OCEAN CITY – Attendance to Sunset Park’s music events are on the rise as the town along with the Ocean City Development Corporation (OCDC) continues to offer free entertainment in front of a beautiful view of the bay and West Ocean City.
Sunset Park Party Nights are every Thursday starting at 7 p.m. So far this year Lauren Glick & the Moodswingers, Oh Boy!, British Invasion Experience, Tranzfusion, and Neon Swing X-perience have performed on Sunset Park’s stage.
“The attendance figures for Sunset Park music events have been increasing each year. Last Thursday over 400 people attended the Tranzfusion music event. The week before over 500 people attended the Beatles tribute band music. Great weather is always a contributing factor towards good attendance figures in Ocean City, but good music is needed too … this past spring the Town of Ocean City expanded the seating area of the park with brick pavers. This improvement allowed additional people to sit closer to the stage and has worked out very well,” OCDC Director Glenn Irwin said.
Sunset Park is located along S. Division Street and the bay. It is Ocean City’s newest park facility and was constructed in 2006 by the Town of Ocean City. The OCDC was involved with the design, while many other organizations offered contributing funding and materials in the development of Sunset Park.
According to Irwin, the design of the current Sunset Park was based upon items relevant to its historic location abutting the bay on S. Division Street where the trains came into Ocean City in its early days. The train bridge was destroyed by a storm in 1933 and was never replaced. The park design plays off this history and contains several train features, such as the restroom building replicating an old train station. In fact, many of the old bricks from the original train station that was once located at S. Philadelphia Avenue and Wicomico Street are found on the perimeter of the park.
Sunset Park was developed to be a passive park with the ability to have special events held on a regular basis, and since then the OCDC and the town of Ocean City have sponsored many music events at Sunset Park, according to Irwin.
“The OCDC and Town of Ocean City have been very active in promoting the park the past couple years through several media forms. This extra effort has been paying off in increased attendance and recognition of the park and we expect it to continue,” Irwin said.
The Town of Ocean City and OCDC anticipate additional special events to be held at Sunset Park as it continues to be recognized by the public in upcoming years. In September, the OCDC will be sponsoring a Shakespeare play with Brown Box Theatre at Sunset Park. The OCDC is working with the Town of Ocean City and www.shorecraft.com to develop a microbrew festival to be held in late October also at the park.
“Sunset Park is a popular stop for bicyclists and pedestrians. For many people it’s just a nice place to get away from things and look out over the bay or watch a sunset. It continues to be a well landscaped park with many attractive features,” Irwin said.
Free music events will continue at Sunset Park until the last Thursday of August. Visitors to the park are encouraged to bring their own seating. The Ocean City Recreation Boosters sell beverages including beer and wine at the events with proceeds from these sales going to youth programs in Ocean City.
Upcoming performances are Full Circle on Aug. 6, Poole and the Gang on Aug. 13, Eclipse on Aug. 20, and Randy Lee Ashcraft & the Saltwater Cowboys on Aug. 27.