Shore businesses welcome the papal exodus

NORTH WILDWOOD - You could call it an exodus - of sorts.

And though it may not ultimately be one of biblical proportion, it became clear by Friday that lots of people - perhaps tens of thousands of them - had chosen not to be among the million or so converging on Philadelphia for the papal visit.

They had decided instead to head in a different direction: to the New Jersey Shore.

"It just made sense for us to get out of Dodge, so to speak," said Kirk McGinnis, 48, who lives at Second and Moore in South Philadelphia. He gathered his family, including his two children and two of their friends, and on Wednesday headed to their family's vacation home here for the weekend.

"The kids are out of school, the weather is still great, and we hate crowds, so we figured, why not," McGinnis reasoned. "I can sit on my couch down here and watch the Mass instead of being in Philly. It'll be just as great . . . probably better. We won't be stuck in the gridlock in the city."

The McGinnis family is among those that made the evening commute along familiar Shore routes - like Route 42, the Atlantic City Expressway, Route 322, and Delsea Drive - that for the past several days have looked like summertime Friday-afternoon drive times to the Shore, said Diane F. Wieland, director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism.

"I got caught in the traffic last night," noted Wieland, who said she was returning from a meeting in Cherry Hill on Thursday when she found herself stuck behind miles of "traffic-jam brake lights" on southbound 42. "I said to my passenger, 'Well, I guess our efforts worked.' "

Wieland was referring to the $6,000 that her office spent on additional Web advertising to entice Philadelphians to flee the city - and the crowds that are expected to be generated by the pope - and "Escape to the Jersey Cape."

So places like Cape May - which started off the weekend with a screening of the film Sister Act, and is ending it with a simulcast at Convention Hall of the pope's public Mass in Philadelphia on Sunday - are getting into the spirit.

And the endeavor could be a blessed event for small businesses at the Shore, whose bread and butter is the summer tourist season that pretty much ended with Labor Day. But business gets a boost when events like this happen during the "shoulder" season. Though the fall is packed with events like block parties and seafood festivals in beach towns all along the coast, the draw is usually limited to one or two days.

But the duration of the pope's visit - and the logistics involved that have closed schools, businesses, and even nonessential governmental operations in Philadelphia - has created a five-day weekend for some people.

"This is going to be gravy for us," said Brian Creitz Sr., 45, of Pennsauken, who operates an itinerant festival food business.

Creitz and his team were setting up for the Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood on Thursday when it occurred to him that the crowds would be remaining - and continuing to eat and drink - through Sunday.

"Saturday here at the Irish Fest is always strong, but usually we see things begin to wrap up on Sunday, but if most people are sticking around until Monday this time around, then Sunday is going to be great, too," Creitz said.

That's what Shelly Wirth, the manager at Westy's Irish Pub in North Wildwood, said.

"We're like ground zero for the Irish Festival, so we have extra, extra staff coming in this weekend, because we are expecting even more people than usual because of the pope in Philadelphia," Wirth said. "All we are hearing from our Philly people is that they just wanted to get out of the city."

That was the sentiment of Fred and Sharon Robinson of Somerton. Fred Robinson, a SEPTA worker, a few months ago put in a request to have this weekend off.

"I'm so glad I did, because it would have been bedlam for me just getting to and from work," said Robinson, lunching at Flip Flopz Bar & Grill before heading to his family's vacation home for the weekend.

Flip Flopz was among the dozens of businesses and organizations at the Shore welcoming the "Philly escapees," according to owner Joe Mahoney.

"We'll have the Mass on a big screen . . . and the Eagles game, too," he said of his 1,000-seat establishment. "People can decide what they want to watch."

Contact Jacqueline L. Urgo at 609-652-8382 or jurgo@phillynews.com @JacquelineUrgo