Ocean City touts its family friendly feel, and for good reason. The boardwalk is clean and attractive and largely devoid of the raunchy tshirt shops you'll find at other Jersey Shore boardwalks. The ride piers have some spills and thrills but nothing over the top. The town plans tons of kid and family centric events.
And the feather in their cap: Ocean City is a dry town - so dry that you can't even BYO to the restaurants.
The last part of that has been a controversy brewing in town and a group of restauranteurs try to have the law changed to accommodate people who want to bring beer or wine to dinner.
As I told the Patriot-News, I don't see this happening any time soon. Once you allow in even a trickle of alcohol, you start to lose the family friendly image. If Ocean City hadn't marketed that so much? I don't think it would make a difference. But when it's part of your message, changing that could affect who comes to your town.
Yes, I feel for the restauranteurs, but they had to know going in what the situation was. And it won't necessarily stop complaints. I live in a dry town that allows BYO and even there some of the restauranteurs grouse that they can't sell alcohol.
Anyway - I linked to that article in the Patriot-News because it had to do with this post. Later today I'll throw up some links to the media coverage the book has gotten so far. I'm a little stunned - I knew I'd get SOME coverage, but not this much! It's also been interesting reading the comments people are leaving. The Patriot-News one says that, per usual, Sea Isle is left out. Sigh. Of course I can't mention a place in every town in every interview. I hope they take a look at the Edible Jersey feature I have coming up...
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