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Merchants, vacationers hope for dry Fourth of July
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Jerry Green, co-owner of Green's Bike Rental on Ocean Avenue in Wildwood Crest, Cape May County, says when the weather is nice, people will always come to the shore. Many business owners are optimistic that the July Fourth weekend will be profitable following a soggy start to the summer season.
Photo by: Dale Gerhard
When Jerry Green's father opened his bicycle rental shop in Wildwood Crest 46 years ago, a ride cost a mere 25 cents per hour.
Times and rates have changed, but his father's motto remains the same for the seashore business that - like many others - relies on flip-flop-wearing vacationers to make or break the season.
"My father always said, 'If weather is nice, people come down to the shore," said Green, who now co-owns Green's Bike Rentals with his sister Susan Lombardo.
As businesses and vacationers prepare for the Fourth of July weekend, they hope for sunny skies ahead despite a rainy June and a sagging economy that dampened high hopes for the beginning of the tourist season.
"It's challenging, yes. It's probably as challenging as I've seen in the past 40 years," said James Fisher, owner of Seashore Ace hardware in Stone Harbor's 96th Street shopping district.
Fisher also said good weather makes a huge difference - a lesson his father taught him, too.
Meanwhile, more New Jersey residents are expected to be on the move this Fourth of July weekend - the first expected increase in holiday travel since Christmas/New Year's 2007, said David Weinstein, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, which covers southern New Jersey.
A survey conducted last month by AAA projects a slight increase in traffic from last year, primarily due to cheap airfares, Weinstein said.
Automobile traffic was predicted to drop slightly - by less than 1 percent.
But that survey was conducted as gas prices ticked steadily upward, toward a 2009 high of $2.56 per gallon. Since June 18, gas prices have slowly crept down, averaging $2.53 per gallon Thursday, Weinstein said.
"So we are definitely in a downward trend, and we think that's going to help automobile traffic," he said.
Mike and Roseanne Sullivan, of Philadelphia, were in Stone Harbor on Thursday with their 11/2-year-old son, Jack. After five straight days on the beach, they took a break from the sand Thursday.
"I think it's going to be a very good week for the shore, just because of tradition and especially because gas is down," Mike Sullivan said.
The Fourth of July is always a prosperous weekend for local merchants, said Vicki Clarke, president of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.
"Memorial Day - that was a great weekend. There was a lot of optimism, of course, and then we had the rainy month of June," she said. "A lot of businesses have reported their business has been down, but that's one of the things when you're in a shore environment that's very weather-dependent. Rainy weather's going to have an effect."
On Long Beach Island in Ocean County, business owners are hoping for a reprieve from the rainy weather and a boost to the economy but are not holding their breath. There were no lines at dinnertime Thursday outside many of the restaurants across the island.
Tom Kowal, co-owner of Joeys' Pizza and Pasta, was hesitant to say good weather and an increase in traffic would make up for how slow business has been.
"Saturday is the worst day the Fourth of July could fall on. We lose a Saturday because people are going and watching fireworks. They're going to be sitting in traffic not eating," Kowal said as he tossed pizza dough.
Chuck Piola called himself "an eternal optimist," and predicted a great weekend due to the traffic that passed his Harbor Outfitters shop on 96th Street in Stone Harbor on Thursday afternoon.
Piola had been giving lessons to families on the use of paddleboards, a large surfboard that functions like a stand-up canoe.
Rain or shine, people will come to the shore, he said, and when they're here, they want to be active.
Meanwhile, the weekend will bring the traditional Fourth of July fireworks displays, municipally operated or privately funded.
In Atlantic City, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and Harrah's Entertainment will offer a fireworks show at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Staff writer Donna Weaver contributed to this report.
Posted in Breaking on Friday, July 3, 2009 3:45 am Updated: 4:30 pm.
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