By BILL BARLOW
Sometimes, even the wacky stuff can acquire meaning if you do it long enough.
On Friday, May 28, local business owners and multiple other participants are set to gather on the beach at noon near the Music Pier at 825 Boardwalk near Moorlyn Terrace for the symbolic unlocking of the ocean and the Business Persons Plunge.
This will be the 18th year for the event, according to John Walton, one of the founders who has participated every year.
As he describes it, the madcap plunge is a photographer’s dream. He wears a business suit and carries a briefcase, as do many other participants.
Some dress in costume, while bakery owners and pizza makers come in chef’s hats and their kitchen whites. Several businesses send their mascots, of which Walton expects at least 21 for 2021.
“At the sound of the bugle, we hoist up our flags, take our positions, then as the band strikes up Pomp and Circumstance, we begin our march,” Walton said in an interview. “We proceed in battalion formation into the ocean.”
Everyone must enter the water.
“There is only one rule: You will get wet,” he said.
Walton tries to hold the line like a proper general, but things fall apart once people reach the water, which will probably still be in the 50s in late May.
“Last time, the tide was about chest high and it knocked us over like bowling pins,” Walton said.
By last time, he’s referring to 2019. COVID-19 meant most city events were canceled or delayed last year, including the popular plunge. Still, Walton turned out with his business suit and briefcase on the appointed time in 2020, determined not to skip a year.
“I thought it important we send a message out there: Support your local business, adhere to the recommendations. Wear your mask. Do your best,” he said.
Social distancing was not an issue on the nearly deserted beach.
This was not the first time the event took place out of something close to sheer stubborn determination. In 2013, after Superstorm Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast in the fall of 2012, Ocean City was still picking up the pieces.
Plus, a federal beach replenishment project worked to restore the eroded downtown beaches, which meant the area south of the Music Pier was inaccessible.
“The beaches were pretty torn up,” Walton recalled.
The crews created a small area for the event to go on, he said.
Oh, and it rained.
Just the same, Walton and a few other determined souls turned out to start the summer and turn on the fun.
“The press showed up. I didn’t think anybody would show,” Walton said.
This year, COVID-19 remains a threat. But increasing vaccinations and falling infection rates mean New Jersey has eased restrictions on public gatherings, with further changes expected to be announced May 19. Walton and Stacy Demcher, the co-organizer this year, already have the green-light to proceed.
Walton emphasized that the event will carefully follow the latest safety guidance during the pandemic. He said keeping participants safe is the biggest priority.
At the same time, he said, just about everybody is way overdue for a party. Even in a normal year, the anticipation on the beach is palpable after a cold, rainy winter. This year, he said, people are all the more excited.
“We know it’s just going to be off the charts,” he said.
There are new businesses in town, new construction and the downtown is thriving. Plans are for a banner plane to fly over at 11:45 a.m., followed by the ceremonial unlocking of the ocean by Mayor Jay Gillian and members of City Council.
Various pageant winners will be there, Walton said, including Miss Ocean City, Mr. Mature Ocean City, Little Miss Ocean City and others. The Ocean City High School band will also be there to serenade the participants as they march into the water. Students from the Ocean City High School business program are also set to participate.
The event always draws media attention.
Walton is a real estate agent in town. He heads up the Walton Team at KW Jersey Shore, specializing in home sales at the shore.
In 2004, he participated in a committee preparing to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Ocean City. He said members wanted to ensure there were 125 events that summer.
“This was one of the events,” he said of the Business Persons Plunge. The unlocking of the ocean already took place each Memorial Day weekend, he said. Mark Soifer, then the city’s publicist and the source of many wacky, headline-grabbing events, liked the idea of the plunge.
“It wasn’t really one of the better ones. It was sort of like a Monty Python show that went on for two hours,” Walton said. “People probably thought, ‘What is this nonsense?’ But I knew this was special – that this could maybe become something.”
Walton said Soifer also wanted to keep it going. He called the former publicist “the king of zany events.”
His business suit has held up to repeated dunkings, he said, and this will be the 15th year for the shoes. His briefcase has made every event.
“It’s rusted shut. I don’t even know what’s in there. Probably a contract from the last boom,” he quipped.
The whole event aims for a spirit of fun, a joke that everybody’s in on, all the more so because few business deals in a shore town like Ocean City require a suit. For most local businesspeople, a golf shirt and khakis are plenty.
Walton said some plungers come with props, like a well-known baker who brought a cake.
“I’m always thinking about what people will think looking back at this,” Walton said. “100 years from now, when people are looking at the photos, they’ll be amazed at what people are wearing and doing. They’ll say, ‘What the heck is this?’”
