Wildwood, NJ July 24, 2012: The City of Wildwood is pleased to announce a new program that will entice RV vacationers and enthusiast to experience a difference side of Wildwood. A stretch of white sandy beach front between Hand and Leaming avenues south of the Wildwoods Convention Center is set up to accommodate 80 self-contained recreational vehicles . (No tow along or pop up trailers will be permitted).
“The designated area will be well managed with security and safety as the number 1 goal,” said Pete Bryon, commissioner. (The entire Beach Festival area will be under the guidance of Ian Cairns, Surfing Hall of Fame and Current head coach of the US Masters Stand Up Paddle team and under the Operation of Dante Guliano. Guliano has over 20 years of managing beach operations throughout the country with a heavy concentration in Huntington Beach, CA. “The RV’s will pull in with a certificate stating that they had emptied their tank at our offsite facility. They will then have their water tank filled and when their grey tank fills they must leave the facility. This will allow for better tracking and eliminate dumping in the sand”, Guliano stated. Additionally “the RV’s will have drip pans placed under them when they pull in plus an on-site staff 24/7 to help with any questions.”)
Mayor Ernie Troiano said; “the city will continue to improve its services to visitors and tourist as well as looking into new ways to generate revenue. We are a family destination; why not make Wildwood family friendly in every aspect? RV’s on the beach will have to adhere to strict guidelines and rules set forth by the City of Wildwood. We are looking at this opportunity as an experiment for future beach activities. The plan to allow RVs to park on the beach near Cresse Avenue is one component in a comprehensive programming and improvement plan for the city’s beach.” (The best is yet to come!)
The opening of the RV park is scheduled for July 28 but city officials want to make sure that all is good to go prior to the opening.
About the City of Wildwood:
Located on the southern tip of New Jersey, Wildwood boasts the most beautiful free beaches and tourist attractions offering vacationers and residents a variety of amenities. Incorporated in 1912 and situated on a barrier island comprised the Wildwoods have five separate municipalities consisting of Wildwood, North Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach which is governed by Lower Township.
Wildwood offers many activities for all ages from world class accommodations, restaurants, water sports, a boardwalk that is the largest outdoor mall and beautiful free beaches. we look to the future to new generations of family memories.
WILDWOOD, NJ – A group of restaurants on the 3700-3900 block of Pacific Avenue in Wildwood, that affectionately call themselves Restaurant Row, are looking to add a little spice to your Saturday. “Wildwood is a melting pot of culture,” says restaurant owner Jon Paul Paxton, “with the success of our St.Patrick’s Day Block Party, it was the natural step to have a Cinco de Mayo Block Party too. We’re trying to bring back Pacific Avenue one event at a time.”
Restaurant Row will host the Inaugural Cinco de Mayo Block Party, Saturday, May 5 from 11:30 am – 10 pm. The festivities will be held on Pacific Avenue between Lincoln and Spicer Avenues and promises to be a full day of family fun. You won’t be able to stop yourself from shaking your hips as the rhythm of the Zumba Classes and the professional Latin dancers pulse through your soul. In addition to the dance classes’ local favorite Stellar Mojo, Animal House and Latin sensation Grupo Trovado will take the stage throughout the day to keep the beat and your feet moving.
Two must-do’s while at the Block Party is to kick off your shoes and Bounce for Autism Speaks and to register to win a trip to sunny Cancun Mexico! A small donation to Autism Speaks gives you entrance into a giant Bouncy House where you can bounce out your frustrations for a good cause. And don’t forget to submit your name to win a trip to the crystal clear waters of Cancun Mexico; you must be present to win. This just in a giveaway of 2 Kenny Chesney tickets for this summer’s hottest concert!
Never before has Pacific Avenue brought together such a fiery fiesta, free to all who enter. So pack up your family and spend the day surrounded by food, fun and non-stop entertainment.
This past week marked the 50th year anniversary that still has people on the Jersey coast talking about the storm of the century, which occurred March 6 – 8 and was called The Great Storm of 1962. Along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States this storm packed such a wallop locals still consider it to be unlike anything they can recall.
Early yesterday morning, I overheard a few old timers discussing the “Storm of 62″ and asked if I could sit in on their conversation and take some notes. Sam Molino said; “We were an area accustomed to a hurricane season like from late August to early November every year, you know the typical “Nor’easters”, but this storm was mean, it was different and it was scary, haven’t seen one since as bad”. His friend Jimmy Chandler chimed in; “oh it was bad, my house had water gushin in from every opening, a lot of damage and no where to go, the bridges were our only link to the mainland and they were covered with water”.
For nearly three days, the storm hammered the coast, battering the shoreline, sweeping beach homes, hotels, and boardwalks into the sea while further inland, wind-driven snow virtually immobilized portions of the Middle Atlantic states.
The storm was born during a “blocked” weather system meaning the weather simply couldn’t move. The block was cause by a huge storm developing east of North Carolina. Then a large high pressure system was over northern Canada and a developing storm that covered much of the western Atlantic Ocean combined to generate a vast circulation of wind that blew along a tremendous length, or fetch, of the ocean.
As a result, water and high waves were driven westward toward the Eastern seaboard, setting the stage for disaster. Combine this mix of weather pressures with tides that were already high on March 6 due to the spring equinox and couple that with a new moon, all causing higher-than-normal tides.
As the water continued to pile up along the East Coast during successive high tide cycles over the following three days, the coastline from New Jersey to North Carolina was battered and changed forever by the onslaught of wind and waves. Across New Jersey’s coastal barrier islands, residents rushed to escape as the waters rose. Bridges which were, in many places, the only link to the mainland, quickly became blocked by water and debris. Evacuees often had to be plucked from their homes by helicopters, or rescued by army trucks.
Almost all of Sea Isle City’s 1,200 residents were forced to leave their homes, many of which were submerged up to 5 feet of water. Many Cape May locals fled after they were left without electricity, water, heat or sewage facilities. Atlantic City was pummeled by 25-foot high waves and wind gusts up to 58 mph.
Adolph Wilsey, a resident of Sea Isle City, recalled the scene as the fury of the storm set in:
“Those tides! Tuesday morning was a bad one. Waves came banging into the bulkhead like the wrath of God. The bulkheads held but the sea, whipped by the wind, came right over the top of them. That was only the beginning. Tuesday night’s tide was worse.
The granddaddy of them all came Wednesday morning. It smashed the bulkheads like kindling wood and the ocean came roaring at us, rushing into the streets. It ripped away an eight-foot section of my living room wall and pounded out two windows. Water and sand poured over my floor. Furniture was knocked over. Between my house and the ocean there used to be three houses. They were swept away. Not a trace of them was left.” (from the book “Great Storms of the Jersey Shore,”copyright Down the Shore Publishing)
What was happening elsewhere?
Out at sea, the storm tossed the 500-foot Liberian tanker, the Gem, like a child’s toy, breaking the enormous vessel in two. It took three Navy destroyers to rescue the 27 men left stranded in the stern, while the cruise ship Victoria sent a lifeboat for the three men remaining in the bow. Fifteen men on fishing trawlers out of Point Pleasant, New Jersey were not so lucky – they were lost at sea.
While rain, high tides and winds pummeled the shore, inland snowfall wiped out telephone communication and suspended virtually all transportation. A blizzard blanketed North Carolina and completely enveloped Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in nearly 2 feet of snow. Winchester, Virginia, endured a record-shattering twenty-three inches of snow, the heaviest single snowfall in the history of that city, while up to 42 inches fell in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Snow fell as far south as Alabama, and temperatures plunged into the 30s across Florida.
It was considered by the U.S. Geological Survey to be one of the most destructive storms ever to impact the mid-Atlantic states. One of the ten worst storms in the United States in the 20th century, it lingered through five high tides over a three day period, killing 40 people, injuring over 1,000 and causing hundreds of millions in property damage in six states.
New Jersey’s shoreline took a beating. The high tides pulled homes off their foundations, ripped through roads and created new inlets along Long Beach Island. Portions of the Atlantic City boardwalk were shredded by the pounding surf.
Estimated damage to the state was $130 million, almost half of the total of all six states hit. A newspaper later reported on the scene in the town of Harvey Cedars, “The houses are everywhere, in no order, sometimes piled two or three together. Around them crushed and mangled cars and trucks lie half buried.”
The Red Cross put the death toll for the East Coast at 40, with a quarter of those killed in New Jersey. While the storm was neither a hurricane, nor a classic nor’easter, its impact was so powerful, the U.S. Weather Bureau gave it a name – “The Great Atlantic Storm.” Folks in Nags Head, NC later changed the name to the Ash Wednesday Storm of 62 referencing the solemn holiday, the same day that shared the day the storm unleashed its fury.
Photographs courtesy of the Historical Society of New Jersey
