Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk

Thoughts From The Publisher’s Desk
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Much time is spent discussing advertising and marketing Ocean City. That’s necessary for the resort to stay competitive with other drive-to destinations, such as Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, Outer Banks, Williamsburg and the Jersey Shore beaches. All of this brainstorming leads to current initiatives like Rodney the Lifeguard and the Summer of Thanks Ocean City campaigns as well as former concepts, such as those aimed at promoting the half tank of gas concept.

While all that creative wrangling is necessary to lure and entire new visitors as well as retaining repeat business, tourism in Ocean City in my mind boils down to two simple concepts — weather and events. The former is and always will be the key and that’s the case in any beach resort.

Last weekend was the perfect Memorial Day weather scenario for Ocean City. With school-aged kids all still in school, the success of the holiday weekend has always been predicated on the advance weather forecast. With sunny skies and warm temperatures predicted throughout last week, the people came to Ocean City and stayed through the weekend.

Combine that forecast, which held true thankfully, with the new free events planned on the typically quiet Sunday and Tuesday evenings, laser lights show on Sundays and fireworks on Tuesdays, and the summer got off to an excellent start by just about all estimations.

With Ravens weekend here and the OC Air Show returning for its 5th installment, featuring two jet teams, as well as the car show, the season is off to a solid start and even the naysayers would have to acknowledge that.

Along those lines, here’s a look at how this year’s Memorial Day weekend stacked up to others. Bottom line is it was on par with last year’s holiday turnout, which was the highest in the last 20 years. Here are the estimates based off the demoflush formula calculated by the Town of Ocean City.

2012: 281,8122011: 281,895
2010: 254,717
2009: 270,421
2008: 226,748
2007: 259,823
2006: 239,789
2005: 216,371
2004: 242,286
2003: 197,725
2002: 237,791
2001: 216,038
2000: 242,730
1999: 248,446
1998: 234,961
1997: 204,972
1996: 224,621
1995: 249,722
1994: 260,432
1993: 278,468
1992: 259,212

It’s hard to believe the Salisbury City Council could not fork over $5,000 to the planned Independence Day celebration and specifically the fireworks display.

For the last six years, Salisbury has not had fireworks on the 4th of July. That’s just unacceptable for a city the size of Salisbury. With the private community rallying to hold a 4th of July event, which of course features fireworks after dusk, the city was asked to help a bit by contributing 25 percent of the $20,000 cost for the display with citizens and businesses picking up the remaining tab.

These sorts of events instill a tremendous amount of community pride and the argument made this week that government should not be subsidizing private events is not viable in this case. Mayor Jim Ireton’s had it right this week when he expressed his embarrassment.

"Votes such as last evening’s rejection of 5,000 to participate in Red, White and Boom diminish us as a community.  We strive to attract new residents and create memories that contribute to our sense of place and our sense of history in our city. What better time to do that than on the celebration of our nation on July 4th?  … A 5K contribution represents one-one hundredth of our entire City budget, and one-two hundredths of the City’s general fund budget. This vote leaves a terrible taste in the mouths of the community.  I am embarrassed for us …” the mayor wrote in a statement.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.