OCEAN CITY — Resort officials last week approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and future date holds for the spring Cruisin OC event through 2022, despite the dissenting vote of one lone councilmember.
The Mayor and Council heard Nov. 18 a request to approve the MOU for spring Cruisin OC event along with date-holds for the event through 2022. The approval appeared to be a slam-dunk, especially considering it was lumped into the council’s consent agenda, typically a collection of rather mundane approval requests for which extensive debate is not necessary.
However, before the vote could be taken for the consent agenda last Monday, Councilman Dennis Dare expressed some concern about approving the MOU and date-holds for the spring Cruisin event. Dare pointed out the city has worked with the promoters of the classic car Cruisin events for decades, dating back to the original Springfest when the promoters were asked to come up with an event to draw visitors to the town’s signature spring and fall events.
“I’m not in favor of approving the date-hold for spring Cruisin, but not because I’m against the event,” he said. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the promoters because years ago, we asked them to come up with an event to coincide and help bring people to Springfest that first year and this event has done that.”
However, in recent years, fairly or not, the Cruisin events have often been lumped together with the resort’s other motorized special events, especially a certain unsanctioned event each fall, in terms of some of the illicit behavior. To be sure, the spring and fall Cruisin events attract thousands of registered classic car enthusiasts who enjoy the sanctioned activities.
However, like many of the other motorized events, the Cruisin weekends also attract an in-kind number of unregistered attendees bent on reckless and wanton behavior that often give the events a bad name. Dare said last Monday it is the action of those unregistered attendees that was holding up his rubber-stamp vote on the MOU and date-holds.
“In recent years, the spring Cruisin event has brought an undesirable element,” he said. “The majority of the registered attendees are well-behaved, but the event has attracted a lot of non-registered attendees focused on reckless behavior and disrespect for the town.”
Again, to be fair, the promoters of the spring and fall Cruisin events have worked closely with the town on curbing some of the illicit activity, from stronger inspection of the street-worthiness of some of the vehicles to scheduling off-island events to relieve some of the pressure on Coastal Highway along with other initiatives, and they have worked to some degree.
The spring and fall Cruisin promoters have also attended every motorized special event task force meeting and have shown a willingness to work with the town on solutions. Nonetheless, Dare said despite the task force’s efforts, including the creation of a special enforcement zone during the events, he could not support approving the date-holds and MOU extension for the spring Cruisin event on Monday’s consent agenda.
“We have nibbled around the edges, but haven’t been able to control all of the behavior,” he said. “Frankly, it’s tarnished our image. I know a lot of residents leave town that weekend and many other visitors stay away. I want to express an urgency to curb the behavior. If that happens, I’ll gladly support the event.”
The council voted 4-1 with Dare opposed and Councilmembers John Gehrig and Matt James absent to approve the consent agenda including the extensions for the spring Cruisin event.
