Dew Tour May Put Message On Water Tower

OCEAN CITY – The resort gave the Dew Tour permission to explore the costs associated with painting a welcome message on a water tower to be viewed by visitors while entering into town.

The Dew Tour will make its first appearance in Ocean City July 21-24. The Dew Tour is put on by Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, which is a global business that encompasses national and international action sports tours and events, multimedia production and a consumer-facing lifestyle brand. The tour features skateboarding, BMX, skateboard bowl, surf and freestyle motocross. The competition is based on a cumulative points system and there is more than $2 million in event and bonus purses awarded at year’s end based on overall tour standings.

During this week’s Mayor and City Council meeting, Tourism Director Deb Turk represented the Dew Tour.

“When you come over the Route 50 Bridge, after we’ve painted the water tower at Worcester Street parking lot, we didn’t put any branding back on it,” Turk said. “There is no logo or anything and I always look at it every day going to work and say ‘I would love for that to say Welcome and Thanks for Visiting’ and have a logo on it.”

According to the proposal, the goal is the Dew Tour hopes to use available assets, especially those iconic to Ocean City, to drive event awareness and drive the ultimate success of the Dew Tour Pantech Open in Ocean City. The Ocean City water tower can be utilized as a unique and valuable promotional vehicle, highlighting one of Ocean City’s largest events. Alli proposes the creative remain year-round to drive ongoing awareness of Ocean City’s partnership with the Dew Tour. Alli would also cover all costs associated with the water tower promotional initiative including creative development, painting and restoration as needed.

If the Dew Tour were not return to Ocean City as a host venue, Alli would pay for the water tower to be restored to its original look.

“It would most likely say, ‘Thank You for Visiting Ocean City, Home of the Dew Tour’ or something along those lines,” Turk explained.

Councilwoman Margaret Pillas expressed a couple concerns such as how the council has already rejected advertising requests on the beach.

“I mean we have plenty of people that would like to have their label up there that bring a lot of money to this town year round … I don’t understand why we’re asking more people to advertise in the sky,” she said.

Councilman Joe Hall agreed and said that all parameters need to be explored in utilizing the visual water tower and the town needs to be careful in over commercializing.

“I think we need to move forward cautiously,” he said.

Pillas was also concerned over the life of the Dew Tours logo on the water tower.

“They said since the day they came here that they’re looking for a home and they usually get settled in one place,” Turk said. “Hopefully, they will be back next year so it would sort of be an evergreen message that could stay up all year long.”

Turk added that the logo would also be appropriate because Pepsi is the official soft drink of the town and Mountain Dew is a Pepsi product.

Councilwoman Mary Knight agreed with her fellow council members’ concerns but set the motion to allow the Dew Tour to explore the costs and options associated with branding the water tower.

Council President Jim Hall pointed out there are plenty of options they can review that are not ad permanent. He added that painting the water tower with a welcoming message would also add to the “Thank You Campaign” that Councilman Brent Ashley proposed last week.

The council voted to approve Knight’s motion in a 6-1 vote with Pillas in opposition.

“It would be a very appropriate and welcoming message for everybody traveling into town,” Turk said.