Memorial Day weekend was a wet beach blanket for some, but not indoor businesses
Arcades, movie theaters, and shops enjoyed foot traffic, and the lifeguards had few swimmers to supervise.
Business owners shucked all the oysters, washed all the minigolf balls, raked the beaches, calibrated the game-of-chance cranes, and greased up the roller coaster wheels in preparation for Memorial Day weekend at the Jersey Shore.
But not even Zoltar, the all-powerful fortune teller in every boardwalk arcade, could have predicted such a cold, wet, and downright dreary 96 hours or so.
“Absolutely terrible, from beginning to end,” said Scott Keenan, co-owner of Keenan’s Irish Pub in North Wildwood.
Memorial Day has always been tricky for Shore businesses. While it’s the unofficial start to the summer season there, it rarely if ever “feels” like summer this time of year. The holiday, Keenan pointed out, was early this year, and now many businesses will go into another lull until schools close next month.
Still, the people came, despite the weather, and they couldn’t just hunker down in hotel rooms and rentals. Boardwalks in Ocean City and Wildwood were crammed with visitors walking through the mist in hoodies and jackets. Some cut through the fog on empty beaches Monday morning to dip their toes in the equally empty surf.
“We had to get the kids off the tablets,” said Tim Annett, whose son Keaton was ankle-deep in the ocean in Cape May.
Keaton said the water was “actually cold.” He was not in danger of getting sunburned.
“But you just get cold and then get used to it,” Keaton said.
Business owners said you have to look at the long game. Those who suffered this weekend — mini golf or beach umbrella rentals, for example — were balanced out by others who saw huge crowds, like arcades and Pour Candle Bar + Chandlery in West Cape May, where owner Corinne Rietheimer had to turn customers away.
“It was great. But if it’s a beautiful beach day, we don’t do as well,” she said. “It’s all relative.”
Lifeguards had the same philosophy, gathering by the stands in sweats and jackets to protect the handful of bold beachgoers gingerly walking into the water. They’ll miss days like this, they said, come July.
“When it’s like 90 degrees, and you’re just getting drilled by the sun, you’ll wish you could have just one day with a little cloud cover,” said Cape May lifeguard Kyle Satt. “You can’t be too mad about this.”
A block away from the candle shop, at Second Wave, a surf-themed boutique, owner Caili Baron was experiencing her first Memorial Day as a business owner. She didn’t sell a single container of sunblock, but foot traffic was steady and she couldn’t keep hoodies and crewnecks on the shelves.
“I think we may have sold one bikini,” Baron said.
While last week included a mini heatwave, temperatures plummeted at the Shore, quickly, before the holiday weekend. With the rain coming and going, it made planning any outdoor activity questionable. The Wildwood boardwalk was crowded on Sunday, but there were few people on bicycles, and lines for amusements weren’t quite as long.
On Monday afternoon, visitors crammed Ocean Putt Golf in Cape May while the rain held off. Manager Jimbo Samson said the weather is make-or-break for the 62-year-old attraction but there are exceptions, like this weekend.
“There are just so many people in town,” Samson said. “If you’ve been doing business down here long enough, you know it ebbs and flows. We’ll have nice days.”
Arcades, much to the chagrin of parents up and down the coast, were bustling with kids tossing skee-balls, fishing for stuffed animals with cranes, and collecting bucketfuls of tickets to win prizes.
“The weather helped us. The rain for sure,” said Mike Linhares, manager of Family Fun Arcade in Cape May. “Saturday, we were swamped. This weekend was horrible, but good for us.”
For many longtime Shore-goers, rainy weekends meant a visit to the old boardwalk movie theater. Some have shuttered over the years, but Square Theaters, which operates five locations with 31 screens total at the Jersey Shore, was luring people in with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.
“Rain ruining your beach plans? Not to worry!” the company wrote in Facebook posts.
Owner Brett DeNafo doesn’t exactly pray for rain, but his weekend exemplified the yin and yang of life as a Jersey Shore business owner.
“It was literally the best weekend I’ve ever had,” he said. “When it’s rainy or cold or cloudy, it’s the perfect storm for us. It all evens out, though. It always does.”
