hayes Rowing Facility.”

The Music Pier was transformed into a sports lover’s paradise Saturday, with everything from autographed baseball cards, helmets and photos to just about any other collector’s item having to do with local and national sports teams. The Ocean City Sports Memorabilia Show, in its fourth year, definitely had a little something for everyone. Not to mention two special guests, former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner and former Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

The Ocean City Board of Education adopted the 2022-23 school budget on Wednesday night and taxpayers will be pleased to see a decrease in the tax rate. For the owner of a home assessed at $500,000, their school tax bill would be roughly $995 per year. That is an $80 decrease over the 2021-22 school year, according to School Business Administrator Tim Kelley.