10 predictions for the 2026 Jersey Shore summer

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — If you’d asked me if there’d be alcohol flowing on election night in this famously dry town, I’d have said of course not.

And I’d have been wrong.

And while I still am a bit scandalized by the sight of people drinking beers at Prep’s Pizza on the boardwalk at a party for Keith Hartzell, the eventual runner-up to Mayor Jay Gillian, who won a fifth term May 12 and spoke to a ballroom filled with supporters enjoying an open bar and buffet at the nearby Flanders Hotel, that was a one-off. It’s perfectly legal to have alcohol at a private party in Ocean City.

I’m sure Ocean City will remain, on the books at least, a dry town.

But will it get a new hotel at 600 Boardwalk? A year ago I predicted “full speed ahead” for Eustace Mita and his plan to build a 252-room hotel at the old Wonderland site (closed by its owner, Mayor Gillian, in 2024). Oof. The plans are stuck in place like a rusty old Ferris wheel.

But this is 2026, the voters have spoken, maybe even had an incongruous drink, and said never mind about Gillian’s personal financial bankruptcy. It’s time to get down to business.

So here are this year’s Shore predictions.

I’m giving this prediction another go-round. With the election over, and another defeat for Councilman Hartzell, who is advocating a scaled-back “boutique” version of Mita’s luxury hotel plan, Ocean City’s council will move forward with a designation of “in need of rehabilitation” that will pave the way for negotiations with Mita, and, ultimately another hotel on the boardwalk. With all his messy financial entanglements with Mita, though, Mayor Gillian will still return to the Flanders in 2030 when voters will no doubt give him a sixth term as mayor. Hartzell will be back at Prep’s.

Closed since January, purportedly for renovations to bring it up to fire code, the Irish Pub has sat empty, even through St. Patrick’s Day and its signature day-after Bag Day. Social media seems convinced it’s never reopening, with some suggesting that the Irish Pub was undergoing the equivalent of an Irish goodbye. Fear not. (And pay no attention to all the fake updates and photos on Facebook.) Sources tell me they’re working on fire suppression. I predict there will be a round of Guinness and fish and chips at the bar on St. James Place again. Owner Cathy Burke, an icon herself, responded somewhat cryptically to a text message last week saying, “don’t believe anything you read,” and promising an update “when I know.” A recent sale of their Rittenhouse Irish Pub outpost, closed since 2020, might speed things along. To the lovely Cathy, I say, may your troubles be less!

It’s hard out there for restaurants, especially ones with a 15-week season. It already feels like rough going for restaurants, arguably the lifeblood of the Jersey Shore. Staffing shortages and higher prices on food and equipment due to tariffs and other economic factors have led some to already sound the alarm. Parker’s Garage & Oyster Saloon in Beach Haven wrote on Facebook that it wasn’t certain about the timing for its opening because of difficulties with the H-2B visa program they’ve relied on for workers. Ventnor canceled its popular Chef’s Night Out in early May because it did not want to burden restaurants that have been struggling due to rising costs and a sluggish economy. Asking them to offer freebies for the fundraiser seemed tone-deaf.

Isn’t it about time for Taylor and Travis to go down the Shore with Jason, Kylie, and the kiddos? Or maybe she returns to her childhood Shore destination of Stone Harbor? Keep your eyes peeled.

The new e-bike laws in New Jersey require anything with an electric motor to be licensed and insured, and most Shore towns have banned e-bikes from their boardwalks. There are large signs all over Shore towns warning of the new laws, and police departments are holding special meetings to get the word out. I predict a busy season for ticket-writing and some unhappy e-bikers, especially the seniors who say it’s the only thing keeping them in the bicycle game.

One recent Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel Omnibus poll found Gen Z ers more likely to say they don’t like the Shore — 10% of those ages 18–29 say they don’t like the Shore as compared to 5% of millennials, 5% of Gen X ers, and 4% of baby boomers.

Forecasters say home sales will continue to price out year-round families, continuing a trend of Shore towns becoming increasingly for wealthy retirees. I’ve seen it, and I’m sure it will continue.

“[T]he coastal barrier islands continue to operate in their own high-end ecosystem,” Mike Sutley of the Lexy Realty Group in Ocean City wrote in his spring real estate forecast. “From the luxury apex of Longport to the family-friendly streets of Ocean City, the current environment is defined by 6.1% interest rates and an aging buyer profile, with the typical repeat purchaser now averaging 62 years of age.”

Sutley says the boomers continue to shower the Jersey Shore towns with their wealth, keeping prices high, which is good news for elevator installers and house demolishers. In towns like Ventnor and Margate, he said, they are increasingly making the Shore their primary home.

“What’s changing the feel of the towns is we are having the influx of money coming in from the boomers,” he said. “There’s an enormous push for new construction with elevators. You can’t build ranchers because of FEMA.”

After voting to close its boardwalk at 1 a.m., I predict Wildwood will loosen the hours as the summer progresses. Boardwalk shops were pleading even for an extra half hour at the final vote, the better to serve a late-night crowd. Or maybe they’ll loosen them for special events like the Barefoot Country Music Festival scheduled June 18-21. Meanwhile, the new yellow Volvos at the head of the tram cars will bear the brunt of a lot of grousing.

Diamond Beach installed paid parking, then uninstalled paid parking after an outcry from residents. Cape May, meanwhile, voted to extend its paid parking season, which had run from April 1 to Oct. 31, to Dec. 31.

As sales prices and demand level off somewhat, rentals will look to take advantage of the World Cup and cater to those preferring a shorter stay at the Shore. Cape May County is marketing specifically to World Cup and 250th celebrations.

But with the still-inflated rates, day-tripping will become fashionable again, which for the Gen Z Philly crowd, might increase the appeal of Atlantic City’s beautiful free beaches, bathrooms, and Boardwalk biergartens. Will A.C. put it all together once and for all?

Then again, new research from the Affinity Federal Credit Union says day trips themselves are “expected to face an 11% rise in costs.” Oof.

And that’s because it is. It’s a full 15 weeks between the early Memorial Day and the very late Labor Day, a full week longer than last year. But maybe that will help struggling businesses end up on the right side of the balance sheet.