[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="15" gal_title="Fall Block Party 2015"]
Crowds jammed Asbury Avenue for the Fall Block Party on a sunny and cool Saturday afternoon.
Crowds fill Asbury Avenue during the annual Fall Block Party in Ocean City on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015. Credit: AtTheShore.com
A host of other Indian Summer Weekend events brought summer-like traffic to the island just a week after a northeast gale hit Ocean City with four days of rain, wind and flooding.
Ocean City's semi-annual block parties — on the first Saturday of May and the Saturday of Columbus Day Weekend — are highlights of the shoulder seasons, the most profitable days of the year for many Ocean City merchants and a chance for visitors to enjoy some of the last reliably good weather of the season.
Because the event is free and spread out over a mile of Asbury Avenue between Fifth Street and 14th Street, it's impossible to know exactly how many people attend. But the figure would be easily in the tens of thousands.
But vendors and visitors both shared the same sentiment: the mass of people converging on the Avenue was bigger and earlier than in recent years.
Ocean City Regional Commerce Executive Director Michele Gillian said the only true way for merchants and vendors to gauge traffic is at the cash register, and she had heard good reports as of early in the day.
Ron Curcio adds a little bit of Ocean City humor to the Spooks N Kooks Surf Contest on Saturday morning.
Saturday's festivities started on the beach at Eighth Street with the fourth annual Spooks N. Kooks Costumed Surf Contest. The informal event requires contestants to donate to the local Ecumenical Council Food Cupboard to enter a surf contest.
The rescheduled HERO Walk to raise money for designated driver awareness traveled the boardwalk later in the morning.
Cape May County and Ocean City officials gathered at the new skateboard park at Fifth Street and Asbury Avenue at noon for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of the new $750,000 facility.
See gallery above for images from the day's festivities.
The day's festivities ended with a 9:30 p.m. fireworks display over the beach and boardwalk.
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