Ocean City, Delaware beaches prepare for crowds as spring approaches

While it has often felt like winter will never end, Delmarva beach towns are preparing for their busy warmer weather months. 

Across the peninsula, areas are gearing up for the summer season. While many areas see residents and small groups of visitors year-round, tourism departments and chamber of commerce organizations see an influx of business as the weather gets warmer into spring. 

Preparing for those busy months usually starts as soon as they end as part of a non-stop cycle, but kick into high gear as March comes around. 

"It's a never ending process," said Jessica Waters, spokeswoman for the town of Ocean City. 

Currently, the town is doing more behind-the-scenes work to prepare for visitors, including hiring seasonal staff members like police officers and bus drivers. 

The busier months begin to kick into gear over Saint Patrick's Day weekend. This weekend mimics similar summer holiday business like July Fourth weekend, Waters said. 

On a good summer day, the town's population of about 7,000 year-round residents could balloon to hundreds of thousands of people.

"It's kind of the unofficial start date of our spring season," Waters said. 

Easter weekend in April and sunny weekends in May before summer's unofficial kickoff of Memorial Day weekend can also be busy for the beach town.

To meet demand, most businesses begin to open again in the month of March, with everything usually opening by the month of May, she said. 

At Seacrets Jamaica USA in Ocean City, the restaurant and bar count down to the St. Patrick's Day weekend, calling it the "Local's New Year" celebration, said Jackie Miller, marketing and advertising manager. 

"Parade day is one of the biggest events of the year which kicks off the season for local's and visitors alike," she said in an email statement. 

Activity in the spring season is also very dependent on the weather, Waters said. Mayor Rick Meehan regularly rides his bicycle on the Boardwalk and even in the colder months if it's a nicer weekend, groups crowd the boards and some businesses open to meet the demand. 

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Southern Delaware 

In Southern Delaware, officials aim to make the beaches a year-round destination, but know in the spring and summer things really start to pick up. 

Scott Thomas, executive director of Southern Delaware Tourism, works with his staff to market Sussex County as a year-round destination to residents in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington, D.C. 

"That's our primary purpose," Thomas said. 

The organization works with the various beach town chambers of commerce to promote events and know what's going on within the towns. They also work to keep visitors up-to-date with housekeeping items like alternative driving routes and parking.  

Southern Delaware Tourism also works to promote smaller towns in Sussex County minutes away from the beach, like Milton and Georgetown. 

Thomas also sees St. Patrick's Day and Easter weekend as popular times in the spring for an influx of visitors. 

Lauren Weaver, executive director of the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, agrees spring is when things begin to pick up, but said the area is quickly becoming a year-round destination. 

However, they do plan for busier months with additional, seasonal employees. This year the chamber is holding a job fair later in March for the first time to help with recruiting. 

"For us it's just about building a bridge for our year-round community and seasonal community," Weaver said.  

Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce members can do event promotion on the office's website and the chamber will help promote bigger items like The Freeman Stage lineup. 

While Weaver sees Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island continuing to be more popular in the off-season with events like the Fire and Ice Festival and restaurants keeping their doors open, she said preparing for the warmer months is still a great time. 

"We're really excited for the summer," she said. 

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