Summer Returns to Ocean City With Ribbons and an Icy Plunge

Ocean City opened the Boardwalk first thing on Friday morning. An hour later, the city reopened the downtown, and at noon the mayor unlocked the ocean.

A day of ceremonial ribbon-cuttings and unlockings marked the traditional start of the summer season, and this year the events carried a special message: Ocean City has recovered from Superstorm Sandy and is ready to welcome visitors.  

The day started with an 8:30 a.m. Boardwalk ribbon-cutting, part of a coordinated event organized by Gov. Chris Christie as a symbolic show to remind people that the Jersey Shore is "stronger than the storm." Superstorm Sandy made a direct hit on New Jersey in October 2012 and left widespread damage to much of the state's shoreline. Shore businesses worked through the winter and spring to complete repairs and renovations in time for the vital summer season.

In Ocean City, a wide blue ribbon stretched from Sixth Street to 14th Street — with the help of Ocean City High School students — and Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian cut it in half in a ceremony in front of the Ocean City Music Pier.

With other shore towns simultaneously doing the same thing, the Governor's Office hopes the effort could be part of a world record for biggest ribbon-cutting in history.

A little more than an hour later, Ocean City staged its own ribbon-cutting in front of City Hall on Asbury Avenue to mark the opening of the downtown shopping district and salute the merchants who "stood united" in working to quickly complete storm repairs in the aftermath of Sandy.

At noon, in a century-old tradition on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend, city and Ocean City Beach Patrol officials turned a large wooden key to "unlock the ocean" for the season.

The first swimmers: a group of fully clothed local merchants. The 10th annual Business Person’s Plunge tested the 54-degree Atlantic Ocean at the Eighth Street Beach adjacent to the Music Pier.

Throughout the rest of the day, the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce was busy cutting yet more ribbons on new businesses or those reopening after storm remediation.

The ribbon-cuttings included:

• Botto’s Sausage Express, 926 Boardwalk
• Waffle Cabin, 1138 Boardwalk
• Fractured Prune (2nd location), 34th & West
• Cathy’s 14th Street Bakery, 407A 14th Street
• Chatterbox, 500 9th Street
• Ocean City Emporium, 939 Asbury
• Ocean City Paddleboard, 1054 Asbury
• Sindia Restaurant, 801 Plymouth