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Fireworks kept visitors in Ocean City and helped merchants
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OCEAN CITY - The city's gamble Saturday to pay for fall fireworks appears to have paid off with a bang for the local economy.
Merchants reported brisk sales and large crowds for the annual Block Party, Ocean City's most popular autumn event.
The city's Tourism Commission and local merchants decided to spend $41,000 for fireworks and promotions to give visitors another reason to come to the resort for the Columbus Day holiday weekend.
"I think it was an incredible success," said Charlie Caucci, owner of Mia's Christmas Gallery on the Boardwalk.
"Our sales after the fireworks were just as big as Fourth of July weekend," he said. "It was wall-to-wall people. It looked like a summer night. Even (Playland's) Castaway Cove was jammed."
Some merchants last month grumbled about whether a mid-October fireworks display made sense.
Caucci said the crowds Saturday seemed to put that controversy to rest.
"You take a chance. Sometimes you just have to go for it and try new things," Caucci said. "We're not waiting for a government stimulus plan."
The crowds began to build by late morning Saturday, causing some congestion at Bay Avenue and Ninth Street, where the state is rebuilding the Route 52 causeway.
Hoodies and windbreakers shielded Columbus Day shoppers from the early fall chill as they scoured outdoor sales racks for crafts and next summer's fashions on the "Mile-Long Block Party" on Asbury Avenue.
Block Party shoppers abandoned the craft fair by nightfall and directed their attention to the city's Boardwalk, which stayed full long after dark while people waited for the 9:30 p.m. fireworks to begin.
Ocean City merchants were hoping the show would give them a much-needed boost after a rainy and recession-shrunken summer.
"We'd probably be locked up by now if the fireworks weren't happening," 7th Street Surf Shop manager Brian Williams said.
Instead, the store kept its doors open past 8:30 p.m. As Williams waited behind the registers, a couple of shoppers browsed the shelves. Meanwhile, his staff swept sand from the floor and began packing clothes to send to their Asbury Avenue shop.
Sisters Dawn Neustadter and Cheryl Kline have vacationed here at least five times a year for the past two decades. While the pair planned to check out the fireworks, the display had nothing to do with their trip from Kutztown and Allentown, Pa., respectively.
They come for the bargains and the craft show. And this year, they had more competition from other savvy shoppers.
"We got a late start and when we got here, it was packed," Neustadter said. "Usually, mornings are slower, but it was really packed all day, even on the Boardwalk."
Business boomed beyond expectations at The Henna Shop, according Katie Maier, who manages the Boardwalk jewelry store.
"I was crazy all day. It was just me working because we didn't think we'd be busy," she said. "This summer was kind of dead, but (on Saturday) .... people kept coming in and asking about the fireworks."
The Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce declared the event a success.
"It isn't just about the fireworks. It's the whole weekend," she said. "Anything to keep people in Ocean City is a good thing."
The fireworks display was not a complete cure-all for what ails Ocean City business. The pyrotechnics could not counteract the dire weather forecast for lodgings such as The Forum Motor Inn at Eighth Street and Atlantic Avenue.
Occupancy at the hotel dropped 5 percent from the same date in 2008, despite the inn's strong post-Labor Day performance this year, according to manager Mark Morrison.
The forecast likely proved a greater disadvantage for hotels because overnight visitors more closely consider the forecast than those who live within driving distance and can make the trek without investing too much time or advance planning.
"It's hard to get people here just for fireworks. The block party - that's why they're here," Morrison said.
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Posted in Cape_may, Top_three on Monday, October 12, 2009 6:50 pm Updated: 9:50 pm.
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