Memorial Day weekend: Jersey Shore gears up for busy holiday despite beach erosion
OCEAN CITY, N.J. - The countdown to the unofficial start of summer has officially begun!
City leaders and business owners along the Jersey Shore are ready for the influx of Memorial Day beachgoers, but they are still dealing with on uncontrollable variable - Mother Nature.
"It’s a shame, but we’re staying at the north end and, unfortunately, the beaches are smaller," said Kim Cooke, a long-time visitor to Ocean City. "You get what you get, but it would never keep us from coming here."
Ocean City loves to hold onto its reputation as a quaint family resort town, one whose population grows tenfold in summer.
However, getting ready for all that takes nine months of preparation.
"We go from a small year-round community to summer, we're one of the largest cities in the state. It’s quite a task to undertake," said Michael Allegreto of the Mayor’s office.
As Memorial Day nears, there’s also work to do to deal with the damage from repeated nor’easter storms.
"It’s somewhere in the middle. A lot of it is gone, but it’s tough to say if it comes back on its own or not. Sometimes they put it back," said surfer Rosario Irwin.
In preparation, the mayor's office says they take beach trucks to smooth out the beach for sunbathers.
Any further beach replenishment won’t happen this season, and officials say there’s more room to spread out a little further south on the island.
