Ocean City "Plunges" Into Summer in Grand Style

Ocean City real estate broker John Walton was all business in his black suit, black dress shoes, white shirt and maroon tie. He carried a black leather attaché case.

Stacy Demcher, Walton’s business partner at Keller Williams Jersey Shore realty, was equally professional-looking in a black dress, black sweater and 3½-inch black heels. She topped off her outfit with a pair of stylish black sunglasses.

Although Walton and Demcher looked, at first blush, to be getting ready to close a multimillion-dollar real estate deal, they actually had something far less serious in mind.

Accompanied by the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” they led a procession of nattily attired Ocean City business people straight into the ocean Friday afternoon for a traditional plunge that symbolizes the start of the all-important summer tourism season at the shore.

This was the 22nd year for the Business Persons Plunge, a madcap event that kicks off the Memorial Day weekend in grand style in Ocean City. The plunge immediately followed another Ocean City tradition, the Unlocking of the Ocean ceremony that welcomes the summer season.

Mayor Jay Gillian led a delegation of city and Cape May County officials that watched as local historian Fred Miller jabbed an oversized wooden key into the sand at the Ninth Street beach to symbolically “unlock” the ocean for the summer.

“It’s going to be a safe, happy summer,” Gillian predicted.

    Ocean City historian Fred Miller, holding the large wooden key, symbolically "unlocks" the ocean.

Gillian quoted an old saying from his late grandfather that an overcast sky to start the Memorial Day weekend – like the cloudy skies on Friday afternoon – was actually a sign that the rest of the summer would be successful.

“We want to have a great time. We want Ocean City to be successful,” he said.

After Gillian spoke, the excitement began to build for the Business Persons Plunge, which serves as an unorthodox good luck charm to usher in a strong tourism season for Ocean City’s business community.

Marching blithely into the water, the well-dressed businesspeople were accompanied by a retinue of colorfully costumed characters, including longtime favorites “Shelley the South Jersey Shore Mermaid” portrayed by Suzanne Muldowney and a swashbuckling pirate played by Doug Jewell, owner of Air Circus in Ocean City.

“It’s good that it’s such a large-scale ceremony,” Muldowney said before sauntering down the beach into the water.

Year after year, the Business Persons Plunge generates tons of free publicity and media coverage for Ocean City – just as organizer John Walton intended when he conceived of the event in 2004.

“First of all, we’re blessed with sunny skies once again. Twenty-two years and it’s only rained twice,” Walton said of the plunge’s history of relatively good weather.

Walton carried an American flag as he emerged from the ocean soaking wet – along with the rest of the business people participating in the plunge – and triumphantly posed for photos and video.

Addressing the media, Walton predicted that Ocean City will have a banner summer tourism season this year. He pointed to real estate sales this year that he said were double of those for the same period last year.

“The real estate market is going great,” he said. “Everybody is bullish on Ocean City.”

    The business people pose for a triumphant photo after taking the plunge. (Photo courtesy of Kerri J Photography and Ocean City)
  

Stacy Demcher was equally sanguine about the prospects of a strong summer in Ocean City, even though the water temperature is a bit chilly to start Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s very cold, but actually refreshing. It’s absolutely a great start to the summer season,” Demcher said. “Everybody is in a great mood. Business is going to prosper.”

During the plunge, Demcher was accompanied by her 19-year-old granddaughter, Athena Schroeder, a Temple University sophomore who spends her summers in Ocean City.

Schroeder couldn’t help but joke about her grandmother getting soaking wet in the ocean while professionally attired in a black dress and her 3½-inch black heels.

“I think she’s very courageous in those heels,” Schroeder said, laughing.

    Air Circus owner Doug Jewell, dressed as a pirate, exhorts the crowd.
  

    Friends of OCNJ History & Culture members Dave and Marie Hayes and Sne Avichal show off their fancy attire.
  

    Shelley the South Jersey Shore Mermaid, portrayed by Suzanne Muldowney, heads down the beach in front of the procession.
  

    The Ocean City High School marching band strikes up a tune.
  

    Santa Claus, portrayed by Robert Lee, is joined on the beach by Bowfish Kids mermaids Addie Robbins, center, and Addsyn Fisher.
  

    The sign in front of the Ocean City Music Pier advertises the festivities.