OC Air Show brings soaring economy
Going into it's ninth year, the OC Air Show soars over the boardwalk this weekend, bringing with it a boon to local businesses.
"The air show attracts people from all over the mid-Atlantic," OC Air Show's Cathy Bassett said. "We have people coming from as far away as New York, and some from southern states, and that spells a big benefit for Ocean City."
Air show tourist numbers are in the hundreds of thousands, according to Jessica Waters, communication manager for the Town of Ocean City .
"It's really a fantastic event, where people get the chance to watch the planes fly over the ocean," Waters said. "Every year, the event gets a little bit bigger, but we're looking at about 300,000 tourists coming just for the air show."
By the numbers, that spells a large benefit for local hotels and businesses, and for the local economy as a whole. For the month of June in 2015, in which the air show is the largest event, tax revenue on hotel rooms alone came in at $2,607,319, according to the Town of Ocean City's monthly metric report. For tourist coded sales tax, that number was a staggering $6,312,421. All told, tax revenue from tourists in the month of June totaled $9,298,239.
"We hear it from the business owners here that get excited every year for the air show," Bassett said. "Not just because they're good, patriotic Americans and like to see these young men from the military show off while they're in town, but because the event brings so many people into town."
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For local hotels, that means big traffic throughout the weekend.
"It's one of the great weekends we look forward to every year," said Brenda Bennett of Breakers Hotel. "We're right on the boardwalk, so we've got that nice ocean view that people are looking for. We have a lot of people coming excited about seeing the Thunderbirds and the rest of the pilots."
Bennett noted that for the weekend of the event, Breakers is typically booked solid.
While an air show may seem like a strange event to attract such a massive crowd, Waters said it's the sheer uniqueness of the OC Air Show's format that makes it such a huge draw.
"This is personally one of my favorite events of the year and one of the Town of Ocean City's signature events," Waters said. "It's an amazing mix of patriotism and family-friendly fun, and you combine that feeling with being on the beach in Ocean City. It's really one of the most amazing experiences you can have, in my opinion."
Waters noted the sheer simplicity of the event is what makes it so attractive.
"For the most part, people just get to enjoy a beautiful summer day while planes fly overhead," she said. "It's really an incredible feeling."
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While the event grows bigger and bigger every year, this year's event can be predicted to have a particularly large attendance, thanks to the return of the Air Force's Thunderbirds. The Saturday and Sunday show is their first scheduled performance following the non-fatal June 2 crash of Major Alex Turner, and following two canceled performances at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and Quonset State airport in Rhode Island.
Alongside the Thunderbirds, the OC Air Show will feature, among others, the F-18 Super Hornet in one of only ten performances on the East Coast, a P-51 Mustang demo and the first Mid-Atlantic performance of the F-35 Joint Striker.